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December 15, 2002.
Cuban dissident meets Spain's Premier in Spanish visit
Sun Dec 15, 2:48 PM ET
MADRID, Spain - Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya on Sunday thanked Spain's Prime
Minister Jose Maria Aznar for urging Fidel Castro to let him travel to Europe to
receive the European Union's top human rights award.
Aznar met with Paya for an hour at the Moncloa Palace near Madrid hours
after the Cuban dissident arrived.
Paya, head of a Christian-oriented dissident group, is a lead organizer of
the Varela Project, an island-wide signature gathering effort requesting a
referendum asking Cubans if they favor guarantees for rights such as freedom of
speech and private business ownership, broad electoral reforms and freedom for
political prisoners.
He had been trying for weeks to get an exit visa so that he could go to
Strasbourg, France, to receive the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on
Tuesday.
"I will return to Cuba in the next few days, because it will be a
punishment to live abroad and because the political situation must not make me
emigrate," Paya told reporters in Madrid.
He added that he was thanking Aznar for the letter the Spanish premier had
sent to Castro.
Other European politicians and diplomats had also requested Cuba to allow
Paya to travel.
On Friday, Paya's house was vandalized with bumper stickers and the flag of
a group which has carried out paramilitary attacks against Cuba's communist
government. He said he believed government security forces were behind that
event.
"I am on my way to Strasbourg to receive the Sakharov prize for human
rights, which is a prize for all Cubans," Paya said on Sunday.
"I bring not only a big hug for all Spaniards, but emotion and
confidence that this prize will help in promoting solidarity with our people -
who want peaceful change and reconciliation, but also a freedom that God has
given and that not one party or dictator can take away."
U.S. Lawmaker: Cuba Travel Ban May End
By John Rice, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 14, 3:35. Pm
Et
HAVANA - A U.S. congressman said Saturday that support is growing for an end
to the ban on U.S. travel to Cuba and the law could be changed within two years.
"If Americans can travel to Iraq and Iran, two-thirds of the so-called
'Axis of Evil,' why can't they travel to Cuba?" said William Delahunt, a
Massachusetts Democrat.
Delahunt, one of 46 congressmen on the bipartisan Cuba Working Group that is
pushing a broad series of reforms to ease limits on U.S. dealings with Cuba,
said he believes that the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential
veto could occur within the next two years.
The Cuba Working Group also calls for allowing letting Cuban-Americans send
more money to the island, cutting funds to TV and Radio Marti and for expanded
cooperation in drug-fighting and other security matters.
"There now is a critical mass in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House to
seek normal relations between the United States and Cuba," he said at a
news conference.
Delahunt was in Havana for ceremonies marking the first anniversary of the
first U.S. food shipments to Cuba in four decades, an event that followed a
congressional vote to relax that part of the web of U.S. embargo laws.
He also talked about an earlier meeting with Cuban President Fidel Castro at
which he warned that the lifting of the travel ban would mean an invasion of
sorts.
"Once the travel restrictions were removed, we had a secret weapon: the
kids on spring break," he said. "The response of President Castro was
he raised his hands and said, 'I surrender.'"
Pedro Alvarez, head of the Cuban government food import concern Alimport,
said Cuba already has paid $174 million for U.S. food over the past year and
will pay another $15 million by the end of the year.
"It has been demonstrated that we want relations with the United
States," Alvarez said, urging an end to U.S. trade and investment
restrictions in Cuba.
President Bush described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "Axis of Evil"
last January in his State of the Union address that posed a "growing danger"
by developing weapons of mass destruction.
Mexico returns would-be refugees to Cuba
Fri Dec 13, 2:48 PM ET
HAVANA, 13 (AP) - Eight Cubans who landed in Mexico on an unsuccessful
attempt to reach the United States have been sent back to the island by Mexico,
a Cuban newspaper reported Friday.
It was at least the second time this year that Mexico has sent would-be
refugees back to Cuba.
The Communist Party daily Granma said the group set out in a fishing boat
from Punta la Foja in western Cuba on Nov. 26.
"Our plan was to go toward the United States, reach the coasts of Miami
and ask for asylum, but the Gulf current and bad weather diverted us toward the
coasts of Mexico," said Juan Alberto Castro, as quoted by Granma.
The group was sent back on Dec. 1, according to the newspaper.
It blamed the attempt on "the murderous Cuban Adjustment Law," a
U.S. law that allows most Cubans who reach U.S. shores to stay in the United
States. Cuban officials say that encourages people to risk their lives at sea
rather than waiting years for a legal visa.
Cuban Dissident Gets Visa For Ceremony
By John Rice, Associated Press Writer. Sat Dec 14, 6:43 Pm
Et .
HAVANA - Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya received permission to leave Cuba on
Saturday, three days before he is to receive the European Union's top human
rights award.
Paya leads a Christian-oriented group that advocates nonviolent change in
Cuba's communist system. He led an island-wide petition drive called the Varela
Project which seeks a referendum on whether Cubans favor guarantees for rights
such as freedom of speech and private business ownership, broad electoral
reforms and freedom for political prisoners.
Paya had been trying for weeks to get an exit visa so he could go to
Strasbourg, France, to accept the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on
Tuesday. European politicians and diplomats had urged Cuba to grant him
permission to travel.
"I am going to receive this prize in the name of the Cuban people,"
he said, hours before he was to board a flight for Spain.
On Friday, Paya's house was vandalized with bumper stickers and the flag of
Alpha 66, a militant group that subscribes to the violent overthrow of President
Fidel Castro. Paya said he believed government security forces — not Alpha
66 — were behind that event.
