Posted on Wed, Dec. 19, 2007
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
AP Hispanic Affairs Writer
MIAMI --
Popular TV host Carlos Otero has landed a new gig on the other side of
the Florida Straits days after his defection from the island.
Otero will soon appear on the local Spanish-language cable station WJAN
America Te Ve, according to the station's general manager Omar Romay.
"He's been hired by the station and will soon start work," Romay said
but added that details of Otero's responsibilities were being worked out.
That means Otero will still be visible to thousands of Cubans, mostly in
Havana, who have managed to obtain contraband satellite dishes. Recent
immigrants say WJAN is popular among the those in Cuba because the
channel has hired so many former Cuban TV personalities and gears its
programs toward Cuban news and humor.
Otero, 49, defected to the U.S. along with his wife and two young
children Monday, crossing the border into New York from Canada, where he
had been filming a program.
A message left for Otero at the station was not immediately returned.
Asked whether the station was involved in helping Otero leave the
island, Romay responded: "Those are rumors."
"I have always had many conversations with many artists who are outside
of the U.S.," Romay added. "We hired him when he arrived in Miami."
Otero has generally been well received since his arrival in Miami on
Tuesday and drew large Spanish-language audiences when he recently made
a guest TV appearance here.
"There will always be some sectors (in the exile community) that are
against hiring people who have worked for Cuban television," Romay said,
but he added, "There are few people today who left Cuba without
participating in some aspect of the government."
The Cuban government has labeled Otero a traitor. His defection came the
same day as three leading members of the National Ballet of Cuba arrived
in South Florida, after they also crossed into the U.S. from Canada. The
three are set to perform in Swan Lake with the Miami-based Cuban
Classical Ballet in February.
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