Subject: M-G: Fw: Mas Canosa dies...
From: companiero-AT-gbso.net
Date: 23 Nov 1997 19:31:28




Forwarded by Liam R.Flynn <trinity-AT-hot-shot.com>
---------------- Original message follows ----------------
 From: companiero-AT-gbso.net
 To: Recipients of conference <iww-news-AT-igc.apc.org>
 Date: 23 Nov 1997 19:31:28
 Subject: Mas Canosa dies...
--

Cuban Exile Leader Mas Canosa Dies in Miami 
09:33 p.m Nov 23, 1997 Eastern 

By Patricia Zengerle 

MIAMI (Reuters) - Cuban exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa, a fierce
anti-Communist lionized by admirers as president-in-waiting of his island
nation, died Sunday in Miami, his family said. 

Mas, 58, built his Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) into one of
the most powerful lobbying forces in the United States to battle his
nemesis, Cuban President Fidel Castro. He was reviled by Communist-ruled
Havana, which painted him as little more than a fascist gangster. 

``It is unfair, it is sad, but my father will never see his land free,''
his son Jorge Mas, 34, told a news conference, as supporters at the CANF
headquarters wept and hugged one another. 

His last words, his son said, were: ``Adelante, adelante, adelante (go on,
go on, go on).'' 

``There is no doubt that right now Jorge Mas Canosa is lobbying with God
for the freedom of our land,'' said CANF President Pepe Hernandez. 

Alberto Hernandez, Mas' personal doctor and CANF vice-chairman, who is
widely seen as his successor at the head of the foundation, said Mas died
of complications from lung cancer. 

The news plunged Miami's Cuban-American community into mourning. The city
is the center of an estimated 800,000-strong South Florida Cuban community
that sprang up following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, in which Castro took
power. 

His family said Mas would lie in a Little Havana church in Miami Monday and
be buried following a Mass Tuesday. They hoped one day to return his
remains to a post-Communist Cuba. 

In Vancouver, President Clinton mourned the death of the Cuban exile
leader, calling Mas a forceful voice for freedom in Cuba whose ``dream
lives on.'' 

Clinton issued a statement saying ``Jorge's vision'' led to the creation of
Radio Marti, which beams U.S.-funded radio broadcasts into Cuba, and called
him a man ``whose tenacity, strength of conviction and passion I greatly
admired. 

``We have lost a forceful voice for freedom in Cuba and elsewhere, but his
dream lives on. He will be missed,'' Clinton said. 

``With Jorge Mas Canosa's passing we have lost an ardent fighter who never
ceased in his efforts to free the beloved, enslaved island,'' three
Cuban-American members of Congress said in a joint statement. 

``But Jorge Mas Canosa will forever live in our hearts and in the heroic
pages of Cuba's history,'' said the statement U.S. Representatives Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, both Florida Republicans, and New
Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez. 

Mas was the most prominent exiled political opponent of Castro in the
United States and founder and chairman of the foundation, which was widely
cited for influencing the uncompromising U.S. stand on Cuba. 

In Havana, the official Cuban news agency Prensa Latina called Mas a
``promoter of anti-Cuban actions'' but steered clear of angry language to
describe him. Cuban officials had no direct comment on Mas' death. 

A millionaire businessman, Mas founded a telecommunications construction
company, MasTec Inc. which lays telephone cables worldwide and earned $473
million in revenues last year. 

In March, Hispanic Business magazine placed him fifth on the list of the
richest Hispanics in the United States with an estimated fortune of $257
million. 

Critics charged though that he fostered intolerance in the Cuban-American
community, where any perceived lack of zeal in denouncing Castro can spark
threats and violence. 

Havana frequently charged CANF with funding armed actions against the
Castro government, a charge the foundation denied while saying it
understood those who wished to take up arms against the Communist
government. 

Mas died at 1:46 p.m. EST Sunday. He had also suffered for months with
Paget's disease, a bone ailment and spent several months in a Miami
hospital. 

Cuban exile group influences U.S. policy 
05:59 p.m Nov 23, 1997 Eastern 

By Angus MacSwan 

MIAMI, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The Cuban American National Foundation, the main
Cuban exile organization in the United States, is characterized by its
hatred of President Fidel Castro and its obsession with seeing him fall
>from power. 

Since it was founded in 1981 in the exile capital Miami, the CANF has been
a powerful force in shaping U.S. policy toward Cuba. 

It has also become synonymous with its pugnacious founder, multimillionaire
businessman Jorge Mas Canosa, who died on Sunday. 

For many, the CANF stands as a beacon of freedom. But for others it is a
hard-line organization with little tolerance for dissenting views. 

Among its successes are pushing the passage in 1996 of the Helms- Burton
Act, which is aimed at curbing foreign investment in Cuba, and tightening
the U.S. embargo on the Communist-ruled island. The act provoked sharp
criticism from U.S. allies in Canada, Europe and Latin America. 

The CANF has always had close ties with the American right-wing. Former
President Ronald Reagan, addressing a CANF gala dinner by video in 1983,
said: ``Future historians will look back upon the foundation's work as an
invaluable perspective on a dark period of Cuban history...I have no doubt
that history will also record that the efforts of courageous individuals
finally resulted in a restoration of freedom to their beloved homeland.'' 

The CANF describes itself as being set up to challenge what it called the
myths propagated by the Castro government. 

``The foundation supports programs to promote respect for human freedom,
democratic values and the pursuit of prosperity with dignity and justice
for all,'' it says. 

The group has said it wanted to transcend traditional exile politics that
had brought about ``distorted stereotypes'' of Cuban Americans. But some
critics say it personified that stereotype -- rejecting any hint of U.S.
compromise with Castro, dreaming of a return to a post-Castro Cuba in which
its leaders would have a key role. 

While it has so far failed in its ultimate goal of seeing Castro leave
power one way or another, the CANF has been a successful lobbying force in
Washington. 

The Center for Public Integrity in a recent report called the CANF ``dollar
for dollar arguably the most effective in Washington.'' 

Groups with a direct interest in Cuba's future had poured $4.4 million into
U.S. political coffers since 1979, it said. ``Of that amount, $3.2 million
came from trustees, directors and officers of the Cuban American National
Foundation, which since its inception in 1981 has become the the most
potent voice on U.S. policy towards Cuba.'' 

The CANF was also instrumental in the creation of the federally funded
Radio and TV Marti, both of which broadcast to Cuba from Miami, and the
passage of the 1992 Cuba Democracy Act, which eliminated U.S. subsidiary
trade with Cuba. 

Its Voz de la Fundacion, head by the CANF's high-profile spokeswoman
Ninoska Perez, regularly broadcasts to the island.


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