Annotations for Communities: Cubans

This is Latino USA, a radio journal of news and culture. I'm María Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA: two years after the Mount Pleasant riots in the nation's capital.

Overnight, Latinos were an issue in Washington DC.

Where US Latinos stand on the Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico.

The jobs that are expected to be lost are the low-skilled, low-paying jobs that so many Latinos in this country hold.

Also, Afro-Cuban jazz pioneer, Mario Bauzá, and some thoughts on what's really important.

Here on top of the earth, we have everything a man can need. What more can one ask for?

All this here on Latino USA, but first: las noticias.

[Change in transitional music]

The roots of Latin jazz go back at least five decades to such artists as Machito, Chano Pozo, and Dizzy Gillespie. Latin jazz has lost many of its originators in recent years, but one of them, 81-year-old Mario Bauzá keeps going strong. From Miami, Emilio San Pedro prepared this profile of the legendary co-founder of the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans.

Mario Bauzá left his native Havana for New York in 1930. When he got to this country, Bauzá became one of those responsible for making Afro-Cuban music popular in the United States and around the world.

Had to happen outside of Cuba before the Cuban people convince themself what they had themself over there. When they got big in United States, Cuba begin to move into that line of music.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

Bauzá remembers his days at the Apollo Theater in Harlem where he helped to launch the career of Ella Fitzgerald. He recalls his days with the Cab Calloway Orchestra and the time that he and his friends, Dizzy Gillespie and Cozy Cole, played around with Afro-Cuban rhythm and jazz arrangements and created something new: Afro-Cuban Jazz.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

In the early 1940s, Bauzá formed the legendary band Machito and his Afro-Cubans, along with his brother-in-law, Frank Grillo, who was called Machito. Bauzá was the musical director of the band and he composed some of the group's most memorable songs.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

The sensation caused by Machito and his Afro-Cubans and by other Latin musicians in the '40s made New York the focal point of a vibrant Latin music scene.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

It's the scene of The Mambo Kings, you know, and that's why a lot of people will say Mambo is not Cuban music or is not Mexican music. Mambo is New York music.

Enrique Fernández writes about Latin music for the Village Voice. He's also the editor of the New York-based Más Magazine.

It was here that this kind of music became very hot…that it really galvanized a lot of people…that really attracted a lot of musicians from different genres that wanted to jam with it, and that created those great, you know, those great encounters between Latin music practitioners and the jazz practitioners, particularly Black American jazz practitioners. For that, you need to recognize that New York has been, since then, probably before then, but certainly since then, one of the great centers of Latin music.

Mario Bauzá takes great pride in the current popularity of Latin and Caribbean music, but he says people are wrong to call his music Latin jazz. He says that label doesn't give proper recognition to its musical roots.

Merengue, merengue from Santo Domingo. Cumbia is cumbia from Colombia. Afro-Cuban is Cuban. That's why I got to keep [unintelligible] Afro-Cuban rhythms, and Afro-Cuban rhythm…Danzón es cubano…la Danza es cubano…Bolero es cubano…el Cha-cha-cha es cubano…el Mambo es cubano…el Guaguancó es cubano y la Columbia es cubana. So, I got to call it Afro-Cuban Jazz.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

After seven decades in the music business, Mario Bauzá has come out of the shadows of the group Machito and his Afro-Cubans and is being recognized for his accomplishments as one of the creators of Afro-Cuban Jazz. This year, Bauzá plans to tour with his Afro-Cuban jazz orchestra featuring Graciela on vocals. The group also plans to release another album of Afro-Cuban jazz: Explosión 93. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro.

[Afro-Cuban jazz music]

A flotilla organized by a Florida humanitarian group called Basta, Spanish for "enough," recently sailed to Cuba to help feed malnourished Cubans who have been hit hard by the U.S. trade embargo and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. The flotilla delivered food and hospital equipment to the Cuban Red Cross and to church groups, but some Cuban exiles in Miami opposed a flotilla, saying the food would support Fidel Castro's regime. I'm Vidal Guzmán. This is news from Latino USA.

[Crowd chanting]

Many Latinos from across the country were among the hundreds of thousands of gays and lesbians who recently converged on Washington, D.C. They gathered in the nation's capital to celebrate their identities and demand lesbian and gay rights. In the wake of that event, Mandalit del Barco in New York spoke with several gay and lesbian Latino activists, and she prepared this report.

It's very, very difficult just to be lesbian or gay and be Latino, but I guess that at the same time, it's very beautiful.

Gay activists like Hector Seda are becoming more politically active, out there proclaiming their identities and working on issues like AIDS and equal rights. Seda is a board member of LLEGO, a national organization of lesbian and gay Latinos. He sees in this country and in Latin America an emerging political force.

It's beginning. It's happening in Puerto Rico. It's happening in general, all…I mean, it's happening in this country right now. Everybody, us, general Latinos and gays in this country, we're fighting for basic human rights.

We also have to be ready for the backlash because with visibility, there comes a very strong backlash, and usually, it's very violent.

Juan Méndez is a gay Puerto Rican who documents cases of gay bashing for the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. Méndez rejects the stereotype that Latinos traditionally have more difficulty acknowledging homosexuality than do other cultures.

Homophobia is not any more or any less than in any other community, and I think that when people start talking about the taboos and machismo, you know, and things that, really, we have a very…I would call it a racist slant or context, because, you know, I don't see any other culture that has it any different.

Many gay Latinos, like Méndez, believe that the issues important to them are not necessarily reflected in the agenda of the gay movement as a whole. For instance, he says, the issue of including gays in the military was declared an issue by white gay activists.

I, as a gay person, have no interest in being part of a military core that has invaded not only my country, but has also supported dictatorships, right-wing dictatorships in many Latin American countries, and no one in the gay and lesbian community has stopped to think about what this means for non-white lesbians and gays.

The emphasis on this issue also bothers Terry, a New York City lesbian who declined to give her last name for fear of alienating her Cuban abuelita, her grandmother. She says that when she was at the march in Washington, she was so offended that she found herself booing when they called out the names of gay military men.

Clearly, I see that the mainstream gay and lesbian movement has become more and more focused on their primary desire is to be regular Americans. That is what is happening in this gays and the military thing. They want the right to be regular Americans. Well, we're not regular Americans, no matter what we do, so I don't fit into that agenda, and I don't want to, and I never would, even if I tried.

These activists say that while some differences exist over so-called gay and lesbian issues, what is important is for lesbian and gay Latinos to develop their own unique political agendas, and not only within gay political circles, says Méndez.

We have to fight within the gay and lesbian community at large for our issues as Latinos, but we cannot forget to fight within our Latino community at large for our issues as gay and lesbian people.

For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

A Hispanic coalition has issued a report card grading President Clinton's appointment of high-level Latinos to his administration. As Patricia Guadalupe reports from Washington, the President earned high marks in some departments, low marks in others.

Certain instruments, like certain rhythms, are characteristic of Latin music. For instance, in Cuban rumba or salsa we hear instruments such as congas, bongos, and timbales. At the heart of Latin music are two simple wooden sticks known as the "clave". Without this simple instrument, Latin music would not be the same. From Boston, Producer Marta Valentín prepared this appreciation of Latin music.

[Salsa music highlight]

A few months ago, while out with an American coworker, I had a great experience while listening to Latin music at a small club here in Cambridge. As I am a Latin woman, it was obvious to me that we were listening to the music in different ways. After watching her tap to the wrong beat for some time, it occurred to me that I could point out an aspect of the music that would enhance her listening, get her tapping on the right beat, and thus make the night more enjoyable for her. [Latin jazz music]

[Latin jazz music] I asked her what she liked so much about Latin music, salsa and Latin jazz in specific. She told me, "The feeling that you get when listening to it. The pulse," she went on to say, "That feels like everyone's heartbeat is one, coming from the earth and reaching to the sky." I smiled, not only because I liked the metaphor, but also because I felt great pride in my music and my culture. I decided it was time to let her in on what that heartbeat is, the clave, or "key" as it is appropriately named, two sticks of wood that are banged together.

[Latin jazz music] In fact, the heartbeat of Cuban rumba and salsa music. That feeling she was referring to is known as the "clave feeling", and comes out of the five-stroke two-measure pattern that identifies it. [Clave sound] This pattern is perceived as a thymic clock that keeps the musicians on the same wavelength. However, when the actual claves are not present in a song, that feeling continues by virtue of melodic phrasing and percussion patterns. Although there are different claves, the two most popular are the Cuban clave, or rumba clave. [Clave sound] And the sone clave. [Clave sound]

As you can hear, the Cuban clave is a half beat later on the third stroke. Listen, Cuban. [Clave sound] And sone [Clave sound]. Although they sound almost the same, they aren't. That's why a musician's ability to not only play in clave, but distinguish the two, is not only attended, key to their success. Let's listen to a little Cuban rumba. This is “Orquestra Original de Manzanillo”, with Comenzó La Fiesta, the Party Has Begun. (“Comenzo La Fiesta Music highlight). In Cuba, the claves are considered to be one male, which is eight inches, and the other female, which is four inches long. Holding the female in a cupped hand, the male bangs against her middle repeatedly.

This gender designation comes from the African influence on the Cuban culture. It is interesting to note also that although the claves themselves are wholly Cuban, never having been found in Africa or Europe, the clave rhythm had permeated African music for centuries. The clave pattern is found in many different styles of music besides rumba and salsa. It is found in meringue, guaracha, danzon, cha-cha-cha, and even boleros. Here's Juan Luis Guerra's bolero,”Señales de Humo”, “Smoke Signals”. (Highlight “Señales de Humo”).

Finally, in salsa music, the clave is regarded as beginning as soon as the music begins, and continuing without interruption until the last note. Even when the music is silent due to rests or changes in the arrangement break the flow, the clave pattern is holding it all together and creating that clave feeling that my coworker loves so much. So next time you listen to Latin music, whether it be rumba, salsa, bolero, Latin jazz, whatever, try tapping along with the clave. It's simple when you can hear the actual claves, but then graduate to a more complex piece if you're up for the challenge.

Here's Seis del Solar, Una Sola Casa, One House. From Boston, I'm Marta Valentín. [Highlight “Una Sola Casa”).

We're doing a survey to find out how people feel about the repeal of the anti-bilingual ordinance, making Dade County bilingual again.

Estamos de acuerdo con esa ley de que sea bilingüe, no?

Why should we have to learn two languages where we stay here in America?

60% of the county speak Spanish, so yeah, I approve it.

Yo cuando comenzó la le ese estaba trabajando…

I remember when the law began and I was working, speaking Spanish with a coworker and some people came over and told me it was absolutely forbidden to speak Spanish.

From my understanding, is that I think it would probably better if anything because the government's going to be understood by more people.

And in case of a hurricane or something, these people got to know where to go, what to do.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. You've been listening to a sampling of opinions from Miami about the recent repeal of a 13-year-old English-only law, which prohibited the official use of Spanish in Dade County. The law was enacted in 1980 in the wake of the Maria boat lift from Cuba and the arrival of thousands of Haitian refugees. One observer said the repeal of the English-only amendment signals a new era of bilingualism and bi-culturalism in South Florida.

With us to speak about, if indeed this is a new era, and what it symbolizes, are Ivan Roman, a staff writer with El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, a general assignment reporter for the Sun-Sentinel, and Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Radio and a Miami correspondent for Latino USA. Welcome to all of you and muchos gracias, thank you for joining us. Many people are talking about this, in fact, as the dawn of a new political and cultural era in South Florida. Does this, in fact, set the stage for a whole new political reality in that area?

