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EU lashes out at Cuba after expulsion of two lawmakers

BRUSSELS, 20 (AFP) - The European Union lashed out at Cuba for expelling two EU lawmakers -- a Czech and a German -- who had entered the Caribbean island state to take part in a meeting with opposition figures.

"This incident is not acceptable," EU development commissioner Louis Michel said, according to his spokesman.

"The members of the European Parliament and any country for that matter have the right to travel and even to take part in meetings with the opposition if they consider it important," Michel said.

The EU parliamentarians, Czech Senator Karel Schwarzenberg and Arnold Vaatz of Germany, were expelled from the small communist state on Thursday soon after arriving to meet with dissidents opposed to the government of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Condemning the expulsion, Germany demanded that Cuba's ambassador to Berlin explain his country's actions.

Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said the incident was "proof that there is a totalitarian regime in Cuba."

The Czech Republic has been urging the EU not to soften its stance on Cuba.

In January, the EU suspended sanctions it had slapped on Havana in June 2003 following a crackdown on dissidents but Michel's spokesman Amadeu Altafaj, while making no threat, underlined the decision was due to be reviewed late next month.

Schwarzenberg, 67, had travelled to Havana on a tourist visa for a meeting organized by an umbrella organisation representing dozens of Cuban dissident groups. Cuban police picked him up at his hotel, took him to the airport and put him on a plane back to Europe.

Schwarzenberg was head of the presidential office of former Czech President Vaclav Havel, a strong critic of Castro's regime.

No details were available concerning Vaatz's expulsion.

Earlier this week, Polish EU deputies Jacek Protasiewicz and Boguslav Sonik, who were planning to attend the dissidents meeting on Friday, were turned back by Cuban authorities, drawing sharp protests from Brussels.

In addition, two Polish journalists who had planned to cover the dissidents' meeting were detained early Friday, Polish television reported.

Tensions between Brussels and Havana had eased notably earlier this year after the release of a number of the dissidents, in a move seen partly as a gesture to win over EU nations most opposed to lifting the sanctions.

Cuba announced in January it was restoring diplomatic ties with all EU states represented in Havana, including the four most opposed to lifting the sanctions: Poland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia.

Cuba deports 13 would-be observers as first dissident conference opens

HAVANA, 20 (AFP) - Cuban dissidents launched a bold first pro-democracy conference, defying communist President Fidel Castro, whose government expelled 13 would-be observers from Europe.

Castro, 78, has slammed the meeting, charging the so-called National Congress -- the first of its kind aimed at launching democratic transition plans -- is funded by the United States.

Organizers deny that, yet US President George W. Bush sent the meeting a written message promising that Cuba "would soon be free."

"No tyrant can stand forever against the power of liberty because the hope of freedom is found in every heart," Bush said in a recorded message on a CD broadcast over a loudspeaker to delegates who erupted in cheers of "Viva Bush!"

"The tide of freedom is spreading across the globe, and it will reach Cuban shores," Bush added in his message, while a group on the street outside the event publicly shouted "Down With Fidel Castro" -- highly unusual in Cuba.

"This is a success of democratic forces," an ecstatic organizer, Marta Beatriz Roque, told delegates, who chanted for the release of political prisoners.

Bush's message was potentially provocative given often tense US rivalry with Castro over the past four decades, including a nuclear near-confrontation in 1962. Castro regularly warns the United States could invade at any time, though the United States denies that.

About 200 people attended the start of the two-day gathering organized by prominent dissidents Roque, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez. Among those present were James Cason, chief of the US Interests Section in Havana and representatives from the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Cason said he was an observer and would neither speak not take part directly.

Cuba meanwhile stopped Czech Senator Karl Schwarzenberg and German lawmaker Arnold Vaatz at Havana airport and expelled them. The two, who had visas, had planned to observe the meeting.

In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer condemned the expulsions as "unacceptable". Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said the incident was "proof that there is a totalitarian regime in Cuba."

Two Polish European members of parliament, Boguslaw Sonik and Jacek Protasiewica, were refused entry on Tuesday. Two Polish newspaper reporters were detained and at least four other Poles were believed also to be in Cuban police custody, Polish officials said.

A Spanish senator, Rosa Lopez Garnica, and Spanish ex senator Isabel San Baldomero also were expelled, a diplomatic source said. That would bring the total of would-be observers deported to 13.

