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Posted on Thu, Mar. 20, 2003 in The Miami Herald.
35 Cuban dissidents arrested
Crackdown primarily targets journalists and librarians
By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com
More than 30 Cuban dissidents have been arrested in what analysts describe
as the largest crackdown on the opposition movement in recent times.
The arrests began Tuesday night. By Wednesday afternoon, at least 35 people
-- primarily, independent journalists and librarians -- had been taken into
custody.
Some analysts linked the timing to the war in Iraq, when news of the arrests
in the United States and elsewhere is likely to be overshadowed, if not ignored.
The librarians are private citizens who have turned their homes into reading
rooms where Cuban citizens can read unauthorized, so-called
''counter-revolutionary'' literature. Among them are books by Martin Luther King
and Vaclav Havel, and Animal Farm by George Orwell.
'ACT OF INTIMIDATION'
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher described the
arrests as ''an appalling act of intimidation'' and called on the international
community and the United Nations Human Rights Commission, in particular, to
condemn the action and demand immediate release of the detainees.
Most of those arrested have participated in activities organized by the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana, including a gathering last week at the home of
James Cason, the principal U.S. diplomat in Cuba.
The government blamed Cason for the arrests and accused him of trying to
''foment the internal counter-revolution.'' The detainees, the government said,
were linked to ''conspiratorial acts'' carried out by Cason, whom Fidel Castro
has called "a bully with diplomatic immunity.''.
TV REPORT
In an unusual move, state-run television reported the detentions and said
those in custody were being held for ''provocations'' and ''subversive
activities.'' Cuba considers opponents on the island to be paid U.S. agents and
the U.S. Interests Section a command post for activities aimed at dismantling
the socialist system.
''Those measures are being taken against people who are working at the
service of the United States,'' said Juan Hernández-Acén, a
spokesman at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. "It's a proven fact
that they are paid and act at the direction of the interests section.''
''The United States has taken similar measures against people they consider
to be risks to national security, isn't that so?,'' Hernández-Acén
added.
"Cason has given them financial support and equipment.''
The gathering at Cason's home involved 34 independent Cuban journalists who
took part in a workshop on ethics. Last month, Cason drew verbal wrath from the
Cuban government when he attended a meeting of about 40 dissidents at the home
Martha Beatriz Roque and declared that Cuba was ''afraid'' of freedom of
conscience, expression and human rights.
INVITATION
Roque, who is on a hunger strike to call attention to the plight of
political prisoners, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But in a
written statement sent to The Herald, she said: "Yes, I invited Cason, but
also diplomats from the European Union, Canada and Chile. The only one who
challenged the government was Cason. I invited them all because diplomats
interact with civil society in all countries.''
Following Cason's remarks, Castro warned that he might be forced to shut
down the interests section.
Other government opponents described the crackdown as an act of terror and
said the Cuban government had succeeded in creating a sense of fear.
''People are scared,'' prominent dissident Vladimiro Roca, who was released
from jail last year after serving nearly five years on charges of sedition, said
Wednesday by phone. "I see this as an act to terrify the people and
dissidents who are trying to find a solution to this situation through peaceful
means.''
MORE ARRESTS
''I think the detentions will continue and there will be more reprisals,''
Roca said, adding that he would not be surprised if authorities arrested him as
well. "The government has proven that when it's decided to carry out a
terrorist campaign like this, there's nothing that can stop it.''
Besides Cason's actions, a number of other incidents have contributed to the
increasingly strained relations between the U.S. and Cuba, including:
- A public endorsement by Secretary of State Colin Powell in January of
leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá, coordinator of a petition drive
seeking democratic reforms.
- Last month's release of a State Department report accusing Cuba of a
harassment campaign against diplomats in Havana involving vandalism,
surveillance, sexual entrapment and petty crimes.
- The White House's use of a veto threat in February that succeeded in
stripping language in a spending bill that would have eased the four-decades-old
U.S. embargo on Cuba.
Antonio Jorge, a professor of economics and international relations at
Florida International University and an expert on Cuba, said the crackdown is a
typical Fidel Castro tactic.
''He's using this as a bargaining chip so he can get concessions such as a
relaxation in the travel ban,'' Jorge said.
Herald writer Larissa Ruiz Campo contributed to this report.
Men detained for Cuban hijacking wanted asylum, official said
By JULIENNE GAGE. Associated Press Writer
KEY WEST, Fla. - (AP) -- Six men hijacked a Cuban airliner at knifepoint and
diverted it to the Florida Keys to seek asylum in the United States, a U.S.
official said Thursday.
