TV Marti Reporter Under Investigation for Faking Televised Mortar Attack

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Voice of America News

By Brian Padden
July 9, 2019 07:23 PM

FILE - A view of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio and TV Marti, in Miami, June 22, 2007.
FILE - A view of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which oversees Radio and TV Marti, in Miami, June 22, 2007.
WASHINGTON - The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is investigating allegations that a reporter for its TV Marti service, mandated to broadcast objective news into Cuba, faked a mortar attack during a televised report from Nicaragua.

The TV Marti reporter at the center of the fake news allegations is Tomas Regalado Jr., the son of the director of the Office of Cuban Broadcasting, Tomas Regalado Sr. The elder Regalado has made a priority of raising journalistic standards and practices after the government-funded broadcaster aired anti-Semitic content calling liberal philanthropist George Soros "a non-believing Jew of flexible morals."

Alleged staging

Spanish language media sites CiberCuba and Cubanos por el Mundo recently called into question the validity of a Marti report, allegedly from November 2018, which showed Regalado Jr. reporting from a street in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, when a small explosion occurred directly behind him.

. . .

Regalado Sr., the OCB director and former mayor of Miami, told The New York Times he has recused himself from the investigation into his son and that he plans to continue in his leadership role with the organization.

Read more: https://www.voanews.com/usa/tv-marti-reporter-under-investigation-faking-televised-mortar-attack

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Anyone knowing any part of the history of Radio or TV Marti from Miami won't be surprised by this discovery. Very glad to see it was actually acknowledged.

Both broadcasting companies are staffed by, programmed by, controlled by South Florida Cuban-American "exiles" or their relatives, and the two operations are financed entirely by U.S. taxpayers, at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. Efforts to terminate the services made by Congress members, like Democratic Rep. David Skaggs, of Colorado, will trigger retaliation like the threats and the actions from Cuban "exile" Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Miami, who set out to take out advertising throughout Colorado, smearing Rep. Skaggs, and destroyed his ability to be re-elected.

Many have wanted to end this pork barrel project which benefits the employees and officials of Radio/TV Marti alone, ever since the Miami head of the Cuban-American National Foundation in Miami, Jorge Mas-Canosa arranged with Ronald Reagan to put them into operation during Reagan's Presidency. Jorge Mas-Canosa was convinced he was going to be the next President of Cuba, after the US overthrew the Cuban revolution.

Time for both stations to be retired, now.

[Mersky]

1. Whoa. Is the first I've heard of TV Marti.

I'm completely disturbed by this. Radio station went on the air in 1985, TV station in 1990??!?!! All these years broadcasting ... And has been spewing all manner of tRump era hate and propaganda

[Judi Lynn]

2. Here's an article on Congressman David Skaggs, and his nemesis, Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Mr. Diaz-Balart Goes to Washington
JIM DEFEDE | JULY 14, 1993 | 4:00AM

As fourth-term Democratic Rep. David Skaggs walked to the podium on the evening of July 1, he was still bristling over the events of the past few hours. Cuban American politics had arrived with a vengeance in the halls of Congress, and it had just cost Skaggs's Colorado district $23 million in federal funds.

It had been a long, unpleasant day.
Right then, at a few minutes past 7:00 p.m., the House floor was empty; most members of Congress were already on their way home for the Fourth of July recess. But Skaggs was going to speak anyway, for the record. And standing a few feet away at a second lectern was Rep. Jose Serrano, a fellow Democrat from the South Bronx who was there to lend his moral support.

The trouble had arisen several weeks before. In a tough budget year, as a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee -- specifically, of the subcommittee that oversees funding for the departments of commerce, justice, and state -- Skaggs had been looking for programs to cut from the 1994 budget. In Radio Martí and TV Martí, he believed he had found two prime candidates. And indeed, in mid-June, at Skaggs's urging, the subcommittee had voted to cut all funding for both programs, a total of nearly $28 million.

