Yes, he has a thing for throwing people in prison, but he's a lovable old codger: I know that many of my fellow gringos see Fidel Castro as an antiquated and irascible but basically harmless old coot -- kind of like weird old uncle Hiram who sleeps in a lawn-clipping bag and wears a flower pot on his head. They know he's an odd duck, but since they don't have to deal with him they are willing to overlook some of his more unlovely habits, like ordering the summary execution of people who flee his "People's Paradise."
Some of these friends are terribly annoyed by rules that prevent them from visiting the sunny beaches of Havana to enjoy the sultry music and cheap company of really cute slave prostitutes. They are understandably hesitant to complain too loudly about being denied the company of the hookers (and besides, as you can see in many pages of classified ads in New Times, we have a very good supply of reasonably priced whores right here in Miami) but they get downright passionate about their "right" to hear Cuban music.
In fact they get so insistent they even manage to conjure up the illusion of righteous concern for "First Amendment rights," a concept that does not seem to otherwise occupy a lot of their time. They would certainly not grant such rights to people who think Castro and his defenders are despicable pigs and want to say so out loud. No sir, that's pushing this "freedom of expression" stuff too far. They seem to think that to express even mild hesitation about allowing agents of Castro to flaunt their blood-smeared hands before the families of Castro's victims is to demonstrate less than full support for "freedom of speech."
I know analogies go only so far, but I don't think a Jewish politician would have to be "anti-freedom of expression" to fidget just a little if German skinhead pro-Nazi rock band the Landser -- whose title song in their CD Get the Enemy calls for bombing Israel into oblivion -- came to Miami Beach to perform. And I do not think an African-American politician would be inherently un-American to express just a little discomfort if the KKK requested a permit for a concert by the vocal ensemble "White Power" at the Orange Bowl.
And so for Miami-Dade mayoral candidate José Cancela to honestly struggle with the question of how to deal with people who are active agents of the bloody killer Fidel Castro -- be they bankers, auto mechanics, or musicians -- is quite human and understandable. It is to his credit that Cancela can openly express discomfort about a complex issue rather than recite a bloodless, focus-group-vetted blurb constructed to satisfy the orthodoxy of the hour.
While Brett Sokol had him blinded in the headlights of an oncoming media assault truck ("Mixed Message," September 18), please allow me to suggest what I suspect Cancela meant to say: "Hey, of course any musical group that wants to perform in Miami has a right to do so. That's fundamental and any responsible adult in public life understands that. But I have a moral obligation to think about the feelings of a lot of decent Miamians whose lives and families were destroyed by the man many of these artists support and defend. I can not blithely say, 'They have a right to perform' and move on without thinking about them, the Castro victims. I can and will balance the clear legal right of Cuban artists to perform in Miami with my right and obligation to point out that many such artists are morally reprehensible." That's what I clearly read between the lines as reporter Sokol played schoolyard "Gotcha!"
As for myself, I like the approach of New York filmmaker Woody Allen, who once said about the KKK: "I think you should defend to the death their right to march, and then go down and meet them with baseball bats."
Seth Gordon
Miami
That's what happens when you mix politics and police: Regarding all the press the county mayoral candidates are getting from Brett Sokol, I know one thing: I will not be voting for Miami-Dade Police Director Carlos Alvarez. Anyone who would say "We're more than ready" in reference to disaster/bioterrorism preparedness is politicizing public-safety issues.
Everyone in the business knows we are not "ready" on these safety issues. It's very irresponsible to make a statement like that. Heaven help us.
Mark Wolosz
North Miami
Ethics? You Want
to Know About Ethics?
Try starting with the common people who are victimized every day: I never finished reading Rebecca Wakefield's article "Please Try to Do the Right Thing, Okay?" (September 18) because immediately the answer surfaced. The Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust is targeting the wrong market. Forget the politicians; we already know how corrupt they are. To gain effectiveness and notoriety, the Ethics Commission should survey county residents about their experiences being subjected to unethical conduct by landlords, property managers, employers, hospitals, police, judges, doctors, and more.
If the commission talks to Miami-Dade County residents and gains insight into their misfortunes and the injustices they suffer, it will gain the respect and backing of the people. Begin with us, the working class. Lend us your support and we will stand by you all the way. Promise.
Alicia Banuchi
Miami
Once upon a time, Miami had a jazz scene: Because I am much older than Abel Folgar ("Where's the Jazz?" September 18), I remember a tremendous jazz scene in Miami from roughly 1965 to 1980. My friends and I would hang out in the Travelers Lounge in the Travelers Motel near the airport at NW 36th Street and NW 53rd Avenue. Billy Marcus and Eric Allison would usually headline, but many others would appear unbilled. It was always crowded with lively performers and an appreciative audience, even in the wee hours. Drinks were cheap and the lounge had the correct jazz ambiance.
Folgar mentioned several local venues that currently feature jazz nights, and I'll try to attend. I enjoyed his article.
Alan L. Bloom
Kendall
I'd toot my own horn, but I play the bass: I liked Abel Folgar's jazz story and the mention of me and the Van Dyke Café. Thanks! I just thought I'd point out that the Van Dyke is the only South Florida establishment with jazz seven nights a week -- and it is thriving there.
