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June 17, 2002.
Allen's Cuba stance getting him noticed
By David Lerman. Monday June 17 08:46 AM EDT
Sen. George Allen was outraged.
On a recent visit to Cuba, former President Jimmy Carter said top U.S.
officials told him there was no evidence Cuba was developing biological weapons.
Taking to the Senate floor, Allen promptly accused Carter of a "breach
of trust" for allegedly disclosing classified information.
Carter should visit with Cuban dissidents, Allen said, "rather than
spending his time with Fidel Castro and his henchmen."
Full
story at The Daily Press
Nearly 70 percent of Cubans who can vote sign petition to keep Cuba
socialist, authorities say
Sun Jun 16, 9:32 PM ET
HAVANA - A petition to declare Cuba's socialist system "untouchable"
has been signed by nearly 70 percent of Cubans of voting age, officials said.
The signature campaign, running from Saturday morning through noon Tuesday,
is being carried out at more than 120,000 stations around the country.
By the end of Saturday, 69.6 percent of Cubans age 16 or older had signed, "passing
all" forecasts, Pedro Ross Leal, head of the Confederation of Cuban
Workers, told state radio stations Sunday. The legal voting age here is 16.
Fidel Castro ( news - web sites) was the first to sign on Saturday and
estimated that at least 7 million of Cuba's 11 million citizens would follow in
support of the petition for a constitutional amendment declaring the nation's
economic, political and social system cannot be changed. That figure roughly
matches the number of people of voting age.
Opposition activists say the petition drive is Castro's answer to their own
civil liberties campaign, known as the Varela Project. Most Cubans first heard
of the Varela Project last month in a speech by former President Carter when he
visited the island.
Government officials expect most Cubans to sign, but a number of dissidents
complained that no political or economic system should be engraved in stone for
future generations and questioned whether Cubans were signing of their own free
will.
The mass organizations running the signature campaign — including the
Committees for the Defense of the Revolution that watch every block in each
neighborhood, the Federation of Cuban Women and the Confederation of Cuban
Workers — officially are autonomous. But all play key roles in supporting
and protecting the socialist system.
Castro, 75, has insisted repeated that Cuba will remain socialist after his
death. His designated successor is his brother, 71-year-old Defense Minister
Raul Castro.
Opposition activists mounted the Varela Project seeking a referendum to ask
voters whether they favor such civil liberties such as freedom of speech and
assembly, the right to own a business, electoral reform and amnesty for
political prisoners.
More than 30,000 people evacuated in eastern Cuba because of flooding
danger
Sat Jun 15, 3:46 PM ET
HAVANA - More than 30,000 people have been evacuated in the central-eastern
Cuban province of Sancti Spiritus because a reservoir is in danger of
overflowing following heavy rains, the government's National Information Agency
said Saturday.
The evacuations have been going on for several days.
The local news agency reported earlier this week that another 1,300 people
had been evacuated because of building collapses and flooding caused by heavy
rains in the neighboring province of Ciego de Avila, to the east.
No injuries or deaths have been reported. | 
