Yahoo! April 16, 2001
US-Cuba Relations Still a Hot Debate
By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, 16 (AP) - Forty years ago, Mario Cabello and Juan Perez Franco
were comrades in arms, fighting together at the Bay of Pigs to free Cuba from
Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s communist grip.
Today, the two veterans of the failed invasion are barely speaking.
Their quarrel personifies current debate about the future relationship
between the United States and the island nation 100 miles off the Florida coast.
Like President Bush (news - web sites), Franco wants the United States to
continue its hardline stance against Castro. Cabello thinks it's time to thaw
relations.
Their falling out occurred on April 8 at a meeting of the Bay of Pigs
Veterans Association in Miami's Little Havana. To shouts of "scoundrel''
and "traitor,'' Cabello and another member were booted out of the
association for attending a conference in Cuba marking the 40th anniversary of
the failed invasion in the early months of John F. Kennedy's presidency.
"It's like I've been excommunicated from the church,'' says Cabello,
who works for a Miami-area trucking company. "It saddened me - the reaction
of my friends.
"I exercised my freedom of travel, my freedom of expression in going to
Cuba. How can they reconcile that they went to the Bay of Pigs in 1961 to fight
for freedom and then now are trying to muzzle me?''
Castro, the charismatic Cuban leader who turns 75 in August, also attended
the conference, which was jointly sponsored by the private, Washington-based
National Security Archive, which works to declassify national security
documents, and the University of Havana.
For Franco, president of the association known as Brigade 2506, that amounts
to fraternizing with the enemy.
"For us, this 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs is one more reason to
reaffirm our uncompromising position not to have dialogue'' with the Castro
government, he says.
The three-day Bay of Pigs invasion at a swampy, mosquito-infested part of
Cuba's southern coast was doomed from the start.
Trained by the CIA in Guatemala, Brigade 2506 comprised about 1,500 Cuban
exiles who badly wanted to overthrow Castro's government. Kennedy's refusal to
provide sufficient air cover for the invaders left them vulnerable to air
attacks from Castro's military. At the end, more than 1,000 had been captured
and imprisoned. One hundred of the invaders and 150 of Castro's defenders were
killed.
On April 15, two days before the brigade went ashore, B-26 bombers left
Nicaragua for Cuba to destroy Castro's air force. Only partly successful, the
bombing put Castro on alert for the invasion that was to follow. A second
airstrike to destroy the rest of Castro's planes was scrapped.
Thus, when the brigade landed on the beaches on April 17, Cuba still had the
air power to thwart it.
Washington soon received news that two ships had been sunk and a third was
under heavy attack. Later that day, the CIA reported that two other ships were
under heavy attack. On the ships were the ammunition and supplies the Cuban
brigade desperately needed to fulfill their mission.
Cabello was on one ship, the Houston.
"The ship caught fire and because the hoses were full of holes, we
couldn't put out the fire,'' he recalled. "We feared the ship was going to
explode at any moment. Then the rocket hit us on the side. It sank us slowly,
but at the same time, put out the fire, and that saved us.''
Cabello swam to shore.
On April 18, the members of the brigade were pleading for air cover and
supplies that never came.
Back at the White House, in the early hours of April 19, Kennedy met with
his advisers. Six unmarked jet fighters were sent to provide enough air cover to
let the invaders fly in their supplies. But there was a mix-up over the one-hour
time difference between Cuba and Nicaragua. By the time the jets arrived,
Castro's force had driven off the invaders' attack.
The invasion had failed. Covert attempts to assassinate Castro followed. So
did the showdown the following year between the United States and Cuba over
Soviet missiles being deployed on the island.
The missiles were removed. Castro lives on.
Despite some easing of charter flights and narrow openings to allow U.S.
sales of food and medicine, U.S. policy toward Cuba remains much as it was
during the Cold War. The 40-year-old U.S. trade embargo continues. Despite a
growing movement in Congress to soften relations, Bush says he has no intention
of lifting the embargo.
"Capital that goes into Cuba will be used by the Fidel Castro
government to prop itself up,'' Bush said. "It's in our best interest to
keep the pressure on Fidel Castro, until he allows free elections, free press
and frees the (political) prisoners on that island.''
Cabello, who was ousted from the Bay of Pigs veterans group, says it's time
to diminish rhetoric on both sides. But for Franco, time has changed nothing. At
72, he wishes he could go back to the Bay of Pigs and try - one more time - to
oust Castro.
Cuba Official: U.S. May Attack
VARADERO, Cuba 15 (AP) - Cuba believes that the United States has not
abandoned the idea of a military attack on the island, the nation's defense
minister said Sunday.