Also, aside from it being "cool" to listen to jazz, it would be nice in the future to point out that there are better reasons -- namely, enrichment of the soul, truly American music, and an opportunity to see live improvisation on a high level.
Don Wilner
Pembroke Pines
Wake up, folks -- it's not about jazz, it's about hip-hop: Jazz has faded into the background everywhere, not just Miami. Jazz was new, innovative, and cool in the Fifties. Not so today. The new music is rap and hip-hop, and the paradigm shift happened a few years ago. Hip-hop is what rock and roll was to the Fifties and early Sixties -- new and exciting. You look forward to turning on the radio (and now the television) because someone has come up with an exciting new sound, something you haven't heard before. Only hip-hop gives us that at the moment.
And intellectual cool? Does it still exist? Is it still desirable? I don't think so. I think nobody cares about intellectual chic and cool anymore. Today it is fame cool and money cool. It would surprise me if jazz came back. Meanwhile hip-hop is great -- and I'm 49 years old.
Matthias Muenzer
Brookline, Massachusetts
Good Enough for Government Work
They came pretty darn close to snagging a terrorist: After reading Bob Norman's article "Admitting Terror: 9/11 Revisited" (September 11), it became crystal clear to this reader what is needed in government today: a "common-sense reform" policy. We can always count on our government to get it wrong. Here we have immigration officials at Miami International Airport who screwed up big time by admitting terrorist Mohamed Atta, but instead of being disciplined they are promoted.
Look at the case of the UTD's Pat Tornillo, who should have been raked over the coals and grilled, but was let off with a slap on the wrist. The list goes on and on. The stage is set for real leaders to step up and embrace "common sense reform." Where are they?
Mark Scott
Bay Harbor Islands
Miami does not deserve the Latin Grammys: Thanks for a great "Kulchur" column by Brett Sokol about President Bush rejecting the visa requests of Cuban musicians hoping to attend the Latin Grammys ("No Cuban, No Problem," September 11). Looks like the ultra-right-wing exile leadership in Miami has scored another victory. It's a real shame they are unable to separate politics and culture. These same people have made Miami the most repressive place in the nation for free speech.
Hopefully next year the Latin Grammys will be held in another city where more tolerance is displayed and the audience will be treated to a great show, including musicians from Cuba.
Curt Bender
Dania Beach
Goose = South Africa
Gander = Cuba
If it's okay to boycott one, why not the other? Brett Sokol's "No Cuban, No Problem" was a great article, but let's cut to the chase: What's good for the goose is good for the gander. We boycotted South African artists, athletes, and commerce during the years of the apartheid dictatorship. So let's do the same for the longest-lasting dictatorship in the western world, 90 miles from here.
Frank Resillez
Key Largo
Even I, an Anglo, Enjoyed the Latin Grammys
And I liked the cultural kaleidoscope onstage: I enjoyed Celeste Fraser Delgado's "Shake" column about the Latin Grammys show ("Mirror, Mirror," September 11). I'm sure I'm not the only Anglo who enjoyed the program on television. To see blacks and other non-Latins represented was necessary to bridge the cultural divisions in Miami-Dade County. Venus Williams was stunning in a red satin dress with her gorgeous legs exposed to the thigh, and she was very gracious when interviewed.
Leslie Anne Casden
Miami Beach
America Is Not the
Center of the Universe
Sorry to disappoint you: In "Mirror, Mirror," Celeste Fraser Delgado neglected to say that there were millions of people in South America and other Latin American countries who watched the Latin Grammys show. Why do we just worry about what Anglos think? There is a whole world out there.
Cynthia Arciniegas
Coconut Grove
Tornillo ripped off public money, so isn't that public corruption? After reading Tristram Korten's column about Pat Tornillo's plea bargain ("Closed Case, Open Questions," September 4), I decided to write an open letter to U.S. Attorney Marcos Jimenez, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, and others who would sign on to this "screw the public, screw the UTD members" deal. There is no point in rehashing all that has been said and published. But to those who claim that the Tornillo debacle is a private-sector case, a tax-evasion case, in no way a public-corruption case, I say crap.
Mr. Tornillo and lobbyist Ric Sisser rammed the HIP health-insurance contract through the school board. For that Sisser got four million dollars. That money had to figure into the cost of the contract, which was paid for by Miami-Dade Public Schools, which receives its money from taxpayers. That is public money. Therefore any wrongdoing comes under public corruption.
The U.S. Attorney and State Attorney are doing a grave injustice to the public they serve if they continue with this plea deal. What else has Tornillo done to increase costs for Miami-Dade Public Schools that was paid for with public money? I ask both prosecutors to stop and rethink this arrangement. If Tornillo does not cooperate, does not spill his guts, then put him in Club Fed for five to ten years -- and check out his wife. If he cooperates, no jail time. At his age what's the point -- if he cooperates. I ask federal Judge Adalberto Jordan to reject this plea deal, for it is not in the best interest of the public.
