CUBA NEWS
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U.S. Diplomat Builds Prison Cell in
Yard
Fri Sep 10, 7:33 AM ET
HAVANA, 10 (AP) - The chief U.S. diplomat
in Havana built a model of a Cuban prison
cell in his backyard to draw attention to
the island's human rights record, drawing
fierce criticism from the speaker of Cuba's
parliament.
James Cason, head of the U.S. Interests
Section here, presented the structure, a
model of what he said is a typical solitary
holding cell in a Cuban prison, during a
small diplomatic reception at his home Wednesday
night.
"I'm not surprised by any unsightly
display that man makes," Ricardo Alarcon,
president of Cuba's parliament, the National
Assembly, said Thursday. "He lacks
seriousness."
"What he should do is mount an exposition
of the holding areas of the base at Guantanamo,"
Alarcon said, referring to the prison in
easternmost Cuba where the U.S. military
is holding hundreds of prisoners accused
of links to Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s
fallen Taliban regime or the al-Qaida terror
network.
Cason said the structure was based on a
description that imprisoned dissident Oscar
Biscet gave his wife.
A little over six feet high and three feet
wide, the holding cell of wood and metal
features a drain on the floor for a toilet,
a plastic bowl of food, a sheet for a bed
and a fake rat.
The United States and Cuba have been without
diplomatic relations for more than four
decades, but both countries operate "interests
sections" in each other's capitals
to deal with consular and other matters.
Havana has criticized Washington for using
its mission to support Cuban dissidents
as part of efforts by the administration
of U.S. President George W. Bush to undermine
Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s socialist
system.
Amnesty International counts Biscet among
84 Cuban inmates it describes as prisoners
of conscience.
While Amnesty International and other human
rights groups criticize Cuba's human rights
record, they also accuse the United States
of human rights violations in its detention
and treatment of prisoners at the Guantanamo
base.
Cuba's Castro meets with Vermont ag
secretary
HAVANA, 11 (AP) - Vermont Agriculture Secretary
Steve Kerr is bringing home from Cuba seven
(m)million dollars worth of business for
the state.
Kerr met for five hours Wednesday and yesterday
with Cuban President Fidel Castro before
Kerr signed the agricultural deals.
Kerr says he and Castro talked about everything
from the importance of education to Parkinson's
disease and eye surgery. He described his
meeting with Castro as "remarkable."
Kerr signed agreements to send dairy cattle,
apples and powdered milk to Cuba.
The American food sales to Cuba are an
exception to U-S trade sanctions against
the island.
Bush imposes sanctions on Myanmar, Cuba,
North Korea, rewards Libya
PORTSMOUTH, United States, 10 (AFP) - President
George W. Bush announced he would withhold
some US aid from Myanmar, Cuba and North
Korea, on grounds those countries had failed
to do enough to battle human trafficking
as he released funds to Libya in return
for its steps toward dismantling its nuclear
weapons program.
Bush determined that Sudan, Venezuela,
and Equatorial Guinea "also failed
to make significant efforts" as laid
out in a 2000 US law, but that aid to those
countries was in US interests, said White
House spokesman Scott McClellan.
And the president praised Bangladesh, Ecuador,
Guyana and Sierra Leone "for their
quick action to address problems" noted
in a June 2004 State Department report on
human trafficking, McClellan said in a statement.
He said those countries had made "notable
progress" in bringing human traffickers
to justice, identifying and rescuing trafficking
victims and raising public awareness of
the problem.
"These tremendous accomplishments
will punish perpetrators and help innocent
victims of this heinous crime around the
world," McClellan said as Bush campaigned
for reelection in this crucial state.
"The steps taken by these countries
stand in contrast to the continuing failure
of Burma, Cuba, and North Korea to make
significant efforts," he said. "As
a result, the president decided to impose
sanctions on these countries."
Bush announced the move in a memorandum
for US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Also, Bush rewarded Tripoli for pledging
to abandon its nuclear weapons quest by
giving the green light to monies for promoting
US exports to Libya.
In a memorandum for US Secretary of State
Colin Powell, Bush acknowledged that Libya
was in violation of a US law that would
curtail such aid because Tripoli received
technology meant to help it produce atomic
weapons.
"I hereby determine and certify that
the continued termination of assistance,
as required by this section, would have
a serious adverse effect on vital United
States interests and that I have received
reliable assurances that Libya will not
acquire or develop nuclear weapons or assist
other nations in doing so," the president
wrote.
"It is in the national interest for
the Export-Import Bank to guarantee, insure
or extend credit or participate in the extension
of credit in support of United States exports
to Libya," he said in the statement,
which the White House made public.
The United States hopes to wrap up, this
month, ongoing talks that could effectively
lead to declaring Libya free of weapons
of mass destruction, a State Department
official said September 1.
The official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the United States hoped
to tell Tripoli that it had a "reasonable
degree of confidence" that Libya had
met the commitment it made in December 2003
to dismantle its nuclear, chemical and biological
warfare programs.
Bush lifted most sanctions against Libya
in April and there is now a permanent US
diplomatic presence in Tripoli for the first
time since the early 1980s.
In May, Libya drew warm US praise when
it announced it had decided to renounce
all arms trade with states accused of weapons
of mass destruction proliferation.
However, US sanctions related to Libya's
alleged support for terrorist groups remain
in place as the country remains designated
as a "state sponsor of terrorism."
Cuba travel renewed for SIU researchers
CARBONDALE, Ill., 9 (AP) - A license for
Southern Illinois University researchers
to travel to Cuba has been renewed by the
federal government, but University of Illinois
students won't be going there
The license had expired June 30, and government
officials did not renew the document. But
university officials and local politicians
successfully convinced the Department of
the Treasury to restore SIU's license for
one year, said John Haller, SIU's vice president
for academic affairs.
Haller said an anthropology student's research
was cut short by the license's expiration,
and a Cuban student couldn't come to Carbondale,
even though she already had financial aid.
Haller said he worked with a lobbyist to
promote the message that Cuba was an important
aspect of SIU's research itinerary.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, U.S. Rep. John
Shimkus and U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood also helped
in the renewal process, Haller said.
Costello convinced treasury officials that
open communication with Cuba was beneficial
for SIU and did not pose a threat to national
security, spokesman David Gillies said.
"Basically we just supported the case
for the university," Gillies said.
"We helped highlight how this was affecting
the university and particularly in the situation
of the two students."
Shimkus said the matter didn't require
any favors.
"I wish I could say I had a great
plan," Shimkus said. "I guess
it doesn't hurt when you're a Republican
member of Congress asking a Republican administration."
The new license restricts who is eligible
to go and why, Haller said.
"It's probably going to take a few
lawyers to help me make sense of it,"
he said.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
has suspended its study-abroad programs
to Cuba because of a federal regulation
announced this summer that prohibits students
from studying in Cuba for fewer than 10
weeks and restrictions on the universities
that those who plan to stay longer can attend.
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