Most Popular

  • To Hug a Porcupine
    Three little boys set out to destroy the parents who loved them. This isn't how adoption is supposed to work.
  • Cookie Monsters
    It's the old diet doc versus the marketing gun in the great war of the tasty appetite suppressors
  • Sexual Healing
    Sad stories and otherwise freaky tales from Florida's last sexual surrogate
  • Smoked Tuna in the Can
    He was the first big bust of the War on Drugs. That and two bits won't get you a cup of coffee.
  • Shark Huggers
    Tourists can't wait to get next to them – even if they are eating machines
"Most Popular" tools sponsored by:

Recent Articles

Recent Articles by John Linn

National Features >

  • Broward-Palm Beach New Times

    Sexual Healing

    For Florida's sole remaining sex surrogate, love is a many splintered thing.

    By Michael J. Mooney

  • City Pages

    Your Friendly Neighborhood War Profiteer

    It's not just giant companies cashing in on America's defense industry.

    By Jeff Severns Guntzel

  • The Pitch

    Supersizing Sonic

    How a throwaway idea at the Barkley ad agency became the "Sonic Guys."

    By Justin Kendall

  • Houston Press

    Temples of Tex-Mex

    A diner's guide to Texas's oldest Mexican restaurants.

    By Robb Walsh

The Revolution is Now

By John Linn

Published on April 10, 2008

Since Fidel Castro stepped down as President of Cuba in February, there’s been speculation that relations between America and the island country might change. But the truth is many Cuban-Americans have struggled against the embargo for years. Take Max Lesnik. He’s a former associate of Castro’s who fought alongside the dictator in the Cuban revolution. Shortly after the war, Lesnik had a falling out with Castro (they disagreed on many political issues), so he fled to Miami, where he raised his family and spoke openly about engaging in negotiations with Cuba. That put a target on Lesnik’s chest – he became the focus of death threats, bombings, and drive-by shootings organized by anti-Castro terrorists. Despite the efforts put on his life, Lesnik grew more vocal. By the 1980s the violence in Miami’s Little Havana turned to mayhem, with CIA trained operatives targeting him and other outspoken Cuban-Americans.

Lesnik’s daughter, Vivien Lesnik Weisman, grew up in a state of constant turmoil, trapped between her father’s ideology and the reality of being a child in the midst of war. So she did what most normal kids would do: She sought catharsis as a documentarian. In 2007, Lesnik Weisman premiered her film, The Man of Two Havanas, a chronicle of her father’s life and its impact on their family, at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film spurred controversy, but also received rave reviews for its depth and honesty. Though the Miami Film Festival oddly overlooked it last month, The Man of Two Havanas has now made its way to the Palm Beach International Film Festival, and will screen Saturday at noon at Sunrise Cinemas Mizner Park (301 Plaza Real, Boca Raton). Tickets cost $7. The PBIFF runs April 10 through 17 at various locations across Palm Beach county (see our coverage in Film). Visit www.pbifilmfest.org for a complete list of movies and showtimes.
Sat., April 12, noon, 2008