Mas Canosa's influence not matched since his death

CUBAN EXILE COMMUNITY
Mas Canosa's influence not matched since his death
Friday marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Jorge Mas Canosa,
founder and influential leader of the Cuban American National
Foundation, whose legacy has diminished since.
Posted on Fri, Nov. 23, 2007
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By RUI FERREIRA AND LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com

Determined, pragmatic and unwavering, Jorge Mas Canosa left a legacy in
Miami that today, 10 years after his death, no other Cuban exile has
been able to equal: a vision and ability to awaken the exile community
and turn it into the first line of attack against Fidel Castro's regime.

A powerful public speaker with a fiery personality and a strong resolve
that Fidel Castro's regime should be brought down, Mas Canosa was once
considered the heir apparent under a democratic Cuba by the exile community.

In the years since his death, no one else has captured such loyalty
among Cubans in exile who remain strident Castro haters. Mas Canosa was
their voice and ambassador to the White House and around the world.

Not bad for a man who arrived in Miami with his family in 1960 and whose
first job in the United States was milk man.

By the time of his death of cancer at age 58 on Nov. 23, 1997, he was a
self-made millionaire who left behind a billion-dollar conglomerate
called MasTec.

But Mas Canosa's greatest success was the 1981 creation of the Cuban
American National Foundation (CANF), which became a powerful lobby
group. More significantly, it established the framework for Cubans to
organize and unite, giving them an influence that few ethnic groups have
exercised in the United States.

In Miami, exiles still remember Mas Canosa for confronting, in a 1996
television debate, the leader of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón.

The feisty Mas Canosa once challenged then-Miami Commissioner Joe
Carollo to a duel.

He led a boycott against The Miami Herald because he felt the newspaper
did not reflect or defend the Cuban exile community he considered embattled.

He managed to convince Washington politicians that it was beneficial for
them to adopt and express a consistent anti-Castro policy.

His lobbying left an impact still felt by today's presidential
candidates, who are often asked how they would deal with Castro.

He also persuaded President Ronald Reagan, a political ally, to create
Radio and TV Martí in 1983; George H.W. Bush, to embrace the 1992
Torricelli law which tightened the loopholes in the long-standing U.S.
embargo toward the island nation; and Bill Clinton, the Helms-Burton law
in 1996, which considerably limits Cuba's ability to attract foreign
investors.

''Jorge's vision was to engrave in the mind of all Cubans the unending
wish that one day Cuba would be free -- a hope the exile community had a
right to fight for, not out of a sense of flexing its muscle but out of
a true belief that a return to the island and an end to Castro's tyranny
were possible,'' said Diego Suárez, who was Mas Canosa's friend for more
than 40 years.

Year after year, Mas Canosa remained in the front line in the war
against Castro, all the while spreading the exile's point of view to the
rest of the world. His foundation became the official representative for
exile causes and Mas Canosa was savvy in setting the agenda.

Even his adversaries remember him as unwavering in his mission, but open
to insightful discourse on the future of Cuba.

''Mas Canosa was willing to listen to all intelligent ideas,'' said Raúl
Martínez, the former mayor of Hialeah. ``We had ideological differences,
but we were always able to overcome them and that is why I believe he
was such an important figure for the simple reason that he was able to
do what no other exile was able to do -- which was to unite exile Cubans.''

That quality, Martínez said, also helped him navigate treacherous
political waters, where he learned to cultivate and keep powerful
Republic and Democratic friends.

Many believe everything deflated after his passing.

The company he founded, MasTec, was in a struggle to survive by 2001.
After a severe financial downturn, it slashed costs and refocused on its
core business: constructing telecommunications and other infrastructure.

The exile cause was dealt a setback as the community lost its main
spokesman and with him, some of its luster.

With his son, Jorge Mas Santos at the helm of CANF, a number of
directors had defected by 2001.

The foundation had begun curtailing its traditional activities and
instead was encouraging change from within the island nation.

Francisco ''Pepe'' Hernández, current president of the pared-down
foundation, said if his ''friend from the heart'' were alive today -- a
time when Cuba's future is at a crossroad -- it would be an era of
''great frustration,'' alluding to Washington's current approach to
Cuba, which calls for little intervention.

But he adds: ``That would not have prevented him from continuing to
fight to change the situation in Cuba.''

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