Paul Benavides and Mambi Watch Unmasked

Response to "Paul Benavides":

Thank you for your contentious viewpoint. My massive website was created mostly by my student assistants. You seem to have developed a rather pathetic fixation with me ever since I previously posted on your blog that your constant monitoring of Cuban exile radio, TV, and print media is similar to the work done by Cuban intelligence agents for decades. I e-mailed you my phone number so that we could chat and I would attempt to understand your motivations for blogging anonymously, the causes of your obsession, and ascertain if you were linked to Cuban espionage in Miami. The person who answered my e-mail wrote:

“My name is Paul Benavides. I was born in Peru in 1979 and my family came to Miami in 1982 when I was still 2 years old. Those first years were very difficult for my family, but would have been worse if not for the help and care of many Cuban families that provided work for my mother and father. My mother cleaned their houses, my father cut their grass. I grew up among their children, despite the obvious differences where I had few toys or a small house.”
 
“I'm a graduate from Coral Gables Elementary, Coral Gables Senior High and Florida International University. No different than many others from where I live. But, very different from my family (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins) that we left in Peru, and did not have those opportunities and still don't.”

I detected an inferiority complex and underlying resentment toward successful Cuban Americans in that message. It could be the source of deeper psychological problems. I later received a telephone call from someone identifying themselves as “Paul Benavides,” who claimed to be the sole author of the Mambi Watch blog, and stated that he was calling from his parent’s home. A Google search of the phone number indicated that it was registered to the apartment of Paula Cari at 2496 S.W. 17 Ave., Miami. Benavides added that he received an undergraduate degree in journalism from FIU in 2004 and was now pursuing a second undergraduate degree in psychology. This is a sign of a confused underachiever, lacking vision, and easily distracted by frivolous pursuits. I suggested to “Paul Benavides,” that he should blog under his own name, if he is who he alleges to be. Mr. “Benavides” claimed that he preferred to continue blogging anonymously, because he feared retaliation against his future career plans from his political adversaries. I assured him that his leftist perspective and anti-Cuban American sentiments would be no problem for him in academia. Now that Paul Benavides and Mambi Watch have been unmasked on the Internet, I suggest that if you are the real “Paul Benavides,” stop lurking in the shadows, demonstrate maturity, and assume responsibility for your writings. Otherwise your suspicious behavior might raise the interest of Homeland Security.