BROADCASTING TO CUBA
Radio Marti & C.A.N.F. 1960-1990
part 1
1/1/60 3/31/60 David Atlee Phillips, a senior CIA operative posing as
head of a public relations company in Havana, locates a 50-kilowatt
transmitter in Germany that belongs to the U.S. Army. With the
help of the Navy, the transmitter is installed on Swan Island.
The station's funding is a secret, and its studios in Miami are
subsequently staffed with Cuban exiles. Cuban exiles also
purchase time on the station to promote their viewpoints. (RW, p. 6, n6)
1/1/60 3/31/60 Cuba announces its intent to establish an international short-wave radio service. (RW, p. 8)
1/1/60 12/31/61 Mas Canosa makes bi-weekly radio broadcasts to Cuba, through radio stations WRUL and SWAN.
2/1/60 2/28/60 According to Jorge Mas Canosa, he is arrested several
times in 1960. In February he is picked up and interrogated by
security forces. He later tells the Miami Herald of being
handcuffed to another Cuban who refuses to talk and is shot in front of
him. (MH, 4/10/88)
3/21/60 VOA resumes Spanish language broadcasts, edited "with an eye toward Cuba." (RW, p. 16, n77)
3/23/60 A memo to the Secretary of State reviews stepped-up Voice of
America (VOA) short-wave broadcasts to Cuba and other possible
broadcasting and propaganda activities against the island. (Smith &
Dominguez, p. 145)
4/1/60 4/30/60 Congress authorizes the International Communications
Agency (ICA) to use $100,000 "to cultivate friendship with the people
of Cuba and to offset anti-American broadcasts in that country." (RW,
p. 16, n78)
4/1/60 7/31/60 In 1973, E. Howard Hunt discloses that during this
period, David Atlee Phillips brags about Radio Swan's achievements in
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Allen Dulles' office.
Hunt, meanwhile, assures the leaders of counter-revolutionary exiles in
Florida that as soon as the Bay of Pigs invasion starts, Radio Swan and
other stations will start a massive series of broadcasts to urge the
people to throw out Castro. (RW, p. 6, n5)
5/1/60 5/31/60 The Gibraltar Steamship Corporation announces that it
has leased land on Swan Island off the coast of Nicaragua to operate a
radio station for broadcasting to Cuba and the Caribbean.
Strictly a commercial venture, the station is to broadcast music, soap
operas, and news from studios in New York. Corporation President
Thomas Dudley Cabot was formerly President of United Fruit, and in 1951
was director of the State Department's Office of International Security
Affairs. (RW, p. 6)
5/17/60 The CIA begins broadcasting Radio Swan throughout Latin America
to win supporters for U.S. policies and to discredit Castro.
(Warlaumont, p. 45; Smith & Dominguez, p. 146)
6/21/60 8/21/60 Cuba files a proposed short-wave radio transmission
schedule with the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva. (RW,
p. 8)
7/1/60 Jorge Mas Canosa is arrested for plastering
anti-government leaflets on buildings in Santiago de Cuba. "God
came to my rescue," he later tells the story. "I delivered a beautiful
piece of oratory. The guys around were so impressed they told the
captain, `He is innocent. Let him go.'" He is subsequently
released. (MH, 4/10/88)
7/15/60 Jorge Mas Canosa leaves Cuba for exile in Miami. (MH, 4/10/88)
9/1/60 12/31/60 Cuban radio and television broadcasts charge that Radio
Swan broadcasts are "a new aggression of imperialistic North
America." Castro charges before the UN that Radio Swan was
"placed at the disposal of war criminals and subversive groups that are
still being sheltered by [the U.S.]." In response to U.S.
broadcasting, Castro uses Cuban stations to begin propaganda
broadcasting throughout the island, jamming Radio Swan's signal.
Radio Varadero tries to project its signal to the eastern U.S. but is
often blocked by a Canadian station. (RW, p. 7, n12, 13, 14, 15)
1/1/61 12/31/61 Following the Bay of Pigs invasion and extensive VOA
broadcasting about it, President Kennedy adds $3 million to the ICA
budget for Latin American broadcasting. (RW, p. 17, n80-81)
1/1/61 12/31/61 Jorge Mas Canosa marries his high school sweetheart,
Irma Santos. They have three children: Jorge Jr., Juan Carlos,
and Jose Ramon. (MH, 4/10/88; Who's Who)
2/1/61 2/28/61 VOA announces a series of anti-Castro broadcasts to the
Caribbean and Latin America, featuring anti-Castro exiles and citing
Castro's broken promises for free elections and a free press.
(RW, p. 16, n79)
2/1/61 2/28/61 Radio Havana Cuba begins broadcasting. (RW, p. 8)
4/16/61 4/18/61 Jorge Mas Canosa participates in the CIA-directed Bay
of Pigs invasion force as part of Brigade 2506. He is squad
leader of the 1st Rifle Company, 3rd Squad, El Grupo Nino Diaz [HIGINIO
"Nino"DIAZ ANE], which is supposed to land in Oriente province to
divert attention from the main force at the Bay of Pigs. The
Grupo Nino aborts its mission upon finding that the main landing has
failed. While 1,180 other exiles are taken prisoner, Mas Canosa's
ship returns to Miami without engaging the enemy. Two other
anti-Castro Cuban exiles of future prominence are part of Mas' brigade:
Felix Rodriguez and Luis Posada Carriles, who later work for the CIA
and become figures in the Iran-Contra scandal twenty-five years
later. (Fonzi, p.23)
4/17/61 Radio Swan broadcasts the following message: "Alert,
alert--look well at the rainbow. The fish will rise very
soon...the sky is blue, the fish is red. Look well at the
rainbow." This message alerts counter-revolutionary Cubans on the
island that the Bay of Pigs invasion is being launched. During
the invasion, Radio Swan broadcasts 24 hours a day, encouraging people
to fight Castro and giving instructions to non-existent battalions.
(RW, p. 6-7, n7-10)
6/1/61 6/30/61 Jorge Mas Canosa joins the U.S. military, training as an
officer candidate at Fort Benning, Georgia. The majority of Cuban
exiles are sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, or Fort Jackson, South
Carolina. At Fort Benning recruits, such as Felix Rodriguez and
Luis Posada Carriles, receive specialized training in clandestine
communications, intelligence and propaganda. Mas Canosa is
commissioned a second lieutenant, but when he finds out there are no
plans for an invasion, he quits the Army. (Fonzi, p. 23; MH, 4/10/88)
1/1/62 12/31/62 Several stations, including Radio Caribe from the
Dominican Republic and Radio Swan, begin broadcasting programs by the
Cuban Freedom Committee, founded in Washington by Rep. Roman Pucinski
(D-IL). (RW, p. 11, n44)
1/1/62 12/31/62 Mas Canosa returns to Miami where he sells shoes and
works as a milkman. He participates in the Christian
Democratic Movement, which prints a bulletin calling for Cuban exiles
to "reconquer" Cuba. During those years, the CIA operates one of its
largest stations in Miami. Mas Canosa says he never became an
agent of the CIA, an assertion confirmed by a former intelligence
official. Instead he joins privately funded, exile-controlled
operations. [This assertion is contradicted by Fonzi, in his
description of RECE's CIA connections; see below] (MH, 4/10/88)
9/1/62 9/31/62 President Kennedy orders an expansion of VOA Spanish
services and seeks $3 million from Congress for U.S. broadcasting to
counter Cuban broadcasting efforts in the region. (Smith &
Dominguez, p. 147)
9/1/62 12/31/62 A UPI story reports that "it was made known in [U.S.]
official circles that a formula is being sought to counteract the
propaganda emanating daily from Radio Havana." (RW, p. 9)
10/1/62 10/31/62 Radio Free Dixie, organized by Robert Williams, an
American black leader under indictment for kidnapping, broadcasts from
Cuba to the southern U.S., to encourage revolution among American
blacks. (RW, p. 11, n49, 50; Warlaumont, p. 45; Smith & Dominguez,
p. 147)
10/1/62 10/31/62 Radio stations broadcast American news messages to
Cuba throughout the crisis. A new radio station, Radio Americas,
the successor to Radio Swan, joins in the broadcasting. It is
owned by the Vanguard Company of Miami, which is reportedly under the
direction of the CIA. (RW, p. 18, n85)
11/1/62 The National Security Council (NSC) directs VOA to initiate
medium-wave broadcasts to Cuba from Florida. (Smith & Dominguez, p.
147)
11/9/62 A U.S. Navy 50-kilowatt transmitter on Marathon Key, not
registered with or approved by the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) or the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), links with a
special VOA network and broadcasts to Cuba on 1040 Khz. The
broadcasts are done under temporary presidential authority. (Smith
& Dominguez, p. 147)
2/1/63 2/28/63 Radio Liberty, a CIA program aimed at the Soviet Union,
begins broadcasting in Russian to Soviet personnel stationed in Cuba
via a North Carolina medium-wave station. (Smith & Dominguez, p.
148)
6/21/63 8/21/63 Cuba begins the first electronic jamming in the
hemisphere. Reportedly, the Soviets provided the jamming device
to shield Soviet advisors in Cuba from Russian-language broadcasts of
WBT-AM Charlotte, NC, which had begun transmitting medium-wave programs
prepared by CIA-financed Radio Liberty. (RW, p. 10, n42)
1/1/64 12/31/64 Cuba begins jamming Spanish language broadcasts on VOA
transmitters in the Florida Keys to block Radio Swan and on other U.S.
medium-wave stations. (RW, p. 10-11, n43)
1/1/64 12/31/68 Mas Canosa is responsible for three weekly radio commentaries on WMIE radio in Miami.
1/1/64 12/31/64 Jose Bosch, the Bacardi Rum magnate, invites Jorge Mas
Canosa to join the anti-Castro paramilitary organization, Cuban
Representation in Exile (RECE). Bosch ostensibly gives the group
$10,000 a month and hand-picks five exiles to lead it; however, files
later reviewed by congressional investigators demonstrate that RECE was
CIA supported. Other members include Vincente Rubiera, Ernesto
Freyre and Erneido Oliva; the latter two exiles had strong CIA
connections. Through RECE Mas Canosa helps plot military raids on Cuba,
though he never mans the boats that attack the coastline or infiltrates
the island himself. RECE continues to praise commando tactics
into the early 1970s. Mas Canosa serves as the "propaganda guy" for the
group, and eventually becomes RECE's director. (MH, 4/10/88; Fonzi,
p.23-24)
1/1/65 12/31/66 Jorge Mas Canosa plans military raids on Cuba with Tony
Cuesta (the leader of Commandos L). He raises money, gets boats
and guns, and scouts bases for the group in Central America and the
Caribbean. (MH, 4/10/88; Fonzi, p.24)
12/17/66 12/21/66 Officials from the State Department, FCC, United
States Information Service (USIS), NSC, and White House
telecommunications management officials meet to discuss the
interference complaint of WHAM, a New York station licensed by the FCC
to broadcast on 1180 Khz, the same frequency that VOA is using without
approval or registration. Despite observations that the Marathon
Key station is likely in violation of the North American Regional
Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), the State Department representative
insists that continued VOA broadcasts to Cuba are "most
important." (Smith & Dominguez, p. 149)
1/1/68 12/31/68 Vincente Rubiera of RECE introduces Jorge Mas Canosa to
Iglesias and Torres, two Cuban exiles and former International
Telephone and Telegraph company employees, who had opened a company in
Puerto Rico. Mas Canosa opens a branch of their company, Iglesias
y Torres, in Miami. Rubiera also introduces Mas to Davin Finn of
Communications Workers of America, who then introduces him to E.B.
McKinney, then Southern Bell's general manager in South Florida. (MH,
4/10/88; Fonzi, p.24)
1/1/68 12/31/69 ICA research finds that six percent of a Central
American sample listens to Radio Havana Cuba programs several times
each week, while eight percent listen to VOA programs. VOA
receives more praise than RHC on "complete news," "truthfulness," and
"impartiality." However, the Miami Herald reports that "the
Rockefeller mission learned that all over Central America and the
Caribbean, Cuban radio propaganda wins out over the Voice of America
during prime time." Rockefeller tells President Nixon that the
VOA "must see to it that its programs are more attractive than those of
Radio Havana Cuba." (RW, p. 12, n53, 54)
1/8/68 Radio Havana Cuba begins broadcasting "The Voice of Vietnam" in English to the United States. (RW, p. 11, n46)
1/1/71 12/31/71 Jorge Mas Canosa buys Church and Tower -- for $50,000
-- and within a year is doing $1 million in work for Southern Bell
digging ditches, laying cable, building manholes and setting telephone
poles. (MH, 4/10/88)
4/1/73 VOA's Cuba-targeted and Cuban exile-staffed "Cita Con Cuba"
program is cut from five hours to thirty minutes. (Smith &
Dominguez, p. 150)
1/1/74 12/31/74 Jorge Mas Canosa enters the political arena in Florida
with a campaign contribution to Democrat Richard Stone, who wins a U.S.
Senate seat this year. (MH, 4/10/88)
12/1/74 The remaining half-hour of VOA's "Cita Con Cuba" program is
phased out, and the Marathon Key station broadcasts only generic VOA
Spanish service programming to Cuba. (Smith &
Dominguez, p. 150)
5/8/75 Jorge Mas Canosa testifies as an executive committee member of
Cuban Representation of Exiles (RECE) before the House Committee on
International Relations (CIS Index).
4/1/76 4/30/76 Emilio Milian is injured by a dynamite blast from a bomb
in his car. Shortly after, Jorge Mas Canosa begins driving an
armored Mercedes-Benz. (MH, 4/10/88)
6/1/76 8/31/76 Orlando Bosch initiates the first summit of Commando of
United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), with 20 men from the most
militant Cuban exile groups, including several close associates of Mas
Canosa: Ignacio and Guillermo Novo, Jose Dionisio Suarez, and Luis
Posada Carriles. In the 10 months after its first summit, CORU
takes credit for more than 50 bombings in Miami, New York, Venezuela,
Panama, Mexico, and Argentina. Among those terrorist acts are the
car bombing of former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier and the
explosion of a Cubana Airlines plane, both in 1976. (Fonzi, p. 25)
1/1/77 12/31/79 Jorge Mas Canosa has become a successful
businessman. By the late 1970's, Church and Tower is worth $9
million. (Fonzi, p. 10)
1/1/78 12/31/78 Jorge Mas Canosa tells a reporter, "Am I
non-violent? No, I am pro-violence. I think Castro should
be overthrown by a revolution...but I am short of advocating any type
of criminal activities within the ranks of the exiles or within the
sanctuary we have in the United States." (MH, 4/10/88)
6/29/79 Cranston, Alan 1000 Individual
7/3/79 Heftel, Cecil 250 Individual
11/29/79 Stone, Richard 200 Individual
12/12/79 Stone, Richard 400 Individual
12/14/79 Stone, Richard 1000 Individual
2/5/80 Talmadge, Herman 3500 Individuals
2/7/80 The FCC launches an effort to close unlicensed anti-Castro exile
radio stations operating from Florida. One station closed in
Miami belongs to the Bay of Pigs Veterans' Association. (Smith
& Dominguez, p. 150; MH, 2/9/80)
6/1/80 6/30/80 A VOA informational leaflet is published which says,
"Creating a separate broadcast `for Cubans only' would in no way
increase the supply or availability of appropriate broadcast materials,
but could rather be interpreted as a special propaganda campaign, less
credible and even dismissable." (VOA leaflet, Washington, cited
in RW, p. 23, n118)
6/16/80 Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) introduces a Congressional resolution
in support of radio broadcasting to Cuba. (Smith & Dominguez,
p. 150)
6/30/80 Gunter, Bill 1000 Individual
8/14/80 Talmadge, Herman 2000 Individuals
9/15/80 Pepper, Claude 500 Individual
10/1/80 Gunter, Bill 1000 Individual
10/22/80 Talmadge, Herman 1000 Individual
10/24/80 Talmadge, Herman 4000 Individuals
10/27/80 Hawkins, Paula 2000 Individual
11/1/80 11/30/80 Cuba gives a one-year notice that it is
withdrawing from NARBA (signed in 1950 with the U.S., Canada, Mexico,
the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic). (Smith & Dominguez,
p. 150)
11/1/80 Florida Sen. Stone loses his seat to Republican Paula Hawkins
in the 1980 Reagan landslide; Mas Canosa was one of her main
supporters. According to Raul Masvidal, a CANF founder who later
left the organization, Mas then "parked himself" in Hawkins' Senate
office. (Progressive, 6/93)
11/4/80 Talmadge, Herman 1000 Individual
1/1/81 3/31/81 Richard Allen, President Reagan's first national
security advisor, and NSC aide Mario Elgarresta meet with Raul Masvidal
and Carlos Salmon in Washington to discuss creating a Cuban American
lobbying force. "We were told that there was a chance of doing
something during the Reagan administration for Cuba if we could
organize to improve our image," according to Masvidal. Allen
remembers telling them that "the best thing to do would be to create an
organization that would speak with one voice or appear to speak with
one voice. They should take a chapter from the very successful
history of organizations like AIPAC," the American Israeli Political
Action Committee. At the meeting, Elgarresta suggests making
Jorge Mas Canosa part of the organization's leadership. Elgarresta had
been an executive for Southern Bell, for which Mas was a prime
contractor (Fonzi, p. 28; National Journal)
1/1/81 1/1/82 According to Federal Election Commission records, during
this period Jorge Mas Canosa and his wife contribute $36,000 to
national political campaigns. (MH, 4/10/88)
3/21/81 6/21/81 Writing in Foreign Affairs, Kenneth Adelman proposes
that VOA create a special program for Cubans, broadcasting "the
casualty rates of Cuban troops in Africa and their discontent at being
there, and the declining fortunes of Cubans at home." (Adelman, p. 932;
CRS, p. 15)
4/6/81 4/7/81 U.S. State Department and FCC negotiators meet with Cuban
officials in Havana to resolve bilateral differences prior to the next
Region II session of the AM broadcasting conference in Rio.
(Smith & Dominguez, p. 151)
4/14/81 The Justice Department refuses to prosecute "Commander David,"
a celebrated anti-Castro clandestine broadcaster. Clandestine
anti-Castro broadcasting increases immediately. (Smith &
Dominguez, p. 151)
5/1/81 5/31/81 Frank Calzon writes a proposal for a "Cuban American
Foundation" in Washington to be started with less than $59,000 per
year. Washington lawyer Barney Barnett, who had created the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), later advises the
group on how to create a PAC and a lobbying entity and also introduces
the Cubans to Tom Dine, executive director AIPAC. (MH, 8/11/86) The
foundation was initially composed of 14 Miami businessmen. (Time,
11/26/93)
6/21/81 8/21/81 The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) is established.
7/1/81 7/31/81 Representatives of various agencies meet at the State
Department to examine options for additional broadcasting to Cuba. (RW,
p. 26)
7/19/81 Hatch, Orrin 1770 Individuals
8/1/81 8/30/81 President Reagan and the NSC authorize "Project Truth"
to refute "misleading Soviet propaganda and disinformation" and to
"underline the Soviet threat" to world stability and security.
ICA director Charles Z. Wick directs an inter-agency committee to
coordinate Project Truth. (RW, p. 24, n123, 124)
8/24/81 8/28/81 U.S.-Cuban bilateral talks on radio interference continue in Washington. (Smith & Dominguez, p. 151)
8/27/81 Reagan administration officials announce plans to
establish a "Radio Free Cuba," similar to Radio Free Europe, to be
called Radio Marti. National Security Advisor Richard Allen says,
"The administration has decided to break the Cuban government's control
of information in Cuba...Radio Marti will tell the truth to the Cuban
people about their government's mismanagement and its promotion of
subversion and international terrorism." However, FCC field
operations chief Richard Smith states, "I've heard the plans for the
broadcasts [into Cuba] being discussed in government circles for over
some time. But I don't think anything has been decided."
Enacting legislation H.R. 5427 states "It is the policy of the United
States to support the right of the people of Cuba `to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers,' in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights." (Smith & Dominguez, p. 151; RW, p. 24,
n125, p. 28, n142)
9/17/81 Wayne Smith, head of the U.S Interests Section in Havana,
cables the State Department that the planned Radio Marti program "could
well destroy any progress on resolving AM broadcasting
incompatibilities." (Smith & Dominguez, p. 151)
9/22/81 Ronald Reagan signs Executive Order No. 12323, outlining the
Radio Marti proposal and creating the Presidential Commission on
Broadcasting to Cuba, "to develop recommendations with respect to
broadcasting of information and ideas to Cuba." Members
include: F. Clifton White; ICA Director Charles Z. Wick;
construction executive Jorge Mas Canosa; Californian Republican Party
chair Dr. Tirso del Junco; beer corporate head Joseph Coors; publishing
magnate Richard Mellon Scaife; Mobile Oil vice president Herbert
Schmertz; WINZ Miami Radio political editor William Bayer; former
Senator Richard Stone; George Jacobs, and staff members George Landau
and Yale Newman. (RW, p. 26, n138, p. 140; Feltman, p. 81n; NYT,
8/9/82; CRS, p. 16)
9/23/81 National Security Advisor Allen announces the proposal for
Radio Marti, saying, "This Administration has decided to break the
Cuban government's control of information in Cuba. This radio
service will tell the truth to the Cuban people about their
government's domestic mismanagement and its promotion of subversion and
international terrorism in this hemisphere and elsewhere." (WP,
9/24/81)
9/28/81 Radio Broadcasting to Cuba, Inc., a private non-profit
corporation, is incorporated in the District of Columbia.
Intended to eventually be responsible for Radio Marti, the
incorporation allows RBC, Inc., to receive private funds before it is
authorized by Congress, much as the Board for International
Broadcasting was created before Radio Free Europe and Radio
Liberty. Its trustees are Midge Decter, Amb. William Stedman, and
Amb. Robert Zimmerman. (CRS, p. 17)
10/15/81 Tony Cuesta, a former Mas Canosa associate and leader of
Commandos L, tells UPI that a new guerrilla force inside Cuba is ready
to go into action against the government of President Fidel Castro. The
Miami-based exile, who spent 12 years in a Cuban prison, opens his
speech saying, ''I can inform you that the 'Movimiento Interno de
Liberacion' (Internal Liberation Movement) which has fought inside Cuba
for many years, considers it is strategically necessary to come to the
public light for the first time.'' He says the group began to
form after the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and that he could
not talk about the exact size of the organization within Cuba ''because
I don't want to jeopardize their safety.'' In another speech,
Jorge Mas Canosa says, ''we wish to request that you follow
Cuban-related events very closely in the immediate future. It is
possible that events of great transcendency will come to pass inside
Cuba.'' (UPI, 10/15/94)
10/26/81 Castro denounces the plan for U.S. government radio
broadcasting to the island, saying it is "an insult, an offense to our
people." Castro adds, "Of course, there will be a response to
that measure..." (Smith & Dominguez, p. 151-2)
11/1981 Cuba withdraws from NARBA. (RW, p. 33)
11/13/81 Cuba announces at the Western Hemispheric Broadcasting
conference in Rio that if any country tries to beam uninvited radio
programs into its territory, it will retaliate with "100 transmitters"
of its own. (MH, 11/14/81)
11/16/81 SR 1853 is introduced to create Radio Marti, upon the Reagan
Administration's request, by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair
Charles Percy (R-IL). (Feltman, p. 81n; CRS, p. 17)
12/14/81 Cuba withdraws from the Rio conference on AM broadcasting,
citing U.S. plans to "set up medium-wave transmitters beamed
exclusively at our country for subversive, destabilizing
purposes..." (Smith & Dominguez, p. 152)
1/1/82 12/31/82 The International Telecommunications Convention is
adopted, with Regulation Number 2665 prohibiting the establishment of
stations broadcasting from boats, ships, or other flying objects, in
water or by air, that are outside national territory. It also
prohibits television frequencies from crossing borders.
(Alexandre, p. 527)
1/1/82 12/31/82 The ICA is renamed the United States Information Agency (USIA). (RW, p. 24)
1/15/82 A charter for the Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to
Cuba is signed by Richard T. Kennedy, Under Secretary of State for
Management. (CRS, p. 16)
1/19/82 Jackson, Henry 1000 Individual
1/19/82 President Reagan formally announces the Commission on
Broadcasting to Cuba, chaired by long-time Republican party official F.
Clifton White. Members of the Commission include Jorge Mas
Canosa, Joseph Coors, Tirso Del Junco, George Jacobs, Richard Scaife,
Herbert Schmertz, Richard Stone, William Bayer and Charles Wick.
(WP, 1/20/82; CRS, p. 16)
2/2/82 House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Clement Zablocki (D-WI) submits HR 5427 to fund Radio Marti. (CRS, p. 17)
2/3/82 Fourteen Democratic Members of Congress circulate a letter to
their colleagues in opposition to Radio Marti. (MH, 2/4/82)
2/7/82 An article by Frank Calzon, executive director of the CANF, is
published in the Miami Herald defending the need for Radio Marti. (MH,
2/7/82)
2/19/82 Durenberger, Dan 1000 Free Cuba PAC Hatch, Orrin 1000
Individual Heinz, Henry John 1000 Free Cuba PAC Lugar, Richard 1000
Free Cuba PAC Michel, Robert 1000 Free Cuba PAC
3/4/82 The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) objects to the
administration's Radio Marti proposal, citing probable Cuban
retaliatory interference with U.S. commercial broadcasts. (NYT,
3/5/82)
3/11/82 Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Thomas
Enders proposes Radio Marti to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee,
stating it would not be a propaganda tool or a way to "incite Cubans to
revolt against their own society." Jorge Mas Canosa also
testifies at the hearings. (MH, 3/12/82; CRS, p. 18; CIS)
3/15/82 Tillman, Harrel 1000 Free Cuba PAC
3/20/82 3/31/82 Radio Alpha, which broadcasts anti-Castro messages to
Cuba nightly, is shut down and ordered to pay $2,250 in fines by the
FCC, which is "acting on complaints from U.S. amateur radio operators
and the Cuban government." (MH, 4/4/82)
3/25/82 Before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Asst. Sec. Enders
proposes the Radio Marti program, saying it would break the Castro
government's "monopoly" on information and that "absolutely credible,
intelligent" news and commentary would ultimately undermine the Castro
regime. Enders asks for $17.7 million to operate Radio Marti over
the next 18 months. (MH, 3/26/82)
4/1/82 4/30/82 Jorge Mas Canosa becomes a U.S. citizen. (MH, 4/10/88)
4/21/82 Baker, Cynthia 1000 Free Cuba PAC
5/4/82 Asst. Sec. Enders presents the Senate Subcommittee on
Appropriations with a request for $17.7 million to operate Radio Marti
over the next 18 months. (MH, 5/5/82)
5/10/82 Asst. Sec. Enders states that if Cuba jammed a future Radio
Marti broadcasting program, the U.S. would retaliate. (MH, 5/11/82)
5/18/82 A CANF full-page ad in the Washington Post supports Radio Marti
and opposes any relaxation of U.S. policy toward Cuba. (WP,
5/18/82)
5/20/82 The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee approves Radio Marti
legislation that would limit the broadcasts to short-wave frequencies
and provide $10 million in 1982 and $7.7 million in 1983 under the
Board for International Broadcasting. (MH, 5/21/82)
5/24/82 The Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba issues its
interim report, recommending that Radio Broadcasting to Cuba, Inc., be
allowed to use private funds for planning prior to federal
authorization and that it begin to hire key personnel. The report
also states that Gaither International has been hired to perform an
audience survey to plan programming. Radio Marti's program
director Yale Newman states at this time that the station will be
located in Washington, DC, to keep it from becoming a Cuban exile
station, but it will have bureaus in Florida and New York, with
correspondents in the Midwest, Southwest, and West Coast regions.
The budget request to Congress is $10 million for FY 1982 and $7
million for FY 1983, plus $1.2 million for equipment and $1 million for
facilities. (CRS, p. 17-21)
6/3/82 Kemp, Jack 1000 Free Cuba PAC
6/4/82 Fascell, Dante 250 Free Cuba PAC Rinaldo, Matthew 1000 Free Cuba PAC
6/11/82 Symms, Steve 1000 Free Cuba PAC
6/11/82 Representatives Timothy Wirth (D-CO) and Thomas Tauke (D-IO)
write to Asst. Sec. Enders that "the expenditure of any funds for the
construction of facilities for the purpose of making Radio Marti
operational without the passage of authorizing legislation would be
illegal." (letter cited in RW, p. 29)
6/16/82 Lt. Cmdr. Mark Neuhart, public affairs officer for U.S. forces
in the Caribbean, is quoted by the New York Times as saying that the
Navy is constructing four 250-foot antennas for Radio Marti.
Congress has not authorized funds for the station. The New York
Times also reports that Rep. Wirth wrote to officials in the State and
Defense Departments, warning that "clearly, the construction of
facilities for the purpose of making Radio Marti operational without
the passage of authorizing legislation would be illegal." A
State Department spokesperson states that if Radio Marti is not
approved, the antennas will be put to other use by the
government. (NYT, 6/17/82)
6/18/82 Fascell, Dante 1000 Free Cuba PAC
6/19/82 Bush, Prescott 1000 Individual Emery, David 500 Individual
6/20/82 Bush, Prescott 1000 Free Cuba PAC
6/21/82 8/21/82 CANF publishes a paper on "Radio Broadcasting to Cuba:
Policy Implications," which is used to promote Radio Marti and suggests
a framework for its operations. The paper is also submitted as
testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (CANF
Summary)
7/1/82 Asst. Sec. Enders and Fred Ikle, Under Secretary of Defense for
Policy, testify for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in support
of Radio Marti. (NYT, 7/2/82)
7/13/82 The House Energy and Commerce Committee, rejecting offered
amendments, votes 23 to 3 to approve Radio Marti legislation and send
it to the House floor for a vote. Frank Calzon of CANF states,
"We won." (MH, 7/14/82)
7/19/82 Fascell, Dante 2000 Individuals
7/23/82 Buechner, John C. 1000 Free Cuba PAC
8/3/82 Rep. Tom Harkin (D-IA) submits eighty amendments to the bill HR
5427 to create Radio Marti, delaying House action on the bill.
