CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Cubans using Honduras as exit route

Honduran authorities are seeking to halt the increasing flow of Cubans using their shores as a way to get to the United States.

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Jul. 17, 2006.

Honduran authorities are devising a plan to halt what they say is an organized smuggling operation, fearing an ''avalanche'' of illegal landings by Cuban migrants who are using Honduras as a gateway to the United States.

''What we are witnessing is the trafficking of human beings,'' Germán Espinal, Honduran director general of international migration, told The Miami Herald. "We need to find a mechanism that will distance us from being accomplices to human trafficking.''

A record number of Cubans have landed on Honduran beaches this year: at least 380 over the past six months, compared to 179 in all of 2005 and 47 in 2002. Soon after arrival, the Cubans usually leave Honduras by land to make their way to the U.S.-Mexico border and become beneficiaries of the U.S. wet-foot/dry-foot policy upon stepping on U.S. soil.

The number of Cuban migrants illegally entering the United States across the U.S.-Mexico border also reflects the trend. For the first time in recent memory, Cubans now rank among the most often apprehended along the border, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Honduran authorities say they hope to reach some kind of accord with the U.S. and Cuban governments that will dissuade those trying to flee the island from using the Central American nation as a stopover to El Norte.

'CHAOTIC SITUATION'

''We are concerned about an avalanche,'' Espinal said in telephone interview from Honduras. "We don't have the resources to deal with this. It creates a very chaotic situation.''

Honduras has become a magnet for Cuban migrants because, unlike most nations in the region, it has no deportation accord with Cuba. That allows those who make it there to stay just long enough to then slip out of the country, make their way by land across Guatemala and Mexico and finally slip into the United States.

Authorities are convinced the numbers point to an organized smuggling ring because larger groups of 20 to 30 migrants are now being dropped off by go-fast boats after a stopover in the Cayman Islands or Jamaica. Some of the loads also include other nationalities, such as Chinese and South American migrants.

Cuban migrants have told authorities the ride costs $15,000 to $18,000 per passenger, Espinal said, adding that the smuggling suspicion is boosted by the fact that travelers "come in good shape, not as if they've had a lot of exposure to the sun.''

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr said the situation is "typical of what an organized smuggling organization would look like.''

''We know that the Cuban migration is going in other directions besides the United States,'' Warr said. "Around the Cuban community, there is a growing trend of illegal migration. They are going through foreign countries, but they're coming to the United States.''

Espinal said preliminary plans call for separating Cuban migrants into three distinct groups: those with valid claims for political asylum, humanitarian cases and those fleeing only for economic reasons. Although Honduran laws prohibit deporting Cubans to their homeland, "we can return them to the country where they departed from.''

Those kinds of options has raised concern among some activists. Honduran Human Rights Commissioner Ramón Custodio said repatriation could violate terms of an international convention on refugees signed by Honduras in 1992.

''All we care about is the care of any human being who seeks refuge in any country,'' Custodio said. "If they arrive on our shores, we must treat them as humanely as possible.''

Some Cubans who have made the 700-mile journey from the island's southeastern coast to Honduras deny that there's any organized people-smuggling.

'NO TRAFFICKING'

''That is a lie. Cubans are building their own boats . . . There is no trafficking . . . '' said René Crespo, who made the illegal trip to Honduras 18 months ago and now lives in Miami. His wife was in a group of 22 Cubans rescued by Honduran fisherman earlier this month. All of them are expected in Miami.

Crespo said that if Honduras closes its borders to Cubans, "things are going to get ugly. Cubans will find a way to get out. They see that those of us who make it and work can have decent lives.''

Regime readies path for Raúl Castro's rise

Fidel Castro's younger brother Raúl is taking on a more public persona in what experts say is a clear effort aimed at ensuring a smooth transition in leadership.

By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Fri, Jul. 14, 2006.

A recent string of Cuban media reports highlighting Defense Minister Raúl Castro has U.S. analysts saying that Havana is preparing the way for life after Fidel and suggesting that his younger brother already has begun taking on more governance responsibilities.

