CANF officer quits amid flap over President Bush's policy

[Say_What]

More evidence that all is not well in Gusanoville...

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The former diplomat who runs the Washington office of the Cuban American National Foundation has resigned in the midst of a disagreement over the organization's decision to criticize the Bush administration on Cuba policy.

Dennis Hays, executive vice president of CANF, acknowledged Tuesday that he doesn't agree with the foundation's public criticism but said that did not lead to his resignation Monday.

Hays, who once headed the State Department's Cuba Desk, has worked as the foundation's main lobbyist in Washington for the past three years. His resignation comes as CANF has taken a lead role in criticizing the Republican party, and President Bush in particular, for what they see as weakness on Cuba policy.

Reached in Washington, Hays downplayed his disagreement with others in CANF's leadership: ``The important thing is to move forward to advance the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba, and there is a variety of ways it can be done. And there will be disagreements over what the best of those ways may be.''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6519337.htm

[Say_What]

1. Background: CANF President Francisco ''Pepe'' Hernandez

Background information on Pepe Hernandez and the CANF's terrorist activties

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...Prominent members of the Cuban American National Foundation who may be
indicted next week by a federal grand jury investigating an alleged plot to kill
Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to their lawyers:

Francisco ``Pepe'' Hernandez, 61, foundation president. Businessman who
owned an agricultural firm with operations stretching from the Dominican Republic
to Kenya, he has been the second most visible foundation figure, after the late
Jorge Mas Canosa. As CANF's president and top executive officer, Hernandez
devotes most of his time to the anti-Castro lobby. Owner of one of the two rifles
found aboard a boat allegedly used in the plot.

Jose Antonio ``Toñin'' Llama, 66, on the foundation's 28-member executive
committee. Exports auto air-conditioning systems. Owner of La Esperanza, the
vessel involved in the alleged plot.

Also expected to be under indictment:

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/cuba/indictment.htm

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and this article about Luis Posada Carriles, responsible for blowing up a Cubana airliner in the 1970s as well as many other acts of terroism, devulging to author Ann Louise Bardach for a NYTs article (see below) that the CANF had bankrolled his terrorist activities.

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....Posada said Pepe Hernandez and CANF Chairman Alberto Hernandez, who are
not related, had given him money for ``medical expenses after he survived an
assassination attempt in 1990, but not for ``operations.

Alberto Hernandez said he never gave Posada any money for his ``activities. Pepe
Hernandez said neither the foundation ``nor any of its officials had ever given
money to Posada for his operations.

On the tape, Orizondo is not seen asking Posada whether he was indeed the
mastermind behind a string of bombings of tourist targets in Havana last summer
that killed one Italian tourist and wounded six other people.

Mas Santos suggested that Posada was not a credible source for the New York
Times story, saying that although Posada told the Times he had spoken to Mas
Canosa a month before he died last year, the late foundation chairman was on a
respirator and unable to speak at the time.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/posada/posada9.htm

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Key Cuba Foe Claims Exiles' Backing

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...In a series of tape-recorded interviews at a walled Caribbean compound, Posada said the hotel bombings and other operations had been supported by leaders of the Cuban-American National Foundation. Its founder and head, Jorge Mas Canosa, who died last year, was embraced at the White House by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

A powerful force in both Florida and national elections, and a prodigious campaign donor, Mas played a decisive role in persuading Clinton to change his mind and follow a course of sanctions and isolation against Castro's Cuba.

Although the tax-exempt foundation has declared that it seeks to bring down Cuba's Communist Government solely through peaceful means, Posada said leaders of the foundation discreetly financed his operations. Mas personally supervised the flow of money and logistical support, he said.

"Jorge controlled everything," Posada said. "Whenever I needed money, he said to give me $5,000, give me $10,000, give me $15,000, and they sent it to me."

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/071298cuba-plot.html

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[displacedtexan]

2. LOL!

he wants to work for the bushies, (but he's not resigning (repeat: NOT) because his current gig is criticizing the bushies) in order to be considered for a job with the bushies?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!