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December 19, 2002.
Leading U.S. diplomat for Cuba declares island opposition is growing
HAVANA, 18 (AP) - The leading U.S. diplomat for Cuban affairs, who met with
some of the communist-run island's well-known dissidents, said the opposition
movement is growing.
Kevin Whitaker was in Cuba on a 72-hour visa to lead the American delegation
in regular migration talks, which are held every six months with Cuban
officials.
Whitaker said he was disappointed he could not meet with Dr. Oscar Elias
Biscet, who has been jailed for more than a week following a public protest in
Havana.
But the diplomat said he met Wednesday with Biscet's wife, Elsa Morejon, at
the residence of James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, the American
mission in Havana.
Whitaker, coordinator of the State Department's Office of Cuban Affairs,
said he also met there with other opponents, including veteran human rights
activists.
"I think the Cuban opposition is growing in strength," he told
reporters before returning to the United States. "I think they have real
moral backing for what they do."
In migration talks Tuesday, the U.S. officials called on Havana to issue
exit permits to nearly 500 Cubans who have received permission to emigrate to
the United States but allegedly have been refused permission to leave.
Cuban officials, meanwhile, called on Washington to return a government
crop-duster plane that was flown from the island to Key West, Florida, last
month by a group of defectors.
Whitaker said the United States originally had planned to return the craft
to Cuba, but now could not because of a court injunction filed in a civil
lawsuit.
Cuba was also enraged that the migrants, including the pilot who took the
plane, were allowed to remain in the United States to seek legal residency.
The migration talks, that alternate between Havana and New York every six
months, were set up by 1994 and 1995 accords aimed at ensuring orderly, legal
migration between the two countries.
U.S. Diplomat Meets Cuban Dissidents
AP / Wed Dec 18,11:53 PM ET
HAVANA - The leading U.S. diplomat for Cuban affairs, who met with some of
the communist-run island's well-known dissidents, said Wednesday the opposition
movement is growing.
Kevin Whitaker was in Cuba on a 72-hour visa to lead the American delegation
at regular migration talks, which are held every six months with Cuban
officials.
Whitaker said he was disappointed he could not meet with Dr. Oscar Elias
Biscet, who has been jailed for more than a week following a public protest in
Havana.
But the diplomat said he met Wednesday with Biscet's wife, Elsa Morejon, at
the residence of James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, the American
mission in Havana.
Whitaker, coordinator of the State Department's Office of Cuban Affairs,
said he also met there with other opponents, including veteran human rights
activists.
"I think the Cuban opposition is growing in strength," he told
reporters before returning to the United States. "I think they have real
moral backing for what they do."
In migration talks Tuesday, the U.S. officials called on Havana to issue
exit permits to nearly 500 Cubans who have received permission to emigrate to
the United States but allegedly have been refused permission to leave.
Cuban officials, meanwhile, called on Washington to return a government
crop-duster plane that was spirited from the island to Key West, Fla., last
month by a group of defectors.
Whitaker said the United States originally had planned to return the craft
to Cuba, but now could not because of a court injunction filed in a civil
lawsuit.
Cuba was also enraged that the migrants, including the pilot who took the
plane, were allowed to remain in the United States to seek legal residency.
The migration talks, that alternate between Havana and New York every six
months, were set up by 1994 and 1995 accords aimed at ensuring orderly, legal
migration between the two countries.
Yanks red-hot for Cuban star
New York Daily News. By Anthony Mccarron. Daily News Sports
Writer. Thu Dec 19.
Pitching sensation Jose Contreras was declared a free agent yesterday,
opening the door for a league-wide bidding frenzy.
The Cuban defector has the potential to make the Yankees shift their
offseason pitching plan, including abandoning Roger Clemens and calling off
their pursuit of Montreal's Bartolo Colon and Javier Vazquez.
Contreras was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball after he
established residency in Nicaragua. The highly touted 30-year-old righthander is
expected to set off a bidding war, led by the Yankees.
While they geared up to go after Contreras, the Yankees were closing in on
signing Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui last night.
The Yankees plan to be there when the store opens - they called Contreras
yesterday after the news broke to "congratulate" him on his free
agency. At least a dozen other teams have made it known they intend to be
players in the Contreras sweepstakes.
"This changes everything," a Yankee official said. "We're
going to be in this thing big. Our people think this guy might be the best of
the pitchers we've been considering."
The Yankees will have significant competition for Contreras, starting with
the RedSox. It's believed that Contreras is Boston's No. 1 pitching target.
Contreras, who turns 31 this month, might be the Yanks' top priority now,
too. Teams can negotiate with Contreras immediately, but they cannot sign him
until Monday because of an MLB-mandated "cooling-off" period.
Contreras' availability comes just as the Yanks' trade talks with Montreal
have hit an impasse. GM Brian Cashman hasn't made a counter-offer to Montreal GM
Omar Minaya - Colon or Vazquez for Orlando Hernandez, JuanRivera, NickJohnson, a
prospect and cash.
"Montreal has given us a level that it'll take to get a deal done and
only that level," Cashmansaid. "If that's the case, why make a
counter-offer?"
But that doesn't mean the Yankees are out of it yet. "When there's an
open position for flexibility, I'll have something," Cashman said. "He
(Minaya) is directing it, not the Yankees. He's got some great talent he's
shopping.
"Until the price changes, we won't do anything there."
