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Yahoo! June
23, 2003.
U.S. Accused of Backing Cuban Dissidents
By Colin Mcclelland, Associated Press Writer. Sat Jun
21,10:49 PM ET
TORONTO - Cuba's national libraries director accused the United States on
Saturday of bankrolling small, independent book lenders in the island nation to
undermine its communist government.
Fourteen people who ran small libraries from their homes in Cuba were
arrested in March and given hefty prison terms in a major government crackdown
on dissidents in the country. A total of 75 activists were sentenced to prison
terms in April ranging from six to 28 years on charges of being mercenaries
working with American diplomats to subvert the island's socialist system.
Cuba says the dissidents were arrested for accepting U.S. government money,
a charge U.S. officials and the dissidents deny.
"The independent libraries have ... demonstrated they are receiving
money to subvert the institutional order of Cuba," Eliades Acosta said
Saturday at a book convention in Toronto.
The United States has given more than $20 million since 1997 to
non-governmental groups supporting Cuban's opposition movement and promoting
democracy, human rights and free enterprise in Cuba. The U.S. government
broadcasts American propaganda into Cuba through radio and television reports,
which cost about $25 million annually.
Critics argue that acquiring library books in Cuba is complicated, with
authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, George Orwell, Milan Kundera and Alexander
Solzhenitsyn essentially banned. A patron's type of library card depends on his
standing and few risk going on record asking for controversial titles.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro says no books are banned — rather, Cuba lacks
the money to buy them.
Ramon Colas and his wife founded the Independent Libraries of Cuba in 1998
after Castro said there were no forbidden books in Cuba. He left Cuba in
December 2001 and now lives in Miami.
Colas said he was detained 20 times for lending books, finally being sent to
a military-style sugar cane farm. Authorities confiscated a large part of his
library.
He said the American Library Association, which organized Toronto's
convention jointly with its Canadian counterpart, should do more to criticize
Castro.
"I'm looking for solidarity," he said.
He did not find it from Ann Sitkin, a librarian at the Harvard Law School
and a Cuban-American.
"These people are not librarians. They never went to library school,"
Sitkin said. "A lot were set up as funnels to get money from the U.S. to
dissidents."
The ALA said it would propose a resolution Wednesday that would "express
concern" to Cuba about the arrests.
Almost 15,000 delegates registered for the Toronto conference, one of the
few not to flee the city because of the dwindling outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome. Guest speakers included feminist Gloria Steinem, novelist
Margaret Atwood and consumer advocate Ralph Nader.
Cuban Transportation Minister Replaced
Fri Jun 20, 9:46 PM ET
HAVANA - Cuba's government announced Friday it had replaced the
transportation minister, and a relatively unknown Communist Party official was
named to the key post overseeing the island's public transportation system.
Outgoing transportation minister Alvaro Perez Morales "will be assigned
to other duties," a short story reported in Granma, the Communist Party
newspaper.
It identified the new minister as Manuel Pozo Torrado, a 40-year-old
engineer who oversaw construction, transportation and communications for the
party.
There was no reason given for the move.
Tearful relatives of Cuban dissidents call for sanctions against Castro
Fri Jun 20, 7:35 PM ET Add U.S. National - AFP to My
Yahoo!
MIAMI (AFP) - Tearful relatives of jailed Cuban dissidents issued an
emotional plea for tough sanctions against President Fidel Castro (news - web
sites)'s communist government and said they were heading to Europe to press
their case.
Larry Klayman, the head of Judicial Watch, the conservative legal watchdog
group organizing the trip, called outright for the US military to oust Castro,
saying the Cuban leader was "more of a threat than Saddam Hussein."
Klayman and the exiled Cubans spoke at a news conference in Miami to outline
details of a nine-country tour next week aimed at pressing European countries to
impose economic sanctions against Cuba.
"No dictatorship can exist without external support but no dictatorship
can be brought down either without external support," said Alina Fernandez,
an exiled daughter of Castro, who will lead the trip.
"We are asking the world to help us with the situation in Cuba,"
said Blanca Gonzalez, whose journalist son, Normando Gonzalez, was recently
sentenced to 25 years in a Cuban prison.
Tears streaming down her cheeks another dissident's relative said she would
tell European leaders that "Fidel Castro is a murderer."
"Until now, they have been blind and deaf to the tragedy in Cuba,"
said Isabel Roque, her voice choked with emotion.
Her daughter, Marta Beatriz Roque, an economist and key figure in the Cuban
opposition, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in April following a major
crackdown in which 75 dissidents were given lengthy prison sentences.
"I am asking that anyone who can do so speak out to save Marta's life.
I'm also asking this for all of those who are jailed," she said.
The group expressed confidence European officials would be receptive to the
message at a time when relations with Cuba have deteriorated over the recent
crackdown.
"This kind of conduct has even got the Europeans upset ... the
Europeans who invested heavily in Castro's Cuba," said Klayman.
Castro has expressed outrage over European criticism, and led demonstrations
in Havana against Spain and Italy, whose leaders he called "fascists and
bandits."
Klayman said the trip to Europe was not officially sanctioned by the White
House, but that "they know what we are doing, it's been coordinated with
them."
The group will notably participate in an international forum in the Swiss
mountain resort of Crans-Montana, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be
among the speakers.
"I'm going to say in front of these delegates that Fidel Castro, the
master terrorist, has cooperated with Yasser Arafat in killing people not just
in the Middle East but around the world," said Klayman.
He said that while Judicial Watch was promoting legal and economic measures
against Cuba, "we would advocate that he should be removed militarily. We
hope President Bush is listening ... Now would opportunity to get rid of Fidel
Castro."
Klayman also called for the ouster of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "Chavez
is a terrorist, removing him in any particular way would probably be beneficial,"
he said. | 
