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CUBA
NEWS
Yahoo!
Cuban speaker defends crakdown of dissidents
to American editors
HAVANA, 5 (AP) - Cuba's parliament speaker
defended a crackdown on 75 activists last
year, telling a group of American newspaper
editors Monday that Cuba's internal security
is more important than its image abroad.
The dissidents were sentenced to terms
of six to 28 years last March after they
were charged with working for the United
States to undermine the communist government
of Fidel Castro. Washington denies the allegations,
and they have said their only crime was
speaking their mind.
Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National
Assembly, repeated that the 75 were mercenaries
working to subvert the island's socialist
system.
"Are you just supposed to cross your
arms and let a big power plot against you?"
Alarcon asked. "We have to defend ourselves,
we have to protect ourselves."
"No nation can base its conduct relating
to fundamental national security based on
how the media might reflect what you do,"
he said.
Alarcon made the comments at a meeting
with the board of directors for The Associated
Press Managing Editors, which represents
1,700 newspapers in the United States and
Canada. The board arrived here Sunday for
a two-day stay after visiting Mexico, where
they met with President Vicente Fox.
Earlier Monday, the group had separate
private briefings with Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque and James Cason, chief
of the U.S. Interests Section - the American
mission here. They also met with several
dissidents during their visit, which ends
early Tuesday.
Governments and rights groups condemned
Cuba a year ago this month when the activists
were sentenced. They all remain behind bars.
Debate over the issue has been renewed
with last month's anniversary of the arrests
and a proposed vote on Cuba's rights record
by the U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting
in Geneva.
Honduras announced last week that it would
sponsor the resolution, to be taken up by
the United Nations body in mid-April.
Alarcon also expressed dismay about U.S.
officials' decision to cancel regular migration
talks scheduled for Havana in January. He
said it was another sign the two countries
were headed toward confrontation.
"I don't have any hope the talks will
resume," Alarcon said. The meetings
were the highest level contact between the
two countries that haven't had diplomatic
relations for more than four decades.
Held every six months, the meetings were
established to monitor 1994 and 1995 accords
designed to promote legal, orderly migration
between the two countries - and prevent
a mass exodus, as in 1994 when tens of thousands
of Cubans took to the sea in flimsy vessels
for Florida.
The United States said it suspended the
talks because of Cuba's repeated refusal
to discuss key issues, while Cuba blamed
the suspension on U.S. presidential election
politics.
"Clearly it is a concession to those
(Cuban exiles) in Miami who have been pushing
for the elimination of the migration agreements,"
Alarcon said.
Oliver Stone Goes 'Looking for Fidel'
By Frazier Moore, Ap Television
Writer. Tue Apr 6.
NEW YORK - It's not so surprising that
Oliver Stone, a director whose incendiary
world view sparked such features as "JFK"
and "Natural Born Killers," would
be drawn to Fidel Castro. Here's another
tough guy with whom he could compare notes
on running the show.
In "Looking for Fidel," his new
HBO documentary that premieres 8 p.m. EDT
April 14, Stone not only looked for Fidel
but hung with him last spring.
"Looking for Fidel" is billed
as a follow-up to "Comandante,"
Stone's 2003 documentary on the Cuban leader.
But from the standpoint of HBO viewers,
who were spared "Comandante" when
the network yanked it before its scheduled
airdate a year ago, the new film will serve
as Stone's first exploration.
"Comandante" resulted from three
days Stone spent with Castro in early 2002.
But that film's currency was undone last
spring when the Cuban government abruptly
cracked down on its opposition, arresting
some 75 political dissidents and executing
three men convicted of hijacking a passenger
ferry to get to the United States.
No less a defect: "Comandante"
was a barely coherent vanity production
placing the filmmaker at its core while
dabbling with the question: Who's that old
fellow with the beard beside Oliver Stone?
By contrast, the new film, though hampered
by stylishly fidgety camera work and choppy
editing, willingly shares the stage with
its nominal subject. Returning to Cuba last
May for more face time with Castro, Stone
came away with a much more balanced portrait.
Then 76 and for nearly 45 years in control
of the Western Hemisphere's only communist
state, Castro radiates grandiosity spiced
with a my-hands-are-tied brand of denial.
When Stone refers to his lengthy regime,
Castro (with whom Stone communicates through
a translator) declares, "I am not the
one in power. It is the people who are in
power."
In a remarkable interlude, Stone questions
eight men who were arrested after attempting
to hijack a plane to the U.S., all under
the appraising eye of Castro seated off
to the side.
Stone inquires why they made the attempt.
Economic reasons, they say.
Facing life sentences, they are asked by
Stone to propose a just penalty. One man
says 30 years "would match the seriousness
of our crime." No one asks for less
than that.
Then Castro speaks up: "If you had
the responsibility," he asks the group,
"what would YOU do to prevent a wave
of hijackings that could cost many lives
and even a war? ... You all understand that
the country had to take certain measures."
"Of course, absolutely," says
one of the men, nodding agreeably.
At the end of the session, Castro, noting
that "I am not a judge," reminds
the accused, "We do not throw people
in jail for vengeance," and wishes
them the best at their trials.
All would be found guilty, the viewer is
told, with five of them sentenced to life.
While the new wave of illegal emigration
and other crimes against the state must
be nipped in the bud, says Castro, he denies
that political dissidents are targets of
systematic government harassment.
Stone has no trouble finding others to
dispute that view. He interviews activists,
wives of imprisoned journalists, the mother
of one of the executed hijackers.
"This country has enormous capacity
for propaganda, and it can offer a facade
that has nothing to do with the true Cuba,
the real Cuba," says Elizardo Sanchez,
president of a national human rights commission.
Castro responds that the 75 "prisoners
of conscience" should be regarded as
U.S.-funded mercenaries. He argues that
he must defend himself against the U.S.,
which, he says, finances Cuba's dissident
population and is eager to engineer his
own downfall.
It was always his life's destiny - though
not his preference - to be at war with the
United States, says Castro. And he adds
he isn't going anywhere: "I am not
willing to please Mr. Bush."
Repeatedly, Stone asks Castro if he has
considered not stepping down, but just stepping
aside. The closest Castro comes to answering:
If he thought that was the right thing,
he would do so.
Near the end of the one-hour film, Castro
takes Stone to the streets, where they wade
through a sea of cheering admirers.
One man pledges to be part of the ongoing
struggle to defeat "Yankee imperialism."
"But they have lots of bombers and
bombs," Castro reminds him.
"Comandante," the man replies
defiantly, "beneath the shadow of those
planes we are able to fight. And we are
able to resist. And we will be able to win!"
On the Net:
www.hbo.com
Hospital Releases Last Of 3 Surviving
Migrants
Wed Apr 7. WPLG
Click10.com
The most seriously ill of three Cuban migrants
who survived a treacherous journey to the
United States has recovered enough to be
released from a hospital.
Milena Gonzalez was released from Holy
Cross Hospital Tuesday. The two other migrants,
William Villavicencio Perez, 31, and Carlos
Bringier Hernandez, 38, were released last
week.
Gonzalez was the most seriously ill following
the eight-day voyage to South Florida on
inner tubes. She suffered severe dehydration
and other complications during the trip.
The three migrants were pulled ashore March
25 as they struggled in high seas off Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.
Five others who left Cuba with them died
at sea. One of them was Gonzalez's husband,
who she said was the first to die, four
days before they made it to shore.
Gonzalez, Perez and Hernandez are being
processed immigration officials who will
determine their right to pursue residency
in the United States.
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