Miami Mayor to Apologize for 'Mandela Moment'

[Judi Lynn]

Miami Mayor to Apologize for 'Mandela Moment'

Saturday, July 12, 2003

MIAMI — Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas (search) said Monday he would make an official apology to former South African president Nelson Mandela (search) next week.
"If Mandela were in Miami today, I think he would receive an official welcome." Penelas said.

Thirteen years ago, that was not the case. In June 1990, Miami's politically powerful Cuban exile community protested a visit by Mandela, newly released from a South African prison, for his praise of Fidel Castro (search), arch-enemy of Cuban exiles but friend of the anti-apartheid movement.

Despite pleas by local African-American leaders, the cities of Miami and Miami Beach, along with Miami-Dade Country, refused to recognize Mandela when he visited the area for a labor conference. The Miami City Commission rescinded a proclamation honoring Mandela.

Tourists angry at the Mandela snub launched a boycott that cost the city $25 million in lost revenue. Business leaders helped end the boycott in 1993, but tensions continued in the 1990s between blacks and Cubans after several incidents where Miami police roughed up Haitians.

Penelas, one of five Florida Democrats running for the U.S. Senate, said there was nothing political about the coming apology, and denies trying to woo black voters. (snip/...)

~~~ link ~~~

[Nambe]

1. Wow, a Miami mayor poking those nasty Cubans in the eye!

My impression of the Miami Cubans is not possitive. Supposedly they are the ex-wealth elite and escaped criminals. They sure act like it.
Whatever, good for Penelas.

[Catt03]

2. Penelas did not support Gore

in miami when he was needed, before and during the recount.

He also stayed silent when Miami snubbed Madela in 1990, now wants to apologize and says it is not political? Sure.

[Nambe]

3. I retract my earlier 'good for' statement. My dog ate the truth!

I shall begin calling her Tenet.

[dmr]

4. Knowing Alex

This is a politically motivated apology.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Wow, how lucky can you get????

I was just rummaging around in google, looking for an article discussing Alex Penelas's great idea of running for the Senate seat Bob Graham seems likely to void, and found this odd photo album of Alex Penelas. I wonder if there are any other mayors who put their publicity photos on the internet.


Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and Commissioner Rebeca Sosa present (left to right) Whitt McLamore, son of James McLamore co-founder of Burger King; Nancy McLamore, widow of James McLamore; Dave Edgerton, co-founder of Burger King; and Stephen Cerrone, executive vice president, Worldwide Human Resources Burger King Corporation with a street sign designating Red Road/ NW 57th Avenue “Whopper Way” on December 11th, 2002 during the dedication ceremony of the Burger King Corporation world headquarters – located at 5505 Blue Lagoon Drive or “One Whopper Way” -- to the Edgerton and McLamore.

Cool, huh? Penelas is the world famous super celebrity second from the left. Too bad he screwed over the Democrats so wildly during the Gore campaign, and the vote recount. I don't think many Democrats will EVER forget that bit of cowardly, sneaky, slimey treachery.

Alex Penelas wants you to see his photos, apparently:
http://www.co.miami-dade.fl.us/PhotoGallery/gallery2002.htm#January

[Mika]

6. 13 years later..

This has taken 13 years of boycotts and 'negotiations' for Miami to grudgingly acknowledge the obvious wrongdoing. 13 years.

And now Penelas finally has something to say about this? (((Sniff sniff - do ya smell "exile" poop?)))

-

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/elian/interviews/curry.html

Every time some prominent person comes to Miami-Dade, if they've had any contact with Castro, this community goes nuts. Mandela came here back in the 1980s, and because Mandela had some kind of relationship with Castro, the Cuban mayors would not give him a key to the city, nor even honor him. That is asinine. Everything is about Castro. It just tears up the whole community, fighting against that one man 90 miles away. Go fight him, go back to your homeland and do whatever you have to do. But don't cause chaos in this country and in this county trying to fight a war that you're afraid to go back to Cuba and fight. I don't think you tear up the whole community because you're trying to get to one bearded man.

[study_war_no_more]

7. this is why democrats lose votes

Dennis K all the way.

[Judi Lynn]

10. This is a wonderful article

by Victor Curry, President of the NAACP in Miami-Dade.

It will open eyes of DU'ers who have not heard much about the very strange environment in Miami, which actually allows a very small group of people to dominate Florida politics, and the 29 electoral votes, unfortunately.

People need to get organized and reclaim the power which was filched by some grimey, sneaky, UNDEMOCRATIC people.

