Young Miami leftists meet tough crowds

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16576176.htm


A group of students has founded the Bolívarian Youth, a socialist group in Miami -- where most people abhor their views.


With their fealty to Ché Guevara, their revolutionary discourses peppered with ''proletariat'' and ''comrade,'' and their ''Read Lenin'' and ''Burn Your Bra!'' T-shirts, the Bolívarian Youth seem almost retro, a throwback to a more, well, unwashed time.

But these young people, like generations of students before them, believe they can change the world -- and they say their message is getting through in Miami, home to hundreds of thousands of exiles from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, homelands they fled because of political repression they blame on leftist governments.

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''Miami has a history of intolerance and violence against people who have opposing viewpoints on U.S. policy towards Cuba,'' said local graphic artist Michael Martinez, 24, one of the founders of the socialist group.

``I believe it will be our organization that will break that spell and more people will realize they have a right to say what they want to say in Miami.''

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Group members have a ''Ten Point Program to bring about Revolutionary Change.'' Their first priority: ''an end to capitalism.'' They also push for immigrant rights, environmental causes, and are pro-choice advocates, sending volunteers every Saturday morning to a Kendall clinic to escort women past anti-abortion protesters.

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'There are so many people who say, `Fidel killed my father,' and my response is, 'Well, sorry, your father was probably a bad person,' '' said Emmanuel Lopez, 21, head of the FAU chapter. ``When they cite things like that, they say he was a dissident, but then you research it and find out he was being paid by the CIA.''

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''When we stood up to the right-wingers in Little Havana we showed unequivocably that there is a space for different views in Miami,'' she said.

One way or the other, the existance of the Bolívarian Youth is likely a positive for both FIU and the city, said Eduardo Gamarra, head of FIU's Latin American and Caribbean Center.

''In a way, this is good for Miami, because it shows that it's not monolithic,'' Gamarra said.

``It shows a diversity of opinion can be tolerated.''
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the snips tell of the threats and harrassment the group is getting

wishing them well - political life in S. Fla. is vicious