CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

4 more Cubans are 'prisoners of conscience'

Four additional Cubans arrested during a crackdown on dissidents last year are declared 'prisoners of conscience' by Amnesty International.

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Thu, Jan. 29, 2004.

Amnesty International on Wednesday added four more Cubans to its list of ''prisoners of conscience,'' reinforcing Cuba's status as the country with the highest number of such prisoners in the Western Hemisphere.

''At least in terms of prisoners, it's not getting any better in Cuba,'' Eric Olson, Amnesty's Americas advocacy director, said in a telephone interview from Washington.

The move brought to 84 the number of ''prisoners of conscience'' in Cuban jails. That includes all 75 government opponents convicted in summary trials during an islandwide sweep last spring.

''The arrest of these four dissidents for their peaceful participation in nonviolent protests flies in the face of international human rights protections,'' Dr. William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement.

Amnesty identified the four new ''prisoners of conscience'' as Rolando Jiménez Posada, Rafael Millet Leyva, Miguel Sigler Amaya and Orlando Zapata Tamayo.

AT LEAST 300

Amnesty defines ''prisoners of conscience'' as people detained for their political beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, gender, color, language, sexual orientation, national or social origin or economic, birth or other status -- provided they have not used or advocated violence.

The number of all political prisoners in Cuba has been estimated at more than 300 by human rights activists on the island.

Officials at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington dismissed Amnesty's announcement.

''Amnesty always refers to these prisoners as prisoners of conscience or peaceful freedom fighters, but the reality is that they disrupt public order, do mercenary work and even place national security at risk,'' spokesman Lázaro Herrera said.

''We're still waiting to see what they have to say about the abuses that have been committed against the five Cubans convicted in Miami'' as spies in 2001, Herrera added. "They are victims of abuse, manipulation and arbitrary action. Their rights should be defended with the same passion.''

Jiménez and Millet, both from the Isle of Pines, have not been charged despite about 10 months of incarceration, according to Amnesty. Sigler, from Matanzas, is serving a 26-month sentence on charges of ''disobedience'' and ''resistance.'' Zapata, from Havana, is charged with ''disrespect, public disorder and disobedience'' but has not gone to a trial.

All were active with dissident organizations, and Zapata was involved with the Varela Project, which calls for a referendum seeking sweeping democratic reforms.

CHURCH EFFORT

In Havana, meanwhile, a delegation from the National Council of Churches USA failed to persuade the government to give amnesty to the 75 dissidents as a goodwill gesture toward efforts in the United States to lift the embargo on Cuba.

''They were appreciative of our concern . . . but there was no action,'' the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the council, said in a phone interview from Washington.

Values of Cuban exiles, islanders seen to differ

The University of Miami looks at how the differing views of Cuban Americans and Cubans would affect rebuilding the nation after a regime change.

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Jan. 26, 2004

Even as many Cubans on the island have serious misgivings about those in exile, a majority believe Cuban Americans should be able to return to their homeland to contribute to rebuilding efforts following a regime change, according to a study that will be released this week.

The study, which relied on survey responses from recently arrived Cubans, attempts to understand the ''value system'' of Cubans who have lived under the 45-year communist rule of Fidel Castro in an effort to better prepare for a transition in the Caribbean nation.

The results of the study, Understanding the Social and Political Value System of Cubans on the Island, will be released Wednesday by the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies.

''Most transitional studies have looked at political, legal and economic conditions, but none have taken an in-depth look at how human behavior impacts on this process,'' said Andy Gomez, a senior fellow at the institute and one of seven academics who prepared the research. "Understanding the value system of Cubans will help us address how to deal with the political, economic and legal transition in Cuba.''

The survey was based on a sample of 208 predominantly white Cubans older than 21 years old. It has a five percentage point margin of error.

Among the findings:

o 34 percent distrust Cuban exiles.

o 53 percent don't support the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

o 65 percent are in favor of exiles returning to Cuba.

o 51 percent said they would not return to Cuba even if the political system changed.

Gomez said the findings suggest that Cuban Americans may have to play a secondary role when transition occurs.

''Can we Cubans in exile be the first ones to land in Cuba to implement these new values? We don't think so,'' he said, adding that nongovernmental organizations will have to lend significant financial support and expertise in building civil society.

Another important issue the survey showed is that Cubans have a lack of faith in all formal institutions on the island, which could be problematic when new institutions are established in a Cuba without Castro.

The study was inspired by a visit to the Czech Republic in 2002, where Gomez said he heard the prime minister tell a reporter the transitional process might have been easier if the government had listened more to the needs of the people and paid less attention to the political and economic tradition of the former communist country.

Researchers had initially planned to conduct the survey inside Cuba, but two out of three colleagues that were going to help carry out the project were among 75 arrested during last year's dissident crackdown. Each received 30-year sentences. Gomez declined to identify their Cuban counterparts for fear they or their families might suffer more reprisals.

The research team changed strategies by interviewing Cubans who had been in the United States no more than one month. They turned to Church World Services, a resettlement agency, which agreed to administer the survey as part of its orientation program. The survey was carried out Nov. 10 to Dec. 25.

The research team is seeking funding to do a broader study comparing the value systems of Cubans in the United States for less than one year and exiles who arrived in four separate waves since Castro took control in 1959.

''It's important to understand the value system of both those on the island and here in order for reconciliation to take place,'' said the Cuba-born Gomez.

"There are some who believe transition involves removing Castro and his cronies from the picture, but you have to put them in proper, historical context. You can't just erase them from our history.''

''Rather than exporting values and ideas from the outside, you need to somehow develop them jointly with the people inside Cuba,'' he added. "We in exile are going to have to be patient and supportive.''

IF YOU GO

o What: Understanding the Social and Political Value System of Cubans on the Island.
o When: 7-9 p.m. Wednesday.
o Where: Casa Bacardi, 1531 Brescia Ave., University of Miami.
o Cost: Free. For more information, call 305-284-2822.

Beloved Cuban exile priest dies at age 62

By Elaine De Valle, edevalle@herald.com. Posted on Thu, Jan. 29, 2004

Father Francisco Santana, a leading Cuban exile activist and cherished priest at the Ermita de la Caridad shrine, died of lung cancer Wednesday at Mercy Hospital.

Santana, 62, was right-hand man to Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román -- the two lived and worked together at the Coconut Grove mission to the Virgin of Charity, Cuba's patron saint. In recent years, Santana had taken on some of Román's social projects and public roles because the aging bishop has been in poor health.

Román said Wednesday that he and Santana had promised each other they would deliver the other's eulogy. After Román's most recent heart attack in 2002, Santana jokingly said he and his mentor were in the ultimate race.

''I thought I would be the first to get to heaven,'' Román, 75, said before leaving to say Mass on the Archdiocese of Miami's Radio Paz.

''He was a very charitable priest -- very concerned with the poor, the needy and especially the Cubans,'' Román said. "Nobody has done more for Cubans on the island.''

Santana headed the Faith in Action program, which collects medicines, first-aid supplies and other humanitarian gifts and ships them to families and Catholic churches in Cuba.

'BIGGEST CONCERN'

''My biggest concern,'' Román said, "is that the work he started is continued.''

Santana was also deeply involved in Cuban exile politics. He spoke in favor of a commercial embargo, but thought food and medicine shipments should not be restricted.

Santana served as spiritual counselor to Elián González and his Miami relatives during the Cuban rafter boy's five-month stay in Little Havana -- and he was adamantly against the boy's being returned to the island in 2000.

He was outspoken in his views -- even if it meant opposing other exiles.

When Pope John Paul II went to Cuba in 1998, Santana urged exiles not to take a much-publicized pilgrimage tour to the island as a protest against the Castro regime. But he sought a visa for himself, defending it as a personal decision.

''I would never do anything or say anything to injure the sentiments of exiles,'' he told The Herald at the time. "But in this case I must consider going to Cuba, not to be with the government but to be with the Cuban people as they meet the pope.''

In the end, the Cuban government designated him and Román as persona non grata.

Santana also defended Cuba's Cardinal Jaime Ortega -- considered by some exiles as too soft on Castro -- during his Miami visit in 1995.

