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Mika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 10:41 AM
Original message
Lawsuit by Cuban defector accuses exiles of threats, intimidation
Edited on Mon Jan-07-08 10:42 AM by Mika
This article sheds some light on Miami-Dade county's political climate.

Intimidation, death threats, broadcasting phone #s and addresses, allowing callers to suggest various actions (legal and illegal, nonviolent and violent) to be taken against any voices of moderation are all daily occurrences on Miami's numerous hard line exile radio stations and local TV shows.

Yes, ladies and gents, the intransigent hard line exile's claim that they 'made Miami what it is today' is indeed true. :think:


Lawsuit by Cuban defector accuses exiles of threats, intimidation
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/07/america/NA-FEA-GEN-US-Cuban-Defector-Lawsuit.php
The Associated Press
Monday, January 7, 2008

MIAMI: When former Cuban Gen. Rafael del Pino defected to the U.S. in 1987 by flying a twin-engine Cessna to Key West, it was hailed by President Ronald Reagan's administration as one of the greatest intelligence coups in the long Cold War against Fidel Castro.

At the time, del Pino was the highest-ranking Cuban military officer to defect to the U.S. — following a career as a fighter pilot he had been deputy chief of staff of Cuba's armed forces.

Twenty years later and living in Miami, del Pino wrote a pair of articles last summer in Spanish-language newspapers calling for a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations. That prompted a hostile backlash from prominent members of Miami's Cuban exile community, known for its virulent hatred of President Castro.

Now, del Pino has responded with a federal lawsuit seeking thousands of dollars in damages for what he claims is a campaign by Little Havana notables to silence him by using popular Spanish-language television and radio stations to unjustly criticize him. Del Pino even claims he was threatened with a mob lynching on one radio program.

The intent of this campaign, del Pino said in the lawsuit, was to "harass, intimidate, and ultimately execute" him and his family.

The targets of the lawsuit, including leaders of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association and Spanish-language network Univision Communications Inc., say the claims of threats are overstated and that they have a free-speech right to criticize del Pino's views.

"Having been brought up in a repressive communist regime, he's not used to being criticized," said Miguel De Grandy, attorney for Radio Mambi talk show host Martha Flores. "It's a matter of being able to forcefully express a different point of view."

Passionate debate between moderate and hardline Cubans over relations with the island nation is common in Miami, particularly on Spanish-language radio and TV. Many Americans undoubtedly remember seeing on television the large protests during the saga of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy rescued at sea who was returned to family in Cuba in 2000 by the Clinton administration.

Although increasing numbers of Cuban-Americans support a more moderate approach to the island, those who favor lifting the U.S. trade embargo or liberalizing travel rules often face a barrage of criticism from Cubans with traditional hardline views, said Benjamin Bishin, a political science professor specializing in Hispanic issues at the University of California at Riverside.

"The problem seems to have been reduced in the last few years, but I have heard stories about prominent pollsters reporting moderation in the community being threatened with death by hard-liners as recently as a couple of years ago," Bishin said. "It's not widely appreciated that political bombings and attempted assassinations were not uncommon in Miami in the 1970s and early '80s."

What's also unusual about this case is the high profile of the participants and del Pino's decision to fight critics through a federal lawsuit.

The defendants include former CIA operative and Bay of Pigs veteran Felix I. Rodriguez, a city commissioner in the neighboring community of Hialeah and the host and producer of a popular television show.

Yet even when he defected in 1987 there were many Cubans in Miami who said they could never forgive Del Pino's role in the CIA's failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion that attempted to overthrow the fledgling Castro government.

"This guy fought against us at the Bay of Pigs. He killed some of our people," said Pedro P. Rojas, a one-time spokesman for Bay of Pigs veterans.

Del Pino had lived quietly for years in Miami until last summer, which he published articles calling for negotiations with interim Cuban leader Raul Castro, who assumed power in 2006 following his brother Fidel's bout with a serious abdominal illness.

