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Cuban-American group focuses
on Washington lobbying
By Madeline Bar- Diaz,
Miami Bureau. Sun
Sentinel, March 16 2007.
When the U.S.-Cuba Democracy Political
Action Committee held its annual luncheon
at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables last
year, the political wattage in the room
rivaled the grandeur of the historic landmark.
Then-Gov. Jeb Bush; incoming Gov. Charlie
Crist; U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.; Republican
presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback
of Kansas; and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman
Schultz, D-Weston, were among those at the
late-December gathering of the 4-year-old
group.
Several of the politicians praised the
PAC, whose quick ascent as a lobbying arm
of the pro-embargo segment of the Cuban-American
community has drawn comparisons to the Cuban
American National Foundation, once the sole
voice of the exile community and now one
of the many such groups.
Mauricio Claver-Carone, Washington director
of the Hialeah-based PAC, said his group's
mission is strictly in Washington, D.C.,
speaking to congressional representatives
and candidates about Cuba's human rights
violations and its dissidents, as well as
pressing the embargo. It does not want to
help lead South Florida's Cuban exile community,
he said.
"Another Cuban organization was not
needed. The void was in Washington and that's
the void we wanted to fill," Claver-Carone
said. "The grand overwhelming majority
of organizations, of leaders in the Cuban-American
community, have really coalesced around
it."
The PAC and its board include members of
the foundation, as well as other anti-Castro
groups such as Mothers Against Repression.
Foundation spokesman Alfredo Mesa in Miami
praised the PAC's work and said while it
shares the PAC's views on the embargo, "the
foundation's scope of advocacy is much broader
... the foundation is not a PAC. It is an
institution. We complement each other because
both entities have dynamic and effective
leaders bringing attention to the plight
of Cubans."
The PAC, which has contributed almost $900,000
to Democratic and Republican congressional
candidates, was formed after Congress authorized
U.S. food exports to Cuba and the business
community started pushing for more access
to the Cuban market, Claver-Carone said.
The PAC has raised almost $1.5 million.
"The congressional debate on Cuba
had turned to purely commerce," he
said. "The human factor was totally
forgotten."
The clamor for more trade with Cuba gained
strength after the 1997 death of Jorge Mas
Canosa, who had led the foundation from
its inception in 1981 and was widely considered
the leader of the Cuban exile community.
"I think there's no question that
if you look at the timing, it was horrible,"
Claver-Carone said. "I think it's not
a coincidence. It's unquestionable that
Jorge Mas Canosa and the strength of his
figure ... brought a sense of unity."
After Mas Canosa's death, the foundation
opened a Washington "embassy"
that they closed a few years later. In 2001,
more than 20 members of the foundation resigned,
complaining its new leaders, including Mas
Canosa's son, Jorge Mas Santos, were making
unilateral decisions.
Philip Peters, of the Lexington Institute,
an Arlington, Va.-based think tank, said
there is no comparison between the foundation
of old and the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC.
"Back in the day, Jorge Mas Canosa
was the undisputed leader of the Cuban-American
community," Peters said.
The PAC's mission of maintaining the 45-year-old
embargo is crucial as Cuba deals with a
leadership transition, Claver-Carone said.
In July, the ailing Fidel Castro ceded power
to his brother, Raul Castro.
Several Cuba watchers have said that when
Fidel Castro dies, the totalitarian government
he established will remain in place under
his brother. That is why the PAC wants to
keep the embargo, Claver-Carone said, to
force democratic changes.
"You [run] a marathon and we're in
the last 50 yards of the marathon,"
he said. "You can't have leverage if
you kind of trip and fall in looking at
the finish line."
Madeline Bar- Diaz can be reached at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com
or 305-810-5007.
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