Reply #45: What about here at home

[AlphaCentauri]

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/12/05/Floridian/His_father_s_voice.shtml

"The bombing of my father was a watershed moment in Miami," he said while being interviewed at the Miami offices of the Police Benevolent Association, where Milian is legal counsel and director of political affairs. "It cut his voice and at the same time it allowed other, more intolerant, voices to seize the microphone in Miami."

The would-be assassins were never brought to justice. After reconstructive surgery and learning to walk again with prosthetic limbs, Emilio Milian returned to the radio station. But when the station demanded to censor his editorials, he refused. The station fired him.

"At the time it was called the second bombing," said Milian. "It was also a warning: This is what happens to someone who doesn't adhere to orthodoxy."

The attempted murder of Milian set the tone for years to come. Although Miami is a more politically tolerant place today, for many years the car-bombings and other attacks contributed to a climate of intimidation and fear.

"When his father got his legs blown off, there wasn't a massive outcry," said Dario Moreno, director of the Metropolitan Center at Florida International University. "People kept their mouths shut."