CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Castro rips U.S. over Venezuela

Fidel Castro protests the alleged mistreatment of the Venezuelan foreign minister at JFK airport prior to his flight home to Caracas. Washington denied any harassment.

By Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Sep. 25, 2006.

WASHINGTON - Cuban leader Fidel Castro issued his first statement on international affairs since he ceded power eight weeks ago on a subject close to his heart: Venezuela.

The statement, issued late Saturday and reported by The Associated Press, said the Cuban leader reacted ''with indignation'' upon hearing that Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro was briefly detained at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on his way back from the United Nations General Assembly.

Castro ''extends his most vigorous protest of this vulgar provocation, which could take place again against any member of the Movement'' of Nonaligned Nations, that Cuba heads, the statement said.

This is the first time Castro has refered to non-Cuban affairs since he ceded power for health reasons to his younger brother Raúl.

Maduro told reporters he missed his flight to Caracas Saturday after the Department of Homeland Security subjected him to an extensive search. U.S. officials say Maduro arrived late for his flight and paid for his one-way ticket with cash, triggering added screening. The State Department has apologized.

Maduro said he was detained for 90 minutes and that an hour and 20 minutes into his detention, he got a call from assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, Thomas Shannon, apologizing for the inconvenience.

According to Maduro, Shannon said he was dispatching officials to take care of the matter, but when those officials arrived, Maduro and his entourage were ordered to spread their arms and legs to be frisked.

The Department of Homeland Security denied Maduro was mistreated.

''He began to articulate his frustration with secondary screening right after he went through'' a metal detector, the AP quoted DHS spokesman Russ Knocke. "Port Authority officials confronted him when the situation became a ruckus.''

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez delivered a pugnacious speech at the United Nations last week, calling Bush ''the devil.'' Chávez also complained that the United States had refused to issue visas to his doctor and security chief, forcing them to remain on the aircraft. He said such obstructions warranted relocating the United Nations to another venue, and volunteered Caracas as one alternative.

The State Department admitted that six visas could not be processed on time for Chávez's visit, but noted that the Venezuelans had swamped them with 229 visa requests, a large number for a Latin American delegation.

''There were some citizens of Cuba as part of the retenue,'' one State Department official said. He agreed to be quoted only if his name was not revealed and he declined to disclose how many Cubans had applied for visas.

Officials say the Cubans are not barred from entering the United States but require extra background checks.

TV Martí director: Ethics debate is needed

The director of Radio and TV Martí calls for a national debate on the ethics of hiring journalists from private media to freelance for U.S. media, including Voice of America.

By Oscar Corral, ocorral@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006.

Office of Cuba Broadcasting Director Pedro Roig, who oversees TV and Radio Martí, said Thursday that he runs his operation ethically and wants to start a national debate on whether journalists who work for news companies and also freelance for the government have a conflict of interest.

Referring to The Miami Herald's Sept. 8 report that named several local journalists who had also been receiving payments from the U.S. government for their work at TV and Radio Martí, Roig said his entity has nothing to hide because its very goal is to promote open debate on the island about Cuba's future.

''I believe in the right that all human beings have to criticize their government without fear of repression,'' he said. "In the end there's one message, for Cubans to understand that in a free society, different problems and themes are discussed, passionately, but at the end of the day, no one is imprisoned, and no one is going to get an act of repudiation done against them. . . . We have the right to make mistakes, like The Herald has a right to make a mistake.''

At least 10 journalists have received U.S. payments from Radio and TV Martí to provide programming or content, over the last five years, a preliminary examination of federal records found. The Miami Herald Media Co. dismissed two El Nuevo Herald reporters and severed ties with a longtime freelancer for violating the company's ethics policy on conflicts of interest soon after the information about the payments surfaced.

The firings and the subsequent coverage of the payments in the local, national and international media have fired up emotions among some Cuban exiles and journalists throughout the United States.

''I'm initiating a debate . . . in the United States: Should this be done or not?'' Roig said.

Many Cuban exiles have expressed that there is no conflict of interest and that the reporters should not have been dismissed.

The South Florida Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists entered the fray Thursday, issuing a statement condemning government payments to journalists and endorsing the Miami Herald Media Co.'s decision to uphold its ethics policy.

'Journalists' decisions to accept payment from [the government] runs contrary to the SPJ Code of Ethics, contradicts the standard of independent journalism and undermines the public's confidence in the credibility of the news media,'' the journalism group noted.

Roig spoke to The Miami Herald at the Jorge Mas Canosa Building, the headquarters of Radio and TV Martí in West Dade. He said it's the first interview he has granted since the report, which he criticized for questioning the integrity of journalists he holds in high esteem.