Raúl, long designated as successor to his 79-year old brother, was the subject of a fawning 6,300-word profile on his 75th birthday, and the government media has reported on his visits to military bases and comments on the island's politics.

While a database search showed the number of media mentions of Raúl has remained constant, one expert Cuba-watcher said the scope and depth of the coverage has changed dramatically -- from close-cropped photos of him at official functions, for example, to wide-angle ''almost heroic'' shots of him reviewing troops in the field.

When the Granma newspaper announced a high-level shake-up of the Communist Party last week, Raúl's quotes were prominently featured. And a speech he gave last month is still posted on Granma's website (www.granma.cu), in what Cuba-watchers view as another sign of Raúl's sudden importance.

Some Cuba experts say Raúl may be offering himself as the face of the future -- perhaps to detract contenders keen on taking that spot when Fidel is no longer in power.

''They are preparing the process. Fidel is in control and directing this process of change. As Fidel slowly becomes more debilitated, you'll see Raúl and [National Assembly President Ricardo] Alarcón becoming more visible,'' said Tony Rivera, editor of the online Cuba news site, La Nueva Cuba.

At a recent military celebration, Raúl addressed the issue of succession. His job as first vice president of the ruling Council of State makes him first in line to succeed Fidel under the constitution, and Raúl also is No. 2 to Fidel as second secretary of the Cuban Communist Party.

''Only the Communist Party -- as the institution that brings together the revolutionary vanguard and will always guarantee the unity of Cubans -- can be the worthy heir of the trust deposited by the people in their leader,'' he said earlier this month at a ceremony observing the 45th anniversary of the Western Army. "Anything more is pure speculation.''

But the Castro brothers themselves have suggested that a newer and younger generation of leaders need to be tapped. In an interview published recently by French writer Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel quipped that at 75, his brother isn't getting younger.

Cuba watchers say that comment did not go unnoticed, and that it's no coincidence that it was followed by a swell of positive media coverage.

''The propaganda media of today's capitalist world has tried for many years to paint a picture of Raúl as an extremist, sullen and gruff in his human relations, lacking in sense of humor and devoid of sensitivity. The enemy does it like that because it knows very well what Raúl represents for the Revolution, for our people and for the future of our nation,'' Granma wrote in the June 2 story marking his birthday the next day. The story also described him as "tireless, systematic, intelligent and decisive.''

That softer persona reflected in the story, titled Proximity of Raúl, is meant to ease fears of the Cuban people and convince the international community, experts said.

''Raúl has never been a person people really like. He's not so popular. Now they need to protect their leader,'' said Rivera, editor of the online Cuba news site.

JAILED AND EXILED

Five years younger than his brother Fidel, Raúl was also educated at Jesuit schools in Havana and helped plan and execute the failed attack on Moncada military barracks on July 26, 1953. Along with Fidel, he was jailed and exiled to Mexico but returned in 1956 to incite the revolution that ultimately toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista.

He assumed command of military operations in Oriente province in the east, and one of his first acts was the summary execution of 100 Batista soldiers. Raúl spent the next 47 years as minister of defense and head of the army, where he developed a reputation as a pragmatic, solid leader who lacks the charisma and fiery oratory of Fidel.

He has been described as a brusque heavy drinker, but one more open to economic reform and negotiations with the United States.

In 1993, The Miami Herald reported that federal prosecutors in Miami were preparing to charge Raúl and 14 other top Cubans with smuggling Colombian cocaine through Cuba to the United States, but the indictment was never brought before a grand jury.

As head of the military, Raúl today oversees a military force of up to 55,000 people, significantly smaller than 15 years ago, when Cuba enjoyed hefty Soviet subsidies. But while his forces may have shrunk, his position as head of the military took on increasing importance in the 1990s, as the armed forces started taking over profitable chunks of the Cuban economy.

Top positions running the island's tourism industry, ports, transportation and other key sectors are now held by generals.