It's not so much the repeal of the ordinance that's going to foster that change. I think that a lot has happened in Miami and this is just a step in the right direction. It's the first concrete example of working together in unity, if you will, from the standpoint of politicians or leaders in the community taking a certain position with this issue. I think a lot will follow.

Well, the people were saying that in fact this could, in many of the reports there were questions of whether this was going to increase ethnic divisions. What is the reality there? Is this in fact going to divide more groups? Or has this brought together the minority groups in the Miami area to say, look, if we work together, we're not a minority, we're a majority and we have political clout and can do things?

I think we can look at a combination of factors there. If we look at the new composition of the county commission, we have six Hispanics and four Blacks on it. In addition, three non-Hispanic Whites, and the commission has made it clear, everyone on that commission, that they're looking towards change, they're looking towards working together. One of the ways to do it is with repealing this law.

Another thing that has happened in the last few weeks was the ending of the Black Boycott of Miami, the Black Convention Boycott. There are just a series of factors in which basically what's happening is a realization of the changes in Dade County and just getting rid of the vestiges to reflect the reality in Dade County that's been happening for the last 10 years, that it is a community with a bunch of different groups that need to work together and the leadership is finally saying, look, let's work together and let's deal with all these different vestiges that keep us apart.

Was there any one specific thing that really set the stage for these groups beginning to work together and as you say, Ivan, realizing that this is the reality in the Miami area?

I think the redistricting of the county commission and the way that the commission is set up and voted on, I think that was this very significant focal point and that was when things started to really perhaps change because of the way that the commission has changed and the diversity on the commission, as Ivan was mentioning, has made it possible for all these things to come up again, things that were had become law and were not discussed for quite a while.

People realize that to get anything done, you need a coalition. If you have six Hispanics and four Blacks and three Whites on a commission, you realize that you have to establish coalitions to get anything done. You just can't not do anything. I think another thing that happened, is the success of the boycott was finally making the leaders here realize that something needed to be done to ensure the economic health of the county, and at the same time, the hurricane I think was very helpful in making everybody realize here that everybody needed to work together to help.

What was interesting for me was that there was not only divisions on the issue of the English-only law between for example, Latinos and African Americans or Anglos, for example. We also saw heated confrontation between Latino groups. Not all Latinos wanted to repeal the English-only law.

Well, I think it's good that they can speak their own language, but I don't like to walk in a place where nobody speaks English even though I do speak Spanish and I'm Cuban.

I think you're right, that both sides had a combination of Latinos or Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites did speak on both sides of the issue, but I was at the meeting and the pro or anti-repeal folks were certainly a lot smaller. The interesting thing also was that just using Hispanics and Haitian as an example, in recent events, those two particular groups have been on opposing sides, and for the first time in recent months, you saw both facets fighting for the same thing, and that was to repeal the ordinance. I think it was clearly a demonstration of unity that had not been seen in recent months here, and I think it's a good sign.

I also think that younger generations of Hispanics here in Miami, because of increased immigration, daily immigration every day, and a strong identification of Hispanics in Dade County with their culture and with their ancestry, especially in the Cuban community, that it's much harder to have a particular Hispanic group that would be against a law that in essence attacks or sub-estimates Spanish, which is part of what they are. So, I think that, of that group that you're mentioning, I think is a very minor thing in this community.

However, in many cases, I think the discord in relation to the law that was just passed is because a lot of people don't really understand what the law really means. I mean, when you ask them, when you go out and interview them and you talk to them about it, to many people it's a matter of pride. It's a matter of defining your stake in this community. And I think for them when they talk about it, they say things like, I don't want to be forced to learn Spanish. That's one of the things I hear all the time, and I don't think the law is about forcing anyone to learn Spanish or Creole or any other languages spoken here. Also, among the Haitian community, they don't really know what role this will play in their language, Creole being also spoken or translated or, and used in county documents.

You know, it's not that the law is really going to change anything. It's not that the previous law really did anything that would change much that was of substance. It's largely symbolic. It's people trying to define what American culture is. We're still hearing all of these catchphrases about, well, people should adapt to what American culture is, and everybody's trying to define what that is. And in Dade County, people are saying, no American culture is not necessarily what you would define as American culture in the Midwest. It's reflective of different groups that are here and we all have something to contribute. So it's a redefinition of American culture, and people who don't want to define it that way and want to resist any change to what they understand as American culture, take this as a very symbolic and important issue when, in essence, practically, it really means nothing.

Thank you for joining us from Miami, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, a general assignment reporter for the Sun-Sentinel, and Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Public Radio.

Four years after he was convicted in the shooting deaths of two African American men, Miami police officer William Lozano was acquitted of those same charges. After a second trial held in Orlando, Florida, the not guilty verdict in this racially charged case did not set off the widespread racial violence that many had predicted. In a round table of Latino reporters, Miami-based correspondent Ivan Roman, Nancy San Martin, and Emilio San Pedro say that's because many things have begun to change in Miami's minority communities.

The symbolic leader and the man who speaks for the African American boycott of tourism, HT Smith. He says that there have been a lot of changes in the last four years for African Americans, things that have made a difference, things that have made them feel that perhaps there is some hope, for example, that there are two Congress people representing African Americans from Florida, and that makes a statement for African Americans, the changes in the county commission. So, the situation he feels, and a lot of African Americans feel that the situation now in 1993 is not the same as it was in 1989. That's not to say that everything is fine and that everybody is, and that no one has any problems. But the point is that there is some sign that there can be some hope and that there isn't that feeling of despair that may lead people out into a riot-type situation, and that's the kind of thing that they were looking for with the boycott to bring up all these topics.

Let's talk a little bit about the background. What was at the heart of the tensions between Latinos and African Americans in the area? And in fact, there were many efforts by the local government there to ease those tensions. Have they been effective? Do the same problems still exist, and do the misunderstandings still abound, or is there, as you say, Emilio, there's a move now to say, well, things have really changed between African Americans and Latinos in the area?

There have been efforts, continuous efforts by community groups to get together to discuss their differences, and the key issue really is economic empowerment. The key issue is hopelessness because of economics, because Blacks many times are stuck in communities in day county that are basically the communities that are deprived economically and socially. They're the first communities that they want to get the schools out of. They're the first communities that they don't pick up the garbage. They're all these things that are starting to get addressed, and so people feel, okay, well let's give it another chance. Let's see what happens. Let's figure out ways to try to diminish these tensions. And they have worked a lot on it since 1989. I'm not telling you they're all the way there, but at least they've made some efforts and they're definitely trying to get rid of or quell the opportunists who will go out and riot anyway because they always are, but at least they've made some effort and people see that.

I was going to say that I think the biggest change since the riots has been that there's been a lot of communication, and I think that's the key factor. The county has a board called the Community Relations Board, and it consists of community leaders from all facets of the community who meet periodically to discuss precisely that and vent out frustrations that the community may be feeling. Since the beginning of the Lozano trial, that group has been meeting monthly to discuss ways to prevent violence and create a understanding between the various communities. And I think that's been real effective because people have been able to say what's on their mind and get the anger out before it's too late.

What's interesting is that, I don't think that across the country people necessarily look to the Miami area as one that was breeding this new kind of multicultural acceptance and living together. Do you guys sense that there's a possibility that Miami and what's happening there may in fact, have some kind of a national impact?

People tend to put Miami in a certain perspective and they don't think that maybe there is a whole sector of people that are starting to learn and appreciate each other's cultures, and I think that is something that's starting to happen in Miami. It took a while, but I think that there are Latinos who attend events in the Haitian community cultural events. There are Haitians that go to Miami Beach and take part in the South Beach environment. That's not to say that everything is coming together rapidly, but I think that there's an appreciation of other cultures in Miami that perhaps does not exist around the United States. And I think yes, in some ways Miami can become a model for people getting along.

Thank you all very much, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, general assignment reporter for the Sun Sentinel, and Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Public Radio.

This is Maria Hinojosa. It's estimated that in the United States alone, there may be as many as a million practitioners of the religious tradition known as Santería. The Afro-Cuban religion, whose followers turn for guidance to deities called Orishas, recently came into the spotlight when the US Supreme Court ruled that Santería's practice of sacrificing animals, such as roosters, is protected by the freedom of religion clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. With us from Miami to speak about that ruling and what it means to practitioners of Santería is anthropologist Mercedes Sandoval, author of several books on Santería and an expert on Afro-Cuban religions. Welcome to Latino USA, Mercedes.

Thank you very much.

Now the ritual sacrifice of animals for the Orishas or the saints was banned in the Florida city of Hialeah in 1987. What was the impact of that ban, and how do you think things are going to change with this Supreme Court ruling?

Since the very moment that the Supreme Court, for instance, has lifted that ban, it means that santerians are not going to be persecuted for sacrificing animals, and it takes that stigma out, and I hope that the authority will be more interested in persecuting real criminals than people that are practicing a religion that doesn't have to have any connotation of antisocial behavior.

Were people in fact persecuted because of practicing animal sacrifice?

Not really, but they could have. Sometimes they were arrested not only because of that ban, but because of complaints that the authorities received from different association for the defense of animals, and so, or for neighbors that were nervous. You have to have in mind that there is a lot of other repercussions outside of the actual sacrificing of animals.

Now in Spanish, the word Santería means the way of the saints, and in fact, the religion has a very holistic spiritual interpretation of human beings and their environment, their surroundings. But in fact, many misconceptions exist about Santería, that it's like a black magic or it's voodoo. How much do you think those misconceptions played into the original banning of animal sacrifice in Hialeah, and how much do those misconceptions still exist?

Well, first of all, Santería, does have a reputation. It is an African religion. A lot of the rituals are carried out in a way that is practically secret. Then, there is some reliance in magical practice, much more so than other more European type of religious systems, and therefore a lot of people go to this religious system looking for protection. And in some instances magical practices are, try to be used to protect yourself and even to attack an enemy. This is actually true. However, I believe that because it is an unknown religion, because it has an African origin, they have been misunderstood and suffered a lot of discrimination.

Do you think that the Supreme Court ruling, which basically is now protecting the sacrifice of animals under the First Amendment, the freedom of religion clause, do you think that this is going to have an impact on how people see Santería and how people see the issue of animal sacrifice in this country?

Yes, I believe that. I believe that first of all, it has a practical impact. It gets the authorities off the back of the santeros. All right? That's very important. I think it legitimizes their practices. That's what it's doing. If the supreme law of the land takes off the ban, it's legitimizing these religious practices, and then Santería will not be in any way associated with satanism. That has nothing to do with Santería.

Thank you very much, Mercedes Sandoval, who is an anthropologist and an author of several books on Santería and is an expert on Afro-Cuban religions.

Recently, San Francisco-based comedian and performance artist, Marga Gomez received rave reviews for her one-woman off-Broadway show called Memory Tricks. Now, Gomez is working on a television adaptation of Memory Tricks, which looks back at her New York childhood with a showbiz family. From New York, Mandalit Del Barco reports.

Marga Gomez is the funniest simulated lesbian comic and performance artist who describes herself as somewhat of a misfit Latina.

My name is Gomez, and I look Latina and I feel that. I mean, I can eat spicy food, but I can't dance salsa or speak Spanish.