He categorized the article as ''infamy'' and took issue with the headline and photos of the journalists. ''I think it has criminalized, or has demonized, people -- journalists of impeccable conduct, very good people,'' Roig said.

In defending the payments to journalists, Roig cited a strict ''firewall'' that exists between Radio and TV Martí and the policies of any president.

''We are totally independent of the tenant of the White House,'' he said. "When contributors come, we've never told them what they have to do or say.''

Roig disagreed with comparisons initially drawn by some journalism ethics experts -- Kelly McBride, Ethics Group Leader at the Poynter Institute, and Jay Black, editor of Mass Media Ethics -- to the case of journalist Armstrong Williams.

In the Williams affair, the U.S. Education Department, through the Ketchum Public Relations Firm, paid Williams $240,000 to talk about the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act during his nationally syndicated television show.

Williams' contract with the government, USA Today reported, required Williams "to regularly comment on the NCLB during the course of his broadcasts.''

An example of a contract between a newspaper journalist also moonlighting for Radio Martí requires that he "provide services in support of Radio News . . . for combination services: original writing; voicing; and researching topics to be discussed.''

Radio and TV Martí, with a $37 million budget this year, are U.S. government programs created to promote democracy and freedom in communist Cuba. Their programming cannot be broadcast within the United States because of anti-propaganda laws.

Roig said he believes it's common for journalists in Washington to get paid by the government through the Voice of America.

''It was common practice in Washington where hundreds of journalists have participated [in VOA and other U.S. Broadcasts],'' he said.

Larry Hart, communications coordinator for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, said Thursday that ''many, many, many'' high-profile Washington journalists have participated in VOA and other U.S.-sponsored broadcasts. He said he could name only ''seven or eight,'' some retired from the 1980s, and some still active, because he had not done an extensive review.

One of the journalists Hart identified, according to a recent report in El Nuevo Herald, was Hartford Courant Bureau Chief David Lightman. The Courant ordered Lightman to stop participating in VOA broadcasts.

''It can certainly be seen as a conflict, and that's why we're stopping it,'' Clifford Teutsch, The Courant's editor, said in a statement published in the newspaper.

Thursday's statement from SPJ, which with more than 100 members in South Florida and more than 10,000 nationwide is the largest journalists' association in the United States -- also addresses the cultural differences that may exist between journalists who move here from other countries and those educated and trained in the United States.

''Journalists in South Florida, and increasingly across the United States, come from countries with stronger traditions of ideological or advocacy journalism than we have in the United States,'' the SPJ statement said.

"While we respect other forms of communication, the Society long ago resolved that professionalism requires journalists be autonomous from those in power, especially the government.''

Push to free convicted Cuban spies reaches D.C.

The Antonio Maceo Brigade and its allies are pushing for the release of five Cubans convicted of spying against the United States

By Lesley Clark. lclark@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Fri, Sep. 22, 2006.

WASHINGTON - A quest to see five Cuban men convicted in 2001 of spying on the United States freed from prison made it to the nation's capital Thursday, with advocates arguing the men were in this country to fight terrorism directed at Cuba.

''These five men had come to the [United States] . . . to infiltrate these terrorist right-wing groups that have threatened us in Miami for decades,'' said Andrés Gómez, of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, at a news conference.

He spoke in advance of a planned protest march Saturday, where supporters of the so-called Cuban Five plan to push for their release -- and for the United States to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, whom they accused of fostering anti-Cuba terrorism.

Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando and René Gonzalez were accused of spying on Miami exile groups and U.S. military installations. They were convicted five years ago.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta threw out the convictions in 2005, finding that Miami's anti-Castro political climate and intense media coverage made a fair trial impossible. A full panel of judges later reinstated the convictions.

Supporters for the men argued that the finding was influenced by U.S.-Cuba policy.

Speakers at the news conference included Francisco Letelier, whose father, Orlando, was assassinated 30 years ago Thursday in Washington.

Orlando Letelier was an exiled former Chilean foreign minister and outspoken government critic who was assassinated by agents of Chile's military government.

Francisco Letelier, who lives in Los Angeles, called on the United States to declare Cuban exile militant Posada a terrorist.

''Posada Carriles needs to be questioned extensively,'' Letelier said.

A federal magistrate ruled earlier this month that Posada should be released from immigration custody because the U.S. attorney general has not classified him as a terrorist.

Posada arrived in the United States in 2005 from Honduras, where he had been hiding since being freed from jail in Panama. He had been convicted in Panama in connection with an alleged plot to kill Fidel Castro in 2000.

The alleged plot was just one of many the CIA-trained Posada was accused of hatching over the years -- all of which he has denied.

