|
CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Castro accuses Bush of plotting with
Cuban American exiles to kill him
By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated
Press Writer.
HAVANA - (AP) -- Fidel Castro accused
U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday
of plotting with Miami exiles to kill him
as part of his administration's hardening
policies against the communist-run island.
''We know that Mr. Bush has committed himself
to the mafia ... to assassinate me,'' the
Cuban president said, using the term commonly
employed here to describe anti-Castro Cuban
Americans.
Castro's comments came at the end of a
5 ½ hour speech that began Thursday
night and continued into early Friday at
the closing of a conference bringing together
activists across the region who oppose the
Free Trade Area of the Americas.
The Cuban leader didn't back up his accusations
with specific details.
Castro has accused past U.S. presidential
administrations of seeking to assassinate
him. During Castro's early years in power
there were numerous documented cases of
U.S.-sponsored attempts on his life.
But assassination of foreign leaders as
U.S. policy was later banned in 1976 by
an executive order signed by then President
Gerald Ford and reinforced by Presidents
Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Castro also criticized the Bush administration's
Commission for a Free Cuba -- a panel set
up last October and headed by U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell.
When Bush announced the commission last
October, Powell suggested that the goal
is not to ease Castro out but to plan a
strategy for Cuba once the 77-year-old leader
is no longer in power.
''I can die a natural death or I can die
a planned death,'' Castro said. "It
really doesn't matter to me how I die, but
I will surely die fighting.''
Earlier in his speech, Castro called on
the more than 1,000 activists from across
the Americas gathered here to work against
the U.S.-backed FTAA, which he said will
only further impoverish their nations.
The Bush administration has progressively
hardened its policies toward Cuba in recent
years, particularly with the approach of
this year's presidential elections.
Cuban authorities charge that much of that
hardening is aimed at wooing the important
electoral vote in Florida, home to most
of the Cuban-American exiles living in the
United States.
For more than four decades, the two countries
have been without diplomatic ties and a
U.S. trade embargo against the island makes
most trade between the nations impossible,
with the exception of direct American sales
of farm products.
Activist: Cuba refuses to let him travel
to human rights ceremony
Associated Press, Posted
on Thu, Jan. 29, 2004.
HAVANA - Leading Cuban dissident Oswaldo
Paya complained Thursday that the communist
government failed to issue the exit permit
necessary for him to attend a human rights
ceremony in Europe.
"I couldn't attend because the Cuban
government kept me from traveling,"
Paya said of the Thursday ceremony in Brussels
that awarded the European Union's top human
rights prize to United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan on behalf of all U.N. workers.
Paya's charges were contained in a letter
sent to Pat Cox, president of the European
Parliament, and later distributed to international
journalists in Havana.
Paya was allowed to travel to Strasbourg,
France, to receive the same award, the Sakharov
prize, in 2002.
There was no immediate response from the
Cuban government. Cubans who wish to travel
abroad must obtain an exit permit to leave
the country.
In his letter to Cox, Paya called on the
European Parliament not to forget the 75
Cuban dissidents who received long sentences
after a crackdown here last year.
"Don't abandon the Cuban people now,"
he wrote. "They need your support."
The 75 dissidents were sentenced in April
to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years
on charges of working with U.S. diplomats
to undermine Cuba's socialist system. American
officials and the activists denied the accusations.
Amnesty International declared the 75 dissidents
to be prisoners of conscience.
This week, the international human rights
organization added to the list the names
of four more men picked up around the same
time, bringing the total to 79.
Priest remembered for his humanitarian
work
By Tim Henderson. thenderson@herald.com
Mourners packed a Little Havana church
Friday to bid farewell to Father Francisco
Santana, a priest known for helping Cubans
on the island whether they supported his
anti-Castro views or not.
'His policy was, we're all Cubans. He said,
'God put me here, but in my heart I'm always
in Cuba,' '' said Auxiliary Bishop Agustín
Román, Santana's longtime friend
and colleague, who gave the eulogy at San
Juan Bosco church. Santana, 62, died Jan.
28 of lung cancer.
Though barred from the island, Santana
worked to send medicine and other help to
anyone who asked, said Joe García,
director of the Cuban American National
Foundation.
