Cuba Libre! Not the Drink --- But a place for your County tax dollars. By Youbetcha'

The Union for Cuba Libre is calling for an uprising against the tyranny in Cuba, which is a noble goal, but shouldn't they be doing it with the federal government’s policy people and not with our county tax dollars?

Cuba Libre is an organization, not a stylish beverage from the streets of Miami’s Little Havana. Reading the organization’s statement of purpose is little like listening to our beloved Commissioner Souto on a bad day. Mayor Alvarez must have understood something about this organization that is not readily apparent after all, he shelled out $5,000 of his 2008 discretionary fund to support the group’s endeavors.

Let’s ponder this one. Cut county support services to the community and give Union for Cuba Libre $5000.00. While we used to think that it was only the county commission doing bizarre things with county money, it turns out that Alvarez can do equally as well in the “waste of county dollars department.” (hit read more)

2008 was a huge election year. Alvarez and his fellow politicians wrote checks to people all over the county. Oops. Isn’t that an argument against discretionary funds? Nevertheless, I appreciate the need for discretionary funding; many times the money is used to do some great work in our community at a grass roots level. There is nothing to complain about when organizations are using the money to feed our hungry families.

However, I temper my enthusiasm for discretionary funding when county money goes to a politically based organization that has a very vague stated purpose. It may be a moot point, but Union for Cuba Libre, Inc. doesn’t show up in the state incorporation site, so we don’t even know who they are. The Cuba Libre website tries to lay their purpose out for us mere mortals; I don’t think it succeeds. Of course, something could be getting lost in the literal translation of the website, but somehow, I get the drift.

Alvarez did not need to give this group a $5000.00 for any other reason than it was an election year. The Union for Cuba Libre is calling for an uprising against the tyranny in Cuba, which is a noble goal, but shouldn't they be doing it with the federal government’s policy people and not with our county tax dollars?