Juan Manuel Cao answers El Nuevo Herald

Miami, August 13, 2006

Letter to the Editor:

Mr. Oscar Corral’s article in this newspaper suggests that I asked Fidel Castro about Hilda Molina not because I was interested in getting a response but because I was getting paid to do so. In my opinion, this article intends to show that Castro was right when he accused me in Argentina of being a mercenary. That is absolutely false.

I was incarcerated in Cuba at the age of twenty for my writings against the regime. Who paid me then? Nobody did. On the contrary, I risked and lost my professional career, mi job and my future in the island. I chose to be free and paid the high price of three horrendous years in Castro’s prisons.

In exile, I also chose to be free. Fourteen years ago I was offered to be a television correspondent in a major network. Eighty thousand dollars per year was a tempting salary plus trips and benefits. There was only a small requirement; I had to refer to Castro as the “Cuban president” not the Cuban dictator. I refused the offer. Once again, I chose to be free and to defend my moral coherence.

Throughout my thirteen years as a local station reporter, a great deal of pressure was exercised so that I would remove Cuban issues from my journalist work. I first survived thanks to Jose Cancela and Luis Fernandez Rocha’s, my first two station managers, support. Roberto Vizcon, the best news director I had during those years, used to tell me: “ Cao, if we just could forget Cuba a little, we would be winning three times more in the other markets”. He was right.

Just eight moths ago, differences in Cuban news coverage criteria with the new management in the same television station resulted in the loss of $110,000.00 salary plus benefits. A good pretext came handy and I was fired. My Miami audience did not buy it and protested in front of the station. Coverage full details were published by the Herald.

As you can see, money is not what moves me in life. My motivation is Cuba and its freedom; Cuba and my freedom of expression. I am proud of my collaboration with TV Marti, of my efforts of trying to break the regime’s censorship. I could make much more than the few thousands they claim I earned but I help my people for a lot less. I don’t make anything out of Cuba’s cause; it rather costs me money.

I earnestly ask that you publish this explanation because many of your readers are also part of my audience. One last detail, Castro’s accusations against my dignity are just a weak justification for not answering the simple question I asked him in Argentina: Why has not he freed Doctor Hilda Molina? I am still waiting for a response.