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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
State GOP legislators urge action on Cuba
Letter: President may lose support
By Oscar Corral. Ocorral@herald.com.
Posted on Mon, Aug. 11, 2003.
A group of Florida Republican state representatives
has drafted a letter warning President Bush he
risks losing their support for the 2004 election
if he does not adopt a tougher Cuba policy.
The move, which amounts to a litmus test for
federal candidates on Cuban issues, exacerbates
a widening rift between the administration and
some Cuban-American leaders -- many of whom have
begun questioning their steadfast loyalty to the
Republican Party.
The letter, expected to be mailed to Washington
today, echoes demands expressed recently by other
Cuban Americans: revise current migration policy;
indict Fidel Castro for the Brothers to the Rescue
shoot-down; ensure that TV Martí is seen
by people in Cuba; and increase assistance to
dissidents on the island.
''We feel it is our responsibility as Republican
elected officials to inform you that unless substantial
progress on the above-mentioned issues occurs
rapidly, we fear the historic and intense support
from Cuban American voters for Republican federal
candidates, including yourself, will be jeopardized,''
reads the letter, signed by 13 members of the
state's Republican Hispanic Caucus.
The spark that ignited the growing criticism
was the Bush administration's decision last month
to repatriate 12 Cubans suspected of hijacking
a boat to reach Florida. After negotiations with
Cuba, the United States agreed to return the suspects
when Castro's government pledged to spare their
lives and sentence them to no more than 10 years
in prison. Even Bush's own brother, Florida Gov.
Jeb Bush, recently criticized the decision to
return the suspects.
State Rep. David Rivera, who helped draft the
document, labeled discontent among Cuban-American
voters as a ''growing crisis'' for Republican
leaders at the federal level.
''As the summer has passed, there has been a
snowball effect of frustration within the Cuban-American
community,'' Rivera said in an interview Sunday.
"We want immediate, tangible, substantive
action.''
When asked what the consequences were for Bush
if he failed to meet the demands, Rivera said
the 13 would refuse financial and tactical support
for Bush in the 2004 election including help in
fundraisers.
''If this is ignored, abstention or neutrality
in federal races becomes a real possibility,''
Rivera said. "It's not an option for us to
support Democrats, but we want our support to
mean something.''
Jimmy Orr, a White House spokesman, reiterated
the president's strong feelings on trying to bring
democratic change to Cuba. However, Orr declined
to address the specific demands in the letter.
The Herald read highlights to him.
''The administration is firmly dedicated to a
pro-active Cuba policy that will assist the Cuban
people in their struggle for freedom,'' Orr said
in a phone interview from Washington on Sunday.
"The president remains committed to the use
of the embargo and travel restrictions to encourage
a rapid transition.''
The challenge by state politicians is the latest
in a series of recent backlashes against the Bush
administration by Cuban-American leaders.
''You can't blame anyone but those in power,''
said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban
American National Foundation, who added that the
criticism comes not just because of the repatriation
of the 12 suspected hijackers. 'We need less politicians
coming down to South Florida and saying 'que viva
Cuba libre' [long live a free Cuba] with an accent,
and more action.''
Since last month, criticism of the Bush administration
has escalated into a full-fledged attack on Cuba
policies.
''Our public is very upset,'' state Rep. Juan
Carlos Planas said Sunday. "[Bush] needs
to know that unless things change, the support
he has gotten in the past will not be there.''
Sergio Bendixen, a prominent South Florida pollster
and political analyst who usually does work for
the Democratic Party, said Sunday that until he
heard about the elected officials' letter to Bush,
he did not think the Bush administration was in
trouble in South Florida.
''I think it's serious,'' Bendixen said. "[Bush]
can no longer say this is just Joe Garcia or the
Cuban American National Foundation upset with
the president or the Republican Party. This is
the establishment. All those young state representatives
are the hard core of the Republican Party in Florida.''
The letter also places Gov. Bush in an awkward
position because the members of the Republican
Hispanic Caucus are among his most loyal political
allies.
''[Jeb] believes the president has a strong record
when it comes to Cuba policy,'' the governor's
spokeswoman, Jill Bratina, said Sunday.