Thanks, Mika. :hi:

On edit:

I wanted to include this clip, concerning Janet Reno from the article:

(snip) We said, "Would you all go get the real Janet Reno and send this one back?" Because that's not the Janet Reno that we knew here in Miami-Dade. Janet Reno was tough. I love Janet Reno. Janet Reno is the only white lady I know who can walk down the center of Liberty City, in the Martin Luther King, Jr. parade without any bodyguards. And people would applaud. Black people in the middle of an African-American community would run out of the audience and hug her neck. She walks down the middle of the street, with no bodyguards and no police around. So we know her as a no-nonsense person.

When she came down here and negotiated, that was not Janet. What was Janet was that Saturday morning of the raid, to go in there, get that boy and get out of there. We were surprised that it took so long. We knew something was going to happen. When the mayors said that they were not going to help the federal government, when Lázaro stood up and said they're not giving up the child, when some of the people made a human chain around the house, I said, "They don't play with the federal government that way." You do not threaten them. You do not back them in a corner. Something had to happen. And when they came and took Elián, I was not surprised. (snip)

Yaaaaaaay. WoooHOOOOOOOO! :bounce:

[Mika]

11. Don'tcha just love the Fauxnews title? Re: Mandela Moment

Faux news title in lead post: Miami Mayor to Apologize for 'Mandela Moment'

Moment?? :wtf: Thats more than laughable.

13 years is now a 'moment'.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Contemptible.

Consider the source, right?

[Mika]

8. Mas Canosa, the CANF, Clinton, Mandela snub...

(JudiLyn, I think you will appreciate this link)

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JBFranklins/canf.htm

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. 

For more than a decade, Mas has been able to control local officials in south Florida. One of his power tools is Miami Mayor Xavier Suárez, a CANF ally who has sat in the mayor's chair since 1985. CANF's politics dominate the City Commission. As one of Mas's associates told The Miami Herald, "I can't believe it. You sit there and watch him deal with commissioners and he treats them like chauffeurs." Then he added, "If I am quoted, I will be destroyed." 

On the level of state government, Mas is chair of the Free Cuba Commission, which advises Florida's governor on policy toward Cuba. Every official understands the consequences of not agreeing with the commission's advice.

Both senators, Republican Mack and Democrat Graham, follow the dictates of CANF. After Ileana Ros-Lehtinen became the first Cuban American in Congress, CANF last November helped elect a second one from Florida, Republican Lincoln Díaz-Balart. 

CANF's influence in Congress is not confined to the Florida delegation. In 1988, for example, CANF helped right-wing Democrat Joseph Lieberman unseat then-Republican Senator Lowell Weicker of Connecticut. Weicker wanted to improve relations with Cuba. Lieberman, on the other hand, has joined Graham, Mack and Fascell on CANF's Blue Ribbon Commission for the Economic Reconstruction of Cuba, of which Malcolm Forbes Jr. is honorary chair. 

Mas pays special attention to the two congressional committees with the most direct influence on policy toward Cuba: the foreign-relations panels of each house. Dante Fascell, who chaired the house committee until he retired last year, has been in Mas's pocket consistently. 

--

Why do Democratic political leaders like Bradley, Graham, Torricelli and even the President do the bidding of this man? Some people answer that Mas is a multimillionaire power broker whose organization donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians. For example, in April 1992, with his Presidential campaign grasping for money, Governor Clinton, in what The Boston Globe called "a Faustian bargain," attended a CANF-sponsored fund-raiser in Miami's Little Havana and announced to cheers, "I have read the Torricelli-Graham bill and I like it." He also declared that the Bush Administration "has missed a big opportunity to put the hammer down on Fidel Castro and Cuba." Clinton was rewarded with $125,000 and received an additional $150,000 at another CANF-sponsored event the same day in Coral Gables. Just before a key vote on the bill last September, Presidential candidate Clinton issued a press statement urging Congress to vote for it. Clinton's fee of $275,000 was cheap, merely half the $550,000 given by Cuban Americans to President Bush on October 23, the day he went to south Florida to sign the Cuban Democracy Act into law.

(And some anti Cuba DUers insist that this picture was just a coincidence photo)

CANF founder and Clinton fundraiser Jorge Mas Canosa & Bill Clinton

[Judi Lynn]

12. Important article, Mika

Bill Clinton indulged these @$$####$, and look at what it got him! They actually dispise him for not getting vicious with Cuba, and for the Elian rescue.

