CANF denies newspaper report of illegal-activities links
The Cuban American National Foundation rejected a Mexican newspaper
report of links to illegal activities as false and possibly part of a
'disinformation' effort.
Posted on Wed, Jun. 25, 2008
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
The president of the Cuban American National Foundation on Tuesday
strenuously denied allegations in a Mexico City newspaper that linked
the Miami group to a drug trafficking cartel and Cuban migrant smuggling.
Francisco ''Pepe'' Hernández, the CANF president, told The Miami Herald
that the story was likely ''disinformation'' planted by the Cuban
government to discredit the Miami organization.
In its Monday editions, La Jornada quoted sources close to a federal
investigation in Mexico as saying Mexican prosecutors had information
connecting CANF to the Gulf Cartel, one of the most powerful in Mexico,
and a network of paid assassins known as Zetas.
In one specific allegation, La Jornada quoted the sources as saying that
two men now in detention in Mexico -- Nairobi Claro and Noriel Velóz --
told investigators they belonged to CANF.
The sources were also quoted as saying that money Claro and Veloz
collected from smuggled Cuban migrants was used to bribe Mexican
authorities, buy fake immigration documents and pay Gulf Cartel Zetas to
protect migrants as they made their way to the U.S. border.
Under the wet-foot/dry-foot policy, undocumented Cubans who show up at
the border or on beaches in South Florida are allowed to stay.
The number of undocumented Cuban migrants showing up at the Mexican
border has steadily increased over the last two years as U.S. Coast
Guard interdictions in the Florida Straits have become more successful.
''The story is ridiculous,'' said Hernández in a telephone interview.
He added that neither Claro nor Velóz had ever belonged to the
foundation or had had any contact with the group.
''We did a very thorough search of our records and found absolutely no
connection to these men,'' Hernández said.
Public records show Miami addresses for Claro and Velóz in Little Havana.
A man who answered the door at Claro's address, and who declined to give
his name, said Claro had lived there for two years and left for Mexico
about two months ago.
No one answered the door at Velóz's address but neighbors said they did
not know him.
Hernández noted that La Jornada never called the foundation before
publication of the story to verify if Claro and Velóz belonged to the group.
A person who answered the telephone at La Jornada's newsroom said that
only the reporter who wrote the story, Alfredo Méndez, could comment on
Hernández's statements. Méndez did not answer his extension. The person
who answered the phone at La Jornada declined to take a message for Méndez.
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