Because of that, Cuba is full of subterranean tunnels, some of which can
hold large quantities of troops, said Gen. Raul Castro, President Fidel Castro
(news - web sites)'s younger brother.
Raul Castro spoke to reporters after he and the president traveled to this
beach resort say good-bye to Chinese President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites),
who left Cuba Sunday morning.
"You think the United States has abandoned'' the idea of military
action against Cuba?'' he said. "Of course not.''
He said Cuba's army had dwindled by tens of thousands of troops since the
1980s, but "we still have armed forces very large for the size of our
country and for our economy.''
The defense minister once again insisted that Washington should work out its
political differences with Cuba while his brother is still alive, because the
elder Castro has "the power to convince'' the Cuban people. He first made
that suggestion in January.
Chinese President in Cuban Resort
VARADERO, Cuba 14 (AP) - Escorted by Fidel Castro (news - web sites),
Chinese President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites) went to Cuba's best known beach
resort Saturday before continuing on to Venezuela, the last stop on his Latin
American tour.
With the official part of his stay in Cuba ended, Jiang traveled the 1 1/2
hours to Varadero. He was escorted by President Castro, who then left his friend
and political ally to enjoy a day of private rest.
Security at the Varadero hotel was heavy and there was no news media access
to the Chinese president on Saturday. He is scheduled to fly from Varadero early
Sunday morning for Caracas.
By all appearances, Jiang has enjoyed his time in Cuba, smiling much of the
time and even singing a Chinese opera and other songs for Castro and other
guests at a state dinner earlier in the week.
Since arriving in Cuba on Wednesday, Jiang has not said anything publicly
about China's dispute with the United States over an American surveillance
plane.
Chinese Foreign Ministry (news - web sites) spokesman Zhu Bangzao, however,
told reporters in Havana on Friday that China was the victim in the plane
dispute and that his government wanted the United States to assume
responsibility for the plane's collision with a Chinese fighter jet.
Zhu also said China that the fate of the American aircraft will be decided
after an investigation.
China released the U.S. crew Wednesday, 11 days after they landed on Hainan
island. The Chinese jet plunged into the ocean and its pilot is presumed dead.
Jiang himself did not mention the spy plane incident during his talks Friday
with Castro, Zhu said.
Instead, the two leaders concentrated on the relationship between their
countries, with their vice ministers signing agreements Friday for China to
provide nearly $400 million in credits and some aid to Cuba.
Cuba, a former ally of the Soviet Union, began looking to China for help
with its struggling economy after the Soviet collapse a decade ago.
The visit to Cuba was Jiang's second since assuming power in 1993. Castro
last visited China in 1995.
Three U.S. Lawmakers Meet Castro
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA, 13(AP) - U.S. lawmakers said they failed to persuade Fidel Castro
(news - web sites) to go along with a deal that would allow Cuba to buy American
food, despite their successful battle to get the bill through Congress last
year.
However, as they prepared to leave Cuba on Friday, the lawmakers said they
remain optimistic that American farmers someday will sell goods to the Caribbean
nation.
"It has not happened yet, but I am more optimistic than I was two days
ago,'' said Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash. He and Reps. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo.,
and William Delahunt, D-Mass., met with Castro and other Cuban officials this
week.
Nethercutt last year sponsored legislation aimed at easing the U.S. embargo
by allowing the sale of American food to Cuba for the first time in 40 years.
The legislation was approved by Congress and signed by President Clinton (news -
web sites).
Although supporters hailed the measure as a victory for American farmers,
Cuban authorities have adamantly said they would not buy "a single cent''
of American food under the new law.
Cuban authorities are angry that the law restricts the U.S. government and
American banks from financing the food sales - a limitation that the Cubans say
makes such transactions all but impossible.
Another clause - included as part of a compromise with hard-line opponents
of Cuba - also tightened restrictions on travel to the island by Americans,
further angering Havana.
Nethercutt said he urged the Cubans to compromise.
"Last year we took steps to lift the sanctions on sales of food and
medicine,'' he said. "We are looking to Cuba now to also take a bold
step.''
Though they were returning home without any promises of food sales, the
lawmakers emphasized they had established lines of communication they hope will
prove helpful in the future.
"It is the beginning of a process,'' said Delahunt. "Small steps
could very well create a momentum.''
The lawmakers attended a 4 1/2 hour dinner with Castro on Wednesday.
During their stay on the island, they also met with representatives of
Cuba's agricultural and trade ministries, the Cuban Chamber of Commerce (news -
web sites) and the National Assembly, or parliament. They were accompanied by
representatives of the USA Rice Federation.
The delegation also met with a group of dissidents, who told them that they,
too, opposed the U.S. trade embargo.
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