State funds could repay old loan (Miami, again)

Posted on Sat, Mar. 06, 2004

MIAMI


State funds could repay old loan

If a deal for a state-funded loan goes through, politically connected consultant Al Lorenzo may see his years-old million-dollar debt erased.

BY OSCAR CORRAL

ocorral@herald.com


Al Lorenzo, a close ally of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz who for years has owed the city more than a million dollars from defaulted loans, may be off the hook with his debt in the next couple of weeks, city officials said.

If the deal goes through, the funds for the debt repayment would come mostly from a state-funded loan for low-income housing provided by the city.
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Lorenzo, who ran Diaz's election campaign in 2001 and remains a close advisor, borrowed the money in the late 1980s to remodel several apartment buildings in Overtown.
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''It doesn't pass the smell test,'' Winton said. ``It has too many elements of old Miami in it. It's an image we've been working hard to erase for the last four years.''
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/8119500.htm

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So reminiscent of Miami Republican City Commissioner Miriam Alonso, among many others:

The Miami Herald
Sep. 05, 2002
Alonso, husband arrested a 2nd time

Ex-commissioner arrested again in corruption inquiry

BY KARL ROSS AND DAVID GREEN

In a case one prosecutor called ''an abuse of trust beyond all explanation,'' former Miami-Dade Commissioner Miriam Alonso and her husband, Leonel,
were arrested Wednesday on new felony corruption charges -- this latest batch stemming from their alleged misuse of $78,000 raised to combat an
aborted recall campaign.

The recall effort was started by Miami Lakes community activists, outraged about Alonso's push to expand a nearby landfill. The petition drive was
terminated in November 1999, but Alonso continued to rake in tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from rock miners, developers, airport
contractors and others that subsequently became the focal point of this latest criminal case against the Alonsos.

The Alonsos were arrested previously in April and charged with a number of corruption-related offenses -- including grand theft, money laundering and
exploitation of public office. Most of those charges were related to an alleged scheme to pilfer $54,000 from Alonso's 1998 reelection campaign account.

On Wednesday -- the former commissioner's 61st birthday -- the Alonsos were charged with participating in an ''organized scheme to defraud,'' grand
theft, evidence tampering, conspiracy to tamper with or fabricate evidence and solicitation to commit perjury in official proceedings. Miriam Alonso was
also charged with exploiting her official position. Money laundering charges against the couple are likely to be added, prosecutors said.
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http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:ah9hxXg4ri8J:www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/exile/alonsos-arrested.htm+%22Miriam+Alonso%22+%2B+arrested+%2B+Miami&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


http://www.miamidaderepublicans.com/CountyOfficials.htm

Posted on Sat, Mar. 06, 2004

MIAMI
Cuban singer denied visa

The U.S. government has rejected a visa for musician Carlos Varela, who was to perform in Miami on Wednesday, to enter the country from Cuba.

BY JUAN CARLOS PEREZ RODRIGUEZ

Special to The Herald


Controversial Cuban singer/songwriter Carlos Varela has been denied a U.S. visa to enter the country to perform Wednesday at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.

The trip would have been Varela's second visit to Miami in the past six years.
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Varela earned fans inside and outside of Cuba in the 1980s and '90s with lyrics that were thinly veiled criticisms of the Castro regime. His most recent work has been less militant and more personal.

Last December, Varela traveled to Venezuela with Cuban superstar Silvio Rodriguez, a Castro supporter, to perform in support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, making his fans wonder if he had sold out.

Though he wouldn't comment to The Herald on the Venezuela trip or on any direct political issues, Varela told The Herald in an e-mail earlier this week: ``I'm not an instrument of anyone or any government. ''There are writers who prefer being close to power,'' Varela insisted, ``but that is not my case.''
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/8119505.htm