''There is no other force in Cuba right now that is so organized or powerful,'' Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident economist and journalist in Cuba, said in a telephone interview. "Raúl is an important figure. He doesn't have the charisma with the people, but within the army he does have a lot of prestige. I'm a dissident, but I'm not a fool or unobjective: Raúl is esteemed.''

Brian Latell, a former top CIA analyst and Raúl biographer who now works at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said the media blitz shows a ''probable acceleration of succession planning.'' The reporting is, more importantly, trying to distinguish him from Fidel.

'Proximity of Raúl could be saying, 'Get ready, the change could be coming,' '' said Latell, author of the book After Fidel. "His role in decision-making has been expanding. When you start seeing Raúl playing a prominent role in foreign policy -- Fidel's bailiwick -- that will be an unmistakable signal that Raúl is playing a very central role.''

LAGE'S ROLE GROWS

As an aging Fidel -- who is believed by the CIA to suffer from Parkinson's disease, a progressive condition that causes stiffness, shaking and problems with balance -- takes fewer trips abroad, Vice President Carlos Lage has been taking on the role as intercontinental emissary. This suggests the government is also grooming him for a future position of power, Frank Mora, a Cuba expert at the National War College in Washington, said in a phone interview.

''What has been happening in the last month is that forces are coalescing to let it be known the party is doing its job and is ready to assume responsibilities when the time comes,'' Mora said. 'I'm intrigued by this bolstering of Raúl's image, letting people know: 'We are in good hands. We have nothing to fear when Fidel goes.' ''

Bush plan decried as land grab

President Bush's Cuba plan, which has earmarked $80 million in anti-Castro propaganda, was called an attempt to control and annex Cuba by critics.

By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Thu, Jul. 13, 2006.

The Bush administration's updated plan to speed up and support a shift toward democracy in Cuba means three things for the island: terrorism, assassinations and the use of force, Havana said in an official statement Wednesday.

The Cuban government blasted a 95-page report released Monday in Washington by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, a multiagency panel created in 2003 to outline the administration's plans to hasten democracy in Cuba.

This year's report -- an update of a 2004 document -- is controversial because it calls for $80 million in increased funding for anti-Castro activities, such as Radio and TV Martí.

The Cuban government condemned the increased funding as an outright violation of international law, and particularly attacked the report's classified annex, which they allege may include plans to murder Fidel Castro.

'ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE'

''What do they hide for 'national security reasons'?'' National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón wrote in a column published in the Cuban media last week. "More terrorist attacks? New assassination attempts against Fidel? Military aggression? With Bush and his cronies, anything is possible.''

Alarcón spoke out against the report at an event Tuesday honoring five Cubans imprisoned in the United States on charges of being Castro agents, the official government news site said.

An article in Wednesday's international edition of the Communist Party daily Granma noted that the U.S. report uses the word ''regime'' 145 times.

'It's a true gift to those in Miami who advocate terror and annexation. . . . The text, which shows an abysmal ignorance of the Cuban reality, affirms that the 'regime' does not attend to the 'basic human necessities' of the people,'' the article said.

"The entire document reflects the will to sooner or later annex the island of Cuba.''

U.S. OFFICIAL RESPONDS

The State Department's Cuba transition coordinator, Caleb McCarry, declined to comment specifically on the Cuban allegations. He said the Bush administration is committed to helping Cubans who want to democratically elect their leaders.

''The report is clear that the United States has a great deal of respect for the sovereignty of the people of Cuba,'' McCarry said from Miami Wednesday. "It is they who define the future.''

McCarry defended the commission's recommendation to earmark part of the so-called Cuba Fund for a Democratic Future to assist opposition groups in Cuba, despite resistance from even some dissidents who believe such money would make them more vulnerable to not just criticism but arrest.

''It is our duty to accompany them,'' McCarry said. "We cannot abandon them. The time is now.''

The commission proposed earmarking $24 million for ''efforts to break the information blockade,'' $31 million to support ''independent civil society'' groups on the island, $10 million for educational exchanges and $15 million to support "international efforts at strengthening civil society and transition planning.''

