Hello LeftLinkers Below is an excellent eye-witness report of the demonstrations in Miami, organised by the Cuban-American Mafia, to block the return of Elian Gonzales to Cuba. Radical Women received the report from the Cuban Consulate. It's written by a Cuban journalist in Miami who condemns the anti-Cuba thuggery and gives some telling insights. Comradely Debbie Brennan Melbourne Radical Women Organiser ________________________________________________ Subject: Eyewitness in Miami Date: 08-Jan-00 at 19:56 From: Luis Martin, INTERNET:canagc.org The Latest Commotion in Little Havana By Luis Ortega Miami Friday, January 7, 2000 On Thursday, January 6, at 12 noon, I went to downtown Miami to see what the big demonstration called for in front of the Federal Building to protest the case of the child Elian was all about. What I saw there was 300 yelling Cubans with little flags. One must realize that Miami is always congested with people and traffic. It is not exceptional for a bunch of people yelling and waving flags on a corner to create a commotion. In the meantime, I kept listening to all the Radio Mambi slogans on my car radio. I heard the ex-Commander, Hubert Matos uttering frightening screams and demanding justice. Hubert Matos has a world record on having executed a man on a wheel chair in 1959 in Camaguey province and has become incredibly rich in Miami with numerous businesses, to the extent that his son is on the run for having embezzled millions from Medicare and Medicaid. I also heard Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart who, in the tone of a media pundit, accused Castro of being a monster and insinuated that Clinton is despicable. Someday for sure there will be an investigation of the business activities of the Diaz Balarts. There are too many of them. Suddenly, the demonstrators, flags in hand and always yelling, began moving eastbound on Flagler Street (yelling is a tradition among my compatriots). Then, they sat on the street to stop traffic. I was forced to stop on a Flagler side street, I think it was on South Miami Avenue. A stout Cuban with a huge cigar in his mouth lay across the street with a Cuban flag while an old man sold Cuban and American flags at $5 each. The car horns began to sound and then I saw two men with Walkie-Talkies direct the operations. Miami police, made up of mostly Cubans, looked the other way. Mayor Carollo, probably gave them orders not to become too demanding in defense of the rights of the victimized citizens. There was a certain air of impunity to the entire show. In other more civilized cities, all would have been carried to awaiting cages in accordance with city ordinances. But, in Miami, the Cuban Mafia controls everything -judges, lawyers, police, state construction, mass media, public officials- that is, everything. Anything goes in Miami. Dubious contracts can be concocted, the public can be scammed, people can be taken advantage of, the loot of contracts can be spread around, criminals can be freed from jail with light penalties, etc. Judges here depend on the votes and campaign contributions of the Cuban Mafia. The presidential candidates come to Miami and collect millions. It's nobody's land. The Radio Mafia gave the order to paralyze Miami, something easy to do in the downtown area. In reality, there were more people on the sidewalks watching the unpleasant spectacle of these thugs stopping traffic than the number of demonstrators at hand. Let's be clear about something. They spent thousands of dollars to organize the commotion. The CANF, which is agonizing over pending trials for fraud,=DD was at the lead of it all. The show over Elian was carried out by the CANF as a vendetta against Clinton. Not knowing anything about Cuba and not having inherited his father's political chicanery, Mas Canosa Jr. felt slighted by the President's apparent willingness to rid himself of the Foundation on his recent trip to ask him for money In retaliation, the Foundation has wanted to show Clinton that they can paralyze the city of Miami, Florida. But they didn't, they haven't paralyzed anything, although they have certainly annoyed a lot of people. Miami Cubans have become a nuisance. They agitate, yell, make a scene, create traffic jams. They are a curse for the rest of the Cuban people who tend to their daily chores minding their own business. This entire event has a quality of blackmail. Although there are almost one million Cubans in South Florida, only a only a small minority participates in these extortions. Of course, Cuban campaign contributions are behind this whole thing. But the American candidates have begun to investigate where the millions are coming from. At some point, there will be an awakening and the federal government will have to ask where these amazing fortunes are coming from. When? Who knows. Corruption in Miami is asphyxiating and its impunity is intolerable. The Americans have continued to build the monster of Cuban corruption in Miami, Florida since 1959. Now they must bear it in silence. Clinton has been weak. The three candidates for Mayor of Miami have behave like imbeciles. Maurice Ferrer, for example, threatened to leave the Democratic party if Elian is deported. Carollo brayed like a donkey and Xavier Suarez went into convulsions. But now, this latest scene that I have been observing until 2:30 in the afternoon of Thursday, January 6 has something infamous that reveals the inconsistency of the Miami Cuban Mafia. Not one single Black has participated in the operations, only whites and many mulattos. And no one raised a voice to protest the deportation of 409 black Haitians who have just been deported to Haiti without considerations. They speak of human rights, but let's be clear. What they mean is rights for them only, the Cuban whites and mulattos, almost all deserters of the Cuban revolution who have taken Miami's businesses, many of them foul. Blacks have been excluded. And the Haitian and Blacks of Miami will probably take this fact into account when election time comes around. Luis Ortega is a Cuban journalist residing in Miami Translated and distributed by Luis Martin for non-profit educational purposes. -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink