May 12, 1997

NEWS FROM THE INDEPENDENT PRESS AGENCY IN CUBA

1) New rules and regulations will apply to taxi drivers.

2) Political police harasses woman opposition activist.

3) Young man from Camaguey province is beaten.

4) Dissident mathematician is threatened with severe punishment.

5) Elderly political prisoner remains confined in Bayamo.

6) Several political prisoners are set free in Santiago de Cuba.

7) Dangerous brew is being sold at Segundo Frente Oriental.

8) New independent news agency is founded in Santiago de Cuba.

9) Poor road conditions in eastern sector.

10) Santiago motorcyclists are harassed by police.

1) New rules and regulations will apply to taxi drivers.

HAVANA, May 8th, 1997 (APIC).- Starting June 1st, private taxi drivers must identify their cars by painting the car's exterior in a specific color. They will also have to incorporate a fee for taxi service. These measure will affect, of course, the private taxi drivers, those commonly called "boteros", who only charge 10 pesos for taking their passengers from one corner to the other corner of the city, something which contrasts with the state taxis, rented out to a driver who, in his spare time, will hire out only to those who can pay him 20 or more pesos for a trip.

If you take into account the difficulties with transportation in this city, with the measures being applied to private taxi drivers and the situation faced by the state taxis, there's enough to prove the measures of coercion, applied by the authorities, to drown out free enterprise in this type of service.

Reported by Lucas Garve.

2) Political police harasses woman opposition activist.

HAVANA, May 8, 1997 (APIC).- Six officers from the political police went to the home of Dulce Maria de Quesada Lopez, general secretary for the Christian Democrats Party, on May 1st. Two women and one man told her, in an authoritarian tone, that she was not to leave the house. "I don't have a master, and I don't accept orders from anyone. And tell whoever gave you the order, to come here and tell me in person", said Dulce Maria de Quesada, who is also the record keeper for the College of Pedagogy in Cuba, in an interview with APIC.

Reported by Lucas Garve.

3) Young man from Camaguey province is beaten.

HAVANA, May 8, 1997 (APIC). Four officers from the National Revolutionary Police in Camaguey severely beat with their batons, a young man by the name of Alexander Izquierdo Ruiz, in the neighborhood of La Guernica, in this city.

The young man was traveling along with another man, when two agents from the Revolutionary National Police started shooting, thereby putting their lives, as well as other pedestrians', in danger. The officers caught up with Izquierdo Ruiz, who was then subjected to a severe beating with the batons, something which provoked the witnesses to start yelling at the officers, who repelled the crowd by pointing their guns at the protesters. Izquierdo Ruiz received a fractured ankle, and several bruises throughout his body. He was later detained at the Third Police Unit without being previously examined by a doctor, said sources of the Christian Democrats in Camaguey.

Reported by Lucas Garve.

4) Dissident mathematician is threatened with severe punishment.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, May 8, 1997 (APIC, Turquino bureau).- Political prisoner Juan Carlos Castillo Pasto remains confined at La Caoba prison, in the town of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba province. Castillo Pasto, a licensed mathematician, was sentenced to an 8-year prison term in case #11 of 1993.

The 50-year old political prisoner, a resident of Los Maceos Street, #54, in Santiago de Cuba, has a heart condition and has just learned that he will be transferred to Kilo 8, an institution known for its severity, due to his stance as an unrepentant political prisoner.

Reported by Nicolas Rosario Rosabal.

5) Elderly political prisoner remains confined in Bayamo.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, May 8, 1997 (APIC, Turquino agency).- Felix Tiburcio Ramirez, 65-year old resident of Pilon, Manzanillo, remains confined in Las Mangas Nuevas prison, serving an 8-year sentence for enemy propaganda in case 59 of 1991.

Tiburcio Ramirez suffers from chronic neuritis, with considerable loss of vision, and his health is rapidly deteriorating.

Reported by Nicolas Rosario Rosabal.

6) Several political prisoners are set free in Santiago de Cuba.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, May 8, 1997 (APIC, Turquino agency).- The Cuban government has recently released, under parole, several political prisoners in Santiago de Cuba, after serving more than half their respective sentences.

Some of the freed prisoners are: Raul Silot Sanchez, from Boniato prison; Avelino Alvatez Tatse, also from Boniato, and Robert Mores Justiz, from Las Mangas prison, in Bayamo.

Reported by Nicolas Rosario Rosabal.

7) Dangerous brew is being sold at Segundo Frente Oriental.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, May 8, 1997 (APIC, Turquino agency).- They've informed us, from the Segundo Frente Oriental Frank Pais, Santiago de Cuba province, that an alcoholic beverage known as dry creme is causing stomach problems and harmful effects to the population.

The beverage, popularly called Paquito, is being brewed and sold by the Basic Economic Units, in this eastern municipality.

According to a local source, Public Health officials are aware of this matter, even that some people younger than 60, who had died due to heart attacks, had been detected with the ethyl smelling breath of the mentioned brew.

Reported by Nicolas Rosario Rosabal.

8) New independent news agency is founded in Santiago de Cuba.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, May 8, 1997 (APIC), Turquino agency).- Caribe Press is the name of the newly formed independent press agency, whose director is journalist and newscaster Enrique Copello Veliz.

Caribe Press agency consists of five local journalists and also agencies in Palma Soriano, Guantanamo and Holguin.

According to their statement, given to this reporter by the head of the news agency, Copello Veliz, their intention is to expand the informative capabilities to the eastern provinces, under their commitment to the impartiality and accuracy which journalism requires.

Caribe Press works for freedom of expression in Cuba, and they request the support of international organizations who defend freedom of the press.

Reported by Nicolas Rosario Rosabal.

9) Poor road conditions in eastern sector.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, May 8, 1997 (APIC, Turquino agency).-

Human Rights' activists from the Segundo Frente Oriental Frank Pais, report on the poor conditions of the roads which provide access to this municipality.

The statement, signed by activist Jorge Luis Silva Sanchez, points out that, from the beginning of the current year, there have been several accidents, including the loss of several lives, because the cars must travel with great difficulty through stretches of up to 200 meters, due to the many potholes on the roads.

Silva Sanchez's statements adds that the leadership of the Communist Party and the Road maintenance department in the municipality, have ordered the formation of volunteer brigades, composed by the neighbors, with the objective of filling up with soil, the most severe holes, not taking into account that, when it rains, they turn even more perilous. "Asphalt and cement is the intelligent solution", concludes the statement.

Reported by Nicolas Rosario Rosabal.

10) Santiago motorcyclists are harassed by police.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, May 8, 1997 (APIC, Turquino agency).- About a hundred motorcycles have been impounded by the Revolutionary National Police in Santiago de Cuba, during an operation lasting more than 15 days.

According to statements issued by some of those affected, several of them were caught carrying passengers and others in the vicinity of areas frequented by tourists. They also point out that, in Cuba, it is not permitted to sell or transfer the title to their motorcycles, hence many of them are considered illegal.

The police authorities in Santiago de Cuba propose to conduct a "cure", returning the bikes to all those who, upon receiving a summons, can show up-to-date documents certifying them as the legitimate owners. The reduced number of motorcycles in the streets of Santiago nowadays, are controled and persecuted by the police, which make their drivers run away upon seeing the police.

The bikes took part in a fast and efficient transportation service with transported passengers in the evening hours, taking over during hours when state cars, cabs and public transportation are not available in the city.

Reported by Nicolas Rosario Rosabal.

Translated for CubaNet by Lourdes Arriete