Clemens remains in limbo, too, though he will reject arbitration today and
continue to negotiate with the Yankees until Jan. 8, the last day they can sign
him, or until they acquire another pitcher. Cashman said he has spoken several
times to the Hendricks brothers, Clemens' agents, since he left the winter
meetings on Monday. The Hendricks brothers, along with Minaya and perhaps even
Greg Maddux's agent ScottBoras, might be the most disappointed men in baseball
right now because of what Contreras' presence might do to the free agent market.
The Yankees - along with most of the other teams in baseball - remember
Contreras' remarkable performance for the Cuban national team against the
Orioles in Havana in 1999 and dream of him reprising it in the States.
Contreras entered that game in relief and pitched eight shutout innings,
allowing two hits. He struck out 10 batters, including Albert Belle twice.
"There's no question he'll have a good career in the big leagues,"
said one major league scout. "He had a pretty good slider, sinking life on
his fastball and his control was pretty good.
"He also knows how to pitch and is very aggressive. I think, from what
I saw, he'd be a third starter on a good team."
El Duque, whose future in pinstripes may be affected if the Yanks sign
Contreras, said in October that his countryman was "the best pitcher in
Cuba right now. He's the best."
Red Sox manager Grady Little, asked by the Boston Globe recently if he liked
Contreras' stuff, said: "You'd be crazy if you didn't. He'd rank among the
top three (starters) on a lot of staffs."
The 6-4 Contreras, considered Cuba's ace when he bolted during a series in
Mexico in October, was 13-4 with a 1.76 ERA last season. His agent, Jaime
Torres, said when Contreras defected that his client was worth more than the
$14.5 million, four-year deal that Cuban DanysBaez signed with the Indians in
1999.
After defecting, Contreras initially went to Miami, a move which nearly made
him subject to baseball's amateur draft. But he became a free agent by
establishing residency in Nicaragua.
Last week, Torres submitted paperwork declaring that Contreras had
established residency in Mexico, but MLB officials found it "invalid."
Cuban Pitcher Contreras Gets Free Agency
Wed Dec 18, 6:01 PM ET
NEW YORK (AP) - Cuban pitcher Jose Contreras can start contract talks with
all major league baseball teams after being declared a free agent Wednesday by
the commissioner's office.
Contreras established residency in Nicaragua, according to the
commissioner's office, which notified all teams that they could negotiate with
the right-hander.
"He looks forward to talking to teams," said his agent, Jaime
Torres.
A week ago, Torres submitted papers claiming the pitcher had established
residency in Mexico, and the commissioner's office rejected them.
Contreras was considered the top pitcher on Cuba's national team when he
defected in October, while the team was in Mexico.
He first came to the United States, which made 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.
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.
Cuban Catholic church calls for family unity in Christmas season
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. Wed Dec 18, 2:00 PM
ET
HAVANA - Cuba's Roman Catholic church leaders called Wednesday for unity
among families on the communist-run island this Christmas, exhorting the
faithful to set aside worries about material wealth to celebrate the birth of
Jesus.
"What meaning does the Holy Family comprised of Joseph, Mary and Jesus
have for the families of today, so many fragmented, hurt and disoriented?"
the Catholic Bishops Conference of Cuba asked in the message to be read at
Christmas Masses next week.
The bishops wrote that Cubans should not be sad about "the lack of
certain material goods necessary for all human beings, or uncertainty about the
future."
Rather, Catholic believers should "keep the faith" and attend
holiday Masses on Christmas eve and day, the church leadership said.
"We will celebrate and be happy, along with the entire Christian world,
on December 25, with the singular joy of the celebration of Christmas, a joy
that knows neither wealth nor poverty," the bishops wrote.
"Let us care for our families," they exhorted. "Let us pray
for Cuba, for the future of the great Cuban family and the future of our nation."
In a separate message, leaders of the island's Protestant churches also
wrote of "feelings of desperation, anxiety and insecurity about the future"
among Cubans.
"The separation of the family, for diverse reasons, is also a source of
pain," said the Council of Churches of Cuba, which joins together many of
the island's mainstream Protestant congregations, including Episcopalians,
Lutherans and Baptists. "The message of Christmas brings with it a breath
of new life."
This Dec. 25 will be the sixth consecutive Christmas celebrated as an
official holiday since the early years of the 1959 Cuban revolution that brought
Fidel Castro (news - web sites) to power. The government suspended official
Christmas celebrations in the early 1960s, citing the need for workers to
continue laboring during the annual sugar harvest.
While Christmas celebrations were never outright prohibited, they were
viewed disparagingly by the government, which for many years was officially an
atheist state. In the early 1990s, Cuba officially became a lay state and
allowed religious believers for the first time to join the ruling Communist
Party.
The communist government declared Dec. 25, 1997, a one-time holiday as a
gesture of respect for Pope John Paul II, who visited the island the following
January. Christmas was declared a permanent official holiday beginning in
December 1998.
Since then, secular observances of the holiday have increased, with
artificial Christmas trees decorated with colorful lights appearing in the
lobbies of major hotels and in the living rooms of many Cubans — including
Communist Party members.
But the heavy commercialization of the holiday so common in many Western
nations is unknown here, where most people do not have money to buy extravagant
gifts.
New Year's Eve, which also marks the anniversary of the Cuban revolution,
remains the more widely celebrated holiday of the season. | 