Besides Rivera and Planas, the letter was signed
by State Reps. Marco Rubio, Ralph Arza, Gus Barreiro,
Gaston Cantens, Rene Garcia, Marcelo Llorente,
Manny Prieguez, Julio Robaina, Ken Sorensen, Juan
Zapata and John Quiñones. Most are from
South Florida.
Zapata, a Colombian American, said he sympathized
with his Cuban-American colleagues because Castro's
leftist agenda has had a terrible impact on Colombia.
Otto Reich, President Bush's special envoy for
the Western Hemisphere, could not be reached Sunday.
But on Friday, he spoke at the annual meeting
of the Association for the Study of the Cuban
Economy in Miami.
In reference to TV and Radio Martí, Reich
said the Bush administration will announce ''very
soon'' a new method of penetrating the ''information
wall'' that Castro has set up around Cuba.
Reich also underlined the administration's efforts
to help dissidents on the island, citing the thousands
of magazine subscriptions and short wave radios
that have been disseminated in Cuba.
On ''wet foot, dry foot,'' Reich said the administration
had to hold the current line to avoid another
mass migration. Since 1995, Cuban migrants stopped
at sea are generally returned home while those
who reach U.S. soil generally get to stay.
''We hope this matter can be resolved before
Cuban American support for Republican candidates
is further damaged,'' the document states.
Herald staff writer Marika Lynch contributed
to this report.
Cuban officials contact exile who has come
home to live
By Andrea Rodriguez. Associated Press. Posted
on Mon, Aug. 11, 2003.
HAVANA - A former rebel commander turned opposition
leader who returned from exile last week to live
permanently in Cuba said this weekend he has been
contacted by officials here, but declined to provide
details of the discussions.
Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo, who fought alongside
Fidel Castro in the Cuban revolution, then later
spent 22 years in Cuban prisons after breaking
with the regime, also declined to say who he spoke
with.
''Logically there would have been some contact,''
Gutiérrez-Menoyo told The Associated Press
in an interview here late Saturday afternoon.
"I understand that initially my attitude
created irritation in the highest ranks.''
Gutiérrez-Menoyo, 68 years old and nearly
blind, would say only that he assured authorities
that he did not intend to ''destabilize'' the
island's socialist system.
After breaking rank with Castro, Gutiérrez-Menoyo
lived in Miami, where he became the military leader
of the anti-Castro group Alpha 66. In late 1964,
he landed in Cuba with three men in hopes of launching
an armed uprising. But he was captured and sentenced
to death. The sentence was later commuted to 30
years. In 1986, after 22 years, the Cuban government
released him, honoring a request from Spain's
prime minister at the time, Felipe González.
Gutiérrez-Menoyo lived in Spain for a while
but eventually resettled in Miami.
The Castro government in recent years has had
a respectful but cautious relationship with Gutiérrez-Menoyo,
who has traveled here occasionally to visit family.
He met with Castro himself in 1995.
It still remained unclear whether officials would
allow him to remain permanently in Cuba and operate
his Cambio Cubano, what he says is an ''independent''
opposition movement.
''In this country, there are intelligent people
who think that my presence here can be beneficial
to change the image of a government that has repressed
the opposition,'' he said.
Gutiérrez-Menoyo said that being able
to talk with Cuban officials about his intentions
was "an acceptable starting point.''
Gutiérrez-Menoyo had a visa for three
weeks when he arrived here on July 20 with his
wife and three school-age sons. Born in Spain,
he holds a Cuban passport and has legal U.S. residency.
Opposition leader planned Cuba move for months
By Oscar Corral. Ocorral@Herald.Com. Posted on
Sat, Aug. 09, 2003.
Six months ago, Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo
confided to a close friend that he wanted to go
to Cuba permanently to form an opposition movement
because he believed that he would not be able
to accomplish any effective change in Cuba from
Miami.
The disclosure was made at Gutiérrez-Menoyo's
South Miami home over cigarettes and cafecitos,
both of which Menoyo loves, said Antonio Veciana,
who co-founded Alpha 66 with Menoyo in the early
1960s and has remained close to him.
