MAS CANOSA'S LEGACY November 24, 1997 NEWSHOUR TRANSCRIPT

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From penniless immigrant to multi-millionaire and powerful lobbyist, Jorge Mas Canosa rose to become an influential leader in the Cuban-American exile community before his death Sunday. Following a background report, Phil Ponce and guests discuss Jorge Mas Canosa's legacy.

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A RealAudio version of this segment is available. NEWSHOUR LINKS: An online forum on the life and legacy of Che Guevara. October 16, 1997: A look back at the Cuban Missile Crisis. July 11, 1996: Canada's Trade Minister and an US congresswoman debate the legitimacy of Helms-Burton. March 5, 1996: Secretary of State Warren Christopher discusses the US foreign policy toward Cuba. March 1, 1996: Two policy experts analyze the United States' policy toward Cuba. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Latin America OUTSIDE LINKS The Cuban American National Foundation

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Jorge Mas Canosa was not a familiar face or name to most Americans, but he was arguably the most influential Cuban American in the country. For the past two decades Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton consulted him whenever a matter of Cuban policy was on the table. Before he died yesterday, polls showed that among older Cuban Americans Mas Canosa was unparalleled in popularity. He was also a leading businessman and multi-millionaire in the nation's Cuban-American community of 1 1/2 million people. It was a far cry from the days of his youth when he came to South Florida in 1960 as a penniless Cuban immigrant fleeing the regime of Fidel Castro. It was a cause he passionately campaigned against for the rest of his life. Mas Canosa died at age 58 from complications of lung cancer. He was mourned by his friends and his family.

A man dedicated to a cause.

JORGE MAS CANOSA, JR.: Not only was he a father, a husband, and a grandfather but he was a patriot, a man who dedicated his life and efforts to a free Cuba. Unfortunately, my father will never set foot in a free Cuba, but his spirit and the legacy that he has left us will.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: In 1971, Mas Canosa started a telecommunications company with a $50,000 loan and built it into a massive empire reportedly worth $700 million. But he was best known for his work to topple the Castro Dictatorship. In 1980, Mas Canosa founded the Cuban American Foundation, an anti-Castro organization that a few years later celebrated its first victory when Radio and TV Marti went on the airwaves. With the help of U.S. government money Marti broadcast a strong pro democracy, fervent, anti-Communist message to Cuba. From the first wave of immigrants when Castro took power in the 1960's to the more recent flood of Cuban boat people coming to the South Florida shores, Mas Canosa fought to isolate and overthrow Castro, hoping it would someday lead to democracy in his homeland.

JORGE MAS CANOSA: I see just a tremendous burning desire to see the country in which we were born that democracy and freedom will finally arrive to that country.

Mr. Mas Canosa's influence on Capitol Hill.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: In 1992, Mas Canosa was instrumental in getting the Bush administration to tighten America's economic embargo against Cuba. And four years later, he successfully lobbied for the Helms-Burton Act, which allowed Cuban Americans for the first time to sue foreign companies that did business with Cuba. Mas Canosa's death leaves his Cuban American Foundation with more than 55,000-members, no heir apparent.

PHIL PONCE: Now two Cuban American perspectives. Ninoska Perez is a Cuban-born journalist and a member of the Cuban American National Foundation's board of directors. She directed the Foundation's shortwave radio broadcast to Cuba; Alfredo Duran, a Cuban-born lawyer and a veteran of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He's a former president and now a member of the board of directors of the Cuban Committee for Democracy. And welcome both. Ms. Perez, first, our condolences to your organization. For people outside of the Cuban-American community who may not have known about of Mr. Mas Canosa, why was he so important?

NINOSKA PEREZ, Cuban American National Foundation: He was important because he kept the dream alive. It is a dream of returning to a free Cuba, and that's why he's so important to this community of exiles.

PHIL PONCE: Mr. Duran, just how big of a role did Mr. Mas Canosa play in formulating U.S. policy towards Cuba?

ALFREDO DURAN, Cuban Committee for Democracy: I really believe that Jorge Mas Canosa was the single most important Cuban American in the process of formulating U.S. policy towards Cuba. It was instrumental in passing some of the most important legislation that affect the Cuban issue. Radio Marti, TV Marti, the Torricelli Act--the Helms Burton Act--had it not been for Jorge Mas Canosa, the Cuban American National Foundation, we probably would not have those laws in the books today.

PHIL PONCE: As a matter of fact, a former administration official in the Carter administration said that but for Mr. Mas Canosa the relations between Cuba and the United States might very well be normal. Ms. Perez, do you have a reaction to that?

NINOSKA PEREZ: No doubt that Jorge Mas Canosa played the role that Mr. Duran has said, but also Castro has been responsible for what has happened to him. In other words, Mas Canosa was instrumental in getting the deals passed, but obviously Castro has not changed on human rights abuses. He has not allowed freedom, or elections in Cuba, so obviously, I mean, one responds to the other.

PHIL PONCE: And what is your reaction to the widespread belief that Mr. Mas Canosa, himself, would have very much like to have been president in a democratic Cuba?

NINOSKA PEREZ: Well, you know, people are always saying that, as if it were a crime to, you know, aspire to be president. What I think people should focus on is the fact that he always calls for free and democratic election. Now, if those elections would have made him president, obviously, there's nothing wrong. And today, as I sat at the office of the foundation and I listened to the messages coming from Cuba, it's ironic that this man who spent the largest part of his life outside the island would receive such messages as those that we received today saying that he was an inspiration to every Cuban in the island desiring freedom for Cuba.

