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December 31 , 2001



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Yahoo! December 31, 2001.

Cuba has no opinion on Guantanamo plan

By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer

HAVANA, 30 (AP) - The Cuban government has no opinion of U.S. plans to hold Afghan war detainees at the disputed Guantanamo Bay naval base, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

A ministry statement said Cuba has no jurisdiction over the base anyway, even though it opposes its presence on Cuban soil - "a situation that has remained that way for many years without resolution.''

"The Foreign Ministry wants to clarify that the government of Cuba does not have the elements necessary to make a judgment and because of that has not adopted any position,'' the Foreign Ministry said.

The U.S. military said Dec. 27 it would house an undisclosed number of al-Qaida and Taliban detainees at the base in Cuba's extreme southeast.

The ministry statement came a day after several Cuban officials, including Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez, said they personally opposed the U.S. plan, mostly because they believe the base should have been closed decades ago.

The U.S. government first seized Guantanamo Bay in 1898.

Fernandez told Associated Press Television News that holding detainees at a base that Cuba wants closed shows "the arrogance of the government of the empire.'' He is one of several vice presidents on Cuba's Council of Ministers, or Cabinet.

"Actions of these kind violate the rights of others,'' Fernandez, a retired general who led the defending ground forces against an exile invasion army at the Bay of Pigs four decades ago, told APTN.

Those comments were made during a break in a special session of Cuba's parliament.

But Sunday's Foreign Ministry statement indicates that Havana currently does not plan to make the base's use a major issue during a crucial point in Cuba-U.S. relations.

Next month, American contingents are scheduled to visit the island. They include entrepreneurs, members of Congress and leaders of American efforts to eliminate the 40-year U.S. trade embargo against the island.

Because most Americans support the war against terrorism, Havana does not want to risk alienating potential American allies in its efforts to ease or eliminate sanctions.

Havana also is trying to elicit American support to overturn prison sentences given earlier this month in Miami to five Cuban agents for espionage.

Cuba: US Navy Base should be closed

HAVANA, 29 (AP) - Cuban officials said Saturday that they oppose the use of the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay for detainees from the war in Afghanistan - mostly because they believe the base should have been closed decades ago.

The comments, made during a break in a special session of the Cuban parliament, were the first public statements by Cuban officials since the U.S. military said Dec. 27 that it would house al-Qaida and Taliban detainees at the base.

Holding detainees at an American base inside a country that has long insisted that the base be closed shows "the arrogance of the government of the empire,'' Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez told Associated Press Television News. He is one of several vice presidents on Cuba's Council of Ministers, or Cabinet.

"Actions of these kind violate the rights of others,'' said Fernandez, a retired general who led the defending ground forces against an exile invasion army at the Bay of Pigs four decades ago.

Fernandez's views were shared by several other Cuban officials Saturday night.

Not only had their been no official comments on the issue - including from Cuban leader Fidel Castro - but Cuba's state media had not even reported on the U.S. military's decision to use the base for the detainees.

Ultimately, Cuba has no say in how the base is used. Still, Havana deeply resents the continued American presence in the island's extreme southeast.

"We claim this portion of land in our country,'' Gen. Ramon Espinosa, chief of Cuba's Eastern Army, said Saturday. The Eastern Army's territory includes the area around the U.S. base in Guantanamo.

Without addressing the question of the detainees, Espinosa said: "We think that some day we are going to recover it by peaceful methods.''

The U.S. government first seized Guantanamo Bay in 1898, when U.S. Marines landed during the Spanish-American war, known here as the Spanish-Cuban war.

The base's first lease was signed in 1903. Under a subsequent lease negotiated in 1934, the land would revert to Cuban control only if abandoned or by mutual consent.

Cuba Grants Highest Honors to 5 Men

By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer

HAVANA (AP) - The Cuban parliament met in a special session Saturday to bestow the country's highest honors on five men who were convicted in Miami this month on charges of spying on the United States.

Members of the National Assembly voted unanimously to declare the five "heroes of the Republic of Cuba.'' The award said it was given for "for completing with exemplary dedication, dignity and steadfastness the sacred mission of defending the nation and protecting it from terrorism.''

After a six-month trial in Florida, the men were given sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison for espionage conspiracy and lesser counts.

The five were among 14 secret agents allegedly assigned by Havana to warn the communist island about signs of a U.S. invasion of Cuba. The others have entered pleas or are believed to have fled to Cuba.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro (news - web sites) later told the assembly that because of the men's importance, 2002 would be officially known as the "Year of the Heroic Prisoners of the Empire'' - a reference to the United States. The Cuban government regularly choses a slogan for each year, which is then used in official correspondence and in state media instead of the year's number.

"The political battle has just begun,'' Castro told the assembly. "I emphasize, I repeat: they will return.''

Castro earlier said the sentences were "rude, infamous.''

"They have sentenced these extraordinary men who were completing an extraordinary and human mission,'' said Castro, who in the past has insisted that the agents were merely gathering information to protect Cuba against violent exiles.

Lawmakers also voted to honor the men's mothers with the Order of Mariana Grajales, an award named for the mother of independence hero Antonio Maceo y Grajales, and to honor the wives of the four married agents with the Ana Betancourt Award, named for a woman who supported and inspired Cuban fighters in their battle for independence from Spain.

National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon read a New Year's letter written by the men to Castro, other leaders and the Cuban people, in which they cite Cuban independence leader Gen. Calixto Garcia.

"I am, before everything, Cuban,'' Alarcon read. "And for nothing, and for no one, will I sacrifice my ideals.''

The agents allegedly were assigned by Havana to infiltrate U.S. military bases and exile groups in south Florida, although none obtained any U.S. secrets.

The National Assembly vote followed two hours of lawmakers' speeches. Some drew comparisons between Cuba's fight for the agents' freedom and its battle last year for Elian Gonzalez, the castaway boy who returned to Cuba in June 2000 after a six-month custody battle between his father and a group of his relatives who live in Miami.

Lawmaker Lazaro Barredo, a columnist for the communist workers' newspaper Trabajadores, said the Cuban people would fight "with all our strength'' for the agents' freedom. "Their only action was to protect the safety of their country,'' he said.

While the espionage case has not attracted the attention that the battle over Elian did, some American groups have taken up the agents' cause. Former attorney general Ramsey Clark is among those who back a campaign to free them.

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