CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Exiles to be tried on lesser charges

Men, including three Miamians, accused of trying to kill Castro

By Frances Robles. frobles@herald.com. Posted on Sun, Sep. 07, 2003.

PANAMA CITY - Four Cuban exiles accused of plotting to blow up President Fidel Castro three years ago must stand trial in November on lesser charges, a judge has ruled despite defense arguments that there was no convincing evidence against them.

The decision, announced near midnight Friday, ended a contentious three-day pre-trial hearing to determine the fates of former fugitive Luis Posada Carriles and Miamians Gaspar Jiménez, Guillermo Novo and Pedro Remón.

The four long-time anti-Castro activists were arrested here in November 2000, at the start of the 10th Ibero American Summit, when Castro startled the crowd at the conference by announcing that Cuba's most wanted man was in Panama City plotting to kill him. Panamanian police descended on Posada's hotel, capturing the four as the 75-year-old Posada took an afternoon nap.

POSADA'S BAG

The investigation later netted José Manuel Hurtado, a local man the men had hired to drive them around. Hurtado told investigators that he found a bag ''Posada always carried'' in the Mitsubishi he had rented. When he went to return it, Posada's hotel was surrounded by police cars.

Frightened by the ''strange things'' inside the bag -- 33 pounds of C-4 explosives -- he led police to the spot where he, his nephew and a friend had buried it.

Judge Enrique Paniza ordered Hurtado to face trial as well, although charges against his nephew and neighbor were dismissed.

''I was so surprised,'' said Rosa Mancilla, attorney for the Cuban defendants. "These charges are contradictory. You either believe Hurtado or you don't. If you believe him, then the charges -- at least against him -- should have been dismissed.''

''There's no case there,'' Mancilla said. "We proved that.''

The defense said the Cuban exiles sneaked into Panama from Costa Rica, some of them with false documents, to help a high-ranking Cuban intelligence official defect.

Prosecutors found the tale of espionage implausible, as none of the Cubans could offer evidence that they knew the defector or the supposed escape plan. And what were they doing with a global positioning device and a hand-written essay dubbed ''Operation David v. Goliath?'' prosecutor Arquimedes Sáez asked.

Sáez acknowledges he can only put the explosives in Hurtado's hands, but the humble chauffeur he called ''the little black Panamanian'' is not the one with a decades-long history of using deadly force against Cuba's communist government.

Posada was acquitted of the 1976 bombing of a Cubana de Aviación flight to Havana. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while awaiting the prosecution's appeal. The former CIA operative acknowledged and later denied bankrolling the string of 1997 Havana hotel bombings that killed a tourist.

Remón served time in connection with the murder of a Cuban United Nations official 20 years ago. Novo was acquitted of conspiracy, but convicted of perjury, in the killing of a Chilean diplomat in Washington, and Jiménez was convicted of the attempted kidnapping of a Cuban diplomat in Mexico, whose bodyguard was killed.

''Their histories speak for themselves,'' Sáez said.

The defendants' cause in Panama was hurt by the words of a friend and former co-defendant José ''Pepe El Cubano'' Valladares, a Cuban exile here who allegedly helped hatch the plot.

''I told them they should have used a rifle with a telescopic lens,'' Valladares allegedly told investigators. "Then they would not be in this mess.''

Valladares died last year.

At one point Friday, defendant Novo was so tired of hearing himself cast as a ''terrorist delinquent'' that he leapt from his seat and told a lawyer: "The only delinquent criminal here is you!''

TRIAL NEXT MONTH

The men face seven years in prison for possession of explosives, threatening public safety and illicit association. Novo and Posada are also charged with carrying false documents.

The attempted murder charges were dismissed earlier, because investigators never found the detonating devices for the explosives.

A trial date was set for Nov. 12. Requests to extradite the men to Cuba and Venezuela were previously denied by the Panamanian government.

''My freedom is coming soon, with the will of the people and the help of God,'' Posada said Monday in an interview with The Herald. "There is no proof against me.''