The meeting is being held on land next to Bonne's home in Rio Verde, just outside Havana, and access was easy Friday, with no obvious police presence. The facilities have been fixed up with fresh concrete paths, portable restrooms and three platforms.

Blue, white and red Cuban flags flapped in the breeze and several banners were hung reading "The fatherland belongs to everyone," "Let's open the door," and "It's about time for Cuba". Locals in the quiet, semirural area gathered on nearby rooftops to try to catch a glimpse of the action.

Castro this week accused the United States of bankrolling the gathering and tongue-lashed the organizers as "mercenaries". The United States has sent "millions more to foment destabilization, conspiracy, domestic subversion," Castro said Monday. "Do these mercenaries think we are here sucking our thumbs? That we are idiots?"

Roque, 59, an economist and the only woman jailed in a crackdown two years ago in which 75 dissidents were given lengthy jail terms, stepped in to say the joyful cheers for Bush were a sign of respect -- not submission. Once she was freed from jail due to health problems, she swiftly went about organizing the National Congress.

One prominent government opponent at the event was Vladimiro Roca, representing Todos Unidos (All United), a dissident unbrella group.

"I was not optimistic about whether this meeting could be carried out, and now I am pleased to have been wrong," Roca said. Now, he warned we "must be vigilant in the face of repression because it may be that once this event is over, reprisals will follow." Delegates in working groups were working on a final statement.

Oswaldo Paya, of the Christian Liberation Movement, said he would not attend the meeting and charged it was a fraud set up by Cuban government agents.

Cuba blocks observers at dissident conference

HAVANA, 20 (AFP) - Cuban dissidents launched a landmark democracy conference, defying communist President Fidel Castro, whose government blocked several European observers from taking part.

Castro, 78, has slammed the conference, claiming it is funded by the United States. Organizers deny that, yet US President George W. Bush sent the meeting a written message promising that Cuba "would soon be free."

"No tyrant can stand firm forever against the strength of freedom," Bush said in a Spanish-language letter. "Because the hope for freedom is in each of our hearts. So today, we are certain that Cuba soon will be free."

It was a potentially provocative message from Bush given US rivalry with Castro over the past four decades. Castro regularly warns the United States could invade at any time, though the United States denies that.

About 200 people attended the start of the two-day gathering organized by prominent dissidents Marta Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez. Among those present were James Cason, chief of the US Interests Section in Havana and representatives from the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

But Cuba stopped Czech Senator Karl Schwarzenberg and German lawmaker Arnold Vaatz at Havana airport and expelled them. The two, who had visas, had planned to observe the meeting.

In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer condemned the expulsions as "unacceptable". Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda said the incident was "proof that there is a totalitarian regime in Cuba".

Two Polish European members of parliament, Boguslaw Sonik and Jacek Protasiewica, were refused entry on Tuesday. Two Polish newspaper reporters were detained and at least four other Poles were believed also to be in Cuban police custody, Polish officials said.

The so-called National Congress is the first meeting of its kind aimed at launching democratic transition plans.

The meeting is being held on land next to Bonne's home in Rio Verde, just outside Havana, and access was easy early Friday, with no obvious police presence. The facilities have been fixed up with fresh concrete paths, to restrooms and three platforms.

Blue, white and red Cuban flags flapped in the breeze and several banners were hung reading "The fatherland belongs to everyone," "Let's open the door," and "It's about time for Cuba".

Castro this week accused the United States of bankrolling the gathering and lashed the organizers as "mercenaries".

The United States has sent "millions more to foment destabilization, conspiracy, domestic subversion," Castro said on Monday. "Do these mercenaries think we are here sucking our thumbs? That we are idiots?

Dissident opponents of Castro, who has led the island of 11 million since 1959, deny they are receiving any US funding for the event.

Roque, 59, an economist and the only woman jailed in a crackdown two years ago in which 75 dissidents were given lengthy jail terms, told AFP Thursday her Assembly to Promote Civil Society -- an umbrella group of some 360 organizations -- expected up to 400 people to work on plans for life after Castro.

Roque was freed from jail due to health problems, and swiftly went about organizing the National Congress.

One prominent government opponent at the event was Vladimiro Roca, representing Todos Unidos (All United), a dissident unbrella group.