Amendments include changing the name of the act to "The $17.7 Million
Boondoggle Duplicative Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act" and "The John
Foster Dulles Cold War Mentality Memorial Radio Broadcasting to Cuba
Act." Another proposed amendment calls for the withholding of
funds until the Government Accounting Office investigates the possible
improper use of government money to build Radio Marti's antennas before
the station was approved by Congress. Harkin and other opponents
object to the bill for many reasons, including costs of the program and
predictions that Cuba will interfere with U.S. radio stations in
response. (CQWR, 8/7/82, p. 1900-1; RW, p. 29)
8/10/82 The House approves the administration's proposals to create
Radio Marti with $7.5 million in funding provided. (LAT, 8/11/82)
8/11/82 Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon states that if
the Reagan administration begins broadcasting propaganda aimed at
undermining Castro's government to Cuba, Cuba will respond with
transmissions that would interfere with U.S. commercial
programming: "those who will suffer the consequences will be
those in the middle, the North American radio transmitters and radio
listeners." (WP, 8/12/82)
8/11/82 The 11-member Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba
submits its report on the proposed Radio Marti program, stating that it
should "avoid harsh, strident, or obviously ideological presentations
or concepts to which the average Cuban cannot relate." The report
also lists alleged Cuban failings that should be the focus of the
broadcasts. (WP, 8/12/82)
8/11/82 The Senate approves a hard-line anti-Castro resolution which
some militant exile groups interpret as permission to fight Castro
directly from U.S. soil. Justice Department spokesperson
John Russell warns that there is no legal relaxation of the Neutrality
Act, which bars attacks from U.S. soil against countries with which the
U.S. is not at war. (MH, 8/12/82)
8/19/82 Buechner, John 2000 Individuals
8/19/82 Responding to questions about Cuba's response to Radio Marti,
Castro says, "We are not going to interfere, but we are going to
broadcast back; I think the Americans are going to be listening to a
lot of Cuban music." (Smith & Dominguez, p. 152)
8/20/82 As a result of Sen. Edward Zorinsky's (D-NE) use of a
parliamentary measure to end hearings, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee defers action on Radio Marti. (NYT, 8/12/82)
8/31/82 The "radio wars" begin with a "Voice of Cuba" station
interfering with U.S. broadcasters as a "demonstration" of Cuba's
ability to respond to Radio Marti. For four hours during the
evening, Cuba counter-broadcasts music and propaganda interfering with
at least five AM stations in the U.S., one as distant as Des Moines,
Iowa. (WP, 9/1/82 and NYT, 9/10/82; Smith & Dominguez, p. 152)
9/2/82 Fascell, Dante 2772 Free Cuba PAC
9/9/82 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves Radio Marti
legislation by a vote of 11 to 5 with funding at $7 million per
year. The Committee rejects, by a vote of 11 to 7, an amendment
sponsored by Sen. Paul Tsongas (D-MA) to provide compensation funds to
U.S. stations damaged by Cuban retaliatory broadcasting. (NYT, 9/10/82)
9/10/82 Sarbanes, Paul 2000 Free Cuba PAC
9/13/82 Fascell, Dante 5000 Free Cuba PAC
9/14/82 Barnes, Michael D. 500 Free Cuba PAC Buechner, John C. 1000
Free Cuba PAC Chiles, Lawton 100 Free Cuba PAC Hecht, Chic 3000
Free Cuba PAC
9/17/82 The FCC shuts down two anti-Castro Cuban exile stations for operating without a license. (MH, 9/18/82)
9/19/82 Fascell, Dante 500 Individual
9/20/82 9/30/82 A Senate Foreign Relations Committee issues a 26-page
report on Radio Marti, recommending that Congress approve the proposal
and use Congressional oversight to make sure that the administration
does not use the station as a propaganda weapon but rather as a
consistently reliable and authoritative source of accurate, objective,
and comprehensive news. In the minority viewpoint section, Sens.
Claiborne Pell (D-RI), Edward Zorinsky (D-NE), Paul Tsongas (D-MA),
Alan Cranston (D-CA) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) object to the program
as "an insult to the American taxpayer" and urged the Senate to reject
it as "bad government policy." (MH, 9/25/82)
10/1/82 Metzenbaum, How 2000 Free Cuba PAC Rousselot, John 2000 Free Cuba PAC
10/14/82 Chappell, William 1000 Free Cuba PAC Difazio, Lucien 1000 Free
Cuba PAC Hyde, Henry 1000 Free Cuba PAC Ireland, Andy 1000 Free
Cuba PAC Lagomarsino, Bob 1000 Free Cuba PAC Leboutillier, Joh
1000 Free Cuba PAC Roth, William 1000 Free Cuba PAC Zablocki,
Clemen 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/19/82 Baker, Cynthia 3000 Free Cuba PAC Fascell, Dante 1000 Individual Metzenbaum, Howard 2000 Individuals
10/29/82 Barbour, Haley R. 1000 Free Cuba PAC Emery, David 1000 Free Cuba PAC
11/1/82 Trible, Paul 1000 Free Cuba PAC
11/19/82 Pepper, Claude 500 Individual
12/9/82 White House spokesperson Mort Allin states that Cuban Americans
have been flooding the President's office with telegrams, asking him
not to let the Radio Marti proposal die. (MH, 12/10/92)
12/14/82 Cuban exile and former political prisoner Armando Valladares
and Asst. Sec. Enders, on behalf of the White House, make a special
appeal to lawmakers to approve President Reagan's request for Radio
Marti. (WP, 12/15/82)
12/15/82 The National Coalition for a Free Cuba (NCFC) accuses Sen.
Zorinsky, a staunch opponent of Radio Marti, of a possible conflict of
interest from receiving campaign contributions from Herbert Dolgoff,
the owner of Spanish-language radio stations in Miami who would perhaps
be a part of an alternative broadcasting method to Cuba.
Francisco Hernandez, treasurer of the NCFC and a CANF official, states
that Zorinsky has said in the past that he would support Radio Marti if
the U.S. government bought time on commercial stations that reach Cuba,
rather than setting up its own. Zorinsky states that he has never
discussed Radio Marti with Dolgoff, and Dolgoff states he supports
Radio Marti and has never been interested in selling time on his
station to the government or anyone else. (MH, 12/16/82)
12/17/82 Tabling an amendment to provide $7 million in funding, the Senate fails to pass Radio Marti legislation. (WP, 12/18/82)
12/19/82 Pressler, Larry 1000 Individual
1/1/83 President Reagan signs National Security Directive No. 77,
instating Project Democracy. Mas Canosa lobbies for the creation
of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), of which Rep. Dante
Fascell (R-Fl) becomes the first chairman. One of NED's first
grants goes to CANF. (Fonzi, p. 29-30)
1/1/83 12/31/83 Mas Canosa becomes a leader in a committee to intercede
for the release of Orlando Bosch from a Venezuelan jail. Alberto
Hernandez, CANF's vice-chairman, also works to free Bosch.
(Progressive, 7/93)
1/15/83 D'Amato, Alfonse 200 Free Cuba PAC
1/20/83 D'Amato, Alfonse 500 Individual
2/24/83 After previous bills had died in the end of the last
Congressional session, Sen. Paula Hawkins (R-FL) and 35 co-sponsors
introduce S. 602, to establish Radio Marti. Mas Canosa comments
that in the new bill, "the change is simply technical" to a new
frequency, with Radio Marti as part of VOA. (MH, 2/25/83; CC, p.
1)
3/1/83 5/31/83 Jorge Mas Canosa introduces retired CIA special
operations specialist Felix Rodriguez to U.S. special envoy Richard
Stone. The purpose of the meeting is for Rodriguez to share his
Tactical Task Force counterinsurgency plan for El Salvador with high
U.S. officials. (Shadow Warrior, p. 261.)
3/4/83 Tony Costa, a CANF director, writes a letter to the Miami Herald supporting Radio Marti. (MH, 3/4/83)
3/11/83 Thurmond, Strom 2500 Individuals
3/14/83 Nunn, Sam 1000 Free Cuba PAC
3/22/83 Hollings, Ernest 1000 Free Cuba PAC Nunn, Sam 1000 Individual
3/23/83 Rep. Dante Fascell (R-FL) and 9 co-sponsors introduce HR 2298
to amend the Board for International Broadcasting Act of 1973 to
provide for radio broadcasting to Cuba. (CC, p. 1)
3/24/83 Packwood, Bob 2250 Free Cuba PAC
3/26/83 CANF holds a fundraising breakfast, featuring Sen. Bob Packwood
(R-OR), to start a campaign to raise a million dollars for its lobby in
Washington. Jorge Mas Canosa announces that the Foundation plans
to register the names of all Cubans living in the U.S. in a
computer for solicitations. CANF will also act as co-host with
Georgetown University's Center for Strategic Studies, with funding from
the Carthage Foundation, for 10 seminars on Cuban issues. (MH,
3/27/83)
4/25/83 Sununu, John 5000 Free Cuba PAC
4/25/83 The House Subcommittee on International Operations approves a
Radio Marti bill that provides for compensation of American radio
stations damaged by Cuban interference. (MH, 4/26/83)
5/1/83 5/31/83 The U.S. Office of Personnel Management grants a
Schedule B (non-competitive, excepted service) hiring authority for up
to 150 Radio Marti staff, on the basis that the need for specialized
knowledge of Cuba precludes using general competitive hiring
procedures. (GAO, 7/89)
5/7/83 The New York Times reports that Congressional aides and
broadcasting officials have heard in several meetings that the
administration is considering a list of 40 options for retaliating
against Cuba, including surgical removal of transmitting antennas, if
Cuba begins regular interference or jamming of American radio
stations. Also, Edward Fritts, president of the National
Association of Broadcasters, states that he has been assured by Asst.
Sec. Enders that "if you are with us, we'll help you," in order for the
NAB to relax its vigorous opposition to Radio Marti. (NYT, 5/7/83)
5/20/83 In a speech before CANF in Miami, President Reagan strongly
supports Radio Marti and praises Jorge Mas Canosa. Following
Reagan's speech, Asst. Sec. Enders predicts that Radio Marti "will
prevail" in Congress this year. (MH, 5/21/93; Smith &
Dominguez, p. 153)
5/20/83 Asst. Sec. Enders speaks at a dinner sponsored by CANF that
evening, and pledges that the U.S. will stand firm against the Cuban
government and resist calls for a dialogue with Castro. (MH,
5/21/83)
5/31/83 Ramon Sanchez Parodi, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in
Washington, meets with Wayne Smith, former head of the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana, and states that "Cuba is indeed prepared to resume
talks with the U.S. aimed at resolving the problem of interference in
one another's radio channels...were it not for Radio Marti."
Smith writes to Sen. Pell with Sanchez Parodi's comments. (MH,
6/16/83)
6/1/83 Smith, Lawrence 500 Individual
6/8/83 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves Radio Marti legislation. (WP, 7/29/83)
6/21/83 Hawkins, Paula 1000 Individual
6/22/83 Hawkins, Paula 1000 Individual
7/4/83 Hawkins, Paula 500 Individual
7/16/83 Hawkins, Paula 1000 Individual
7/18/83 Hawkins, Paula 1000 Individual
7/29/83 The House Energy and Commerce Committee approves a bill
authorizing Radio Marti which includes amendments which limit and delay
the program, including one requiring the U.S. to make "all efforts" to
negotiate an agreement with Cuba to reduce Cuban interference with U.S.
commercial radio stations. (WP, 7/29/83)
8/1/83 8/30/83 Jorge Mas Canosa and CANF sponsor a medical
treatment program for wounded contras in Honduras, bringing some to
Miami for surgery and sending Cuban American doctors to
Tegucigalpa. (Arcos, p. 1253)
8/1/83 8/30/83 According to U.S. press attaché Chris Arcos,
retired CIA agent Felix Rodriguez shows up at the U.S. embassy in
Tegucigalpa. "He came and introduced himself with a card from Mr.
Mas Canosa, and that he should talk to me [one line deleted].
Then he spoke of his role in helping bring these physicians [deleted]
...to attend the FDN wounded, and also take the more serious cases back
to the United States for treatment." (Arcos, p. 1254)
8/3/83 The Senate ends a filibuster led by opponents of a bill to
create Radio Marti and agrees to begin discussion of the Cuba
broadcasting legislation after the August recess. (MH, 8/4/83)
8/5/83 Secretary of State George Shultz sends a letter to House Speaker
Tip O'Neill, Jr., saying that Congressional proposals to create Radio
Marti within VOA "cannot be accepted...Surrogate broadcasting is more
properly the function of radio services like Radio Free Europe and
Radio Liberty--the models for Radio Broadcasting to Cuba." (cited in
Feltman, p. 84)
8/8/83 8/9/83 The U.S. and Cuba hold secret talks in Costa Rica to
attempt to resolve the radio interference issue. (Smith &
Dominguez, p. 153)
9/3/83 A bill by Sens. Pell and Zorinsky to expand VOA's Cuba service
by over 14 hours on Radio Marathon passes both houses. It
establishes a $5 million fund to reimburse broadcasters for costs from
mitigating interference with Cuban signals, and authorizes $14 million
in FY 1984 and $12 million in 1985, which is more money than was
requested in the original Radio Marti proposal. The new VOA Cuba
Service is to operate under a director who is appointed by the USIA
director and is responsible directly to the directors of USIA and
VOA. The bill also creates a bipartisan Advisory Board for Radio
Broadcasting to Cuba, to be appointed by the president. Reagan
signs the bill. (RW, p. 37)
9/13/83 The Senate approves a bill for Radio Marti that makes it part
of VOA and establishes a $5 million fund for any American stations
damaged by Cuban jamming. (MH, 9/30/83)
9/25/83 Boschwitz, Rudy 5000 Free Cuba PAC
9/29/83 The House approves the Radio Marti bill that passed the Senate
earlier, making the establishment of Radio Marti now a law ready for
Reagan's signature. (MH, 9/30/83)
9/29/83 Former Senator Richard Stone writes to William Clark at the
White House, recommending that Jorge Mas Canosa be appointed "chairman
of the new independent radio board under USIA when the Radio Marti bill
becomes law." (Stone Letter, 9/29/83)
10/4/83 Boschwitz, Rudy 500 Individual
10/4/83 Sen. Hawkins' bill S602 to establish Radio Marti becomes PL 98-111. (CC, p. 1)
10/6/83 Reagan signs Public Law 98-111, establishing Radio Marti as a
separate "Cuba Service" under the VOA short-wave broadcasting
service. The program falls short of the separate service under
the Board for International Broadcasting that the Reagan administration
wanted. (CSM, 10/7/83)
10/15/83 Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon states that Cuba
views Radio Marti as an unacceptable, hostile measure, "but we will
have to wait and see what Radio Marti is all about first to evaluate
our response." (MH, 10/16/83)
10/18/83 Leslie Lenkowski of USIA writes a memo to a Mr. Tomlinson,
recommending that Jorge Mas Canosa be considered for membership on the
Radio Marti Advisory Board, noting that he is a former member of
the President's Commission on Radio Marti. (Lenkowski Memo,
10/18/83)
10/20/83 Evans, Daniel 1000 Individual
11/11/83 Jorge Mas Canosa sends a CANF report, "Castro and the
Narcotics Connection," to Rep. Michael Barnes (D-MD). In a cover
letter, Mas Canosa writes that the report presents a "comprehensive
picture" of "the use of narcotics trafficking by Havana as a means of
financing terrorism abroad." The letter also urges Rep. Barnes to
request that the Chairman of the House Affairs Committee hold hearings
on the issue of Cuba and drugs. "Castro's behavior," Mas Canosa
writes, suggests that "a prudent and urgent reappraisal of the
U.S.-Cuba relationship is needed." (Mas Canosa Letter)
12/1/83 12/31/83 In an "informal" meeting with Jorge Mas Canosa and
broadcasting executive Emilio Milian, Radio Marti task force director
William Marsh offers the job of director of Radio Marti to
Milian. Milian turns the offer down because he does not want to
move to Washington. (MH, 2/21/84)
12/1/83 12/31/83 Carlos Benitez, a member of the CANF board, is named
to a national advisory board on international education programs by
Secretary of Education T.H. Bell. (MH, 12/22/83)
12/15/83 VOA officials announce that Radio Marti programming will begin
with a one-hour pilot broadcast the evening of January 1, the
anniversary of Castro's rise to power. "This pilot show will be a
taste of what VOA's Radio Marti program is like," states a VOA
official, and will include an explanation of the program's goals.