José Pertierra, a Washington lawyer who represents Venezuela, which wants to extradite Posada to stand trial for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner, said the White House is reluctant to anger the Cuban-American community.

''This has been a charade from Day 1,'' said Pertierra.

Sixteen Cuban migrants land at Marquesas Key; one found dead

By From Miami Herald Staff, dadenews@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Thu, Sep. 21, 2006.

The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the body of a Cuban migrant from waters off Marquesas Keys on Wednesday shortly after intercepting 16 other migrants who made it to land.

The Coast Guard dispatched a cutter and a rescue vessel to the area after getting a report that migrants were approaching in a ''rustic'' vessel, officials said.

Sixteen migrants were ''dry-footed,'' meaning they would be allowed to remain in the United States under the wet-foot/dry-foot policy.

The decade-old policy allows undocumented Cuban migrants who reach U.S. shores to stay here. Those caught at sea are routinely returned to Cuba, although a few have been allowed to enter the United States for medical or investigative reasons.

Coast Guard officials learned of the missing migrant from the other migrants interviewed Wednesday at Marquesas Key and dispatched the cutter Matagordas, a rescue vessel and a helicopter, along with an Alabama National Guard airplane, to search the area. The man's body was spotted at 4:45 p.m.

The Monroe County Medical Examiner's office will perform an autopsy.

The other migrants were transferred to Border Patrol officials in Marathon, where they will be processed and released to relatives.

OAS: We can't discuss Cuban changes now

Posted on Thu, Sep. 21, 2006.

UNITED NATIONS - The Organization of American States will not take up the Cuban leadership issue until an official proposal is presented by the United States or another member state, OAS chief José Miguel Insulza said Wednesday.

Last week, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez proposed that Cuba hold an OAS-sanctioned referendum on its future leadership.

''There is no proposal that we can officially evaluate,'' Insulza told The Miami Herald.

The OAS, he noted, can only monitor elections when member states ask for the service. Cuba was suspended from the organization in 1962.

PABLO BACHELET

El Nuevo Herald dismissals protested

An Internet campaign and some Cuban exiles protested the firing of El Nuevo Herald reporters paid for appearing on U.S. broadcasts.

By Christina Hoag and Kathleen Mcgrory, choag@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Wed, Sep. 20, 2006.

Some Cuban exiles, upset about the firing of two El Nuevo Herald reporters and a freelancer who received thousands of dollars in U.S. government pay as correspondents for Radio and TV Martí, protested the dismissals Tuesday and launched an Internet campaign.

''We reject the efforts of The Miami Herald to silence our voice in Cuba,'' Remedios Díaz-Oliver of the Cuban Liberty Council said at a news conference. "These journalists were professional and ethical.''

Also Tuesday, the website www.fairplayforcubanamericans.info urged visitors to sign an online petition and download a letter addressed to Gary B. Pruitt, president and chief executive of McClatchy Co., parent company of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. The letter requests that a panel be established to determine whether the Miami Herald Media Co. should have fired the three journalists.

''Without resorting to a bunker mentality, we, nevertheless, feel that this action is one of the most blatant and direct rejections . . . of our community and of our right to be represented by our own voices in the pages of the newspaper,'' the petition states.

Howard Weaver, McClatchy vice president of news, said he has not received any petition or letters. ''If we're contacted, we'll try to be responsive,'' he said.

The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald reported Sept. 8 that at least 10 local journalists, including three from El Nuevo Herald, were contracted as hosts or commentators on U.S.-government-owned Radio and TV Martí. El Nuevo Herald reporters Pablo Alfonso and Wilfredo Cancio Isla were dismissed. Olga Connor's freelance relationship with The Miami Herald Media Co. was severed.

With a $37 million budget, Radio and TV Martí broadcast news and entertainment programs to Cuba in an attempt to undermine the island's communist regime and promote democracy. Their programming cannot be broadcast into the United States because of anti-propaganda laws.

Miami Herald Publisher Jesús Díaz Jr. met Monday with Cuban-American leaders. And in a front-page letter to readers on Sunday, he said he approved the dismissals because ''as the publisher of these newspapers, I am deeply committed to the separation between government and a free press.'' He added that while The Miami Herald's editorial pages support Radio and TV Martí's mission, the reporters violated the company's conflict-of-interest rules.

But many readers, particularly Cuban Americans, have said the reporters were fired unjustly and too abruptly. As of Tuesday, 876 subscriptions were canceled at El Nuevo Herald and 449 at The Miami Herald. El Nuevo Herald's circulation totals 88,000 weekdays; The Miami Herald sells 296,000 copies daily.

