BY JANET POST

MIAMI BEACH, Florida - "We want free speech!" and "We want to hear Rosita!" chanted 100 demonstrators in front of the Jackie Gleason Theatre here September 6 - the night Cuban singer Rosita Fornés was to have performed. The action was called to protest the forced cancellation of the Forne's concert and to speak out for freedom of speech and artistic expression.

Fornés, 73, a performer of zarzuelas and operettas, is one of Cuba's most famous entertainers and is popular with many Cuban-Americans. Fornés lives in Cuba but is a U.S. citizen, having been born in the United States. Because she has not denounced the government of Cuba, right wingers here and Miami Beach officials and cops have organized a campaign against her.

The Miami Beach city administration and manager Jose García- Pedrosa demanded an unprecedented $6,000 from promoters for extra security and $100,000 worth of fire insurance. The city's demands came after rightist groups, including Cuban Unity, announced a protest outside the event and some threatened violence.

The city also prohibited the placement of Fornés's name on the theatre marquee and some Cuban-American radio stations refused to accept paid advertisements for the concert. An earlier five-night appearance planned by the singer at Little Havana's Centro Vasco restaurant was canceled when the establishment was threatened with a boycott and then firebombed July 11.

Even after the second concert date in September was canceled, right-wing radio commentators claimed there would be a demonstration against Fornés's right to appear in Miami Beach. At least one report said up to 5,000 rightists would rally. But only a handful of right-wingers showed up at the theatre and just observed the anti-censorship demonstration.

"Rosita the Great! Don't Fear the Terrorists of Miami!" read a large banner carried at the demonstration by the Alliance of Workers in the Cuban Community (ATC). The ATC sponsored the rally along with the Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba and the Antonio Maceo Brigade. "Rosita should have the same rights as everyone else," said demonstrator Lissette González, a youth who works with the ATC.

Also picketing were several residents of Miami Beach who came after hearing of the event on the radio. "We just don't like what the city is doing around this concert," remarked one.

Fredric Maxwell, a writer who lives here, made his own picket sign and walked to the demonstration. "It's not the government's job to decide who we can listen to, it should be our choice," said Maxwell to explain why he came.

Twelve demonstrators drove from Key West, including Cuban- American Emilia Fernández who said, "I want to show that all of us don't agree with the politics of the Miami right-wing exiles."

Antonio Maceo Brigade leader Andrés Gómez spoke to the crowd and to the media. Reporters came from the local ABC-TV affiliate; TeleNoticias; WSVN-TV; WLTV; the Miami Herald; Nuevo Herald; and the Sun Sentinel.

"Instead of coming here to welcome Rosita we are here to express our outrage," said Gómez. "The people of Dade County are tired of this. We are disgusted with public officials who do not protect our rights."

He also pointed out that "security fees are nothing but censorship." Recollecting the April performance in Miami by Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubacalba where violent protesters verbally assaulted and spat on concert-goers, Gómez asked, "Where was security then?"

Nathalia Póses of the Young Socialists also spoke. "Most young people believe in freedom of speech," she commented. "But they try and keep youth from speaking to each other and organizing." As an example of denial of freedom of information, Póses pointed to Washington's unrelenting slander of Cuba. "The U.S. government does not want us to know what is going on in Cuba," she said.

Other speakers at the protest included Wilfredo Moreno from the ATC, Linda Belgrave from the Miami Coalition the End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba, and Emilia Fernández from Key West.

Since the Centro Vasco firebombing there have been three other firebombings in Miami by the right wing: two at Marazul Tour offices, a travel agency that organize trips to Cuba, and one at Tu Familia Shipping Co. that sends packages to Cuba.

Meanwhile, the Miami chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing concert promoters Orlando Díaz and Adolfo Vázquez, threatened September 4 to sue the city of Miami Beach if administrators refused to reschedule the concert without the onerous financial requirements.

Miami ACLU chairman Benjamin Waxman said at a press conference, "There have been conditions imposed on this performance that have not been placed on others. What this amounts to is another insidious form of censorship."

He continued, "We cannot have a government that can impose fees and exact a price for freedom of speech. If we allow that to happen, then we allow those people who want to protest and who may threaten terrorism or lawlessness to control the speech that others are allowed to express."

Janet Post is a member of International Association of Machinists Local 368 at United Airlines in Miami.  
 
 
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