Francisco Jose "Pepe" Hernandez is president of the powerful exile lobby group, the Cuban American National Foundation. He arrived in Miami in 1960 and later participated in the failed exile-led "Bay of Pigs" invasion of Cuba aimed at toppling the government of Fidel Castro.
He is a member of what is known as "Historic Generation" of Cuban exiles - those who arrived in Miami in the early days of the revolution:
I arrived in Miami the first time as an exile in the summer of 1960. I later returned to Cuba to continue working in the "underground", or opposition to the Castro regime. I later participated in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and was jailed in Cuba for two years. I then returned to the US in 1964.
Those of us who arrived at that time believed we were just here for a brief period. None of us had even the most remote idea that our stay in the US would last 50 years. In our minds, we were just here for a short stay - some of us working to survive and others fighting for freedom in Cuba.
Obviously, that was not to be. And, it wasn't until the end of the 1960s that we understood that our return to our homeland would be a lot more difficult than we had imagined and would take a lot more time.
At that point, we began to concentrate on building our families, seeking new careers or professions and obtaining economic and political influence.
Proud of Miami
I think it's extraordinary to think looking at Miami now that it was nothing more when we arrived than a sleepy country town.
Today, it's a large metropolis with skyscrapers that can be compared to those of any major city in the world - and above all it has an extraordinary international mix. It is truly, as many call it, the gateway to and even the capital of Latin America.
We Cubans are extremely proud of all that we did to to work to turn Miami into what it is today. We have without a doubt played an instrumental role.
SHANGHAI — A group of nine people accused of intentionally tainting China’s dairy supplies this year went on trial Monday in Hebei Province, charged with endangering public security in the country’s worst food safety case in decades.
The nine people are part of a larger group of dairy industry suppliers who government prosecutors say sold some of the poisoned milk that killed at least six children in China this year and sickened nearly 300,000 children nationwide.
In a related case, six other people went on trial last Friday in Hebei Province, also accused of doctoring dairy supplies with melamine, an industrial chemical that gives the appearance of higher protein levels but is believed to cause kidney stones and other ailments in young people.
The trials are the government’s latest attempt to show that it is serious about cracking down on food industry workers who add banned chemicals and other substances to foods in order to bolster their profits.
Lawyers in China say that some of the suspects could face long jail terms or even the death penalty. Last year, the head of China’s Food and Drug Administration was executed after being convicted of corruption and regulatory negligence.
On Wednesday, the former head of the Sanlu Group, one of China’s biggest dairy producers, is expected to go on trial for her role in the dairy scandal, which led to huge recalls of Chinese dairy products around the world this year.
The Sanlu Group, which is based in Hebei Province, one of the biggest dairy producing regions, filed for bankruptcy protection last week.
A group of other Chinese dairy companies said last weekend that they had agreed to compensate victims of the scandal.
China’s fast-growing dairy industry has been crippled by the food poisonings, which affected even the country’s best-known dairy brands.
The Chinese government says many dairy officials have already confessed to selling milk doctored with melamine. In the trials that have opened in recent days, prosecutors said that many of the suspects sold hundreds of tons of “protein powder” doctored with melamine in order to make fatter profits.
The Kashmir-based National Conference, which emerged as the single largest party in Jammu and Kashmir, has initiated talks with the Congress Party to cobble together a coalition government for the state. The National Conference president, Omar Abdhullah is emerging as the likely chief minister of the state.
No party won a clear majority in the state polls held over several weeks. The pro-India National Conference won 28 seats in the 87 member state assembly. The Congress Party has won 17 seats.
The elections were held over several weeks in the restive Himalayan region where a violent separatist insurgency erupted in 1989.
Both the National Conference and the Congress Party have called the results in Kashmir elections a "victory for democracy."
Kashmir's former Chief Minister and a leader of the Congress Party, Ghulam Nabi Azad, indicated his party is open to an alliance with the National Conference.
"We would like to go in alliance with a political party who believes in the unity and integrity of the country," said Azad.
Kashmir is India's only Muslim majority region, and anti-India sentiment runs deep in the mountainous region.
However, New Delhi has been encouraged by the huge turnout in the recent elections. More than 60 per cent Kashmiris voted despite a call to boycott the polls by separatist parties who felt the elections will strengthen Indian hold on the region. Many analysts have interpreted the high voter turnout as a sign that Kashmiris have endorsed Indian rule in the region.
Separatists admit the wide participation by people in the recent polls took them by surprise. But a prominent separatist leader in Kashmir, Sajjad Lone, told VOA that the high turnout should not be taken as a sign that Kashmiris no longer want independence.
