More Miami Herald propaganda to smear Cuba

“A Miami man has vanished after a fishing trip in the Florida Keys – or possibly fled to Cuba to escape pending Medicare fraud charges.” It’s the first paragraph that appeared in the Miami Herald website on Friday, May 9, under the title, “Miami man, charged with Medicare fraud, is missing after Key West fishing trip.”

And there are still people here in Miami who tell me I overestimate the campaign against anything Cuba the Herald has waged since I can’t even remember. I say this because (1) there is no proof at all, not even his wife who was quoted in the story, that places Cuba as a final destination; and (2) it’s a far reach to mention Cuba.

Their reason? Because, as the article later states, there have been situations in the past where this has happened. But in this specific case, there is NOT one piece of evidence that this is true.

The fact is that the Herald is not so subtly trying to smear Cuba.

When they speculate that this crook had run off to Cuba (with NO proof at all), they’re just placing the thought in the readers’ mind that Medicare fraudsters in this country run off to fraudster paradise, in this case – Cuba.

It’s like me writing a story about David Beckham’s attempt to bring a soccer team to Miami. And they are willing to build a stadium with their own money, I write. But the county must provide the land, I add. And that land has to be prime real estate bordering Biscayne Bay with exquisite views of the Miami skyline, say Beckham’s group.

And at the end of the first paragraph I may add, and there’s the possibility that Beckham and his group have paid off Mayor Gimenez and commissioners so that they get what they want.

Many of you would probably react by coming down hard on me, and with good reason, for writing about the mayor and his cronies, and speculating about something that places them in a bad light.

Actually, after re-reading my piece, the example I used regarding Beckham sounds more realistic than what the Herald wrote about the Medicare fraudster.