Marga is the daughter of a Puerto Rican exotic dancer and a Cuban impresario. Her solo show Memory Tricks is set in her precocious New York City childhood, when her flamboyant mom and dad were considered the Lucy and Ricky of New York's Latin vaudeville scene. [highlight music]

[background music] I thought of them as big, big stars. You know, you couldn't get to be bigger stars than my parents. Actually, they were stars in their community, and their community was a very poor community, so they were like poor stars, but I thought we were just like royalty. [highlight music]

In the 1960s, Marga's dad, Willy Chevalier, was a comic actor who produced theater reviews known as Spanish Spectaculars, [background music] featuring salsa stars like Tito Puente and Celia Cruz, female contortionists, magicians and other acts. He put together sketches called La Familia Comica, which sometimes showcased her mom's Afro-Cuban dancing, they're pet chihuahua, and little Marga Gomez.

[background music] I had delusions of grandeur from a young age, because my father would just tell me all these fantastic things, I was going to be the next Shirley Temple and all that. You know? I couldn't sing, couldn't dance, but somehow I was going to be the non-singing, non-dancing, Puerto Rican-Cuban Shirley Temple.

[background music] Marga says when they got divorced, she had to choose between her dad and her mother, Margarita Estremera, also known as Margo the Exotic. Memory Tricks is Marga's tribute to a bleach blonde, fem fatal mom who used to try to teach Marga to be a perfumed lady, how to hold her pocketbook and glide, glide, glide on high heels. In a scene from a recent off-Broadway show, she remembers going on a picnic with her glamorous mom.

Let me tell you about the picnic. Remember the picnic, the one I sold my father out for? My mother promised that we would go that Sunday, right after church. I was so excited. I prayed extra hard in church. "Father, God, please, don’t let her see any stores on the way." When the priest said, "The mass is over. Go in peace," [snapping] I was gone. I ran all the way home, ran upstairs to my room, changed into my play clothes. That's what I wear all the time now, my play clothes. Then, I ran to my mother's room to see if she was awake. See, my mother couldn't go to church with me on Sundays. She was a good Catholic, but after a hard night of belly dancing, you need your rest.

In Memory Tricks, Marga talks about not wanting to grow up to be like her mom, who always wanted a Caucasian nose like Michael Jackson's. But she's found you can't escape your roots, even if they are dyed.

She'd sing all the time in the house, but she'd sing like this. [Singing] What a difference, la la la besame, besame la la She'd sing--She knew so many songs and none of the words. So that's sort of, the way I sing, too, so don't sit next to me at a rock concert. [Singing] I can’t get no la la la la la la.

Marga now lives in San Francisco where she began her adult career in show business with the feminist theater company, Lilith. She honed her comedy talents with the San Francisco Mime Troupe and is one of the original stand-up comics with Culture Clash. [Piano playing “I feel Pretty”] Not long ago, for the biennial celebration of New York's Whitney Museum, she performed her second show, "Marga Gomez is Pretty, and Witty and Gay", which deals with her sexuality.

[Piano playing] It has to do, some of it with my relationship and jealousy. My parents were very jealous of each other, and just because I'm not in a traditional relationship doesn't mean that I can't be dysfunctional. So, I talk about being a jealous girlfriend. I also have this little interlude where I'm reading from the Diary of Anaïs Nin, and I read from her Lost Diaries where she goes to Disneyland and has a tryst with Minnie Mouse.

Marga continues to do stand-up comedy and is reading for movie parts.

[background piano music] I've heard about a Frida Kalo project, and I'd like to do that because I got the eyebrows and everything, little mustache too. I'll just stop bleaching that sucker.

This summer, marga Gomez is writing the screenplay of Memory Tricks for the PBS series "American Playhouse". For Latino USA, I'm Madalit Del Barco in New York.

The government of Cuba recently announced it's willing to compensate US companies for properties confiscated on the island more than 30 years ago. Also, a group of retired US military officers announced a visit to the island. Dialogue with Cuba has not been officially announced by the Clinton administration, but the mere possibility of dialogue has split the Cuban American community. With us from Miami to speak about the political climate in the Cuban community are reporters, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and Latino USA correspondent Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Radio in Miami. Welcome. Is there a growing division between more conservative elements of the Cuban community in Miami versus more modern elements? And what are those divisions based on?

The government of Cuba recently announced it's willing to compensate US companies for properties confiscated on the island more than 30 years ago. Also, a group of retired US military officers announced a visit to the island. Dialogue with Cuba has not been officially announced by the Clinton administration, but the mere possibility of dialogue has split the Cuban American community. With us from Miami to speak about the political climate in the Cuban community are reporters, Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and Latino USA correspondent Emilio San Pedro of WLRN Radio in Miami. Welcome. Is there a growing division between more conservative elements of the Cuban community in Miami versus more modern elements? And what are those divisions based on?

Emotions are extremely high. We've had a couple of outbreaks between anti-Castro exiles and what we've termed sympathizers. And I think those incidents where there was actual fistfights surely indicate that there is a growing division between those who believe that peace talks are the way to go, and those who believe that tightening the embargo and perhaps only a violent overthrow is the way to go.

Emotions are extremely high. We've had a couple of outbreaks between anti-Castro exiles and what we've termed sympathizers. And I think those incidents where there was actual fistfights surely indicate that there is a growing division between those who believe that peace talks are the way to go, and those who believe that tightening the embargo and perhaps only a violent overthrow is the way to go.

So people in the area near Miami actually talk about the need to have a violent overthrow of Castro's Cuba that is put together by the United States? A military overthrow?

So people in the area near Miami actually talk about the need to have a violent overthrow of Castro's Cuba that is put together by the United States? A military overthrow?

[Interruption]I'm sorry. They don't only talk about it, but you have the paramilitary groups that actually plan for it.

[Interruption]I'm sorry. They don't only talk about it, but you have the paramilitary groups that actually plan for it.

I've always lived in Miami. And that's been a discussion in Miami for the last 30 years. I can guarantee you of that. But the thing is, I think primarily, that now you see people that have not been in the United States for 30 years or 25 years, people who came in 1980 from Cuba, people who came in the 80s, people who have recently arrived, and they feel a much deeper connection to Cuba in the sense of, I have a mother that lives in Cuba, or I have a sister that lives in Cuba and that I keep in contact with on a regular basis. And a lot of those people are the ones that are saying, "I want to be able to know that my relatives in Cuba are okay. I don't agree with the system over there. I don't like the system, but I don't want to punish the people who live there that are my relatives."

I've always lived in Miami. And that's been a discussion in Miami for the last 30 years. I can guarantee you of that. But the thing is, I think primarily, that now you see people that have not been in the United States for 30 years or 25 years, people who came in 1980 from Cuba, people who came in the 80s, people who have recently arrived, and they feel a much deeper connection to Cuba in the sense of, I have a mother that lives in Cuba, or I have a sister that lives in Cuba and that I keep in contact with on a regular basis. And a lot of those people are the ones that are saying, "I want to be able to know that my relatives in Cuba are okay. I don't agree with the system over there. I don't like the system, but I don't want to punish the people who live there that are my relatives."

And that's a very definitive group in the community that really feels strongly that there should be supplies, that there should be trade of some sort, so that the people receive just the basic essentials so that they can get back on their feet. And the anger is evident as it was outside of the radio station Radio Mambi recently when people really went at each other and they were all Cubans. Everybody that was punching each other for the first time, I think, really we're all Cubans fighting over this issue. And they were all beating each other up and screaming and calling each other communists or, you want to starve my kids, and all kinds of things like that. And the media, unfortunately, really hasn't helped much.

And that's a very definitive group in the community that really feels strongly that there should be supplies, that there should be trade of some sort, so that the people receive just the basic essentials so that they can get back on their feet. And the anger is evident as it was outside of the radio station Radio Mambi recently when people really went at each other and they were all Cubans. Everybody that was punching each other for the first time, I think, really we're all Cubans fighting over this issue. And they were all beating each other up and screaming and calling each other communists or, you want to starve my kids, and all kinds of things like that. And the media, unfortunately, really hasn't helped much.

The tensions continue because certain people who want a certain resolution in Cuba, who favor a hard line towards Cuba don't look toward very kindly towards any media that either advocates a different solution or simply tries to report the different points of view. And here in Miami, reporting two sides of the story can get you labeled as a communist in a second, and that happens, and that's happened for decades.

The tensions continue because certain people who want a certain resolution in Cuba, who favor a hard line towards Cuba don't look toward very kindly towards any media that either advocates a different solution or simply tries to report the different points of view. And here in Miami, reporting two sides of the story can get you labeled as a communist in a second, and that happens, and that's happened for decades.

And from your insider's perspective, who has President Clinton's ear on the issue? One group more than the other, or where does Clinton stand on this?

And from your insider's perspective, who has President Clinton's ear on the issue? One group more than the other, or where does Clinton stand on this?

Definitely the hardliners because they're the ones who got him some more Cuban votes, even though it wasn't overwhelming, but they're -- the most activist Cubans in his campaign who are speaking with the loudest voice are people who favor a hard line.

Definitely the hardliners because they're the ones who got him some more Cuban votes, even though it wasn't overwhelming, but they're -- the most activist Cubans in his campaign who are speaking with the loudest voice are people who favor a hard line.

At the same time, there are people who think that he can't possibly be as inclined towards a hard line as President Bush or Reagan may have been. And so there's that other group that is kind of waiting to see if there's some change in the policy from Washington, but really there hasn't been any significant policy since Clinton took office, so it's almost hard to gauge where he's going to come out.

At the same time, there are people who think that he can't possibly be as inclined towards a hard line as President Bush or Reagan may have been. And so there's that other group that is kind of waiting to see if there's some change in the policy from Washington, but really there hasn't been any significant policy since Clinton took office, so it's almost hard to gauge where he's going to come out.

I agree. I think he is playing both sides of the field. I think while he has publicly come out saying that he's not going to soften the embargo, at the same time, the State Department recently approved the humanitarian aid flotilla that left from Key West to Cuba in April. And that was the first time that a flotilla of that kind went to Cuba and the approval was almost immediately and a lot of people down here saw that as a shift in policy. So I think we're not exactly sure on how he's going to come out on this issue.

I agree. I think he is playing both sides of the field. I think while he has publicly come out saying that he's not going to soften the embargo, at the same time, the State Department recently approved the humanitarian aid flotilla that left from Key West to Cuba in April. And that was the first time that a flotilla of that kind went to Cuba and the approval was almost immediately and a lot of people down here saw that as a shift in policy. So I think we're not exactly sure on how he's going to come out on this issue.

Thank you all very much. Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, a general assignment reporter for the Sun-Sentinel, and a Emilio San Pedro of WLRN public radio.

Thank you all very much. Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald, Nancy San Martin, a general assignment reporter for the Sun-Sentinel, and a Emilio San Pedro of WLRN public radio.

The seizure of a number of Florida-based vessels in Cuban waters, including one incident in which three people reportedly lost their lives, has focused attention on the increasingly dangerous and lucrative business of smuggling people from that island. Emilio San Pedro reports.

This year alone, more than 1100 Cubans have been rescued off the Florida coast by the US Coast Guard. Many of these have received help from smugglers in the US. In some cases, these smugglers have reportedly earned up to $10,000 for smuggling refugees out of Cuba. Damian Fernandez of Florida International University says that in addition to the for-profit operations, there are also many cases of families trying to help their relatives leave Cuba.

These operations break both Cuban law and US law, as well as international law. One of their consequences is that they jeopardize and feed the fire and the tension between the United States and Cuba.

So far, seven US residents have been arrested by the Cuban government. Only one has been identified as a US citizen by the State Department for Latino USA. I'm Emilio San Pedro.

Today on "Latino USA," Puerto Rico's political future discussed in the U.S. Congress.

We're trying to put once again on the congressional agenda the fact that the United States is a colonial power, that there is a unique and sad relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States.

And baseball goes bilingual.