A second pilot program is to be aired on January 28 to commemorate the
birth of Jose Marti, the station's namesake. (MH, 12/16/83)
12/18/83 An article by Jorge Mas Canosa appears on the opinion page in
the Miami Herald, stating that there is no reason to open a dialogue
with the Castro regime and that renewing diplomatic relations with the
island would sent the wrong message to other countries. (MH,
12/18/83)
12/23/83 Bradley, Bill 500 Individual
1/1/84 The National Endowment for Democracy grants $140,000 to the
Cuban American National Foundation for its support of international
citizen committees in six European countries for gathering and
disseminating human rights information in Cuba and to encourage
pluralism and respect for human rights on the island. (NED,
"Fiscal Year 1984, Grants Awarded")
1/1/84 12/31/84 CANF prints and distributes over 12,000 copies of a
paper by Kenneth Skoug, "Cuba as a Model and a Challenge." Copies
are sent to Latin American diplomats and members of the press.
(CANF Summary)
1/5/84 A speech by President Reagan addressing the Cuban people is
broadcast by VOA, mentioning plans for the Radio Marti station and its
objective "to tell the truth about Cuba to the Cuban people." (NYT,
1/6/84)
1/6/84 The Cuban press agency Prensa Latina criticizes Reagan's speech as "lies." (NYT, 1/7/84)
1/13/84 While visiting Ecuador, Cuban Vice President Carlos Rafael
Rodriguez calls Radio Marti an act of "aggression," and hints that Cuba
might start broadcasts aimed at the United States. (MH, 1/14/84)
1/17/84 The Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy reports to
President Reagan that the "decision to place Radio Marti in the Voice
of America was questionable public policy" because that "could
cast doubt on [VOA's] most important and fragile asset--its
credibility." (NYT, 1/19/84)
1/30/84 The National Coalition for a Free Cuba PAC, CANF's political
action committee, holds a radio fundraising marathon on three Miami
stations. Dade state committee member Mike Thompson later says he
called PAC leaders while the marathon was being broadcast to tell them,
"You make it sound as if it's all going to Reagan...It was quite clear
to me it was misleading." (MH, 3/8/84)
2/6/84 Hawkins, Paula 5000 Free Cuba PAC Pressler, Larry 5000 Free Cuba PAC
2/20/84 Emilio Milian says he would reconsider taking the position as director of Radio Marti. (MH, 2/21/84)
2/23/84 Percy, Charles 5000 Free Cuba PAC
3/1/84 Mattingly, Mack 2000 Individuals
3/1/84 3/31/84 Forty applicants for Radio Marti jobs from the Miami
area are interviewed at CANF's Miami's offices. (MH, 3/5/84)
3/84 3/31/84 Members of a Radio Marti task force have reportedly tapped
three prominent Cuban Americans for Radio Marti positions: Emilio
Milian, Humberto Medrano, and Ernesto Betancourt. The task force
is also moving quickly to open the station's Miami bureau, as William
Marsh, the task force's head, notes that while the New York bureau will
not open until 1985, "Miami is going to be [part of Radio Marti] very
early in the game." (MH, 3/5/84)
3/2/84 Pressler, Larry 1000 Individual
3/12/84 Lehman, William 1000 Individual
3/25/84 Biden, Joseph R. 5000 Free Cuba PAC Percy, Charles 5000 Free Cuba PAC
3/26/84 Warner, John 500 Free Cuba PAC
4/5/84 Fascell, Dante 1500 Individuals
4/7/84 Humphrey, Gordo 4500 Free Cuba PAC
4/12/84 Cranston, Alan 1000 Individuals
4/19/84 Members of the National Coalition for a Free Cuba PAC have
raised individual contributions totaling $200,000 for Reagan's
re-election campaign. In response to criticism that all the money
raised in the January radio fundraising marathon was going to Reagan's
campaign, Jorge Mas Canosa says the $200,000 that was raised
during the marathon is being given to other candidates around the
country who "support Radio Marti." (MH, 4/19/84)
4/25/84 Percy, Charles 1000 Individual
5/9/84 Armstrong, Willi 3000 Free Cuba PAC Boschwitz, Rudy 3000 Free
Cuba PAC Cohen, William 2000 Free Cuba PAC Craig, Larry 4000 Free
Cuba PAC Domenici, Pete 2000 Free Cuba PAC Hatfield, Mark
5000 Free Cuba PAC Helms, Jesse 5000 Free Cuba PAC Jepsen, Roger
3000 Free Cuba PAC Simpson, Alan 5000 Free Cuba PAC Stevens, Ted
5000 Free Cuba PAC Thurmond, Strom 3000 Free Cuba PAC Warner, John
4500 Free Cuba PAC
5/10/84 Fascell, Dante 5000 Free Cuba PAC Pepper, Claude 5000 Free Cuba PAC
5/18/84 VOA announces the appointments of Humberto Medrano, a Cuban
exile radio journalist from Miami, as deputy director of news and
programs and Ernesto Betancourt, former adviser to the Organization of
American States (OAS) and the World Bank, as director of research and
policy. (MH, 5/19/84)
5/31/84 White House officials announce that President Reagan has
nominated Jorge Mas Canosa to the chair of the Advisory Board for
Broadcasting to Cuba. Sen. Hawkins and Rep. Fascell, both
strong supporters of Radio Marti, praise Reagan's decision. (MH,
6/1/84)
6/1/84 Swindall, Patrick 1000 Individual
6/14/84 Alexader, Dan 500 Individual
6/19/84 Humphrey, Gordon 1000 Individual
7/6/84 Oliver North's secretary Fawn Hall leaves a message for North
mentioning that "Juan Castro, Executive Director Cuban-American
Foundation...can solve some of your problems. He works with/for
Jorge Mas. Castro handles domestic type things. Your
problem child (Pastora) may not be in their good graces though."
(North Notebook)
7/25/84 During his confirmation hearings on his appointment as chairman
of the Radio Marti advisory board, Jorge Mas Canosa is asked by Sen.
Pell whether he is familiar with any assassination plot against Fidel
Castro. "No sir, I am not," Mas Canosa replies. Later, he
tells the Miami Herald that indeed he helped plan an operation "to make
justice in the case of Fidel Castro himself." Mas Canosa also
comments that Radio Marti would be an objective broadcast service and
"a useful and peaceful means of providing the Cuban people with
information they are denied by the Cuban authorities." He also
assures the Committee that his personal anti-Castro sentiments would
not influence his work. (MH, 7/26/84 and 4/10/88; NYT, 8/5/84)
7/26/84 Helms, Jesse 5000 Free Cuba PAC Huddleston, Walt 3000 Free Cuba PAC
7/30/84 USIA Director Charles Wick submits to Sen. Percy, chair of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a limited-distribution, 19-page
report stating that due to recruitment problems and other delays, Radio
Marti will not start broadcasting until after the November
elections. The report also states that Saul Gefter, a senior USIA
foreign service officer who just completed a three-year tour of duty at
the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, has been appointed Radio Marti's
deputy director. (MH, 8/7/84)
7/31/84 By a voice vote, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
passes the nomination of Jorge Mas Canosa to be a member of the
advisory board for Radio Broadcasting to Cuba. (CFR)
8/1/84 8/10/84 Sens. Pell and Zorinsky commission a report on Jorge Mas
Canosa and his background, saying "Appointments from a narrow
ideological band could undermine the objectivity, and hence the
effectiveness, of VOA's Cuba service." (MH, 8/10/84)
8/3/84 The Committee on Foreign Relations reports favorably on the
nomination of Jorge Mas Canosa to chair the Advisory Board for Radio
Broadcasting to Cuba. The Committee "found Mr. Mas to be a
responsible businessman with a strong sense of civic duty," according
to the report. "Mr. Mas brings exceptional expertise to this
position." (CFR)
8/6/84 Fascell, Dante 5000 Free Cuba PAC
8/9/84 By a unanimous voice vote, the Senate confirms Jorge Mas
Canosa's appointment as chairman of the Advisory Board for Radio
Broadcasting to Cuba. (MH, 8/10/84)
8/11/84 Fascell, Dante 4500 Individuals
8/17/84 Fascell, Dante 500 Individual
8/30/84 HR 5712, sponsored by Rep. Neal Smith (D-IO), is passed as PL
98-411 and amends PL 98-111, the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act. (CC,
p. 2)
9/13/84 Smith, Lawrence 4000 Free Cuba PAC
9/17/84 Richardson, Bill 1500 Free Cuba PAC
9/28/84 Cozzens, Charles 500 Individual Humphrey, Gordon 1000
Individual Lousma, Jack 500 Individual Percy, Charles 1000
Individual Warner, John 500 Individual Yatron, Gus 500 Free
Cuba PAC
9/30/84 Armstrong, William 1000 Individual
10/1/84 Bethune, Ed 1000 Individual
10/3/84 Bentley, Helen 1000 Free Cuba PAC Simpson, Alan 500 Individual Taylor, Gene 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/5/84 Domenici, Pete 1000 Individual
10/8/84 Smith, Neal 3000 Free Cuba PAC
10/11/84 Bradley, Bill 500 Individual
10/24/84 Cozzens, Charles 2000 Free Cuba PAC
10/29/84 Gramm, Phil 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/30/84 Bush, Tom 2500 Individuals
11/1/84 Mica, Daniel 1000 Free Cuba PAC
11/2/84 Swindall, Patrick 500 Individual
11/12/84 Fuster, Jaime 500 Individual Grassley, Charle 2700 Free Cuba PAC
12/10/84 Sen. Hawkins writes a letter asking President Reagan to
intervene in order to help get Radio Marti under way and on the air by
January 28, 1985, the anniversary of the birth of Jose Marti, the Cuban
patriot for whom the radio station is named. (MH, 12/11/84)
12/11/84 VOA announces that Los Angeles radio programming consultant
Paul Drew will be the first director of Radio Marti.
Congressional aides comment that without any experience in Cuban
affairs, he will help VOA avoid charges that the station would be an
outlet for Cuban exiles' anti-Castro propaganda. (MH, 12/12/84; LAT,
1/29/85)
12/14/84 Rep. Fascell writes a letter to President Reagan complaining
that Radio Marti, authorized by Congress over a year ago, still has not
begun broadcasting. (MH, 12/15/84)
1/1/85 12/31/85 CANF founder Raul Masvidal resigns from the Foundation. (MH, 4/11/88)
1/1/85 12/31/85 Ricardo Mas Canosa, Jorge's brother, files a lawsuit
alleging that Jorge had beaten him up and taken his 1983 Oldsmobile.
(MH, 4/10/88)
1/9/85 USIA Dir. Wick appoints former VOA director Kenneth Giddens as acting director of Radio Marti. (WSJ, 1/31/85)
1/28/85 A USIA spokesperson announces that Radio Marti will miss its
targeted start-up date because it has only hired 100 of its authorized
188 member staff. In addition, director Paul Drew has resigned,
citing lack of coordination between Radio Marti operating staff and
administration and congressional policy makers. (LAT, 1/29/85)
1/28/85 An entry in Oliver North's notebooks states: "Felix
Rodriguez--expedite 50k for I.R. Jorge Mas." When Rodriguez is
later questioned before the Senate Subcommittee on Narcotics and
Terrorism about the entry, he refuses to explain its meaning.
(North Notebook)
2/4/85 Another entry in Oliver North's notebooks names Jorge Mas
Canosa. "Felix Rodriguez," it reads. "Still have not gotten
dollars from Jorge Mas." (North Notebook)
2/18/85 2/28/85 The White House announces the nominations of Jose
Luis Rodriguez, Joseph Glennon, Anne Brunsdale, and Danford
Sawyer to the Advisory Board overseeing Radio Marti. (JC, 5/20/85)
2/19/85 Hawkins, Paula 500 Individual
2/20/85 2/28/85 CANF hosts a luncheon for over 200 in Washington to
honor Jeanne Kirkpatrick for her service to the U.N. Guests
include members of the American Jewish Committee, the Heritage
Foundation, AIPAC, the Center for Strategic and International Studies,
Members of Congress, journalists, and others. (***CITE***)
2/21/85 USIA Dir. Wick testifies to the House Subcommittee on
International Operations that studio construction and personnel
security check delays have caused the start of Radio Marti's broadcasts
to be delayed until the spring or early summer. (MH, 2/21/85)
3/1/85 3/31/85 CANF assists the European Coalition for Human Rights in
Cuba to contact Cuban poet Angel Cuadra and publicize his case for
immigration. (CANF Summary)
3/1/85 3/31/85 CANF's Executive Director Frank Calzon briefs Rep. Dan
Burton (R-IN) for a debate with Rep. Ted Weiss (D-NY) on U.S. Cuban
relations for "CBS Nightwatch." CANF also sponsors a briefing for
members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on the Nicaraguan
conflict, with presentations by Eden Pastora and Adolfo Calero.
(CANF Summary)
3/2/85 Bludworth, David 500 Individual
3/12/85 Packwood, Bob 3000 Individuals
3/26/85 Hawkins, Paula 15750 Individuals
4/5/85 An entry in Oliver North's notebook lists a "Mtg w/ Jorge
Mas." The two are scheduled to discuss Mas Canosa's contacts with
Central and South American leaders regarding Contra activities.
(North Notebook)
4/8/85 Mattingly, Mack 500 Individual
4/9/85 Hawkins, Paula 1000 Individual
4/10/85 Pepper, Claude 5000 Free Cuba PAC
4/11/85 Pepper, Claude 3000 Individuals
4/19/85 Hawkins, Paula 2000 Individuals
5/1/85 5/31/85 CANF produces a major research paper for the U.S.
