The death of the Cuban-born playwright and journalist Dolores Prida calls for a brief reminiscence about how she was the catalyst for a historic debate about freedom of speech in Miami almost three decades ago.
That episode, known then as “the Prida affair,” shook Miami to its multicultural roots. Oddly, it was not mentioned in any of her print or online obituaries, including in the usually...
The zealous enforcers from the city of Riviera Beach who seized and destroyed civic activist Fane Lozman’s gray plywood houseboat owe him an apology.
And they, or, rather, the city’s taxpayers, will soon owe him money damages and a large sum – maybe more than $300,000.00 -- for legal fees.
...
Besides commerce and tourism, one of the frequent exchanges between Latin America and Florida seems to involve murderers, torturers and financial fraudsters.
Hardly a month goes by without news of someone alleged to have committed notorious crimes in countries like Cuba, Haiti, Peru, El Salvador, or Honduras, leading quiet lives in the Sunshine State.
...
Let’s face it. If we want to transform American society for generations to come, tinkering with our existing patchwork quilt of federal, state, and municipal laws dealing with firearms is a pathetic waste of time.
Another federal ban on "assault weapons" will not be effective. More “conversations” and “dialogues” and commissions of experts are not going to remedy our society’s deeply rooted gun...
In all its glorious majesty of ever-expanding governmental authority, the Obama Administration has now taken jurisdiction over the world famous six-toed cats that live at the Ernest Hemingway Museum in Key West.
For those who thought that the expansive reach of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution had been slowed down by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding Obamacare only on tax grounds...
Although Venezuela’s socialist president Hugo Chavez succeeded in concealing the true state of his deteriorating health until being re-elected in October, it has now become clear that the endgame has arrived.
After 14 years of running the oil-rich South American nation of 28 million, Chavez, 58, is not long for this world. Cancer is defeating him.
...
Cuba, which had a net population loss of 83,991 this year, is about to lose more residents starting next month. Most of them will end up living in South Florida.
Cuba now has 11,163,934 inhabitants; at the end of 2011, it had 11,247,925.
The two main reasons for the decrease are that...
The state of Florida, now known as much for election controversies as oranges and sunshine, may still hold a surprise for everyone who thought the 2012 presidential election was over and done with.
In a largely forgotten court case being litigated in Tallahassee, lawyers are still arguing about whether President Barack Obama was qualified to run for president in the first place. ...
For the baby boomers from Cuba, Puerto Rico, South and Central America, Mexico and Spain who live in South Florida, the last of an iconic TV trio from their childhood has just passed away.
Emilio Aragón, who with his late brothers Gabriel and Alfonso had made children throughout Hispanic America sing, laugh, and learn during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, died in Madrid on Nov. 17, at age 83....
Because we live in an advanced democracy where anyone can claim grievances in court, judges often get presented with unusual requests. For instance, does a jail inmate have a constitutional right to be provided dental floss?
Six recent inmate lawsuits filed in Florida and New York are raising such a novel claim.
...