This is a signifigant segment of your valuable article, concerning some well known Democrats doing the bidding of the Cuban "exiles":

(snip) Two days before the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, The Miami Herald reported that prominent Cuban American attorney Mario Baeza, partner in the prestigious Manhattan firm Debevoise & Plimpton, was about to be nominated to the post of Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. The next day, Baeza's name was crossed off the list of State Department nominees sent to Congress. Why? Because he had been zapped by the political machine of Jorge Mas Canosa, chair of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF).

Word from Mas was enough to send three influential Democrats--New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley, Florida Senator Bob Graham, and New Jersey Representative Robert Torricelli--scurrying to President-elect Clinton, who obediently canceled the nomination. Although the pretense persisted for weeks that Mas Canosa's word was not absolute and the nomination was simply "on hold," María Echaveste, deputy director of personnel for Clinton's transition team, said on the day Baeza's name was stricken that he was definitely not going to get the job.

Who is this Jorge Mas Canosa with the influence to veto the President's first choice for the State Department's top Latin American post? How did he get the power to reshape the budding Administration's foreign policy?

In March, the Scripps-Howard Foundation gave its Service to the First Amendment award to David Lawrence Jr., publisher of The Miami Herald, for a series of columns he wrote after Mas launched a campaign against the Herald and its sister publication, El Nuevo Herald, in January 1992. Lawrence had editorialized against the so-called Cuban Democracy Act. Designed by CANF, the legislation to tighten the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was about to be introduced by Torricelli and Graham. Mas denounced the Herald as a tool of Fidel Castro. Death threats and bomb threats followed against Lawrence and other Herald executives. Newspaper vending machines were smeared with feces. Recognizing that it takes courage to disagree with Mas Canosa, the Scripps-Howard Foundation praised Lawrence's "brave, balanced reaction in the face of threats both to his life and to his profession."

Last August, Americas Watch and the Fund for Free Expression issued a report about abuse of human rights in Miami, documenting a campaign of intimidation and terror and criticizing U.S. Government "encouragement, primarily through funding, of groups that have been closely identified with efforts to restrict freedom of expression." The "principal example," says the report, is money granted to such groups as the Cuban American National Foundation, led by Jorge Mas Canosa. (snip)

[Mika]

13. Clinton's campaigning pandering to the CANF was the tip off

How long is the list of bombings, fire bombings, car bombs, and assassinations perpetrated by the Miamicuban anti Cuba "exiles"?

Its not a secret, it is published in the Miami-Dade Organized Crime Bureau files.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2000-04-20/mullin.html

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/071298cuba-plot.html


How could any Dem candidate pander to some of the most violent terra groups in America? Its simply shameful.

[Mika]

9. Penelas is a weasel

Jim DeFede: Sword hangs over Alex Penelas
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/jim_defede/6291255.htm

``I was an early and strong supporter of Al Gore. I helped him and President Clinton raise millions of dollars and I helped him win Miami-Dade County by 30,000 votes.''
-- Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas


When Alex Penelas made those comments last month, they created an uproar. Anyone who actually followed the 2000 presidential election remembers Penelas abandoned Gore in the final months of the race, and worse, had turned his back on his supposed friend during the infamous Florida recount.

And yet in recent weeks, Penelas has been trying to rewrite that history. Campaigning to be the state's Democratic nominee next year for the United States Senate, Penelas has portrayed himself as a party stalwart who stood shoulder to shoulder with Gore.

Penelas' words angered his rivals.

U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, who is also running for the Senate seat being vacated by Bob Graham, referred to Penelas as ``a pathological liar.''

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, another Senate contender, laughed at the notion Penelas helped Gore, describing Penelas instead as ``a negative inside the Democratic Party machinery.''

All this rancor made me wonder if Al Gore had heard about the mayor's boastful claims that he was a ''strong supporter'' of the former vice president and that he was instrumental in helping Gore gather votes in Miami-Dade County.