[Sports Broadcast Recording] Y le muestra la señal, la manda, viene- strike!

Also, a farewell to Afro-Cuban jazz great Mario Bauzá.

Afro-Cuban is Cuban. That's why. I've got to keep a bunch of these Afro-Cuban rhythms.

That and more on "Latino USA." But first, Las Noticias.

[Transition--Afro-Cuban jazz]

Latin jazz great Mario Bauzá died July 11 of cancer in his Manhattan home, just blocks from where I live. Mario Bauzá, an integral part of New York's Latin jazz scene, was 82 years old.

I remember this great musician sitting on a milk crate outside a bodega, surrounded by friends, drinking coffee, and enjoying the simple things of life. You would've never known it by seeing him that this small, tender, smiley man had totally revolutionized American music.

In the 1940s, he influenced popular music by innovating a new musical style which mixed popular Afro-Cuban rhythms with American jazz.

Emilio San Pedro prepared this remembrance of Latin jazz legend Mario Bauzá.

[Afro-Cuban jazz]

Mario Bauzá was first exposed to American jazz in 1926, when he visited New York. In 1930, anxious to become a part of that scene, Bauzá left his native Havana for New York, frustrated that in Cuba, Afro-Cuban music was considered merely the music of the streets, not the music of the sophisticated nightclubs, country clubs, and hotels of pre-revolutionary Havana.

Had to happen outside of Cuba before the Cuban people convinced themself what they had, themself over there. They didn't pay no attention to that. When I got big in United States, Cuba begin to move into that line of music.

[Afro-Cuban jazz]

In the 1930s, Bauzá performed with some of New York's best-known jazz musicians, like Chick Webb and Cab Calloway. In fact, in those days, Bauzá was responsible for introducing singer Ella Fitzgerald to Chick Webb, thus helping to launch her career. It was also Bauzá who gave Dizzy Gillespie his first break, with the Cab Calloway Orchestra.

During their time touring and working with Cab Calloway, Mario Bauzá and Dizzy Gillespie, along with the Afro-Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo, played around with Afro-Cuban rhythm and jazz arrangements and created something entirely new: Afro-Cuban jazz.

[Machito--Sopa de pichon]

In the early 1940s, Mario Bauzá formed the legendary band Machito and his Afro-Cubans, along with his brother-in-law, Francisco Perez, who was called Machito. Bauzá was the musical director of the band, and he composed and arranged some of the group's most memorable songs.

[Machito--Sopa de pichon]

The sensation caused by Machito and his Afro-Cubans and by other Latin musicians in the 1940s made New York the focal point of a vibrant Latin music scene.

It's the scene of the Mambo kings you know, and that's why a lot of people will say Mambo is not Cuban music or it's not Mexican music. Mambo is New York music.

Enrique Fernandez writes about Latin music for the Village Voice.

It was here that this kind of music became very hot, that it really galvanized a lot of people, that had really attracted a lot of musicians from different genres that wanted to jam with it, and that created those great encounters between Latin music practitioners and jazz practitioners, particularly Black American jazz practitioners, that brought all this stuff together that later on, generated salsa and it generated Latin jazz and a lot of other things.

[Machito--Si si no no]

Groups like Machito and his Afro-Cubans were responsible for sparking a Latin dance craze in the United States, from New York to Hollywood. Mario Bauzá's sister-in-law, Graciela Pérez, began singing with Bauzá's orchestra in 1943.

Pero jurate que la música de esta…[transition to English dub] The music made by Machito's orchestra created such a revolution that you could say people began to enjoy because dance schools sprang up to teach the mamba and the guaguanco and all that [transition back to original audio]…el guaguanco todo todo.

Graciela and Mario left Machito's band in 1976 to form their own group, Mario Bauzá and his Afro-Cuban jazz Orchestra. Achieving recognition came slowly for the new band as general audiences lost interest in the traditional Afro-Cuban jazz sounds.

But in the late 1980s, Bauzá's music experienced a resurgence in popularity. His orchestra played to packed houses in the United States, Canada, and Europe. And in the last two years, Bauzá still active and passionate about his music, recorded three albums worth of material.

Meringue, meringue from San Domingo. Cumbia's cumbia from Colombia. Afro-Cuban is Cuban. That's why I've got to keep a bunch of these Afro-Cuban rhythms. Danzón Cubano, la danza Cubano, el bolero Cubano, el cha-cha-cha Cubano, el mambo es Cubano, guaguanco Cubano, la Colombia es Cubana.So I've got to call it Afro-Cuban, yeah.

In a 1991 interview, I spoke with Mario Bauzá about his extraordinary musical output.

You've brought out these great musicians, you've helped create or created Afro-Cuban jazz, brought Latin music and Latins to Broadway.

That's it.

And you're 80 years old.

Yes.

Many people at 80 years old are sitting by the pool or in the rocking chair and whatever. You don't look like it.

You know me. It ain't going to be like that.

What else could you do at this point, what more?

I don't know. I ain't through, I ain't through. I just wanted my music to be elevated. That's why I want to record this suite now. I want to see the word, music is music. You tell me what kind of music. I like any kind of music that we're playing. And that's what I tried to do, present my music different way. Some people might don't like this, don't like that, but when they hear that, they have a right to choose for. That's what I want them to do.

[Mario Bauza--Carnegie Hall 100]

Mario Bauzá worked steadily until his death. He recently released a compact disc on the German record label Messidor called My Time is Now.

For "Latino USA," I'm Emilio San Pedro.

[Mario Bauza--Carnegie Hall 100]

This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture.

[Opening theme]

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA, the border prepares for free trade.

And the question is how do you manage this process in a way that really leads to people's lives being better off?

Also, tackling border health problems and the perennial question, what do we call ourselves?

I'm Chicano.

I'm Puerto Rican,

I'm Cuban Argentine,

and now we have this new thing, non-white Hispanics. I mean, it's crazy.

[Transition Music]

That's all coming up on Latino USA. But first, las noticias.

This program is called Latino USA, but would a program by any other name, Hispanic, for instance, sound as sweet?

I consider myself a Hispanic. I don't like the term Latino.

When you say Latino, you get, I think, a warmer sense of who our people are; just a greater sense, a more comprehensive sense of culture.

What I call myself, I'm Chicano, seventh generation in this country.

I'm Puerto Rican. That's it, period.

I'm Cuban-Argentine, I'm Caribbean, and I'm South American.

And now we have this new thing, non-white Hispanics, non -- I mean, it's crazy.

I speak Spanish, but I'm not Spanish. I speak English. I'm not English, I'm Latina, I'm Hispanic, I'm Puerto Rican. I'm all of those things, just don't call me Spic.

I hate the categorizations. I really don't like them because I think that they pigeonhole us into a certain niche and we can't escape it.

It's not the most important issue facing Latinos or Hispanics or Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans or Mexican Americans. But the questions, what do we call ourselves, and why this label rather than the other, surfaces so regularly that it's almost an inside joke among Latinos or Hispanics or whatever. It's also one of the questions studied by a group of political scientists who conducted a study of political behavior called the Latino Political Survey.

The evidence that I see from the Latino National Political Survey and every other survey that I've seen that asks people to self-identify, demonstrates, I think conclusively that most people who we might choose to identify as Latino do not choose that as their first term of identification, who identify as Puerto Rican, as Mexican, as Mexican-American, as Cuban, as Cuban-American, and many other ways.

The term Latino is just a useful term in terms of describing the fact that there are all these different groups. The question is what does it mean politically? That's the significance of the term. Now, I guess the point is, if you put it all together, is that this is a very fluid kind of situation and it's something that changes over time in the sense that it depends on what kind of movement and context you have and what the leadership's saying, and it depends also on whether you have any kind of real social movement in place that does something with these kinds of symbols.

And right now, what we were falling into is mostly Hispanic being used by kind of a middle class of professionals by default because the term was either being used by the media or, I know in the Puerto Rican case, there were many Puerto Ricans that were using a term like Hispanic professionals because being Puerto Rican identified you as someone on welfare, that kind of thing. So it was a more acceptable kind of term, and those are kind of different political reasons that many of us would advance for using these types of terms.

Well, when I think of the term Latino, it brings to mind the diversity that exists within the Latino communities. It also brings to mind the fact that individual Latinos are not unidimensional, but they're multidimensional. I consider myself a Chicano, a Mexicano, a Mexican American, a Latino, a Hispanic, all depending on where I find myself, who I find myself with.

One of the other things I think about is there is a lot of out-group marriage that is occurring within the Latino community, and not necessarily to Anglos or African-Americans, but to other Latinos. I have two cousins who are Mexican American who married to non-Mexican American Latinos. What are their children? They're half Guatemalan, half Mexican? Are they going to go around saying, well, I'm half Guatemalan, I'm half Mexican? No, they go around saying, I'm Latino. When you're walking down the street in Los Angeles and an Anglo comes to you, he doesn't say, oh, excuse me, are you Mexican? Or Salvadorian? Or Nicaraguan? They see a brown face and they say, you are Mexican. So what's happening, while we have individual past histories as a Cuban, as a Puerto Rican, as a Central American, as a Mexican, our destinies are tied together as Latinos.

Over 60% of this country's Latinos, Hispanics, or... or whatever, are of Mexican descent. And as we hear in this audio essay, in their case, the issue of labels and identity takes on a whole other dimension.

[Chicano--Rumel Fuentes and Los Pinguinos del Norte]

When I was younger, we had to be Chicana/Chicano movement.

Hispanic is such a new term that it started off as nobody knew what it meant and now they know what it means and they like it.

Well, I really don't know why they call it Hispanic because we weren't Hispanics until recently.

Mexican American is fine. Chicana is fine.

The word Hispanic, I don't like. I'd rather use the word Indo-Hispanic.

I believe Hispanic is for the people from Spain.

Something for sure. We'd rather be called Hispanics than Chicana.

And the older generation thought that this was a derogatory term.

Actually Chicana, it's a slang word. It used to be a slang word for Mexicana.

I don't know why the Mexican American keeps changing names.

[Chicano--Rumel Fuentes and Los Pinguinos del Norte]

I am not Hispano. I'm not Latin American. I am not American or Spanish surname. I am not Mexican American. I am not any of those terms, those vulgar terms that come from Washington and the bureaucrats and the functionaries, and when they try to make sense of us and they make no sense of us. I do not label myself. I'm a Chicano.

Chicano has a lot of negative definitions. Chicano, I've been told it came from Mexico when they put the Chinese in Mexico in one certain area in Durango. So they called them Chinganos. They tell me Chicano means peon, the lowest class Mexican that there is. They tell me Chicano is a militant activist from the 60s that was a true radical on the extremist side. Also, I don't like people keeping themselves at one level when anybody can advance and should not be put into a class and kept there.

So when you have to fill out a form, what do you call yourself?

I call myself Caucasian. [Laughter]

You see, I'm not into that sort of thing really because I decided that I'm no longer a Latino. No, I'm a Hispanic, I'm a Hispanic dammit, and there is a difference. You see, when I was a Latino, my name was Ricardo Salinas, but now that I'm Hispanic, it's Brigardu Salinas.

I don't see that we have an identity crisis anymore. I think that we've overcome and passed that a long time ago. We know who we are and we're proud of it.

The more time that we spend on trying to identify ourselves, I think the more time it takes away from trying to do something about bettering our lives.

And hopefully then in the future we won't have to be concerned about what we want to call ourselves.

[unintelligible] Don’t you panic, it’s the decade of the Hispanic! [unintelligible] Don’t you panic, it’s the decade of the Hispanic!

