A Prize for Yoani's Bruises

Alex, from A Grand Illusion blog, has a great post about how Cuban exile hard-liners may be "deadly scared" about the moderate political views of Yoani Sanchez, the famous Cuban blogger. In his post, Alex highlights Yoani's past moderate viewpoints and mainly responds to Mauricio Claver-Carone, from Capitol Hill Cubans, who earlier this week tried to convince Yoani that those 178 U.S. Representatives who support the lifting of travel restrictions to Cuba are really trying "to take advantage of our [Cuban] family's diversity, in the hopes of hindering our united purpose."

This desperate attempt to deceive Yoani with a tale of Congressional conspiracy absolutely reveals that hard-liners, like Claver-Carone, ARE afraid of Yoani's moderate views, and the global attention they may generate.

So how are hard-liners going to deal with Yoani? Very carefully. This means they will emphasize Yoani's criticism against the Cuban government, acts of repression against her, but when it comes to her views on U.S. policy towards Cuba, she will have no voice. This has been the pattern with all other dissidents, many of whom do not support many aspects of U.S. policy.

If you don't believe me, here's a good example. The Cuban Liberty Council (CLC), one of Miami's most powerful Cuban exile organization, awarded Yoani Sanchez their "Heroes of Freedom" prize last Saturday. The award comes after Yoani has been blogging for about two years, has already gained worldwide attention, and her blog recognized with several international awards.

Why did it take so long for the CLC to award Yoani?

Simple, she's not hard-line enough. Like Alex showed in his post, in the past Yoani has not shown to be a hard-liner or militant. At least not as hard-lined as previous winners of the "Heroes of Freedom" prize, such as Roger Noriega, Mel Martinez or Carlos Gutierrez [full list of previous winners, PDF]. So, the CLC, like other organizations, kept their distance, suspicious of her authenticity.

So what made the CLC change it's mind? Answer: Yoani got beat up by Cuban state agents on November 6th.

After being violently attacked by Cuba's repressive machinery, Yoani recieved her bona fides for the CLC. You see, Yoani's writings were not enough, it took bruises and trauma for the hard-line to embrace Yoani because she now shared their pain. But, most of all, now the CLC had good propaganda: Yoani's traumatic experience would be used as proof of the evil Cuban government.

So why do I think this is what ultimately convinced the CLC?

After the violent incident on Nov. 6th, hard-liners on Radio Mambi (and other media outlets) seemed vindicated. Armando Perez-Roura, programming director of Radio Mambi, gave increased attention to Yoani Sanchez, reading her account of the incident on Radio Mambi, even quoting her entire blog post about the incident in his weekly column for Libre magazine. A rare move.

It was finally reported on November 17th that the CLC would award Yoani Sanchez the "Heroes of Freedom" prize for "her valor, her defense for the civil liberties of the Cuban people, and for the violent attacks she fell victim to, she deserves [the prize], but mostly for knowing how to get the attention of the world with her novel cybernetic struggle." The day of the award ceremony would fall on November 21st, the same day CLC would hold their annual fundraising dinner originally titled "A Cuban Evening with Albita" (Note that this post of the event from Nov. 11th had no mention yet of the award to Yoani, possibly meaning that CLC had not yet reached a consensus to award her).

On November 19th, CLC President Diego Suarez explained to Diario Las Americas (Ena Curnow) that they contacted Yoani "close to about 15 days" ago regarding giving her the prize. That estimate falls very close to the day Yoani was violently assaulted. According to Suarez, Yoani responded by saying it would be "a great honor."

On November 21st, the CLC fundraiser and award ceremony was attended by Diego Suarez, Ninoska Perez-Castellon, Luis Zuniga, Manuel Alzugaray, the new Mayor of the City of Miami, Tomas Regalado, and (of course) Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart.

All names above support U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba.

Yoani Sanchez does not support U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba.

But the CLC does not care.

[Photo by Sergio Alsina. (Left to right) Ninoska Perez-Castellon, Alberto Hernandez, Diego Suarez]

Go Get 'em Mel!