Militant exile groups have accused the Varela Project of being too moderate —
though Paya said scores of people who signed the petition were detained or
questioned.
In May, Varela Project organizers turned in stacks of petitions they said
were signed by 11,020 people asking Cuba's parliament for the referendum. Paya
said Friday organizers have since collected an additional 10,000 signatures.
The Cuban parliament has not responded to the Varela Project request, though
Cuba's government has repeatedly referred to dissidents on the island as
insignificant in number and as paid agents of the United States.
Cuban Dissident Says House Was Vandalized
Fri Dec 13,10:33 Pm Et . By John Rice, Associated Press
Writer
HAVANA - A Cuban dissident who is to receive a major human rights award next
week said Friday that his house was vandalized overnight and he blamed the
government.
A flag and bumper stickers of the militant anti-Castro group Alpha 66 were
tied and pasted to the house of Oswaldo Paya, who advocates nonviolent change of
Cuba's socialist system. Scrawled on the bumper stickers were "Death to
informers" and words that included "spy" and "traitor."
Paya said he has not received the government exit visa needed to leave the
country for a ceremony at which the European Parliament next week, where he is
to receive the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
"I interpret this (the vandalism) as the government response to my
request to leave to receive the prize," he said.
Paya is a lead organizer of the Varela Project, an island-wide signature
gathering effort requesting a referendum asking voters if they favor guarantees
for rights such as freedom of speech and private business ownership, broad
electoral reforms and freedom for political prisoners.
Alpha 66 is a Florida-based group which has organized paramilitary attempts
to topple President Fidel Castro's government.
Andres Nazario Sargen, a spokesman for Alpha 66 in Miami, said his group had
no part in the vandalism. "Although we don't agree with his political
views, we don't label him a spy," he said.
Militant exile groups have accused the Varela Project of being so moderate
that it favors Castro — though Paya said scores of people who signed the
document have been detained or questioned by security forces.
In May, Varela Project organizers turned in stacks of petitions they said
were signed by 11,020 people asking Cuba's parliament for the referendum. Paya
said Friday that organizers since then have collected more than 10,000
additional signatures.
The Cuban parliament has not responded to the Varela Project request, though
Cuba's government has repeatedly referred to dissidents on the island as
insignificant in number and as paid agents of the United States.
Sudden decision led to cold, dangerous ride in airplane's wheel bay by
Cuban stowaway
Fri Dec 13, 6:59 Pm Et . By Phil Couvrette, Associated
Press Writer
MONTREAL - It was a sudden decision, made just a few hours before a Cubana
airline flight departed for Canada.
That's why a Cuban man had only a light jacket and no strategy for warding
off subfreezing temperatures and minimal oxygen in the wheel compartment of the
DC-10 jetliner on the four-hour flight to Montreal last week.
The man, who cannot be identified under a publication ban imposed by the
Immigration and Refugee Board considering his case, appeared at a hearing
Friday, where the panel set conditions for his release from custody.
He is seeking refugee status, similar to political asylum in the United
States, and must post a US$2,000 cash surety and keep authorities informed of
his whereabouts in order to avoid continued detention.
Local Cuban groups were expected to help him meet the conditions for his
release.
The publication ban is intended to prevent Cuban authorities from
identifying the man, thereby preventing any harm to his family or to him if he
is sent back to Cuba.
After Friday's hearing, the man told reporters he would endure the travel
ordeal again despite conditions that resulted in hospital treatment for
hypothermia and exhaustion.
"I had in mind that it was a democratic country and very beautiful,"
he said of Canada, speaking in Spanish with a translator at his side. He said
life was hard in Cuba because of "political problems."
Canadian authorities have indicated the man also told them that economic
opportunity was a lure. Under Canadian law, refugee status is granted to people
escaping persecution in their homeland on the basis of race, nationality,
religion, political belief or social affiliation.
The refugee hearing will likely take place in a few months, according to
immigration officials.
The man said he went to work at the Havana airport on Dec. 6 without
planning to hop a plane.
"It was a last-minute thing," he said. "It was so sudden I
didn't have any time for anything."
He hid in the wheel bay of the Cubana DC-10 for three hours before it took
off on a flight that stopped at a Cuban resort, then continued on the four-hour
journey to Montreal.
"The voyage to Canada was very difficult because I was hanging from the
landing gear of the plane," he said. Huddling close to hot air pipes for
warmth, he wondered if he would survive.
"I was very scared because of the cold. It was very cold, but I had
hope I would make it," he said.
Aviation experts say the temperature in the wheel compartment would be minus
40 Celsius or colder.
Cuban Pitcher Free Agency Rejected
Fri Dec 13,10:24 Pm Et. By Ronald Blum, Ap Sports Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras' application to become a
free agent was rejected Friday by the commissioner's office, which concluded at
least one of the documents was improper.
Contreras defected in October while Cuba's national team was in Mexico, and
his agent, Jaime Torres, submitted papers Wednesday to the commissioner's office
claiming that the right-hander had established residency in Mexico and had
obtained a visa from the Dominican Republic.
Contreras came to the United States after he defected, which makes him
subject to the amateur draft. Cubans who defect have tried to become residents
of countries outside the United States and Canada, which allows them to be free
agents.
Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney said Friday that Contreras would not be
declared a free agent based on the documents that were submitted.
"It appears from the investigation that was conducted that the
documents do not reflect what they purport to reflect," a baseball official
said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Torres did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
Contreras, who turns 31 this month, allowed two hits in eight shutout
innings against the Baltimore Orioles during an exhibition game at Havana in
1999. He struck out 10, including Albert Belle twice. | 
