Updated with link and information from El Nuevo Herald, which mentioned the incident in its article. Not only did these exiles think I was a communist, but one of them said I was a spy for Fidel Castro or in his words, “an agent of Cuban intelligence”. You can’t make this stuff up.
By Carlos Miller
I was shooting video and taking photos of the Code Pink protest today at Versailles, in which they were denouncing Luis Posada Carriles as a terrorist.
Naturally, more than 100 Cuban exiles came out to defend Posada’s honor.
Miami police were doing an excellent job keeping the two groups separated, but allowing them to express their opinions, which essentially boiled down to both groups calling each other “terrorista” and “communista” through bullhorns from across the street for what seemed like hours.
Code Pink was on the sidewalk across from Versailles. The exiles were in front of Versailles. I was walking back and forth, along with other photographers and videographers, to capture both sides.
At one point, a man with a Vigilia Mambisa t-shirt approached me and said he has been observing me and knows that I am “un communista“. He arrived at this conclusion because he had seen me conversing with members of Code Pink while I was on the other side.
I pointed out that I have also been talking to members of the Cuban exile group. And no matter what my political affiliations are, I still have the right to film both sides, just as Code Pink has the right to speak their mind and the Cuban exiles have the right to speak their mind.
He said something like, “Communists have no rights”, I have it on video, which I will eventually post.
For the record, I was not hired by Code Pink or any other organization to shoot today’s video or the previous video. I shot these videos to post them on my blog. And even though I personally believe Posada is a terrorist, I make efforts to provide both sides of the story.
I am also not a communist. I don’t support Fidel Castro or Hugo Chavez, mostly for the fact that they don’t believe in Freedom of Expression. If you take a look through this blog, you will realize that Freedom of Expression, which includes photography and videography, is a pretty big deal to me.
In fact, some people think I’m “obsessed” about First Amendment issues. And considering some Cuban exiles are obsessed about anything related to Fidel Castro, well, that’s probably a recipe for disaster.
Apparently, some of the Cuban exiles told an El Nuevo Herald reporter that I was spewing pro-Chavez statements to the group, which is complete bullshit. What I was really doing was defending my journalistic freedom to document the event.
Up until the point that I was accused of being a communist, the protest was a perfect example of democracy in action; two opposing sides with two opposing views being allowed to express themselves to the fullest. I was already planning on making that the theme of the video.
But before I knew it, I was surrounded by several Cuban exiles, most of the appearing to be in their 50s and 60s, calling me “communista” and ordering me to leave Versailles. I continued filming, for this was fascinating footage.
Then a man came up to me and grabbed me by my arm, trying to escort me off the premises.
I jerked my arm away and continued filming.
Then this same man knocked the camera away, causing it to shut off.
I responded by pushing him hard in the chest with the heel of my hand.
Then I squared off to fight the rest of them, for I figured they would be coming after me.
Words were exchanged but they maintained their distance. And Miami police were quick on the scene.
Miami police took statements from myself, the assailant and several “witnesses”, who were essentially the same guys who were surrounding me, calling me a communist.
Miami police asked if I wanted to file charges. I said no because my camera was not damaged nor was I injured. And the last thing I need is another legal battle.
However, I still have that option, the officer said.
The man turned out to be a “security guard” at Versailles. He was nothing more than a goon.
I know many of you will have a field day with this. I know many of you will say this just proves that I am a troublemaker with a camera.
And others will say that this just proves that the entire Cuban exile community has no regards for the First Amendment.
So I do want to stress that most of the Cuban exiles were extremely respectful of what I was doing. At one point before the incident I just described, a young Cuban man was threatening to “stick the camera up my ass” in Spanish. He confronted me with a few other men.
I held my ground and said I had every right to be there. And a Cuban exile woman, one who had been leading the crowd in chants through a microphone, came to my immediate defense, telling her Cuban counterparts that I had every right to document the event. They ended up dispersing. She later told me I was “brave”.
I ended up interviewing that young man on camera. You will hear his story when I post the video. He is still an asshole because he kept saying, “I told you so” when cops were investigating the assault incident.
Most of the cops working the protest were Cuban American and they showed extreme professionalism in how they dealt with both sides as well as how they handled the assault incident.
I still need to edit the video, so hopefully I will have it up sometime this weekend.
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Fernandez, as I mentioned in a
26 responses so far ↓
1 FerfelaBat // Feb 9, 2008 at 6:00 pm
You are very brave. Can’t wait to see the video. I am not a fan of Code Pink.
