MIAMI: BASTION OF INTOLERANCE

JG: As expected, and as it is the usual case in Miami, violence again erupted in that southern Florida city as the Hate Brigades of the forces of intolerance of extremist Cuban exiles took to the streets to violently stop a peaceful protest from Code Pink members who were demanding the arrest of Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.

These fascists, who are in their majority followers of deposed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, have been living in the United States for close to 50 years but have yet to learn what tolerance and democracy is all about, so they continue with their physical acts of intimidation and violence.

The message sent by the Miami extremists is very clear: if you come to our city with a cause we dislike and don't approve, we will bust your head and noses and we might even try to kill you. To them violence is acceptable for any purpose they deem fit.

This is what Batista taught them in Cuba, before the Cuban people sent them packing on January First, 1959.

It is also very clear that the Miami police is not up to the job of protecting people when they come to that city to exercise constitutionally guaranteed rights

Here is the report by the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

Protest against anti-communist militant met with resistance, derailed.

Activists abort plan after meeting resistance.

By Ruth Morris | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

January 13, 2008

MIAMI - Female peace activists in pink dresses and tiaras demanded the arrest of anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles Saturday, but aborted plans for a demonstration in Little Havana after his supporters rushed their vehicle.

The activists, from the Codepink anti-war group, had planned to speak to reporters outside the landmark Versailles restaurant to publicize their campaign against Posada Carriles — a former CIA operative wanted in Venezuela in connection with the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.

However the five women, who were accompanied by at least one man, were met by some 200 irate Cuban-Americans who consider Posada Carriles a champion of freedom. Several charged at the activists' truck as they arrived, tearing at its pink fringe, while others jeered and shouted insults. The truck then drove on.

"We are not in Cuba. We're supposed to have free speech," said Medea Benjamin, one of Codepink's founders. Supporters of Posada Carriles ran through the streets of Little Havana looking for the Codepink truck while bystanders shouted "prostitutes" at the small group. The activists eventually decided to meet with journalists in the parking lot of a downtown police station three miles away.

Benjamin said the group would stick with plans to distribute postcards in Miami and Miami Beach, asking the FBI to put Posada Carriles on its most wanted list. Codepink is also offering to pay for billboards with the same message.

"He's a known terrorist. This man should be behind bars," she said. "We feel our government should be consistent. We go looking for terrorists all over the world."

A U.S. judge dismissed seven counts of immigration fraud against Posada Carriles, 80, in May, ruling that agents were deceitful in interviews with him.

Posada Carriles once held permanent resident status in the United States, but let it expire and re-entered the country illegally two years ago.

Benjamin said the government should press more serious terrorism charges related to his alleged involvement in the airline attack, which killed 73 people, and bombings of Havana tourism spots. In another incident, Posada Carriles was convicted in Panama on charges he plotted to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. He was pardoned four years later, in 2004.

His supporters say Posada Carriles is a patriot and a hero in their struggle against Castro's communist regime. Posada Carriles has kept a low profile since his release from U.S. detention last year, although his paintings have appeared in a Little Havana gallery.

At Versailles, a crowd of mostly older men waved Cuban flags and banners. One poster read: "Pink is close to red." Nearby, a man wore a T-shirt depicting revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara and the label "murderer."

"Posada Carriles is no terrorist. The terrorist is Fidel Castro," said Rene Vidal, 77, among those gathered.

Codepink activists accused Miami police of not doing enough to protect their freedom of speech. They said police had promised to erect a barrier across the street from Versailles to give them a safe zone to demonstrate in.

The name Codepink is meant as a reference to the color-coded security alerts designated by the U.S. government after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Ruth Morris can be reached at rmorris@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5012.