Message for Emilio and Gloria Estefan.
We have had our misunderstandings in the past, but now (as you can see from the letter to President Obama in this blog)it is a matter of life and death.
I have been threatened with death as a result of the video I published about you.
For those who have followed the story and paid attention to the videos, they will understand that my aim was to draw your attention to things that had happened to me with your company because I believed you were unaware.
Ever since Ralph Mercado recommended you to me, and spoke about your work, I have held you in the highest esteem. Emilio, you were always my hero.
Please read the letter in this Blog and I hope you will be moved to act.
President Barak Obama,
White House, Washington DC
Dear Mr President,
My name is Dalva Burri. I am a Brazilian singer – stage name Dalva D.
I have received three death threats as a result of a video I published on Youtube.com in which the lawyer for Emilio and Gloria Estefan confirms that they are aware of illegal and questionable activities in their organisation.
This situation started when I went to Miami to record a CD with the producers Ricardo and Alberto Gaitan of Estefan Enterprises, the production company of Gloria Estefan and her husband Emilio.
I found out that the producers were planning to defraud me of $200,000. In investigating further I found out about a lot more illegal and questionable activities going on in the Estefan’s organisation.
When I challenged the producers with what they were doing, they admitted it in writing.
I could not believe that the Estefans were knowingly involved in these things, so I tried to inform them privately and personally, in order to avoid embarrassment for them; but I was rebuffed by their staff and lawyers at every turn. I informed the FBI of what I knew. The FBI treated me with every respect, but said that they were not empowered to inform Mr Estefan.
Still believing that the Estefans were being kept in the dark, I turned to the power of the internet.
I wrote a Blog describing what had happened and what I had found out, and published videos on Youtube.com . I publicised these widely. There have been thousands of views of my videos.
I told the Estefans, through their lawyers, what I was doing.
It has always been open to them to sue me in court to stop me, if they think I am not telling the truth. I gave them my address, passport details, and telephone numbers at the start and have always told them in advance what I was going to publish.
They have never tried to stop me because they know I am telling the truth, and finally in a telephone conversation, their Company Lawyer, Jesse Abad, admitted this by saying that Emilio and Gloria knew what was going on, and saying that they and the company only wanted the best for my future! It is a recording of part of this conversation that I published in the Youtube video.
Rather than receiving a court order or a lawyer’s letter, I received three death threats via the Youtube video.
I used to spend most of my time in Spain, so it was there that I received the death threats.
I reported these to the Spanish National Police. They take the matter very seriously, and submitted an eleven page document to the Spanish courts asking for authorisation to pursue the case by requiring Youtube to open its records to aid in proving the identity of the person making the Threats.
The judge presiding, inexplicably and illogically, denied the authorisation saying the police need to identify, by name, the person making the threats, in the documentation presented to the court. So to have permission to find the answer to the question, you need to know the answer already!
I subsequently contacted the FBI, the Miami Beach Police, and the US Embassy in Brazil. Everyone that I contacted confirmed that the only way the law enforcement agencies in America or Spain can investigate the matter or act to protect me is after I have been attacked!
Meanwhile I live under the threat of death. Just in the last couple of weeks it has been reported in the world `s press the case of a Brazilian woman called Eliza Samudio, who was threatened in October 2009. She reported the matter to the police, who were unable to act, and as a result she was found murdered this June, 2010. Only after her death are the police investigating!
Obviously I do not want to suffer a similar fate, so I need someone with the influence to insist that my case is taken seriously by the court to issue a search warrant. Youtube have already sent me an email stating that they will release the information if they receive a Court Order.
I find it hard to believe that Gloria or Emilio Estefan would personally lower themselves to issue death threats, but they have the power and the influence to find out who this person is. It is impossible for me, or anyone, to talk to them without the permission of their company personnel, who have always refused it.
But Emilio Estefan is working closely with you and the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, on a project related to a Museum for the American Latino. For this reason, I thought it possible that if you and your staff knew of my situation, you might be able to help bring about a peaceful resolution.
Please can you help me?
Yours truly,
Dalva Burri