Syndicated columnist, Roger Hernandez of New Jersey has his own views on the issue of labels. Today, Hernandez tells us why he thinks we should call ourselves Hispanic rather than Latino, and why sometimes we should reject both labels.

Over the course of history, every Spanish-speaking country developed its own idiosyncrasies, its own cultural sense of self. Argentina, for instance, is largely made up of European immigrants. Neighboring Paraguay is so influenced by pre-Colombian cultures that the official languages are Spanish and Guarani, and the Dominican Republic has roots buried deeply in the soil of Africa. We're all different, so it's more precise to say Merengue is specifically Dominican music and that Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday, not Hispanic, not Latino, too generic. The point is that the all-inclusive word, whether Hispanic or Latino, is often misused. Used, in other words, to cover over ignorance about who we are and how we differ from each other. But there is something else just as important. Our diversity does not erase the reality that we all do have something in common, no matter our nationality or the color of our skin or our social class.

And to talk about what we have in common, there is only one starting point; that which is Spanish, as in Spain. Language tops the list. Spanish is a common bond. Then there is culture. Why does an old church in the Peruvian Altiplano look so much like a mission church in California? You can find the answer in Andalusia. And why does a child in Santiago de Cuba know the same nursery rhymes as a child in Santiago, Chile? Listen to a child sing in Santa De Compostela, Spain and you'll hear Mambrú se fue a la guerra and arroz con leche.

Yet the word Spanish does not describe us. It is too closely tied to Spain alone. Latin and Latino lack precision. After all, the Italians and the French are Latin too. Hispanic derives from Spanish, but it's not quite the same. It suggests what we have in common without over-emphasizing it, so it leaves room for our diversity. And no, the word was not invented by the US census. The word Hispano has long existed in the Spanish language, and its English translation is Hispanic. What we all share and what no one else in the world has is being Hispanic. For Latino USA, I'm Roger Hernandez.

Commentator Roger Hernandez writes a syndicated column for the King Features Syndicate. It appears in 34 newspapers nationwide.

You're listening to Latino USA. As a response to Cuba's economic crisis, premier Fidel Castro says Cubans may now legally possess American dollars and that more visas will be granted to exiles wishing to visit relatives on the island. Meanwhile, the State Department has issued new regulations permitting US phone companies to do business with Cuba. From Miami, Emilio San Pedro has more.

The new guidelines on telephone communications will make it easier for telephone companies to expand their service to Cuba. They also call for US phone companies to split revenues 50/50 with Cuba's telephone company. This has led some people to see this as a significant easing of the economic embargo against Cuba, but others in the Cuban exile community questioned the move because the government of Fidel Castro stands to earn in excess of 30 million dollars a year from improved telephone communications with the United States. According to businessman Teo Babun Jr. of Cuba USA Ventures, the guidelines just announced by the State Department were actually included in the Cuban Democracy Act signed into law last year. He says they don't really represent a softening of the economic embargo of Cuba.

A softening of the embargo would necessitate creating either a new bill or a retreating from some action that the United States had already announced. And in the case of this act, it is not a change, but rather it's just a development, if you will, or an announcement of the specific guidelines of a bill that had already been announced.

The State Department echoes the view that while the new guidelines do carve out a niche for Cuba to do business with the United States, they do not represent a departure from US law now governing the embargo. The next step is for us phone companies to begin negotiations with the Cuban telephone company using the new guidelines. Before that happens, the Cuban government wants the US to address its demand for the release of 85 million dollars of phone revenues earned by Cuba now being held in escrow in US banks. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro.

That's news from Latino USA, Vidal Guzman.

More than 30 years ago after the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and the failed US backed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, the United States government imposed an economic embargo of that island. Trade and travel to Cuba were prohibited under most circumstances. Under the Trading With the Enemies Act, that policy has softened and then heartened over the years. Most recently, it was tightened under legislation sponsored by Representative Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, the Cuban Democracy Act. Now that policy is being challenged by a group led by several religious leaders. It's an effort known as Pastors for Peace.

I'm Sandra Levinson. I'm from New York, but I started on the Duluth route.

Joe Callahan from Minneapolis.

I’m Henry Garcia from Chicago.

Latino USA caught up with a group Pastors for Peace in Austin a few days before they defied US government policy by taking medicines, food, and other aid to the economically strapped island of Cuba.

We're taking such dangerous things as tons of powdered milk. We are taking pharmaceuticals because they are actually distilling their own pharmaceuticals out of the herbs and plants in the fields. I've seen that with my own eyes just in April. They don't even have sutures to close surgical wounds.

Like the Reverend George Hill, pastor of First Baptist Church in downtown Los Angeles. Every one of the approximately 300 people involved in the motley caravan of school buses, vans, and trucks that make up the Pastors for Peace eight caravan opposes the US economic embargo of Cuba. So much so that they refuse to obtain the license the Custom Bureau requires in order to ship anything to that island.

We refuse to ask for a license. We refuse to accept the license if the government extends one to us. Our license is really our command from God to feed the hungry, to give clothes to those who are naked, to visit those in prison, to give a cup of cold water. We must do this to the least and even to those with whom we may have differences.

The Reverend Lucius Walker of the Salvation Baptist Church in Brooklyn is the founder of Pastors for Peace. His stand on Cuba has not made him very popular among those opposed to the government of Fidel Castro. And he says he's received a number of threats.

Telephone calls to my office, threatening to come over with a pistol and take care of me.

Still. Walker insists he is not engaging in politics, only in the highest tradition of religious principles and civil disobedience.

Of Jesus Christ, of Martin Luther King, of Gandhi, and all of those who are the good examples of what it takes to make social progress in a world that if left to its own devices could be a very ugly place to live.

[Music] About 30 members of the Pastors for Peace Group sit around a television three days before they're set to rendezvous with more caravan members to cross the border at Laredo. They're watching a video about how the animosity between the governments of Cuba and this country have separated families for as long as 30 years.

No quiero vivir allá, no me gusta vivir allá. Pero me gusta vivir aquí, pero quiero ver a mi hermana, y a mis sobrinos que nacieron allá. Que son familia, que son sangre. [Translation: I don’t want to live there, I don’t like living there. I like living here, but I want to see my sister, and my nephews that were born over there. They are family, they are blood.]

I grew up myself with my family always saying, you know, that the only way to get out is to go to US to have a better life, to live like normal people, to wear jeans, to eat gum, chew gum. It's like very idiotic things to think of when I live here now, and you know, I have to learn the language.

Elisa Ruiz Zamora was born in Cuba. She came to this country with her family when she was 18. She's now a young mother and student making her life here in the States. But when she heard about the caravan of aid to Cuba, she brought her family down to meet with a group. Her mother, brother, and grandfather are still on the island and she hopes some of the caravan's aid gets to them. It's amazing, she says, to see Americans get together to help another nation, one their government has told them is a dangerous enemy.

Tell the opposite to their government. The government's like to me, it's like they want to be the judges of the world. Say, what should happen here? What shouldn't happen, how Cubans should live their lives. And we have a mind of our own and we always have. There's...

The Clinton administration has so far given little indication that it's ready to lift the blockade on Cuba. During his election campaign, Mr. Clinton received considerable support from anti-Castro organizations like the Cuban American National Foundation, but with the easing of telephone communications with the island, some now believe there might be a small window of possible change on other fronts. Sandra Levinson is the director of the Center for Cuban Studies in New York.

They are looking, I think, in Washington for a way to change policy, which does not really give anything to Cuba. Of course, we will never do that, but will ease the tension somewhat, perhaps make it possible for more people to travel legally to Cuba. Make it possible for AT&T to put down some new telephone lines and perhaps give some of the 80 million dollars in escrow, which is accrued for Cuba to the nation, which so desperately needs that money. They don't care how much they have to pay for a telephone call. They want to talk to their mama.

As this program went to air, most of the Pastors for Peace caravan had been able to get across the border, except for two school buses and a few other vehicles. Among the drivers of those vehicles was the delegation leader, the Reverend Lucius Walker, who in the non-violent tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, began a hunger strike in protest. For Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin reporting.

One of the featured musicians on Gloria Estefan's recent recording of traditional Cuban music, "Mi Tierra", is Israel Lopez. Also known as Cachao, Lopez now in his seventies, is just beginning to gain recognition for creating many of the familiar rhythms associated with styles like the mambo and el cha-cha-cha. From Miami, Emilio San Pedro prepared this musical profile.

[Transition--Cuban Music]

(Background music) In his younger days, Israel Lopez was known for his interpretation of traditional Cuban musical styles, like el son and danzón. Lopez comes from one of Cuba's oldest musical families and got his nickname, Cachao, from his grandfather, a one-time director of Havana's municipal band. Cachao recalls how after a while he and his brother, Orestes, became bored with playing the same old traditional danzónes, and created a new dance music called the mambo.

[Descarga Mambo--Israel “Cachao” Lopez]

Entonces en el año 37 entre mi Hermano y yo nos… [transition to English dub] In 1937, between my brother and I, we took care of this mambo business. We gave our traditional music, our danzón, a 180-degree turn. What we did was modernize it… [transition back to original audio] …lo que hicimos fue modernizarlo.

In the late 1950s, Cachao got a group of Cuba's top musical artists together for a set of 4:00 AM recording sessions that started after the musicians got off work at Havana's hotels and nightclubs. The group included Cachao's brother, Orestes, El Negro Vivar, Guillermo Barreto, and Alfredo León of Cuba's legendary Septeto Nacional. Cachao says he called those jam sessions descargas, literally discharges, because of the uninhibited atmosphere that surrounded those recordings.

En la descarga se presa uno libremente, cuando uno esta leyendo música no es los mismo… [transition to English dub] In the descarga you express yourself freely. When you are reading music it's just not the same. You are reading the music and so your heart can't really feel it. That's why that rhythm is so strong and everyone likes it so much… [transition to original audio] Fuerte! Y muy bien, todo el mundo encantado.

[Descarga Mambo--Israel “Cachao” Lopez]

Cachao left Cuba in 1962, but his association with the descarga, el mambo, and el danzón kept him busy in this country playing everything from small parties and weddings to concerts with top musicians like Mongo Santamaria, and Tito Puente. For young Cubans growing up in the United States, the music of Cachao and other artists has served as a link to their cultural roots.

His music has inspired me over the years and has brought solace to me and many times and has been a companion for me. Anybody who knows me will know that I carry tapes of Cachao with me in my pocket.

Actor Andy Garcia is one of those young Cubans on whom Cachao's music made a lasting impact. Garcia recently directed a documentary on the musician's life titled "Cachao...Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos." "Like His Rhythm, There's No Other."

Cachao has been, in a sense, overlooked for his contributions musically to the world of music, world internationally. Musicians know of him and anyone say, "Oh, he's the master," but in terms of the general public, he's been really ignored. So it's important to document something, so somehow that would help bring attention to his contributions to music.

The documentary mixes concert footage with the conversation with Cachao. The concert took place last September in Miami, bringing together young and older interpreters of Cuban and Latin music in a tribute to Cachao and his descarga.

Very modest, extremely modest man. Quiet, shy.

One of the musicians who played with Cachao in that concert is violinist Alfredo Triff. He says, "The 74 year old maestro has lessons to teach young musicians that go beyond music."

He's such a modest person that in fact, I realized that he was the creator of this thing, this mambo thing. And I'll tell you what, not only me, I remember Paquito once in Brooklyn, we were playing, or in the Bronx, we were playing the Lehman College. And Paquito comes to the room and he says, Alfredo, you know that mambos, Cachao invented this thing.

