Fidel Castro Abuses Elderly Woman

Several U.S. senators -- including two who are considering running for president -- on Monday condemned Cuba for the ''beating and intimidation'' of well-known dissident Martha Beatriz Roque in late April.

The effort began in Coral Gables' Biltmore Hotel, where -- in separate visits -- many of the senators got word of the attack on Roque from activists including Ana Navarro, the former Nicaraguan ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, whose boyfriend, Gene Prescott, is the hotel's proprietor. ''It was all a matter of coincidence and really talking to them with the truth,'' Navarro said. "When policy makers are faced with the truth, they take action.''

U.S. senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Bill Nelson of Florida led the charge to introduce a resolution Monday blasting the attack on Roque and demanding that Cuba allow its citizens to exercise their rights. Also listed as co-sponsors are potential presidential candidates Democrat Joseph Biden and Republican John McCain.

''The Senate condemns the brutality of the regime of Fidel Castro toward Martha Beatriz Roque, a 61-year-old woman in frail health,'' the resolution reads. It also says the Senate "calls on the regime of Cuba to release the hundreds of political prisoners still held today and to stop the intimidation of dissidents and their families.''

If approved, it would be a rare boost to an individual in Cuba's dissident movement, said Mauricio Claver-Clarone, director of the anti-Castro U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC. ''Few people outside of Miami can name a leading Cuban dissident,'' said the Washington, D.C.-based Claver-Clarone. "The hope here is to personalize it.''

Roque was leaving her Havana home April 25 to meet with Michael Parmly, head of the U.S. Interests Section, when a mob of Cuban government supporters swarmed her, knocked her down, punched her and dragged her.

During a call to a Miami radio station after the incident, Roque made an emotional plea for international support. ''They kicked me, a strong young man punched me in the eye with his fist,'' she said. "I thought my eye had popped out. They knocked me down and dragged me . . . The world must know this. To my brothers and sisters in Miami, please let the world know.'' (excerpt of story by Oscar Corral, Miami Herald)

Perverted North Miami City Attorney

Seven months after authoring a sworn statement admitting he had sex with an underage teenager, North Miami City Attorney Barry Kutun surrendered to police after detectives sought his arrest Tuesday on related charges. Four plainclothes detectived had tried to arrest him Tuesday at North Miami City Hall but he was not in his office.

The married former state representative is accused of having sex for money with a 16-year-old in a tryst arranged by a Hollywood woman named Roberta Orenbuch. Hollywood police arrested Orenbuch last month for arranging sexual encounters for the teenager.

Orenbuch signed an affivadit -- notarized by Kutun's city-paid paralegal at City Hall -- which was later leaked to police and reporters. In the Oct. 28, 2005 affidavit, Orenbuch says she arranged for Kutun to have sex with teen about eight times, telling Kutun the girl was 18. State law allows a person to be charged with having sex with a minor, even though they did not know he or she was underage.

Kutun briefly left his $170,000-a-year post at North Miami City Hall, but had returned despite the buzz of the scandal. Detectives executed a search warrant in January. They found sexually explicit photos. Kutun admitted to having sexing relations with a 17-year-old, taking photos of them having sex and e-mailing them to Orenbuch, according to the warrant.

The affidavit was prepared to protect himself from a friend of Orenbuch was allegedly blackmailed the attorney with the photos. Kutun paid the man $2,000.

Excerpted from Miami Herald article by David Ovalle

Cuban Lawmaker accused of racial slur

Schools chief Rudy Crew said a state legislator called him racial epithets, and four public officials said they heard the lawmaker use such language.

TALLAHASSEE - State Rep. Ralph Arza, a top education leader in the Legislature, has repeatedly used racial epithets in English and Spanish to describe Miami-Dade's African-American schools superintendent, according to the schools chief himself and four public officials from the Miami-Dade area.

''They were very disparaging remarks made in a very, very ugly ethnic tone'' for more than a year, Superintendent Rudy Crew said Wednesday. Four other sources, both elected and appointed officials, some of whom are Republicans like Arza, told The Miami Herald they had heard the lawmaker use the language when talking about Crew.

Crew, who did not hear the remarks but relied on what he called ''a number'' of reports, and the four officials said Arza has repeatedly used the word ''nigger'' in English to refer to the schools chief. In Spanish, for which there is no direct translation, they said Arza called Crew a negro de mierda, using a word for excrement.

The four officials said they heard Arza's comments individually at different times over the past year, the most recent a few weeks ago in Tallahassee.
Crew said he is considering filing a complaint against Arza with the House Rules Committee, which governs lawmakers' conduct.

Arza, of Hialeah, denied using any disparaging language to describe Crew. He said he had ''no idea'' who would have said he made those statements, but added that he had heard ''rumors'' that Crew and others claimed he used the language.

''I'm shocked by it. I'm shocked. I have not spoken publicly against him. I have supported him publicly. He has a lot of good ideas,'' Arza said.
''In Spanish, the word negro is black. But it's not disparaging. I never said anything disparaging,'' Arza said.

Arza, chairman of the House's Pre K-12 Committee, and Crew say they're both dedicated to schools. And both agree on one thing: Neither feels the need to speak with each other about it. ''It's a rumor. It's false. There's nothing more to say,'' Arza said.

Said Crew: ''I really don't think that conversation would have been productive.'' And when he first heard of the alleged slur a year ago? ''I did not want to be confrontational about that,'' Crew said. "I thought the work itself was the greater part of valor and that it would fall by the wayside.''

Two of the sources who said they heard Arza use the ''N-word'' believed Arza was not really bigoted, but that he likes to ``talk tough and intimidate.'' Crew said he knew the job in Miami-Dade was tough. But he was surprised by Arza. ''I'm basically a street kid. But I know, there are some rules you never break,'' Crew said. "You don't ever cross that line, not in our schools, not in our government, not from our elected officials.'' (exerpt of story by MARC CAPUTO)