''I had heard that, yes,'' Gore told me when I reached him by phone on Saturday.
What did he think of the mayor's revisionist memory?
Gore paused for a moment.
''I don't have any comment on that,'' he said. ``I would just prefer not to comment on it.''
But then he quickly added: ``I don't rule out commenting on it at a later time, but I don't care to comment on it right now.''

more.. (the last three paragraphs are right on the mark)

[MaverickX]

15. Mandella was wrong..

To praise the Cuban government.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Nelson Mandela believes he is correct in feeling appreciation for Cuba

which helped his country remove the oppresion of the apartheid.

(snip) On the US embargo on the Cuban people, Nelson Mandela himself clearly sees no connection between it and the anti-apartheid sanctions that he supported against his own country. On the contrary, in a speech at a banquet in honor of Fidel Castro, in September 1998, he said:

As the beneficiary of international solidarity that helped make it a member of the community of free nations, democratic South Africa is proud to be amongst the majority of nations who affirm the right of the Cuban people to determine their own destiny, and that sanctions which seek to punish them for having decided to do so are anathema to the international order to which we aspire.

Indeed, in the same speech, Mandela praised Cuba's role in Africa and that his country's newly won freedom was due, in no small part, to "Cuba's selfless support for the struggle to free all of South Africa's people and the countries of our region from the inhumane and destructive system of apartheid."

On the subject of alleged human rights abuses in Cuba, in an earlier address to a South Africa / Cuba solidarity conference in Johannesburg, 1995, Mandela said:

Many people, many countries, including many powerful countries, have called upon us to condemn the suppression of human rights in Cuba. We have reminded them they have a short memory.

For when we battled against apartheid, against racial oppression, the same countries were supporting the apartheid regime. A regime that represented only 14 percent of the population, while the overwhelming majority of the people of the country had no rights whatsoever. They supported the apartheid regime. And we fought successfully against that regime with the support of Cuba and other progressive countries.

They now want to be our only friends, and dare to ask us to renounce those people who made our victory possible. That is the greatest contempt for the morality and the principles which are the basis of our relations, not only with the various population groups in this country, but with the entire world. (snip/...)

http://members.attcanada.ca/~dchris/CubaFAQ103.html

Speaking of people who were wrong, Dick Cheney favored keeping Nelson Mandela in prison. Since Mandela was released, with great celebration all over the world, Dick Cheney has attempted to portray Mandela as mellowing, or maturing, or some such utterly depraved nonsense.

On edit: It's painful for rightwing extremists to relinquish their dream of devastating the Cuban government and returning it to the clutches of the rightwing monsters against whom the people rebelled in the first place.

I've heard it expressed that the Cuban people are not at all disposed to letting this happen.

[Mika]

17. Mandela is correct

The Cuban government has consistently come out on the decent and just side of most issues. (Although, I do disagree w/the death penalty.)
S African apartheid, IMF, WTO, NAFTA, sovereignty, labor unions, parental rights, etc.

[MaverickX]

18. Yeah right..

I guess authoritarianism is just fine as long as progressives run it. I don't really trust Mandella and frankly don't put him on the same level as Martin Luther King Jr. Mandella was a terrorist at one point. His wife was also convicted of politically motivated murders.

[Judi Lynn]

27. Didn't really consider your assessment of Nelson Mandela immediately

Then it occurred to me that I had never heard anyone calling him a terrorist. That suddenly looked like something to check.

I entered "Nelson Mandela" terrorist in google, and this is the very first entry. It seems to be a collection of observations offered by a group of well read, seasoned deep thinkers:

(snip)
. mrkpz, on 3/6/03, said:


Amnesty International refused to help this Guy because he was a terrorist (associated with Magabi and other Marxist terrorists throughout Africa). Did much damage to his countries ecconomy and massivly increased it crime. Now preaching heavyly against America (supporting Sadam Husain).

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2. JusticeForAll, on 1/31/03, said:


Isn't it apparent that the most vocal supporters of Saddam and loudest critics of Bush are affiliated with , have ties to, or tendencies torward communist beleifs? Like A.N.S.W.E.R, the WWP, The Socialist Workers Party, Ramsey Clark, C. Clark Kissinger who is longtime Maoist activist and member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, and of course our wrongly revered Neslon Mandela.

