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Man linked to Cuba torture wants trial out of Miami
By Alfonso Chardy. achardy@herald.com. Posted on Thu, Mar.
21, 2002 in The Miami Herald
Eriberto Mederos, a Cuban exile who risks losing his U.S. citizenship over
allegations that he tortured political prisoners at a Havana psychiatric
hospital, is seeking to move his trial out of Miami -- or have the charges
modified or thrown out altogether.
In motions filed this week in federal court, Mederos' attorney, David
Rothman, is asking the judge to throw out the indictment, or part of it, on the
grounds that the alleged crimes occurred beyond the legal limit stated in
immigration law. He is also asking to move the trial out of Miami because of
''bias and hostility'' against his client in the Cuban exile community.
There is a status hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Alan Gold, who
may rule on the motions, decide if the trial is on track or delay proceedings if
either side needs more time.
Mederos was arrested Sept. 4, charged in a federal indictment with illegally
obtaining citizenship by lying about his past. In his application, Mederos did
not reveal his past membership in the Cuban Communist Party or that he had
tortured political prisoners with electroshock treatment at the Havana
Psychiatric Hospital, known as Mazorra, according to the indictment.
Mederos has consistently declined comment since his arrest. But in
interviews with The Herald in 1992, when the allegations surfaced, Mederos
acknowledged that he administered electroshock treatment, but only when
medically prescribed by doctors.
If convicted, Mederos could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison
and be stripped of his citizenship. The Immigration and Naturalization Service
would then seek to deport him to Cuba.
Federal law requires that an applicant for citizenship be of ''good moral
character'' during the five years before filing for naturalization, Rothman
wrote, adding that Mederos filed in 1992, while the alleged crimes occurred
between 1968 and 1978 -- more than a decade before he applied for citizenship.
The naturalization form simply asks whether an applicant has ''ever''
committed a crime for which he has not been arrested or whether the applicant
has ''ever'' persecuted ``any person because of race, religion, national origin,
membership in a particular social group or political opinion.''
But language in federal law governing naturalization says ''good moral
character'' applies to the five years before filing.
In another motion, Rothman is seeking a change of venue because there is
''so great a prejudice'' in Miami against Mederos that he cannot receive a
``fair and impartial trial.''
Rothman said the bias stems from the ''deeply rooted passions'' of the Cuban
exile community and pretrial media coverage that has been ``pervasive,
inflammatory and of the nature to cause ill-will vindictiveness against Mr.
Mederos.''
U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis could not be reached for comment.
Hunger strike enters 7th day
Man's health stirs concerns
By Elaine De Valle. wdevalle@herald.vom
It looks like a tiny homeless encampment to commuters along Sunset Drive.
But the tent, tarp and cots outside the South Miami Metrorail station -- and
directly in front of the Mexican Consulate -- has been home for the last week
for a Cuban exile on a hunger strike to protest Mexico's ouster last month of 21
young Cubans who forced their way into the Mexican embassy in Havana.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jorge González had not had anything but water
-- except an occasional mint when his blood sugar level drops -- for exactly
seven days, he says. The 55-year-old landlord, who came to Miami in the 1980
Mariel boatlift and leads a small exile organization, wants his abstinence to
draw the attention of Mexican diplomats.
''They need to rectify their actions,'' said González, who lives in
Flagami. "They violated the international right to asylum, which is a
treaty signed by many countries, including Mexico, in 1938 in Costa Rica.''
Though Mexican officials have said the Cubans who crashed a bus through the
fence at the embassy Feb. 27 did not request political asylum, González
is among many Cuban exiles who believe that was their intent.
'We saw them on video screaming, 'Abajo Fidel!' from the rooftops. 'Abajo
Fidel!' [Down with Fidel] is a dirty word in Cuba. You don't say that if you are
not asking for political asylum,'' Gonzalez said.
FRIEND SENT HOME
He started the hunger strike with a friend. But on Tuesday, a doctor who
visits daily sent Dagoberto Avilez home -- with orders to eat -- because the
lack of nutrition had aggravated an ulcer in his leg.
''He had problems,'' said Dr. Gustavo León. "We did a blood
analysis, and I saw that [the hunger strike] was going to damage him
disastrously so I made him call it off.''
León says González takes medication to control his diabetes. "He
is drinking a lot of water. He is in good, stable health.''
But González said he skipped some of his pills because they upset his
stomach if not taken with milk or food.
His wife -- who also stops by daily, as do several friends and other exiles
who support the hunger striker's cause -- worries about his health.
''His sugar can go really low at any moment, and he can go into a coma.
That's what really has me nervous,'' said Mileidys Herrera, 31, who left Cuba in
1992. "But I support him 100 percent.''
González was a fixture at the Little Havana home of Elián González,
no relation, before the boy -- who survived the shipwreck that killed his mother
and 11 others -- was seized by federal agents and returned to his father, who
took him back to Cuba.
He was part of a security force that guarded the backyard of the home on
Northwest Second Street and was detained a day before the raid by the INS.
Records show he has run afoul of the law on several occasions, with convictions
for carrying a concealed firearm, theft and burglary.
He says he will stay on the hunger strike "until those 21 souls who
were double-crossed by the Mexican diplomats in Havana have reached free soil.''
But consulate officials say he has not made any kind of formal request to
them.
''Of course we have seen him,'' said Deputy Consul Jorge Valdés
Diaz-Velez. "And we know through the media that he is allegedly on a hunger
strike. But we don't know exactly what he wants.''
Valdés says he is confused by González's methods because he
has received other Cuban Americans in his office during the last few weeks to
discuss the Havana incident.
''This type of pressure does not further the dialogue,'' he said. "I
lament that someone would take such extreme measures that would put his health
at risk. And I'm worried about him.''
González said he will present a formal request to the consulate
Friday, asking that the 21 Cubans and their families be protected and possibly
given refuge in Mexico. He had gathered 125 signatures for the letter by
Wednesday afternoon.
DAILY REGIMEN
Meanwhile, he passes the time listening to a battery-operated radio,
sleeping and drinking water from plastic bottles stored in the trunk of his gray
Mercury Sable.
And, he adds, he's not hungry.
''All the support I've gotten gives me strength,'' González said,
shortly before a Nicaraguan woman came up to him and pinned a pink dove to his
shirt. "You go ahead and bring me a roast pork, and I won't pay any
attention.'' | 
