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May 17, 2002.
Carter to Send Cuba Report to Bush
Fri May 17,12:25 Pm Et . By John Rice, Associated Press
Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Ending his landmark trip to Cuba, former President Jimmy
Carter on Friday urged sweeping changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba, as well as
openings toward democracy within Cuba.
Carter told a news conference he'd like to see cooperation on bioterrorism,
and that he would send his impressions Saturday to the White House and the State
Department. President Bush is scheduled to speak Monday in Miami on American
policy toward the communist country.
Carter said he recognizes "that after 43 years of misunderstanding and
animosity that a brief trip cannot change the basic relationships between our
peoples. But my hope is that in some small way at least, our visit might improve
that situation in the future."
Undersecretary of State John Bolton said before Carter's trip that Cuba has
provided biotechnology to "other rogue states" and the United States
is concerned the information could support biological warfare programs.
Carter told to CNN that he stood by comments saying he had been told by
administration officials that the United States had no evidence the communist
country was transferring technology that could be used for terrorism.
"I believe it's true; that's what I was told," he said. "No
one ever raised any question to me about bioterrorism, knowing about that I was
coming here and the purpose of my visit."
Carter said he presumed that any evidence of Cuba's involvement in terrorism
would be revealed, and noted that Cuba had said it would be open to sending an
investigative team to Cuba.
"And I presume they'll take advantage of that as well," Carter
said.
Carter told the news conference that better cooperation would ensure that
Cuba's medical agreements with other nations are monitored to make sure that the
ability to produce hepatitis B vaccine or meningitis B vaccine does not lead to
this sort of activity for biological weapons.
Bush's speech in the heart of the Cuban exile community in the United States
is expected to announce a hardening of policies toward Cuba, and appears to be a
response in part to Carter's visit.
In the first visit by a serving or former U.S. president since Fidel Castro
took power in 1959, Carter urged the communist leader to embrace democracy while
calling on the Bush administration to drop the 40-year-old trade embargo against
Cuba.
From Cuba's highest leaders to its most modest citizens, Carter had a
reception fit for a pope.
There were chants of "Cahr-TEHR! Cahr-TEHR!" from villagers who
lined the unpaved streets of small towns he visited. And for the first time
since the 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II, Cuba's tightly government-controlled
media published a long, word-by-word text of a foreign visitor preaching a
distinctly noncommunist creed.
Castro honored Carter by allowing an unusual uncensored speech Tuesday to be
broadcast over state radio and television networks. On Thursday, the Communist
Party newspapers printed Carter's remarks, including the assertion that Cuba
does not meet international treaty definitions of democracy as well as a call
for the end of the U.S. embargo of the island.
Also Thursday, Carter met at the house of a U.N. official with 23
dissidents, one of whom had been freed from prison less than two weeks ago.
Carter first met alone with Vladimiro Roca, who was freed May 5 after nearly
five years in prison for demanding changes in Cuba's communist system. He then
met separately with two larger groups.
Carter "recommended unity among us, that we in the opposition join
together," said Julio Ruiz Pitaluga, 76, who spent 23 years behind bars as
a political prisoner.
Cuba's divided dissidents are united only by their common opponent: Castro's
government. Some favor a free market, others want a socialism distinct from that
of Castro. Some are politicians, others are professionals who found they did not
fit into a system run by one party.
Several dissidents organized a petition drive and say they gathered more
than 11,000 signatures to seek a national referendum on rights such as free
speech, free association and free enterprise. Carter promoted that effort, the
Varela Project, during his speech on Tuesday.
"His words at the university were historic," said Rene Gomez
Manzano, who was imprisoned along with Roca but released earlier.
Manzano said that the publication of Carter's criticism "is something
very different from what the people have become accustomed to hearing during the
chill of 43 years," referring to Castro's time in power.
Thursday's newspapers also included the text of responses from Castro
loyalists such as national student leader Hassan Perez, who charged that the
backers of the Varela Project were "tied to a mafia" in the United
States.
Justice Minister Roberto Diaz Sotolongo said backers of the petition "represent
only 0.01 percent of the population," and added, "We know that the
government of the United States, and especially the U.S. Interests Section in
the country, have a role in this."
But he called the petition drive itself "proof of how democratic our
system is."
The Bush administration has rejected Carter's call for an end to the trade
embargo against Cuba. Bush is now the 10th president to use the sanctions to try
to topple Castro; only Carter moved strongly toward ending them.
Bush is expected to outline a new Cuba policy Monday that would likely
increase aid to dissidents, promote independent business and try again to
overcome Cuban jamming of U.S. government stations.
Carter told reporters Friday that the dissidents he met with on Thursday
told him a plan to increase U.S. government financing for their efforts could
undermine their work by giving the Castro government something it can use to
discredit them.
"They thought this would put an undeserved stigma on their actions,"
Carter said.
Carter Wraps Up Historic Cuba Visit
Fri May 17, 3:38 Am Et . By John Rice, Associated Press
Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter wrapped up a historic visit
Friday after seeking to bring Cuba and the United States closer by challenging
both countries to change after more than four decades of enmity.
In the first visit by a serving or former U.S. president since Fidel Castro
took power in 1959, Carter urged the communist leader to embrace democracy while
calling on the Bush administration to drop the 40-year-old trade embargo against
Cuba.
From Cuba's highest leaders to its most modest citizens, Carter had a
reception fit for a pope.
There were chants of "Cahr-TEHR! Cahr-TEHR!" from villagers who
lined the unpaved streets of small towns he visited. And for the first time
since the 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II, Cuba's tightly government-controlled
media published a long, word-by-word text of a foreign visitor preaching a
distinctly noncommunist creed.
Castro honored Carter by allowing an unusual uncensored speech Tuesday to be
broadcast over state radio and television networks. On Thursday, the Communist
Party newspapers printed Carter's remarks, including the assertion that Cuba
does not meet international treaty definitions of democracy as well as a call
for the end of the U.S. embargo of the island.
Also Thursday, Carter met at the house of a U.N. official with 23
dissidents, one of whom had been freed from prison less than two weeks ago.
Carter first met alone with Vladimiro Roca, who was freed May 5 after nearly
five years in prison for demanding changes in Cuba's communist system. He then
met separately with two larger groups.
Carter "recommended unity among us, that we in the opposition join
together," said Julio Ruiz Pitaluga, 76, who spent 23 years behind bars as
a political prisoner.
Cuba's divided dissidents are united only by their common opponent: Castro's
government. Some favor a free market, others want a socialism distinct from that
of Castro. Some are politicians, others are professionals who found they did not
fit into a system run by one party.
Several dissidents organized a petition drive and say they gathered more
than 11,000 signatures to seek a national referendum on rights such as free
speech, free association and free enterprise. Carter promoted that effort, the
Varela Project, during his speech on Tuesday.
"His words at the university were historic," said Rene Gomez
Manzano, who was imprisoned along with Roca but released earlier.
Manzano said that the publication of Carter's criticism "is something
very different from what the people have become accustomed to hearing during the
chill of 43 years," referring to Castro's time in power.
Thursday's newspapers also included the text of responses from Castro
loyalists such as national student leader Hassan Perez, who charged that the
backers of the Varela Project were "tied to a mafia" in the United
States.
Justice Minister Roberto Diaz Sotolongo said backers of the petition "represent
only 0.01 percent of the population," and added, "We know that the
government of the United States, and especially the U.S. Interests Section in
the country, have a role in this."
But he called the petition drive itself "proof of how democratic our
system is."
The Bush administration has rejected Carter's call for an end to the trade
embargo against Cuba. Bush is now the 10th president to use the sanctions to try
to topple Castro; only Carter moved strongly toward ending them.
Bush is expected to outline a new Cuba policy Monday that officials have
said would likely increase aid to dissidents, promote independent business and
try again to overcome Cuban jamming of U.S. government stations aimed at Cuba.
Venezuelan Coup Disrupting Oil to Cuba
Thu May 16,11:14 PM ET
HAVANA (AP) - Venezuela has not yet resumed shipments of 53,000 barrels a
day of oil that Cuba received before the failed April 11 coup against President
Hugo Chavez, Basic Industry Minister Marcos Portal said Thursday.
"It is possible that it will be re-established in the coming months,"
Portal told a news conference.
Under an October 2000 agreement between Chavez and Cuban President Fidel
Castro , Venezuela was supplying the oil to Cuba on special terms, allowing it
15 years to pay and charging 2 percent a year interest on amassed debt.
Venezuela signed similar agreements with other countries in Central America
and the Caribbean.
During the two days when Chavez briefly lost control, Venezuelan oil company
officials announced a series of changes that included an end of oil shipments to
Cuba.
Cuba: US Denies Some Research Visas
Thu May 16,10:48 PM ET
HAVANA (AP) - Two Cuban cancer researchers were rejected for U.S. visas
needed to attend a scientific conference in Florida, Cuba said Thursday.
In a statement read over government television, the Foreign Ministry
called the U.S. denial "an attack on science and on Cuban scientists."
There was no immediate U.S. confirmation. In Washington, a State Department
spokesperson declined to comment on the issue late Thursday night.
The action comes amid a debate over suggestions that Cuba's expanding
biotechnology industry could be helping other nations develop biological
weapons. Cuban officials and scientists have called the U.S. suggestions "lies."
The ministry said the scientists were specialists in head and neck cancer,
Dr. Tania Crombet and Adriana Carr. They wanted to attend the May 18-21 annual
meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, Fla.
Both work for the Center of Molecular Immunology, where they are studying
vaccines and antibodies against cancer. | 
