America 1982-Chapter 556 - 115: Ms. Letty Willing to Reach Out to Her Compatriots
The audience and the host watching the debate on the spot felt that Jeff Raven’s performance tonight was far from his previous showing at the Democratic Party primary debate. He remained aggressive and sharp with his words, as before, but it came across as too extreme to listeners, the kind of extremism associated with white racists. He even threatened potential critics, but how many real racists could there be in the Eighteenth District?
Therefore, without waiting for the debate to end, many political commentators felt more optimistic about Eliana Leti, the Cuban-American woman who maintained her composure well and played the part of someone attacked by a white racist but who tried to keep her dignity and speak without falling behind as the underdog.
This is Florida, a place of racial diversity. No one likes that sort of pure racist, except for dedicated members of the Ku Klux Klan. Even if the voters are white, people have compassion; no one likes a strong bully.
"OK, the topic question and answer session for both parties has ended, and now we’re moving into the free debate discussion. I want to remind both candidates again that your remarks are being broadcast live to voters interested in the election, so please be mindful of your language. In fact, I am mainly reminding Mr. Jeff Raven because some of your remarks during the previous Q&A session were very dangerous. This is a friendly warning," the host said, letting out a sigh of relief, seriously reminding the two candidates, or rather mainly Jeff Raven.
The truth is, he wasn’t interested in reminding Jeff Raven; it wasn’t his job. But the problem was, you can’t really allow someone to speak their mind unguardedly in front of the camera, because the consequences are not for Jeff alone to bear. As the host, he too would be troubled for not taking any action as a host when facing racist remarks.
Jeff Raven still had that impassive, unmoved expression and completely disregarded the host’s kind reminder. Instead, when the host indicated it was his turn to speak, he turned to look at Eliana Leti and took the initiative to speak:
"Ms. Letty, from what I understand, you are a board director of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), a lobbying organization formed by Cuban-American opponents of Castro, with board members who are nearly all Cuban-American tycoons from Florida, right? I’m not very familiar with this organization. Would you mind discussing it with me and everyone else in front of the camera? From what I’ve learned about your publicly available information, a significant portion of the campaign funds you’ve raised for this election also comes from donations by CANF."
Eliana Leti nodded, "Of course, this organization was founded in 1981, benefiting from the support of the United State Republicans for Cuban-American citizens, which allowed it to be established. Its main purpose is to promote the United State to continue the embargo sanctions against Castro’s government in Cuba, in addition to promoting the legal rights of Cuban-American citizens and helping all Cuban citizens of Florida to build better communities. CANF is very willing to lend a hand whenever Cuban immigrants encounter any troubles."
When Jeff asked about her social organization identity, Eliana Leti wasn’t surprised but admitted it frankly. After all, her role as a director of the CANF and its founding purpose were all publicly accessible information.
Moreover, the reason for the foundation’s existence was indeed as Eliana Leti said: Republicans needed an anti-Castro Cuban-American lobbying organization to work with the Reagan Government in continuing sanctions against Cuba and help Cuban-American citizens improve their living conditions. There was no need to hide such a completely open organization from the citizens of America. Knowing that the organization was transparent prevented Eliana from worrying about Jeff resorting to conspiracy theories to smear her.
In contrast, the Crossroads Foundation, which consistently supported Jeff Raven and refused to disclose donor information, looked more like a shameful clown hiding in the darkness. In fact, Eliana Leti was prepared to use this point, along with conspiracy theories, to launch a counterattack on Jeff Raven. She had been considering how to steer the conversation in this direction. She didn’t expect Jeff Raven to bring up her support from CANF himself, which made it convenient for her to fight back.
Thinking of this, Eliana could hardly keep the smile from the corners of her mouth. She had dug up some relationships between the Crossroads Foundation and many of Florida’s fringe religious sects. Combined with a mix of true and false rumors, it was enough to throw Jeff Raven into disarray.
"Besides helping Cuban-American citizens build communities, you also support our Governor’s initiative to clear prisons, right? That is, to send those detained death row inmates to the electric chair as quickly as possible. However, as far as I know, of the fourteen death row inmates the Governor, with your and your husband’s support, as the Florida Attorney General, has executed this year, nine were black, and the rest were white. Tell me, are there no Cubans in our prisons, or have the Cubans already suffered enough at the hands of Castro that you can’t bear to let them die again in America, this paradise?" Jeff Raven’s gaze flickered as he stared at Eliana Leti, his tone aggressive and pressing.
Eliana Leti was slightly startled, and then she couldn’t help but smile. She thought Jeff’s move was too awkward; jumping from CANF to the issue of death row inmates, he was naively trying to catch her off guard with this abrupt change in topic. Her campaign team had anticipated that the Democratic Party would raise this issue and prepared for it long before she entered the race.