McCarry will meet today with Cuban exile groups, some of which have received U.S. anti-Castro funds.

Friend refuses to say how Posada arrived in Miami

A friend of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles was jailed after refusing to testify in a Texas federal grand jury investigation into Posada's arrival in the U.S. last year.

By Oscar Corral, ocorral@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Thu, Jul. 13, 2006.

The U.S. government has arrested a Miami friend of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles in Texas as part of an ongoing grand jury probe into Posada's illegal entry into the United States from Mexico.

Ernesto Abreu, son of well-known Cuban exile militant Ernestino Abreu, was jailed in El Paso July 6 after he pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify before the grand jury investigating how Posada entered the United States, the elder Abreu said.

Shana Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office Western District of Texas, said she could neither confirm nor deny Abreu's arrest. Abreu's father said his son was arrested on contempt charges for refusing to talk, even after prosecutors offered him immunity. He is being held in a jail in New Mexico, his father said.

''I can't feel happy because my son is in prison,'' Ernestino Abreu, 81, said Wednesday. "But I am proud that he is a man of principles.''

Abreu's arrest comes as Posada, a Cuban with Venezuelan citizenship, is in the midst of a legal battle for his freedom. Posada's lawyer, Eduardo Soto, said there is a hearing on Aug. 14 in El Paso in which Posada will argue that he should be freed. An immigration judge has already ruled that Posada can't be deported to Cuba or Venezuela because he could face torture there, but that he can be sent to a third country that will take him.

Jose ''Pepin'' Pujol said he is one of two other Miami exiles scheduled to appear on Aug. 15 before the same grand jury that jailed Abreu. Pujol, who pleaded the Fifth Amendment in a previous hearing before the same grand jury, said he is worried that he and Ruben Lopez Castro may suffer the same fate as Abreu.

''It makes me feel very bad and very impotent that a man who has always acted in the benefit of this country now finds himself in this situation,'' Pujol said about Abreu. "What we want is to liberate Cuba so there won't be dead people and disgrace. We've never made a bomb, or placed a bomb, or been terrorists or brought anything illegal into this country.''

''I feel so oppressed. The other day, I thought I was having a heart attack. I couldn't breathe,'' said Pujol, 78. "I pulled over into a fire station. It's from the rage I feel inside.''

Lopez Castro declined to comment.

At issue is whether Posada entered the U.S. by land across the Mexican border, as he and his associates maintain, or whether -- as Cuban leader Fidel Castro claims -- Posada was sneaked into Miami from Isla Mujeres, Mexico, aboard the Santrina, a shrimping boat owned by a foundation that was headed by Abreu.

Because Posada has told the U.S. government that he came in crossing the Mexican border, he could face perjury and other charges if it is proven he lied. And that would give the United States more reason to keep him detained.

Several Cuban exile organizations issued a statement Wednesday calling on Cuban-Americans to support Abreu. ''The Cuban Patriotic Forum . . . is calling for solidarity from the Cuban exile community with Ernesto Abreu, a brave example of a dignified Cuban,'' the statement said.

The forum includes the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association, the Cuban Liberty Council, Cuban Municipalities in Exile, and other groups.

The U.S.-born Abreu, 43, owns a Miami building-maintenance company and has a wife and two children, ages 18 and 15, Ernestino Abreu said.

Posada sneaked into the United States in March 2005 and was detained a few weeks later in Miami. Late last year, the FBI arrested Posada's main benefactor, developer Santiago Alvarez, and his friend, Osvaldo Mitat, on federal weapons charges. Their trial is scheduled to start in September.

Venezuela and Cuba accuse Posada of terrorism, including the bombing of a passenger jet in 1976 that killed 73 people. Posada has long denied involvement.

Abreu is a friend and supporter of Posada. When Posada was pardoned and released from a Panamanian prison in 2004, Abreu was among three Miami friends who accompanied him on the chartered Miami jet that whisked him out of Panama and into Honduras.