''He was all about forgiveness,'' said
Garcia. "He didn't care what you were.
He cared what you could be. I'm talking
about party members, people of other faiths,
he just said 'Tell me what you need.'
Santana's Faith in Action program ships
humanitarian aid directly to Cubans in need,
to avoid official aid programs that could
benefit the communist government. It is
based at the Ermita de la Caridad in Coconut
Grove.
Archbishop John Clement Favalora officiated
at the Mass.
''He left us an example of love of God,
love of family and love of the poor that
we can all follow to ensure that his work
continues,'' Favalora said.
Klayman says Castro has biochemical
weapons in Cuba
Brent Kallestad, Associated
Press. Posted on Tue, Jan. 27, 2004.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Republican U.S. Senate
hopeful Larry Klayman stepped up his call
Tuesday to forcibly remove Cuban dictator
Fidel Castro, whom he described as "a
master terrorist" and a primary threat
to U.S. security.
Five Republican and three Democratic candidates
seeking the vacant Senate seat created by
the retirement of three-term U.S. Sen. Bob
Graham, D-Miami Lakes, spoke about their
campaigns Tuesday during a two-hour forum
at the 10th annual planning meeting hosted
by The Associated Press.
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City,
was the lone Senate hopeful not to take
part in the candidates' forum.
While health care, the deficit, national
security and the Patriot Act were on the
minds of all candidates, Klayman zeroed
in on Castro.
"It's time to remove Castro once and
for all, by force if necessary," said
Klayman, a former Justice Department attorney.
"He's had free reign for too long."
Klayman, who said last week at a GOP function
in Orlando that if elected he'd file legislation
to oust Castro, said the U.S. has stood
by too long while the Cuban dictator "tortures,
maims and rapes" his own people.
He said Castro also has bioweapons and
shelters international terrorists while
the U.S. looks the other way.
"All the politicians go around talking
about how bad the situation is, but they
don't do anything," Klayman said. "If
we can do it for the Iraqis, create democracy
there, can't we do it for the Cubans who
have done more for this country?"
There was no comment from Havana on Klayman's
comments.
The two Cuban-Americans in the Senate race,
Republican Mel Martinez of Orlando and Miami-Dade
Mayor Alex Penelas support Castro's removal,
but not by force.
"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 Martinez, who came to the U.S. from
Cuba at 15 to live with foster parents until
his family was able to rejoin him.
"The notion of taking a collective
military action in Cuba without any specific
evidence of imminent threats to America
I would not support," said Penelas,
who also spoke Spanish on two occasions
to differentiate himself from his Democratic
opponents.
Gov. Jeb Bush later said he would not comment
on suggestions the U.S. should invade Cuba
to overthrow Castro.
In the Republican field, former New Hampshire
U.S. Sen. Bob Smith staked out perhaps the
most conservative ground with his positions
supporting right-to-life from conception,
total support for gun owners and ousting
"lousy" judges.
State Sen. Dan Webster of Orlando said
he would get on the ballot by using a "door-to-door"
campaign to get 100,000 signatures while
letting voters get to know him, while Bill
McCollum, the GOP's unsuccessful nominee
in 2000, said his 20 years in Congress made
him the best prepared to replace Graham.
"I don't need on-the-job training,"
he said.
Democrats banged away at the growing deficit
and tax cuts for the wealthy.
"It's now a Republican deficit,"
said Betty Castor, shown by some polls as
the Democratic front-runner. "I think
Republicans have handed us an issue we must
confront."
"We can't be all things to all people,"
she said, adding that health care is another
issue of concern to many of the voters she
talks with.
U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch of Lauderhill attacked
what he said was the Bush administration's
failure to deliver health care to millions
of Americans and said the escalating deficit
also threatens the nation's safety.
"We can't have a strong national defense
unless we have a strong economy," said
Deutsch. He also said President George W.
Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush were systematically
destroying public education.
Deutsch said he was running "to change
the world" and would stay in Washington
for "two or three decades."
He laughed out loud when Penelas said he
would be the Democrats' best chance to win
in November because he could attract votes
among Republican-leaning voters such as
Cuban Americans.
|
