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03/17/13 -  Progreso Weekly (Miami) - Yoani and the 'Cuban spy' game  
   
>From the On Two Shores blog

MIAMI - The Miami Herald publishes an editorial asking for "bipartisanship"
and a show of "diversity" during the upcoming visit of Yoani Sanchez to the
U.S. that left me wondering whether they really think their readership (the
serious ones anyway) are dupes.

"But we were taken aback by the reaction of some Cuban exiles who are
calling her ugly names on blogs and Spanish-language radio because they
have just "discovered" her position on the U.S. embargo of Cuba.


MIAMI'S FREEDOM TOWER

"Would they be Miami pawns of the Cuban government, trying to stir things
up to once again turn the true hurt of exiles into an ugly exhibition of
hatred?"

Are you serious? Herald Editorial Board. One thing is for the intellectual
giants at Babalu, Vigilia Mambisa and Radio Mambí to spin ridiculous
conspiracy theories and climb all over each other trying to show who' more
intolerant. Quite another is for a supposedly serious newspaper to jump in
the mud with them.

If the Cuban American members of Congress don't meet with Yoani in
Washington because the meeting was organized by Democrats Bill Nelson and
Joe Garcia, or because they don't agree with her stance on the embargo, it
shows one thing only: playing partisan games in the U.S. and winning
elections in Miami is more important for them than change in Cuba. Period.
A meek call for "unity" isn't going to change anything.

A much better use of the Herald's editorial ink would be to finally take
the extremist Cuban American wing to task for their vile practice of
calling everybody who doesn't toe their orthodox line a communist, a Cuban
spy or Castro collaborator. If they are so worried about giving the exile
community another black eye, there's a good place to start.

Oh, and one more thing:

"Mr. Payá was killed last year in an automobile crash in Cuba, and the
truth has now been confirmed by the driver of that vehicle, a Spaniard who
is serving his time for vehicular manslaughter in Spain. From Spain he
finally spoke freely: His car was run off the road into a ditch by Cuban
government operatives who had been following them"

While I have a lot of respect for Paya's family and support their desire
for an independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding his death
- if such a thing is possible at this stage - Carromero's recant confirms
nothing. First of all, as the guilty party if is was a negligent accident,
he has the most to gain by presenting himself as a victim. Second, we have
to buy that the other survivor, Jens Aaron Modig, was placidly asleep
during a tense vehicular persecution that lasted hours. Third, where's the
other corroborating evidence?

Where are the famous text messages? And why did he wait until he was in
front of Paya's daughter to tell his version, and not when he got back to
Spain months ago? There's plenty of room for skepticism here, and a serious
newspaper would question more and investigate more before declaring his new
story "the truth".