By Sara Olkon, Herald Staff Writer. Published Thursday,
September , 2001 in The Miami Herald
Cuban exile leader Ramón Saúl Sánchez, flanked by a
self-proclaimed "Freedom of Speech Team'' of prominent attorneys, vowed
Thursday to fight conspiracy charges for illegally entering Cuban waters.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's office announced Sánchez and two
other members of the Democracy Movement had been indicted for illegally entering
Cuban waters in July -- the first time anyone has been criminally charged for
violating the South Florida security zone.
Sánchez, 47, and Miami residents Alberto Pérez, 58, and Pablo
Rodríguez, 48, are scheduled to appear Friday at 1:30 p.m. before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Hugh Morgan in Key West.
Invoking the name of civil rights figure Rosa Parks, Sánchez said he
would fight against a presidential proclamation signed by President Bill Clinton
in 1996 that was designed to prevent Americans from causing a confrontation with
the Cuban government in its territorial waters.
"The right to own slaves? To prevent black people from sitting in the
front of the bus?'' said Sánchez, calling the proclamation "infamy.''
The group spoke from a packed press conference at Democracy Movement
headquarters in West Dade. Afterward, the group drove to the Bay of Pigs
Monument in Little Havana to await a summons for Friday's proceeding.
"This is a classic case of selective prosecution,'' said Kendall
Coffey, a lawyer representing Sánchez, referring to the fact that since
1996, the Coast Guard has issued over 3,000 permits to leave the security zone
of U.S. waters for Cuba. The only three that were declined by the Coast Guard
were from Democracy Movement members.
"They say 'yes' except to those who say 'no' to Castro,'' Coffey said.
The three defendants, who allegedly ignored a Coast Guard warning to return
to international waters during a flotilla protest to Cuban territorial waters on
July 14, face up to 10 years in prison, fines and forfeiture of the boat.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami said this was the first time that anyone
has ever been charged with violating the Florida security zone -- covering all
of the Sunshine State except parts of the Panhandle -- since it was established
in 1996 following a presidential proclamation.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
