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Cuban exile leader dies
Jorge Mas's power base influenced U.S. policy
November 23, 1997
Web posted at: 11:32 p.m. EST (0432 GMT)MIAMI (CNN) -- Jorge Mas Canosa, the leader of the Cuban American National Foundation, a powerful anti-Castro Cuban exile group, died from cancer Sunday in Miami, his doctor said. He was 58.
As founder and chairman of the foundation, Mas harnessed the political power of Cubans who fled Fidel Castro's regime after the 1959 Cuban revolution, and he built a lobbying group widely regarded as one of the most effective in Washington.
"He's known how to operate in this strange system of government that is Washington," said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Cuban-American Republican from Miami. "You've got to know how to get your point across and move hearts and minds, and he has been able to do it."
His was an uncompromising voice against easing American sanctions on Cuba's communist regime or normalizing relations between Washington and Havana.
During the Reagan administration, Mas helped Republicans solidify their political base among anti-Castro Cubans, forming an alliance that catapulted him to national prominence.
At a news conference Sunday, the president of the foundation, Pepe Hernandez, vowed that the organization would continue Mas's work and that supporters should "not be concerned."
Low-key reaction in Cuba
In his native Cuba, where Mas was frequently vilified for his anti-Castro activities, there was little immediate reaction Sunday to news of his death, either in the media or by government officials.
But a senior Cuban official had told CNN a few weeks ago, when it appeared that Mas's health might be waning, that "we do not wish death on anyone, but certainly we would not be mourning his passing."
On Sunday, his son, Jorge Jr., said "it is sad my father will never see a free (Cuba)."
He called his father a "patriot" and said that while his body may have died, "We have not lost his soul, because what (he) represents ... will always be with us and in our hearts."
Mas's health has been the subject of speculation in Miami since he was hospitalized in September. His family and the foundation gave few details of his illness, saying only that he suffered from Paget's disease, a hereditary malady that is not usually fatal.
His doctor, Alberto Hernandez, told reporters Sunday that Mas Canosa died of cancer.
Even foes in awe of political clout
After fleeing Cuba to Florida, Mas became a successful businessman. He built a small family telecommunications firm, MasTech, into a $475 million public company. He and his son have been featured on lists of the nation's 10 richest Hispanic citizens.
But it was in the political arena that Mas had his greatest triumphs. Even his foes expressed awe at how he was able to shape American policy toward his homeland.
"Had it not been for Jorge Mas, we probably would have had normal relations with Cuba," said Wayne Smith, who headed the U.S. Interest Section in Havana during the Carter administration and was once sued for libel by Mas. "He has almost single-handedly blocked all that."
In a statement Sunday, the three Cuban Americans in the U.S. House -- Ros-Lehtinen, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Florida, and Rep. Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey -- said they had lost a "dear friend."
"(In) Jorge Mas's passing, we have lost an ardent fighter who never ceased in his efforts to free the beloved, enslaved island," they said, adding that the best tribute to him would be "to continue the fight until Cuba is free."
Radio Marti, Helms-Burton among achievements
Among Mas's legislative achievements were the creation of Radio Marti and TV Marti, stations designed to beam information into Cuba but which are jammed by the Cuban government.
He also pushed for the Helms-Burton Act, a controversial 1996 law under which the United States can file lawsuits against firms from other countries doing business with Cuba. That law has prompted criticism from U.S. allies, especially Canada and countries in Latin America.
"Jorge has been a very important part of shaping U.S.-Cuba policy for a number of years, formulating and passing important legislation," said Ros-Lehtinen. "Without (him), none of that legislation would have been enacted into law."
In 1996, he went on international TV to debate the head of Cuba's parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, displaying his skills as an orator and communicator.
Recently, he and his foundation had success in convincing countries other than the United States -- notably Spain and Nicaragua -- to take a harder line against Castro.
Called ruthless by detractors
But Mas also had his detractors, some of whom say he was an arrogant megalomaniac prone to tirades -- and that he was ruthless when it came to battling his enemies.
He was also very willing to take on the press, suing the New Republic after it portrayed him as "mobster." The magazine settled the case and apologized.
In the early 1990s, upset by what The Miami Herald had written about him, Mas led a campaign against the paper, flooding Miami with bumper stickers and billboards saying "I don't believe The Herald."
Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman contributed to this report.
Related story:
- Cuban exile leader dies - November 22, 1997
- Cuban exile leader Mas takes turn for worse - October 11, 1997
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