Associated Press: Defecting Cuban Star Arrives in Miami

["Mallard Q. Duck" <mqduck@xxxxxxxxx>]

By HOLLY HICKMAN
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 12, 2003; 2:28 AM

MIAMI - Cuban pop star Carlos Manuel held tightly to his physical and
cultural families at a news conference in his new hometown Wednesday.
Standing close to his mother, Martiza Macias, who defected with him from
Cuba this week, Manuel spoke of his love for his "family" of 11 million
left behind.

"The people who stayed behind gave me all I have. The people made me a
star and I love my people," he said in Spanish. "I would like to send my
love to the people of Cuba. I love that island."

Manuel defected from Cuba because he was "tired of all the hypocrisy,"
especially in light of harsh punishments of dissidents in his homeland.
Though pop stars tend to live in relative luxury in Cuba, he said he
found the tradeoff of personal and artistic restrictions unacceptable.

He hopes a career in the U.S. will expand his possibilities.

"I'm ambitious," he said. "I want to go all the way with my music."

Manuel, 30, was performing in Mexico City last week with his band,
"Carlos Manuel and his Clan." He told his band members he wasn't going
back to Cuba. He crossed into the United States at Brownsville, Texas,
late Sunday or early Monday and was granted asylum there Tuesday.

"We'd been discussing it for a while," said Joe Garcia, executive
director of the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami.

The last time the Clan was in South Florida, two musicians and two
technicians defected.

"He went back, and that developed a certain amount of trust on the
island," said Garcia, speculating that this may have been why Manuel's
mother, sister and his sister's boyfriend were all able to accompany him
to Mexico. All three defected with him, as did his cousin, who is a
percussionist in his band, and another technician.

Manuel said that his intention was to remain in Mexico, but those plans
changed after his Mexico City concert. At 4 a.m. Sunday, officials from
the Cuban embassy showed up at his hotel, alerted to his intentions.

Manuel and his companions fled to another hotel. The officials convinced
the other band members to return to Cuba. Manuel said he believed until
the very last moment that almost all of those who were with him would
defect.

The group caught a plane to Monterrey the next day, took a
two-hour-cab-ride to Matamoros, and then walked over the bridge that
connects Matamoros to Brownsville. He turned himself in to U.S.
immigration authorities, accompanied by Mexican television journalists
whom he thanked at the press conference.

"Even here in the United States, when he got off the plane to Miami, he
was still feeling a little nervous, a little scared," said Hugo Cancio,
whose record label Ciocan Music represents the singer in the U.S.

Manuel, whose full name is Carlos Manuel Pruneda, said that career
aspirations may have brought him to the U.S., but that Cuba would always
teach him as an artist and person. He said he hoped his fellow Cubans
would understand his decision.

"I want them to keep listening to me," he said.

"I want to send a message to my people ... One day, you will realize
what the world is really like and you will like me again."