http://www.sptimes.com/2005/10/29/No..._ignored.shtml

A former Clearwater mayor says the network showed disregard in cutting away from the governor's Spanish remarks after Wilma.

By JOSE CARDENAS
Published October 29, 2005

CLEARWATER - Three decades ago, Gabriel Cazares fought during his time as mayor to keep Scientologists out of Clearwater.

He was once heavily involved with civil rights groups, too, though in the last decade he had canceled his membership with the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens, also known as LULAC.

But the 85-year-old has never stopped fighting. He is especially vocal about the welfare of minorities, especially Hispanics.

So he became angry on Sunday night after watching CNN break away from Gov. Jeb Bush's remarks to residents as Hurricane Wilma threatened the area. While other stations carried Bush's remarks in both English and Spanish, CNN broke away when the governor began to speak in Spanish. Cazares believes that showed disregard for Spanish speakers in Florida, and said he plans to write a protest letter to the network. He urges LULAC members to do the same.

Cazares also wants to bring attention to a boycott that LULAC, which he has rejoined, launched against the network last summer.

LULAC members think CNN is hostile toward immigrants because one of its reporters, host Lou Dobbs, has spoken regularly against illegal immigrants on his program Lou Dobbs Tonight. The incident Sunday evening occurred as Bush finished his English remarks. Then, the governor said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to say a few words in Spanish as well."

"All right, while the governor is speaking in Spanish, let's bring in Jacqui Jeras . . ." host Wolf Blitzer said. When Bush finished, Blitzer said, "Let's get back to the governor, Jeb Bush. He's resumed speaking in English."
Said Cazares, who was watching the program at his Countryside condominium, "I think it's a lack of consideration for a large portion of the population. Here, when a program was concerned with people's lives, CNN did not think it was important."

Laurie Goldberg, a spokeswoman for CNN, wrote in an e-mail response to the St. Petersburg Times that CNN has a separate Spanish-language channel that carried in-depth coverage of hurricane preparations and sound bites from Bush on Sunday afternoon.

Anita de Palma, LULAC's Florida director, shares Cazares' concerns. She said that at a meeting in Tampa Wednesday, about 80 LULAC members said they were angry at what CNN had done.

She also plans to write a letter to CNN on behalf of the 3,000 LULAC members in Florida. Other members plan to write or e-mail, too.

"I do think they showed a complete lack of consideration for the Hispanic community, which is so strong now," said de Palma.

Brent Wilkes, LULAC's national director, said he had not heard from members about the incident. The national leadership would support its members, he said, but cautioned that they should be well-informed first.

LULAC launched its boycott in July against CNN and parent company Time Warner at its convention in Little Rock, Ark., to protest a longstanding dislike of Dobbs' coverage of immigration issues.

"We feel there is no need to have people that are by and large hate speech kind of folks out on the airwaves like that," Wilkes said.

The organization's members were supposed to write to the network in protest. The network's spokeswoman did not answer an e-mailed question about whether the network has received any e-mails or letters of protest, saying only that while Dobbs opposes illegal immigration, he supports legal immigration.

This is not the first time Cazares has has taken a stance on such issues.

When he was the director of Tampa's LULAC chapter in 1998, his complaints against a Taco Bell commercial featuring a talking Chihuahua were quoted around the world. Some people found the commercial demeaning to Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

Cazares said he quit LULAC at that time because the national organization didn't want him speaking out on the issue.

He recently returned to the organization, though, and in May the Tampa chapter gave him a lifetime award at a meeting at the Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa.

In the past few years he has kept active by working with groups such as the National Farmworkers Ministry and Habitat for Humanity, including building homes for farmworkers in Immokalee.

He lives alone now, after his wife died of cancer last year while he was undergoing heart surgery.

But Cazares is a news junkie who still watches CNN, even though he's protesting it.

"I watch it because they cover all the things I'm interested in - except for one thing," he said. "I wish they would stop talking about "broken borders.' I just hope that they will hear from enough people that agree this war they have against immigrants should end."