Cuban-American legislators threaten to withdraw support for Bush

Associated Press

MIAMI -- A group of Florida Republican state representatives is warning President Bush that he could lose their support for the 2004 election if he fails to adopt a tougher Cuba policy.

The Cuban-American leaders drafted a letter to be mailed Monday asking the administration to revise its current migration policy, indict Fidel Castro for the 1996 shoot down of two planes by Cuban fighter jets, ensure that TV Marti is viewed by people in Cuba and increase aid 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. --

``If this is ignored, abstention or neutrality in federal races becomes a real possibility,'' Rivera said in an interview. ``It's not an option for us to support Democrats, but we want our support to mean something.''

I think this really says it all... repugs won't support dems no matter what, but then there are dems (Lieberman, et al) who are saying that we should support the Bush cabal, no matter what. *sigh* :-(
with friends like this, it's going to be a truly up hill battle to restore the democratic republic.

DON'T FALL FOR THE LIES, DUers. The Miamicuban extremists will court any & all who pander to them for campaign money.

Case in point..


CANF founder and Clinton fundraiser Jorge Mas Canosa & Bill Clinton



DUers, please rememberthat these Otto Reich/ Mas Canosa type zealots DO NOT represent the majority view of the Cuban-American community.

If Cuba improved economically while Castro was still there, it would give credibility to Castro and the Miami gusanos don't want that to happen!!

Cubans on the island want the Travel Ban against Americans to END!!! Cubans on the island want the Embargo against American businesses to END!!!

Americans want the embargo and travel ban to end. The only group that wants to keep the dinosaur, Cold War policy to continue is the Miami hate-mongers!!!!!

B* has promised the gusanos he will keep the embargo and travel ban intact, even if he has to veto a congressional bill. But that isn't enough for that greedy bunch in the Banana Republic. They want B* to let in any Cuban who steals a boat or pays a smuggler to get them to Key West. Meanwhile Latin Grammy musician nominees are not given visas to attend the awards ceremony in Miami!!!

WAKE UP AMERICANS!! THIS IS A SICK POLICY!! CONTACT ALL DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS AND ALL PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS and let them know you won't support them until they restore our freedom to travel and have free trade!

Funny thing is she was saying how some people in Cuba are blind and don't want to see facts even when you present them in front of their faces....

I told her I thought that was pretty funny too since I feel the same way about her.

At the end of the discussion however, she still thought the embargo should stay and I still thought it was outmodded and it continues to give Castro legitimacy by helping him make the argument "you see? all they want to do is destroy you while I am here sticking it out with you"...even though he's not of course...he lives like a king


In the end though the notes of dischord coming from repugs in Miami are almost as sweet as if they were supporting DEMS so I am enjoying this

By the way...I am Cuban and live in Miami.

Like the far right Christians not voting Repug. Who else are they going to vote for?????????????????//

DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

This was posted to one of the CubaNews boards that I read. Enjoy :-)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Otto Reich arrived in Miami on Thursday to try to mend fences with the MiamiCubanos who are still angry with the Bushists for deporting the 12 boat hijackers last month.

Well, it did not work, and if anything, Otto pissed of the exile community even more. I was listening to Poderosa at the time .... (translation mine)

From El Nuevo Herald today (Friday)
Enfrentado a un alud de críticas de sus compatriotas exiliados, el embajador Otto Reich negó ayer haberse referido en términos despectivos sobre la emigración cubana y culpó a un noticiero televisivo local por haber tergiversado sus declaraciones.

Facing an avalanche of criticism from his fellow exiles, ambassador Otto Reich denied yesterday that he had referred in insulting terms about Cuban immigration and blamed a local television show for having twisted his words around.

He was interviewed by Ch-51 (Telemundo Spanish-language station) on Thursday and he uttered the following statement while speaking of overall immigration to the United States after 9-11:

``Pero, ¿qué haría el condado Miami-Dade con un millón más de cubanos que no hablan inglés, que no han sido bien educados, que han vivido un gobierno totalitario donde no existen los valores, ya sean morales o económicos que no conocen?''