A few weeks after those articles appeared, a mock trial of del Pino was held on a local Spanish-language television station with the host, Oscar Haza, acting as a prosecutor and three Bay of Pigs veterans including Rodriguez as the judges. Ultimately, del Pino was labeled on the show as a "traitor of the Cuban Revolution" and a "Cuban double agent spy," according to his lawsuit.

"The participants appeared hostile, outraged and threatening toward del Pino during the program," the lawsuit added.

Before that, a caller to a Radio Mambi program about del Pino suggested that he should be snatched by a mob and lynched on Miami's famed 8th Street, or Calle Ocho, which runs through the heart of Little Havana. And del Pino's home address was given out on the television program.

Del Pino is apparently not living at that address now, and attempts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful. A lawyer representing him did not respond to messages left for him.

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 2 in federal court, seeks at least $75,000 (€50,000) in damages but also asks that U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro find that all of the defendants were involved in a conspiracy intended to silence him and order them to stop spreading what he calls "hate speech" about him.

Ungaro has already dismissed the case against one defendant, agreeing with Radio Mambi host Flores that del Pino did not have sufficient legal grounds to proceed against her. Ungaro noted that on a radio program, "extreme opinions and inflammatory commentary are more acceptable than they might be in some other setting."

The remaining defendants have also filed motions to dismiss for a variety of legal reasons, some of them seeking to reverse del Pino's argument of harassment by claiming that it is he who is trying to quell free speech. Ungaro has not ruled on those motions.

Univision, which owns Miami radio stations on which some of the comments against del Pino were made, denied in court papers that there was any conspiracy against him or that threat of physical violence were made.

"Del Pino has no grounds whatsoever to obtain legal cover for his desire to have opinions and actions go unchallenged by Bay of Pigs veterans who are exercising their First Amendment right of free speech," Hialeah Commissioner Esteban Bovo, a Bay of Pigs veteran, said in court papers.




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Billy Burnett Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 11:08 AM
Response to Original message
1. Very true.
When I scanned the radio dial in Miami last week it was a chilling listen-in to some seriously disturbed callers and hosts.

Many of the rabid exile callers are PISSED at Bushco, because they didn't liberate Cuba with a bombing campaign like they did for Iraq. :crazy:

Many like Ghouliani because they think he'd shock and awe Cuba and allow exiles to return to boot the current commies 'occupying' the homes that they abandoned 47+ years ago. Commies who resist US occupation ("liberation") should be executed by firing squad as should all members of Cuba's government.

Obama, Clinton, and Edwards are all commie tools of Castro.


Then, there's the Castro/Chavez connection on Miami exile radio ... :wow:



:hi:


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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 02:11 PM
Response to Original message
2. It's a real shame these right-wing hardliners can control that entire town with their terror tactics
You'd think the federal government would have FINALLY done something about this, as things got out of hand a very long time ago, and stayed that way!

The FBI named Miami "terror capital of the United States" years ago, and Human Rights Watch and other rights agencies have condemned this climate of intimidation and lethal coersion time and time again:
In February 1992, a few weeks after the militant exile group Alpha 66 demonstrated outside the radio station, three men broke into the building late on a Sunday night, looking for Aruca. Informed he wasn't there, they beat and tied up the operations manager and ransacked the station. Terrorists have also firebombed Marazul Charters--in 1989 and again in 1996--attacks that Aruca says were directed at his radio program. No one was arrested in any of the incidents and police never accused Alpha 66 of a link to the beatings at the station. "We have constant pressure on us," says Aruca. "We are a well-listened-to program, but companies cannot advertise with us. They are afraid."

Aruca is not the only journalist who has been targeted in Miami. Emilio Milian, the general manager of another Miami radio station, WWFE 550-AM, has sharply criticized anti-Castro terrorism. He lost both legs when his car was blown up in 1976.

Human Rights Watch/Americas issued reports in 1992 and 1994 that condemned the perils to free expression in Miami and warned that right-wing radio stations were inciting groups to violence. "Only a narrow range of speech is acceptable, and views that go beyond these boundaries may be dangerous to the speaker," said the 1994 report, the last study the group made of the region.
(snip)
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=766

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It really rubs some of us the wrong way to think of these absurd, brain-dead, obnoxious bullies actually running a U.S. town this way, just to make sure no one dares to air views they don't like. It's truly an insult to the entire country, and a black eye to a government which pretends to value human freedom, and "homeland security."

Sure glad Rafael del Pino got out of that house the radio hosts were identifying before the mobs started showing up, just to deprive them of the satisfaction. I've heard of this stinking practise in Miami for many years, and I'm surprised to see a Miami newspaper actually went wild and mentioned it publicly for the whole country to see!

Yes, indeed, these are Bush's beloved BASE. He's made trip after trip after trip to Miami to bathe in their nasty friendship, using Miami as a launch pad for some of his truly unworthy speeches, among his gibbering, leering, violent fans, even dragging a known BOMBER/assassin on stage to sit behind him for publicity. Just one big happy family if you are criminally insane!

The saving grace to this story is that they targeted a real asshole, someone probably just as obnoxious as they are, who stole an entire airplane to make a political statement instead of getting a visa, and buying an airplane ticket the way 20,000 Cubans are invited to do each year, per extravagent U.S. arrangement.
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 02:21 PM
Response to Original message
3. It's a shame you didn't post this one in LBN! The degree of intimidation, the sense of entitlement
these clowns wield as tools, exhibit proudly, are an affront to the entire country! What a damned shame.

Their little offensive patron, Jorge Mas Canosa bragged to the Spanish paper, El Pais long ago, that they own/control Miami. Too bad they also believe they get to write all the laws that suit their purposes.
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Mika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 07:36 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. I almost did put it in LBN. But it would've been moved here in 5 minutes by mods.
If you've noticed, the Latin America country forum has become a favorite parking place for most all Cuba news topics (even LBN material).

As you've pointed out at the inception of the DU Latin America forum..



.. Cuba is a Caribbean country.


Maybe, some century, EarlG/Skinner will see fit to create a proper forum for Caribbean countries. :shrug:



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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 10:18 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. You betcha it would have been zapped back here in no time at all, no matter how many of Bush's
administration are Cuban "exiles," how many U.S. taxpayers' dollars get blown making life a living hell for Cubans through horrendous acts of extraterritorial buggering of nations attempting to trade with Cuba (considered illegal all over the world) through wasting kazillions of US taxpayers' bucks sending US agents to haunt airports in Canada, combing passenger manifests in hopes of catching all the US citizens trying to sneak into Cuba through a third country, over $25,000,000.00 wasted per year beaming in Radio and TV Marti with propaganda, claiming they are kept from getting news from the outside world (although you and other DU'ers have all seen tv and listened to radio from the US all over Cuba WITHOUT satellite dishes, even picking up radio stations on Walkmen) and money on elaborate stupid tricks like handing out all kinds of radios so Cubans can hear Radio Marti more often, and the millions sent every year for "walking around money" for Cuban "dissidents," not to mention shipments we read about like thoses which were caught recently going to these poor, bedraggled "dissidents" of leather jackets, cheeses, chocolate, etc., etc., etc. ON OUR DIME!

Yeah, U.S. taxpayers are paying out the wazoo for this, and may even be forced to fund an illegal invasion of Cuba by Bush, but God forbid we should post any of these stories in LBN!

Well, maybe all the islands AROUND Cuba are the Caribbean islands, Mika!
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struggle4progress Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 08:42 PM
Response to Original message
5. Lemme see I got dis straight: dey's sayin dat cuz de dood's from Cuba 'e ain't used
Edited on Mon Jan-07-08 08:43 PM by struggle4progress
to de right peoples has here t'threaten to whack 'im if 'e don zip 'is lips?

Like de right t'life and t'liberty, dey sees a sacred right t'put a pair a concrete overshoes on dem dat disagrees widja?











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Mika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-07-08 08:50 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Exactly!
:rofl:


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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-08-08 02:06 PM
Response to Original message
8. You know, Mika, if ordinary people resort to this kind of crap on the public airwaves,
Edited on Tue Jan-08-08 02:07 PM by Judi Lynn
they'd be wiped off the face of the map, wouldn't they?