But Oswaldo Paya, of the Christian Liberation Movement, has said he would not attend and charged it was a fraud set up by government agents.

His group favors reforms to the communist government to facilitate a peaceful transition. Dissident groups at the meeting broadly oppose working with the government.

Europeans Urge Tougher Line on Cuba

AP, Sunday May 22, 2005.

Lawmakers from Spain, Italy and Germany urged their governments on Saturday take to a tougher line with Cuba after the communist government expelled a number of Europeans ahead of an opposition rally in Havana.

Spanish officials demanded that Cuba explain why two Spanish politicians were told to leave the country and a third threatened with expulsion before the rare opposition demonstration, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Two former Spanish senators, Isabel San Baldomero and Rosa Lopez Garnica, were expelled, as were lawmakers from Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic.

Arnold Vaatz, a German lawmaker who was expelled from Cuba on Friday, called for the European Union to take a stronger stand against Cuba.

"With its decision to lift (diplomatic) sanctions against Cuba, the European Union has made itself the accomplice of Fidel Castro's government," Vaatz was quoted as saying by the Leipziger Volkszeitung daily.

Six Poles _ three journalists, a human rights worker and two students _ and an Italian journalist also were ordered to leave the country. Spain said a deputy for the regional Catalan Convergence and Unity party also was threatened with expulsion and was at the Havana airport Saturday.

The diverse dissident groups debated pro-democracy projects on Saturday, the second and final day of the meeting.

"We are satisfied that each and every one of us has fulfilled our duty to our nation," said Martha Beatriz Roque, a former political prisoner and lead organizer of the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society.

About 200 people were on hand _ a little more than half of them delegates _ when the general assembly opened Friday in the back yard of another lead organizer and veteran dissident, Felix Bonne. With the absence of diplomats and other guests, the crowd was smaller Saturday, closer to about 100.

Many were surprised the government allowed the meeting to take place. Cuban authorities refer to the dissidents as "mercenaries" and "counterrevolutionaries."

The two former senators from Spain told reporters on their return that they went to Cuba for a vacation, not for the rally.

Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar called the expulsions "a disagreeable and serious incident."

Cuba's ambassador to Madrid was called in Friday to discuss the matter, but sent his second-in-command instead, a ministry spokesman said.

The Cuban embassy in Madrid declined to comment.

Italy's foreign minister, Gianfranco Fini, also summoned the Cuban ambassador.

Vaatz, the German lawmaker who had planned to attend the dissident assembly in Havana, complained that the Europeans had agreed to Cuba's wish that they break off contacts with dissidents, ensuring that their plight went unnoticed.

"That was what I wanted to break through, and it succeeded," Vaatz said.

In Rome, a senior official in Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's coalition urged the government to get tougher with Cuba.

"We need to do it in spite of economic interests that might suggest a more conciliatory attitude," Gustavo Selva, the head of a parliamentary foreign affairs commission and a member of the National Alliance government party, was quoted as saying by Italy's ANSA news agency. "There's no negotiating over freedom."

Mariano Rajoy, leader of Spain's opposition Popular Party, criticized the government's handling of Cuba.

"Where is it written that the Spanish prime minister must make himself popular with a tyrant as he yet again proved yesterday, like Fidel Castro, or with someone who's unbalanced, like the president of Venezuela?" he said.

Castro: Cuba, U.S. Once Shared Terror Info

HAVANA, 20 (AP) - Cuba and the United States shared extensive information in hotel bombings and other terrorist attempts in the late 1990s, President Fidel Castro said Friday, adding that the past collaboration has been forgotten in the current case involving militant Luis Posada Carriles.

Speaking to several thousand government supporters gathered for his evening address, Castro read extensively from declassified Cuban documents that indicated frequent exchanges of information between the countries after the bombings of Cuban tourist installations in 1997.

One explosion killed a young Italian man.

Posada, now being held in the United States on immigration charges, at one point acknowledged to involvement in the hotel bombings, but later recanted.

Posada, picked up in Miami this week, is sought by Venezuela to be retried in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. The 77-year-old Cuban born Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan citizen, denies the charges.

Castro said that in May 1998, his friend Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez personally delivered a message to then U.S. President Bill Clinton's advisers alerting them to plans by violent exile groups to plant bombs on flights between Cuba and the United States.

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