Abreu was the president of Caribe Dive & Research in 2002, when the organization, which included Alvarez, bought the Santrina. Abreu and Alvarez have said that Caribe was a nonprofit diving school meant to increase appreciation of the sea.

But Cuba claims Alvarez, Pujol, Mitat, Lopez-Castro and a fifth man, Gilberto Abascal, used the Santrina to ferry Posada to Miami during a mysterious voyage first chronicled in The Miami Herald last year. Virtually everyone associated with that voyage is either in jail, in hiding or facing possible detention.

Abascal is now the key government witness in the weapons case against Alvarez and Mitat and has said Posada arrived on the Santrina. But his credibility is under fire because he has had contact with Cuban intelligence , leading some to believe he was spying for Cuba.

Abreu's father, Ernestino, is a long-time, anti-Castro militant. He served three years in a Cuban prison, from 1998 to 2001, after he and another exile were caught trying to smuggle weapons and medicine onto the island. He was one of eight exile leaders who met with President Bill Clinton at the White House in 1996 after the Cuban military shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes.

Plan for change in Cuba gets OK

The Bush administration unveiled a much-anticipated report detailing plans to provide more money to support the opposition in Cuba.

By Frances Robles And Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Tue, Jul. 11, 2006.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday approved a long-awaited update on U.S. policies to hasten and assist a Cuban turn to democracy after Fidel Castro's reign, including possible assistance to Havana's military and an $80 million-plus fund to boost the opposition to Castro.

''We are actively working for change in Cuba, not simply waiting for change,'' Bush said in a statement unveiling the 95-page report by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, a multiagency panel he created in 2003.

Arguing that vital U.S. interests are at stake in pushing for a transition to democracy, instead of a succession by new communist leadership after the 79-year-old Castro leaves power, the report underlined Bush administration pledges to promote freedom and democracy worldwide.

The text -- accompanied by a two-page ''Compact with the People of Cuba'' that promises to ''work with the Cuban people to attain political and economic liberty'' -- predicts a clash between an ''energized'' opposition and an ''intrinsically unstable'' attempt at succession.

''The opposition movement is creating momentum for democratic change in Cuba,'' said the State Department's Cuba transition coordinator, Caleb McCarry. "With our offer of advice and assistance . . . we hope to add to this momentum.''

Cuba's government has criticized the report as a blatant violation of the island's sovereignty and called dissidents paid ''mercenaries'' of the U.S. government. The report's inclusion of a classified annex -- whose contents remain unknown -- prompted the head of the Cuban legislature, Ricardo Alarcón, to speculate recently that it may include plans to assassinate Castro.

Dissidents in Havana met the report with mixed reactions.

''We didn't ask for economic help, and we don't want it,'' said Miriam Leiva, founding member of dissident group Ladies in White, in a telephone interview. "This report serves as supposed evidence for the government to take us to jail.''

But former political prisoner Vladimiro Roca, who along with several other dissidents attended a teleconference on the report from Washington at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, said he would accept any aid.

''It would be more than welcome,'' he said in a telephone conversation. "The government is going to call us that anyway. That's what they want, for us not to take money . . . We need materials, equipment, clothes, everything.''

PROVIDES SUPPORT

The U.S. government does not give cash to dissidents. It provides funding to U.S. and other nongovernment groups that support the dissident movements, and can supply Cubans with equipment such as radios, faxes and paper.

Cuban-American lawmakers thanked Bush for his ''solidarity with the Cuban people's right to be free'' in a statement issued by Miami Republican Reps. Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. But Ros-Lehtinen said she was disappointed that the ''wet foot/dry foot'' policy for Cuban migrants had not been revised.

The report, an update of a similar document in 2004, was officially presented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Cuban-American Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, the co-chairs of the commission.

It proposes no significant changes in Washington's policy toward Cuba and, in general, tightens some of the U.S. sanctions already on the books. It has minor changes from a draft recently revealed by The Miami Herald.

