By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 9, 2000; Page A03
MIAMI—It is called "the Cuba Affidavit," and every year, the arts groups
that receive $6 million worth of grants from Miami-Dade County must sign
it--or else.
What it says is that all groups that receive county funds, book county
venues
or have a county contract must sign a statement saying they and everyone
they do business with are free of ties to Cuba. The affidavit's very existence
distinguishes Miami-Dade as the only county in the United States with its
own cultural embargo against the communist country, one that supersedes
even the U.S. economic embargo.
Now, the affidavit has been taken to court. In a class-action lawsuit filed
Wednesday in U.S. District Court by three nonprofit arts groups, two
concert promoters and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the
constitutionality of the policy is being challenged. The suit alleges that
the
affidavit not only infringes on First Amendment rights but also violates
the
federal government's exclusive authority over foreign affairs and commerce.
It charges that Miami-Dade--home, along with adjoining Broward County,
to
800,000 Cuban Americans--is operating its own foreign policy toward Cuba.
That is a particularly sticky point at a time when some local officials
have
appeared ready to defy federal authorities in the Elian Gonzalez custody
case.
The plaintiffs say the Cuba Affidavit illustrates the powerful hold that
the
most vocal Cuban exiles have on the area. They also say the policy amounts
to artistic censorship and has cost Miami-Dade several key cultural and
artistic events because Cuban nationals might have been involved.
"I love the Cuban community in Miami, and I think this is the most exciting
city in the United States," said plaintiff Joseph Adler, artistic director
at
GableStage, a nonprofit theater in Coral Gables. "But when I was in civil
rights demonstrations in the '60s or demonstrations against the Vietnam
War,
a demonstration meant both sides of an issue. In Miami, a demonstration
means one side. That's why these people are so emboldened, so brazen:
There's never anyone speaking up with a different viewpoint."
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, who has been criticized for announcing
that local police will not assist federal immigration officials in taking
6-year-old Elian from his Miami relatives' home to his Cuban father, has
publicly stated that he supports the affidavit.
Deborah Margol, a spokeswoman for the county's department of cultural
affairs, declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. County officials
have
argued that the policy does not prevent Cuban performers from appearing
in
Miami, only the use of county funds or facilities for that purpose. And
County Attorney Robert Ginsburg told the Miami Herald last week that
"there is no federal statute--no federal executive order or federal
treaty--which mandates the state or locality fund any cultural activities."
The suit is asking that the policy be declared unconstitutional and that
the
county be enjoined from requiring the signatures and from denying the use
of
funds and facilities.
The Cuba Affidavit was approved in 1996, but opponents, always queasy
about the document, became vocal only after the county commission voted
unanimously in February to make signing it a precondition of applying for
county grants. In the past, a more casual method was followed, with
recipients signing as they collected the money.
Two recent events highlighted the problems. The first was a controversial
appearance here in October by the Cuban dance band Los Van Van, in
which several thousand protesters spat at concert-goers and hurled eggs
and
bottles at them. Earlier, the concert promoter, Debra Ohanian, a plaintiff
in
the suit, had a dispute with the county over the venue.
The second episode involved the Miami Film Festival, at Florida International
University, which recently screened "Life Is to Whistle," a Cuban film
critical of life under President Fidel Castro. Ohanian complained that
if she
had been in violation of the Cuba Affidavit, the festival must have been
as
well. The county agreed, revoking the $50,000 it had contributed to the
event.
According to the ACLU's Howard Simon, the Cuba Affidavit has had a
"chilling effect" on the area's cultural and artistic offerings. In September,
Miami lost the Latin Grammy Awards to Los Angeles after county officials
refused to allow the use of a county-owned arena because the ceremony
would involve Cuban nationals.
A group bidding last year to hold the 2007 Pan Am Games in Miami-Dade
reconsidered, and organizers of an international music industry fair held
in
Miami each year also have pulled out because Cuban artists are not
welcome. In July, the Junior Pan-American Games moved from Miami to
Tampa after the county refused financial support because of the Cuban
participants.
Other controversies here reflect the long memories and deep emotions that
accompany any issue involving Cuba. In 1996, for example, some county
commissioners stalked out of a meeting in protest as former United Nations
ambassador Andrew Young was receiving an honor. They reportedly were
still smarting over a statement Young had made 18 years earlier about
Cuban troops being a stabilizing factor in the civil war in Angola.
Elizabeth Boone of the Miami Light Project, a nonprofit group that presents
and develops contemporary theater and dance, is aware of the risk she is
taking by refusing to sign what she calls "a loyalty oath." Over the past
11
years, about 8 percent of her annual budget, anywhere from $45,000 to
$58,000, has come from Miami-Dade County.
"There are all kinds of extraordinary music companies, dance companies
and
films coming out of Cuba," said Boone, a plaintiff in the suit. "I would
like to
have the same rights my colleagues in arts around the country have."
Researcher Lynn Davis in Washington contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company