The Cuban American National Foundation is a foundation with the aim of assisting members of the Cuban community in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

Background and founding

The Cuban National American Foundation was founded at a time when Republican American politicians, after the election of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

, were looking for a lobbying organization made up of Cuban-Americans. The CANF was founded in 1981, with "sizeable contributions" from the board members who were the "male leaders of Miami's financial and import-export sector", running companies that had business interests in Latin America and stood to gain from Reagan's policies that protected investment overseas. The first president of the organization was

Jorge Mas Canosa Jorge Lincoln Mas Canosa (21 September 1939 – 24 November 1997) was a Cuban-American businessman who founded the Cuban American National Foundation and MasTec, a publicly traded company. Regarded within the United States as a powerful lobbyist ...

, president of a construction company, and the first executive director was Frank Calzon, who had directed a Washington-based lobbying group. The organization had claimed to be non-partisan, but in practice its policy proposal were aligned with that of the Reagan government, including, for instance its support for

Radio Martí Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

, an American state-run radio and television international broadcaster. The CANF's support proved important in overcoming obstacles and passing the bill. Following this important early success, the CANF also lobbied for other US foreign policy projects, including the

invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military ...

and funding the anti-government rebels during the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...

. It supported the Caribbean Basin Initiative of 1984. CANF also operates the radio station ''La Voz de la Fundación'' which it attempts to transmit to Cuba; it led the effort to establish the U.S. Information Agency's

(1985) and TV Martí (1990). Radio Martí and TV Martí are official U.S. broadcasting operations directed to the Cuban people. Formerly a strong advocate for isolation of Cuba by the USA, in April 2009 CANF published an article calling for lifting US restrictions on aid and travel to Cuba, and aiding civil society groups there.

History

The Cuban-born anti-Castro terrorist Luis Posada Carriles claimed in 1998 that he received financial support from CANF for a bombing campaign carried out in 1997, although he has denied ties with the attack. CANF has strongly denied Posada's statement and Posada has since recanted the statement.

Gaspar Jiménez Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo (October 6, 1935 – October 29, 2014) was a Cuban exile living in Miami. An associate of Luis Posada Carriles, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap a Cuban consul in Mexico in 1976, for which he served 27 months in pri ...

and Rolando Mendoza, ranking members of the CANF, stepped down from leadership positions at the institution due to drug trafficking charges.

References

External links

www.canf.org
{{authority control Cuba–United States relations Foreign policy political advocacy groups in the United States Opposition to Fidel Castro Organizations established in 1981 Organizations based in Miami Anti-communist organizations in the United States

Background and founding

History

See also

References

External links