(But, what would Miami-Dade County do with a million more Cubans who do not speak English, who have not been well educated, who have lived a totalitarian government where values do not exist, be they moral or economic, of which they are not aware.

Reich on Friday insisted his words were taken out of context, that they had referrred to immigration in general and not aimed only at Cubans.

Ch-51 refused to back down:
La dirección del Canal 51 rechazó los argumentos de Reich sobre una presunta manipulación informativa.

Management of Channel 51 rejected the arguments by Reich over alleged manipulation of the news.}

The reporter who did the interview said he was sorry that Reich felt injured, but "they were his words, not mine."

Yesterday afternoon Reich calls Ninoska at her radio show and tries to set the record straight, and somehow the word gets out to all Spanish-language media in Miami that Reich was going to have a news conference at 4 p.m. to clear things up. So the TV people, radio people, newspaper people all show up ... and guess what, Reich did not show up.

So Radio Poderosa and Mambi go into a dither, getting all sorts of calls from pissed-off exiles. Poderosa broadcasts there there had never been a conference scheduled, and that there had been miscommunication all around.

Meanwhile, Reich told the Nuevo Herald:

''Ese encuentro no estuvo nunca planificado'', explicó Reich. ''Pareciera que hay alguien interesado en sabotear mi visita a Miami''.

That conference was never scheduled. It would look like someone is interested in sabotaging my visit to Miami.

So instead of mending fences with the MiamiCubanos, Reich made it worse ...

Never a dull moment in Gusanoville ...

From Radio Progresso's THE PULSE OF SOUTH FLORIDA.

By Alvaro F. Fernandez

Next year will be different. Those are words currently being used in the Miami area.

“This will cost them,” said Jorge Mas Santos, Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) chairman, when referring to Republicans and next year’s presidential election. The “this” is the repatriation of the 12 Cubans who were sent back after hijacking a boat they steered to the Florida coast.

Also recently, Sen. Joe Lieberman visited south Florida and had choice words to express on the Cuba issue. And just last week the junior Senator from Florida, Bill Nelson, spoke during CANF’s annual meeting and espoused his hard line feelings on Cuba.

At this point, all I can say is, it’s laughable. Neither of the politicians seems terribly smart. It’s either that, or they were really here for only one thing: political dollars from that segment of the Cuban community still willing to listen to them.

http://www.rprogreso.com/

Since Lieberman is so close to being Repuke, Miami Batistianos can vote for him with a clear conscience!!!

Lieberman gets painted as a Republican even though the facts clearly disprove that argument.

Then again what else can I expect from a Castro supporter?

Werewolf syndrome: Cuba affects brainwashed 'muriKans the way the moon supposedly affects a werewolf--even though they know nothing about Cuba except what they've been spoon fed since they were in diapers.

Lieberman has been in the CANF's deep pockets since 1988 when he was elected to Congress.

<clips>

... In his 12 years in Congress, Lieberman has supported legislation to tighten the U.S. embargo against Cuba, including the 1992 Cuban Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms-Burton Act. He has also consistently backed funding for Radio and TV Marti, controversial government-financed stations that broadcast pro-democracy programming into Cuba.

Lieberman's Cuba connection dates to his 1988 Senate campaign when he challenged incumbent Republican Lowell Weicker, Connecticut's former governor.

Weicker was targeted by Cuban exiles after he met twice with Fidel Castro in Cuba and publicly advocated warming relations with the communist-run island. After one meeting, Weicker returned from Havana with a box of Cuban cigars, a present from Castro.

... "Jorge Mas Canosa and I really just struck it off," Lieberman said. "To me, part of the coming together was natural. I agreed with their position on Castro."

But there was also a financial side to his sympathy for the Cuban cause. His campaign won substantial financial backing from the CANF that helped Lieberman defeat Weicker by just 10,000 votes.

http://www.sptimes.com/News/080900/Worldandnation/Lieberman_a_friend_to.shtml

You have got to be the strongest Castro supporter here at DU.

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

You have got to be the strongest Bush supporter here at DU.

I am not a Bush supporter. I voted for Gore in 2000. And I won't be voting for him either in 2004.

I am just not a Castro apologist or supporter.

"I am just not a Castro apologist or supporter."

Yes you are.

By supporting Lieberman's policy pandering to the entrenched "exiles" you support the aggressive & harsh & confrontational US policies that have intensified native support for Castro's prominence over the years.


For over 40 years the Miamicuban "exile" foundations & groups and the politicians that pander to them have depended on the evil Dr Castro for their campaign funding platform. They have zero interest in really 'getting rid of' Castro or allowing the conditions to exist that would enable a faster transition from Castro's leadership - as their 40+ year anti Cuba policies have proven.

History has shown over and over again that a society rallies behind their leadership when their nation is under attack (as Cuba has been under attack by the USA), so, US policy, by remaining aggressive & harsh & confrontational, has pretty much moved the Cuban people to intensify their push for sovereignty and increase support for their government, including Castro, instead of away from it & him.



We Americans need to demand that this ridiculous cycle of policy pandering for dollars to a group of extremists who do not represent the majority of the Cuban-Americans must stop.

The fastest way to disempower these Cuban "exile" extremist groups and the corrupt R & D politicians that pander to them is to normalize US trade and travel relations with Cuba. Now.

and a very lucractive industry at that. If there were no Castro, what would El Nuevo Herald, Radio Mambi, etc. rail about day in and day out? Amazing how this tiny group, responsible for acts of terrorism around the world--including assasinations of foreign diplomats here in the US of A--has dictated 'muriKan policy to Cuba for so many years. Dems and Repuks alike go to Batistaville to pander for $$$--they've been doing it since JFKs time. Dispicable.

Florida is crucial to a 2004 and beyond win. Democracy in Cuba is death to the party. If it loses that block vote in such an important state, than the election could well be lost for them.

If we treated Cuba like China and opened up trade, democracy WOULD spread and it would shut down the Anti-Castro industry.

If they want all these things then they should provide funding, not
the US Government.

Personally I think they should all go back. Once again the problem of
only being an American until they can go home rears its ugly head. The
fanatical members of the Cuban community need to decide, are they Americans or are they Cubans. If they're American, then start helping
with the problems that America is facing, not Cuba.

If on the otherhand they are Cuban citizens then leave the country,and
put THEIR money, time, and lives on the line to bring down the Castro
government. I prefer that this be done without American blood being
shed.

I think that if the misadministration gives in, the next thing that
these clowns will ask for is that American troops invade Cuba. Think
about it US soldiers will die, the leaders of the Cuban community will
return to their homeland, and start doing what Castro is doing now.

If this scenario plays out, just think the US Congress will have members loyal to Cuba, just a thought!!!!

I think that if the misadministration gives in, the next thing that
these clowns will ask for is that American troops invade Cuba.

Again.




Think about it US soldiers will die, the leaders of the Cuban community
will return to their homeland, and start doing what Castro is doing now.


Dream on. The Cuban government has built one of the strongest social systems in the world, post 1959. The first thing the Miamicuban "exiles" would do is strip Cuba of all of their social(ist) infrastructure. The leadership of the intransigent "exile' organizations are NOTHING like the leadership of the Cuban government. Cubans know it, and would NEVER easily relinquish their lives, their country, their government, to the former Batistanos and their offspring.

When has the law ever stopped this administration from doing something.

My mistatement, what I intended to say is that they would do what
they keep accusing Castro of doing. They would imprison their enemies,
torture anyone that does not agree with them, and see which criminal
organizations they could get to invest in Cuba. Just like Batista did
with the Mafia.