Department of Education on the public school experiences of minors who
came from Cuba to South Florida in the Mariel boat lift of 1980. (CANF
Summary)
5/18/85 CANF hosts a dinner to honor Jeanne Kirkpatrick and to commemorate Cuban independence day. (CANF Summary)
5/19/85 Antonio Navarro, a Key Biscayne businessman and Cuban exile who
initially supported Castro, is nominated to the Advisory Board
overseeing Radio Marti. (JC, 5/20/85)
5/20/85 Top Secret National Security Decision Directive 170 gives
authorization for the creation of Radio Marti and for USIA to begin
full broadcasting on May 20, 1985, on the 1180 AM frequency band and an
additional short-wave band. The directive also mandates alerting
Cuba of the U.S. plans to proceed with Radio Marti broadcasting on May
20. A "special paper on the bilateral relationship" is also
ordered for the NSC by May 20. (NSDD 170, 5/20/85)
5/20/85 At 5:30 am, Radio Marti begins broadcasting on the 1180 AM
station. The first broadcast includes a statement by President
Reagan commenting that he hopes the new station will "help defuse the
war hysteria on which much of current Cuban government policy is
predicated." Programming includes news and sports reporting and
entertainment, as well as translated VOA editorials. (MH, 5/21/85
and 4/13/86; NYT, 5/21/85)
5/20/85 In retaliation for Radio Marti broadcasting, the Cuban
government announces it is suspending most of its agreements with the
U.S., including the migration agreement which had started to
resolve the question of repatriating Cuban criminals who entered the
U.S. during the 1980 Mariel boat lift. (NYT, 5/21/85; WP, 5/22/85; EC,
5/25/85, p. 28)
5/20/85 The FCC formally requests that the International Frequency
Registration Board (IFRB), the enforcement body of the International
Telecommunications Convention (ITC), investigate Cuban stations
operating outside their station inventories. (Smith &
Dominguez, p. 153)
5/22/85 Hawkins, Paula 2000 Individuals
5/31/85 Hawkins, Paula 6000 Individuals
6/3/85 Hawkins, Paula 1000 Individual Pepper, Claude 500 Individual Symms, Steve 5000 Free Cuba PAC
6/4/85 Hawkins, Paula 2100 Individuals
6/5/85 Hawkins, Paula 4500 Individuals
6/10/85 Hawkins, Paula 2750 Individuals
6/25/85 D'Amato, Alfonse 5000 Free Cuba PAC
6/25/85 USIA's Charles Courtney writes a memo for Dir. Wick, stating
that Jorge Mas Canosa will be in Washington for a briefing on Radio
Marti. (Courtney Memo, 6/25/85)
6/29/85 D'Amato, Alfonse 1000 Individual Swindall, Patrick 500 Individual
6/30/85 Garrett, David 500 Individual
7/11/85 Radio Marti's news director Jay Mallin announces that Cuban
radio stations are changing their radio program to compete with Radio
Marti. (MH, 7/12/85)
7/12/85 Hatch, Orrin 5000 Individuals
7/17/85 The House votes to cut Radio Marti's budget by 24
percent. During the appropriations debate, Rep. Bill Alexander
(D-AR) questions whether Radio Marti should broadcast a Sunday Catholic
mass, citing separation of church and state. (MH, 7/18/85)
8/1/85 11/30/85 The Cuban American National Foundation circulates 20
policy recommendations in Congress, including a proposal to establish
television broadcasting to Cuba. (MH, 5/29/86)
8/9/85 President Reagan signs the FY 1986 Foreign Aid bill which
contains a repeal of the 1976 Clark Amendment prohibiting U.S. military
or paramilitary aid or operations in Angola. CANF is among the
chief lobbyists which fought to overturn the nine-year ban on CIA
support for anti-Communist rebels led by Jonas Savimbi.
(***CITE***)
8/18/85 Luis Posada Carriles escapes from a Venezuelan prison where he
has been held for nine years for jointly masterminding the bombing of a
Cuban airliner, killing 73 persons. A onetime CIA demolitions
expert, FBI officials believe Posada was a key figure in CORU, an
anti-Castro Cuban terrorist organization believed responsible for a
number of bombings and killings in the mid-1970s. Posada is aided
in his escape by an unidentified Miami benefactor and by former CIA
operative Felix Rodriguez, who brings him to El Salvador to work on
Contra re supply operations. (MH, 9/5/88) Venezuelan press media
agree that Posada Carriles' escape could only have taken place with
internal complicity and foreign support. Ultimas Noticias reports
that the government presumes that a large sum of money was distributed
to obtain the release of Luis Posada Carriles, who left the prison
through the large front doors and had people waiting for him
outside. Andres Jose Arana Mendez, chief of the prison, admitted
that he had helped Posada escape for $28,000, but said the money was
not in the place they had agreed upon. (FBIS, 8/23/85)
8/21/85 11/21/85 CANF circulates 20 policy recommendations in Congress,
including a proposal to establish television broadcasting to
Cuba. (MH, 5/29/86)
8/30/85 Graham, Bob 1000 Individual Mica, Daniel 500 Free Cuba PAC
9/20/85 During a meeting of the Latin American Press Forum, Castro
states that Cuba has powerful radio transmitters, which, if turned on,
would prevent the U.S. from hearing its own stations. (CAR 1985)
10/14/85 Hollings, Ernest 5000 Free Cuba PAC
10/20/85 Fascell, Dante 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/25/85 Hollings 500 Individual
10/31/85 11/12/85 Jorge Mas Canosa testifies for the House Foreign
Affairs Committee hearings on U.S. policy toward Angola. (CIS
Index)
11/12/85 Graham, Bob 500 Individual
11/13/85 Hawkins, Paula 500 Individual
11/20/85 Garn, Jake 5000 Free Cuba PAC
11/23/85 Smith, Lawrence 1000 Free Cuba PAC
11/25/85 Smith, Lawrence 2000 Individuals
11/29/85 Siljander, Mark 5000 Free Cuba PAC
12/1/85 The National Endowment for Democracy grants $109,529 to the
Cuban American National Foundation. (NED Report G1C, 9/10/89)
12/9/85 Pepper, Claude 5000 Free Cuba PAC
12/10/85 Pepper, Claude 1000 Individual
12/26/85 Graham, Bob 2500 Individuals
1/1/86 12/31/86 In a radio appearance, Jorge Mas Canosa challenges
Miami city commissioner Joe Carollo, who has just vetoed a $130 million
real estate development deal involving Mas Canosa's company, to a duel
with firearms: "I am going to prove to the Cubans that you are a clown
and a coward. Your bullying in Miami has ended because you have
encountered a man, with a capital M, a very big M." Mr. Carollo
replies that Mas Canosa might cool off if the duel were held with water
pistols. No duel is ever fought, but Mr. Carollo is defeated in
the next election by a CANF-backed candidate. (WSJ, 5/11/90)
1/27/86 At the National Endowment for Democracy's board meeting, a
grant of $95,000 is approved for the Cuban American National Foundation
to support its work with the European Coalition for Human Rights in
Cuba. (NED Minutes, 1/27/86)
2/1/86 2/28/86 Jorge and Ricardo Mas Canosa settle their 1985 lawsuit out of court and the case is dismissed. (MH, 4/10/88)
2/7/86 Hawkins, Paula 500 Individual
2/10/86 Fascell, Dante 661 Individual
2/10/86 Radio Marti increases its programming to seventeen and a half hours daily. (Smith & Dominguez, p. 153)
2/11/86 Smith, Lawrence 500 Individual
2/20/86 Kennedy, Edward 1000 Individual
3/6/86 Bentley, Helen 250 Free Cuba PAC
3/17/86 Gorton, Slade 2000 Free Cuba PAC
3/19/86 Gorton, Slade 1000 Individual
3/19/86 CANF Chair Jorge Mas Canosa leads a group asking the Mexican
government's guarantee for protection of a Cuban tourist who was
refused political asylum in Mexico and was forced to return to
Havana. (MH, 3/20/86)
3/24/86 Yatron, Gus 1000 Free Cuba PAC
3/24/86 CANF president Jose Sorzano writes an editorial in the New York Times defending Radio Marti. (NYT, 3/24/86)
3/31/86 Graham, Bob 500 Individual Kramer, Kenneth 3000 Free Cuba PAC
4/1/86 Gorton, Slade 1000 Individual
4/5/86 Fascell, Dante 500 Individual
4/7/86 Mica, Daniel 250 Free Cuba PAC
4/16/86 Sanford, James 500 Individual
4/22/86 Christian, David 1000 Free Cuba PAC
5/8/86 Graham, Bob 1500 Individuals
5/20/86 Fascell, Dante 500 Individual
5/20/86 In a letter to USIA Dir. Wick, Sen. Lawton Chiles (R-FL)
proposes that Radio Marti, if successful, should be expanded to
broadcast television programs to Cuba as well. (MH, 5/29/86)
5/22/86 Kasten, Robert 5000 Free Cuba PAC
6/1/86 6/30/86 President Reagan does an interview with Radio Marti
director Betancourt for later broadcast on Radio Marti. (WP, 3/18/87)
6/1/86 6/30/86 President Reagan does an interview with Radio Marti director Ernesto Betancourt. (WP, 3/18/87)
6/2/86 Denton, Jeremiah 1000 Free Cuba PAC Jordan, W. Hamilton 1000 Individual
6/3/86 Cranston, Alan 1000 Individuals
6/6/86 Graham, Bob 3000 Individuals
6/9/86 Kasten, Robert 1000 Individual
6/10/86 Christian, David 400 Free Cuba PAC Mica, Daniel 1000 Free Cuba PAC Pepper, Claude 2000 Individuals
6/23/86 Reid, Harry 2000 Individuals
6/26/86 Weber, John 1000 Free Cuba PAC Smith, Dennis 250 Free Cuba PAC
6/30/86 Graham, Bob 1000 Individuals
7/1/86 7/31/86 Cuban and U.S. officials meet in Mexico to discuss
immigration agreements; the topic of radio broadcasting is also
discussed. Cuban officials request that the name of Jose Marti be
dropped from the U.S. broadcasting program, and demand four channels
for Cuban broadcasts to the U.S. (CAR 1986; WP, 7/11/86)
7/10/86 Bernard Kalb, State Department spokesperson, announces that
talks on radio transmissions with Cuban officials in Mexico City had
broken down. Kalb states that Cuba "insisted on proposals that
would have required major and disruptive changes in the organization of
radio broadcasting in the United States" in order to counter Radio
Marti broadcasts. Officials state that no date has been scheduled
for more talks. (NYT, 7/11/86)
7/29/86 Mica, Daniel 1000 Free Cuba PAC
8/1/86 8/30/86 A National Security Council directive strengthens the U.S. embargo on Cuba. (CAR 1986)
8/6/86 Mica, Daniel 1000 Individual
8/26/86 Serra, Enrique 150 Free Cuba PAC
9/5/86 Mica, Daniel 2000 Free Cuba PAC
9/9/86 Hawkins, Paula 2000 Individuals Richardson, Bill 1500 Free Cuba PAC
9/12/86 At the National Endowment for Democracy's board meeting, a
grant of $15,000 is approved for the Cuban American National Foundation
to support its work with the Argentine Committee for Human Rights in
Cuba. (NED Minutes, 9/12/86)
9/15/86 Cranston, Alan 2000 Individuals
9/18/86 Graham, Bob 1000 Individual Serra, Enrique 1000 Free Cuba PAC
9/19/86 Fascell, Dante 1000 Individual
9/25/86 Abdnor, James 1000 Individual Graham, Bob 1000 Individual
9/26/86 Bond, Christopher 1000 Individual
9/30/86 Bilirakis, Michael 500 Free Cuba PAC Burton, Dan 2000
Free Cuba PAC Garcia, Robert 1000 Free Cuba PAC Graham, Bob 2000
Individuals
10/1/86 Chavez, Linda 1000 Free Cuba PAC Quayle, Dan 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/2/86 Jordan, W. Hamilton 500 Individual
10/3/86 D'Amato, Alfonse 500 Individual
10/14/86 Hawkins, Paula 500 Individual
10/16/86 Cobey, William 500 Free Cuba PAC
10/17/86 Chavez, Linda 1000 Free Cuba PAC Kramer, Kenneth 1000 Free
Cuba PAC Moore, W. Henson 1000 Free Cuba PAC Symms, Steve 1000
Free Cuba PAC Zschau, Edwin 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/23/86 Fascell, Dante 2500 Free Cuba PAC
10/24/86 Fascell, Dante 5500 Individuals Hawkins, Paula 500 Individual
10/28/86 Bilirakis, Michael 500 Individual
10/31/86 Rudman, Warren 1000 Individual
11/1/86 12/31/86 Media reports identify Luis Posada Carriles, a
fugitive from charges in the 1976 bombing of a Cubana plane, as a
logistics aide for Felix Rodriguez in the Contra weapons airlift (both
men are Mas' friends as well as former CIA agents). Vice
President Bush refuses to answer questions about the affair, and
Rodriguez says he never said anything about Posada because he was never
asked. (MH, 9/5/88)
11/3/86 Hawkins, Paula 1000 Individual
11/20/86 Radio Marti reporter Annette Lopez-Munoz tells United Press
International (UPI) that she has been transferred and threatened with
firing for asking two questions at a press conference by President
Reagan to which NSC staff objected. VOA Director Richard Carlson
states that Lopez-Munoz was not being fired, that no one at the White
House or the NSC had complained, and that VOA and Radio Marti policy
holds that government employees should not use up time in press
conferences. (WP, 11/21/86)
11/25/86 Graham, Bob 5000 Free Cuba PAC
12/1/86 The National Endowment for Democracy grants $110,000 to
the Cuban American National Foundation to support the International
Coalition for Human Rights in Cuba. (NED Report G1C, 9/10/89)
12/1/86 12/31/86 Ricardo Mas Canosa files another lawsuit against his
brother Jorge and Southern Bell, alleging that Jorge bribed Southern
Bell managers over many years with cases of liquor. Dade Circuit
Judge David Gersten dismisses all counts against Southern Bell. (MH,
4/10/88)
12/22/86 Kerry, John 1000 Individuals
1/1/87 12/31/87 Sen. Chiles sponsors legislation for a $100,000
feasibility study on TV Marti, which is passed with an appropriations
bill. (CQ, 6/23/90, p. 1931)
1/1/87 3/1/87 The chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Curtis
Kaufman, is recalled to Washington. He is not replaced until
later in the year. (CAR 1987)
1/1/87 12/31/87 Jose Sorzano, president of CANF, leaves the Foundation
to become the Reagan Administration's National Security Council
specialist on Latin America. Before his departure, he receives a
$10,000 bonus from the Foundation "for his outstanding work," according
to Jorge Mas Canosa. (MH, 4/11/88)
1/21/87 Fascell, Dante 500 Individual
2/10/87 By a mail ballot vote, the National Endowment for Democracy
grants $110,000 to the Cuban American National Foundation to support
its work with the International Coalition for Human Rights in
Cuba. (NED Minutes, 2/10/87; NED, "International Coalition for
Human Rights in Cuba")
2/11/87 Harkin, Tom 2000 Individuals
2/16/87 Byrd, Robert 5000 Free Cuba PAC
2/19/87 Minutes of a CANF board meeting record foundation vice
president Jose Luis Rodriguez as being replaced by Francisco Jose
Hernandez. But no election for the switch takes place, and when
foundation members complain, Jorge Mas Canosa and assistant secretary
Antonio Zamora dismiss it as a "clerical error." (MH, 6/10/87)
3/2/87 Mitchell, George 5000 Free Cuba PAC
3/5/87 Hatch, Orrin 2000 Individual
3/13/87 Hamilton, Lee 2000 Free Cuba PAC
3/13/87 At the National Endowment for Democracy's board meeting, a
grant of $15,000 is approved for the Cuban American National Foundation
to support its work with the Argentine Committee for Human Rights in
Cuba. (NED Minutes, 3/13/87)
3/17/87 The USIA employees' union president Norman Painter testifies
before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Radio Marti. He
states, "Unprofessional management in the spring of 1986 brushed aside
the critical findings of Radio Marti's annual independent, outside
evaluation required by Congress, and ordered up a new study whose
findings were easier to swallow." (MH, 4/11/87)
3/18/87 The Washington Post reports that the June 1986 Radio Marti
program featuring President Reagan was staged and altered while
presented as a spontaneous interview. In a VOA memo, Betancourt
states that Radio Marti's questions for Reagan "passed the NSC...some
questions were 'adjusted' slightly to correspond with the policy
statements...The president only read the first two or three lines of
the answers for time's sake, then the rest of the answers were
ultimately broadcast in Spanish." The Post article questions the
journalistic validity of such a practice, while VOA Dir. Carlson
defends the arrangement: "There was no intent to deceive anyone in our
audience with the interview." (WP, 3/18/87)
3/21/87 An editorial in the Miami Herald calls Reagan's staged
interview a "breach" of the VOA's charter and its standards for
journalistic integrity. (MH, 3/21/87)
4/1/87 4/30/87 Jorge Mas Canosa offers Felix Rodriguez, a key figure in
the contra re supply operations, a lawyer to accompany him to
testify before the Iran-Contra committees. (Shadow Warrior, p. 303)
4/4/87 Radio Marti director Betancourt writes to the Miami Herald that
his June 1986 interview with President Reagan was done according to
regular practice and was not misrepresented. (MH, 4/4/87)
4/11/87 USIA employee union president Norman Painter writes an article
in the Miami Herald on the Radio Marti controversy, stating "Radio
Marti's isolation from its parent organization [USIA] results from a
deliberate attempt by outside special interests to circumvent, if not
the letter, at least the spirit of the law that placed Radio Marti
within the structure of the Voice of America." Painter also
reiterates his earlier statement before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee about management rejecting a Congressionally required
independent evaluation. (MH, 4/11/87)
4/22/87 Zschau, Edwin 4500 Individuals
4/23/87 Jorge Mas Canosa writes to the Miami Herald in response to
Norman Painter's article of April 11. Mas claims that the
independent evaluation was rejected because it was found to be faulty,
and he defends Radio Marti's programs. (MH, 4/23/87)
4/27/87 Bingaman, Jeff 5000 Free Cuba PAC
4/29/87 The board annuls the disputed election and reinstates
Rodriguez; however, Zamora says that by mistake, the disputed results
have already been filed with the secretary of state in Tallahassee.
