Yahoo!
June 26,
2001.
Cuba Backs Agents Convicted in U.S.
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Their five smiling faces are splashed across T-shirts, glow
from television sets and look down from huge posters extolling their patriotism.
Their mothers, wives and children weep on TV for their return.
And Fidel Castro (news - web sites) depicts the five men, convicted this
month in the United States on espionage charges, as heroes trying to protect
communist Cuba from its violent enemies across the Florida Straits.
With mass rallies and publicity, the government has launched a widescale
campaign on behald of the five Cubans, recalling its long drive last year to
drum up support for the return of the Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez.
So far, the new campaign has not stirred the same strong feelings here as
the Elian saga - which ended nearly a year ago with the return of Elian, now 7,
from the United States.
But the program for the agents picks up many of the same elements as the
campaign that the government waged for months during the custody battle over
Elian.
A nightly round-table television program that was started to discuss Elian
now focuses on the men. Three two-hour segments were dedicated to them last
week, with three more set for this week.
The campaign also draws heavily on human emotion.
"I love you daddy,'' Yvette Gonzalez, the 3-year-old daughter of inmate
Rene Gonzalez, said in a video clip state television showed Monday night.
Standing in her Havana living room, the girl with huge blue eyes and brown
wavy hair fastened in a side ponytail kissed the picture of her father, behind
bars in Miami since she was a baby.
Also like the Elian case, the new campaign appears aimed in gaining the
support of Americans.
In an unusual move last week, Granma's Spanish-language website published an
English version of its first editorial about the men. It said the five had been
"declared guilty in a rigged and cynical trial for discharging their duty
to inform our people of terrorist actions by the Cuban American mob.''
It also published an English version of a letter from the five men to the
American people, insisting they were "victims of a terrible injustice.''
"It was never our intent to cause any harm to the values or the
integrity of the American people,'' the men wrote. They said Cuba had "every
right to defend itself from its enemies who keep using the U.S. territory to
plan, organize and finance terrorist actions.''
Castro was planning his first major address in the campaign Saturday, when
he suffered a fainting spell during a mass gathering on Havana's outskirts. He
was helped offstage and although he returned to podium minutes later, his
message was lost in the concern after his well-being.
Saturday evening, a rested Castro was back on television, comparing
communist Cuba's defense of the five men to the fight over Elian and describing
them as "political prisoners.''
On June 8, a Miami jury convicted three of the men - Gerardo Hernandez,
Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero - of espionage conspiracy for efforts to
penetrate U.S. military bases even though they received no U.S. secrets. They
face life in prison.
Hernandez was also convicted of contributing to the death of four American
fliers whose planes were shot down Feb. 24, 1996, by Cuban MiGs off the island's
coast.
The two others, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, who are not related,
face up to 10 years on charges of failing to register as foreign agents and
conspiracy.
All are to be sentenced between Sept. 24 and Oct. 2.
Castro faint sparks emergency meeting in Miami
WPLG Click10.com. Tuesday June 26 08:39 AM EDT. Yahoo!
Fidel Castro's fainting spell prompted an emergency meeting by Miami-Dade's
top officials.
Mayor Alex Penelas (pictured, right), along with the county manager and
emergency operations administrators, reviewed the "Castro Contingency Plan"
Monday. The plan outlines how officials will deal with celebrations,
demonstrations and mass migration should Cuba's government collapse.
"We're not going to take anything for granted. We expect to be the
government on call and on duty from the first minute, and until such time as we
get the appropriate relief from state and federal agencies, we will be dealing
with these issues as warranted," Penelas said. | 