Can you imagine leftist talk hosts waging war on a daily basis about specific people in a neighborhood, raving on and on about the fact they perceive certain others as their "enemies" politically, reading out charges against them, then publicly giving out their addresses and phone numbers?

My GOD!

I learned years ago that a woman who had written a Letter to the Editor to the Miami Herald, criticizing one of Miami's mayors was horrified and astonished to hear her doorbell ringing one night after 9:00 p.m., and looked out only to see the Mayor, himself standing on her front porch. He had decided he was going to go over to her house to straighten her out! She called the cops, and refused to speak to him. Good idea.

As for the radio stations, it's obvious nothing will be done, and they do have more control than they should, and it's a damned shame. That behavior would NOT be allowed in any other large town. They truly are flaunting their power in Miami. It's a national embarrassment that they are getting by with it. Very, very shabby, and second rate.

Doesn't take any hard mental work wondering why these same people were so hated in Cuba.

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Mika Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-17-08 08:27 PM
Response to Original message
9. Cuban defector's lawsuit dismissed against exiles, media outlets
Cuban defector's lawsuit dismissed against exiles, media outlets
http://www.miamiherald.com/775/story/383184.html
MIAMI -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Cuban defector who claimed he was harassed and threatened publicly by other Cuban exiles, including broadcasters and Bay of Pigs veterans, for speaking out in favor of improving ties with the communist nation.

U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro ruled in a series of motions this week that Rafael Del Pino, a former Cuban general who defected in 1987, had a weak case and that strong criticism against him on TV and radio programs was permissible under the law.

"The court cannot now find that such comments were sufficiently outrageous to support a claim for relief," Ungaro wrote.

Del Pino wanted the judge to stop his critics from continuing what he claimed as a campaign to silence him after he published newspaper pieces last year calling for improvement in U.S.-Cuba relations. He also sought damages of at least $75,000 for "emotional distress" caused by the alleged threats.

Among the incidents cited by the lawsuit was a "mock trial" of Del Pino on one Spanish-language TV program that concluded he was a Cuban spy, and comments made by a caller to a Radio Mambi program that Del Pino should be lynched on the main thoroughfare through Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

Defendants in the case included the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association, its president Felix I. Rodriguez and other leaders, Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc. and hosts of popular Spanish-language TV and radio programs. They contended they have First Amendment rights to criticize Del Pino.

Some of the defendants are now seeking payment of attorneys' fees by Del Pino. His lawyer, Richard Burton, did not immediately return a telephone call Thursday seeking comment.

Del Pino, now 69, was the highest-ranking Cuban military figure ever to defect to the U.S. when he flew a small plane to Key West in 1987. His court papers say he has spent most of his time in this country providing unspecified assistance to the U.S. government.





I guess that in order for Del Pino to have a "claim of relief" a mob will have to lynch him on Calle Ocho (right in front of the Versailles restaurant, where Code Pink was attacked by an exile mob) as per constant instruction by the exile hosts & exile callers of these shows.





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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jan-19-08 06:22 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. Miami Mafia scores another win, as anticipated. What a damned shame. Too bad Miami can't
start its own revolution and throw these assholes out.

They have really screwed up a perfectly decent town, or it was when they got there in the early 1960's. In no time, the FBI named it "Terror Capital of the United States," once they kicked up their wars on people supporting dialogue with Cuba, started bombing everything in reach, then the U.S. Census Bureau had to name Miami "Poorest City in the United States with a Population Over 500,000," a multiple occassion award, thanks to some ham-fisted, ballot box stuffing, sticky fingered "exile" politicians.

What a mess.

Eventually, after enough OTHER people move into the area, the "exile" bloc is going to become significantly diffused, and they can kiss their power over the entire state goodbye. It won't be one moment too soon.

Until then, we can count on the drawing power of the broad assortment of generous material U.S.-taxpayer-derived-benefits offered only to Cubans in the Cuban Adjustment Act to keep luring more and more Cubans to Florida, making them instantly legal, getting them enrolled in our voting system in no time at all, with Cuban "exile" politicians telling them how they're going to vote, after they are educated and informed on current affairs by the "exile" controlled radio stations, and "exile" targeted newspaper. Smooth!
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