Reply #165: It's a dirty, old story, the inexcusable behavior by the Miami hardliners toward Nelson Mandela!

[Judi Lynn]

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There have also been tensions in relations between Cubans and blacks over non-economic matters. The most famous dispute was in 1990 when Miami’s Cuban mayor and other politicians refused to honour Nelson Mandela when he visited, as he’s previously proclaimed his support for Fidel Castro. So powerful are the Cubans in Miami that even as black activists protested black members of the city and county commissions refused to stand up for Mandela. I can’t imagine that happening in any other American city.

http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the_cubans_of_miami/

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Penelas apologizes to NAACP for 1990 Mandela snub by Miami

Associated Press
Posted July 14 2003, 11:23 AM EDT

MIAMI -- Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas apologized Monday to the NAACP for the snubbing former South African President Nelson Mandela received from local officials 13 years ago.

Penelas told 10,000 delegates at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's 94th annual convention that he went to Mandela's home two years ago to apologize but that the South African leader was ill and unable to meet with him.

``I sat there to correct the wrong. I hoped to offer then, and I offer now, an apology to Nelson Mandela for the way he was received in Miami,'' Penelas said to a standing ovation.

A three-year black tourism boycott of the Miami area began after some city and county officials refused to welcome Mandela in 1990 when he spoke to a union's national convention at Miami Beach. Local Cuban and Jewish leaders had condemned Mandela's links to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Penelas is one of five Democrats seeking the U.S. Senate seat of Bob Graham, who is running for president.

More:
http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x11056

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“Let us not forget given the Cubans special status they were given things no other group in the US was ever given before or after ... There was a wonderful movie made in 68 entitled Popi (starring Alan Arkin) as a Puerto Rican janitor in NY faking his children were Cuban so he could give them a better life ...
Are older Cuban-Americans patriotic: NO ... sorry! At one time Miami had its own foreign policy: Nelson Mandela was not let into Miami because he shook hands with Fidel ... and what about the bridge that was going to be named for that bomber? What about Orlando Bosch (real patriot there) and what about what happened to Emilio Milian?
No, I guess I have not walked in their shoes ... but I wonder if Chicanos, or African Americans or anybody else were given the same gifts the US gave to Cuban refugees ... hmmm ... I for one left Miami because I was getting sick of the right wing hegemony ...
And I hope that someday when and if they can go back to the patria ... I can go home and walk around freely without fear of right wing political nonsense ...”

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rIgkiZft38AJ:www.huffingtonpost.com/social/KaAp/charlie-crist-endorsement_n_400722_36866464.html+Miami+Cubans+hate+Nelson+Mandela&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

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~snip~
During the 1980s, Mas mobilized against Nicaragua's Sandinista government in the Cuban American community. Oliver North's diary refers to Mas Canosa's secretary, Inés Díaz, and to Jorge Mas next tot a notation for $80,000.
In 1986, CANF sponsored U.S. appearances by Jonas Savimbi, head of the rebel group backed by South Africa and the United States in the Angolan civil war, where Cuban troops were fighting on the side of the government forces and against South African troops who were invading Angola and occupying Namibia.
In April 1990, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela called Cuba an inspiration and praised its love for human rights and liberty. When Mandela visited Miami two months later, tens of thousands greeted him at an anti-apartheid rally, but local politicians retaliated for his praise of Cuba by refusing any official welcome, leading to a Black-led tourism boycott of Dade County that lasted three years.

More:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/24/113949/572/720/522012

What a delightful culture, South Florida. :eyes: