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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
U.S. cites angst over Venezuela-Cuba
ties
A State Department spokesman, calling
Cuba an antidemocratic force, says Venezuela's
close ties to Fidel Castro worry Venezuela's
neighbors.
Posted on Tue, Jan. 06,
2004.
WASHINGTON - (AP) -- Venezuela's neighbors
are bothered by close ties between the Venezuelan
and Cuban governments and their potential
dangers to democracy, the State Department
said Monday.
Department spokesman Adam Ereli also said
Cuba remains an antidemocratic force in
the region but stopped short of implicating
Venezuela in antidemocratic activities.
Privately, however, administration officials
say Cuba and Venezuela are working together
to oppose pro-American, democratic governments
in the region with money, political indoctrination
and training.
Ereli criticized any action that ''might
impede free and fair democratic processes''
in the hemisphere and said Cuba has a long
history of attempting to undermine elected
governments in the region.
''For that reason the close ties between
the government of Venezuela and the government
of Cuba raise concerns among Venezuela's
democratic neighbors,'' Ereli said.
In Caracas on Monday, Tarek William Saab,
head of Venezuela's congressional foreign
relations commission and a supporter of
President Hugo Chávez, assailed an
Associated Press story that recounted U.S.
worries about Chávez's activities.
Saab said the United States used "slander
and defamation to weaken a constitutional
government like ours.''
''It's false and irresponsible and cowardly,''
Saab said.
Chávez's actions have worried Washington
for some time, but U.S. officials have said
little publicly. To do otherwise, the officials
said, could give the Venezuelan leader material
to use for political advantage.
Aside from his ties to Cuba, Chávez's
democratic credentials are becoming increasingly
more questionable in the eyes of U.S. officials,
even though he came to power in 1999 through
a democratic election. Chávez's enemies
are trying to depose him through a recall
election.
Both President Bush and Chávez are
expected at a hemispheric summit meeting
Jan. 12-13 in Mexico.
The principal administration goal for the
hemisphere is to conclude a free-trade agreement
to extend from Alaska to Argentina by early
2005.
Some countries have shown more enthusiasm
for the proposal than others.
No leader is more critical than Chávez,
who said a week ago that its adoption would
be ''like committing suicide.'' He said
poor countries of the region would not be
able to compete.
Cruise ship rescues Cubans
A passenger aboard a luxury cruise ship
spots a group of Cuban refugees in a leaking
boat screaming for help. The Cubans are
rescued and turned over to the Coast Guard.
By Elaine De Valle, edevalle@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Jan. 06, 2004.
The U.S. Coast Guard had eight Cuban migrants
in custody Monday morning after the group
was rescued by a cruise ship over the weekend.
Their fate was unknown late Monday, but
they are likely to be returned to Cuba,
as are most Cuban migrants caught at sea.
Michael Sheehan, a spokesman for Royal
Caribbean cruise lines, said passengers
on the Brilliance of the Seas spotted the
group of eight men in a small boat Sunday
about 36 nautical miles southwest of Key
West.
After determining that the passengers weren't
playing a practical joke, the crew ''turned
our ship around and notified the Coast Guard,''
Sheehan said.
Paul Fisher, one of the cruise passengers,
saw the boat about 100 feet from the ship
at about 7:15 p.m. Sunday as the liner was
returning to the Port of Miami-Dade from
a 10-day cruise. The men were waving their
arms and paddles and screaming for help,
he said.
After the ship's spotlights found the Cubans,
they paddled to the cruise line. Sheehan
said the Coast Guard had asked the crew
not to let them aboard. The boat, which
Fisher said was taking on water, was tied
to the cruise ship.
Anastasia Burns, a Coast Guard spokeswoman,
confirmed that the agency had eight Cubans
in custody Monday, but she would not give
further details about when they were picked
up or where.
Fisher was upset about how the cruise line
handled the situation.
''They wouldn't let them aboard. When they
pulled the boat next to the cruise ship,
they threw them blankets but no life vests,''
Fisher said.
''These guys were sitting in a sinking
boat for 2 ½ hours,'' he said.
Sheehan said: "The small craft seemed
to be in poor condition and seemed to be
taking on water in the rough seas. But they
were tied up to our ship. They weren't going
anywhere.''
"Obviously, we wouldn't let someone
sink.''
Sheehan said the cruise ship has a policy
for dealing with floating refugees, but
he would not disclose it.
''You have to keep in mind the issue of
security and ensuring that what you think
you are seeing is, in fact, what you are
seeing,'' he said. "And especially
right now, when we are in an elevated security
level.''
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