Annotations for People: San Pedro-emilio

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Latino community is the second largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States, but a Latino has never served on the United States Supreme Court. That's the premise on which the Hispanic National Bar Association, the HNBA, based its campaign to President Bill Clinton to appoint a Latino to the Supreme Court. HNBA National President Carlos Ortiz says that not only is it important to have a Latino on the Supreme Court for the sake of equal representation, but also, he says a qualified Latino Justice could bring a unique perspective to the court.

The short list of seven potential nominees was presented to President Clinton on March 21st. They include Joseph Baca, a Justice on the New Mexico Supreme Court, Texas Attorney General Don Morales, and Wilmer Martinez, former President and General Counsel of MALDAEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro.

[Background--Sounds--Nature] I'm Emilio San Pedro in Wynwood, a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood just north of downtown Miami, Florida. Here, reaction to President Clinton's performance was mixed.

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.

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.

About 40% of the retired members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the ILGWU, are Latinas. That's why the union decided to create a series of nationwide meetings on Latino healthcare called Acceso or Access. At the first such meeting held in Hialeah, a primarily Hispanic industrial city northwest of Miami, about 100 retired Latinas expressed their healthcare concerns to a panel made up of national and local union representatives as well as representatives from the local congressional offices of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz Ballard.

The retirees say they're concerned with how a new healthcare system would impact their ability to seek medical care from Hispanic doctors. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro in Miami.

[Natural sounds of neighborhood] I'm Emilio San Pedro, en la Calle Ocho, Southwest 8th Street in Miami. Here, some people support the recent US bombing of Iraq while others question the necessity for such an action.

[Natural sounds of neighborhood] I'm Emilio San Pedro, en la Calle Ocho, Southwest 8th Street in Miami. Here, some people support the recent US bombing of Iraq while others question the necessity for such an action.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Enrique Fernandez writes about Latin music for the Village Voice.

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.

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.

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.

And you're 80 years old.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

The Centro Campesino in Florida City is a farm worker support organization that serves as the unofficial town center for many of South Dade's migrant and year-round farm workers. Housing counselor Leslie Guerra says that every day, the staff at the Centro sees indications that the damages caused by Hurricane Andrew are still affecting the area's farmworkers.

One year after the eye of Hurricane Andrew passed over the agricultural region of South Dade, many farms remain closed or are operating at half capacity. The cost of housing has risen sharply, due to the destruction of many of the trailer parks, apartments and homes that house agricultural workers.

Terry Adellano is a dance teacher at the Centro Campesino. She has seen her life, and the lives of the farmworkers she works with, transformed.

One of her students is Raul. His family stayed, even though their house was damaged, and his parents lost their business.

Today, on the eve of the anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, Terry Adellano and others at the Centro Campesino are hosting Florida's governor, Lawton Chiles, and other dignitaries who are paying visits to many of South Dade's hardest-hit regions.

Outside the office of the Centro Campesino is a housing development called Centro Villas. The more than 60 homes are owned by farmworkers that have participated in the Centro's sweat equity program. Antonia Torres lives in one of the houses and is the president of the Centro Villas Homeowners Association.

Today, Antonia brought her husband and two boys to the Centro Campesino to hear what the governor had to say.

Housing Counselor Leslie Guerra points out that houses like those in Centro Campesino are the exception for farmworkers, and that the majority of farmworkers are finding it difficult to make ends meet after Andrew, due to the shortage of affordable housing. She adds that the post-hurricane assistance offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, was in many cases inadequate.

Hurricane Andrew caused over $1 billion in damages to South Dade's agriculture industry, and left thousands of acres of farmland barren. But today, many of the businesses on US 1 are back in operation, and some of the larger agricultural companies are in full swing. But many farmworkers have not yet fully recovered from the loss of housing and employment opportunities. For Latino USA, I'm Emilio San Pedro In Florida City.

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.

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.

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.