More B.S. from the Heralds

The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald are at it, yet again. For those who have known Progreso Weekly since its beginning, you will remember our very popular B.S. Detector column. Its aim was to point out the incongruence of the same article written for the English and the Spanish readers in the Heralds. The B.S. stood for ‘bilingual scam’ although the fact that the Heralds were trying to BS their readers was something we could relate to. And we aimed to demonstrate it.

Our B.S. Detector showed you on a weekly basis how both newspapers, by omitting a paragraph, or changing a key word in the same article, or twisting a headline, offered different versions of the same stories to its readers. The result was what both their English- and Spanish-reading public expected. Different news, but the same exact article.

The Herald scam continues.

I could not help but to think of our B.S. Detector on Tuesday when I read the headlines in both newspapers of the sad ordeal of Harlem Suarez, the young man from Key West being held in a Miami jail and charged with trying to detonate a backpack bomb on a public beach in the Keys.

The Miami Herald had it this way: “Key West terror defendant pleads not guilty to bomb, recruiting charges.”

But El Nuevo wanted to assure its readers that the possible “terrorist” was first a Cuban and secondly, recently arrived. Here’s their headline: “Cubano simpatizante del Estado Islámico se declara inocente.” Translated: Cuban sympathizer of ISIS declares self innocent.

Things to consider and it goes to my B.S. argument. First, Harlem Suarez has been in this country since he was 12-years-old and arrive in 2004. Also, the Herald would normally refer to Cubans who live here as Cuban-Americans, or cubanoamericano. Why cubano in this instance?

Are they attempting to influence us into believing that this is a very recently arrived Cuban with ties to terrorist groups?

I’ll let you be the judge.