As rivals brawl over Miami’s Cuban museum, a new director is named, a lawsuit filed

A brawl over the fate of Miami’s taxpayer-funded Cuban museum intensified Thursday when its board chairman installed an interim director days after taking control of the institution’s Coral Way building and firing its founding administrator, while a rival slate of trustees filed suit in an effort to block his actions.

Attorney Marcell Felipe, chairman of the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, called a news conference at the institution’s building to announce that Carmen Valdivia, an architect who has produced a HistoryMiami museum exhibit and a documentary on the Pedro Pan operation that brought Cuban children to Florida after the 1959 revolution, would run the two-year-old museum on a volunteer basis until a permanent director is hired.

The announcement came six days after Felipe fired founding museum director Ileana Fuentes and her daughter, Carisa Perez-Fuentes, who served as director of design and communications. On Thursday, Felipe said Fuentes and her daughter defied his efforts to ascertain the state of the sparsely attended museum’s finances by withholding records, left a trail of unpaid bills exceeding $300,000 and nearly lost the building, funded by $10 million in Miami-Dade County bonds, to foreclosure.

While stressing there is no evidence of malfeasance, Felipe accused Fuentes and her daughter of “kidnapping” the museum from the board of directors and mismanaging the institution. Felipe also announced the hiring, also on an interim basis, of Ana Cristina Carrodeguas to take over Perez-Fuentes’ functions.

“We had to put this house in order,” he said, referring to himself and a group of trustees who have backed his actions.

Felipe’s version, however, was sharply contested in a lawsuit filed against him by former museum chairman Rafael Robayna and five other board members. Robayna’s group, contending they constitute a legal board majority, allege that if anyone usurped control over the museum it was Felipe. They contend Felipe acted in “rogue” fashion by firing Fuentes and her daughter and “breaking into” the building last week without board authorization.

“Mr. Felipe’s actions have caused physical damage to the facility, damage to the goodwill and reputation of the museum and the reputation of the board members has been tarnished,” the suit, filed by attorney Monica Amador, reads.

The spat over control of the museum, dubbed The Cuban, reflects a sharp split among the institution’s trustees that has resulted in two different, rival slates, each claiming to be the museum’s legitimate, legally constituted board.

Felipe contends Robayna and two others on his slate are no longer trustees because their terms expired. Robayna, who has not responded to numerous requests for comment, has alleged that two of Felipe’s supporters were suspended from the board for failure to comply with a policy requiring disclosure of conflicts of interest and thus can’t legally vote on museum matters.

Felipe says his board backed his actions on Saturday at a long-scheduled meeting at the museum. He said he had to resort to bringing a locksmith and a new security consultant to enter the museum on Friday to secure the building, change locks and alarm and computer passwords because he feared Fuentes and her daughter would resist their dismissal. The two were not in the building when he entered.

On Thursday, Felipe said the locksmith did not damage locks or doors. He said he notified Miami police of his plans in advance, and that officers who responded when the burglar alarm sounded on Friday allowed his team to proceed when he produced documents proving he was the museum chairman. Museum board members are not provided keys to the building.

“We did what we had to do,” Felipe said.

Miami police confirmed a burglar alarm went off at the museum but have been unable to provide any details on their response.

In an emailed response to questions, Fuentes suggested Felipe’s takeover was motivated by his “frustration” at having to abide by the wishes of a board majority. She denied withholding financial records and said she hopes to regain her job at the museum.

On Thursday, Felipe said one issue had been Fuentes’ refusal to fulfill a promise she made him when he joined the board to expand the museum’s mission from art and culture to encompass the history of Cuban exiles. Under his leadership, he said, the museum will open a “new chapter” and work towards a permanent exhibit on exile history, while continuing to spotlight Cuban exile art and culture as well.

He also pledged to right the museum’s financial ship, solicit donations so that it doesn’t depend wholly on taxpayer support and do a better job of publicity to boost attendance, which he acknowledged has been low.

The museum has struggled to mount exhibitions, raise private donations and attract visitors since opening two years ago. It’s also been dogged by complaints by vendors and others of unpaid bills, including the museum’s cleaning service. Others include a marketing agency that claims it’s owed $120,000. Paying off bills will be his first priority, Felipe said. He could not say how much the museum has in the bank, saying its books are incomplete and a review of its finances by a new accounting firm has just begun.

Miami-Dade auditors have also initiated an audit into management and fiscal issues at the museum, but county cultural affairs director Michael Spring says administrators have not responded to requests for information since October. Though Spring had not recommended providing the museum with administrative subsidies, saying The Cuban needed to raise its operating budget privately, a Miami-Dade Commission majority overruled him in 2017, voting to provide the museum $550,000 a year in subsidies.

Spring, however, has held back this year’s installment because the museum has not provided full documentation on how it spent the first grant.

This story was originally published February 1, 2019 at 6:00 AM.