(MH, 6/10/87) Also at this meeting, CANF Executive Director Frank
Calzon resigns, citing "policy differences." He says he will keep
working with the foundation until July 1, and Jorge Mas Canosa calls
him "a great patriot." (MH, 5/2/87)
5/1/87 Roe, Robert 1000 Free Cuba PAC Smith, Lawrence 500 Free Cuba PAC
5/1/87 5/31/87 Frank Calzon, the longtime executive director of CANF,
resigns over political conflicts with Jorge Mas Canosa. Calzon
tells the Miami Herald that he is disturbed over the involvement of
CANF leaders in exile politics. Foundation vice chairman, Jose
Luis Rodriguez, also submits his resignation at this time, charging
that decision making within the Foundation is undemocratic.
Subsequently he withdraws his resignation and signs a letter drafted by
Mas Canosa to the Miami Herald denying any critical remarks about the
Foundation. "I signed it, I shouldn't have," Rodriguez later
tells a Herald reporter. "It's another example of the dictatorial
style" at CANF. (MH, 4/11/88)
5/19/87 Bentson, Senator 5000 Free Cuba PAC Dole, Robert 5000
Free Cuba PAC Guarini, Frank 250 Free Cuba PAC Nelson, Bill 350
Free Cuba PAC Torricelli 250 Free Cuba PAC
5/20/87 In a written statement, Vice President George Bush praises
Radio Marti's efforts to provide "the real story" to the Cuban
people. (MH, 5/21/87)
6/1/87 Lautenberg, Fran 5000 Free Cuba PAC
6/10/87 6/20/87 Jose Antonio Font is named executive director of CANF. (MH, 6/10/87)
6/17/87 Heinz, Henry John 5000 Free Cuba PAC
7/1/87 7/31/87 After the Cuban government accuses employees of the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana of being CIA agents, the U.S. expels two
staff members from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.
(CAR 1987)
8/1/87 8/31/87 In anticipation of the Pan American games in
Indianapolis, CANF opens an office there to exhort defections from the
Cuban athletic teams. Among its tactics are hiring a plane
to overfly the events towing a banners that read: "Cubans,
welcome to a free country," and "The Foundation Salutes You."
None of the athletes defect, and some members of the exile community
charge that Mas Canosa is more interested in headlines than
results. (MH, 4/11/88)
8/22/87 Trible, Paul 2500 Free Cuba PAC
9/1/87 9/30/87 Jose Luis Rodriguez, CANF vice-chairman, resigns.
In his letter of resignation, he blasts the direction of the
Foundation: "Unfortunately, our worst fears have become true and
the Foundation group continues to get involved in political races at
the local level that dilute our energies and resources." (MH,
4/11/88)
9/16/87 Smith, Neal 1000 Individual
9/25/87 Smith, Neal 5000 Free Cuba PAC Smith, Neal 3000 Individuals
10/6/87 Karnes, David 1000 Individuals
10/9/87 A USIA spokesperson announces an internal investigation to
determine if Radio Marti employees violated federal anti-propaganda
laws that prohibit distribution of government programs intended for
foreign audiences. Rep. Dan Mica (D-FL), chair of the House
subcommittee that oversees USIA, asked for the investigation after
Miami radio stations re-broadcast a Radio Marti program. Mica
also asks the General Accounting Office (GAO) to review Radio Marti
personnel practices. (MH, 10/10/87)
10/10/87 Bilbray, James H. 500 Free Cuba PAC
10/15/87 Over 150 relatives of Cuban nationals stranded in third
countries rallied today on the steps of the US Capitol in support of
legislation to allow their family members to immigrate to the US.
The rally culminates a series of meetings between members of CANF and
high-ranking officials at the State Department and INS on the issue of
Cuban immigration. The rally group traveled by bus from South
Florida, where they were met by several members of Congress, including
Senators Frank Lautenberg, Lawton Chiles, and Bob Graham, and
representatives Dante Fascell and Larry Smith. A bill submitted
by Lautenberg, Chiles, and Charles Grassley, directs INS to restore
normal immigration to the US of Cubans in third countries; currently,
Cuban nationals who made it to third countries after August 22, 1986,
are not eligible to come to the US. The bill has passed
unanimously in the Senate, and is now before a conference
committee. Congressman Claude Pepper had introduced similar
legislation in the House. Following the Capitol Hill rally,
Francisco J. Hernandez, Chairman of the Cuban Exodus Relief Fund, and
Jose Antonio Font, Executive Director of CANF, led a delegation to the
White House, presenting 50,000 signatures of Cuban Americans seeking
family reunification to the Reagan Administration. The INS has
already begun modifying its position on Cuban immigration, allowing any
Cuban national who has served any time as a political prisoner in
Cuba to be eligible to come to the US; the previous policy had been to
allow only those who had served over 10 years. (CANF Press Release
"Rally for Reunification", 10/16/87)
10/19/87 CANF takes out a full page advertisement in the Miami Herald,
denouncing the paper's coverage of the Cuban-American community.
"The Cuban-American community has sorrowfully accepted the fact that
the Miami Herald's only interest in Cuban Americans is economic.
We are simply a market to be penetrated." The ad becomes an
opening public salvo in a CANF campaign against the Miami Herald for
its Cuba coverage, and prompts a series of private talks between Jorge
Mas Canosa and other CANF officers, and executives at the Herald and
Knight Ridder Newspapers. (MH, 10/19/87 and 4/11/88)
10/26/87 Riegle, Donald 5000 Free Cuba PAC
10/27/87 A survey by Strategic Information Research, a subsidiary of
public relations firm Hill and Knowlton, finds that of 873
recently-arrived Cuban exiles, 86 percent reported having listened to
Radio Marti and 72 percent said it was their "most-listened-to
station." Nancy Belden, Hill and Knowlton project manager for the
survey, said the results do not represent a statistically valid picture
of radio listening habits in Cuba, as the sample of people surveyed was
limited to those who had left the island. Joseph Straubhaar, a
Michigan State University telecommunications professor who worked on a
1986 evaluation of Radio Marti, states that emigre surveys are
considered only marginally useful in academic circles. Tony
Guernica, director of audience research for Radio Marti, states that
in-house surveys show slightly higher audience levels. (MH,
19/28/87)
11/1/87 11/30/87 The Reagan administration announces an accord with
Cuba to deport some Cubans who came in the Mariel boat lift.
Jorge Mas Canosa calls a press conference to announce that Radio Marti
was not bargained away: "We know the State Department and Cuba were
talking. We made it clear Radio Marti could not be
compromised. I said that to [Assistant Secretary of State for
Inter-American Affairs] Elliot Abrams, to Secretary of State Shultz, to
[NSC staff member and former CANF president Jose] Sorzano." (MH,
4/11/88)
11/9/87 Humphrey, Hubert 2000 Free Cuba PAC
11/19/87 Fuster, Jaime 500 Individual
11/24/87 Kennedy, Edward 500 Individual
11/24/87 CANF honors Cuban poet and former political prisoner Armando
Valladares, who is Reagan's nominee for U.S. representative to the U.N.
Human Rights Commission. (MH, 11/21/87)
11/25/87 Moody, Jim 500 Individual
12/16/87 Bryan, Richard 750 Free Cuba PAC Mack, Connie 1000 Free Cuba PAC Smith, Lawrence 4000 Free Cuba PAC
12/17/87 Mack, Connie 1000 Individual
12/22/87 Rep. Mica's bill HR 1827 becomes PL 100-204, authorizing
appropriations for USIA and others. Sen. Chiles sponsors an
amendment for creating TV Marti. (CC, p. 4)
12/23/87 Humphrey, Hubert 1000 Individual Mack, Connie 1000 Individual
12/28/87 Bryan, Richard 1000 Individual
12/29/87 Zorinsky, Cecile 500 Individual
1/1/88 12/31/88 The Cuban American National Foundation opens local chapters in Puerto Rico and Chicago. (MH, 4/10/88)
1/1/88 12/31/88 CANF's political action committee gives over
$182,000 in contributions to both parties in 1988. (WP, 5/18/90)
CANF's expenditures for 1988 total $1.7 million. (Common Cause, An/Feb.
1991)
1/15/88 The National Endowment for Democracy grants $110,000 to the
Cuban American National Foundation for its support of the International
Coalition for Human Rights in Cuba. (NED Minutes, 1/15/88)
1/26/88 Durenberger, Dave 700 Individual
1/29/88 Mack, Connie 500 Individual
2/20/88 Lehman, William 500 Individual
2/24/88 Lieberman, Joseph 3000 Individuals
2/26/88 Hecht, Chic 500 Individual
3/1/88 3/31/88 Jorge Mas Canosa plays a central role in winning $30
million in U.S. military aid for the Angolan faction UNITA. (MH,
3/26/88)
3/2/88 Mack, Connie 1000 Individual
3/8/88 Lehman, William 500 Individual
3/11/88 Metzenbaum, Howard 4000 Individuals
3/11/88 ******* $30,000 to the Cuban Human Rights Film Project *******
3/18/88 Metzenbaum, Howard 2000 Individuals
3/19/88 Wilson, Peter 5000 Free Cuba PAC
3/23/88 Metzenbaum, Howard 1000 Individual
3/24/88 Licht, Richard 2000 Free Cuba PAC
3/26/88 In the Miami Herald, Jorge Mas Canosa announces he will travel
to Angola to meet with UNITA's leader Jonas Savimbi. Mas Canosa
says he will address Cuban troops through the Voice of the Black
Rooster, UNITA's radio service: "I will call for Cubans to
surrender and to know that we Cuban-Americans will provide logistical
support to incorporate them into Western society...The foundation would
guarantee their physical safety." (MH, 3/26/88)
3/28/88 Wilson, Peter 2150 Individuals
3/31/88 Askew, Reubin 1660 Individuals
4/1/88 4/10/88 In the wake of successful lobbying efforts to secure $30
million in military aid to UNITA forces, Jorge Mas Canosa travels to
Angola to meet with rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. He is accompanied
by five directors of CANF, including Alberto Hernandez, Pepe Hernandez,
Tony Costa, Jorge Rodriguez, and Feliciano Foyo. (MH,
3/26/88) They bring Savimbi tapes of Radio Marti to
broadcast to Cuban troops fighting with the MPLA in Angola, which
include encouragement for Cuban troops to defect. During their
visit, the Foundation and UNITA sign a declaration of common cause, and
CANF pledges financial and material support to UNITA. (MH, 4/6/88)
4/1/88 4/30/88 Jorge Mas Canosa receives an anonymous letter and
documents detailing a plot by another Cuban exile organization, Cuba
Independiente y Democratica (CID), to kill him. Mas Canosa sends
the letter to CID founder Huber Matos Sr. discounting the materials as
part of a Communist disinformation plot to split the exile
movement. (MH, 8/21/88)
4/4/88 Milder, Alice 5000 Free Cuba PAC
4/6/88 Acle, Luis 250 Free Cuba PAC Fuster, Jaime 250 Free Cuba PAC
4/11/88 Boulter, Eldon 500 Individual
4/18/88 Richardson, Bill 5000 Free Cuba PAC Robb, Charles 5000 Free Cuba PAC
4/24/88 Obey, David R. 1500 Free Cuba PAC
4/25/88 Kucinich, Dennis 1000 Free Cuba PAC
4/29/88 Fascell, Dante 3000 Free Cuba PAC
5/1/88 Lehman, William 1000 Individual
5/2/88 Mack, Connie 1000 Individual
5/2/88 Jorge Mas Canosa receives a letter from Huber Matos stating that
the documents are forged and the allegations that CID was plotting to
kill him are false. Matos thanks Mas Canosa for "the sensible
attitude with which you have handled this perverse and clumsy
intrigue." (MH, 8/21/88)
5/3/88 Fascell, Dante 1000 Individual
5/6/88 Obey, David 500 Individual
5/12/88 Fascell, Dante 1000 Individual
5/21/88 Sasser, James 5000 Free Cuba PAC
5/26/88 Lieberman, Joseph 5000 Free Cuba PAC
5/30/88 Jorge Mas Canosa meets with former CID member Guillermo Casasus
Toledo at a Burger King in Miami. Casasus reiterates allegations
that CID is plotting to kill him. Mas Canosa turns minutes of
this meeting, and the previously sent documents alleging an
assassination plot against him over to the FBI. (MH, 8/21/88)
5/31/88 Montoya, Rick 1000 Individual
6/1/88 The Private Sector Initiative (PSI) began. Under this
program "a private agency may enter into an agreement with the US
government to cover all resettlement costs usually born by the
Departments of State and Health and Human Services (including
transportation, resettlement services, welfare and medical costs)." PSI
allowed CANF to begin its Cuban Exodus Program, in which it paid all
costs for the resettlement of Cuban refugees coming from third
countries. While INS had to issue visas to the refugees, CANF was able
to chose which refugees it would sponsor. (Bureau of Population,
Refugees, and Migration document, 10/19/94)
6/1/88 9/30/88 CANF's Cuban Exodus program began functioning the last
three months of fiscal year 1988. The Bureau of Refugee
Affairs of the Department of State reports that no Cubans were
resettled during that period. (Bureau of Population, Refugees, and
Migration document, 10/19/94)
6/2/88 Lieberman, Joseph 5000 Individuals
6/6/88 Burton, Danny 1000 Individual
6/7/88 Dowdy, Wayne 2000 Free Cuba PAC
6/17/88 Smith, Lawrence 500 Individual
6/20/88 Lieberman, Joseph 1500 Individuals Pepper, Claude 5000 Free Cuba PAC
6/21/88 Pepper, Claude 5800 Individuals
6/22/88 Mills, Jon 500 Free Cuba PAC
6/30/88 Bryan, Richard 1500 Individuals Gramm, Phil 4700 Free Cuba PAC Gunter, William 2500 Individuals
7/11/88 Burdick, Quentin 500 Free Cuba PAC Deconcini, Dennis 5000 Free Cuba PAC
7/14/88 Felix Rodriguez is questioned by Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
about his relation to Jorge Mas Canosa during hearings before the
Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International
Operations. Kerry asks him to explain entries in Oliver North's
notebooks suggesting that Rodriguez was to receive money from Mas
Canosa. Rodriguez admits talking to Mas Canosa about
$50,000 but refuses to answer Kerry's repeated questions
regarding the money. "I will not discuss that, Senator,"
Rodriguez tells Kerry. "It would create speculation, whatever it
is, and I will not talk about it." Rodriguez also refuses to
discuss the issue in closed session. "Ask Oliver North, Senator,"
he tells the exasperated chairman of the Subcommittee. (Kerry
Hearings, p. 373)
7/22/88 Hatch, Orrin 5000 Free Cuba PAC
8/1/88 Hatch, Orrin 2100 Individuals
8/12/88 Mica, Daniel 5000 Free Cuba PAC
8/15/88 Fuster, Jaime 500 Individual Mack, Connie 500 Individual
8/16/88 Melcher, John 1000 Individual Kennedy, Rosario 1000 Individual
8/20/88 Gunter, William 4000 Individuals
8/21/88 The FBI closes its investigation of an assassination plot
against Jorge Mas Canosa, the Miami Herald reports. Investigators
say that Casasus had failed a lie detector test on his accusations that
CID officials were plotting to kill Mas Canosa, and that no other
evidence had emerged to support the allegations. (MH, 8/21/88)
8/23/88 Bafalis, Skip 500 Individual
8/31/88 Bafalis, Skip 1000 Free Cuba PAC Mack, Connie 1500 Individuals
9/2/88 Douglas, Charles 1000 Individual
9/5/88 The Miami Herald reports that Senate investigators are pursuing
allegations that Jorge Mas Canosa financed the August 18, 1985 escape
of Luis Posada Carriles from a Venezuelan prison where he had been held
for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner which killed 73 people.
