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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Panama leader may pardon 4 Castro foes
to spite Cuba
Angry over criticism
from Havana, Panamanian President Mireya
Moscoso said she will consider a pardon
for four jailed anti-Castro Cuban exiles.
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 25, 2004.
Angered by Cuban attacks, Panamanian President
Mireya Moscoso Tuesday was considering pardoning
four anti-Castro Cuban exiles jailed in
Panama -- and ordered the ''immediate''
departure of Havana's ambassador to Panama.
In Miami, leaders of a group of exiles
who have supported the four by raising $400,000
for their defense said they were ''elated''
with Moscoso's announcement but denied reports
that they had lobbied the Panamanian president
for pardons.
The twin actions by Moscoso, whose term
expires next Monday, plunged Panama-Cuba
relations to a historic low and may leave
the incoming government of President-elect
Martin Torrijos with a diplomatic mess on
its hands.
The flare-up began when Havana accused
Panama of considering pardons for the four
men to curry favor with Cubans in Miami,
where the men have become a cause celebre
in some exile circles. The Panamanian president
was offended by the accusation.
QUICK CHANGE
''The president had not considered a pardon
. . . but now she is,'' Foreign Minister
Harmodio Arias told The Herald in a telephone
interview from Panama, indicating her shift
was an angry reaction to the Cuban complaints.
Arias added: "We are in a very cold
period on relations with Cuba. It will be
up to the new government to reconstruct
a relationship that had been very good until
Cuba wrecked it by attacking our president.''
Arias met Cuban Ambassador Carlos Zamora
Tuesday morning and handed him a note ordering
him to leave. Panama recalled its ambassador
from Havana on Monday.
The four men jailed include three Miami
exiles and Luis Posada Carriles, an El Salvador
resident labeled by Havana as its most wanted
terrorist. They were arrested in 2000 in
Panama City after President Fidel Castro,
visiting for a heads-of-state summit, alleged
at a news conference that the exiles were
plotting to kill him.
They were cleared of the murder charges
and possession of 33 pounds of explosives
but were convicted in April of endangering
the public safety and given sentences of
up to eight years in prison. Posada and
the three Miamians -- Pedro Remón,
Guillermo Novo and Gaspar Jiménez
-- claimed they were in Panama to help a
Cuban general who was to accompany Castro
and supposedly had planned to defect.
Arias said Cuba had made ''offensive''
allegations that Moscoso was in cahoots
with Miami exiles to free the four men.
On Sunday, Cuba issued a strongly worded
statement threatening to break relations
if the four convicts were pardoned.
NO LOBBYING
In Miami, Santiago Alvarez, a developer
and friend of several of the convicted men,
said he was ''elated'' with Moscoso's decision
to consider a pardon but denied any knowledge
of Miami exile efforts to lobby her before
this week.
''If there has been pressure on the part
of the Cuban community, it has not been
from me or from any of the families'' of
the jailed men, he said.
Cuban exiles did write letters to Moscoso
urging clemency for the four and met with
Panama's vice consul in Miami last year
-- before the four were convicted -- to
appeal on their behalf, Alvarez said.
Alvarez, who spearheaded the campaign to
raise funds for the men's defense along
with fellow Miami exile Ignacio Castro,
said about $400,000 had been raised.
'JUDICIAL MEANS'
''Innumerable steps have been taken at
the judicial level to win their release,
but I don't know of any steps taken before
the president of Panama,'' Ignacio Castro
said. "These were done through regular
means, judicial means, that everyone everywhere
has a right to use.''
The Cuban government asked Panama to detain
and extradite Castro -- on an unrelated
charge of plotting against Havana -- if
he showed up in Panama for the trial. He
didn't show up.
The four convicts have long been involved
in anti-Castro violence.
Posada, now about 76 years old, has at
times admitted, at times denied that he
masterminded a string of terror bombings
of Havana tourist spots in 1997. In a trial
in Venezuela, he was found not guilty of
involvement in the 1976 midair bombing of
a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people,
but escaped from prison before his retrial.
EMILIO MILIAN CASE
Jiménez served time in Mexico for
an attempted kidnapping and murder of Cuban
diplomats there. He was also indicted in
the 1976 bombing that wounded the late Miami
newsman Emilio Milián, but those
charges were dismissed.
Remón was convicted in the attempted
murder of Cuba's delegate to the United
Nations nearly 20 years ago. Novo's conviction
in the 1976 Washington murder of a leftist
Chilean diplomat was overturned on appeal.
Bill punishes Cuba travelers
Citing links to terrorism,
State Rep. David Rivera announced a proposal
to strip government benefits from Floridians
who travel to Cuba, even if they do so legally.
By Lesley Clark. lclark@herald.com.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 25, 2004.
A Miami Republican who prodded President
Bush to get tougher on Fidel Castro is one-upping
the president: He's proposing to strip food
stamps and health insurance from those who
travel to the island.
Dubbed the ''Travel and Commerce with Terrorist
Nations Act,'' a bill proposed by State
Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, would punish
those who travel -- even legally -- to Cuba
by cutting off access to Medicaid, food
stamps and housing assistance for a year.