Rafael Peñalver, a friend and fellow Catholic activist, said Santana could say what he thought because nobody would dare to question his loyalty to God and country.

''He had a tremendous devotion to his homeland and to his dream of a free Cuba,'' Peñalver said. "It's a real tragedy that he has died without realizing that dream.''

Esturmio Mesa, 70, said he visited Santana about six weeks ago to chat.

''I don't make it a habit of speaking with priests, but he was someone you could just talk to like a normal person,'' Mesa said. "When I talked about the cancer in my family, he was so serene. I had no idea he was sick.''

Alicia Yanes, who belongs to the St. Dominic's parish, learned of Santana's death when she went to the noon Mass at La Ermita.

'A BASTION'

''Father Santana more than anything was a bastion for Cubania,'' Yanes said weeping. "He helped newly arrived and old exiles alike, and he always tried to maintain the ties between the Cuban people here and the Cuban people on the island.''

One La Ermita parishioner who was born in Santana's hometown of Cienfuegos said he was somewhat comforted that the beloved priest died on Cuban patriot Jose Marti's birthday.

''If he could have picked a day, this would have been it,'' said Nicolas Alvarez, 49. "His devotion to a free Cuba was second only to God, and perhaps his death on such a significant day means that liberty is near.''

Santana often led prayer circles at exile organization meetings, and was regularly called upon to officiate over Cuban rafters' or activists' funerals. He blessed Brothers to the Rescue search planes and Democracy Movement boats before their missions.

A week after two Brothers planes were shot down by Cuban MiGs, Santana delivered a mid-air eulogy over the spot where the group's four fliers died.

Santana took part in the 1995 Democracy flotilla, in which one of the vessels sank off Key West and a passenger died.

''It was one of the most terrible moments of my life,'' said Democracy Movement founder Ramón Saúl Sánchez. "Father Santana, through the radio, spoke to me and gave me strength.''

Before that ill-fated trip, the Clinton administration threatened to seize the group's boats. Santana traveled with Sánchez and others to Washington to press the organization's cause.

''What he did there, within his religious canons, was to expound to those people -- in the most sweetest way and with decency -- the right that all Cubans have to return to their country,'' Sánchez said.

"In Father Santana, there was a special combination of man of God, a human being and a patriot and civic leader.''

Santana was educated at Havana's El Buen Pastor Seminary and ordained in 1968 in Honduras. He joined the Miami archdiocese in the early 1970s and worked at several parishes.

OUR LADY OF CHARITY

In March 1992, he was named associate director of La Ermita -- the shrine of Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba. He also worked as a chaplain for Mercy Hospital next door.

Santana is survived by his mother, Dalia Santana, and sister, Mercedes Nazcos. Ross Agosta said condolences can be sent to La Ermita.

On Friday morning, Archbishop John Clement Favalora will officiate at the funeral Mass in one of Santana's former parishes, St. John Bosco in Little Havana.

Román will also be there -- to deliver the eulogy for his longtime friend.

Candidates eye Cuban vote

U.S. Senate hopefuls from both parties speak to a newspaper forum in Tallahassee, vying for the Cuban vote and addressing a change of the Castro regime.

By Lesley Clark. lclark@herald.com Posted on Wed, Jan. 28, 2004

TALLAHASSEE - Even campaigning 500 miles from Miami, the candidates for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday angled to lay claim to the state's influential and politically powerful Cuban-American vote -- with one suggesting military action against Fidel Castro.

Miami attorney Larry Klayman, dwarfed in the polls by his better-known fellow Republicans, went on the offensive, saying that the United States should send in troops to boot Castro out of Cuba.

''We have had successive administrations promise things to Cuban Americans and deliver little to nothing,'' Klayman said to a gathering of Florida newspaper reporters and editors, suggesting his first act as senator would be to remove Castro, "by force if necessary.''

''The time has come,'' said Klayman, claiming that Castro has ''bio-weapons capability,'' has aided Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and harbors terrorists.

The race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is already notable for the possibility that two Cuban Americans could be their parties' nominees for the hotly contested seat.

