Yahoo! June 5, 2000
Castro Sees Embargo Support Eroding
By Paul Shepard, Associated Press Writer.
HAVANA, 4 (AP) - Fidel Castro said Sunday support for the 38-year-old trade embargo against Cuba was beginning to ``wear down'' as American business seeks new markets.
In a meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Castro also suggested Cuba could extend a free medical training program to poor American students who would return home to practice in poor regions.
He also voiced support for the work of black members of Congress but said he was disenchanted with elected politics in general and American presidential politics in particular.
Castro, 73, who has ruled his island nation for 41 years, said he found hope in recent congressional moves to lift restrictions on U.S. sales of food and medicine to Cuba.
The House is expected to debate an agricultural bill this week to license food and medicine sales to Cuba as long as the sales are not subsidized by the federal government.
The caucus, 36 voting black House members, long has supported lifting the trade sanctions. In recent months, some Republicans and business groups have joined them in seeking to open new markets. The vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce visited last week.
``It's interesting that some people on the other side of the aisle are looking at ending the blockade,'' Castro told the lawmakers through an interpreter. ``I find that very significant. I suppose that sometimes some issues wear down. It is a positive.''
On the 2000 presidential campaign, Castro said: ``I really disagree with both candidates for president.'' Then he joked: ``I'm going to be among the 50 percent of Americans who will go fishing on Election Day.''
The medical training offer came after Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said parts of his Mississippi Delta district have so few medical personnel and facilities that its infant mortality rate is second in the United States, behind Washington, D.C.
Castro already had told the representatives about Cuba's program of sending doctors to poor areas around the Caribbean and in Africa. He suggested a new project to provide free medical training to 10 to 12 American students.
``It would be hard for your government to oppose such a program,'' Castro said. ``It would be a trial for them. Morally, how could they refuse?''
Thompson said he liked the idea and would study it.
Wearing his trademark olive green uniform, Castro spoke extemporaneously on a wide range of subjects into the early hours of Sunday.
He expressed gratitude to the black caucus for supporting the return to Cuba of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez.
``We are aware the Congressional Black Caucus has shown great interest in Elian's case. His grandmothers said they were impressed with the attention they were given by the C.B.C. during their visit to the United States,'' Castro said. ``We wish to have more contacts with the Congressional Black
Caucus on other issues.''
As talk turned to world politics, Castro seemed to despair, saying he doubts the current crop of world leaders offers much hope for finding solutions to crushing global issues such as the spread of AIDS.
``I've talked to thousands of Latin American politicians and European politicians and American politicians, and I'm always amazed at the amount of nonsense they speak,'' he said. ``I'm also amazed at the numbers who seem to believe the nonsense they are speaking.''
Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., chairman of the black caucus, invited a Cuban delegation, including Castro, to attend the caucus' annual legislative conference in September in Washington.
Castro said he doubts he could get a visa, but Clyburn said he would try to get an exemption for the Cubans under a cultural exchange provision in current international travel law.
Castro To Offer Medical Training
By Paul Shepard, Associated Press Writer.
HAVANA, 4 (AP) - Cuba is ready to give free medical training to low-income Americans who could then return to the United States and provide treatment to the poor and underserved, Fidel Castro said Sunday during a meeting with members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Castro also told the black lawmakers that while he supports their work, he's disenchanted with U.S. presidential politics. In a wide-ranging meeting that went into the early morning hours, the Cuban leader also said he hoped the United States would relax its 38-year-old trade embargo against his
small island nation.
Castro offered the medical training after Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson told him that parts of his Mississippi Delta congressional district has an infant mortality rate second in the United States only to Washington D.C.
``It would be hard for your government to oppose such a program,'' Castro said. ``It would be a trial for them. Morally, how could they refuse?''
Castro also said he was hopeful about recent moves in Congress to lift restrictions on American sales of food and medicine to Cuba.
The Congressional Black Caucus, 36 voting black House members, have long supported easing the trade sanctions. They have been joined in recent months by some Republicans and business groups seeking new markets for their goods.
The 73-year-old communist leader wore his trademark olive green uniform and spoke without prepared notes on a number of topics.
Castro also thanked the black caucus for its support for returning 6-year-old castaway Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba.
Cuban Player Seeks Political Asylum
KEY WEST, Fla. 3 (AP) - Andy Morales, a third baseman for the Cuban national team, arrived here this past week and plans to seek political asylum.
Immigration and Naturalization Service officials picked up Morales in Key West and he was being detained by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday, said Gus Dominguez, a sports agent with the Los Angeles-based Total Sports International.
Dominguez met Morales last year when the Cuban team played the Baltimore Orioles in an exhibition game at Camden Yards. Morales, 24, hit a three-run home run in Cuba's 12-6 win.
``I had a feeling he would defect,'' said Dominguez, who said he was contacted about representing Morales by Carlos Castillo, Morales' father-in-law who lives in Miami.
Gonzalez said Morales left Cuba on a raft and that family members in Cuba called Castillo to tell him. It was unknown whether Morales arrived on the raft or was rescued off shore.
70,000 Rally for Elian in Cuba
HAVANA, 3 (AP) - A day after a massive march demanding the return of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez, a reported 70,000 people rallied in eastern Cuba, demanding the boy be repatriated immediately.
``We raise our voices so our enemies can hear us: Bring back Elian!'' Madelin Gonzalez, one of a dozen speakers, shouted from the stage in Banes, in the eastern province of Holguin.
