BY ELAINE DE VALLE

 Miami's loss of the Latin Grammys on Monday was met mostly with heartache and frustration by Cuban exiles.

 Some exiles who had planned to protest the possible presence of Cuban musicians said they were being unfairly blamed for the pullout. But other exiles said the planned protests were misguided and cost the Cuban community a spotlight to show its tolerance.

 "We are saddened by the decision,'' said Emilio Izquierdo, a spokesman for the coalition of exile groups that fought to demonstrate near the Grammys.

 Reaction came quickly Monday afternoon, immediately after Grammy organizers decided to move the awards show to Los Angeles, saying they feared some protesters would try to crash the live television broadcast or pelt guests with objects as they walked to AmericanAirlines Arena.

 Members of the Cuban American National Foundation who resigned over differences with Chairman Jorge Mas Santos -- including his support for the Grammys -- said they felt vindicated.

 ``I'm on record telling [Mas Santos] that it was a huge mistake, and he never had a valid excuse for me as to why he got involved,'' said Ninoska Pérez Castellón, a former CANF spokeswoman.

 José Medina, a production manager at Sony, said Miami didn't "deserve'' the Latin Grammys.

 ``I don't think an awards show that's about creativity and freedom of speech should be in a city that doesn't know the meaning of freedom of speech,'' Medina said.

 He said the protesters had a right to protest.

 ``To put them right in front of the arena, you are just asking for trouble,'' Medina, 33, said.

 Others feared the event's exit from Miami would further injure the exile image, reeling from a bruising it took during the community's battle to keep Elián González from being returned to Cuba.

 Elena Freyre, who often criticizes exile hard-liners, agreed.

 ``How do we explain it to the rest of the community? Miami is not just Cuban. There are Colombians. There are Venezuelans. There are Chileans. It is a Latin event. It is not a Cuban event,'' Freyre said.

 Ramón Saúl Sánchez, founder and leader of the Democracy Movement, which was not to be involved in a planned protest in front of the Freedom Tower on Grammy night, said: ``Now Castro can tell the rest of the world that we are intolerant, intransigent and undemocratic when in reality the intolerant, intransigent, undemocratic one is him.''

 Sánchez said he still believed that Grammy officials, more than Cuban exiles, had shown intolerance by pulling out of the city rather than allowing the protesters a space.

 José Basulto, founder and president of Brothers to the Rescue, also refused to join the groups that wanted to protest, feeling it was misguided. He said he would have preferred a press conference to bring attention to what he called ``cultural apartheid'' used against musicians in Cuba who do not toe the government line.

 ``Something that would have brought out the fact that, in Cuba, most artists cannot perform or record because they are not part of the system,'' said Basulto, who had talked to pop salsa star Willy Chirino about doing something for the press that would be in Miami.

 ``I always saw the Grammys as a wonderful opportunity for Miami's exile community to make a strong and positive statement regarding the lack of freedom inside
 communist Cuba,'' Chirino said.

 ``September 11 would have been the day of freedom for artistic expression inside Cuba.''

 Said Basulto: ``We could have done something productive, something that would have had a positive impact. But the atmosphere of protest has only favored Castro by making the Grammys pull out.

 ``Fidel Castro is surely very happy today.''

 Herald staff writers Alfonso Chardy and Cynthia Corzo contributed to this report.

                                    © 2001