Owing to a reporting error, staff writer Jacob Bernstein incorrectly stated in "If El Exilio Doesn't Get You, Uncle Sam Will" (June 18) that Miami businessman Hugo Cancio violated the terms of the U.S. embargo of Cuba by not securing State Department approval for a Miami Beach concert featuring Cuban musician Issac Delgado. In fact, the concert itself was not a violation of the embargo. Questions subsequently raised by the U.S. Treasury Department concerned alleged payments by Cancio to the artist, among other things. New Times regrets the error.
I'll Have a Six-Inch Meatball on Wheat -- and Hold the Larceny
I applaud New Times for uncovering something I was not aware of. In Robert Andrew Powell's story "Taking Subway for a Ride" (June 11), I was amazed to learn that fast-food restaurants such as Subway hire convicted criminals. I go to this eating establishment with my family and co-workers. What other local restaurants are doing this?
There are enough criminals walking the streets of Miami. I don't need to worry about what crime a Subway manager has committed in the past. Hara Frankel should be ashamed that she has allowed the safety of her restaurant to be endangered by criminal elements. There is no need to hire ex-cons; there are plenty of honest people with no criminal records who are willing to work.
This practice should be stopped. I am disgusted with Subway and Hara Frankel's lack of consideration for the customers who eat at her Subway every day. Criminals belong in jail, not serving me my lunch in a public place.
Marshall Washington
Miami
Arabs and Blacks and Bad and Better
Regarding Tristram Korten's article on Arab-owned stores in the black community ("Miami's Own Middle East Melee," June 11), it has been my experience that Arab owners are more considerate toward me than Hispanic or black owners .
In Detroit, which has the nation's largest concentration of Arabs, there is a harmony and a dialogue between the owners and the communities the stores serve. It is not so difficult to do the same here. If we have the NAACP complaining about the situation, why, with the clout this organization possesses, isn't it helping blacks open their own stores?
Unity and respect from both sides of this conflict will determine its positive or negative resolution. Come on, Miami, we've already proven how destructive and standoffish we can be. We can and must do better!
Eric Emerson
Miami
Sarajevo, Jerusalem, Miami
We have no business being critical of the Bosnians and Serbs or the Israelis and Palestinians if we make the question of where to shop a matter of race, nationality, or ethnicity.
Although there is no doubt that Arab store owners in Overtown and Liberty City are out to make a profit, there is a certain extending of the hand that business owners must commit to, and that entails risking rejection, finding friends in the community, and overcoming cultural differences. This, I am sure, has been done, but you just don't hear about it.
Has it occurred to anyone to focus on similarities with his or her Arab brothers and sisters rather than on the differences? Has it occurred to anyone that the Arabs may be saying, "Brothers and sisters, we feel we have something in common with you"? What would Mohammed have said? What would he have done? How would Martin Luther King, Jr., have handled the situation?
There is too much war and turmoil in this world. Now is the time for Christians and Muslims in Miami to get together and show the world that we are indeed one. Now is the time for peace and love, not war.
Manny Losada
Miami
Lame as a One-Winged Chicken
After we read Steve Capellini's review "Speed Limits" (June 11) about India Chicken Tandoori restaurant, a friend and I decided we would go there for dinner that very evening. We drove all the way from South Beach, where we live, to the restaurant in North Miami Beach. When we arrived, we saw that it was closed. Upon closer inspection, we saw a sign on the door dated May 12, which effectively said, "Due to a lengthy illness of the owner, the restaurant will be closed for a good while."
I love New Times, but I couldn't help feeling that it was somewhat lame that a featured restaurant had been closed for the past month. Because of the fly-by-night nature of restaurants, especially unestablished ones such as India Chicken, wouldn't it maybe be smart to double-check before publishing a review?
Greg Falkenstein
Miami Beach
Editor's note: Our apologies. India Chicken owner Firoz Chunara assures us that his restaurant will reopen no later than July 1. As always, however, we recommend calling before visiting in order to confirm operating hours, prices, and availability of specific menu items.
First You Get the Money, Then You Get the Power, Then You Get the Women, Then You Get It Wrong
I don't like Jim DeFede's style of writing. He leaves me with the feeling that he doesn't like people. So it gives me great pleasure to be able to point out to him that Al Pacino's character in Scarface was Tony Montana, not Montoya ("Tales from the Script," June 11). Montana, Montoya, Montoyo, Montano, Montino, Montosa, Montoto. Do all Spanish names sound alike to him? Does he care?
Tony Garcia
Miami
Liver Lover's Lament
A few observations about Jen Karetnick's review of Robert's Place ("Second Coming", June 4): The word "starter" in French is masculine, and the adjective that qualifies it should also be masculine.
One does not "pass off" duck liver as foie gras. Duck liver, as well as goose liver, is foie gras as long as it comes from force-fed birds. Actually, connoisseurs prefer the duck. Foie gras may be called "maison" only if it was received raw at the restaurant and cooked there. Last time I had foie gras at Robert's it appeared to be the commercial kind.
Foie gras should never be served with croutons but with freshly toasted bread slices kept warm in a folded white napkin. It is heresy to serve gherkins, cornichons, or chopped onions with foie gras. They do not enhance its delicate flavor but overpower and kill it.
Jean-Pierre Miquel
Coral Gables
Mariel: Ignorant and Racist
I resent the statement of Damschroder Boothe ("Letters," June 4) that the 1980 Mariel boatlift brought to Miami Beach an influx of a marginal element who subsequently produced marginal offspring. All the Marielitos I know (and I'm one of them) are very well educated, and we adapted easily to this system. We work, we pay taxes.
The problem is not the people coming to these shores. The problem is greed and the drugs that were used before and after the boatlift, and also people like Boothe who refuse to see the truth and blame a scapegoat.
Bernardo Gutierrez
Miami Beach
Mariel: Try Plymouth Rock
With regard to Damschroder Boothe's comments, I'm sure the true native population of the Americas would agree that the boatlifts of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth centuries brought hordes of a marginal element to these lands!
Lee Allison
North Miami Beach
Mariel: He Begs to Agree
I have four very strong words to say in response to Damschroder Boothe's letter about the present state of South Beach: Yes, yes, yes, yes!
G. Randall Sherwin
Sunny Isles Beach