Mel Martinez is a very interesting person. And things just keep getting more interesting with this man.

Last August, rumors of his early resignation were finally confirmed, and by early September the first Cuban-American to serve the U.S. Senate was saying farewell more than a year before the official end of his term. Martinez had stressed the care of his family being the reason for his early departure, but Radio Mambi hosts expressed their disappointment with the decision nonetheless. The people elected him to serve his term, and he let them down they would say. "I'm sorry if I disappointed," he told readers of El Sentinel.

But, just two weeks after his Senate farewell speech, he had found another job. A job where he could fulfill one of his lifelong passions:

"Even though I will no longer hold public office, my passion to work and devote myself to seeing a day when the people of Cuba can live in freedom will continue."

Martinez now works for DLA Piper, one of Washington's major lobbying firms. And, also one of the biggest at hiring former government employees.

But, most importantly, Martinez joins DLA Piper partner Ignacio Sanchez, a strong supporter of economic sanctions towards Cuba since the 90s, and one of the authors of the controversial Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. Sanchez has also been a long-time active member of hard-line Cuban exile organizations, such as the Bridge of Young Professional Cubans (whose goal was to "contribute to the overthrow of the Fidel Castro government and the reconstruction of Cuba"[1]), the Cuban American National Foundation and the Cuban Liberty Council (CLC).

Some may recall the name Ignacio Sanchez when in 2007 he was pressured to resign from the CLC due to revelations from Miami Herald columnist Ana Menendez. It was revealed that Sanchez provided legal representation to a foreign company with links to the Cuban government (the ultimate taboo for exile hard-liners and militants).

But, since the 1990s Ignacio Sanchez has been providing his legal expertise to several foreign companies that want to know more about the extraterritorial obstacles of the U.S. embargo (which he coincidentally helped design). What first began as providing legal advise at the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren, Sanchez now works with the mega-law firm DLA Piper and also lobbies for some of the largest global companies that stand to win or lose big once U.S. policy toward Cuba changes.

For example, Sanchez lobbies for the General Cigar Company, "the largest manufacturer and marketer of premium, imported, hand-made or hand-rolled cigars" in the U.S. and the company in a trademark dispute with the Cuban government over the Cohiba brand. Sanchez also lobbies for Diageo PLC, the "largest multinational beer, wine and spirit company in the world" that recently lost a bid to buy the makers of Absolut vodka. Diageo lost to Pernod Ricard, the French spirits consortium that has a joint partnership with the Cuban government and in a trademark dispute with Bacardi USA over the Havana Club brand.

So, Mel Martinez and Ignacio Sanchez will make a great team. Both in fact supported the now-defunct Cuban family travel restrictions back in 2004. At the time, Sanchez described the restrictions as necessary to "achieve freedom and liberty." And, Mel Martinez, then running for the Senate seat, was reported to have "helped craft"[2] the travel measures. But, when Pres. Obama took steps to repeal the travel restrictions earlier this year Martinez had a change of attitude and replied warmly with "some suggestions" [PDF], and even said that the President was "approaching it the right way."

(These remarks made Martinez a target on Radio Mambi, with one regular guest calling them "infantile and among the stupidest." [@3:37])

Anway, despite the fact that DLA Piper has a whole history of problems already (related to former House Majority Leader and DLA Piper member Dick Armey, and controversy over lobbying for a government that was violating human rights in Africa), I wish the best for Mel Martinez.

Even though his wisdom in the past has not been the best.

[Related articles]
- "A Deal Martinez Couldn't Resist" by Daniel Ruth
- "Martinez, His New Boss Aren't Strangers" by William March

[1] January 17, 1993. El Nuevo Herald. "Jovenes tienden puente de ideas entre Cuba y Miami" by Ana Santiago.
[2] October 19, 2004. The Miami Herald. "Castor, Martinez get testy on issues in debate" by Beth Reinhard and Marc Caputo.