Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

A31
PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 5 February 2020
Miami sees a return to Cold War cultural hard line on Cuba

By GISELA SALOMON While some polls in recent
Associated Press years have shown weak-
MIAMI (AP) — Platinum-sell- ening Cuban-American
ing reggaeton act Gente support for the embargo,
de Zona were barred from observers say Trump's at-
a New Year's Eve concert tempts to cut off the gov-
in a Miami park. The mayor ernment's income is em-
of Miami declared another boldening activists who
Cuban singer persona non want to punish the Cuban
grata and her concert in government and its sup-
a private club was can- porters in hopes of fueling
celled. regime change.
Fellow artists Jacob Forever One of those activists is
y El Micha were shut out of Alex Otaola, a 40-year-
a July 4 concert the neigh- old Cuban-born YouTube
boring South Florida city of personality who has orga-
Hialeah last year. nized boycotts of figures
As President Donald Trump like Gente de Zona and
tightens the trade embar- singer Haila Mompié that
go on Cuba, some mem- have led to de facto bans
bers of the United States' on their performing in South
largest Cuban-American Florida.
community are once again Gente de Zona earned
taking a hard line on per- Otaola's wrath by praising In this Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 photo, Alex Otaola speaks during an interview in Miami. Otaola, a
40-year-old Cuban-born YouTube personality who has organized boycotts of Cuban figures like
formers from the island who Cuban President Miguel Gente de Zona and singer Haila Mompié that have led to de facto bans on their performing in
support its communist gov- Díaz-Canel. Mompié was South Florida.
ernment or don't speak out blacklisted for praising and Associated Press
against it. kissing revolutionary leader
The degree of support for a Fidel Castro during a con- Florida. tion of concerts. "You have to understand
hard line on Cuba among cert in 2010. "Enough of the hypocrisy," "It is art, they are artists", said that an artist who declares
South Florida's roughly 1.2 "These are artists with ties he said. Nardo. "If you are against themselves in favor of com-
million Cuban-Americans to the Cuban dictatorship, But many Cuban-Ameri- them, don't go to their per- munism or gives commu-
could influence the 2020 who are used as tools of the cans interviewed by The formances." nism credibility is consid-
presidential election. Partly dictatorship," said Otaloa, Associated Press said they Gente de Zona were ered persona non grata,"
because of Republican who emigrated from Cuba disagreed with the cultural barred from a concert or- Suárez said, a Republican.
anti-communism, Cuban- in 2003. hard line. ganized by the Cuban- "It's not about intolerance
Americans have long He said he was offended Carlos Nardo, a retiree American singer Pitbull in a or censorship, it's about
been an historically GOP- by artists who support com- who arrived in 1970 and public park in Miami after respect and recognizing
supporting bloc in a swing munism at home but make has never gone back to Republican Miami Mayor the mortifying history of
state with 29 electoral col- money by performing for the island, said he does not Francis Suárez spoke out communism, especially in
lege votes. Cuban-Americans in South agree with the cancella- against them. Cuba."q

Celebrated book editor

Alice Mayhew dies at age 87

NEW YORK (AP) — Alice ward and Bernstein's land- "Fear," by Woodward,
Mayhew, the celebrated mark Watergate best-seller whom she edited for more
and influential editor of po- "All the President's Men," than 40 years.
litical and historical works among the first books to "Alice's loyalty to her au-
whose authors ranged from broadly investigate a sitting thors was so absolute that
Bob Woodward and Carl presidential administration; despite her extraordinary
Bernstein to Taylor Branch the feminist classic "Our record in publishing and
and Doris Kearns Goodwin, Bodies, Ourselves"; Branch's the many offers she re-
died Tuesday at age 87. Pulitzer Prize winning "Part- ceived over the years,
Simon & Schuster, which she ing the Waters" and Good- she repeatedly refused to
joined in 1971, announced win's Pulitzer Prize winning participate in any form of This undated image released by Simon & Schuster shows Alice
Mayhew, editor of such acclaimed books as “All the President's
that she died "peacefully" "No Ordinary Time." She publicity or recognition for Men" and “Parting the Waters." Mayhew died Tuesday, Feb. 4,
at her home in Manhattan. also worked with former her achievements, never 2020 at her Manhattan home at the age of 87. (
Her death came days after President Jimmy Carter, wavering in her conviction Associated Press
the loss of another Simon & Supreme Court Justice that the spotlight should
Schuster institution, novel- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and always remain entirely fo- and even withdrawn. In and the Kennedys." Last
ist Mary Higgins Clark, who the historians Stephen Am- cused on her authors," Si- the early 2000s, books by year, Mayhew edited "Mer-
died last week. brose, Michael Beschloss mon & Schuster CEO Caro- Goodwin and Ambrose chants of Truth," by former
A New York City native, and David Herbert Donald lyn Reidy wrote Tuesday. were found to contain ex- New York Times execu-
Mayhew edited some of among others. Along with her many suc- tensive lifting of material tive editor Jill Abramson,
the most notable nonfic- In 2018, she oversaw one of cesses, Mayhew was in- without proper credit, lead- a media critique that also
tion releases of the past half the top-selling books about volved with publications ing to the cancellation of included passages not fully
century, including Wood- the Trump administration, that were challenged Goodwin's "The Fitzgeralds credited.q