PHIL PONCE: Excuse me. You were getting messages--radio messages from Cuba, to that effect, praising--

Messages from Cuba.

NINOSKA PEREZ: Yes. Telephone messages, our shortwave radio station broadcast to Cuba, not Radio Marti, the Voice of the Foundation, and that is the only way that we can have the opposition be heard in Cuba is they have to call Miami, and we broadcast that back to Cuba.

PHIL PONCE: Mr. Duran, what do you expect might have been the official reaction to Mr. Mas Canosa's death in Cuba?

ALFREDO DURAN: Well, I don't know. I suppose that they would be very happy from the official point of view. Jorge Mas Canosa, obviously, was a big thorn on the side of the Cuban government. My substantial difference politically with Jorge Mas Canosa and on a personal level with friends but politically we have substantial differences and it basically it was on the policy of isolation of Cuba. We believe that by isolating Cuba we have really kept Castro in power. We believe in openness, and we believe that the future of Cuba would have been better served if we had been--the embargo and isolationist policy had been done away with a long time ago. I don't think Castro would be in power today if that had happened a long time ago.

PHIL PONCE: And amplify on that, sir. Why would he still--why he has the isolation and the economic sanctions solidified his position in Cuba?

The effect of the economic embargo.

SEN. RICHARD DURBIN: Because they serve sort of like the Berlin Wall on the Cuban nation. They have isolated him. They have given him the opportunity to entrench himself, alleging that they're under bitter attack by the United States Government. It justifies his policies. At least, he thinks it justifies his policies, and it justifies the repression and the present political institution that we have in Cuba.

PHIL PONCE: How about that, Ms. Perez, did Mr. Mas Canosa's polices, in effect, solidify Castro's leadership by creating some kind of a unifying force?

NINOSKA PEREZ: You know, Castro was solidified because he received the largest subsidy from the Soviet Union that any country ever did. The fact that it didn't matter what the United States did, he could have held elections, he could have respected human rights; he didn't have to have prisons full, and he would not have to remain in power for 38 years. I mean, to blame the United States for what Castro is doing right now I think it's really absurd.

PHIL PONCE: Ms. Perez, to what extent might the death of Mr. Mas Canosa result in a modifying stance towards Cuba?

NINOSKA PEREZ: I think again that's up to the Cuban government. Castro has shown no willingness to change. Castro has downed American planes in international air space and has shown no remorse. Is the United States willing to accept that? Then, of course, Castro will remain in power. It's up to Castro to change; the United States has said so repeatedly. Torricelli's bill and the Helm's-Burton bill both speculate that if Castro shows a willingness to change, that the embargo can be lifted at some point, and he has done none of that.

PHIL PONCE: So I guess what I was asking you is with the death of Mr. Mas Canosa, will there be less of a resolve to keep with the current policy among Cuban Americans, for example?

NINOSKA PEREZ: I doubt that. I think it's a very prevailing feeling that the only way to put an end to a dictatorship is by putting sanctions on it.

PHIL PONCE: How about that, Mr. Duran, what's your position? Do you think there might be more of an inclination to modify the United States's stance with Mas Canosa's death?

ALFREDO DURAN: Well, I think that for the past three or four years the feeling in the Cuban community has been changing. I think that the Cuban community right now is more or less evenly split among a process of support for isolation and bringing about of openness. I also feel that the U.S. Government and U.S. Congress are starting to re-look at U.S. policy towards Cuba. I think that that would be healthy. A policy that has not worked for the past 37 years obviously is a bad policy.

PHIL PONCE: Mr. Duran, what is your opinion on how younger Cuban Americans might be feeling towards Castro and the state of U.S.-Cuba relations?

ALFREDO DURAN: I didn't get your question.

PHIL PONCE: Are younger Cuban Americans maybe feeling a little more inclined towards some kind of an accommodation with Castro?

ALFREDO DURAN: No. I think that Cuban Americans in the Cuban community in exiles and the Cuban within Cuba obviously want democracy. I just believe that the transition towards democracy is what we have to look forward, and I think all Cubans want that, as well as every other person of any other country would want the best for their nation, so do the Cubans.

PHIL PONCE: Ms. Perez, how about that, is there a generational difference as to how Cuban Americans feel towards the United States' policy towards Castro?

NINOSKA PEREZ: I don't think so. I think it's as Mr. Duran said; we all want democracy for Cuba. But again, I find it hard to blame the United States for Castro's unwillingness to change. Mr. Duran has repeatedly said that he would like to dialogue with the Cuban government, visit Cuba. He has not been allowed to do so. So, again, Castro is the one who's remaining, is closing the walls, not opening up for dialogue, and not carrying out democratic changes in Cuba.

PHIL PONCE: Ms. Perez, do you believe that the Cuban American community has lost some clout in Washington with the death of Mr. Mas Canosa?

NINOSKA PEREZ: I don't think so. I think that the Cuban American National Foundation was an organization that Jorge Mas Canosa created not for the benefit of one man or one figure. I think there is a structure there; it's well known and respected in Washington and in other countries; and I think that we have a commitment with Jorge Mas Canosa's dream of a free Cuba.

PHIL PONCE: Mr. Duran, do you think the community has lost some clout in Washington as a result of this death?

ALFREDO DURAN: Unfortunately, I think so. Jorge Mas Canosa had a tremendous personality. He had a tremendous will. He had a tremendous attractiveness towards his--he was able with his tenacity to bring about things that no other Cuban American was able to bring about. I think that his absence will be very much felt by Cuban Americans and by the process of formulating of Cuban American policy.

PHIL PONCE: Mr. Duran, Ms. Perez, thank you both.

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