In a related development, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant will no longer allow Washington Bureau Chief David Lightman to appear on the U.S. government radio network Voice of America. The decision was made after El Nuevo Herald reported last week that Voice of America paid Lightman and several other journalists to appear on its shows.

Supporters of five Cuban men convicted of spying on U.S. seek their freedom

By Lesley Clark. lclark@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Thu, Sep. 21, 2006.

WASHINGTON - A quest to see five Cuban men convicted in 2001 of spying on the United States freed from prison made it to the nation's capital Thursday, with advocates arguing that they were in this country to fight terrorism directed at Cuba.

''These five men had come to the U.S. in order to infiltrate these terrorist right-wing groups that have threatened us in Miami for decades,'' said Andrés Gómez, of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, at a morning news conference.

He spoke in advance of a planned protest march Saturday, where supporters of the so-called ''Cuban Five'' plan to push for their release -- and for the United States to extradite Luis Posada Carriles, whom they accused of fostering the anti-Cuba terrorism that the five men were targeting.

The five men, accused of being part of an espionage network that spied on U.S. military installations and Miami exile groups, were convicted five years ago in federal court.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta tossed out the convictions in 2005, finding that Miami's anti-Castro political climate and intense media coverage made a fair trial impossible. But a full panel of judges later reinstated the convictions, finding the trial was fair.

Supporters for the men argued that the finding was influenced by U.S.-Cuba policy.

Speakers at the news conference included Francisco Letelier, whose father, Orlando Letelier, was assassinated 30 years ago Thursday in Washington, D.C. Letelier, who lives in Los Angeles, called on the United States to declare Cuban exile militant Posada a terrorist.

Letelier suggested Posada was ''the godfather'' of terrorist groups like those involved in his father's slaying.

''Posada Carriles needs to be questioned extensively,'' Letelier said.

A federal magistrate ruled earlier this month that Posada should be released from immigration custody because the U.S. attorney general has not classified him as a terrorist.

Posada arrived in the United States in 2005 from Honduras, where he had been hiding since being freed from jail in Panama. He had been convicted in Panama in connection with an alleged plot to kill Fidel Castro in 2000.

The alleged plot was just one of many the CIA-trained Posada was accused of hatching over the years -- all of which he has denied.

José Pertierra, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who represents Venezuela, which wants to extradite Posada to stand trial for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner, said the White House is reluctant to anger the Cuban-American community by declaring Posada a terrorist.

''This has been a charade from Day One,'' said Pertierra.

The efforts are being sponsored by the San Francisco-based group, the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five.

Cuban exile group protests article in The Miami Herald

By Kathleen Mcgrory, kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Tue, Sep. 19, 2006

Leaders of a Cuban exile group today denounced a Miami Herald investigation that found that at least 10 South Florida journalists regularly received U.S. government pay for hosting shows or appearing on TV and Radio Martí.

The Sept. 8 report led to the dismissal of two El Nuevo Herald reporters and one freelance writer who hosted shows for the government broadcaster while also working for the Spanish-language daily. It also caused more than 1,200 subscribers to The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald to cancel their subscriptions.

In the days since, the article has come under fire on local Spanish radio. Today, the Cuban Liberty Council gathered at Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana, calling the article ''erroneous and deceiving,'' and ''discriminatory'' against the Cuban community.

''We reject the efforts of The Miami Herald to silence our voice in Cuba,'' Remedios Diaz-Oliver said in Spanish. "These journalists were professional and ethical. They brought their voices to TV and radio in an objective manner.''

Jesús Díaz Jr., the publisher of both newspapers, said in a letter to readers published in Sunday's Miami Herald that the newspaper's editorial pages have long supported Radio and TV Martí, but that he approved the dismissals of the three writers, because "as the publisher of these newspapers, I am deeply committed to the separation between government and a free press.''

The publisher added that the three violated the company's conflict-of-interest rules, policies all newsroom employees acknowledge.

Radio and TV Martí are U.S. government programs created to promote democracy and freedom in Cuba. Their programming cannot be broadcast within the United States because of anti-propaganda rules. Radio and TV Martí's own rules require full-time employees to get permission from the government before freelancing for private entities.

But Diaz-Oliver said the article did irreparable damage to the journalists it cited, and to the movement for a free and independent Cuba.

''Now we want to know, what does The Herald plan to do to prove that these journalists did not accept wrongful payments from the U.S. government?'' she said.

Horacio Garcia, who directs the council's executive committee, echoed the sentiment.

''They may have power and money, but we have patriotism and dignity,'' he said. "We will not allow them to demoralize the Cuban exile community.''

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