U.S. Intellectuals and Academia speak out

Terrorist honored at the University of Miami, academics express outrage to Shalala

Oct. 27, 2010
Reprinted from Progreso Weekly

Honorable Donna E. Shalala, President
University of Miami

Dear President Shalala,

We, U.S. academics and University of Miami alumni, are writing to you to convey our outrage at an event held on October 12th of 2010 at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICAAS) of the University of Miami. This event included an homage to convicted terrorist Orlando Bosch.


Orlando Bosch 

Orlando Bosch has been arrested, tried and convicted for innumerable terrorist acts in Venezuela, the United States and other countries. In 1968, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for firing a bazooka against a Polish ship anchored in Miami. He served 10 years in jail in Venezuela for bombing a Cuban airplane and killing 73 people on board on October 6 of 1976. U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh referred to him as an “unrepentant terrorist”, while Acting Associate Attorney General Joe D. Whitley considered him a “threat to National Security”, both under George H. W. Bush administration (Exclusion Proceeding for Orlando Bosch Avila; see attached documentation).

CIA and FBI recently declassified documents (accessible online) offer solid proof for the Attorneys’ points. For example, a 1979 document reported Bosch’s view on the plane bombing when he said: “At times you cannot avoid hurting innocent people" [Appendix to Hearings]). An October 14, 1976 FBI cable reports Luis Posada Carriles (Bosch’s partner in crime) saying that “Orlando knew all the details” of the soon-to-be hit plane (Intelligence Information Cable).

We urge you to launch an inquiry into the homage paid to this man, to which the University of Miami lent its name and its banner, thereby becoming a sponsor. The University of Miami, as an institution of higher learning, has an educational mission and a social responsibility. Certainly, promoting a terrorist as a community role model goes against everything that academia stands for.

Note: The signatories of this letter are from academia and do not necessarily share similar opinions on the political system in Cuba, the United States policy of embargo or other U.S.-Cuba related issues. However, they all agree on the fact that terrorism should be condemned, regardless the ideologies or politics that motivate it.

María Isabel Alfonso, PhD. Assistant Professor of Spanish. St. Joseph’s College, New York. (University of Miami Alumnus).

Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor, Retired. MIT.

Luis Duno-Gottberg, PhD. Associate Professor of Caribbean and Film Studies, Duncan College Master, Texas.

John Walton Cotman, PhD. Associate Professor of Political Science. Howard University, Washington.

David Carlson, PhD. Assistant Professor of Latin American History. The University of Texas-Pan American, Texas.

Rick Miller, PhD. Associate Professor of Art. St. Joseph’s College, New York

Lisa Glidden, PhD. Assistant Professor of Comparative Politics, Latin American Studies. SUNY College at Oswego, New York

Iraida H. Lopez, Ph.D. Professor of Spanish. Ramapo College of New Jersey, New Jersey

Arturo Lopez-Levy, Lecturer. PhD Candidate. Josef Korbel School of International Studies. University of Denver, Colorado.

Kenneth E. Bauzon, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science. St. Joseph’s College, New York

Emilio Bejel, Distinguished Professor of Latin American Studies. University of California at Davis, California

Miren Uriarte, PhD. Professor of Human Services. University of Massachusetts Boston

David L. Strug, PhD. Professor of Social Work. Yeshiva University, New York

Dionisio Márquez Arreaza, Professor. Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida, Venezuela (University of Miami Alumnus)

Judith A. Weiss. Research Professor and Professor Emerita. Mount Allison University, Canada

Liliam Dominguez, PhD Candidate. Barry University, Florida. (University of Miami Alumnus).

Mirella Landriscina, PhD. Professor of Sociology. St. Joseph’s College, New York

Douglas Friedman, PhD. Associate Professor of Political Science. College of Charleston, South Carolina

Samuel Farber. Samuel Farber. Professor Emeritus, Political Science. Brooklyn College of CUNY, New York

Dick Cluster, Associate Director. University Honors Program. University of Massachusetts at Boston

Fernando Coronil. Presidential Professor. Graduate Center. CUNY, NY.

Zoya Kocur, PhD Candidate. Middlesex University. London. NYU, New York, NY.

William Van Norman, Jr. PhD. Assistant Professor of Latin American History. James Madison University, Virginia

Alejandro de la Fuente, PhD. UCIS Research Professor. University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Antoinette Hertel, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Spanish. St. Joseph's College, New York

Susan Eckstein, PhD. Professor of Sociology and International Relations. Boston University, Massachusetts

Tania Triana, PhD. Assistant Professor of Spanish, University of Oregon

Ana M. López, PhD. Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs. Tulane University, Louisiana

Eduardo González, PhD. Professor. Director of the Spanish and Latin American Subdivision. The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Trevor H Whitbread. M.A. Spanish Candidate. University of Oregon

Francisco A. Scarano, Ph.D. Professor of History. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin

Antonio Lauria-Perricelli, PhD. Adjunct Professor. Gallatin School, New York University, New York

Enrique Sacerio-Gari, PhD. Dorothy Nepper Marshall Professor of Hispanic and Hispanic-American Studies. Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania

Antonia Darder, PhD. Distinguished Professor of Education. University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Illinois.

Edwin Murillo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Spanish. Penn State University-Berks, Pensylvannia (University of Miami Alumnus)

Beatriz Calvo Peña. PhD. Researcher. University Carlos III, Madrid. (University of Miami Alumni)

Julie Skurski, Ph.D. Distinguished Lecturer of Anthropology. CUNY Graduate Center. New York

Leslie S. Offutt, PhD. Associate Professor and Chair, Department of History. Vassar College, New York.

David J. Vázquez, PhD. Assistant Professor of English. University of Oregon, Oregon

Ricardo Pérez, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anthropology. Eastern Connecticut State University, Connecticut


Documents in the order they were cited:

Exclusion of Proceeding for Orlando Bosch Avila. U.S. Department of Justice. Office of the Associate Attorney General Joe D. Whitley, 1989. FILE: A28 851 622. A11 861 810.

Appendix to Hearings Before the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress. Second Session, Volume X: Anti-Castro activities and organizations. March 1979: (89-93)

Intelligence Information Cable. FBI. October 14th, 1976. National Security Archives. Cuba Project.

Photographs and videos of the event.

CIA and FBI Declassified Documents on Cuba: National Security Archive. Cuba Project