BY FRANCES ROBLES
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Mayor Joe Carollo called a Miami Spanish-language
radio talk show host a Cuban ''operative'' Tuesday, after the
broadcaster's
telephone numbers were found in a Cuban diplomat's billfold.
Carollo made the comments at a Washington, D.C., press conference
held to
blast Friday's alleged attack by Cuban diplomats on exile protesters.
About a dozen protesters, several of them law students from Miami-Dade
County, have been conducting small rallies outside the Cuban
Interests Section
to speak out against Elian Gonzalez's possible return to the
island.
Up to 20 Cuban Interests Section employees are accused of waiting
until the
coast was clear of TV cameras Friday to open their gates, roll
up their sleeves
and charge at the heckling protesters. Men and women alike said
they were
punched and thrown to the ground.
''Then they went back inside to cover themselves under the guise
of diplomatic
immunity,'' said Mauricio Claver Carone, a Catholic University
student.
In the scuffle, a piece of evidence was dropped on the sidewalk:
a billfold
containing the business cards of Armando Collazo, first secretary
of consular
affairs. In it were a variety of telephone messages and notes,
including the
card of a Philadelphia-based U.S. Marshal.
RADIO SHOW HOST
Carollo said it also contained ''notes of conversations'' with
Alvaro Sanchez-
Cifuentes, host of the daily WOCN-Union Radio (1450 AM) talk
show, En
Alta Voz. The show, ''Speaking Out Loud,'' is known for pushing
to lift the
economic embargo against Cuba.
Sponsored by a travel agency that arranges flights to Havana,
the controversial
show has at times been taken off the air. The Cienfuegos-born
Cifuentes calls
himself a former revolutionary who is neither a communist nor
socialist -- just
a Cuban who loves his motherland.
''They don't understand that freedom of expression is democracy,'' he once said.
Sanchez-Cifuentes' home answering machine was full and not accepting
more
messages Tuesday. He did not return calls to his pager, and his
cellular phone
was not turned on.
Cuban Interests Section spokesman Luis Fernandez said simply,
''What else is
Carollo going to say?''
He called Carollo's other accusations, such as those accusing
Cuban diplomat
Fernando Remirez of engaging in chemical warfare in Angola, ''ridiculous.''
He
wouldn't get into details about what happened Friday night.
''These have been very difficult days, with the presence of these
people outside,''
Fernandez said.
''They have been performing provocative actions against the integrity
and dignity of
our diplomatic mission, disrupting its normal functions. For
example, they were
offending our women, our wives, our children.''
Carollo said the broadcaster was among the radio personalities
stirring trouble in
Miami and then placing the blame on exiles.
''So many lies,'' Carollo said. ''Accusing us of being violent
people, when we are
not violent, saying there will be violence when there will be
no violence.''
Protester Jorge Rodriguez has spent the past three days calling
every government
agency he can think of to lodge a complaint against the Interest
Section
diplomats he says attacked him Friday evening.
PROBE VOWED
Secret Service Lt. R.J. Dillon on Friday called the incident ''minor
pushing and
shoving.'' Other agencies, including the Washington police, have
vowed to
investigate the assault.
''If the reports we have heard are true, such behavior is intolerable,''
said one State
Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
''We are insisting
that the Cuban Interests Section explain this incident. We have
talked to them
trying to find out exactly what happened. It's astounding.''
A Justice Department spokeswoman said the department would first
see if it has
jurisdiction in the matter.
The State Department official would not speculate on what could
come of the
investigation, given that some of the Cuban employees cannot
be criminally
charged because they have diplomatic immunity.
In 1995, two Cuban diplomats were tossed out of the country eight
months after
the Cuban government refused to waive their immunity so the pair
could be
prosecuted for attacking a New York police officer. The two were
among seven
people arrested when anti-Castro demonstrators chained themselves
to the front
door of the Cuban mission to the United Nations.
''Are these the people we want to turn Elian Gonzalez over to
during the appeals
process?'' Carollo said. ''It's not right. It's not fair.''
Herald translator Renato Perez contributed to this report.
Copyright 2000 Miami Herald