And then the people of Cuba would live in squalor, and the poor would be treated as cattle, just like under Batista.

Thanks, atreides1, for clearing that up. :toast:
(Please tune in to the "Cuba threads" on DU)

Some reich wingers long ago petitioned the LordGodBush to declare Cuba as a member of the western hemisphere Axis of Evil.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=harrop24&date=20030124

And, according to our government, everyone knows that Cuba is "intent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction -- particularly biological weapons" and that "{t}he United States believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort. Cuba has provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states."
http://www.state.gov/t/us/rm/9962.htm

Cuba is on the list.

There is always one group of them thats torqued off about something or other-hey kinda like us democrats!

Miami gusanos don't just get torqued off, they lobby congress and they get what they want!

Democrats have let them walk all over us for 40+ years, taking away our freedom to travel and trade. Not only that, they get hundreds of millions of tax dollars per year, going into the pockets of Miami batistianos. And they get to fly back and forth from Miami to Havana, but we Americans can't!

Too bad we don't take a lesson from them on how to manipulate US foreign policy!

Did anyone watch the rerun of the first "West Wing" show tonight on the Bravo Channel?

They were worried about some Cuban "refugees" floating across to Florida. Someone mentioned that if they had to go back to Cuba, going to prison would be the least that would happen to them.

You hear this propaganda continually. The State Department, CIA, and rightwingnuts have pounded these chronic whoppers so many years that a lot of otherwise intelligent people believe them to be true.

They are so convinced the stories are true, it never occurs to them that they are totally in the dark. They assume they know it all.

At some point, people get a nudge or two, and start awakening to the truth about Cuba.

A signifgant nudge for a lot of people was learning that Elian Gonzalez' great uncle Lázaro had met the child when he had gone to Cuba on a wee vacation, going fishing, going to the bars at the hotels, sleeping on the father's own bed, while the father slept outside in his car, to make room for him.

Why would a "refugee" who "fled" to Miami go back to Cuba on vacation? You will learn a LOT of "exiles" do this. Is their homesickness so great, they will risk death or imprisonment to go back and go fishing, or hang out in the hotel bars?

Yeah, we've been duped. We've been sitting around, like lumps, like giant babies, believing EVERYTHING we hear and read, uncritically, never actually thinking about any of it. We make the job of driven propagandists, like Otto Reich damned easy.

That's why some of us develope asinine, childish, unbelievably simplistic views of the world, of other people, and can be so easily moved to hate people we've never known, and love wars against them, fought for reasons we don't understand.

The world is so incredibly complex and multilayered yet some people, most, it seems, believe that their simplistic view of the world encompasses everthing. Believe NOTHING you hear and read, little of what you see, there is contradiction and paradox at the heart of so much...

They are so convinced the stories are true, it never occurs to them that they are totally in the dark. They assume they know it all.

...Yeah, we've been duped. We've been sitting around, like lumps, like giant babies, believing EVERYTHING we hear and read, uncritically, never actually thinking about any of it. We make the job of driven propagandists, like Otto Reich damned easy.

That's why some of us develope asinine, childish, unbelievably simplistic views of the world, of other people, and can be so easily moved to hate people we've never known, and love wars against them, fought for reasons we don't understand.

Your points describe exactly the werewolf syndrome that we see here at DU from the 'kneejerk reaction folks' who think that anyone who is interested in Cuba is a Castro supporter. They are so duped by the decades of anti-Cuba propaganda that they think Cuba is Castro and that Castro is Cuba. LOL What a bunch of imbeciles.

Only a few DUers put forth the repetitious Otto Reich propaganda over and over here.

I'm pretty sure that the overwhelming majority of DUers who have followed the "Cuba threads", both pro and con, understand that the more logical and reasoned arguments lay in the 'end the sanctions' camp than in the virulent anti Cuba camp.

Despite the fact that the few of us who have been to Cuba and share our positive experiences there have been called 'commies' and 'Castro lovers', etc., I've received many PMs from DUers looking for info and giving thanks for some of the info posted here about Cuba and Cuba's various systems.


I've learned plenty of info here also, and give thanks too.. for DU and for the DUers willing to take flak for sharing their knowledge.
:toast:

about the island have put up plenty of great posts. It's the small bunch of 'kneejerk reactionaries'--as demonstrated above--who continually display the incredible ignorance of thinking that, as you pointed out, that sharing positive experience about Cuba is equated with being a 'commie' or 'Castro supporter'. It's the same sh*t one hears on Calle Ocho, Radio Mambi, El Nuevo Herald, etc, etc, etc--all designed to intimidate, discredit, and prevent people from knowing the truth about Cuba.

Like I said, the werewolf syndrome. The term originally and frequently used by Cuba expert and former head of the US Interests Section in Havana, Wayne Smith, when he said: "Cuba affects US officials the way the moon supposedly affects a werewolf".

:hi:

When is this guy gonna die anyway?

Oh, I just looked it up, Castro is only 76. He could keep going for awhile. I guess retirement is not an option? lol

What happens after Castro dies?

mother lived way into her 90s as did other members of his family. As for who leads Cuba after Fidel is gone, here's an article from the BBC written shortly after he fainted in 2001. Of course Gusanos in Miami have been speculating for years on his death and instead it is they who are showing up in the El Nuevo Herald obits. His birthday is tomorrow, I think he's gonna be 77. For other potential leaders, you might wanna Google the names Ricardo Alarcon, president of the national assembly and expert on US relations; Vice-President Carlos Lage; and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque.

<clips>
...No one for the Cuban Government was available to be interviewed about what happens after Fidel, but Raul has spoken recently for the first time about it.

"Nothing will change," he said. "The Cuban revolution is more than the work of one man, and the foundations are in place for the socialist revolution to continue indefinitely."...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1488848.stm

B* doesn't know the meaning of the word DIPLOMACY!!

"B* Foreign Policy depends on People dying!!"

That should be a bumper sticker! ITS GREAT. :toast:

(snip) Wednesday, August 13
Cuban exile group replaces main Washington representative

The Associated Press

MIAMI --
Camila Ruiz, a veteran of Capitol Hill, has been appointed as the head of the Washington office of the Cuban American National Foundation, the powerful exile group opposed to Fidel Castro's Cuban government.

Ruiz will be responsible for working with the executive and legislative branches as the Miami-based foundation's main Washington representative. She will also work with the national media, non-governmental organizations and the academic and business community.

She replaces Dennis Hays, who will leave the group next month to pursue personal interests, a CANF news release said Tuesday.

Ruiz has worked on the staff of the House International Relations Committee and on the personal staff of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami. (snip/...)

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030812/APN/308121132



Buh bye, Dennis!

Dennis served the CANF well as a propagandist.

I heard that soon-to-be former mouthpiece, Dennis Hays, wasn't happy with the attacks by the CANF on the Bushista administration for the deportation of the 12 Cuban boat hijackers as the reason.

I see in the news that Fidel is celebrating 77 years old today, meanwhile the gusanos in Miami are showing up in the El Nuevo Herald obits--and they thought their stay in Miami would be a short one. ;-) Meanwhile, 44 years later, they grow more desparate by the day and as the desparation grows so do the demands that Washington do their bidding.

"..and they thought their stay in Miami would be a short one."


Until they learned just how profitable it is sucking at the American taxpayer teat. After all, it has been soooo easy for them because so many Americanos have swallowed the "exiles" anti Cuba propaganda quite readily.

The only thing the "exile" wingnuts (and their bought and paid for politicians) are desperate for is more taxpayer dollars, and they see that the tide is slowly shifting (not including Lieberman, Graham, etc).