Andy Garcia's documentary, "Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos", is bringing Cachao some long-delayed recognition. And these days, Cachao is quite busy promoting the film, working on a new album, and collaborating with Gloria Estefan on her latest effort, "Mi Tierra", "My Homeland," a tribute to the popular Cuban music of the 1930s and '40s.

[No Hay Mal Que Por Bien No Venga--Gloria Estefan]

The album "Mi Tierra" has become an international hit in the few weeks since its release. The documentary, "Cachao, Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos", has been shown at the Miami and San Francisco film festivals. Cachao also plans to go into the recording studio later this year to put together an album of danzónes.

Es baile de verdad Cubano, y se ha ido olvidado… [transition to English dub] It's the traditional Cuban dance, and it's being forgotten. Here you almost never hear a danzón. I wish the Cubans would realize that this is like the mariachi. The Mexican never forgets his mariachi. Wherever it may be, whatever star may be performing, the mariachi is there. It's a national patrimony, as the danzón should be for us and we should preserve it... [transition to original audio] …danzón…y debemos preservarlo también.

Cachao strongly believes in preserving Afro-Cuban culture and its musical traditions. He hopes to keep those traditions alive with his music. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro.

[No Hay Mal Que Por Bien No Venga--Gloria Estefan]

This is Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture.

[Opening Theme]

I'm Maria Hinojosa. Today on Latino USA, Hispanics and the Catholic Church.

People with a different culture and different values and a different way of expressing wonderful and beautiful Catholicism.

A standoff at the border over aid to Cuba.

We've told them that they will not be arrested, they will not be prosecuted. We will release the bus, that people can go freely. They refuse to budge.

Also, keeping the mariachi musical tradition alive.

It's the most addicting music of all. Once it's in your blood, you'll never get it out.

That's all coming up on Latino USA. But first Las Noticias.

A drama has been unfolding for more than two weeks now in the border town of Laredo, Texas. On July 29th, a group known as Pastors for Peace defied the US trade embargo against Cuba by taking dozens of vehicles carrying food, clothing, medicines, and other aid to Cuba across the US border. But one of those vehicles, a yellow school bus, was stopped by the customs service. Today that bus sits in a federal compound in Laredo. It's occupants refusing to leave the bus and now starting their third week of a hunger strike. From Laredo, Latino USA's Maria Martin reports.

I see a whole bunch of semis waiting in line to go to Mexico, and in the middle of all that mess, there's this little school bus and I feel sorry.

Retired Laredo social worker, Manuel Ramirez sits on a sidewalk near the border wearing binoculars. He's trying to get a better glimpse of the scene across the street, there off to the side of the Lincoln Juarez Bridge. in an enclosed lot where semi-trucks wait to be inspected by the custom service sits a yellow school bus with a sign which reads ‘End The Embargo Against Cuba’. Inside the bus, 12 people ages 22 to 86 wait out the blazing hot August days. They've refused to leave the vehicle and to take any solid food, since the bus was seized by the customs service on July 29th. Among them is Pastors for Peace leader, the Reverend Lucius Walker of Brooklyn.

We see a nation that is threatened, a nation that is not our enemy, with which we are not at war. We were asked by the churches in Cuba to take this mission on and having responded affirmatively to their request, we have come to see for ourselves the importance of what we are doing.

What the Reverend Walker and Pastors for Peace hope to accomplish by their hunger strike and their attempt to take aid materials to Cuba is to call into question this country's 32-year old prohibition against trade and travel to that island. Pamela Previt of the Customs Service says her agency tried to help the aid caravan get through the border smoothly, but that this bus clearly violated US Law.

Customs detained 29 boxes of prescription medication, four computers, and five electric typewriters, which are prohibited items according to the embargo. The group specifically claimed that it was the vehicle itself that was to be exported. And because of that customs seized the bus.

The Reverend Walker says he was actually surprised when the bus he was driving was seized. Even though the group stated they were making the trip to challenge the embargo against Cuba.

They simply were not able to stop it because this was a human wave and a vehicular wave of people who were determined that this is a law that can no longer be enforced.

The law Walker refers to is the Trading with the Enemy Act enforced by the Treasury Department. So far that government agency has not responded to a proposal from the Pastors for Peace to allow someone from the World Council of Churches to escort the yellow school bus to Havana. On the 10th day of the hunger strike, there was a rally, in Laredo to support the hunger strikers and an end to the embargo against Cuba. A microphone was passed across the fence and the strikers told the crowd they were prepared to stay indefinitely.

We are all determined to stay on the school bus until the school bus goes to Cuba.

Cuba is not perfect, the government's not perfect, but it's way better than what they have in Latin America. And I realize that…

That among the 12 people on hunger strike is 32 year old Camilo Garcia who left Cuba four years ago.

And I decided that I will do everything I can to help the revolution to survive, and I will stay in here as long as it take no matter what it take, even if it take my life. So what?

The 100 degree heat, the exhaust fumes and the liquid only fast are taking their toll on the health of the hunger strikers. Doctors brought in by the Customs Service and by Pastors for Peace are monitoring the group's health condition regularly. For Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin reporting.

Summer may be drawing to a close, but for as long as the warm weather lasts, Latinos in one area of New York City make their summer getaway to Orchard Beach. Located in the Bronx, Orchard Beach is the hottest spot every weekend for free outdoor salsa and merengue shows, and for Latino politicians to campaign for votes. Mainly, though, it's a place where Latino New Yorkers can just relax. Mandalit del Barco prepared this sound portrait of Orchard Beach.

Yo, this is Orchard Beach in the boogie-down Bronx, the Puerto Rican Riviera.

If you can't get out of the city on vacation, this is the place to go. This is our version of Cancun, our version of Puerto Rico.

Tell you about this beach. It's blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Indians, Iranians, you name it. [Laughter] But uh-

This beach is full of culture you know. This beach, you got all kind of Latin Americans. Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Cubans. Get all kind of heritage walking around and having a good time, dancing. There's music bands over there.

[Highlight--Music--Cuban music]

I love it here because you don't see your brother, your sister, for 20 years. Hey brother, remember me? Oh, remember, I was your wife a long time ago? [Laughter]

This is the only place that we come here to forget, and not be- right, enjoy the summer. Because it's good being here, you know away from things, away from problems, away from home.

What do you try to forget about when you're here?

Stress.

Stress. Stress. Problems. Stress.

Work, accounting. Living in the ghetto, which is the most toughest part.

Right. When you come here, everything is different. When you go back home, you're back to the same old thing, same old-

Mostly we're all in projects. You know bad neighborhood, worrying about looking over our shoulders. So, this is a place where we just get away. Everybody's just being themselves, hanging out. We don't have to worry about someone coming behind us and trying to do something. This is relaxing. That's why we come here.

Everybody's trying to get away from that bad environment out there. You know what I'm saying? The shooting and the drugs and all that. Over here, it's not a bad environment. I'm saying, you don't see too many fights over here. I haven't seen a fight broke out yet. If anything, everybody likes trying to help each other. I come here to try have a nice time with my family. Have a few beers, smoke a blunt. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Really. Forget about everyday work and get out of the hot steamy streets, dirty filthy streets and stuff.

Do you ever go into the water?

Not really. I don't like going in that water, cause it's filthy. That's the truth. Where's everybody at? Look, the sand. Very few in the water. And if they're in the water, they're only in up to their knees. That's about it.

I just got to say, the water is very polluted.

Look what happened to his face. It's all red. Jellyfish got in his face.

Yeah, it hurts. It hurts a lot.

I saw there was lot of suckers in there. I wouldn't get in the pool now. I wouldn't put my finger on the pool.

It's not about going in the water. The water's no good. It's just about hanging out on the boardwalk and meeting people.

That's America. You know what I mean? Turn loose. That's what it's all about. You could be you, here in Orchard Beach. It's a symbol of all cultures exposing and expressing what America's about in one little corner of the world. [Laughter]

[Highlight--Music--Cuban music]

Our summertime audio snapshot of Orchard Beach, the Bronx, was produced by Mandalit del Barco.

Before the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, jazz music flowed freely from this country to Cuba and back. That musical cross-pollination has been more difficult in recent years, though. However, Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba made history this summer when he was permitted to play in the United States for the very first time. Alfredo Cruz reports.

[Recordando a Tschaikowsky--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

During the first half of this century, Cuban music was a very popular source of entertainment in the United States. The Mambo y cha-cha-cha, and other rhythms dominated radio waves and dance halls across the country. Cuban music was being heard here, and jazz over there. But in 1959, following the Cuban Revolution, all cultural and political connections between the two countries were cut. And in Cuba, jazz became a Yankee imperialist activity. Playing or listening to jazz was done in an underground clandestine manner. Since then, things have changed. For one, the Havana International Jazz Festival, now in its 14th year, has attracted world-class musicians and helped raise the social and political acceptance of jazz in Cuba. But as pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba says, it wasn't easy.

Bueno, principio en los años sesenta, y parte de los setentas…[transition to English dub] In the early '60s and through part of the '70s, it was very difficult getting people to understand the importance of supporting jazz and the increasing number of young Cuban musicians heading in this direction. Today, however, there can not be, and there isn't any misunderstanding or political manipulation of jazz or Cuban jazz musician [transition to original audio] …interpretación por parte de los musico Cuba.

[Mi Gran Pasion--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

At 30 years of age, Gonzalo Rubalcaba is considered one of Cuba's premier pianists. His father played with the orchestra of Cha-cha-cha inventor Enrique Jorrín, and later became one of Cuba's most popular band leaders. Gonzalo himself played with the legendary Orquesta Aragón while still a teenager, but it is through his solo playing that Gonzalo has made his mark in Cuba and around the world. Because of political differences, however, the United States audience remained out of reach to Cuban jazz and musicians like Rubalcaba.

[Simbunt Ye Contracova--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

Bueno Estados Unidos debió ser uno de los primeros escenario…[transition to English dub] The United States should have been one of the first places for me to play. But since 1989, there's been a mystique and anticipation surrounding my not being allowed to enter this country. Very simply put, it's been a politically motivated maneuver to not grant me a performance visa, and has nothing to do with artistic or musical considerations. But now, my first appearance in this country, I think signals that we are entering a new era. But that doesn't mean I haven't had any contact with American musicians, because I've played with many in Cuba and in festivals around the world [transition to original audio]…contacto con músicos Norte Americanos.

American bassist Charlie Haden met and played with Gonzalo Rubalcaba in Switzerland at the 1989 Montreux International Jazz Festival and brought him to the attention of Blue Note Records. Haden, along with Blue Note executives and Lincoln Center in New York City, negotiated with the US State Department to grant the young pianist a performance visa. And finally, in what seems to have been a political icebreaker last May 14th, Gonzalo Rubalcaba made his US debut performance before a sold-out audience at Lincoln Center.

[No name (Live at Lincoln Center)--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

Nueva dirección, del viento, el aire lleva…[transition to English dub] There's been a change of wind, politically speaking, a relaxation of attitudes and perceptions that are now opening the doors to dialogue in an effort to eliminate tensions. And it seems to me that this is a common goal of both Cuba and the United States. Even though we still can't really speak of this in practical terms, but ideally, this could be the beginning of normalizing relations between the two countries [transition to original audio]…esto podría ser un pequeño parte de eso, un comienzo.

[Unknow Track--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

Many artists in both countries do agree that a relaxation of political policy between Cuba and the United States would be a positive development. And Rubalcaba's US debut has generated a renewed optimism within the cultural community, even though the visa he was issued allowed him to play only one concert, and on the condition that he would not be paid. Recently, Gonzalo Rubalcaba's recording, entitled Suite 4 y 20, was released in this country on the Blue Note record label. For Latino USA, I'm Alfredo Cruz in Newark, New Jersey.

