Looking for answers to a puzzle inside Cuba
BY ANDERS GYLLENHAAL
andersg@MiamiHerald.com
Once a year or so, a team of reporters and photographers from The Miami
Herald quietly takes on one of the most delicate, unpredictable and
difficult assignments at the paper.
They slip into Cuba against that government's Machiavellian press
restrictions, drive around the country dressed as tourists, and work as
carefully and quickly as they can, talking with people about what's
really going on.
''You never for a moment relax,'' said one of the veteran reporters who
has pulled this off several times. ``You don't know when something's
going to put an immediate end to your visit.''
The most recent trip -- a 10-day, 1,200-mile journey across the island
-- was one part of a broader project exploring how the changes in Cuba
during the past 10 months have affected the landscape from Miami to
Havana to Washington to Madrid.
It's a subject with its share of faulty assumptions, from the initial
belief that Fidel Castro's departure would lead to immediate change in
Cuba, to the equally questionable presumption that any recovery would
mean that things remain the same.
Starting on the front pages of today's Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald,
a series assembled jointly by the two papers looks at the already subtle
and substantial consequences showing up throughout the Cuba-America
landscape.
Today's piece of ''The Cuba Puzzle'' focuses on how events have rippled
through the exile community in South Florida, reshaping everything from
the debate over Cuba's future to the relationships between Cuban
Americans in South Florida and Cubans on the island.
''The division between exiles and Cubans in Cuba seems to have
widened,'' said reporter Luisa Yanez, who worked on this story with The
Miami Herald's Frances Robles, El Nuevo's Rui Ferreira and Herald editor
Myriam Marquez.
''People are really confused about what's going on,'' Ferreira said.
LOOKING AHEAD
A week from today, a story by Washington correspondent Pablo Bachelet
will explore Cuba's standing in the world during the transition. The
piece will cover the flurry of diplomatic activity as the United States
works to maintain its policies, while some allies step up relations with
Havana, and others position themselves for what might come.
As always, the tricky part is figuring out what's happening inside Cuba,
a challenge that World Editor John Yearwood, Chief of Correspondents
Juan Tamayo and El Nuevo's Wilfredo Cancio Isla have spent this spring
probing and analyzing. Staffs from both papers have done a huge amount
of telephone work, interviewed people traveling to Cuba, and spent more
than 100 days on the island, including the recent trip that applied some
new reporting approaches.
One of them was assembling an in-depth video report, posted as of this
morning on The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald websites. On Wednesday,
the papers will run a thorough story on life in Cuba, written by Robles
and Cancio with contributions from many staff members (some named,
others unnamed to enable future trips into Cuba).
FOR BETTER, WORSE
The story finds that some things have not changed in Cuba and some have,
some for the better, some for worse. The uncertainty felt among exiles
is magnified on the island, where normal tensions of life are
heightened, some say, by the pervasive rumor that the United States is
planning an invasion.
''With the number of people from different parts of the country saying
there's going to be an invasion,'' said one of the reporters on the
trip, ``clearly there's been a tremendous propaganda campaign going on.''
COMBINING FORCES
The idea of a joint El Nuevo-Miami Herald project grew out of the
unusual nature of this story as well as the unique link between the papers.
The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald are separate operations intent on
producing distinct newspapers. Still, they have always looked to each
other for material that can augment their reports.
In this case, the hope is that combining forces in a special effort
would lead to wider perspectives, deeper research and a final package
that would reach a wider audience. Given the impact that events on the
island have always had on South Florida, few topics have as much meaning
for all Floridians as what's happening today in Cuba.
Readers will find opportunities to share their own perspectives over the
week the series runs. We encourage you to send thoughts to the websites
-- by e-mail or letter. Many will be turned into a story in Issues &
Ideas two weeks from today to give you the last word on this report.
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