|
Yahoo! March
19, 2003.
Cuba Cracks Down on Dissidents, Diplomats
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. Wed Mar 19, 5:20 AM
ET
HAVANA - Already frayed Cuba-U.S. relations unraveled further as the
communist government announced the detentions of several dozen opponents and
confirmed that U.S. diplomats may no longer move freely around the island.
An official statement read on state television's evening news Tuesday
accused the chief of Washington's diplomatic mission in Havana, James Cason, of
trying "to foment the internal counterrevolution."
"No nation, no matter how powerful, has the right to organize, finance
and serve as a center for subverting the constitutional order," the
statement said.
Offices at the U.S. Interests Section were closed late Tuesday and attempts
to reach American diplomats here for comment were unsuccessful.
In Washington, a State Department official said that American authorities
had not yet had time to study Havana's announcement. State Department officials
last week had reported the travel restrictions on its diplomats in Havana, but
the Cuban government did not confirm the new measures until Tuesday.
The Cuban statement did not describe the restrictions, but U.S. officials
have said that American diplomats here must now get prior approval to travel
outside the 434-mile area that includes Havana and surrounding Havana Province —
less than 5 percent of the largest island in the Caribbean.
Previously, U.S. diplomats had to notify Cuban officials when they traveled
outside the Havana region, but no advance approval was necessary.
American government sources said they believe Cuba wants to cut back on the
extensive travels here by Cason, who has logged more than 6,200 miles since
arriving here in the fall.
Washington last week imposed similar travel restrictions on Cuban diplomats
in the United States, saying it was responding to Havana's move.
Veteran human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez said by telephone late
Tuesday that he had confirmed the detentions of at least 10 dissidents and was
working to confirm reports of another 20 or so picked up by state security
agents. No other information about the detentions was immediately available.
Havana's actions are just the latest in an increasingly ugly exchanges
between the two governments, which have had no regular diplomatic relations for
more than four decades.
The U.S. Interests Section here opened on Sept. 1, 1977 during the Carter
administration to provide a minimum of communications between Washington and
Havana. A similar Cuban Interests Section operates in Washington.
Havana in recent weeks has become increasingly incensed with Cason, who last
month made a high-profile visit to a meeting of dissidents and spoke with
international journalists gathered there. Cuban authorities have accused him of
undiplomatic behavior.
Since arriving here about six months ago, Cason has met with opposition
members around the island and last week allowed a group of dissident journalists
to use his official residence for a meeting.
Cason has said he is merely trying to promote democracy and human rights in
the Caribbean nation.
"The Cuban government is afraid — afraid of freedom of conscience,
afraid of freedom of expression, afraid of human rights," Cason told
journalists during last month's meeting with the opposition.
President Fidel Castro responded shortly thereafter by criticizing Cason's
public comments and suggested — as he has done several times in the past —
that he could close the American mission. "Anyone can see that this is a
shameless and a defiant provocation," Castro said of Cason.
The State Department protested Castro's criticisms of Cason as "derogatory."
Cuban officials have also become increasingly upset about a new solitary
confinement lockdown on five convicted Cuban spies serving time in American
prisons.
The five were convicted in Miami of trying to infiltrate U.S. military bases
and Cuban exile groups in Florida. Their sentences range from 15 years to life.
Cuban authorities have lionized the men as patriotic heroes and say they
were merely working to prevent Cuban exile groups from launching terrorist acts
against their homeland.
A look at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba
By The Associated Press. Wed Mar 19, 6:18 AM ET
HAVANA - The U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, overseen by chief officer James
Cason, opened Sept. 1, 1977 during the administration of then-U.S. President
Jimmy Carter to provide a minimum of communications between Washington and
Havana.
Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed in January
1961, two years after Fidel Castro came to power with the triumph of the Cuban
revolution. Over the subsequent 16 years, Washington was represented in Cuba by
the Swiss Embassy.
Cuba also has an Interests Section in Washington. Although the Cuban
Interests Section initially was represented by what was then the Czechoslovak
Embassy, both missions now currently operate under the Swiss embassies in the
two capitals.
The seven-story American mission on the Malecon, the city's coastal
boulevard, handles U.S. visa requests for Cubans and provides passport and other
services to the estimated 2,700 Americans living here, as well as emergency
services for visiting U.S. citizens.
The U.S. Interests Section is concerned primarily with carrying out American
migration policies on the island and has processed more than 125,000 visa and
refugee status applications since 1994 under U.S.-Cuba migration accords.
American diplomats working in Cuba are limited to 51 under a reciprocal
agreement setting personnel ceilings. U.S. officials and family members here
number fewer than 100.
Although the chief officer post is ambassador level, presidential
nominations to that position do not require the same kind of congressional
confirmation
Cason, formerly of the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere
Affairs, assumed leadership of the section in September. He replaced Vicky
Huddleston, who served here three years before nominated U.S. ambassador to
Mali.
Seven Cubans detained in Honduras on way to the United States
Mon Mar 17, 1:11 PM ET
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Seven Cubans were found on Honduras' Caribbean coast
searching for food and water on their way to the United States, officials said
Monday.
The small boat carrying the six men and one woman landed on Honduras' coast
late Sunday in Puerto Cortes, 150 miles (250 kms) north of Tegucigalpa. The
Cubans were being questioned by migration officials.
In the last five years, at least 50 Cubans have traveled through Honduras on
their way to the United States.
Also Monday, the Honduran government was searching for 11 other Cubans who
received temporary permission to live in Honduras. On March 7, they broke out a
window of a migration office where they were being held and escaped.
Honduras renewed diplomatic ties with Cuba in 2002, after 41 years of
silence between the two countries. | 