[Simbunt Ye Contracova--Gonzalo Rubalcaba]

Cuban American activists are protesting a decision by the Mexican government not to allow a boatload of refugees from Cuba to land on Mexican shores. Protests took place in Miami and in New York. Mandalit del Barco reports.

The Cubans protesting the decision called on a total boycott of Mexican products and traveled to Mexico. The demonstration targeted the Mexican government, and the consulate here in New York, for what protestors called their roles as assassins. Cuban refugees had been sailing for 21 days, allegedly on their way to the Cayman Islands, when their boat had mechanical problems. 10 people died, including two children, and the others continued floating until they reached the waters near Cancun. On August 19th, the Mexican government ordered them to be deported back to Cuba. The Mexican consulate issued a bulletin saying the Cubans on the boat were given medical attention before being sent back. According to the consulate, the refugees never asked for political asylum. For Latino USA, I'm Mandalit del Barco in New York.

After a week of continuous protests in which Cuban exiles went on hunger strikes and burned Mexican flags and sombreros, the Mexican government reversed their stand and granted visas to the eight Cuban rafters they had originally repatriated to Cuba. Ninoska Perez of the Cuban-American National Foundation assisted the Cuban refugees in obtaining visas to come to the United States.

The Cuban exile community has shown that it does not forget the people in the island. It has shown that their voices and their actions were able to finally get something, which is really an unprecedented event, which is the return of refugees who had been deported to Cuba. This had never happened before.

But the protests against the Mexican government upset members of Miami's Mexican-American community. Susan Reina of South Dade was on a committee of Mexican-Americans that issued a press release expressing their anger at the Cuban exiles burning of the Mexican flag.

We understand that they were very upset of what happened, but they really acted very irresponsibly as far as that is concerned. I mean, what was the whole purpose of burning a Mexican flag? If they wanted to get back to President Salinas, you don't do it by burning a Mexican hat because number one, the president doesn't wear those kind of hat. Those hats are worn by common people.

Members of the Cuban-American community have apologized to the Mexican-American community for the negative reaction against Mexicans on the part of what they say is a small percentage of Cubans in Miami, but Mexican-American leaders in Miami say that healing the relations between the two Latino groups may take a while. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro in Miami.

Are we affirming Mexico as a dictatorship? That it's a dictatorship and it's the longest lasting dictatorship in this hemisphere, probably...

With increasing frequency opponents of the North American Free trade Agreement from labor to Ross Perot are attacking Mexico and the Mexican government. In Washington, Florida Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart joined other Cuban American representatives at a Capitol Hill press conference.

I don't see any change in the Mexican political system that leads me to believe that it's anything but the rotating dictatorship that it has been since the beginning of the pre-reign.

The Cuban American Congress members are concerned about what they feel is too cozy a relationship between the government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari and that of Fidel Castro. Since Premier Castro legalized the dollar and liberalized travel to Cuba in July, there have been indications some members of the Clinton administration favor negotiations with Cuba and that talks may actually have taken place, something the Cuban American delegation strongly opposes. Miami Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen.

We have asked repeatedly for specifics on these negotiations. Where have they taken place? Who has participated in them? Have any agreements been signed? We get back generalities about, well, it's an ongoing set of negotiations which have been taking place through various administrations and we demand specific...

But according to another Cuban American Congressman Republican Lincoln Diaz Balart, the administration is not yet ready to ease relations with Cuba. He added the president may call for an oil embargo on the island as he did with Haiti.

1,500 Cubans holding US federal prisons will be repatriated to Havana. The prisoners who came to this country as part of the Mariel Exodus of 1980 are being deported under an agreement between the Clinton administration and the government of Fidel Castro. But some Cuban Americans are concerned about what could await the prisoners and fear that disagreement might signal the start of broader concessions between the governments of the United States and Cuba. I'm Vidal Guzman. From Austin, Texas, you're listening to Latino USA.

And the House and the Senate have voted to restore $21 million to fund TV Martí whose broadcasts are aimed at Cuba.

More than a dozen big cities elect mayors on November 2nd. One of the most contested races is in Miami, where Cuban-born Commissioner Miriam Alonso is facing former mayor, Steve Clark. That race has been characterized by a great deal of mudslinging, with Clark being dubbed the marshmallow mayor, and Alonso's opponents calling her Castro's ambassador and a communist. Alonso's husband was Cuba's ambassador to Lebanon, before the couple defected from the island 27 years ago.

In Miami's mayoral race, candidates Miriam Alonso and Steve Clark face a November 9th runoff. And as Melissa Mancini reports from Miami, voting there broke down largely along ethnic lines.

Former Metro Mayor Steve Clark dominated in white non-Hispanic areas and also won a sizeable share of young Hispanic votes. Challenger Miriam Alonso took two votes for every ballot captured by Clark in Miami's Hispanic areas. However, Alonso trailed Clark by big margins in non-Hispanic neighborhoods winning less than 15% of the vote. For the past two decades, Miami's mayor's job has been held by a Hispanic, a fact that Cuba born Alonso has repeated in Spanish language radio broadcasts. During election day radio appearances, Alonso exhorted Cuban voters to keep the mayor's office in their hands. Those appeals apparently succeeded in Miami's Little Havana community where voters turned out in greater numbers than in other neighborhoods. However, it remains to be seen if Alonso can broaden her base for the November 9th runoff. For Latino USA, I'm Melissa Mancini in Miami.

Voters in Hialeah, Florida meanwhile will also vote in a runoff election between State Representative, Nilo Juri, and suspended City Mayor, Raul Martinez. Martinez was convicted two years ago on corruption charges and suspended from his post by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. The Latino vote had been predicted to play a significant role in recent mayoral elections in two major US cities, New York, where Republican Rudolph Giuliani defeated the city's first African-American mayor, David Dinkins in a very close race, and Miami were Cuban-born city Commissioner Miriam Alonso will face former Mayor Steve Clark in a runoff on November 9th. With us to talk about these elections and the role of the Latino vote are political analyst Gerson Borrero in New York, and from Miami, Ivan Roman, a reporter for El Nuevo Herald. Bienvenidos a los dos, welcome.

Let's take a look at the numbers in these two races and where the Latino vote went and what difference it made, if at all. Let's look at Miami first. What happened in Miami, Ivan?

Well, first of all, in Miami the Hispanics are a majority of the vote. Regardless of what happens with Hispanics, they are to play a major role. Interestingly enough, what you had was a race between Commissioner Miriam Alonso, who is Cuban, and an Anglo former Miami Mayor, Steve Clark, the vote was split amongst Hispanics. 60% for Alonso and 40% for Clark, and there are many reasons for that. Some analysts attribute a generational gap because Miriam Alonso resorted to shrill ethnic appeals in the last week that they say the younger generation and exit polls show that the younger generation of Cubans and Cuban Americans reject. So, there you have an interesting dynamic in which you have Hispanics and mostly Cubans who are splitting their vote and not necessarily voting Cuban, which is what the older time and the older Cubans tend to do.

Now in New York, Gerson, the Latino vote was talked about for a very long time as being the swing vote. Did it in fact make the difference for getting Republican Giuliani into office this time around?

Well, the Latino vote came out and danced, but it certainly didn't swing. It didn't move anybody. It really had no impact as far as I can tell from the figures that have come out. We did come out at around 20% of the electorate and it indicates to me that however, it was crucial to maintaining Dinkin's dignified loss. He got 60% of the vote. Mayor Dinkin is the incumbent as opposed to Republican Rudolph Giuliani who got around 38% of the Latino vote, which is less than what he expected. Certainly Latino vote in New York City turned out along the party lines and that is being Democrats. The majority of the votes here in New York City from the Latino population are of course from Puerto Ricans, and just as Blacks did, they voted along democratic lines.

Ivan, the interesting thing about Miami is that there is this generational split where you have younger Cubans going for the non-Cuban candidate and you have the older Cubans going for the Cuban candidate. This shows a lot about the complexity in this particular case of the Latino Cuban vote. Do you think that people are picking up on that down in Miami?

Definitely so. I mean, you could say there's a generational divide in which younger Cubans, for instance, would not go for these ethnic appeals that have been so common here in politics.

[interruption] Well, what kind of ethnic appeals are you talking about?

Well, basically Miriam Alonso and every Cuban politician you can think of was on the radio saying, "This seat belongs to us. We can't let this seat slip out of our hands." And one thing is to say that we deserve representation with the majority, and another thing is to say that the seat belongs to us because that was the kind of message that was rejected by Puerto Ricans and Nicaraguans who were saying, "Wait a minute, you're excluding everybody else. Why should I vote for somebody who is going to be so exclusive?"

Do both of you agree with the conventional wisdom that's being talked about, that this election was very bad news for the Clinton Administration and for the Democrats in general or are you a little bit more skeptical?

I don't agree with it. I think that this has nothing to do with the Clinton presidency. It's too early on in his administration. This is only his 10th month in office. We have to remember that neither Whitman in New Jersey or Giuliani in New York received a mandate. It was only 2% in each instance. So, there is clearly, it's not a mandate anywhere. I think people looked at the local issues and certainly our community voted as such. I mean you can stretch this and say that Clinton did have an effect and that the Latino community listened to the President, so that argument could be made also.

In Miami, that doesn't really apply because the race is not a partisan race. The dynamic happening here is mostly an anti-incumbency type of thing where voters seem to reject people who had either been at city hall before or who are currently in city hall, in favor of some newcomers that are giving them a struggle in the runoff next week. Here we have a different situation.

Well, thank you very much for joining us. Political analyst Gerson Borrero in New York and Ivan Roman of El Nuevo Herald in Miami. Muchas gracias.

Voters in Miami pulled together to elect a new mayor after one of the most divisive political campaigns in that city's history. For Miami, Melissa Mancini has more.

Rejecting ethnic appeals, Miami voters elected Steve Clark as their first non-Hispanic mayor in more than 20 years. By a landslide 59%, voters turned aside the Cuban vote Cuban requests at the heart of opponent Miriam Alonzo's campaign. Younger Cuban American voters rejected Alonzo as did black, white, and non Cuban Hispanic voters who voted two to one in favor of Clark. Younger Hispanic voters ignored Alonzo's appeals to stick with their parents and grandparents in backing her. An exit poll showed Clark winning solid majorities among Hispanic voters below age 49 while Alonzo won among those over 50 years of age. Alonzo ran an all-out ethnic campaign, calling the mayor's job, quote, "a Hispanic seat" and saying Latinos should retain the mayor's seat in Cuban hands. She continued that strategy through election day and many political analysts are blaming Alonzo's defeat in great measure on her racially-based campaigning. For Latino USA, I'm Melissa Mancini in Miami.

[Background--Music--Salsa] Ever since 1898, when the island of Puerto Rico first became a US territory, Puerto Ricans have debated their relationship to the United States. 40 years after becoming a US commonwealth in 1952, the debate still continues with some Puerto Ricans favoring the status quo, others advocating the island become the nation's 51st state, and still others calling for Puerto Rico's independence. During his electoral campaign, Puerto Rico's governor Pedro Rosello promised to try to put an end to the eternal debate over status by calling for a plebiscite. That vote on November 14th may not be the last word on Puerto Rico's status, but Puerto Ricans are hoping it will force the US Congress to act. Latino USA's Maria Martin is in San Juan to report on the plebiscite.