A week later, though, when the trimmed budget went to the full Appropriations Committee, Miami Rep. Carrie Meek successfully argued to allow $8.7 million in funding for Radio Martí, in spite of Skaggs's objections. Before the appropriations bill went before the entire House of Representatives for consideration, Meek, along with fellow Miami representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, had met with Skaggs to persuade him not to do anything that would endanger Radio Martí. But as Meek had told the congressional newspaper Roll Call, Skaggs was unwilling to compromise; he promised to fight against Radio Martí funding on the House floor.

So it had come about that on that fateful first day of July, the day on which the appropriations bill was coming up for debate, Diaz-Balart paid the Rocky Mountain State congressman a visit. While other aspects of the bill were being discussed, the freshman representative from Miami confronted Skaggs and admonished him to abandon his crusade against Radio Martí. (Diaz-Balart's actions are characterized by one congressional source as "a very angry outburst" during which the Floridian warned that if Skaggs didn't leave Radio Martí alone, he would see to it that every program the Coloradan held dear likewise was decimated.)

Skaggs stood his ground.
Although the final House vote on funding for Radio Martí was postponed until the second week in July, Diaz-Balart had wasted no time in making good on his threat. That very afternoon, in a parliamentary move known as a "point of order," he axed a $23 million construction project that was heading for Skaggs's district.

The Cuban American National Foundation wasn't wasting any time, either. No sooner had Diaz-Balart killed the Colorado construction item when the political exile group issued a press release gloating over the pre-emptive strike. The statement, faxed to every major newspaper in Colorado, was entitled, "Opposition to Cuba Initiative Costs Boulder Rep Pet Project." (The foundation was keenly interested for several reasons. Not only do they believe the Martí broadcasts are vital to keeping the Cuban people informed, but foundation chairman Jorge Mas Canosa is also chairman of the President's Advisory Board for Cuba Broadcasting, which has been the unofficial governing board for both Radio and TV Martí.)

Of course, the fact that Skaggs was about to decry the day's events for the congressional record would not go overlooked.

More:
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/mr-diaz-balart-goes-to-washington-6364412



Former Rep. David Skaggs



Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, 2nd from left, next to his brother Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, on the left, Romney, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a fellow Cuban "exile."

The Diaz-Balart brothers' father was Rafael, who was a corporate lawyer for the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) in Cuba, who became the Speaker of the Cuban House of Representatives, then a Cabinet Minister for the murderous, corrupt dictator, who was loved by the U.S. Government, Fulgencio Batista. Their aunt, the sister of their father, Rafael, was Mirta Diaz-Balart, who was the first wife of Fidel Castro.



Rafael, as Speaker of the
House in Havana



Rafael, as a blow-hard in Miami.

(Radio and TV Marti arranged programming to include conversations between Rafael Diaz-Balart and the father of Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, as they discussed how great Cuba used to be, before the Revolution. (It was terrific for the racist elites of Cuba, who even looked down on Batista for having mixed ancestry.) They beamed these conversations between the fathers of US "exile" congressmen to Cubans as if they wanted to hear them!)



Fidel Castro with his wife,
Mirta Diaz-Balart.

When Castro was thrown in jail by Fulgencio Batista, for being a political dissident, Mirta's brother, Rafael Diaz-Balart had the officials give him Fidel's mail before anyone else could read it, and he learned Fidel was having a relationship with a wealthy wife of a doctor who supported the revolution. Rafael had the officials switch letters, and a letter between Fidel and his mistress, Natalia Revuelta was put into an envelope going to Mirta Diaz-Balart, who got a divorce.



Natalia Revuelta Clews, still living in Havana, standing
by her portrait.

Radio and TV Marti are still gibbering their silly programming to the ethers, the U.S. American taxpayers are still being screwn 365 days a year, paying for this crappy pork barrel hand-out to the Miami Cuban-American politically positioned to get their salaries right on cue perhaps for the rest of their lives, without a new version of David Skaggs in sight.

[Mersky]

4. United Fruit Co! Yikes! Oof, so much swirling thru these bits of missing history.

I've little idea how I missed this entirely

Ty! Recommended!

[Mersky]

3. Thank you for posting this. Is very eye-opening.

I'm going to deep dive this... Am shocked, stunned, flabbergasted...

