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Texas Port Looks to Future Cuba Travel
By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated
Press Writer. Wed Mar 3.
HAVANA - The No. 1 departure point for
American ocean travel to Cuba could be Texas
when U.S. travel restrictions against the
communist island end, the port authority's
chairman said Wednesday.
"I suspect that when everything opens
up, a lot of cruise lines will want to come
here," said James Edmonds, chairman
of the Houston port commission. "It
will be a great race."
"We see that in this part of the world
- Mexico, Central America - Cuba is our
future," Edmonds told a news conference.
Edmonds spoke after he and Cuban officials
signed a memorandum of understanding aimed
at increasing use of the Houston port to
ship American farm goods being sold to the
Caribbean nation under an exception to the
4-decade-old trade embargo.
Most American trade and travel with Cuba
is prohibited under U.S. laws and regulations
aimed at forcing a change in Fidel Castro's
government.
Members of U.S. Congress have made repeated,
but unsuccessful, attempts to ease or lift
the restrictions in recent years. The Bush
administration has tightened restrictions.
Before the 1959 revolution that brought
Castro to power, there was regular passenger
and car ferry service between Havana and
Key West, Fla., as well as busy shipping
traffic between the countries.
Cruise ships do visit Cuba now, but none
are U.S.-based or operated by American firms.
Commission resolution to indict Castro
passes
Upset commissioners are
demanding that Castro face punishment for
the Brothers to the Rescue shoot-down in
1996.
By Deserae Delcampo, ddelcampo@herald.com.
Posted on Thu, Mar. 04, 2004
In an emotionally charged Sweetwater commission
meeting Monday, city officials strayed into
foreign affairs, unanimously passing a resolution
urging the immediate indictment and prosecution
of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
The indictment resolution was sponsored
by Vice Mayor Ariel Abelairas and Commissioner
Manuel Duasso and aimed at holding Castro
responsible for the deaths of four Brothers
to the Rescue pilots.
After eight years, the deaths of Carlos
Castro, Mario De La Pena, Armando Alejandre
and Pablo Morales are painful memories.
One of the victims, De La Pena, grew up
in Sweetwater.
On Feb. 24 1996, jet fighters from Cuba
shot down the two unarmed Cessnas as they
were flying along the Florida Straits.
Brothers to the Rescue helped in search
and rescue missions for thousands of rafters
fleeing Castro's government.
Sweetwater's resolution not only asks for
the arrests of Castro, but also Juan Pablo
Roque -- who was an occasional pilot for
Brothers to the Rescue and a Cuban double
agent -- and four of the pilots who shot
the Cessnas down.
''We have sent previous letters to former
President Bill Clinton,'' said Abelairas.
"It's the eight-year anniversary and
so far nothing has been done.''
The resolution will be sent to President
Bush and officials hope this administration
will take some action against the Cuban
government.
''We have to bring the victims of Fidel
Castro to the light,'' said Mayor Manny
Maroño.
The atmosphere was somber and the commission
chamber was quiet as city officials spoke
about the connection they have with Cuba.
In an expression of grief, Commissioner
Manuel Duasso tearfully told Maroño
and Sweetwater officials how he respects
and loves America, but his heart will always
remain in Cuba.
It is unsure what the commission expects
to happen once the resolution is sent to
Washington, D.C., but Abelairas and others
say they want their demands for justice
to be heard.
School's alumni keep tradition alive
For Belen graduates,
a lit torch will symbolize a rite of passage
that started in Havana and has taken root
in Miami.
By Kevin Dean, Herald Writer.
Posted on Thu, Mar. 04, 2004
More than 40 years ago, Mariano Loret De
Mola used to meet his high-school classmates
in the narrow streets of Havana to sneak
away and aid the underground anti-Castro
movement.
Then, recent graduates of Belen Jesuit
Preparatory School, Cuba's premiere private
all-boys school, Loret De Mola and his tight-knit
group of friends often relied on Havana's
expansive network of other Belen alums in
their efforts against Castro.
On Saturday, the Belen Jesuit Preparatory
School alumnus will reunite with his classmates,
this time in the streets of Miami.
Loret De Mola, 64, is one of about 200
Belen graduates taking part in the school's
150th Anniversary Torch Relay, a celebration
focusing on the achievements and community
contributions of Belen alumni.
'There's an old Latin saying, 'You carry
the torch,' '' said Loret De Mola, who graduated
in 1958 from the original Belen in Havana.
"You will give [encouragement] to
someone and it will just keep getting passed
on and on. That's what the Belen tradition
is all about.''
Belen alumni from 1945 will deliver a lit
torch by boat to members of the current
track-and-field team waiting in Bayside
Park at about 7:10 a.m. Saturday.
From there, the team will carry the torch
downtown to Gesu Church, Belen's original
location when it was established in the
United States in 1961.
Alumni from the 1940s to the present will
then take the torch to the school's Little
Havana location on Southwest Eighth Street,
and then travel to Southwest 122nd Avenue,
where they will be greeted by all the relay
participants, as well as an estimated crowd
of 2,000 Belen students, friends, and family
members.
Everyone will then run the remaining five
blocks to the school's present location
at 500 SW 127th Ave, for a celebration.
The event is being dedicated to Belen graduates
like Loret De Mola.
In 1959, one year after Loret De Mola graduated,
Castro turned Belen into a training school
for army officers.
Frustrated with the loss of his alma mater
and Cuba's worsening political conditions,
Mola fled to Miami in 1962.
He became Belen's assistant principal and
athletic director in 1969 and in only four
years, Loret De Mola inspired countless
students, including current Miami Mayor
Manny Diaz.
''All of the students under his tutelage
considered him a second father,'' said Diaz,
who will conduct a brief ceremony Saturday
at Belen's old Little Havana location.
''He was a great role model and a great
inspiration to all of us,'' Diaz said.
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