2 genewitch // Feb 9, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Crazy! I want to see the video too, sounds insane! It’s weird that you’d get called a communist when you were giving both sides equal time (it sounds like). Hypocrisy is obviously colorblind.
3 Bill // Feb 9, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Cuban-Americans, as a whole, are slightly to the right of most other groups and the wack-jobs in that population even more than most.
I am surprised and happy for you it did not escalate further.
Keep taking pictures, bro!
4 Mambi Watch // Feb 9, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I’m happy to see that the police where there to stop that confrontation you had, and pleased that the City took the proper steps to allow Code Pink to finally demonstrate.
5 Carlos Miller // Feb 9, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Hello everybody,
I’ve just gone through a few hellish hours where my CSS coding was screwed up, throwing off the entire website.
It started off with an issue in Internet Explorer, which I never use, and as I tried to fix it, the problem just got worse, affecting Firefox.
Finally, I just cut and paste the original coding.
6 al crespo // Feb 9, 2008 at 8:59 pm
carlos,
sorry i wasn’t able to be there for the fun. congratulations on being called a communist. it’s either communist or queer with those folks. if you aren’t one, you’re the other, and it even gets better when they call you both.
if you got goof footage, it was worth it. what’s a good protest without a little pushing and shoving between the press and the protesters.
you pal,
al
7 al crespo // Feb 9, 2008 at 9:01 pm
me again.
i had a long day on the road. it’s good footage not goof footage, and i’m your pal, not you pal
al
8 Carlos Miller // Feb 9, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I understood you loud and clear, Al.
And nobody knows pushing and shoving between the press and protesters as much as Al Crespo.
One of my all-time favorite photos is the one on your site.
I urge everybody to click on Al Crespo’s link to see the photo I’m talking about.
It comes right up.
9 William Beem // Feb 9, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I just came across your blog today, though I was familiar with the story that set it in motion.
FWIW, I appreciate people who stand up for their rights rather than cower away. There may be times when I ask someone if they mind whether I take their photograph or not, and other times when I don’t. That’s my choice. Damn if I want anyone trying to deny my choices.
10 Calm Bobby // Feb 9, 2008 at 9:39 pm
These people are insane, man. Looking forward to seeing this video.
11 Ms Calabaza // Feb 9, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Sorry to hear this. Hope you’re alright. Mobs can be very dangerous. It could have been a lot worse. Extremists crawl out of rocks when agitated. Code Pink knows how to agitate.
12 Blind Mind // Feb 10, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Cubans are way too emotional. They go from cool water to boiling over in a matter of seconds. The funny part is that these two arguing sides dont understand where they live. This is America where you have a right to express an opinion on an issue and also have to realize and accept that other people have that same right even if it is an opposite view. Adapt and grow.
13 geniusofdespair // Feb 10, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Let’s go to the video tape! I can’t believe exactly what these extremists don’t want…they are doing: Curtailing free speech. Isn’t there enough of that in Cuba? Do we have to do it here as well. Thanks to that woman for being the voice of reason.
14 Carlos Miller // Feb 10, 2008 at 3:47 pm
geniusofdespair,
I’m working on it. It’s in this new format called AVCHD, which makes it extremely time-consuming to edit because there are no software editing programs that handle it in its native form.
15 nonee moose // Feb 11, 2008 at 8:40 am
So, the MPD broke up the confrontation? Thay must not have recognized you.
Ballsy stuff, Carlos.
16 South Florida Lawyers // Feb 11, 2008 at 9:36 am
Amazing — can’t wait for the video.
17 Mambi Watch // Feb 11, 2008 at 11:51 am
Hey Carlos,
Looks like some of the guys that confronted you on Saturday have posted their side of the story.
These militant exiles have a website called Nuevo Accion (www.nuevoaccion.com) that works as a blog and tabloid. They make all efforts to obtain various pictures of their “enemies” to post on their site and then make absurd defamatory remarks. You should check what they have written about Code Pink and the Bolivarian Youth.
According to their post from yesterday, they have their eyes set on you now. According to them, you suspiciously shot too many photos and video of them, and prominent hard-line exiles. They also add that when they confronted you for credentials you told them you were with CNN but refused to verify that claim. This is why they now believe you are an “agent”.
They most likely know who you are by now, and perhaps may back off. But, I would keep an eye on the Nuevo Accion website for a while to see if they write anything about you.
I look forward to your response about what Nuevo Accion has written, and also the video you took that day.
18 Carlos Miller // Feb 11, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Oh jeez,
First of all, I never said I was with CNN.
Second of all, when they asked me for my credentials, I gave them my business card.
