Trade winds stir Miami storm - Miami, Florida's Cuban residents clash over continuation of U.S. economic boycott against Cuba - Cover Story

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 7, 1993 | by Shawn Miller

Thomas Regalado, news director at Radio Mambi, doubts that the brigade members worry about freedom of speech as much as they do about publicity stunts. "They know that if they protest right in front of Mambi there is going to be trouble, and they can then paint themselves as victims of the big, bad, ultraright Cubans." A member of Alpha 66 who was involved in the confrontation seconds that notion. "The Maceitos want only to make trouble for us," she says. "They know that because they support Fidel, we will fight them and go to jail."

Regalado also denies that his station can be blamed for Alpha 66's reaction, and he dismisses Aruca's charge that Radio Mambi creates an atmosphere of repression. "We are not going to apologize for being anti-Castro, but we respect the law," he says. And while he concedes that some of the station's callers may advocate violence, "there is a distinction between our listeners' positions and those of the station."

Pointing out that many of the more than 200,000 Cubans who have either been executed or stuck in jail by the Castro government have relatives living in Miami, Hernandez says nobody should be surprised by the strong reaction to pro-Castro and pro-dialogue forces.

"You are not dealing with a bunch of Iowa farmers who have never had any experience outside American family life," he says in a rage. "These people have had family members murdered by Castro, and they are not going to accept anybody promoting the government of a murderer." He is surprised that more incidents like those noted by the "sanctimonious" Americans Watch report haven't taken place. "Imagine allowing a group of Hitler supporters to live in the middle of Miami Beach," which is heavily Jewish, Hernandez says. "Well, that's the environment you have here."

Cuban-American-owned businesses in Miami have generally followed their consciences instead of their bottom lines when it comes to the thought of investing in Cuba. Miami attorney Pedro Freyre is a member of an informal group of about 50 Cuban-American businessmen called the Termites who keep an eye on the situation in Cuba, planning for the day when Castro is gone and they can help their countrymen establish a free market economy.

"We look at Cuba like an African-American would look at South Africa and say, "It may be worth my while to invest there, but I'm not going to do it until the political situation corrects itself,'" Freyer says of the majority of Cuban-American businessmen in Miami.

There are signs, however, that the same problems that plague Aruca and Cernuda color the judgment of Miami corporations. When Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, was trying to gather Miami businessmen to testify before Congress during hearings on the Cuban Democracy Act, none would step forward for fear of reprisals within the community. A Miamian in the construction field says of his company, "If elements in the Cuban community sensed that we were interested in working with Cuba they would come over and torch our building."