Former CIA operative Felix Rodriguez, a close friend of Mas Canosa's
and a key figure in the Iran-Contra operations, has admitted harboring
Posada "at the request of a wealthy Miami benefactor who... financed
Posada's prison escape," the paper reports. "I got a call from an
old friend in Miami who has helped me financially who wanted me to hide
him," Rodriguez states. "The man who called was a very old and
dear friend, and he has helped pay my expenses since I have been in
Central America." Rodriguez admits to arranging Posada's flight
to El Salvador and making him a deputy manager of the contra re supply
operations out of the Ilopango airbase in San Salvador, using the name
Ramon Medina. Two members of Posada's group and three Cuban exile
leaders identify Mas Canosa as the financier of the escape. Mas
Canosa calls Posada "a friend," but denies funding his prison
breakout. (MH, 9/5/88)
9/6/88 Garcia, Robert 500 Individual
9/9/88 Gunter, William 2000 Individuals
9/9/88 The National Endowment for Democracy grants $30,000 to the Cuban
American National Foundation to provide supplemental assistance to the
International Coalition for Human Rights in Cuba. (NED Minutes,
9/9/88)
9/14/88 Mack, Connie 4000 Free Cuba PAC
9/16/88 Chappell, William 1000 Individual
9/22/88 The House Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs, chaired
by Rep. George Crockett (D-MI), holds hearings on TV Marti. Jorge
Mas Canosa testifies. (CC, p. 4; CIS)
9/23/88 Sarbanes, Paul 1000 Individual
9/25/88 Gunter, William 1000 Individual
9/26/88 Gunter, William 1000 Individual
9/27/88 Gunter, William 5000 Free Cuba PAC
9/30/88 Gunter, William 2000 Individual
10/1/88 9/30/89 CANF resettled 1,512 Cuban refugees through the
PSI Cuban Exodus Program. (Bureau of Population, Refugees, and
Migration document, 10/19/94)
10/1/88 Rep. Smith's bill HR 4782, including $7.5 million in start-up
costs for TV Marti as well as Radio Marti funding, becomes PL 100-159.
(CC, p. 4)
10/4/88 Engeleiter, Susan 2000 Free Cuba PAC Johnston, Harry 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/5/88 Melcher, John 1000 Individual
10/6/88 Kennedy, Joseph 3000 Individuals
10/7/88 Mack, Connie 500 Individual
10/11/88 Hecht, Chic 1000 Individual
10/14/88 Lieberman, Joseph 6000 Individuals
10/18/88 Florio, James 500 (returned) Free Cuba PAC Smith, Lawrence 5000 Free Cuba PAC
10/19/88 Gorton, Slade 1000 Free Cuba PAC Melcher, John 500 Free Cuba PAC
10/20/88 Chappell, William 3500 Free Cuba PAC Lieberman, Joseph 1000 Individual
10/21/88 Chappell, William 500 Individual
10/25/88 Burton, Dan 5000 Free Cuba PAC Johnston, Harry 500 Individual
Mack, Connie 5000 Free Cuba PAC Mack, Connie 1500 Individuals
10/26/88 Mack, Connie 3000 Individuals
10/27/88 Mack, Connie 500 Individual
10/28/88 Goss, Porter 500 Individual
10/29/88 Lieberman, Joseph 489 Free Cuba PAC
10/31/88 Gorton, Slade 1000 Individual Mack, Connie 2000 Individuals
11/1/88 Lieberman, Joseph 1000 Individual
11/2/88 Dioguardi, Joseph 500 Individual
11/7/88 Allgaier, Calvin J. 500 Free Cuba PAC Douglas, Charles 500 Free
Cuba PAC Fascell, Dante 2000 Free Cuba PAC Lott, Trent 2000 Free
Cuba PAC Mackay, Buddy 500 Individual Mills, Jon 500 Free Cuba PAC
11/29/88 Gunter, William 500 Individual
11/30/88 Mack, Connie 500 Individual
12/10/88 Under the US government-supported CANF Exodus program, 185
Cubans arrive in Miami from Spain. Foundation spokesperson
Marilyn Calusin says 470 more Cubans are expected to fly from Spain to
Miami in the next week. (MH, 12/12/88)
12/14/88 Gunter, William 1000 Individual
12/22/88 Richardson, Bill 1108 Free Cuba PAC
12/24/88 Lieberman, Joseph 1000 Individual
1/1/89 1/1/90 Free Angola Information Service -- TKC Int'l $43,000 $0
1/1/89 12/31/89 The Intergovernmental Council for the Coordination of
Information and Communication Among the Non-Aligned Nations declares,
"the act of radio and television systems aimed exclusively at the
territories of non-aligned countries for subversive purposes,
constitutes an act of interference in the internal affairs of these
states, a violation of international legislation, particularly the UN
Charter, and a violation of the Telecommunications Convention adopted
in 1982 and the Regulations of the International
Telecommunications Union." (Alexandre, p. 527)
1/1/89 12/31/89 Cuban American Foundation, CANF's lobbying arm, spends $145,000 (Common Cause, An/Feb 1991).
1/10/89 Jonathan Slade (MMW) $8,000 $677
1/19/89 The National Endowment for Democracy grants $110,000 to the
Cuban American National Foundation for its support of the International
Coalition for Human Rights in Cuba. (NED Report G1C, 9/10/89)
2/22/89 4/11/89 Rep. Smith holds hearings on Radio and TV Marti. (CC, p. 5)
2/24/89 Fascell, Dante 500 Individual
3/3/89 In an interview with the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun,
Cuban Foreign Minister Carlos Rafael Rodriguez sates, "The foreign
policy of the Bush administration is more reasonable and realistic than
the Reagan administration's....However, we are exercising caution
because President Bush has close connections with a group of exiled
Cubans in Miami. We are ready to begin a dialogue at any
time. Whether or not [the U.S.] establishes a TV station for
anti-Cuban propaganda will be the Bush administration's litmus
test." (CAR 1989)
3/7/89 Jorge Mas Canosa testifies for the House Foreign Relations
Committee hearings on appropriations for USIA and broadcasting programs
for Cuba. (CIS)
3/7/89 Jorge Mas Canosa testifies for the House Foreign Relations
Committee hearings on appropriations for USIA and broadcasting programs
for Cuba. (CIS Index)
3/9/89 Boschwitz, Rudy 5000 Free Cuba PAC
3/10/89 McConnel, Mitch 3250 Individuals
3/17/89 At the National Endowment for Democracy's board meeting, a
grant of $20,000 is approved for the Cuban American National Foundation
to enable the Cuban Committee for Human Rights to disseminate
independent human rights literature inside Cuba. (NED Minutes,
3/17/89)
3/21/89 McConnell, Mitch 500 Individual
3/23/89 Boschwitz, Rudy 500 Individual
3/28/89 Secretary of State James Baker sends a cable to all U.S.
diplomatic posts worldwide, itemizing the requirements for a change in
U.S. policy toward Cuba. (CAR 1989)
3/30/89 Biden, Joseph 250 Individual Boschwitz, Rudy 2350 Individuals
3/31/89 Rockefeller, John 5000 Free Cuba PAC
4/10/89 Jonathan Slade (MMW) $4,250 $265
4/20/89 Biden, Joseph R. 5000 Free Cuba PAC Roe, Robert 1000 Free Cuba PAC
4/20/89 The Miami Herald reports that Cuban Vice President Carlos
Rafael Rodriguez warned that Cuba will take all "appropriate measures"
against the "reactionary attack" of TV Marti broadcasts. (MH,
4/20/89)
5/1/89 5/31/89 CANF promotes a bill in the Florida State Legislature to
establish a Cuban studies institute at Florida International
University. The bill calls for the institute to have a nine
member board, two-thirds of which would be nominated by CANF.
After opposition by professors at FIU, the legislature rejects CANF's
bill, but appropriates $1 million for the Foundation to give research
grants to scholars of its choice. (AW)
5/3/89 Garcia, Robert 500 Individual Kerry, John 3000 Individuals Pressler, Larry 1000 Individual
5/4/89 Lehman, William 500 Individual
5/5/89 Kennedy, Rosario 500 Individual
5/5/89 Fourteen U.S. Treasury agents raid the home and offices of Ramon
Cernuda. Cernuda is vice-president of the Cuban Museum of Arts
and Culture and head of CODEHU, an organization based in Havana that
promotes a non-violent approach to the political transformation of
Cuba. The agents confiscate 220 works of Cuban art on the grounds
that Cernuda's possession of these paintings violates the trade embargo
against Cuba. Several days later, Jorge Mas Canosa publicly takes
responsibility for the raid: "we in effect are responsible for this and
other investigations that I hope come through and which cannot be
halted with Cernuda." In a radio broadcast, Mas Canosa announces,
"I'm going to continue trying to get an investigation of Cernuda and of
20 other 'Cernudas' who are in Miami, or two hundred or two thousand of
them." In the same radio broadcast, Mas Canosa calls Alicia
Torres, who works for the Cuban American Committee Research and
Education Fund, a Castro agent. (WP, 8/24/89; Radio Transcript)
5/13/89 Boschwitz, Rudy 1000 Individual
5/14/89 A Miami Herald article reports that Frank Calzon, former CANF
executive director, and Jorge Mas Canosa, CANF Chairman, disagree on a
proposal to locate TV Marti's studios in Miami. Calzon says
locating the station in Miami "would be a terrible mistake...Neither
Radio Marti nor TV Marti are supposed to be exile operations....It
creates the problem of somebody having to explain to the Cuban
community that this is not an exile station." Mas Canosa
disagrees, saying that Miami "is the natural source where people who
would work for TV Marti are located." VOA Deputy Director Robert
Coonrod said the agency has not decided where to put the studios.
Another Herald article reports that the aerostat blimp "Fat Albert"
that would be used to relay TV Marti programs can be flown less than
half the time from June to September, and less than 40 percent of the
time between August and September, due to weather conditions in the
area. (MH, 5/14/89)
5/18/89 Hollings, Ernest 5000 Free Cuba PAC
5/18/89 The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves permanent funding for TV Marti. (WP, 5/19/89)
5/20/89 Sen. Connie Mack (R-FL) tells members of CANF at their annual
dinner, "I believe TV Marti will be a reality by the end of this year,
at the latest by the beginning of next year." (MH, 5/21/89)
5/21/89 An article by Jose Cardenas, director of research and
publications at CANF, appears in the Miami Herald, defending the
contributions of Radio Marti and promoting TV Marti. (MH, 5/21/89)
5/22/89 Garcia, Robert 250 Individual
5/24/89 Kennedy, Rosario 200 Individual
5/25/89 Levin, Carl 500 Free Cuba PAC
5/31/89 Kennedy, Rosario 1000 Individual
6/5/89 Levin, Carl 2000 Individuals
6/9/89 Hamilton, Lee 500 Free Cuba PAC Torricelli 500 Free Cuba PAC
6/19/89 Hefner, W.G. 1500 Free Cuba PAC
6/22/89 Cuba records and registers Channel 13 for 24-hour broadcasts with the IFRB. (GAO, 5/92, p. 11)
6/29/89 Ros-Lehtinen 5000 Individuals
6/30/89 Harkin, Tom 1000 Individual Ros-Lehtinen 500 Individual
7/5/89 In a farewell memo to Radio Marti director Betancourt, Radio
Marti's departing research director Ramon Mestre writes that the
station "has departed significantly from its mandate" to broadcast
domestically unavailable news and information. He also questioned
the effectiveness of the research and news departments, adding that
"Many of our reporters are actually green broadcasters who know little
about Cuba and very little about radio broadcasting." (MH,
9/28/89)
7/7/89 Ros-Lehtinen 500 Individual
7/10/89 Jonathan Slade (MMW) $6,750 $201
7/12/89 Kennedy, Rosario 1000 Individual
7/12/89 The GAO forwards its report, titled "Voice of America: Selected
Personnel Practices Warrant Management Attention," to Rep. Mervyn
Dymally (D-CA) and the House Subcommittee on International
Operations. Regarding Radio Marti, the report states that several
employees did not have sufficient knowledge of Cuba required by the
agency's hiring authority. Radio Marti and VOA staff had also
submitted complaints regarding various management practices.
