The Miami Herald.
August 30, 2001.
Castro arrives in Brazil ahead of trip to South Africa and conference on
racism
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- (AP) -- Fidel Castro arrived here for an overnight
stopover en route to South Africa where he will address a world conference on
racism.
The Cuban president was greeted Wednesday at the military section of Rio de
Janeiro's Galeao airport by state governor Anthony Garotinho before heading for
a hotel near the city's legendary Copacabana beach.
He was welcomed at the Othon Palace hotel by about 100 boisterous
supporters, waving signs reading "Viva Fidel and the Cuban Revolution!''
and flags of the Brazilian Communist Party and other leftist movements.
As Castro walked into the hotel, wearing his traditional olive-green
military fatigues, eager onlookers jostled to get a glimpse of him.
Castro had been scheduled to dine with Garotinho at the governor's palace,
but hotel chef Mario Tavares said he had been asked to prepare a dinner of
salmon with green salad and green corn for the Cuban guest, the same dish he had
eaten last time he stayed here.
There was no word of Castro's schedule for Thursday, except that he was due
to leave for Durban, South Africa for the U.N. World Conference Against Racism.
Although Latin America's largest country has a center-right, market-friendly
government, Brazil and communist Cuba have warm relations.
Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is one of the region's most
outspoken supporters of involving Cuba in all regional bodies, including the
U.S.-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas, scheduled to start in 2005.
Cuba has spoken up to support Brazil in its fight to produce generic drugs
and force lower prices from multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Two Cubans charged with alien smuggling make first court appearance
MIAMI -- (AP) -- Two Cubans were indicted today for causing the deaths of
three immigrants they are accused of trying to smuggle to the Florida Keys in a
speedboat.
Osvaldo Fernandez Marrero, 35, and Roberto Montero Dominguez, 30, could face
the death penalty if convicted on three counts of smuggling aliens resulting in
death.
They are also charged with conspiring to smuggle illegal aliens into the
United States and 23 counts of alien smuggling for private financial gain. The
conspiracy charge carries a maximum five-year sentence and the smuggling charges
up to 15 years each.
Fernandez is charged with two counts and Montero one count of making false
statements to the U.S. Boarder Patrol. Fernandez told investigators he was
single and had no children. They later learned his wife and children were among
the migrants the men picked up in Cuba. Each count carries a maximum five-year
sentence.
Six people died, including Fernandez's wife and two daughters, when the
27-foot speedboat carrying the 26 immigrants flipped over during the Aug. 1
crossing.
Fernandez and Montero are Miami residents who had recently arrived from
Cuba.
A freighter crew heard cries for help 20 miles south of Key West and found
the immigrants in the water.
A survivor told investigators that one of the smugglers expected to make
$40,000 from the trip, and another survivor said he had been charged $8,000 for
the illegal passage.
Also, the U.S. Customs Service said Wednesday that one of its boats was
rammed by a boat carrying 15 Haitian immigrants and two Bahamians.
The boat was racing from Freeport, Bahamas toward Palm Beach County when two
Customs boats began chasing it. Agents used ropes to disable one of the boat's
two engines. As agents approached, the boat tried ramming one of the Customs
boats. No one was injured.
All 17 aboard were transferred to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter pending
repatriation.
Ex-drug czar: U.S., Cuba should cooperate against trafficking
By Anne Usher . Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Anti-Castro sentiment is preventing the United States from
helping Cuba combat drug traffickers' increasing use of the island as a transit
point for cocaine and marijuana, former White House drug policy director Barry
McCaffrey said Tuesday.
McCaffrey said the Bush administration should ask a reluctant Congress to
approve sharing intelligence on drug operations and develop targeted training
programs with the Cuban government.
He said domestic outrage with President Fidel Castro, heightened during the
Elían González case and the shooting down of a plane carrying
three Miami activists, prevented him from opening a dialogue with the Cubans on
ways to jointly fight drug trafficking.
"Our current policy is mistaken and we do need to engage them on this
issue,'' McCaffrey said in a speech at Georgetown University.
Congress has repeatedly blocked efforts to increase cooperation with Cuba on
drug interdiction, citing the belief that either Cuban officials are involved in
the drug trade or that working with them would legitimize Castro's communist
government.
About 40 percent of cocaine in the United States is transported through the
Caribbean, and Cuban waters are increasingly being used as a transit point for
South American suppliers, U.S. officials say.
Low-flying planes fly over Cuba's offshore islands, dropping bundles of
cocaine that are picked up in speedboats destined for the United States. Cuban
officials reported that in 1999 alone more than two tons of cocaine from
airdrops washed ashore.
Cuba has denied the U.S. Coast Guard permission to enter its waters in
pursuit of drug smugglers. But in the past 10 months, Cuba has allowed the Coast
Guard to station an officer there to help monitor drug shipments on a
case-by-case basis. The officer is known to have participated in only one drug
seizure, of marijuana, Coast Guard Cmdr. Brian Kelley said Tuesday.
