The Herald needs a new calculator
In a long and carefully worded report by the Herald ombudsman today, Edward Schumacher-Matos proclaims that the charges being made against Herald columnist Marifeli Perez-Stable of being a spy for Cuba's communist government just "don't add up."
After painstakingly listing the long and sordid history of Ms. Perez-Stable's associations, Mr. Shumacher-Matos hit the "TOTAL" button on his Herald issued calculator and found that the sum of the evidence was not enough for him to believe she is a spy. It appears that Ms. Perez-Stable's associations with high-ranking Cuban government officials, her founding of the pro-Castro Antonio Maceo Brigade, her work as editor of the pro-Castro magazine Areito, a long list of personal friends who all happened to be Castro spies, and testimony from a Cuban spy who defected that named her as an agent for the regime, do not a spy make.
The interesting thing is that this 1,716 word response to the spy allegations against a Herald columnist could have been summed up with just 25 words that appear early on in the report.
Is she a spy or a secret Cuban propagandist using her column to influence American opinion? Has she ever been? Does it make any difference?
Does it really make any difference to the Herald that one of its columnist may be a spy for a hostile government responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Cubans? Apparently, according to the calculator the Herald is using, it doesn't make any difference at all.
Which begs the question: Is this the same calculator the Herald and Oscar Corrales used to crucify and ruin the careers of journalists who did work for Radio/TV Marti a few years back with false accusations of impropriety? If that is the case, I believe it is time for the Herald to invest in a new calculator.
couple of fair questions raised in this. there is no doubt that Perez-Stable was closely associated with the Regime and its objectives for years. Ultimately however hearsay and circumstantial evidence is not enough to say someone is a spy. What offends most everyone on this site is the fact that Perez-Stable supports positions that most here oppose. If she would have had a more profound road to Damascus conversion and proclaimed a rousing support for the embargo then the point would be naught. God knows that much more unsavory characters who have actually worked and been affiliated with the regime have received rousing salutes here. Since her conversion, is in your opinion, did not go far enough then surely she must be a spy.
Please keep in mind that the most damage that has been caused in our community and our cause has been done by spies that managed to closely align themselves with the more hard-line groups. It is of little use for Cuba to have a spy who is looked upon suspiciously by groups that they feel threatened by. If Perez-Stable was in government then it would make sense for her to be a spy - but as an independent entity she has little to offer.
Cardinal:
Spies come in different colors and flavors. What sense would it make for the Cuban regime to send an operative to infiltrate Vigilia Mambisa, for example, and use that same operative to establish a pro-Castro organization here in the US? None. Therefore, your premise that Perez-Stable's support for positions not held by most of the exile community precludes her from being a Cuban regime operative holds no water. Like Perez-Stable, there are many Cuban operatives working to promote the regime's interest here in the states. And, like Juan Pablo Roque, there are also many Cuban operatives whose job is to infiltrate the historical exile community and appear as "hard-line" as possible.
Nevertheless, this is all irrelevant because the point of my post was to illustrate the obvious duplicity of the Herald. With Perez-Stable, they have a person with a long history of sympathy for a regime that is notorious for using people such as her as operatives, yet the evidence is just not enough for the Herald. But in the Radio/TV Marti journalists, they went out of their way to manufacture the appearance of impropriety and then proceeded to crucify them.
Keep the Focus on Perez-Stable and her ties to those myopic and unsavory groups (Maceitos/Areitos)and the Heralds obvious bias. BUT bringing up that nest of cronyism and corruption called Radio/TV Marti does not help the cause of freedom for Cuba one IOTA. Radio and TV Marti are the ultimate example of those who will line their pockets at the expense of the suffering of millions of Cubans and should be reviled just as much as the malevolent idiots that populate the Maceitos (why don't Andres Gomez and his unwashed bunch just go back to Cuba)
Welcome to Obama's America ...
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmFlMWU4N2U1MWQ3YjViZGM0YjgzZTFiM2ZlNTk0YWQ=
The Herald is indeed duplicitous in how they're treating Perez-Stable compared to Radio/TV Marti, and we should rightly call them out on it. However, judging this on its own merits (which is something we should always strive for, IMO, even if the Herald sometimes won't), I don't think this is a simple case of "We like Perez-Stable because she not a hard-liner". Schumacher-Matos himself acknowledges some suspicion: Until now, there has been no full, clear public response from Pérez-Stable about the charges against her. In Herald stories, Pérez-Stable has dismissed them as ``McCarthyite,'' and she refers people wanting more information to her website, but her responses in both the stories and the site have been allusive and raise as many questions as they answer. Furthermore, his investigation into this matter at the request of Gyllenhaal and Marquez suggests that the editors have serious doubts about Perez-Stable. If not, then why would they bother to have the ombudsman investigate this? It also serves to note that the Herald Editorial Board has consistently published harsh editorials against the regime, so it's not like they harbor any sympathy towards castro and therefore have a bias towards alleged spies.
The main issue here is that it's obvious that hard(er) evidence is needed. On that point, I most definitely agree with theCardinal.
Considering the Herald's record on dealing with issues concerning the Cuban community here in South Florida, Robert, I am not so quick to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Whatever, looks like our friend Tony de la Cova's diligence has seriously ruffled Miami Herald feathers. They finally realized they could no longer remain mum on the issue and maintain credibility.
Obviously she was once an agent--but unlike other regime functionaries (Del Pino, Vives, Hidalgo, Fernandez, Fuentes, etc.) she has never 'fessed up and recanted (assuming these recantations are sincere rather than purely and cravenly self-serving)
Whatever, good for Tony and Lieut. Col. Simmons.
Alberto: regardless of what the history of the paper's coverage of Cuban-Americans (terrible) or the editorial board's stance against the regime (good), the central issue here is whether there is something concrete by which to hang Perez-Stable with. That's a fair question to ask, isn't it?
That's the whole issue, Robert. There's a hell of a lot more to "hang Perez-Stable," as you put it, then there ever was to hang the Radio/TV Marti journalists. Yet the Herald decides to take the high road with Perez-Stable, whose leftist stance is probably more acceptable to them.
It's a pattern the Herald is well known for and in my opinion, they have not earned the right to have anyone cut them some slack.
Alberto: I agree with you on the fact that the Herald jumped too soon on the TV/Radio Marti case. And, yes, they likely sympathize with her pro-dialogue stance. If they would have been as analytical and/or inquisitive on the Marti Moonlighters as they were with Perez-Stable, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Your point on that regard is 100% valid.
Edward Schumacher-Matos
Miami Herald Ombudsman
Dear Sir:
I am responding to your article "Charges against columnist don’t add up," in today’s Miami Herald, in which you repeatedly mention me. Your piece contains factual errors and important omissions.
You state that Defense Intelligence Agency career officer Chris Simmons and other writers "rely heavily" on my research to accuse Professor Marifeli Pérez-Stable of being a Cuban intelligence "agent of influence." Simmons has publicly stated that for decades he has had access to the government debriefings of some twenty-five former Cuban DGI and DI intelligence officers. I am astonished and humbled that such a gifted spy catcher would have to largely depend on my academic research for his assertions.
On August 6, 2008, Simmons stated on Babalu blog radio:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/simmons.mp3
"I had access to a colleague who debriefing, a recent debriefing of a former DI [Cuban Directorate of Intelligence] officer who was working what is called M-1 U.S. targets. But most specifically, he worked the academic section of U.S. targets and in the early first half of the 1990s. Now, this is the critical part because she [Marifeli Perez-Stable] says that her support of the regime ended back in the eighties. Her case officer recalled meeting with her in Ottawa, Canada, in mid 1991, and she was still an active agent of Cuban intelligence. So, no matter how she tries to spin, spin it that this may have been an indiscretion of her youth, I got the notes from her case officer who outed her. So, her usefulness to the regime ended when that second officer stepped forward."
On April 11, 2002, a Miami Herald article by Juan Tamayo
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/brito.htm
indicated that Orlando Brito Pestana, a "top Cuban spy" who had recently defected, was "brought to the United States for debriefings on Havana intelligence operations in Canada, America and Panama." Brito, "one of the most senior Cuban intelligence officials to defect in recent years," was the "head of Cuba's intelligence office in Canada" until February 13, 1994, when "Canada expelled him and another Cuban diplomat for spying." It appears that Simmons was alluding to Brito's debriefing when identifying Perez-Stable’s Cuban intelligence case officer in mid 1991.
You also mention that I "spent six years in a U.S. prison in relation to the attempted bombing of a bookstore owned by a suspected Castro sympathizer." You omit mentioning that the arrest occurred in May 1976, after FBI agent Vincent Warger told me that Martín Cruz and Lázaro Santana were Cuban DGI agents operating in Miami
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/vince-warger.pdf
An FBI informant and provocateur, who received $3,900 for orchestrating the case against my two co-defendants and I, linked these DGI agents and the adult bookstore. The porno shop immediately closed and its owners quickly disappeared, apparently returning to Cuba.
I have never spoken to or communicated with Professor Pérez-Stable. What you perceive as my "tormenting" her to make "a cottage industry," started on November 27, 2006, when I sent my friend, Miami Herald investigative editor Mike Sallah, information about the Cuban intelligence link to Pérez-Stable that I had put on my academic website
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/marifeli.htm
Sallah replied that he would request from an FBI contact in Miami a copy of the Jesús Pérez Méndez debriefing that describes Pérez-Stable as being "controlled" by Cuban intelligence. Sallah then introduced my wife and I to editor Manny García in his office on the afternoon of January 3, 2007. During a lengthy conversation, I provided García with information on the activities of DGI agents in Miami, including Cruz and Santana, and suggested that the Miami Herald file a FOIA request with the FBI for a copy of the Pérez Méndez debriefing.
