Terrorism Returns To Miami?

 From today's Miami Herald...

A pre-dawn blaze that destroyed the Coral Gables offices of Airline Brokers, one of the eight companies that charter flights to Cuba, was “deliberate,” law enforcement officials said Friday.

Deborah Cox, spokesperson for the State Fire Marshal’s office, said the cause of the blaze was under investigation by her agency, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Coral Gables fire department. She declined further comment.

But law enforcement officials told El Nuevo Herald that the fire was “deliberate.” They declined further comment, and asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the case.

Babalu Blog, who never seems to be without something to say about everything, linked to the story this morning and stood mute, however commenters are predictably busy pointing their fingers at the Castro regime [via Twitter, if you absolutely must].

This incident could be a number of things, of course. Could be a distressed business owner trying to collect on their insurance policy. Might be the work of Castro agents attempting to cast a negative light on Cuban-American hardliners. And, lastly, it's quite possible this is actually the work of said Cuban-American hardliners.

Vivian Mannerud, owner of Airline Brokers, told CBS4 that all this isn't exactly new to her.

Mannerud said she has been the victim of threats in the past because of the trips she arranges to Cuba.

“We had to have armed security guard around my house for about a month,” Mannerud said. “There were many, many threats…other threats with suspicious package in my car and so on.”

If Cuban-American hardliners are involved, it is the first time in a long time that such an attack has occurred. So long, I can't even remember the last incident. But as the Herald points out, it's important to remember Miami's history...

In a 12-month period in 1975-1976, South Florida saw more terrorist attacks than the Middle East, according to news media reports from that time. The vast majority was carried out by anti-Castro radicals, but some were suspected to be the work of Castro agents trying to stir up trouble among exile groups and the U.S. government.

So the question is whether or not this is the beginning of a long, hot and potentially violent summer in Miami or something else.

Hopefully, the investigation will give us answers.


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