Mandela Snubbed In Miami

[Mika]

Mandela Snubbed In Miami

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It was the first time Mandela had received anything less than red-carpet treatment on what has otherwise been a triumphant U.S. tour to promote support for opposition to South Africa`s apartheid.

No one met Mandela at the airport. Mayor Xavier Suarez, a Cuban-American, boycotted the visit to protest Mandela`s remarks that Cuban President Fidel Castro was a ``brother in arms`` because Castro supported his African National Congress.

And hundreds of Cubans demonstrated on Thursday outside the Miami Beach convention center where Mandela was addressing labor leaders, waving banners proclaiming Mandela a ``terrorist`` and saying he wasn`t welcome in America. They also chanted slogans at blacks who had turned out to greet Mandela, creating a tense atmosphere in a city with a history of strained Hispanic-black relations.

Santiago Gonzalez, a Cuban demonstrator, predicted heightened ill-feeling between blacks and Cubans in Miami, and he blamed Mandela.

``He shouldn`t have come here. He knew he wasn`t welcome,`` Gonzalez said. ``If he supports communism, his place is back in Africa, in prison.`

`


More ... http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-06-29/news/9002220508_1_blacks-and-cubans-mayor-xavier-suarez-protesters

[Socialistlemur]

1. But Mandela changed

Eventually Mandela changed and realized Fidel Castro was a terrible dictator.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro: A Relationship Built On Mutual Admiration

Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro: A Relationship Built On Mutual Admiration
The Huffington Post | By Hirania Luzardo Posted: 06/27/2013 3:48 pm EDT



After being released from prison in 1990, one of the first things Nelson Mandela did was visit Cuba to express his admiration and respect for Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

“Who trained our people, who gave us resources, who helped so many of our soldiers, our doctors?" Mandela asked Castro during a public appearance in Havana. "You have not come to our country -- when are you coming?"

Fidel Castro responded, "I have not visited my homeland South Africa, but I love it as if it were my homeland."

Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela developed such a close relationship that it’s impossible to forget when speaking about the African leader in Latin America. The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 inspired a young Mandela. Later in life, Mandela credited Cuba's military support to Angola in the 1970s and 1980s with playing a role in debilitating South Africa's government enough to result in the legalization of his party, the African National Congress, in 1990.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/nelson-mandela-fidel-castro_n_3509710.html

[Paolo123]

4. great article

thank you

[joshcryer]

6. That article is highly biased rubbish.

Mandela was embracing every world leader that would embrace him. He was at the 1992 Democratic convention for crying out loud!

The article mentions Cuba's imperialist forays into Angola but neglects to mention Mandela slapped Castro in the face in 1994 by calling for peace and negotiations.

This is after siding fully with Cuba on the MPLA in 1990.

A complete 180, and Cuba withdrew troops from Angola in 1991, so Mandela's calls for peace caused Cuba to shut down it's imperialist meddling in other countries.

In 1994 the rebels were completely shut out by Mandela.

As Mandela said, non-violence is a tactic, not a principle.

And boy was it one brilliant tactic.

Mandela did not have much favor with Castro or many of the worlds dictators after that. Everyone loves to use his name as some sort of support, but history does not reflect those sentiments, at all.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Good grief. He "slapped Castro in the face?" Pardon everyone who knows better. n/t

[Mika]

11. Witness the slap for yourself ...

Fast forward to 3 minutes ...

#t=180

[Mika]

3. Pathetic.

As usual, in this forum, your doggerel is a complete fail.

[joshcryer]

5. 1990 Miami is not 2013 Miami and it's sad to see that myth perpetuated.

The majority of Cuban-Americans are anti-embargo.

The representation will reflect that if not in 2014, 2016 to a significant extent, by 2018 we won't have an embargo.

Of course by then Castro is likely not to be alive. Neither will a bunch of bitter Miami exiles.

And Cubans and Cuban-Americans will forge on ahead. 50 years of good baseball and cigars, wasted.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Mandela was most surely the target of extreme viciousness by the "exile" community.

They showed themselves as the filthy racists their group was in Cuba prior to the Revolution.

There is absolutely no way to repudiate the truth.

[joshcryer]

9. In 1990. Not in 2013.

You have even posted about this sea change.

MIAMI — Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas said Monday he would make an official apology to former South African president Nelson Mandela next week.

"If Mandela were in Miami today, I think he would receive an official welcome." Penelas said.

How easily you forget. Just to score internet points. Shameful.

[Mika]

10. Mayor Alex Penelas made the apology because of the tourism boycott of Miami...

... springboarded by the snub of Mr Mandela by Miami officials.

Penelas did this to get the backing of the tourism industry over his opponent.

Keep in mind that Alex Penelas won election on the platform that he would not give public land to greedy sports teams/owners. THREE DAYS AFTER THE ELECTION HE SIGNED A DEAL TO GIVE PUBLIC LAND FOR THE NEW MIAMI HEAT ARENA.

The man, a liar extraordinaire, would say ANYTHING.

[joshcryer]

14. That was a decade ago, too.

I'm sure the polls back then weren't really for unification what with Cuba having recently been put on Bush's watch list.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Bush put Cuba on the list to pander to the "exile" community, with whom his dad

had been involved since prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion, and his brother, Jeb, had been involved at multiple levels for ages.

They did it to please these Batistiano cretins, as we ALL know.

There's far too much available on record for anyone sensible to say otherwise.

[joshcryer]

16. No? Really? A decade ago, was it?

The polls are against the right wing exiles and you know it.

[Judi Lynn]

12. So obnoxious. As if anyone could believe anything Alex Dirtball Penelas could say.

He recognized what a filthy position they had chosen for themselves, and wanted to attract human votes from the area for his election.

Don't try that crap with Democrats. Take your duplicity elsewhere.

[joshcryer]

13. Oh, I should've known better than to source you.

I forget the double sided nature of posts with the veiled insults, sometimes.

Whatever, you'll see, the Cuban-American community won't fit your misguided stereotype in due course and you'll be on the wrong side of history just as the bitter exiles were.