But both -- Republican Mel Martínez and Democrat Alex Penelas -- were quick to reject Klayman's stance, arguing that Castro should be removed, but not by U.S. troops, who are already engaged overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan.

''I am totally for a regime change in Cuba, but we must do it by peaceful means unless it's apparent that Castro is a more obvious threat than he appears to be today,'' said Martínez, the former U.S. Housing secretary who was appointed by President Bush to co-chair a federal commission planning for a post-Castro Cuba.

As a former Bush Cabinet member, Martínez is walking a fine line with some Cuban Americans who have charged that the Bush administration has not been hard enough on Castro.

''I think the president's stance is appropriate,'' Martínez said. "He's doing what it takes to promote and to accelerate a change in Cuba. It's not just window dressing.''

And Penelas, the Cuban-American mayor of Miami-Dade County, said he wouldn't support sending in U.S. troops to take out Castro, "unless there is a specific evidence that American welfare and safety is in imminent danger.''

VOTER TURNOUT

With Martínez and Penelas in the mix, both parties are laying claim to the large, motivated Cuban-American bloc that primarily votes Republican.

And both parties expect the presence of the two prominent Cuban Americans to boost voter turnout among the increasingly large bloc of Hispanic voters.

The little-known Klayman, who as the former head of Judicial Watch once sued the Cuban government, is trying to siphon some GOP support from Martínez.

''Mel comes into this race and thinks he has a monopoly,'' Klayman said.

Martínez has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, but her Cuban-American colleagues, U.S. Reps. Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart have endorsed a GOP rival, former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum.

Penelas, who twice broke into Spanish in his remarks to the primarily white non-Hispanic audience, said he's the Democrats' best hope for retaining the seat being vacated by fellow Democrat Graham, because he can appeal to Cuban-American Republicans.

''I've got the best chance at electability with my ability to compete in areas that are traditionally strong Republican,'' Penelas said.

His Democratic rivals in the Aug. 31 primary include former Education Commissioner Betty Castor of Tampa and U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch of Lauderhill.

LIVING EXAMPLE

Martínez, who fled Cuba at 15 and resettled with a foster family in Orlando, used his experience as a child of ''Pedro Pan'' to tout himself as a "living experience to the promise of America.''

In addition to Klayman and McCollum, other GOP candidates include House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire and state Sen. Daniel Webster.

Byrd has also courted the Hispanic community -- showing up at his first Miami appearance in a guayabera and earning the endorsement of Cuban-American House members. Tuesday, Byrd was the only candidate to skip the forum, fueling talk that he is considering dropping out of the Senate race to pursue a congressional bid.

Byrd, who appeared later before the group to outline his priorities for the session that begins March 2, brushed off the speculation.

''I was focused on legislative business,'' Byrd said of his absence. "We'll have time doing candidate things when politics starts.''

FIRST EVENT

The forum at the Capitol was the first event attended by nearly all the candidates. Democrats bashed the Bush administration for running up the federal deficit -- a criticism that drew echoes even from several Republican candidates.

''The federal government is spending too much money,'' said Webster, an Orlando-area Republican who plans to secure a space on the ballot by gathering 100,000 signatures.

''I'm enjoying the role reversal,'' said Democrat Castor. "For years and years the Republicans took the lead on the balanced budget, now we've got a Republican deficit. I think they have handed us an issue.''

With no runoff election, both parties are campaigning hard to attract core party activists to turn out for the primary, perhaps none of them more strongly as Smith, who told the forum that his priorities would be putting an end to legalized abortion and "lousy judges who are corrupt people.''

Eight Cuban migrants land at Key West

Posted on Tue, Jan. 27, 2004

KEY WEST - Eight Cuban men came ashore Key West near the White Street Pier Monday night, police said.

A patrolling officer spotted the migrants at the corner of White Street and Atlantic Blvd at 9:30 p.m.

They told police they left Cuba at around 2 a.m. Sunday, and all appeared healthy.

Their small homemade boat was discovered beneath one of the underpasses at the White Street Pier, and they were transferred to the Monroe Co. Detention Center to be picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol.

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