Alan Rigerman
Palm Springs North
Forty Years of
Backroom Deals
Tornillo has stories to tell, so let's force him to talk: There is a huge doubt that the Tornillo plea deal originated locally. The number of politically connected businesses and people involved with Tornillo over the past 40 years must be quite staggering, even for South Florida! If the feds aren't interested in the entire truth, our State Attorney, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, certainly should be. Doesn't she have an election coming up next year?
How many more corruption scandals will we allow to be treated this way? I think we are owed an explanation of all of the facts pertaining to every school-related business transaction Tornillo was involved with. This could reach into billions of dollars stolen from our children and their teachers.
Ellie Monnette
Miami
How else to explain Tornillo's deal? The Tornillo whitewash just shows the kind of power Pat Tornillo has wielded. I hope that all teachers union members, whose hard-earned money was stolen by him, pack the federal courthouse to protest and object to the sweetheart deal he struck with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
I am sure that his wife will continue to live in the lap of luxury with all the money he has probably stashed away.
Name Withheld by Request
Miami
Here's why street racers only die in Miami-Dade and Broward: I thought Humberto Guida's article about street racers in Miami-Dade County ("Style & Speed," September 4) was interesting, but I don't know why I always read about all the new laws and penalties aimed at racers, and all the deaths caused by these people. The fact is they can't make enough laws or have enough police to stop racing on our streets. Ask yourself: "How can we stop or control this?" Here's another one: "Why is it that these deaths happen only in Miami-Dade and southern Broward counties?"
In West Palm Beach? Nothing. And it's not because West Palm doesn't have racers. The reason is that West Palm Beach has a racetrack for kids to do their thing safely. Broward and Miami-Dade have nothing, and kids are not willing to drive two and a half hours, one way, to race at Moroso Motorsports Park. If there were a place like that here, trust me, kids would go someplace safe to race their rides. But our leaders just create new laws and penalties, which to these kids mean absolutely nothing. Deaths will continue until someone takes control and builds a track in Miami-Dade.
I'm also a racer, but a much older one, and I don't race on the street because I have spent way too much money to risk my car on an unsafe street. And I do make the two-and-a-half-hour trip up to Moroso to race. I could go on and on but don't think you have enough room. This is an issue I feel is being brushed aside with laws that don't work.
Luis Alfonso
Miami
If you like to roll, you're in the know: In her article "Party On!" (August 28), about the drug bust at Space 34, Rebecca Wakefield noted that New Times gave the club a "Best Place to Roll" award in this year's "Best of Miami." What's the point of that? People who like to roll know where to go. All New Times is doing is alerting people who don't know anything about Ecstasy and are therefore against it.
You at New Times should be careful what you write or Miami will end up like New York City -- no clubs, no drugs, no smoking.
Lars Schlichting
New York City
Love the Dance,
Hate the Drugs
But you can't shake the reputation one has for the other: As further testimony about the situation at Space 34, I would like to share my own experience. Space 34 is the kind of place where, after two or three visits, one immediately acquaints him or herself with the "who is who" and "what is what" of the Ecstasy world. And let me tell you, this is not an underworld. It is as mainstream as any fad could get.
There are people like myself, however, who do not need drugs to enjoy the music and dancing all night. A couple of years ago I came to this city from a small Midwestern town where the term "trance" was unheard of. To find the music and the venue that makes me feel truly excited was cathartic to me. But I soon found out the dubious and ubiquitous reputation of this particular venue, which killed the whole buzz for me. Just by telling others that one frequents Space 34, one immediately becomes labeled a "roller."
From what I know, it is true that a significant number of people at Space 34 at least take pills. And not only that, GHB has taken hold as the next popular drug, and then Ketamine. Oh, and of course there is lots of cocaine around to bring you up when you feel tired.
Furthermore club employees have been known to confiscate drugs, a maneuver that has been observed and known by myself and many others. Why? Maybe for their own purposes? The worrisome part is that one does not have to be part of this scene to learn quickly what is going on and possibly be lured into it -- just by visiting such venues.
It is also evident to me that there is a serious disregard and perhaps deep ignorance as to the effects of these drugs on the brains and bodies of users. Taking my concern even further, the fact that authorities have shown little or no initiative to control the situation and have turned a "blind eye," so to speak, also shows a serious disregard for human life. I mean, someone explain to me how there can be so much drug use in a place that is surrounded by police! And how come this is the only club that requires so much police presence? Who is working for whom here?
In my opinion, the owners of Space 34 could do something if they cared. They could perhaps surprise all these lollipop-suckers in the middle of their trip with images on the club's many screens of the reality of drugs. Give them a dose of reality. The newspapers and the electronic media could also do their part by launching an aggressive and pervasive campaign to educate parents and young adults as to the consequences of chronic drug use. And most important, we have to make our youth feel they are valuable, too valuable to be bringing themselves down in such an intentional way.
This music is exhilarating in and of itself, and it brings together throngs of all kinds of people from all over the world, not for Ecstasy but for the energy, innovation, optimism, and positivism it inspires. In other words, ladies and gentlemen, this music is shaping the future of our world. So please, people, be smart and effective. Be proactive. Give a damn about our youth and stop simply antagonizing them.
Maria Ramirez
Coral Gables