Rivera said the legislation is aimed at
stopping recent arrivals who come to the
United States, apply for benefits and then
travel back to visit Cuba.
Though such travel is legal, Rivera argues
that the money spent on the island only
helps prop up Cuban leader Castro.
''It's an issue of gratitude,'' Rivera
said at a news conference Tuesday. "People
are sick and tired of people living here,
taking advantage of taxpayer generosity
and then providing financial support to
the Castro regime by traveling back to the
island.''
Under the bill, anyone who has lived in
Florida for less than five years and travels
to any country the U.S. Department of State
lists as a sponsor of terrorism would be
ineligible for state services for at least
a year.
Besides Cuba, the countries include Iran,
Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria and Sudan.
Because direct charter flights from Florida
to any of the other nations are essentially
nonexistent, the bill ultimately applies
only to Cuba.
Activists who favor increased contact with
the island accused Rivera of trying to rally
support for the president's travel restrictions,
which cut back exiles' trips to Cuba from
once a year to once every three years.
''It's absolutely outrageous. It's penalizing
the people and doing absolutely nothing
to speed up any changes in Cuba,'' said
Silvia Wilhelm, executive director of the
Cuban American Commission for Family Rights.
"This has nothing to do with democracy
in Cuba and everything to do with elections
in the U.S.''
A POLITICAL TIGHTROPE
The proposal illustrates the complicated
landscape Bush faces as he tries to bolster
his standing among the voting bloc of Cuban
Americans who are key to his re-election
effort.
Polls suggest that new restrictions that
limit travel and cash remittances to families
have been embraced by hard-line exiles,
who had urged Bush to take a stronger stance
against Castro or risk losing Cuban-American
support at the polls in November.
Rivera was among a dozen legislators who
wrote to Bush last summer, warning him that
Cuban Americans would be less than enthusiastic
about his re-election if he didn't tighten
sanctions on Castro. The new restrictions
went into effect in late June.
But many younger Cuban Americans have decried
the restrictions as too harsh, and Democrats
have sought to court those voters, calling
the restrictions harmful to families.
Several groups have vowed to launch voter
registration drives to register younger
Cuban Americans.
Bush is scheduled to visit Miami on Friday
for a rally at the Miami Arena as part of
his pre-Republican National Convention campaign
swing through several of the most hotly
contested battleground states. His campaign
said he will be joined by Sen. Zell Miller,
a Georgia Democrat who backs Bush and will
serve as the convention's keynote speaker.
NOT A 'CRITICISM'
By landing to Bush's right, Rivera's proposal
could help Bush underscore Republican contentions
that some Cuban Americans would eagerly
embrace even tougher restrictions than those
already enacted.
''I don't take his critics into account
because I don't think there are that many,''
said Rivera, who said his proposal should
be viewed as a ''complement,'' not a criticism,
of Bush's policy.
''With this we're looking to combat the
abuses,'' Rivera said. The president's "changes
were significant steps in the right direction,
but that does not mean we should cease looking
for ways to deny the Castro regime the hard
currency it so desperately needs to sustain
its oppressive system.''
Rivera contends the proposal is not entirely
punitive: He would direct any money unspent
on travelers to programs to purchase eyeglasses
and hearing aids for the elderly -- and
he notes that those under 18 or over 65,
disabled or pregnant would not be affected
by the legislation.
The proposal also would require all travelers
to Cuba to register with the state -- and
would slap a $10 per passenger fee on the
charter airlines that fly to the island.
A similar bill cleared the House during
the legislative session in the spring, but
died in the Senate. A spokesman for incoming
House Speaker Allan Bense said Bense hadn't
yet seen the proposal, but was willing to
consider it.
Stung by Cuba's charges, Panama pulls
ambassador
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Aug. 24, 2004.
Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso recalled
her ambassador in Cuba on Monday because
of ''offensive'' claims by Havana that she
plans to pardon four imprisoned Cuban exiles
who were convicted in connection with an
alleged plot to kill President Fidel Castro.
Panama's foreign ministry also summoned
Cuba's ambassador to Panama to a meeting
today to determine whether he will be allowed
to stay in Panama City, said ministry spokesman
Mauricio Benaim.
Moscoso's action came amid escalating complaints
by Cuba that Moscoso plans to pardon Luis
Posada Carriles -- whom Havana has called
its most wanted terrorist -- and three Cuban
Americans.
Panamanian Foreign Minister Harmodio Arias
told The Herald that Moscoso was reviewing
numerous pardon requests for prisoners,
including the four exiles, but had not yet
decided whether to grant them before her
term expires on Aug. 31.
Cuba has been complaining about the alleged
pardon plan since Aug. 12. But the breaking
point came Sunday, when Cuba issued a statement
threatening to break off relations with
Panama if the four men were pardoned.
''Cuba really disrespected us,'' Arias
said in a phone interview from Panama City.
"They went too far.''