[Highlight--Natural sounds--broadcast media]

For months now, Puerto Ricans on the island have been bombarded with messages on the radio, the television, and from loud speakers on trucks cruising their neighborhoods, telling them Si se puede con estadidad, Statehood is the way to go, say the ads. But others tell them no, that ELA or enhanced Commonwealth is the better option. It's the best of both worlds, say proponents, allowing them to retain their language and culture, while other messages talk about the merits of independence for Puerto Rico.

[Archival sound--radio production] Caravanas del Estado Boricua siguen con mas fuerza. Este Sabado desde Guayama, Naguabo, Calle y Aguas Buenas hasta el gran mitiga y el Domingo….

This is not the first plebiscite in which Puerto Ricans vote to decide the island's political status. The last vote was held in 1967 and that vote, like this one is non-binding because it's still the US Congress that has the final word on the political future of Puerto Rico. Two years ago, a bill calling for a congressionally-approved vote failed to get through a Senate committee, and what's significant about this election says political analyst Juan Manuel Garcia Passalacqua, is that this vote is actually a petition to Congress by the Puerto Rican people, made under the Right to Petition clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

This is the first time in the history of Puerto Rico that the three parties approved a law that was adopted as a petition for the redress of grievances against the Congress of the United States. That's the first sentence in that particular law. So, here we are. This is the first time after 1898 that the people of Puerto Rico have told the United States we have a grievance, and that grievance obviously is colonialism.

Whatever the results of the plebiscite, whether there's a majority vote in favor of statehood, commonwealth status, or independence as says Passalacqua, all the legal precedents indicate that Congress will finally have to respond to the will of the Puerto Rican people.

If the United States of America respects its own constitutional traditions, the Congress of the United States has to respond to a right to petition for the redress of grievances. This is a right that the courts of the United States have recognized to a single citizen. These are going to be two million citizens, so Congress cannot be irresponsible in the execution of a response to a million and a half of Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico.

[Natural sounds--mall ambience] Yo no se, pero… He speak better, he speak better English than I. But I prefer to be a state.

Yo preferia esta vida

Y porque?

Porque si, porque veo que, que Puerto Rica se hasta ahora estamos….

At the San Juan shopping Mall called La Plaza des Las Americas, several middle-aged Cubans, part of Puerto Rico's substantial Cuban community for some 30 years now, say they support and will be voting for statehood. Support for statehood for Puerto Rico has been growing steadily on the island. Ever since Puerto Rico gained commonwealth status some 40 years ago. Statehood proponents like former representative Benny Frankie Cerezo say that's because many of the island's residents are tired of being second-class citizens, for instance, of having obligations like serving in the military but not being able to vote in presidential elections.

The problem in Puerto Rico is that the legislation is made in such a way that Puerto Ricans, but not Puerto Ricans per se, the people, the US citizens living on the island of Puerto Rico are disenfranchised. George Bush, President Clinton would move down to Puerto Rico. Next day, they would be disenfranchised because they could not vote for representatives in Congress for senators in Congress, nor for the President. But still you will be subject to all the laws enacted by Congress. Precisely, that's what's called colonialism.

The more we discuss statehood, the faster statehood loses percentage because the moment you start discussing statehood, you discuss the cost of statehood. It's not…

Senator Marco Antonio Rigau of the popular Democratic Party is the proponent of what in Spanish is known as Estado Libre Asociado an enhanced commonwealth state in which Puerto Rico would have much more equality with the United States and more control of its political destiny. Proponents of this option are trying to convince the Puerto Rican people that the prize the island would have to pay to become the 51st state, including possible laws of the official status of the Spanish language and of the island's beloved Olympic team, and the tax break for US companies known as 936 far outweighs any potential benefits of statehood.

I'm telling you, if Puerto Rico becomes a state, you will have to pay federal taxes. If Puerto Rico becomes a state, we will not have an Olympic committee. We will not have a team in the Olympics or in the Central American Games or the Pan-American games. We're telling the people that if Puerto Rico moves for statehood, the state of Puerto Rico could not impose the same income tax because it would be too steep. We tell the people of Puerto Rico, one out of three jobs in Puerto Rico is related to 936. If Puerto Rico becomes a state, 936 is not possible because the federal constitution provides for uniformity in the tax system of all 50 states. So, we're telling the people the consequences of statehood and the people are... What they're saying is stop, look and listen.

Te estan diciendo que en Estados Unidos se paga mas tax que aqui porque entonces un televisor Sony de 27 pulgadas que haya cuesta $599, aqui cuesta $859.

But there are those who say the campaign being waged by the two principle parties, the pro commonwealth Populares and the pro state-hood Nuevo Progresistas doesn't really do the job of telling people to stop, look and listen. [Background--natural sounds--broadcast media] Critics say this plebiscite campaign is misinforming people on the issues, creating confusion and a climate of fear. Former governor Roberto Sanchez Vilella calls the plebiscite a useless procedure that would have no real consequences.

Waste of money, waste of energy, psychological energy, telling the people something which is entirely false. Nothing is going to happen after this. So this is really... I don't want to use harsh words, but it's a fraud.

Former Governor Sanchez Vilella has even gone to court to obtain legal standing for his so-called fourth option, a legal counting of votes left blank or marked with an X to protest the plebiscite.

Well, let me tell you without being glib that I don't see any more confusion than I saw in the campaign between Bush and Clinton. This notion that --

Fernando Martinez, a former member of the Puerto Rican Senate and the vice president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. The so-called Independentistas are enthusiastically supporting the plebiscite even though polls say they'll be lucky to get even 5% of the vote. But what's making Martin and other independent supporters so eager is a scenario whereby neither statehood nor Commonwealth would win a majority, leaving Congress to look at independence for Puerto Rico in a more favorable light.

The results of this plebiscite will allow the Congress once and for all to refuse statehood because it will not have obtained majority support in Puerto Rico. The results will also show that colonialism is no longer a viable option either for the Congress or for Puerto Rico, leaving only the eventual recognition of sovereignty for Puerto Rico as the only alternative both for the United States and for Puerto Rico.

[Background--natural sounds--city ambience] It's five days before the vote and hundreds of people are gathered outside the studios of San Juan's Telemundo television affiliate. Inside the studios, representatives of Puerto Rico's three principal parties prepare for the last debate of the campaign, but for now, the debate out here appears to be over what group can wave the larger number of flags or who has the loudest sound system.

[Highlight--natural sounds--city ambience]

Elections here in Puerto Rico are very participatory. It's not unusual to have upwards of 70% turnout of registered voters. Reporter Ivan Roman of the Miami Newspaper El Nuevo Herald, a native Puerto Rican, says there's nothing in US elections to compare to the energy and enthusiasm of the Puerto Rican electorate.

You have caravans going all over the island, you have people who don't care if they dress up in clown outfits to get their point across. Everything has to do with the emotional part of getting out the vote. And this race, even more so than some others, is even more of emotional because for some people we're talking about their culture, their identity, that to them is the most important thing, and for them, that's a very emotional issue.

The latest polls conducted by the newspaper El Nuevo Dia, four days before the election indicate a virtual tie in support for the statehood and commonwealth options among the voters of Puerto Rico.

No me cogen con los totones [Laughter] [inaudible] [Highlight--natural sound--resturant ambience]

At Chino's Cafe in Old San Juan, Maria Torres says she still hasn't made up her mind which way to vote.

[Inaudible] No se todavia. Estoy confundida.

Pero que te ha confundidio?

Bueno, todas las cosas estan disciendo los anuncios todo todo ahi confusion.

[Background--natural sound--restaurant ambience] There's just too much confusion, she says, it's hard to decide just what I'll vote for. And analysts say it'll be the substantial number of still undecided Puerto Ricans like Maria Torres who determine the political option on which the US Congress is being asked to take action. For Latino USA, I'm Maria Martin in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

I'm Maria Hinojosa. The long, drawn-out, and hard-fought battle over the North American Free Trade agreement finally came to an end when the House of Representatives, after more than 10 hours of debate, approved the controversial treaty by a vote of 234 for NAFTA, 200 against. Latino USA's Patricia Guadalupe has been following the debate on Capitol Hill. She prepared this report.

[Background—natural sounds—Congressional proceeding] On this vote the yeas are 234, the nays are 200, and the bill has passed.

There were no last-minute surprises in the Hispanic caucus since all the Latino members of Congress had announced beforehand how they would vote. All members east of the Mississippi River voted against a treaty, including all the Puerto Rican members, Democrats Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, Nydia Velazquez of New York, and Hispanic caucus chair Jose Serrano, also of New York, as well as the Cuban American members of Congress from New Jersey and Florida. All those west of the Mississippi River, that is, every Mexican American member of Congress, with the exception of Democrat Henry Gonzalez of Texas, voted in favor of NAFTA. Among the members voting for the treaty was Democratic Representative Frank Tejeda of Texas. During the hours of the debate, he likened a yes vote, to a vote for economic progress particularly for future generations.

If we reject NAFTA, we limit their future potential. We must press NAFTA and teach our graduates by example. We must also send the willing message, that the United States instead remained the world's economic leader.

But neither Congressman Tejeda's words, nor those of other pro-NAFTA representatives did anything to convince the three Cuban American members of Congress, who have all along objected to signing an agreement with Mexico. They oppose Mexico's diplomatic relations with Cuba. Lincoln Diaz Ballard, a Cuban American Republican from Florida, added that he voted against NAFTA not only because of Cuba but because he considers the Mexican government with the same political party and power for over 60 years to be undemocratic.

And that's the problem with the Mexican government. They, they're a long-standing rotating dictatorship. They steal elections every six years. And when we sign an agreement with them, who are we signing agreement with? A group of families, or a group of people? So that's why we need to, we should have announced from the beginning that we're doing it. We want entrance into a common market of hemispheric democracies. We didn't do that. That's a fatal flaw.

The final vote was not as close as some had expected with 16 more than the 218 needed for passage. Some analysts say the intense lobbying by the Clinton administration in the last few days, along with Vice President Al Gore's good showing in the debate with Ross Perot convinced many of the undecided members. Raul Hinojosa, an economist at UCLA and a member of the Pro-NAFTA Coalition known as the Latino consensus, also thinks that the opposition to NAFTA lost steam as the final vote neared.

What's happened is that the White House has had an incredible momentum in the last week and a half of a lot of undecideds, which is way, by the way, exactly how the public has shifted. A lot of the undecided vote went to NAFTA in the last two weeks. I think what was clear is that the opposition was very strong, but it wasn't growing anymore, and therefore what we're seeing is that the vast majority of the undecided then shifted over with the President on this issue.

The NAFTA treaty now moves onto the Senate where final approval is expected easily. If accepted by the governments of Canada and Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement would go into effect next January, creating the largest consumer market in the world. For Latino USA, I'm Patricia Guadalupe in Washington.

This is news from Latino USA. I'm Maria Martin. A group of influential Cuban Americans is calling for a major shift in US policy towards Cuba, including lifting of the 30-year-old economic embargo.

We feel that to isolate Cuba is to help the Castro government. We feel that the moment that there is an openness that we Cubans can travel to United States, Cubans there can travel here. When that is open, I think that is going to produce a change and that's what we are looking for, some type of change.

New York businessman, Marcelino Miyares, heads up the new Cuban Committee for Democracy. Miyares, who fought in the Bay of Pigs and was a POW in Cuba, says he and many other Cuban-Americans no longer believe in a confrontational or interventionist US policy towards the island.

And we believe that there is a large number of Cuban, as a matter of fact, close to 50%, who has a moderate progressive perception of the reality, who really will like to see the Cuban problem solved by peaceful means, not by means of confrontation.