Published Friday, January 12, 2001, in the
Miami Herald
Miami leader on fact-finding trip to Cuba
By Carol Rosenberg. crosenberg@herald.com
Local Urban League President T. Willard Fair is making his first voyage to
Cuba this week on an eight-day fact-finding mission meant to explore the status
of children and race on the island.
Fair, 61, acknowledged in an interview that the privately funded trip
organized with Cuban government cooperation could create unhappiness among some
South Floridians.
But the prominent Miami leader said he chose to make the trip, which begins
today, to better understand the political passions that drive Miami's exile
community. He also said he consulted the United Way's board and about a dozen
Cuban-American colleagues, including Miami-Dade Community College President
Eduardo Padron, who supported the journey.
"We will spend several days interfacing with persons in the Education
Ministry, the Child Welfare Ministry, taking some tours and having dinner in a
home of a typical Cuban,'' he said.
In addition, the 27-member delegation of the Seattle-based People to People
Ambassadors Programs will make stops in Havana, Cienfuegos and Varadero. Evelyn
Moore, president of Washington's National Black Child Development Institute, is
leading the mission whose price tag was $3,500 to $4,000 per person.
Fair said the tour will not likely include a face-to-face meeting with Elián
González, the youngster who was the subject of a cross-Florida Straits
custody dispute last year. But, he said, such a visit would give him a greater
appreciation of the child's case.
"People don't understand the Elián debacle in my community,
because they don't understand the trauma that's associated with being in exile;
all they understand is that he ought to be with his daddy,'' said Fair, who is
black. "You have to understand the big picture in order to at least
tolerate, if not accept, their reaction to his going back to Cuba.''
Fair said of particular personal interest to him was the notion that "all
the people who are back there happen to look like me,'' meaning island Cubans
today are predominantly black while exiles are predominantly white.
"I'm going to check it out,'' he said.
"One of my real concerns is about the absence of race versus the
presence of socialism: Is it accident or coincidence or by design? There are
some very intriguing sociological issues and child welfare issues that tantalize
me as a social worker in terms of the whole child development process.''
Fair, a big backer of Gov. Jeb Bush, said he was the sole South Florida
representative on the trip, which he called "highly structured in
collaboration with the government'' of Cuba.
He characterized the trip as a legal, licensed exchange between
professionals concerned with education and childhood issues. President Dwight D.
Eisenhower established the People to People Ambassadors Programs in 1956 on the
theory that ordinary citizens from countries in conflict should meet.
A meeting with Fidel Castro was not part of the official itinerary, Fair
said, and one seemed unlikely, although he added: "It certainly would be
absolutely a delightful experience.''
Cuba identifies two stowaways killed as teen-agers
Posted at 10:31 a.m. EST Friday, January 12, 2001
HAVANA -- (AP) -- The Cuban government identified as teen-age boys the two
Cuban stowaways who were killed last month when they hid inside the landing gear
of a British Airways jet before it left Havana on Christmas Eve.
After identifying the boys Thursday on state television's nightly public
affairs program, participants read a letter from one, 16-year-old Michael
Fonseca, to his family.
It indicated that he and Alberto Vazquez, 17, planned to go to the United
States, where they hoped to live and work.
After the jet took off for London, both boys died from subfreezing
temperatures and lack of oxygen in the compartment.
Cuban authorities said the boys were in the 11th grade at the Camilo
Cienfuegos military school in Havana.
News reports from Britain earlier reported on the deaths, saying one body
was found Christmas Eve on a Surrey farm, evidently falling out as the plane
flew over the British countryside, and the other fell from the same British
Airways jet as it took off from London for Mexico.
British authorities initially identified the boys as male adults who
appeared to be in their 20s and that one was carrying Cuban currency.
The victims' identities and ages were made public Thursday, the first time
Cuban media reported on the incident.
One of the program's regular moderators, Randy Alonso, blamed the deaths on
what the government here calls the "killer law'' -- the Cuban Adjustment
Act. The 1966 law allows all Cubans who reach U.S. soil to avoid deportation.
Cuban authorities say the law encourages its citizens to make dangerous
journeys, usually at sea, in the hope of reaching American soil.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 