Miami’s ‘before and after’ moment

Al’s Loupe

Miami’s ‘before and after’ moment

By Alvaro F. Fernandez
alfernandez@the-beach.net

It was best said by the Colombian singer Juanes, who referred to Sunday’s “Peace without Borders” concert in Havana as a “before and after” moment. For those of us who live in Miami and watched what transpired here on the streets, in the media and in so many homes across this city, we may remember Sunday as the day that others finally realized (and acted on it) that things have started to change in an area historically dominated by hard-line Cuban American thinking.

NBC News in Miami reported (we’ve reprinted the Carlos Miller article in this week’s Progreso Weekly) that “The pro-Juanes Cubans had the bigger flags. They also had the numbers. And they had youth… And in the end, they had Versailles Restaurant on Calle Ocho, long a stronghold of hardline, right-wing politics in Miami.” That, in a 4-sentence nutshell, may have best described what occurred in Cuban Miami as a result of the controversial Juanes concert that went off without a hitch in Havana.

But I believe the influence of this landmark event goes deeper than what was reported. For example, NBC titled its report “Cuban vs. Cuban: Community clashes over Juanes concert.” On the surface, the clash may have seemed a traditional Cuban vs. Cuban confrontation — the type we’ve seen so many of over the years. But it went beyond. And yes, the Juanes concert had international relevance. That is obvious: it was held in Havana, Cuba; at the Plaza of the Revolution and aired world-wide; and organized mostly by foreigners (chief among them Juanes, who lives in Miami).

Watershed moment

In the end, though, I believe it was a watershed moment for the Miami area. And local television ended up recording unusual moments that seemed to occur very casually.

Miami’s Channel 23 (Univision nationally), for example, aired the concert from start to finish. In an effort to please their traditional Cuban audience in the Miami area, they would occasionally break off and interview guests in the studio or in different arenas around the city. Towards the beginning of the concert, one of their reporters visited several South Florida Colombian restaurants. The question of the day, of course, their thoughts on the Juanes concert being presented on television and in the restaurants. To their surprise, there was 100 percent support for the Colombian singer from his countrymen. At one point, one Colombian in one of the eateries, respectfully and eloquently, scolded the TV station for changing the concert’s name to the “Concert of the Discord.”

What I saw and heard in those Colombian restaurants would not have occurred five years ago. It represents a maturity and a feeling of empowerment that grows among other Latin American residents of the area. And that, politically speaking, is NOT a good sign for a certain segment of the Miami Cuban population who has held power here for decades. As for the Miami area, it is fresh and represents a possible healthy turn of events.

Interestingly, after the first hour, the TV reporter never returned to the Colombian venues, opting for the traditional Cuban locations. Places, which in the end, as NBC reported, also turned the tables on tradition.

Old vs. young

Most telling, though, were the visuals: young people defending Juanes’ right to perform wherever he pleases, and an aging and paunchy population of Cuban exiles, who showed an unfavorable ugly side characterized by swatches of violence and hatred — definitely not what you want to show on TV for the world to see.

At show’s end, in the early evening, Channel 23 finished with Miami’s dean of extreme-right Cuban radio, Armando Perez-Roura, and his apparent replacement, Ninoska Perez-Castellon, a one time Jorge Mas Canosa cadre. Sadly (for them), Perez-Roura looked like what he is, a man way beyond 80 who should be spending time with his grandchildren, not spewing hatred over the airwaves. As for Ninoska, she needs to find a new style. With an attractive face too big and too round for television, her animosity came across as a barking voice not fit for television.

Their performance did not help the exile cause.

There were obvious winners in this whole affair. Included is the entire Miami area which demonstrated a new and youthful sense of hope looking forward. The biggest winner, though, may have been Juanes, who seemed to wrest the crown as Miami’s most influential musician from Gloria and Emilio Estefan.

And as the concert in Havana will show, and history has taught us, music has a strange way of changing the world.