BY CAROL ROSENBERG

 Ask almost anyone along Eighth Street and they will tell you that the president of the Cuban American National Foundation is Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernández and its
 chairman is Jorge Mas Santos, the founder's son.

 Anyone, that is, but Mario Blas Miranda.

 The former personal bodyguard of foundation founder Jorge Mas Canosa raised a ruckus this week by revealing that he registered an organization called the Cuban
 American National Foundation with the Florida Secretary of State -- and named himself president.

 `ABANDONED' NAME

 ``I have rescued the name. It was abandoned,'' said Miranda, 49, the one-time CANF security chief who has a private investigator's license.

 ``One of Castro's agents in Miami could've gotten this name, and tomorrow when we woke up we could've seen, Come fly with the Cuban American National Foundation to Cuba.''

 Technically, it's true. A search of state corporate records reveals that the organization headed by chairman Mas Santos, the founder's son, let lapse its Florida title to the influential lobby two years ago -- while creating a satellite nonprofit, The Jorge Mas Canosa Freedom Foundation.

 On May 3, Miranda filed Florida articles of incorporation for himself as initial officer of the Cuban American National Foundation Inc., using his home address. Its stated mission: ``Advocacy to advance the values of liberty, democracy and human dignity.''

 Joe Garcia, executive director of the organization that still calls itself the Cuban American National Foundation, said the situation occurred during the split in which
 someone apparently forgot to preserve the original title:

   The Jorge Mas Canosa Freedom Foundation, he said, is a nonprofit that runs scholarships, an endowment for Cuban studies and the fundraising effort for the $40
 million Freedom tower restoration, whose top floor is planned as a ``shrine'' to the elder Mas.

   CANF, meanwhile, is the 20-year-old political, lobbying wing of the organization that is holding its annual meeting outside San Juan, Puerto Rico, this weekend.

 It has Washington offices designed to campaign against pro-Fidel Castro efforts in the United States as well as the Little Havana headquarters at 1312 SW 27th Ave.

 Garcia said he has hired tax lawyer Roland Sánchez-Medina Jr. of Miami to sort out the whole mess.

 ``This is a silly matter which our attorneys are working on. The Cuban American National Foundation has been and will always be the premier organization working toward freedom for Cuba,'' Garcia said.

 Miranda says he'll hire a lawyer by today.

 On one aspect of the tug-of-war, however, both sides agree:

 Those monthly $5 and $10 checks sent by long-time grass-roots supporters to the Cuban American National Foundation are still going to the organization headed by Hernández and Mas Santos, of which Ninoska Pérez Castellón is a spokeswoman and radio personality.

 `CARETAKER'

 ``No ma'am. I'm simply caretaker of the name,'' Miranda said in reply to a question on whether he thinks that money should go to him.

 ``We have the bank account and the money,'' said Garcia, ``unless he's raiding my mail box.''

 At the heart of the dispute is discontent with Mas Santos' stand in support of bringing the Latin Grammy Awards to Miami in September.

 Miranda and some other veteran CANF members bristled when Mas Santos campaigned in Los Angeles last year to get the Grammy awards -- which will be staged at AmericanAirline Arena opposite the Freedom Tower and will include Cuban island performers as contestants and possible honorees.

 Mas Santos' position: Miami must show itself as a tolerant world-class city by hosting the prestigious show.

 Miranda's reply: ``That's an insult to the foundation and the ideals of the foundation,'' he said, accusing Mas Santos of ``rubbing elbows with the Communists.''

 Of the father he said: ``I bet you he's turning in his grave because of the way [the son] is handling this. Jorge Mas Canosa was not a politician; he was a patriot.''

 AFTER ELIAN

 The rift emerged in the aftermath of the April 22, 2000, raid by federal agents on the Little Havana home of Lázaro González to reunite shipwreck survivor Elián González with his father.

 Federal agents immobilized Miranda in the predawn episode.

 Until then, Miranda had been an unofficial Elián bodyguard and a regular fixture around the González home.

                                    © 2001 The Miami Herald