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3. BIGBABY, on 2/8/03, said:


Too bad he's a terrorist and gets such high poularity. This idiot hates all Americans and he is pro Saddam. I think its time for regime change in South Africa (just kidding).

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4. pellehermanni, on 6/8/02, said:


Criminal! He belongs in jail!

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5. Jaws, on 2/4/03, said:


How the hell can this guy be at the top of the list? He is a socialist. He says if there is any country in the world who has committed unspeakable altrocities it is the United States. Not Lennin, not Stalin, not Hitler and definitely not Saddam Hussein. What a dimwit. Remember, it was us who was attacked at Pearl Harbor where 2600 US servicemen died. Don't even get me started on September 11. Remember what the Japanese did to the American POW's before we nuked them? Oh, I guess that was inhumane to do. Every country seems to be crucifying the U.S. for bombing Japan except Japan. Gee...I wonder why considering what we did for them afterwards. Bush just pledged $4 billion for aids relief in Mandela's country knowing that he won't be thanked for it and Mandela continues to rip Bush a new one saying he has no business in Iraq. Hey, we have a right to protect out citizens at home and abroad. We don't need UN approval to do that! He also says that the reason there hasn't been a third world war is because of the UN yet every time someone takes up arms the UN runs and hides behind the United States and expects us to do the dirty work. What a coward.

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(snip/...)
http://www.rateitall.com/item.asp?I=B9EF8161-3AA3-4ACE-B27C-D6F5FAC2899A

This excellent study was listed in the category:
"Home > People > Politicians > International Politicians > Nelson Mandela (South Africa"

How could anyone NOT take advantage of going there and seeing just what these deep thinkers have to offer on other personalities? It sure would save us all a lot of time READING!

I would imagine the people who terrorized the black Africans for so long would see ANYONE who wanted them to cut it out as being terrorists.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Good points

Can't imagine a human being favoring apartheid, can you?

Democrats, most especially.

[MaverickX]

20. which Democrat..

Supports apartheid?

[davidinalameda]

24. Cuba sent troops to fight South Africa in Nambia

of course Mandela would issue a statement in support of Castro's dictatorship.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend thing going on here

[Judi Lynn]

21. The noble Miami-Dade mayor apologizes

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. (snip/...)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-714penelasapology,0,2673597.story?coll=sfla-news-miami

Had he only known there is an occassional great mind telling people Mandela is a villain and a failed human being, he could have saved himself the trouble! </sarcasm>

[dmr]

26. Who are the other four Dems running against pretty boy? n/t

.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Here they are:

(snip) The supporting campaign cast includes all of the Democrats who want to replace Graham in the Senate: Penelas, Deutsch, Boyd, U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings of Miramar and former state Commissioner of Education Betty Castor of Tampa. (snip/...)

~~~link~~~

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

(snip) The Republican field includes former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum of Longwood and U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of West Palm Beach. U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon of Palm Bay and state Sen. Daniel Webster of Winter Garden are also considering the race. (snip/...)

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Politics/Florida/03FloridaPOL07071303.htm

GOD FORBID MARK FOLEY SHOULD WIN THIS THING. Curses, swear words, hate filled glares!

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

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[Judi Lynn]

25. Someone closely acquainted with Miami history

has suggested it's worth remembering that Penelas Penelas made a grandstand play to his Cuban "exile" supporters when he stood on the steps of the city hall and trumpeted the news that Janet Reno and the Feds would bear the responsibility for whatever mayhem ensued, be it rioting and violence, etc. if they dared try to return Elian to his father.

I had forgotten this. He was threatening a Democratic President with complete chaos if he dared disobey the "exiles" demands.

Now THAT'S not especially Democratic, is it? Most Americans, meaning the well balanced ones, strongly supported getting that child back to his papa.

I hope Penelas drops like a rock. Democrats don't need him.

Thanks for the reminder to our friend. :hi: