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Posted on Thu, Jun. 05, 2003 in
The Miami
Herald.
Dissident smuggles diary from Cuban jail
By Andrea Rodriguez. Associated Press
HAVANA - Smuggled out by his wife, the diary of a recently jailed dissident
offers a rare firsthand look at life in a Cuban prison, telling of bad food,
rats in the cells and damp walls.
''The cell is a space of 1 ½ meters wide by 3 meters long [about 5 feet
by 10 feet],'' Manuel Vázquez Portal wrote in one entry. "A barred
door partially covered by a plate of steel. A barred window, through which enter
the sun's rays, the rain, the insects.''
There was no mention of any physical mistreatment, and the independent
journalist, who was sentenced to 18 years, said he is allowed to go out in the
sunshine once a day at Boniato prison in the eastern city of Santiago.
A photocopy of the diary was given to The Associated Press on Tuesday by his
wife, Yolanda Huerga. It was written in longhand with pen on loose pages of
blank paper that the family was allowed to give him during visits at the prison.
ONE OF 75
Vázquez was among 75 activists arrested in March during an islandwide
crackdown on dissidents that drew widespread international criticism.
Cuba's justice and foreign ministries did not respond to repeated requests
for comment on complaints by families about treatment of the dissidents. Some
relatives say medical care in the jails is inadequate and others say their loved
ones have been shut away in solitary confinement.
Vázquez's description could not be independently confirmed, because
foreign reporters and human rights groups do not have access to prisons on the
communist-run island.
Cuba last allowed the Red Cross into its prisons in 1988. Under the
organization's policy, the Red Cross later delivered a confidential report to
Castro's government.
Huerga declined to discuss how the journal was smuggled out of the prison
last weekend after a regular family visit. She said her husband gave permission
to give AP a photocopy of the diary, in which sporadic entries begin in late
April with his arrest and end on May 23.
''If for the simple act of practicing journalism they condemned me to 18
years without freedom, then nothing else can be unjust or extreme,'' Vázquez
wrote in one entry.
CELL'S FURNISHINGS
He described his cell's furnishings as a rickety cot, a dirty mattress
without sheets and pillow, a fetid toilet bowl. Rats scurry across the floor and
water drips down the walls, he wrote.
While Vázquez, 52, said he gets three meals a day, he said the food
is so bad it is ''indescribable.'' The journal contained no allegations of
physical abuse, and Vázquez described his relationship with guards as "respectful.''
Defense asks for visit to Cuban airport
Six men are facing charges in hijacking
By Jennifer Babson. Jbabson@Herald.Com
KEY WEST - Attorneys for six Cuban men accused of commandeering a DC-3 in
March from Cuba's Isle of Youth to Key West are asking a federal court to order
the U.S. government to press Cuba to give defense lawyers a tour of the tiny
airport from which the plane departed.
Given the rocky state of relations between the United States and Cuba,
however, it's not clear whether U.S. diplomats ordered to try to persuade Cuba
to cooperate would get very far.
Indicted in the March 19 hijacking are Alexis Norneilla Morales, 31; Eduardo
Javier Mejia Morales, 26; Yainer Olivares Samon, 21; Neudis Infantes Hernandez,
31; Alvenis Arias Izquierdo, 24; and Miakel Guerra Morales, 31.
The six are accused of using kitchen knives, tape and an emergency hatchet
to force a twin-engine DC-3 from Cuba to Key West with 31 passengers and six
crew members aboard.
They face at least 20 years in prison if convicted.
In a motion filed about two weeks ago, lawyers for the hijack suspects
contend that the Cuban airport is "one of the alleged crime scenes.''
Prosecutors have responded by arguing that the aging plane, auctioned off
this week to satisfy a Miami woman's $27 million judgment against Cuba, is the
real scene of the crime being prosecuted. Federal investigators and defense
attorneys have already inspected the DC-3 in preparation for the Sept. 8 trial.
WEAPONS AN ISSUE
''We need to survey everything that is germane to the case, including
government allegations that our clients had weapons aboard,'' said Mario S.
Cano, Mejia's court-appointed attorney.
''If they did have weapons aboard, how could they get weapons past a
security checkpoint?'' Cano asked.
According to the defense motion, attorneys for the hijack suspects want to "tour,
examine and photograph the departure and security areas as well as the tarmac of
the airport on the Isle of Youth. The defendants wish to present these
photographs at trial and feel that their ability to do so will form an integral
part of their defense.''
OPPOSING MOTION
In opposing the motion -- now before U.S. Magistrate John O'Sullivan in
Miami -- prosecutors contend "there is no justifiable basis for the
requested travel.''
''This case is about whether the defendants committed aircraft piracy and
whether their motivations for committing the acts render their actions
justifiable,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Delionado wrote.
"Even if the defense strategy is to show that someone in Cuba allowed
or facilitated the defendants in bringing the knives on board the DC-3, such
facts would not provide a defense to the crime charged, but would, at best,
reveal that there are unindicted co-conspirators in Cuba.''
Several times in recent years the U.S. government has sought and received
the cooperation of Cuba in preparing cases for indictment or federal trial.
VISIT IN 2001
In late 2001, for example, U.S. Border Patrol investigators and prosecutors
visited the island to gather evidence against now-convicted Cuban migrant
smuggler Jorge ''Bombino'' Aleman.
Cuban officials also sought FBI assistance in their investigation of the
violent 2001 highway killings in Cuba of five people, including a Hialeah
Gardens couple.
But those days may be over.
'TWO RIVAL NATIONS'
Calling the U.S. and Cuba ''two rival nations,'' Delionado said in his
response that Havana was noncommittal to a U.S. State Department direct inquiry
as to whether any passengers returned home after the hijacking might be brought
back to the United States to testify at trial.
Havana's reply:
''Their availability for trial would depend on the state of relations
between the United States and Cuba at the time of the request,'' Delionado
wrote. | 
