Reply #35: Who will ever forget the obnoxious damage they did Democrats during the 2000 Presidential election

[Judi Lynn]

Miami-Dade vote recount? How about all those tv news cameras picking up their images as they waddled around wearing their "Gore-Loserman" signs? They took Joe Lieberman's slavish, obsequious bowing and scraping to get their support and shoved it back up his whatsis.

Have Bullhorn, Will Travel
Most anti-Castro groups shun partisan presidential politics, but not Miguel Saavedra and his merry band of protesters
By Jacob Bernstein
Published: December 7, 2000



Laura Vianello and Miguel Saavedra: Vigilia Mambisa ringleaders

The call came over the airwaves as it had so many times before. On Wednesday, November 22, Radio Mambí (WAQI-AM 710) and La Poderosa (WWFE-AM 670) reverberated with the cries of political advocates, among them U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and state Sen. Mario Diaz-Balart, urging people to descend on the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown Miami.
(snip)

It was no secret which political party the majority of local Cuban Americans supported. Stung by Elian Gonzalez's violent removal in April, a popular slogan in Little Havana this past summer was "Mr. Clinton, we will remember in November."

But this time few heeded the call. In fact only one anti-Castro exile organization of the scores that operate in South Florida reinforced the Republicans. Vigilia Mambisa mustered about 25 people for a demonstration outside the county hall, where they gamely shouted, "We want Bush! No more Gore!" Leading them in the chants through his bullhorn was Mambisa president Miguel Saavedra. He and some of the others, encouraged by GOP officials, would continue to follow the Republicans throughout the week as the demonstrations moved from Miami-Dade to Broward and then on to Palm Beach.
(snip/...)http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-12-07/news/have-bullhorn-will-travel/

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Update to this article:

Unpublished Update to Story on Miami's Cubans
Since these stories were published, it has become clear that those protesting inside the building of the Miami-Dade recount consisted primarily of out-of-state paid Republican campaign workers, congressional staff (including an aide to Tom DeLay), and one Congressman (Lincoln Diaz-Balart). The number of Miami Cuban protesters was relatively small, perhaps only a couple of dozen. They were mostly from a small but tightly-disciplined Cuban splinter faction, Vigilia Mambisa, which has been accused of organizing protests for a fee. (The group's leader denies the accusation.)

Vigilia Mambisa particpated actively in the Bush electoral campaign, some of its members being paid to call radio stations from Republican phone banks. The CANF, in contrast, remained neutral during the election, preferring to cultivate its political influece with both political parties.

All this however increases rather than reduces the importance of the connections laid out in my published story. The protest in the building was in accordance with a permit obtained jointly by the leader of Mambisa and the Republican Party. The day after their victory in Miami-Dade, Mambisa followers were bussed to Fort Lauderdale in Broward County. After a day of protests there, they took part in the victory banquet, to which Governor Bush phoned to express his thanks. In both counties, the Cubans were thrust in front of the TV cameras, to create the false illusion that the demonstrations were the spontaneous outbursts of local citizens.

Do not forget the role of CANF's Radio Mambi in reinforcing this illusion. The whole precedure, which involved violence in intimidating and obstructing the Canvassing Board, is now seen as an event planned and orchestrated jointly by Cuban extremists and elements in the Republican Party.
(snip/...)

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pdscott/pdsup.html

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What's even creepier, after all the Miami hardcore "exiles" did to screw Al Gore in the election, Joe Lieberman STILL staggers back to Miami to suck up to these guys.

I agree so much with your comments on their sticking it to the Democrats who should just ignore them and start making an effort to concentrate on the entire REST of Florida, for crying out loud. They should not be allowed to wield such inordinate power, and they wouldn't if they weren't so skilled at playing politics like madmen, using the U.S. right-wing's psychotic hatred of everything different from themselves as the lever.