U.S. officials also installed a direct telephone line between Coast Guard
officials in the region and Cuban border troops after McCaffrey concluded in
1999 that there was no evidence that the Cuban government was acting in
collusion with drug smugglers.
McCaffrey, a retired general, suggested on Tuesday increasing the joint
effort by placing a Coast Guard admiral over a counter-drug center in Key West,
with the Cuban border patrol also represented there.
Simon Henshaw, a State Department officer handling Cuban affairs, said the
Coast Guard officer has had little success in dealing directly with the
appropriate Cuban officials.
Protest threat cancels more Cuban artists' concert dates
By Daniel Chang. dchang@herald.com
The manager of West Palm Beach's Carefree Theater canceled a concert by the
Cuban jazz group Irakere on Tuesday after receiving threats of protests by
Cuban-American exile groups from South Florida.
The cancellation is the latest in a series of cultural events that have been
moved or called off over potential protests by exile groups opposed to the
presence of Cuban artists. Earlier this week, the King Center for the Performing
Arts in Melbourne canceled a March performance by the Cuban orchestra
Cubanismo!. Two events featuring Cuban performers at different venues in West
Palm Beach also were canceled this week.
In the last two weeks, the threat of protests has caused the National
Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences to move the Latin Grammys music awards
show from Miami back to Los Angeles and led to the cancellation of the National
Ballet of Cuba at Miami Beach's Jackie Gleason Theater.
But the cancellations in venues outside of Greater Miami are unusual.
King Center Executive Director Steve Janicki said he received many phone
calls and letters asking him to cancel the March concert by Cubanismo!.
"Our purpose for booking the show was to attract the Latin market,''
Janicki said. "[But] once the information was delivered, we got letters and
phone calls asking us to reconsider. So we did.''
Roland Guilarte, the Cuban-born co-producer of the Cubanismo! event, said he
was surprised by the reaction but added that perhaps he shouldn't have been.
"As a Cuban American, I can understand their concern that we're letting
performers from Cuba come in, and that money we would pay them goes directly to
uphold the Castro regime,'' Guilarte said. "Maybe I was just naive.''
KRAVIS CENTER SAYS NO
At the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, administrators decided against
scheduling Cubanismo! after meeting with leaders of local exile groups, director
Judith Mitchell said. The Kravis Center has presented Cuban musicians previously
without incident.
Jon Stoll, owner of the Carefree Theater, also in West Palm Beach, said he
canceled a Sept. 8 show by Irakere rather than "risk my employees' or
patrons' safety based on a projected threat of protesters that are now telling
us they're going to come up from Miami, West Palm Beach and everywhere else to
protest.''
LETTERS AND CALLS
Stoll said he received numerous letters and phone calls from the Cuban
Patriotic Coalition of Palm Beach County and Miami's Vigilia Mambisa groups.
There were no threats, Stoll said, but the potential for unrest was enough to
dissuade him.
"Nobody's telling us they're going to hurt people,'' Stoll said. "But
how do you know? How can I possibly guarantee anybody's safety when a large
group of people are protesting outside a theater?''
In a letter to Carefree Theater dated Aug. 18, the Patriotic Coalition said
it was "firmly opposed'' to the concert and "plans proper alternatives
to carry out a protest that will be announced on time to convene the community
to participate.''
In 1978 Irakere, which then included trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, became the
first Cuban band to play in the United States since the Cuban Revolution. A year
later, the group won a Grammy in the Latin music category but wasn't allowed
back in the country to claim it.
In recent years, however, the group has toured the U.S. several times,
largely without incident.
Ernesto Priede, coordinator of the Patriotic Coalition, which represents 16
Cuban-American exile groups that claim more than 1,000 members, said the groups
felt insulted by the scheduled presence of Cuban musicians and outraged that the
concert would take place on the day of the Virgin of la Caridad del Cobre,
Cuba's patron saint.
"We didn't agree with Cuban communist musicians coming to perform in
our area,'' Priede said.
"That was a provocation, a lack of respect and it's offensive on
whatever date. But much more on the day of the Caridad del Cobre to come play
there.''
INTENTION TO PROTEST
Priede said he faxed a press release to Stoll, informing Stoll of the
groups' intention to protest.
"We never said how many people,'' Priede said, "but we expected a
lot of people there, even people from Miami.''
Miami's Vigilia Mambisa had chartered a bus and planned for 30 protesters to
demonstrate at the concert, said Miguel Saavedra, the group's founder and
leader.
The Kravis Center's Mitchell said, her meeting with the Cuban Patriotic
Coalition was nothing less than cordial.
"There was no such suggestion [of violence] on their part,'' Mitchell
said, "and I would certainly not expect that of this particular group of
very statesman-like gentlemen who came to visit me.''
But the meeting did not change Mitchell's mind about scheduling Cuban
artists in the future. Los Fakires is scheduled to perform at the Kravis Center
on Nov. 18.
"We've never factored any of those kinds of political discussions into
any of our artistic decisions,'' Mitchell said. "We're dealing with
artists, and art is about people being able to express themselves.''
Herald staff writer Elaine de Valle contributed to this report, which
also was supplemented by material from The Associated Press.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