[Judi Lynn]

5. Once you've seen just a fragment of what has been hidden behind a thick wall of silence

Surrounding US/Cuban relations, and have realized what it really means, it may move you to start researching, as I did, when I started reading and hearing information which didn't fit the pattern during the time the small Cuban boy arrived in Miami so many years ago, and was covered 24/7 by national news every day for possibly a year or so.

I heard the boy's great uncle, Lazaro Gonzales, also from Cuba, had made multiple visits to Cuba for short vacations. I started looking into that, remembering I had been raised to believe that "exiles" had fled here to save their lives. I learned he, and others, came and went from Cuba, as "exiles" were allowed by the U.S., whereas ordinary US citizens were forbidden, under penalty of law.

Learned he slept in Elian's father's house, in the father's own room, father Juan Miguel Gonzalez, and the father slept in his car, to allow the great-uncle a place to stay. Lazaro, from Miami, would go fishing by day, then cruise on over to the hotel bar at night, come home and crash in Juan Miguel's room. Once he bought a goat to give to the family as repayment for their hospitality.

Had to wonder what on earth was going on if poor, terrified "exiles" came and went from Miami to Cuba, when they allegedly had fled with only the clothes on their backs!

Once you start asking questions, and researching, you will break through and realize you will never be able to go back to seeing things the way you originally did, and it will be a genuinely life-altering experience. I have been deeply interested in the entirely transforming world that one door opened since Elian Gonzalez arrived. You will see it stretches out and includes ALL of Latin America, and the Caribbean islands, etc.

Regarding the Miami Cuban "exiles," here's an article written during the Elian days, and naturally it doesn't come close to covering the subject, but it gives a representative view of life in Miami since the racist Spanish descended elites left Cuba during and after the revolution:

The Burden of a Violent History

JIM MULLIN | APRIL 20, 2000 | 4:00AM

As the Elian Gonzalez media juggernaut began approaching warp speed over the past few weeks, some in Miami's Cuban-American community expressed displeasure with the portrait of them being painted by the press. The muffled grumbling became explicit on April 7 during Ted Koppel's Nightline "town meeting," beamed to the nation from Florida International University.

A panelist on that program, the University of Miami's Juan Carlos Espinosa, took off the gloves: "I think we really need to be careful that we don't continue to engage in Cuban-exile bashing, which is something I've been hearing a lot in the media coverage about Miami."

Similar sentiments have been voiced by countless others, from exile leaders to local politicians to Cuban-American celebrities. And it's true that The Elian Show isn't playing so well in Peoria, or Pinecrest for that matter. You know you've got image problems when the staid New York Times editorializes with evident concern that it appears "as if South Florida's Cuban Americans believe in mob rule."

Phrases like "mob rule" evoke frightening images of violence, which in turn sends Miami's damage-control specialists rushing to the microphones and insisting to the world that the Cuban-exile community is peace-loving, law-abiding, and (with emphasis now) nonviolent. Miami Mayor Joe Carollo in particular has been tireless in promoting that message. "Miami has been a peaceful, nonviolent community," he stressed to CNN last week. The historical record, however, clearly contradicts those assertions.

Lawless violence and intimidation have been hallmarks of el exilio for more than 30 years. Given that fact, it's not only understandable many people would be deeply worried, it's prudent to be worried. Of course it goes without saying that the majority of Cuban Americans in Miami do not sanction violence, but its long tradition within the exile community cannot be ignored and cannot simply be wished away.

The following list of violent incidents I compiled from a variety of databases and news sources (a few come from personal experience). It is incomplete, especially in Miami's trademark category of bomb threats. Nor does it include dozens of acts of violence and murder committed by Cuban exiles in other U.S. cities and at least sixteen foreign countries. But completeness isn't the point. The point is to face the truth, no matter how difficult that may be. If Miami's Cuban exiles confront this shameful past -- and resolutely disavow it -- they will go a long way toward easing their neighbors' anxiety about a peaceful future.

More:
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/mullin-6367332