The next day, I sent García an email that concluded by saying: "I share the belief of many compatriots that the Herald needs to balance its investigative reporting of the Cuban exile community. So far, it has only focused on Cuban Americans and has not done investigative reporting on the activities of the Castro agents and sympathizers denounced by Pérez Méndez and by Castro dialogue turncoat Rev. Manuel Espinosa in 1980.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espinosa.htm
I truly hope that after the retirement of Executive Editor Tom Fiedler, the Herald will be able to mend its relationship and credibility with the majority of the Cuban exile community and embark on a new course."
Sallah later told me that the Herald never filed the FOIA request nor did they do any further investigation into the activities of the Castro agents that I mentioned.
Your article further states: "Until now, there has been no full, clear public response from Pérez-Stable about the charges against her." However, when my copy of the Pérez Méndez debriefing was posted on the Internet, including Herald reporter Oscar Corral’s blog "Miami’s Cuban Connection"
http://blogs.herald.com/cuban_connection/2007/03/ana_menendez_on.html
Pérez-Stable had her friend, attorney John de Leon, send letters and emails threatening a lawsuit for "libelous and slanderous statements" to writer Paul Crespo, bloggers Henry Gomez and Valentin Prieto, and Indiana University administrators and I.
http://heraldwatch.blogspot.com/2007/03/herald-contributor-attempts-to-silence.html
De Leon claimed that these "false" and "extremely injurious" and "outrageous accusations" against Pérez-Stable "caused severe emotional pain and distress to her and more importantly they have created a tremendous risk to her livelihood and to his [sic] personal safety and well being." Surprisingly, in spite of all the threats and allegations, no legal action was ever taken.
That same year, when Silvia "Flippity" Wilhelm was being investigated by the FBI for espionage activities, she also turned to de Leon for assistance, according to page 265 of her deposition on June 15, 2009.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/Wilhelm.pdf
Wilhelm, on December 4, 2008, sued Simmons for implicating her in Cuban espionage, but in her deposition (pp. 202, 207, 211) she admits having privately met in Havana with DI agent Amado Soto more than "five times" in a Hotel Nacional room that was bugged with microphones. Confessed and convicted Cuban spy Carlos Alvarez acknowledged in his 2003 FBI interrogation (pp. 618-620)
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/Alvarez-spy-7.pdf
that he and Wilhelm had communicated with Soto, and that Soto was the intelligence officer who had recruited him.
When Simmons filed a legal motion to obtain Wilhelm's bank records as part of his defense, her attorney raised an untenable objection.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/Wilhelm-7-08-09a.pdf
Weeks later, Wilhelm, who had paid her attorney $75,000 and refused to provide her bank records, filed a notice of resolution of the case, and stipulated that the terms be kept confidential.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/Wilhelm-9-02-09.pdf
Herald editors and reporters demonstrate naiveté when asking Pérez-Stable to admit to the same espionage criminal activities for which her friend and colleague Professor Carlos Alvarez was sent to prison. Your article omits that it was Alvarez, during his FBI interrogation, who admitted that Mercedes Arce was his intelligence handler (p. 80-82)
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/Alvarez-spy-1.pdf
and linked her (p. 489) to Pérez-Stable.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/Alvarez-spy-6.pdf
Your article indicates that the Miami Herald will not further investigate the Pérez-Stable case, even though you acknowledge that her responses "raise as many questions as they answer." You claim that "Unless her critics can come up with something firm, their accusations border on paranoia and slander." In response, as a scholar and a former investigative journalist, I propose that the Miami Herald:
1. File a FOIA request for the Jesús Pérez Méndez FBI debriefing of 1983, as I suggested nearly three years ago to Sallah and García.
2. File a FOIA request for the Orlando Brito Pestana CIA and FBI debriefing of 2002.
3. Request that Professor Pérez-Stable produce her 1991 U.S. and Cuban passports to disprove that she was in Canada that year meeting with Brito.
Failure to proceed in this elementary manner can be perceived as disregarding journalism ethics and neglecting investigative reporting in pursuit of sustaining a whitewash.
I am also asking that the Miami Herald afford me equal time by publishing my response, without omissions, on the same "Issues and Ideas" page on which your article appeared.
Sincerely,
Antonio de la Cova, Ph.D.
I guess in a technical/legalistic way, the Herald is right. If she has consistently worked this openly with the Cuban government, she is just an employee of Castro in plain sight of everyone. Spies try to hide.
Nonetheless it would appear that her goals and the goals of spies for Castro are identical.
As far as the Herald goes, I believe it's called DENIAL, though it may well be worse than that. I'd say it was also called CYA, but if the Herald were really out to protect itself, it would never have risked its image and reputation by hiring someone with such a distinctly fishy smell, especially to cover Cuba issues in the world capital of the Cuban exile community. If nothing else, I see her employment by the Herald as clear evidence of its disdain for and animosity towards "those people," in Clinton's immortal phrase. Obviously, there's also the possibility of a hidden (or not-so-hidden) agenda--certainly, such a suspicion is inevitable.
The supposedly serious press, like Caesar's wife, must (or certainly should) be above suspicion. This whole business, from beginning to end, looks mighty suspect, and that alone is already not only inappropriate but unacceptable. But hey, don't mind me, I'm just one of "those people."