It says “Magic City Media” on it, which is my company. I’m a one-man company. I sometimes sub-contract, but mostly it’s all me.
When people say “credentials”, they basically mean a “press pass”, which is basically a photo ID identifying that person working for whatever media company they are either employed by or on assignment with.
I have a “press pass” that says Magic City Media, but I never carry it because under the law, a press pass doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t guarantee access to anywhere that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t have the press pass.
In some states, the State Police issue press passes to reporters which enables police to identify reporters at crime scenes or accidents.
New Mexico, California and Texas do this.
Florida does not.
But I always carry my business cards. And I never misrepresent myself.
And in this case when they asked me who I was shooting for, I said I was “independente”, which is the truth. I said this footage would go up on the internet.
There was one guy who kept taking my photo and kept filming me and I knew exactly what he was doing, but I just ignored him because he has as much right to photograph me as I do of them.
These guys are nothing but liars.
The way they claim I said I was with CNN. The way they claim I’m an agent of Castro. The way they claim I was saying pro-Chavez statements.
They are fucking liars. Paranoid liars at that.
I can’t wait until the next time I see them.
But thanks for letting me know because otherwise I would have never seen that.
I’m still working on the video. It’s mostly technical crap because I am required to convert the files from one format to another before I can edit, and it takes forever.
19 Mambi Watch // Feb 11, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Thank you for the reply.
It only lends further proof that the people who write for Nuevo Accion are manipulators and rely on base tactics of intimidation and defamation.
I hope that bloggers who continue to link to Nuevo Accion decide to drop this ridiculous website from their list, and reject their vile tactics.
20 enhager // Feb 11, 2008 at 1:37 pm
where’s the video? Breaking news?
21 Carlos Miller // Feb 11, 2008 at 3:24 pm
enhager,
the video, the video, the goddamn video.
Let me just say that filming scenes with an AVCHD camera does not lend itself to breaking news.
22 Carlos Miller // Feb 11, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Mambi Watch,
And that thing they’re saying that I was being sneaky about taking photos:
Like most photojournalists, I like to take photos when people are not noticing because that is when you get the most natural photo.
Once they turn around and spot you, then it ruins the photojournalistic moment because they automatically become self-conscious. So I stop shooting.
In their paranoid minds, it means I was trying to be sneaky.
But I not only had that small videocamera, I also had two SLRs, which I later brought from my trunk, one with a 300mm lens, the other with a huge flash on it.
I’m not exactly the most inconspicuous photographer.
If I was really a spy, I would have donned a Cuba cap and a Posada T-shirt and just take photos that way, while downing cafecitos and hurling insults at the people across the street, not to mention the occasional photojournalist.
23 Carlos Miller // Feb 11, 2008 at 6:13 pm
nonee,
These cops were very cool. They managed to police the event without being too heavy-handed and without letting all hell break loose.
And fortunately, my name didn’t ring a bell with any of them.
24 Alessandra // Feb 11, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Carlos as a cuban I would like you to accept my apologies, we are not like that, that’s only a small group thanks God, in the 80’s they would of being 1000’s of people there, Today they can only dream to have 100 if… Posada is a terrorist and Miami knows it.
I belong to a new generation between the rock and a hard wall, if you don’t think like them then you are a commie but if you think like them my friend then you are a weirdo and a cromagnon, so we are ending up thinking as we pleased and the rest can think whatever they want, we don’t care. They better be prepared for the coming elections.
Sorry about my English but I didn’t came from Cuba so long ago.
25 Carlos Miller // Feb 11, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Alessandra,
I appreciate you writing, but there is no need to apologize for somebody else’s actions.
I was born and raised in Miami among Cubans, so I know these guys are a minority.
In fact, they represent a minority of the people protesting. They are a minority of a minority.
A lot of Cubans might be right-wing republicans, but most won’t get physical with you just because they disagree with your politics.
I’ve come to recognize their faces and they are the same people who are always involved in these incidents.
Except their group gets smaller and smaller each time.
Soon, they will all be gone and people will wonder if they even existed.
26 MG // Jun 12, 2008 at 12:48 am
Hey Carlos-great post! I believe that Posada-Carriles is a terrorist, and should be treated like one. But since he is a person that is aligned with the Cuban exiles, he won’t be by the present administration.
I think you are right-(and you should know!) that the ultra-rightist Cuban exiles of the type that assaulted you are decreasing in number. Younger exiles who are not so hardened and who possibly want to be reconciled or help with the gradual reformation of Cuba are becoming more and more common. That’s a good thing. This is a great video and I look forward to seeing more.
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