Photo available from El Pais

The letter to the U.S. Congress signed and released by 74 members of Cuban civil society this week has provoked a firestorm in pro-embargo circles. But nowhere was the howling more ferocious than on Miami's Radio Mambi AM 710 this afternoon, a listener told me, where uber hard-line Cuban American host, Ninoska Perez Castellon, called Guillermo FariRas to scold him for signing the letter. Yes, that's right. A Miami radio show host called a man who's been on hunger strike in Cuba for more than 3 months LIVE on the air to accuse him of betraying his own cause. As soon as I can track down the MP3 link I'll post it here (h/t to Mambi Watch). The letter causing the firestorm including statements like this one:

"We share the opinion that the isolation of the people of Cuba benefits the most inflexible interests of its government, while any opening serves to inform and empower the Cuban people and helps to further strengthen our civil society."

According to Perez Castellon, the legislation FariRas supports (H.R.4645, a bill offered by Rep. Collin Peterson to lift the travel ban and ease certain restrictions on food sales to Cuba) would offer credit to the Cuban government. Of course, that's patently false. But, bygones. FariRas replied that he supports the U.S. legislation because it would bring more food to Cubans' tables. Despite Ms. Perez Castellon's tirade, FariRas held his ground and reiterated that he signed the letter because he believes the bill will be a good thing for the Cuban people.

Meanwhile, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart called the letter a "miserable manipulation." The ubiquitous Mauricio Claver-Carone, who runs a Washington-based pro-embargo political action committee, insisted that the letter could not have been "based on the volition of Cuba's dissidents." It's hard to imagine a more offensive attack on the very people they claim to defend. Who is really manipulating whom, here anyway? In Claver-Carone's world, Cuba's dissidents are hostages not only of their own government but of pro-engagement groups outside the country too. But when you consider the offensive brow-beating taken by Mr. FariRas this afternoon, it's clear who's taking no prisoners.

Iliana Curra over at Cuba Democracia y Vida wondered whether the political prisoners who signed are actually "aware of what they've signed, or maybe don't even know what the letter said," and doubts whether the hunger striker, FariRas, could have been aware of what he signed, as his life hangs in the balance?

Apparently, Cuba's dissidents only have their wits about them when they agree with the forces outside of Cuba intent on maintaining the same fossilized approach to Cuba and its people that we have for decades, with no success.

Someone always benefits when key stakeholders weigh in on any given political debate. But it's an ugly charge to dismiss this call from Cuban dissidents as something they only signed up for because they didn't understand what they were doing. The letter was in Spanish, and if there's one thing every Cuban knows how to do it's read. The bill in question has three simple provisions: lifting U.S. travel restrictions, requiring Cuban payment for U.S. food stuff before goods can be claimed by Cuba, and allowing Cuba to make its payments for food shipments directly to U.S. sellers, rather than sending payments through France or Canada first.

Interestingly, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a passionate supporter of U.S. sanctions on Cuba, managed to stay above the fray:

"Being a Congresswoman does not mean that my opinion has more or less legitimacy than those of local constituents, dissidents or any other valued group. All opinions have value. I don't think that lifting these restrictions will bring the Cuban people closer to freedom's dawn. Others disagree. What else is new?"

She wisely understands that she can’t win a debate with Cubans who live and struggle under the most difficult conditions on the island. Rather than lose that debate, Ros-Lehtinen cleverly pivoted away from trying to represent the – as she often says – ‘voiceless’ people of Cuba, and just represent her own ideal of freedom.

UPDATE: Now that I've heard Ninoska's program for myself (you can download it here), I'm still mystified by how comfortably she casts aside the truth, and clearly tries to mislead and manipulate Fariñas. In explaining the bill Fariñas supports, Ninoska points out that the bill, while lifting travel restrictions doesn't specify that Americans "can visit you or anything." (It doesn't have to! Freedom of travel is the whole point!) And she assures Fariñas that the bill offers credit to Cuba - "maybe you haven't seen it." This tendency of the hard liners to play so fast and loose with the truth is going to be their undoing. It's deeply distressing to see real professionals stoop this low.

A friend of mine tells me that Oscar Haza (who has a TV show on Channel 41 in Miami) also called Fariñas yesterday about the letter and, "looked like his brain was about to explode."