(GAO, 7/89)
7/17/89 Ros-Lehtinen 200 Individual
7/18/89 Ros-Lehtinen 450 Individuals
7/21/89 Ros-Lehtinen 2000 Individuals
7/21/89 The Senate approves $16 million for TV Marti programs in 1990
as part of the State Department authorization bill. (WP, 7/22/89)
7/24/89 Ros-Lehtinen 5000 Free Cuba PAC Ros-Lehtinen 1000 Individual
7/25/89 Ros-Lehtinen 9000 Individuals
7/25/89 Jorge Mas Canosa testifies for the House Foreign Affairs
Committee on alleged Cuban involvement in international drug
trafficking. (CIS Index)
7/25/89 Jorge Mas Canosa and his wife Irma each contribute $1000 to the campaign of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL). (NLMP)
7/26/89 Ros-Lehtinen 1000 Individual
7/26/89 Cuban officials state that they will use "all means available" to stop the broadcasts of TV Marti. (WP, 7/27/89)
7/28/89 Kennedy, Rosario 1000 Individual Smith, Lawrence 300 Individual
7/31/89 Ros-Lehtinen 750 Individual
8/1/89 8/31/89 CIA and FBI documents released to lawyers of anti-Castro
Cuban militant Orlando Bosch document his involvement in acts of
terrorism during the 1960s. Sabotage attacks against Cuba by
Bosch's paramilitary organization, the Insurrectional Movement of
Revolutionary Recovery claimed the lives of three children, CIA
intelligence reports state. FBI documents record a 1987 letter
from special agent George Davis to then Secretary of State Shultz
urging that Bosch not be allowed entry to the United States from
Venezuela where he had been released on terrorism charges. "My
colleagues and I in Miami conducted exhaustive investigations of Bosch
from the time of his arrival in about 1960 as a Cuban exile until he
departed on a forged passport while out of prison on parole [in
1972]. He was regarded by the FBI and other law enforcement
agencies as Miami's number one terrorist." (MH, 8/4/89)
8/3/89 Kennedy, Rosario 1000 Individual Simon, Paul 300 Individual
8/7/89 Ros-Lehtinen 300 Individual
8/10/89 Ros-Lehtinen 1000 Individual
8/11/89 Jorge Mas Canosa testifies for the Senate Caucus of
International Narcotics Control hearings on allegations of Cuban
involvement in drug trafficking. (CIS Index)
8/16/89 Ros-Lehtinen 2500 Individuals
8/17/89 Ros-Lehtinen 4500 Individuals
8/21/89 Ros-Lehtinen 1000 Individual
8/22/89 Pressler, Larry 3500 Free Cuba PAC
8/23/89 Ros-Lehtinen 900 Individual
8/24/89 Pressler, Larry 2500 Individuals
8/29/89 Ros-Lehtinen 500 Individual
9/8/89 The U.S. Interests Section in Havana cables USIA regarding Cuban
reaction to the planned TV Marti. The cable reports that the
Cuban press is denouncing TV Marti on technical and legal grounds,
claiming that most Americans are unaware of the project, apparently to
show that TV Marti is not only an insult to Cubans but also to the U.S.
public. (USIA Cable, "TV Marti: GOC Puts its Case on the Air,
9/8/89)
9/13/89 Another cable from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana reports
on official Cuban reactions to TV Marti, citing an interview with
Carlos Aldana, PCC Secretary for propaganda and ideology, in Arieto
magazine. Aldana emphasizes Cuban opposition to TV Marti, but
stresses that they have nothing to fear from it. (USIA Cable,
"Carlos Aldana's Public Comments on TV Marti," 9/13/89)
9/18/89 Judge Kenneth Ryskamp orders the Treasury Department to return
Ramon Cernuda's Cuban artworks. The judge rules that it is not
for the U.S. government "to dictate whether [Cernuda] and the Cuban
Museum may exhibit or auction paintings of Cuban origin." (AW)
9/20/89 Smith, Lawrence 1000 Individual
9/21/89 Jorge Mas Canosa testifies for the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearings on U.S.-Cuban relations. (CIS Index)
9/25/89 Simon, Paul 1000 Free Cuba PAC
10/1/89 9/30/90 CANF resettled 3,003 Cuban refugees through the PSI
Cuban Exodus Program. (Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
document, 10/19/94)
10/1/89 10/31/89 James Skinner is selected as Executive Director of the
Advisory Board for Cuba Broadcasting by Board chairman Jorge Mas Canosa
and approved by the White House. (ABCB, 1989)
10/1/89 10/31/89 James Skinner is selected as Executive Director of the
Advisory Board for Cuba Broadcasting by Board chairman Jorge Mas Canosa
and approved by the White House. (ABCB 1989 Report)
10/10/89 Helms, Jesse 2000 Individual
10/10/89 Marilyn Kalusin $7,122 $0
10/10/89 Jonathan Slade (MMW) $6,750 $102
10/17/89 Blackwell, J. Kenneth 250 Individual Ros-Lehtinen 500 Individual
10/23/89 Ros-Lehtinen 250 Individual
10/27/89 Smith, Lawrence 250 Individual
10/30/89 Smith, Lawrence 2250 Individuals
11/3/89 Manuel Castillo Rabasa, Minister of Communications for the
Cuban government, files a formal complaint with the ITU, requesting
that the IFRB examine United States interference with Cuban national
broadcasting services. The Cuban government charges that U.S.
attempts to use frequencies assigned to Cuban television stations
constitute a flagrant violation of international telecommunications
regulations. Furthermore, Cuba declares the U.S. broadcasts
interfere in Cuba's internal affairs and establish a dangerous
precedent for large countries to overpower the broadcasts of smaller
ones. (Castillo Rabasa Letter to P.J. Tarjanne, ITU, 11/3/89)
11/6/89 Senate and House conferees pass TV Marti contingent on feasibility testing. (CC, p. 6)
11/9/89 According to a later article by Jorge Mas Canosa, Radio Marti
director Betancourt states, "I want the record to show that Mr. Mas
Canosa has never tried to use Radio Marti as a means of personal or
[Cuban American National] Foundation propaganda." (MH, 3/17/90)
11/16/89 Smith, Lawrence 2250 Individuals
11/16/89 The Senate approves a State Department authorization bill
including $16 million each year for 1990 and 1991 for the TV Marti
program. An amendment to the bill intended to correct some
Iran-Contra abuses is expected to cause a Presidential veto. (MH,
11/17/89)
11/20/89 McCollum, Bill 500 Free Cuba PAC Smith, Robert 500 Free Cuba PAC
11/21/89 Because of a provision attached to limit presidential powers,
Bush vetoes the State Department Authorization Bill with its provisions
for TV Marti. (CC, p. 6-7)
11/22/89 The Senate adjourns without reconsidering the State Authorization bill and TV Marti. (MH, 11/23/89)
11/25/89 Rep. Smith's appropriations bill for Commerce/Justice/State includes $16 million for FY 1990 for TV Marti. (CC, p. 7)
12/1/89 12/31/89 A congressional delegation led by Rep. Al Swift
(D-WA), a ranking member of the House telecommunications and finance
subcommittee, visits Cuba on a fact-finding trip with John Spicer
Nichols, a Penn State communications professor. (MH, 1/6/90)
12/1/89 12/31/89 The Cuban government demonstrates their ability to jam
television broadcasts to a visiting U.S. congressional
delegation. Officials also announce that they are considering a
range of options in response to TV Marti broadcasts, including
counter-broadcasting, limiting or changing migration between the island
and the U.S., and jamming not only TV Marti but also Radio Marti.
(MH, 1/6/90)
12/14/89 Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon says in a Havana news
conference that TV Marti broadcasts would be "an act of aggression" and
that Cuba would retaliate if TV Marti went on the air. That
night, Cuban transmitters interfere with three AM radio frequencies
across the U.S. (MH, 12/15/89 and 12/16/89)
12/15/89 The FCC sends a telex to Cuba complaining about the previous night's radio interference. (MH, 12/16/89)
12/15/89 The FCC sends a telex to Cuba complaining about the interference. (MH, 12/16/89)
12/15/89 The Cuban Museum Rescue Committee, an organization formed by
CANF and other anti-Castro groups, petitions the city of Miami to
cancel the lease of the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture because it has
shown the art of Cubans still living in Cuba. A letter from the
Committee claims that the Museum's policies represented "the treason of
the principles of 'cubanness'" and "a political agenda not shared by
the Cuban exile community." (Diario de las Americas, 12/15/89)
12/20/89 Bradley, Bill 1000 Individuals
12/29/89 Gore, Albert 1000 Individual
12/31/89 Kerry, John 2000 Individuals
1/1/90 The National Endowment for Democracy grants $100,000 to CANF to
support the International Coalition for Human Rights in Cuba. NED
also grants an additional $30,000 to CANF for its support of the
US counterpart of the Havana-based Cuban Committee for Human Rights in
compiling and disseminating human rights information. (NED 1990
Annual Report)
1/1/90 12/31/90 The Office of Cuba Broadcasting is established under
VOA to coordinate management of Radio and TV Marti. The office
has an eight-member management team headed by Antonio Navarro.
(ABCB, 1991)
1/1/90 2/28/90 CANF holds a radio press conference announcing the
formation of an "Information Commission" and the coming together of
"two historic tendencies." Guillermo and Ignacio Novo, who were
both convicted in the car-bombing murder of former Chilean Ambassador
Orlando Letelier, are appointed to the commission. Guillermo Novo tells
Washington Post journalist Scott Sleek that he doesn't regret any of
his past activities, and he writes off the bazooka attack on the United
Nations to the enthusiasm of his youth. (MH, 3/27/92; WP 7/18/90)
1/4/90 A document titled "TV Marti Guidance" is drafted by Michael
Schoenfeld of VOA, providing a question-and-answer explanation of the
TV Marti program and its status. One part of the guidance states,
"TV Marti is a foreign policy priority of the Bush
Administration. It also has strong bipartisan support among
Members of Congress with little or no Cuban-American
constituents. TV Marti is a logical extension of the U.S. policy
to provide accurate and balanced information directly to people who are
denied that precious commodity by their government. While
Cuban-American efforts on behalf of the program have been important, TV
Marti has advanced on its own merits as a public diplomacy
program." ("TV Marti Guidance," 1/4/90)
1/10/90 Marilyn Kalusin $8,306 $0
1/10/90 Jonathan Slade (MMW) $9,000 $147
1/12/90 G. C. Brooks, chair of the IFRB, requests that the FCC provide technical information
and comments for the Board's consideration regarding Cuba's
November 1989 complaint of U.S. broadcasting interference. (G. C.
Brooks, Letter to FCC, 1/12/90)
1/16/90 Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) writes President Bush, asking
that the U.S. "proceed will all due speed and make TV Marti fully
operational" as soon as possible. (Ros-Lehtinen Letter, 1/16/90)
1/16/90 USIA contracting officer Herman Shaw writes to Department of
Labor administrator Joseph Dubray, Jr., requesting a pre-award
equal-opportunity (EEO) clearance on Techniarts Engineering, which will
provide services for news gathering and reporting for TV Marti.
(Shaw Letter, 1/16/90)
1/18/90 Hamilton, Lee 4000 Free Cuba PAC
1/18/90 Techniarts, Inc. of Silver Spring, Maryland, is chosen as a
contractor for news gathering and reporting for TV Marti. Other
television and communication firms receive notification letters from
the USIA Contracts Office. (Muller Letters, 1/18/90)
1/19/90 The U.S. Mission to the UN in New York cables the State
Department and USIA regarding Cuban protests against TV Marti in the
Security Council. (USIA Cable, "Cubans Protest TV Marti in
Security Council," 1/19/90)
1/22/90 The U.S. Interests Section in Havana cables USIA
regarding media reaction to TV Marti. The cable reports that the
Cuban press has printed the text of a letter from Cuban Foreign
Minister Isidoro Malmierca to the President of the UN Security Council
regarding TV Marti, and several stories denouncing the program have run
in newspapers. (USIA Cable, "Media Reaction: TV Marti Project
Jan. 21-22," 1/22/90)
1/23/90 Gramm, Phil 150 Free Cuba PAC
1/23/90 Jorge Mas Canosa meets with Channel 23 WLTV manager Jose Cancela. (MH, 1/26/90)
1/24/90 The U.S. Interests Section in Havana cables Washington with
concern over recent Cuban remarks on TV Marti: "[A Cuban
official] said that if we went through with TV Marti he was afraid that
we would have `a war (figuratively) on our hands.' He said that
he was concerned that TV Marti could cause the Soviet Union to re-think
its cooperation in the region....This is the first hint that we heard
that TV Marti, together with Panama, could cause the USSR to re-think
its cooperation on Central America." (USIA Cable, "[deleted] Says
TV Marti Could Effect Soviet Cooperation," 1/24/90)
1/24/90 USIA contract officer Edward Muller designates Oscar Underwood
as USIA's Authorized Representative for the Techniarts contract, and
contract officer Herman Shaw notifies Judith Deitz of Techniarts.
(Muller and Shaw Letters, 1/24/90)
1/25/90 White House official Frederick McClure writes to Rep.
Ros-Lehtinen regarding her concerns about TV Marti, and sends a copy of
both his letter and hers to USIA for a direct response. (McClure
Letter, 1/25/90)
1/25/90 The U.S. Interests Section in Havana cables Washington to
report that Cuban Foreign Relations First Vice Minister Jose Raul Viera
had brought a letter from Foreign Minister Isidoro Malmierca to each of
the EC countries, reportedly emphasizing that Cuba was prepared to
submit the TV Marti question to international arbitration and would
like their support. (USIA Cable, "Cuban Action Against TV Marti,"
1/25/90)
1/25/90 Jose Cancela confirms that his station, WLTV Channel 23 will
supply "the first 15 or 20 days" of news programs for TV Marti's
broadcasts to Cuba. He says he committed to the deal in a meeting
two days earlier with Jorge Mas Canosa. (MH, 1/26/90)
1/25/90 USIA receives a Reuter wire report, stating that Cuban state
television will begin broadcasting the Cable News Network (CNN)
program, "World Report." Cuban media official Rodobaldo Diaz
states that Cuban television would respect the exact content of every
CNN report. (Reuter Wire Report, 1/25/90)
1/26/90 The U.S. Interests Section in Havana cables USIA, stating that
Cuban "collaboration" will begin tonight with a half-hour broadcast of
CNN's "World Report," dubbed in Spanish. (USIA Cable, "GOC
Launches CNN Program Tonight," 1/26/90)
1/26/90 USIA receives a cable from the U.S. Interests Section
describing television programming schedules and reception in Havana,
particularly Channel 13, the proposed channel for TV Marti
broadcasts. (USIA Cable, "Cuban TV Broadcasts Times," 1/26/90)
1/27/90 The USIA Operations Center Brief includes a wire report from
Reuters on students and workers marching through Havana and other Cuban
cities to protest the planned TV Marti. (Reuters Wire Report,
1/27/90; Operations Center Brief, 1/29/90)
1/28/90 The U.S. Interests Section in Havana cables the Department of
State and USIA regarding Cuban claims that the U.S. is building up for
a military confrontation. The cable also reports that, in light
of U.S. naval deployments to Guantanamo and Florida, diplomats in
Cuba, including U.S. allies, are accepting the Cuban line and "are no
doubt [reporting] back to capitals and by making the U.S. appear
belligerent and provocative may have a negative effect on our policy
interests regarding Central America and Panama." The cable
recommends that the State Department consider a public relations
campaign to counteract Cuban criticisms. (USIA Cable, "GOC
Diplomatic Campaign Against U.S. 'Military' Moves," 1/28/90)
1/28/90 The U.S. Interests Section reports that Cuban television's
broadcast of CNN's "World Report" was "dull and eminently
non-controversial." (USIA Cable, "CNN Program Debuts on
Cubavision," 1/28/90)
1/29/90 Muenster, Theodore 250 Individual
1/29/90 USIA receives a cable from the U.S. Interests Section on Cuban
campaigns against TV Marti, including the installation of a new
bulletin board facing the U.S. Interests Section building and
demonstrations around the building, as well as a mass torch light
parade celebrating Jose Marti's birthday and military sentries in
battle dress outside military installations. (USIA Cable, "GOC
Build-up to TV Marti Broadcasting," 1/29/90)
2/1/90 Gramm, Phil 1500 Individuals
2/1/90 2/28/90 USIA official Steven Friedman forwards copies of several
news articles to colleagues including Joseph O'Connell, Jim Skinner,
and Antonio Navarro. The articles cover TV Marti, the Cuban view
of the program, and the December visit by the delegation led by Rep. Al
Swift (D-WA). (Friedman Note, c. 2/90)
2/1/90 2/10/90 Antonio Navarro is appointed acting director at TV
Marti. Navarro resigned his position with the Advisory Board for
Cuban Broadcasting to take the TV Marti position. (MH, 2/4/90)
2/2/90 The USIA Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) bureau in
Key West reports that Havana Radio has broadcast statements by Cuban
Culture Minister Armando Hart, while visiting Ecuador, that the Cuban
response to TV Marti will be one of "self-defense against a flagrant
violation" of international law. (USIA Cable, "Hart Says Response
to TV Marti to be Self-defense," 2/2/90)
2/2/90 The IFRB, based on technical information it received from the
U.S. regarding the Cudjoe Key, Florida station, classifies U.S.
broadcasts to Cuba as "harmful interference" and requests that the U.S.
State Department's Bureau of International Communications and
Information Policy take prompt action to eliminate the
broadcasts. The IFRB informs the U.S. that the powerful
3000-meter-high antenna aimed at Cuba is not appropriate considering
international broadcasting regulations which restrict unnecessary
international inter
