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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Family: Cuban passed on secrets
The family of a Cuban man accused
of spying says that if he is mistreated they will
make public the information he gave them. They
say he is ill and should not stand trial.
By Charles Rabin, crabin@herald.com.
A day before Omelio Angulo is to stand trial
in Cuba for espionage, relatives in Miami admitted
he was trying to pass along information about
the military, but they say they don't know why.
Family members at a news conference Tuesday at
their Southwest Miami-Dade home also tried to
portray Angulo as being medically unfit to stand
trial, claiming he has attempted suicide at least
three times -- once while trying to get through
military school in 1979, another time while he
was in jail.
''I have no idea'' why Omelio was trying to pass
along sensitive information, said Enrique Angulo,
Omelio's brother and the man he was trying to
get the information to. "I'm not politically
involved or related to any organization.''
Enrique said it's not the first time Omelio has
sent him sensitive documents.
''I have received a lot of information,'' he
said.
Enrique Angulo, 40, says he is the chief executive
of American Health Systems, a West Flagler company
that helps people with their medical needs.
In late March, Maria Cardoso, Omelio's sister,
and the man she calls her husband, Arcel Cardoso,
took their two daughters on a two-week trip to
Camagüey to visit relatives. Public records
show Arcel is married to another woman. The Herald
could not find any records showing a marriage
between him and Maria.
Omelio asked Maria to take some letters back
to Enrique. She stuffed them in her bra, but they
were discovered at the airport before she left.
Four Cardosos were initially held, but Maria's
two daughters were quickly freed and flew back
to Miami. Maria and Arcel were jailed, in separate
cells, from April 8 to Aug. 29. Omelio was also
jailed.
Maria said that with no warning Cuban authorities
visited her cell on Aug. 29 and told her she was
free to go.
Maria and Arcel Cardoso are U.S. residents, not
citizens, so the U.S. government could not get
directly involved in the case.
A REVERSAL
Maria now admits she was taking letters and photographs
from Omelio back to Miami for Enrique. And she
says that contrary to statements she made in September,
she knows what was in the letters. She would not
disclose that information, except to say they
included photos of military sites.
On Tuesday, Maria threatened to go public with
the contents of the letters and photographs if
the Cuban government doesn't enter it as evidence
during her brother's trial. He could face 10 years
in prison.
''Why won't the letter be in court tomorrow?''
asked Maria. "Because it's too important
for the Cuban government? I want to let the Cuban
government know that if they don't treat my brother
right, I'm going to say everything in the letter.''
The Cuban Interests Section in Washington did
not return phone calls Tuesday.
NOT FORTHCOMING
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who originally
said she would press the U.S. government on the
Cardosos' behalf, said last month she had reservations
about the family's ordeal because they had not
been forthcoming on what was in the letter.
Ros-Lehtinen could not be reached Tuesday.
Omelio's mother, Mercedes Borrero -- also at
the press conference with Omelio's father, Omelio
Angulo -- produced papers she said were from a
Cuban hospital that showed her son tried to commit
suicide in August 1997.
She claimed he tried to do the same in 1979 while
training to join the Cuban military, and once
recently, while in jail.
''I can't sleep anymore,'' Mercedes Borrero said.
She said Omelio went to therapy for years after
the initial suicide attempt. "He couldn't
control himself in military school. He couldn't
make it. He was too hyper.''
Still, say family members, they have no idea
why Omelio was trying to pass along information
-- including photos of military sites -- forbidden
in Cuba.
''He isn't a spy,'' said Maria's son Ruben Manzo,
23. "He was trying to let my uncle know what
is going on in Cuba. He knows a lot of people
from there, and he was just trying to pass along
information to my uncle.''
Herald staff writer Elaine De Valle contributed
to this report.
Press group indicts Cuba, Venezuela
CHICAGO - (AP) -- Freedom of expression and freedom
of the press are violated, or at least threatened,
throughout the Western Hemisphere, an organization
of newspaper publishers said Tuesday. The Inter-American
Press Association concluded a five-day meeting
in Chicago saying the situation is the worst in
Cuba and Venezuela.
The Miami-based umbrella group of nearly all
newspapers in the Americas said Cuba is the country
where freedom of the press "is violated most
systematically and completely.''
''Twenty-eight independent journalist are serving
prison sentences ranging from 14 to 27 years in
subhuman conditions, far from their families,
with no medical attention and no respect for their
other basic human rights,'' the IAPA concluded
in a report.
Venezuela was also mentioned as a concern for
harassment of Venezuelan journalist by sympathizers
of President Hugo Chávez.
A ''special distinction'' of the IAPA's award
went to the 28 Cuban journalists.
Receiving the award on their behalf, Humberto
Castelló, executive editor of El Nuevo
Herald of Miami, asked Jack Fuller, the Chicago
Tribune publisher IAPA president, "not to
allow Venezuela to become a new Cuba with the
press.''
The IAPA also said national security is being
used as a pretext to clamp down on the media in
the United States.
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