The rally followed a massive march in Havana on Friday by a reported half-million women angered by the latest delay in Elian's return to his communist homeland.
A U.S. appellate court panel sided Thursday with Elian's father, saying that immigration officials were entitled to deny an asylum hearing for the boy. But under the ruling, Elian must remain in the United States for two weeks to give his Miami relatives a chance to appeal, and then another
week after that.
Cubans had hoped the child would return home with his father immediately after the ruling.
Elian's mother and 10 others died in November when their boat sank during a journey from Cuba to the United States. Two men on a fishing trip rescued Elian off the Florida coast after finding him floating on an inner tube.
The boy's Miami relatives were given temporary custody of Elian, who immediately became the subject of an international tug-of-war.
The elder Gonzalez traveled to the United States on April 6 in hopes of reclaiming his son and returning with him to the island, but the Miami relatives refused to turn the child over to his father.
Father and son were reunited on April 22 after Elian was taken forcibly from the Miami relatives' home during an armed federal raid. Elian has since lived with his father in the Washington area while awaiting the decision.
Yanks' El Duquecito Impresses
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - El Duquecito had an impressive debut.
Cuban defector Adrian Hernandez retired his first 12 hitters - eight on strikeouts - en route to a three-hit, 13-strikeout performance over 6 2-3 innings in his U.S. pro debut Saturday night for the Class=A Tampa Yankees.
``I felt very good,'' said Hernandez through an interpreter. ``It felt very good to put on the Yankee uniform.''
In Tampa's 5-1 win over the Fort Myers Miracle in the Florida State League, the 25-year-old pitcher didn't allow a runner until Dustan Mohr's leadoff single in the fifth.
The Miracle ended Hernandez's shutout bid in the seventh on a wild pitch. He waved toward the Legends Field crowd of 1,869 as he departed to a standing ovation.
``I felt real emotional when I left the game,'' Hernandez said. ``I like pitching in front of all the people. I'm going to work real hard for the fans.''
Hernandez, who walked one, threw 60 of 93 pitches for strikes. He said he has not been told where is next start will take place, however, he expects to join Double-A Norwich in the near future.
Hernandez defected from Cuba on Jan. 2 by sneaking aboard a plane to Costa Rica. Before Saturday, he had been pitching for the Yankees' extended spring training team in Florida.
The 25-year old right-hander said in early April that he had agreed to a four-year contract with the Yankees.
Hernandez is nicknamed El Duquecito because his pitching motion is similar to that of Orlando Hernandez, another Cuban defector.
El Duque started for the Yankees on Friday night against the Atlanta Braves. The two are not related but both pitched for Cuba's top team, Havana Industriales. Notes: Tampa Yankees C Michel Hernandez - who caught Adrian Hernandez Saturday night - also defected from Cuba. ... Yankees owner George
Steinbrenner was among the team officials attending the game. ... In his first U.S. pro start on April. 16, 1998, Orlando Hernandez allowed two hits and struck out seven in five shutout innings, in an 11-4 win for the Tampa Yankees against Kissimmee.
Cuba Official Urges American Visits
By Paul Shepard, Associated Press Writer.
HAVANA, (AP) - A senior Cuban official told three visiting black U.S congressmen on Friday that Americans with questions about Cuba's human rights record should demand that their government let them visit the island to see for themselves.
``We are not hiding anything,'' Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas said. ``People should come to see if they have questions. Why don't you demand your right to freely travel to Cuba as guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution?''
Americans are barred under U.S. law from going to Cuba as tourists but visits of a professional nature are permitted. Tens of thousands of Americans visit Cuba every year.
Cabrisas spoke after Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said he was anticipating questions other House members would ask next week when they take up a measure to partially lift the 38-year-old U.S. embargo against the communist country. A provision in an agricultural bill would license American sales
of food and medicine to Cuba as long as they aren't subsidized by U.S. taxpayers.
Meeks said he had seen no evidence of abuse, but that Fidel Castro's critics in the House would undoubtedly raise images of the island as ``a place where political prisoners are treated in an inhumane manner.''
``They will talk of Cuba as a place where there is no freedom of speech, where there is no freedom of information,'' Meeks said. ``So they feel we should not reward Cuba by lifting the blockade. How do we respond?''
Cabrisas said most of the negative press Cuba gets comes from the island's exile community in Miami, which has been particularly vocal during the custody dispute over 6-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez.
``Our population is aware how reality is distorted there,'' Cabrisas said. ``All we can say is people need to make up their own minds.''
The United Nations Human Rights Commission in April censured Cuba for denying citizens basic political and civil rights such as freedom of expression and assembly.
Cuba was enraged that its former socialist allies, Poland and the Czech Republic, submitted the motion that passed by a 21-18 vote.
In May, however, Cuba released three high-profiled political dissidents convicted for ``incitement to sedition.''
Lawyer Rene Gomez Manzano and engineer Felix Bonne Carcasses, both sentenced to four years, were released early. Economist Marta Beatriz got out of prison after serving most of her 31/2-year sentence.
The Black Caucus, comprised of 36 black U.S. representatives, support ending the embargo. They have been joined in recent months by business and farm groups interested in Cuba as a new market for their goods.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., drew distinctions between his organization and the business groups, saying the caucus' long-standing opposition to the sanctions is based on humanitarian concerns.
"I can't say that for the other groups who have come here in the name of trade,'' he said.
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