'He said to me, 'The process for change is not
in Miami or on Calle Ocho, but in Cuba. I will
be there in the opportune moment,' '' Veciana
said. 'I told him that he would fall into disfavor
in the exile community. And he said, 'That's part
of the plan. Pretty soon, everyone will know about
me.' ''
Gutiérrez-Menoyo, a former rebel leader
and political prisoner who has lived in Miami
for the past 17 years, announced in Havana Thursday
that he has decided to remain in Cuba to live
so he can launch an opposition movement.
The Cuban government has not yet given an official
reaction.
PREPARATIONS
The day before he left for Cuba in late July,
Gutiérrez-Menoyo asked Veciana to cash
about $6,000 worth of checks for him, money he
needed for the trip, Veciana said. Gutiérrez-Menoyo
could not cash the checks at a bank because the
bank accounts of his group, Cambio Cubano, did
not have enough money at the time. Veciana has
since been reimbursed by the organization.
''He did not plan this overnight,'' Veciana said.
"This was all prepared.''
Max Lesnik, a radio commentator who has been
friends with Gutiérrez-Menoyo for 40 years,
interviewed him on the air three days before he
departed for Cuba. He said he asked Gutiérrez-Menoyo
if he wanted to make any declarations, but he
declined.
''He has said it many times that he wanted to
open an office there,'' Lesnik said. "His
friends imagined that at some moment, if the Cuban
government gave him permission, he'd stay in Cuba.
The surprise is that he did it at the last minute.''
Few people, if anyone, knew exactly when Gutiérrez-Menoyo
would do it, Veciana said. Menoyo's friends say
despite his planning, he kept many of the details
to himself.
''As a revolutionary, he is very private. He
doesn't tell people what he is doing,'' said Joaquin
Godoy, of Aiken, S.C., who was one of the early
members of Cambio Cubano.
The logistics of Gutiérrez-Menoyo's decision
are still being worked out, friends say. But for
now, he will stay with friends, or at his childhood
home in Havana, which is still occupied by a family
member.
A woman who identified herself in a telephone
interview as Gutiérrez-Menoyo's cousin
in Havana said Gutiérrez-Menoyo had spent
the day Friday meeting with people and coming
and going from her house. She said he is just
as likely to stay with friends as he is to spend
a night in a hotel or at her home.
Gutiérrez-Menoyo's friends said he has
met with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the head of the
Catholic Church in Cuba, on previous visits to
the island, and he spent several hours in Havana's
Cathedral on Thursday. Whether he met with Ortega
was not known. Ortega could not be reached in
Cuba.
Gutiérrez-Menoyo's daughter, Patricia
Gutiérrez, said she is her father's sole
source of income and would continue to fund him
while in Cuba. Veciana said that he is also funded
by a group of exiles who individually contribute
anywhere from $50 to $100 monthly to Cambio Cubano.
He said that he and others would continue their
economic support.
Friday night, Veciana said a group of Gutiérrez-Menoyo's
supporters was planning to gather at his South
Miami Home, where his wife, Gladys, lives with
the couple's three sons.
REACTIONS IN CUBA
Prominent dissidents in Cuba on Friday gave foreign
journalists mixed reactions to Gutiérrez-Menoyo's
announcement. While Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's best
known opposition leader, told The Herald on Thursday
that he welcomed Gutiérrez-Menoyo's help
in opposition, Elizardo Sánchez, another
prominent dissident, expressed more caution during
an interview with the EFE news service.
''He is a brave man,'' Sanchez said, but "during
the last few years, he tried to discredit the
internal opposition and has not shown expected
solidarity on crucial issues like political prisoners.''
Some exiles in Miami also accused Gutiérrez-Menoyo
of being soft on Fidel Castro, and some even labeled
him a ''communist.'' Ernesto Díaz, who
co-founded Alpha 66 with Gutiérrez-Menoyo
and Veciana in 1961, said he could not fathom
dialogue with Castro and claimed Menoyo was merely
"surrendering his integrity.''
But Bernardo Benes, a former banker who has supported
dialogue with the Cuban government for decades,
said Gutiérrez-Menoyo has taken the rare
step of shifting from rhetoric to action. He said
the anti-Castro movement had been languishing
for years.
''It was frozen. Nothing was happening,'' Benes
said. "This can be a breakthrough.''
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