From early questioning, investigators believe the hijackers took control of
the plane without telling the 25 passengers and six crew members about their
asylum plans, said Jacqueline Becerra, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Miami.
Officials said the six took control of the twin-engine Douglas DC-3 as it
headed from Cuba's Isle of Youth to Havana late Wednesday and diverted it to Key
West.
The crew and passengers, including five children, were taken to the Krome
Detention Center in Miami-Dade County early Thursday for questioning after being
held behind closed doors at Key West International Airport, the FBI said.
Becerra did now know if any passengers or crew members had requested asylum
after arriving in Key West. Under federal law, Cubans who arrive on U.S. soil
are generally allowed to remain if they desire. FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela
had no additional comment.
Meanwhile, the six alleged hijackers were being held at the Monroe County
jail Thursday and were expected to be arraigned on federal charges, Becerra
said.
The United States has jurisdiction to prosecute the men under air piracy
laws because the plane was taken to and landed in the United States, she said.
Air piracy carries a minimum prison term of 20 years.
Of the 37 people on the plane, 36 are Cuban and one is Italian, said Barbara
Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
The FBI identified the alleged hijackers as Alvenis Arias Izquierdo, 24;
Alexis Norniella Morales, 31; Eduardo Javier Mejias Morales, 26; Nevdis Infante
Hernandez, 31; Yainer Olivares Samon, 21; and Maikol Guerra Morales, 25.
Shortly after the airplane took off, the hijackers, some armed with knives,
took control of the plane by breaking down the cockpit door, removing four of
the crew and restraining them with tape and rope, Orihuela said. They then
ordered the two pilots to fly to Key West, she said.
Air traffic controllers at Miami International Airport spotted the plane on
radar about 7:45 p.m. They were unable to make voice contact, FAA spokeswoman
Kathleen Bergen said.
Fighter jets scrambled from Homestead Air Force Reserve Base and a U.S.
Customs Black Hawk helicopter escorted the blue and white plane to Key West,
Bergen said. The plane landed safely at 8:06 p.m.
The hijackers surrendered to airport police on the tarmac without incident,
airport manager Peter Horton said. None of the passengers or crew were injured.
''The hijackers were separated fairly quickly from the passengers and crew.
Everyone's OK,'' Monroe sheriff's spokeswoman Becky Herrin said. "Nobody
tried ... anything.''
Jose Hernandez, a Cuban-American who works for a shuttle service to Key
West's airport, said he heard the hijacked plane and the scrambled jets flying
overhead Wednesday night.
''We're naturally shocked,'' said Hernandez, 54. "There was a couple of
planes guiding them in. There was security, but still, by the time they find
them they are in our air space. That's naturally scary. You never know, you
figure this is an aircraft from an enemy country.''
The plane took off from Nueva Gerona, the principal city on the small Isle
of Youth, according to Leonardo Pena, a Cuban civil aviation official. The Isle
of Youth is about 85 miles south-southwest of Havana and about 185 miles
south-southwest of Key West.
Pena did not know who owned the plane, but Florida officials said it was
owned by Aerotaxi.
State-owned Cubana Airlines provides passenger service between Nueva Gerona
and Havana, but it uses Soviet-era Antonov AN-24 planes.
Cuban plane flown to U.S.; six arrested in hijacking
By Jennifer Babson, Luisa Yanez and William Yardle.
jbabson@herald.com
KEY WEST - Authorities here arrested six Cuban men Wednesday night after
they allegedly hijacked a Cuban domestic flight at knife point. The plane,
carrying 37 people including the alleged hijackers, landed safely in Key West
under the escort of U.S. fighter jets.
The scheduled flight, a normally brief Cuban Aerotaxi route from Cuba's Isle
of Youth to Havana, had been diverted north toward Florida when it was spotted
at 7:42 p.m. by air-traffic controllers in Miami, according to the Federal
Aviation Administration.
Six men in their 20s from the Isle of Youth produced four kitchen knives and
said they wanted to go to Key West.
Fighter jets from Homestead Air Reserve Base escorted the plane to a runway
at Key West International Airport at 8:06 p.m. It was met on the runway by
officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and local law
enforcement.
''There's been a peaceful resolution,'' said FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela.
The alleged hijackers were not immediately identified, nor was their motive.
