BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ
AND TERE FIGUERAS  
Academia resembled an airport Wednesday night, as Florida International University hosted a tense forum with a well-known Cuban revolutionary fighter despised by many in Miami’s exile community.

Those who attended the forum, which focused on the relationship between Cuba and Africa in the years since Fidel Castro took power, were able to hear Víctor Dreke Cruz lambaste the U.S. embargo and tout his nation’s contribution to the welfare of native Africans and Afro-Cubans.

But to hear all that you had to first walk past metal detectors and a group of police officers guarding the event, which was held at the Wolfe University Center Ballroom of the school’s Biscayne Bay Campus in North Miami.

A handful of Cuban exiles inside the ballroom couldn’t hold in their emotions as Dreke--a man they blamed for numerous executions on behalf of the Castro regime--was introduced to the crowd.

"Asesino!’’ several shouted. Later in the program, the chants of "Assassin’’ would surface again, and several people were forced to leave.

Alicia Del Busto was one of the exiles who shouted the word repeatedly at Dreke. Del Busto, who said she spent 12 years as a political prisoner in Cuba, called it "incredible’’ that someone so vile should be allowed to speak in the United States.

"He’s a killer, he’s a murderer, he’s a liar,’’ Del Busto, 66, said.

Outside the ballroom, about 20 protesters held "Assassin’’ signs, as well as one that read "Freedom for Cuba. Helping Castro is a crime.’’

But several hundred people at the forum were curious to hear what Dreke had to say, and the majority of the crowd offered a standing ovation when his name was first announced. Dreke, now vice president of the Cuba-Africa Friendship Association, was a close associate of Ernesto "Ché’’ Guevara. Last year Dreke wrote the book, From the Escambray to Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution.

To laughter, Dreke emphasized in his speech that he had been granted a visa to come to the United States. "It does appear though,’’ Dreke said, noting the protesters, "that some people want to take that away.’’

Criticism of the university’s decision to invite Dreke resonated in Miami before the forum started. On Tuesday, Ninoska Pérez Castellón, spokeswoman for the Cuban Liberty Council, made Dreke’s visit the main focus of her afternoon radio show on WQBA-AM (1140)--fielding calls from listeners who bitterly accused the 64-year-old Dreke of committing a host of crimes as a revolutionary youth.

"I wanted to ask Víctor Dreke about the stories the victims told me, like the beatings at the camps, of young people tied to barbed wire as punishment,’’ said Pérez, who canceled her plans to attend Dreke’s talk when a relative took ill.

Dreke, whose visa allows him to stay in the United States until the end of the month, is spending the tour sharing his experiences during a crucial--and controversial--time in history: as a rebel fighting against dictator Fulgencio Batista in the Escambray mountains in the 1950s and following Guevara into Cuba’s failed military foray in the African Congo.

He is also here to promote his book, published in English and Spanish by Pathfinder Press. The company’s website calls itself a publisher of "revolutionary fighters’’ against "capitalism, racism, and all forms of exploitation and oppression.’’

FIU’s Cuban-born president, Modesto A. Maidique, issued a statement saying the university must respect the rights of the faculty members who invited Dreke to attend the forum. "I call upon all in the community to understand and respect the liberties that this country offers to us,’’ Maidique said.

FIU student Leslie Bazin, who attended the forum, said she was glad to hear a different viewpoint on Cuba. The allegations that Dreke is a murderer didn’t change her opinion.

"A lot of people can be held responsible for deaths everywhere, including our country,’’ she said.
 
 
Related articles:
A Miami first: meeting for a leader of the Cuban Revolution
A Tampa first: the truth about ‘Cuba, Africa’
Historic visit by Cuban leader
Víctor Dreke: Cuba’s mission to Guinea-Bissau  
 
 
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