Maintain sanctions on Cuba, Bush warns

By Frank Davies. fdavies@herald.com. Posted on Fri, Sep. 05, 2003

WASHINGTON - President Bush renewed a warning to Congress Thursday that he will veto any legislation that weakens economic sanctions against Cuba.

The House is preparing to vote next week on an amendment to a spending bill for the Treasury and Transportation departments that would lift the ban on travel to Cuba. Another amendment would ease restrictions on remittances sent to Cubans.

''It is essential to maintain sanctions and travel restrictions to deny economic resources to the brutal Castro regime,'' the White House budget office said in its written statement. "Lifting the sanctions now, or limiting our ability to enforce them, would provide a helping hand to a desperate and repressive regime at the expense of the Cuban people.''

The House has voted to lift the travel ban twice, and in recent years momentum has built in Congress to ease the embargo. But Republican leaders, especially in the House, have been able to remove most anti-embargo provisions from the final version of bills.

Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, said, "President Bush's threat to veto any embargo-weakening amendments is a guarantee that the embargo will stand.''

While the House prepared for votes on the embargo, the Senate Finance Committee heard a lively debate about the role and effectiveness of continued sanctions on Cuba.

Two administration officials said the Cuban economy has deteriorated so rapidly that any changes in the embargo would have little impact on a ''deadbeat debtor'' government that has defaulted on loans to finance most import purchases.

''Even if the embargo is lifted, trade would be very limited,'' said Al Larson, undersecretary of state for economic and business affairs.

Several members of the Finance Committee criticized the embargo and travel ban, with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., calling it "an utter, resounding failure that just helps Castro insulate the island from U.S. influence.''

Europeans denounce Cuba's rights record

Legislators call for the release of jailed dissidents, journalists

Posted on Fri, Sep. 05, 2003

STRASBOURG, France - (EFE) -- The European Parliament on Thursday condemned the ''persistent and flagrant'' violation of human rights in Cuba and called for the release of jailed opposition activists.

EU legislators approved a 14-point resolution a day after Wednesday's debate on relations between the European Union and Cuba, which have been severely strained following the latest wave of repression and arrests by Fidel Castro's regime.

The parliament expressed regret for "the lack of economic and social reforms in Cuba.''

The resolution also called for ''the immediate release'' of all jailed Cuban opponents and independent journalists, and reminded authorities in the island nation that "no law can restrict the right to freedom of expression.''

The document established that, since the EU last evaluated its position toward Cuba in 2002, "not only have no positive steps been taken by the Cuban government, but the human rights situation has drastically deteriorated.''

In March and April, authorities of the communist state rounded up 75 dissidents - democracy activists and independent journalists -- and subjected them to summary trials at which they were sentenced to prison terms averaging 20 years. The crackdown was considered the harshest in decades by the 44-year-old regime.

The European Parliament expressed regret at Cuba's decision to turn down the EU's offer for humanitarian aid, and reiterated that "the European Union's commitment and willingness to lend assistance to the Cuban people remain unchanged.''

Left-out Cubans hold own concert

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Fri, Sep. 05, 2003

Thumbing their nose at the extravagant Latin Grammys they could not attend in Miami, several Cuban musicians who had been nominated for awards held their own gala concert Thursday in Havana, broadcast to the rest of the world via satellite.

The concert at the Karl Marx Theater came after Cuba blasted the Latin Recording Academy with accusations that the organization caved into pressure from Miami exiles by failing to send its artists the letters of invitations required to apply for U.S. visas.

''They've fixed everything to make money and to not have problems with the Miami mafia,'' Deputy Culture Minister Abel Acosta Acosta told reporters in Havana on Wednesday night. Castro foes in Miami had threatened massive protests if Cuban artists were present.

ON TELEVISION

Cuban officials, meanwhile, were to analyze ''The Shameful History of the Latin Grammys in Miami'' during a nightly televised broadcast called Mesa Redonda, the Communist Party newspaper Granma announced Thursday.

Granma said none of the 103 Cuban musicians and producers linked with recordings nominated for Latin Grammys received letters of invitations from the organizers.