Also aboard were a pilot, copilot, four other crew members and 25 other
passengers -- 12 men, eight women and five children. None were harmed.
The incident follows a series of dramatic crossings from Cuba in recent
months, one on a stolen government cargo plane and another on a Cuban border
guard patrol boat.
SEEMED CORDIAL
Robert Gray, a pilot for Cape Air, landed at Key West minutes before the
hijacked DC-3. He heard the DC-3 pilot radio the tower to report what kind of
plane he had. He wanted to know if the runway was large enough. ''It seemed
cordial,'' he said.
Kathleen Bergen, a spokesperson for the FAA, said the plane was first
spotted on the radar of the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center that handles
''high-altitude, long-range flights.'' The control center is located northwest
of Miami International Airport and is separate from the airport's control tower.
Before it landed, two Air Force F-15 fighter jets from Homestead scrambled
to intercept the DC-3. ''The two jets shadowed the plane until it landed in Key
West,'' said Lt. Col. Barry Venable, spokesman for the North American Aerospace
Defense Command, or NORAD.
Planes such as DC-3s are supposed to be quickly detected by the Air Defense
Identification Zone, or ADIZ, an area of airspace around the U.S. monitored
closely by radar.
On the day the U.S. launched a war, and with the country on ''Orange
Alert,'' Venable said the incident marked ''just another day'' for NORAD.
''This reflects the state of normalcy we are now under,'' Venable said.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, NORAD has detected 1,040 air space security incidents.
''None are routine,'' Venable said.
Buried deep in Cheyenne Mountain west of Colorado Springs, NORAD monitors
air space over North America and air activity around the world.
DIFFERENT REACTIONS
Some of the passengers looked upset, others relaxed.
Authorities frisked passengers and used dogs to check for explosives. An
airport employee said the plane was carrying a large amount of luggage. The
plane was moved from the tarmac at about 9:30 p.m., nearly 90 minutes after it
landed. The passengers were being interviewed by federal authorities late
Wednesday night.
The pilot and most of the passengers had already declared they wanted to
return to Cuba, according to a source at the airport.
It was not immediately known if the alleged hijackers' goal was to defect to
the United States. Though Cubans who reach U.S. soil are usually allowed to
stay, Orihuela said the six people arrested Wednesday night will be prosecuted
on federal hijacking charges -- meaning they could face prison sentences.
CARGO PLANE
On Nov. 11, eight Cuban migrants seeking to defect took a cargo plane, a
Russian-built Antonov-2, from an airfield in Cuba and landed it in Key West. Two
F-15s from Homestead escorted that plane. The defectors -- a pilot and his
extended family -- were released to relatives in Miami.
Last month, four armed defectors from Cuba's border guard left their patrol
outside Havana and hours later turned up with their boat in Key West. They also
were released.
Aerotaxi is one of four state-owned Cuban airlines. The others are Cubana de
Aviación, Aerogaviota and Aerocaribbean. Aerotaxi has 4 DC-3s, 41 AN-2s
and five MI-8 helicopters. It covers domestic routes.
Herald staff writers Charles Rabin, Tere Figueras and Renato Pérez
contributed to this report.
Ferry may go to Cuba April 15
TAMPA - (AP) -- A ferry filled with medical supplies, cancer drugs,
computers and other humanitarian supplies could be on its way to Cuba on April
15 if it gets government permission.
Owners of the M/S Scotia Prince, which makes weekly round trips from Tampa
to Yucatán, Mexico, have been trying for months to get approval to use
the 475-foot vessel to deliver humanitarian aid -- and possibly passengers -- to
Cuba.
Approval from the U.S. and Cuban governments has not come yet, but company
chairman Matthew Hudson said Wednesday that several humanitarian groups have
lined up to send supplies to the island nation on a proposed voyage April 15.
Donations include computer equipment for hospitals, dental chairs, X-ray
machines, playground equipment and vials of a drug to treat breast cancer.
Hudson said he met recently with government officials in Cuba and is still
awaiting approval from the U.S. government. ''We don't know what they're going
to do,'' he said.
U.S. Treasury officials did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment.
Because of a trade embargo imposed four decades ago, the U.S. government
prohibits Americans from traveling to Cuba from U.S. ports as tourists.
Hudson has proposed taking two trips in April with humanitarian supplies. He
said that if the ship is allowed to carry passengers, only people with relatives
in Cuba or others licensed by the government to visit could make the trip. | 