Moscoso told reporters Monday that Panama
''cannot be subjected to interference or
threats by any foreign government.'' She
added that ''these declarations are disrespectful
and unacceptable to the dignity and sovereignty''
of her country.
Moscoso said that while recalling Panama's
ambassador did not mean an end to diplomatic
or commercial relations with Cuba, it placed
both in a delicate position.
Efforts to reach Cuban officials for comment
were unsuccessful Monday.
The four Cuban exiles, convicted in April
of endangering the public safety, were arrested
in 2000 after Castro, in Panama for a heads-of-state
summit, complained at a news conference
that the exiles were in Panama and plotting
to kill him. They were cleared of charges
of attempted murder and possession of 33
pounds of military-grade explosives.
The men have claimed they were in Panama
to help a Cuban army general defect during
Castro's visit and that they were framed
by Cuban security agents.
Pedro Remón and Guillermo Novo,
both of Miami, were sentenced to seven years.
Miamian Guillermo Jiménez and Posada
Carriles, formerly of El Salvador, got an
additional year for using false passports
to enter Panama.
Posada has both admitted and denied that
he arranged a string of terror bombings
in Havana in 1997. He has denied charges
that he was involved in the 1976 midair
bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed
73 people.
Cuba's gold-medal shoppers
Cubans are leading the
athletes' rush to load up electronics and
other usually hard-to-find goods during
their Athens stay.
By Michelle Kaufman, mkaufman@herald.com.
Posted on Wed, Aug. 25, 2004
ATHENS - It remains to be seen how many
medals Cuban athletes will rack up by the
end of these Olympics, but they are guaranteed
one first-place prize in an unofficial sport
that takes place away from the crowds and
cameras, in the aisles of Carrefour, Europe's
answer to Wal-Mart.
Walk into the Carrefour on Kifissias Avenue
any afternoon during these Games, and you
are bound to find Cuban Olympians shopping
alongside athletes from other countries,
loading up on electronics and small kitchen
appliances. Shoppers can pick up everything
from fresh octopus to bed frames at this
vast store, and Olympians are showing up
in big numbers.
Asked which country's Olympians would win
the gold if there were a medal for shopping,
Akis Roumbakis, a salesman in the electronics
department, instantly had an answer.
''Cuba, definitely. Cuba gets the gold,''
Roumbakis said. "There are Cuban athletes
in here every day, buying and looking at
DVD players, small televisions, microwave
ovens, cameras, all kinds of electronics.
The silver would probably go to Great Britain;
lots of them come in here, too. And bronze
would go to the African nations like Kenya
and Uganda, places where maybe athletes
don't have as much selection in the stores
as we have here.''
Roumbakis estimated that he sells 10 to
15 DVD players a day to Olympians, and many
of them are being scooped up by Cubans.
The most expensive purchase he could recall
was a 32-inch flat screen TV that a British
athlete bought for 700 Euros (U.S. $850).
Monday afternoon, two groups of Cuban athletes
and officials walked out of Carrefour with
shopping carts loaded with big boxes and
bags bursting at the seams. They declined
to be interviewed.
'LIKE A TRADITION'
Tuesday, 19-year-old Cuban boxer Yoan Hernandez
Suarez roamed the electronics department,
testing the stereos.
''This is like a tradition among us, to
shop when we travel,'' said Suarez, who
bought an electric fryer and a DVD player
earlier in the week. "It's fun. I have
the possibility as an athlete to go to interesting
places, so I always bring home gifts for
my family and friends. I just have them
shipped right in the boxes.''
Suarez would not say how much money he
planned to spend. "The prices here
are a little high, so I'll have to see what
I can afford.''
A few aisles away, Korean fencer Byung
Chul Choi was buying stereo headphones.
Algerian judoka Sami Belgroun was checking
out laptop computers and video recorders.
And marathoner Abel Chimukoko of Zimbabwe
loaded his basket with children's shoes,
light bulbs and pencils, and shopped for
a satellite television receiver.
''This is like the Olympic village in here,''
Chimukoko said. "Amazing that in one
store I can look around and see athletes
from Cuba, Korea, Indonesia, Algeria and
Colombia. For me, it is nice to shop when
I travel because I can find things cheaper
than in Zimbabwe. I also like making purchases
in each place I go because it is a nice
souvenir to remember the competition.''
GATHERING PLACE
A few members of the Colombian delegation
were purchasing digital cameras Tuesday.
They said their athletes had already been
in the store and left with DVD players,
cameras and TV sets.
''You can see this store from the main
Olympic stadium, so everyone knows it's
here,'' said Eduardo Gonzalez, a Colombian
taekwondo trainer. "Everyone in the
village talks about this place, and every
time we've come, we've seen athletes from
all over.''
Roumbakis, the Carrefour salesman, said
he is enjoying meeting the athletes from
around the world, and talking to them about
everything from sports to politics.
''I think for the athletes from places
like Cuba and Africa, where it's hard to
get electronics, shopping in a place like
this is a great escape,'' he said. "You
can tell how much fun they're having when
they walk out of the store with their big
bags.''
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