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Jim DeFede: A victim of the Miami
mafia?
BY GABRIEL MOLINA
MORE
than 500 journalists have added their names to an
open letter sent by Peter Wallsten of the Los
Angeles Times and Charlie Savage of the
Boston Globe in defense of Jim DeFede, a
Miami Herald columnist who was unjustly fired,
according to his colleagues.
DeFede told the newspaper’s management that he had
recorded a conversation with former Miami
commissioner Arthur E. Teele, Jr. without the
consent of the well-known African-American
politician, who dramatically committed suicide
shortly afterwards.
The
newspaper fired DeFede on July 27, alleging a
violation of ethics. In their open letter, his
colleagues refer to the columnist’s fine journalism
and describe the firing as a disproportionate
sanction for the gravity of the error. They
attribute the firing as being more likely due to his
“willingness in the past to offend powerful figures
in Miami...” Many note that after recently returning
from Havana, DeFede wrote articles in which he
criticized the complacency of the group that
monopolizes political power and supports Luis Posada
Carriles, the self-confessed mastermind of acts of
terrorism.
In
his article titled “Terror is terror, whether it’s
in London or Cuba,” DeFede criticized comments by
Cuban-born Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, about
what she called the “barbaric” terrorist attack in
London. DeFede wrote: “Strong words. What But where
was the congresswoman's outrage when she came to the
defense of Luis Posada Carriles, a man who bragged
about masterminding a series of hotel bombings in
Havana that killed an Italian tourist? A man
suspected of blowing up a Cuban airliner?
“Where was her desire to ''neutralize terrorism''
when she pleaded two years ago with the president of
Panama to release Pedro Remón, Guillermo Novo and
Gaspar Jiménez? Those men, along with Posada, were
convicted in Panama of endangering public safety, a
charge stemming from an alleged plot to blow up a
university center where Fidel Castro was scheduled
to visit.
Herald executives Jesús Díaz Jr. and Tom Fielder,
executive editor, stated that they fired the popular
columnist because it is illegal in the state of
Florida to tape record someone without that person’s
consent.
According to Díaz, DeFede told them that during his
conversation with Teele, he turned on the tape
recorder because the politician was telling him
about accusations of corruption directed at him, his
financial problems and other sensitive subjects.
Díaz said that DeFede knew that the conversation was
“off the record.”
DeFede, who had worked for the Herald since
June of 2002, and previously for the Miami New
Times, stated that he committed a mistake during
a tense situation. The paper’s management found out
what he had done from DeFede himself: “I told them I
was willing to accept a suspension and apologize
both to the newsroom and to our readers.
Unfortunately, the Herald decided on the
death penalty instead.”
Perhaps Teele had been caught up in corruption.
Perhaps not. Because it is quite strange that under
a federal administration that is characterized by
corruption, the media should attack Teele so
ferociously. It could be that he was a scapegoat or
that it’s a way of weakening the Black electorate.
Regardless, Miami does not believe in freedom of the
press. The Miami mafia’s roots in the Batista
dictatorship are the underlying factor in the
intolerance that reigns in Florida. They cannot
forgive DeFede for the opinion he expressed in the
Miami Herald regarding that group’s favorite
son: “Is Posada the creation of an American foreign
policy that for decades was built on muscle and
arrogance, an America where the ends justify the
means? Posada may well be that bastard child. But he
is not a hero. He does not represent what is good
and strong and admirable about this country, but
rather what can go wrong with it. He is...an
aberration. And a reminder of the evil that lurks
within each of us and must be suppressed with
vigilance.”
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