Latin Recording Academy President Gabriel Abaroa denied the accusations to the Associated Press and said that invitations were sent out for all the nominated artists, including the Cuban acts.

''The Latin Academy did its homework and sent the invitations. If any country is saying that, it is for political purposes only,'' Abaroa told The Associated Press.

"It was always our desire from the first moment for all the nominees to come to the show.''

U.S. officials said seven Cuban artists submitted visa applications.

Three were denied and the application process for the other four could not be completed in time for Wednesday's Miami event.

None of the applications contained letters of invitation.

AWARD-WINNERS

Two Cuban acts ultimately won awards at the Miami Latin Grammys: the rap group Orishas got best Rap/Hip-Hop Album, and Ibrahim Ferrer, best known as a member of Buena Vista Social Club, won for best Traditional Tropical Album.

Nominees who were to perform at the Havana concert Thursday night included Eliades Ochoa, who was nominated for Best Traditional Tropical Album,the popular group Los Van Van, nominated for Best Contemporary Tropical Album; the Romeu group, nominated for Best Flamenco Album; and Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, nominated for Best Folk Album.

''One day if we were chosen'' to host the Grammys, ''we would invite all of the nominees . . . including those that now are prohibited from going,'' Ochoa told reporters in Havana.

Cuban pair steals show at festival

By Octavio Roca, oroca@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Sep. 08, 2003 .

An easy way to explain why millions of people love ballet is to watch Lorna Feijoó and Nelson Madrigal dance.

The couple, recent defections from Alicia Alonso's Ballet Nacional de Cuba, gave a breathtaking performance of the pas de deux from Don Quixote at the International Ballet Festival at the Jackie Gleason Theater on Saturday night. In an evening featuring many dancers from around the globe, these two Cuban exiles, who are now stars of the Boston Ballet, came last and stole the show.

They also celebrated history. The gala was a tribute to the great Bolshoi dancers Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maximova, a couple who embodied the Soviet dynamism that revitalized the classical Petipa style in the 20th century.

What was touching about Saturday's performance was the reminder that it was not only in Europe that the Petipa style has been enriched. Feijoó and Madrigal are living embodiments of the Cuban School, which has helped make Petipa's 19th-century language as seductive as it is thrilling for the 21st.

There were men with flashier bravura than Madrigal -- Argentina's Franco Cadelago emerged as a true star -- but none with as sweet a stage presence or as loving a way or partnering. Lifting his wife, turning her, letting her soar was the key to his performance.

Feijoó was delicious. Technical perfection here could be taken for granted. Her musicality, despite the dampening effect of canned music, was as miraculous as her balances: Feijoó could stay on pointe as long as she pleased and made it seem the absolutely necessary thing to do. She toyed with the beat, she flirted, she was possessed by the choreography and she reclaimed this Russian classic based on a Spanish masterpiece with fiery Latin flair. Here was dancing for the ages.

There was more, not all of it great. A little trimming of the long evening might have spared a fine dancer like Ramón Moreno from attempting Diana and Acteon in such bad shape. Victoria Morgan's lame duet from Romeo and Juliet was simply not needed.

Still, there were high points. From the Paris Opera Ballet came two: Gsovsky's Grand Pas Classique in a beautifully articulated performance by Juliane Mathis and Hervé Courtain, then Courtain on his own in an emotionally searing Sequenza XIV by Luca Veggeti. From the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, Thiago Soarez partnered Marianela Núñez in the Corsaire pas de deux and drove the audience to a frenzy with jumps that made it seem as if he were climbing a stairway to the sky.

From Italy's Balletto di Puglia came Toni Candeloro and Giorgia Maddamma in an unidiomatic but intriguing version of José Limón's Orfeo.

Johanna Laber and Ramón Oller danced Oller's ineffably moving duet Pecado Pescado, set to Schubert. Shoko Nakamura and Jürgen Wagner's Alles Walzer, set by Renato Zanella to a megamix of Verdi, Strauss and silence, brought a touch of whimsy and left the audience with a smile.

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