BY SARA OLKON

 A cautious security team caused a crush at the door for Wednesday night's
 opening gala for the Latin American Studies Association, in anticipation of more
 than 100 Cuban scholars.

 Their expected presence caused some tense moments last week, when the
 event's opening ceremony at the county-owned Miami-Dade Cultural Plaza and
 the Historical Museum of Southern Florida nearly ran afoul of the county's
 anti-Cuba resolution.

 But among the hundreds at the event Wednesday night, not one was from the
 Cuban delegation and no protesters were outside by 9 p.m.

 The Cuban scholars' plane was delayed, said Eduardo A. Gamarra, director of
 Florida International University's Latin American and Caribbean Center, which
 organized the event. They weren't expected to arrive until after the party was over.

 Organizers feared that the controversy would overshadow the typically
 nonpartisan conference. LASA is the world's largest organization of scholars
 studying Latin American and Caribbean history, politics, culture, sociology and
 scientific issues. The association's major meetings occur every 18 months at
 sites around the world.

 Wednesday's gala wasn't the usual greeting for academics. Dozens were told
 they would not be allowed into the party without a conference badge.

 ``We are upset,'' said Caetana Damasceno, an anthropology professor from Rio
 de Janeiro, who said she had no idea that the badge would be necessary. FIU
 students at the door told her that she and her friends would have to go back to the
 Hyatt Regency Hotel to get the badge.

 Argentine professor Alfredo Pucciarelli yelled at the guards for not allowing his
 wife in without a pass.

 ``Respect, sir, respect,'' said the guard, trying to calm him.

 Eventually, the badgeless were allowed in.

 Gamarra blamed the security measures on ``the so-called concerns of the Cuban
 community'' and an article published in El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language
 sister publication of The Herald. Last week, El Nuevo Herald ran a story about the
 conference and published the names of the Cuban scholars who had signed up to
 attend.

 County administrators expressed concern that the party violated the anti-Cuba
 resolution, which prohibits the county from doing business with entities that have
 ties to Cuba. Later, the county decided the party must go on, since a contract
 was signed.

 Still, concern about protests from the Cuban exile community and the safety of
 the Cuban scholars led FIU to spend an extra $15,000 for off-duty police officers.
 Gamarra said he even received a death threat.

 ``I hope we are sending a message to the rest of the community that we need to
 open up communication with all countries,'' he said. ``We are a democracy.

 ``I am very sensitive to the issue of Cuba, but let us not behave like we are in
 Cuba,'' Gamarra said.

 Many academics interviewed Wednesday knew nothing of the controversy. Inside
 the gala, they drank sangria and ate sweet bread and ham sandwiches. The
 MAST Academy's steel drum band played soca music, a blend of soul and
 calypso.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald