Miami, Tampa Florida Said To Differ on Hosting Cuban Consulate

[From article]
Officials in Miami want no part of a consulate. Their politically powerful Cuban-American population is heavily influenced by those who fled Fidel Castro's 1959 communist revolution and have campaigned against the Castros for five decades since then, sometimes violently.
Tampa's smaller and politically weaker Cuban-American community was formed generations earlier -- by people who left the island during the era of the Spanish-American War of 1898, which led to Cuba's independence from Spain. And Tampa's leadership sees the opening of relations with Cuba as an economic opportunity, thinking a consulate would enhance Tampa's position.
[. . .]



Many Cuban-Americans in Miami fled the Castro revolution or are descended from those who did; some have relatives who died opposing it or had property seized.
The city has become home to anti-Castro Cuban-American groups ever since, from those involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion to the Brothers to the Rescue group, whose members were killed when their small planes were shot down trying to drop leaflets over the island. Many believe the Cuban Five spy ring, which infiltrated anti-Castro groups in the 1990s, enabled Cuban fighter jets to destroy the Cessnas.
"A Cuban consulate is a headquarters for espionage, so I don't know what city thinks of that as a badge of honor," Ros-Lehtinen said.
[. . .]



the chamber's president and CEO, said Tampa can boast cultural connections with Cuba from the time of Jose Marti, who fought for Cuban independence against Spain and lived in the city in the late 1800s while working on his revolutionary plan. Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood once boasted 200 Cuban cigar factories, and is the birthplace of the Cuban sandwich.
The city's port also has been much more aggressive about courting Cuban business than Miami's, and Tampa's "long historic friendship" with Cuba makes them the best option, Rohrlack said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FL_CUBAN_CONSULATE_FLORIDA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Jul 22, 4:06 PM EDT
CUBAN CONSULATE POSSIBILITY DIVIDES MIAMI, TAMPA OFFICIALS
BY MARISOL MEDINA
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS