BY ELAINE DE VALLE AND CAROL ROSENBERG

 Popular Cuban radio talk-show host Ninoska Pérez Castellón quit the Cuban American National Foundation on Thursday, just days before a board meeting where the future of her beloved broadcast radio wing, La Voz de la Fundación, will be discussed.

 The veteran spokeswoman had been with the foundation for 15 years. Her husband, Roberto Martín Pérez, 66, a longtime Cuban dissident who wed Pérez Castellón six months after his exile, also quit the influential lobby. He is considered a prominent member because of his nearly 28 years of being jailed by Fidel Castro's government.

 "He is the ideological soul of the foundation,'' said Emilio Izquierdo, a fellow political prisoner.

 The departures -- a year after the quiet exit of at least four other important members -- came as a big blow to the image of unity within the organization, which has sought to increase its influence after the June 2000 return to Cuba of Elián González. CANF officials failed to successfully argue the exile sentiment in favor of keeping the rafter boy in the United States.

 NEW HIRES

 In the aftermath, Jorge Mas Santos -- who took over the foundation after his father, CANF founder Jorge Mas Canosa, died in 1997 -- hired Joe Garcia as executive director and former U.S. diplomat Dennis Hays. Then, he gave them higher-profile roles than that of Pérez Castellón.

 ``To bring in people from outside with contracts? Patriots don't need contracts,'' said Mirta Iglesias, who was executive assistant to foundation President Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernández before she left last summer.

 ``After Jorge's death, we thought we could go on, but the people who took over did not have the qualities to keep it going,'' Iglesias said.

 ``We were there in the most critical moments of the foundation and our opinions were not sought.''

 The resignation comes at a time of simmering discontent among some elders of the organization over Mas' support of new CANF campaigns. They have included more public outreach to island dissidents, notably his stated support of efforts to get financial and material aid to independent businesses, which some veteran activists have characterized as naive.

 MORE MAY LEAVE

 Many in the exile community are waiting for the other shoe to drop -- expecting more resignations from the group's old-guard ranks within days.

 "Since the son took the reins of the foundation, it has been going down,'' said Jose Antonio ``Tony'' Llamas, another member who left in 1999 because he did not agree with the direction Mas was taking.

 ``There has been a huge discontent and, little by little, some of us have jumped ship,'' he said.

 ``We are all dispensable, but not Ninoska. Ninoska is indispensable for the Cuban cause. This is a huge blow,'' said Llamas, who was acquitted in 1999 of plotting to assassinate Castro when he visited the island of Margarita off the coast of Venezuela in 1997.

 ``The prestige Ninoska has is unprecedented and unmatched by anyone there. Ninoska and Roberto Martín Pérez have a lot of recognition not only in exile but in Cuba. She has an audience in Cuba that is immense,'' Llamas added.

 Garcia said Pérez Castellón did not submit a letter of resignation before packing up and leaving Thursday afternoon, but she personally notified Mas of her decision to quit.

 FUNDING QUESTIONS

 Both Mas and Hernández cited differences of opinion between Pérez Castellón and the rest of the leadership over funding for La Voz de la Fundación, the Voice of the Foundation, which sends shortwave-radio broadcasts to Cuba.

 ``We are still going to take our message of hope to Cubans on the island,'' Mas said, ``but we are going to do that in different ways than we were doing it before.''

 Mas tried to refocus the news on the CANF congress this weekend in Puerto Rico, where more than 100 board members and trustees will meet to discuss future CANF strategies and objectives, including the broadcasts, he said.

 ``That's what I'm focusing on. We have a lot of good projects on the table. Some tactical changes, but we will continue to put Fidel Castro on the defensive. Our goal of liberty and democracy for Cuba remains the same, but there are going to be changes.''

 He also said the foundation will ``always have an open door'' for Pérez Castellón.

 ``She always has a place here. She is my friend. I have the highest consideration and respect for her.''

 HER SIDE

 The sharp-tongued radio announcer was expected to explain her side of the struggle Monday during her 1 to 3 p.m. perch on Ninoska a la Una, the Spanish-language program on WQBA-AM (1140), where she has worked independently of the foundation for years.

 There, Lucrecia Ninoska Pérez Castellón, 51, has a loyal following. Listeners admire her on-air antics, notably ringing up Cuban government tourist venues and adopting a Spanish accent to illustrate what she has long described as tourism apartheid on the island.

 NO COMMENT YET

 Thursday, she did not present her side because, as sometimes happens during the baseball season, her show was preempted by a live broadcast of a Florida Marlins
 game. She did not return several calls Thursday to her cellular phone and home, where her niece said the phone was ringing off the hook.

 Pérez Castellón has consistently refused to reply to Herald inquiries about her stance on several controversial CANF positions, notably Mas' support of the Latin Grammy Awards coming to Miami.

 But Mas said her decision was not reached over one single issue. ``This did not happen overnight. It's been a long time coming.''

 IN LITTLE HAVANA

 Her departure was big news in Little Havana, where motorists would sometimes honk their horns when she would take her live broadcasts on the road.

 Fans rushed her with kisses and hugs outside the home where Elián González lived with relatives for five months before a federal raid swept him away April 22, 2000.

 Some Cuban exiles reacted with disbelief. For a time, Pérez Castellón was so popular among Cuban Americans that her name was floated as a possible successor to Mas Canosa after his death four years ago.

 Channel 51, the local Telemundo affiliate, stripped the report of her resignation across the screen during an afternoon Spanish-language soap opera -- as if it were a
 hurricane warning.

                                    © 2001