The report suggests offering ''assistance in preparing the Cuban military forces to adjust to an appropriate role in a democracy'' -- but does not offer any details, and U.S. officials did not clarify this.

It also recommends creating an $80 million fund in 2007 and 2008 -- a move that would have to be approved by Congress -- to promote democracy in Cuba plus a broad array of measures, from denying visas to human rights violators to stopping humanitarian aid from reaching organizations with alleged links to the government.

ACCESS TO MEDIA

The report places a high priority on overcoming the Cuban government's restrictions on Cubans' access to a free media and the Internet. ''We are increasing our determination to break the regime's information blockade,'' Rice said.

The commission proposed earmarking $24 million for ''efforts to break the information blockade''; $31 million to support ''independent civil society'' groups on the island; $10 million for educational exchanges; and $15 million to support "international efforts at strengthening civil society and transition planning.''

After 2008, the report recommends adding at least $20 million annually to the program, to be known as the Cuba Fund for a Democratic Future.

OTHER ASSISTANCE

U.S. officials said the money comes on top of democracy assistance programs run by the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, which amount to about $10 million a year. The U.S. government also spends about $35 million a year on Radio and TV Martí. The broadcasters could get more money under the new arrangement.

Officials underscored that many of the recommendations for U.S. actions would kick in only if Cuba's post-Castro leadership moves toward democracy and requests them.

''We will do all this and more, provided we are asked by a Cuban transition government that is committed to dismantling all instruments of state repression and implementing internationally respected human rights and fundamental freedoms, including organizing free and fair elections . . . within a period of no more than 18 months,'' Gutierrez said. Click here to find out more!

New Cuban exodus quieter and bigger

A new wave of Cubans, larger than the one that came during Mariel, is adapting to life in South Florida in their own way, mostly shunning the political zeal that defined earlier waves of exiles

By Oscar Corral, ocorral@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Tue, Jul. 11, 2006.

A sense of isolation came suddenly to Tamara Saavedra as she ended a phone call from her husband and stared at the empty Hialeah video rental store where she works the late shift.

Tears welled up in her eyes, even as a loud Latin music concert played on the television set near her: a somber mood for a woman surrounded by the latest Cuban government-produced DVDs of popular TV shows on the island, Hollywood movie releases and flashing screens of electronic slots.

Saavedra, 31, is a recent arrival from Cuba, one of tens of thousands who have come to the United States since 2000. More Cubans have arrived during the last six years than during the entire Mariel boatlift in 1980, quietly reshaping the Miami area.

Like so many immigrants, Saavedra has struggled to cope with the sense of dislocation of a new land. The problems she worries about are common: having enough money to buy medicine for her sick daughter, pleasing a husband she sees only a few minutes a day and finding ways to materialize the dreams she envisioned for herself when she left Cuba behind.

Forging ahead in her immigrant life, she doesn't always see the proverbial light at the northern end of the Florida Straits.

''The American dream no longer exists,'' she said, as she swept the floor of the store. "But I'm never going back to Cuba to live, not while Fidel Castro is alive.''

Unlike immigrants who come from other parts of the Americas, newly arrived Cubans in their 20s and 30s have to overcome an unusual handicap. Children of the Castro revolution, they were mostly raised in the ''special period'' of economic turmoil that roiled Cuba in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

They were taught and survived in a communist system so far removed from the capitalism and democracy that govern the United States that they often feel lost in the shuffle of competition and assertiveness.

At least 130,000 Cubans have come to the United States -- the vast majority to South Florida -- since 2000. Most have entered legally through the U.S. ''lottery'' that allows 20,000 Cubans each year, but some have made the dangerous trek by sea, too. Many now reside in Hialeah, long a working-class gateway for Cubans and other immigrants.

Their entry has been quieter, more measured, and into a Miami area far different than the one that greeted the Mariel arrivals a generation ago. In 1980, Cubans were the major Hispanic group in Miami. The city and nation reacted mostly in horror to the unchecked immigration, which included a few thousand Cubans with criminal records.

Today, Cubans remain the largest immigrant group but no longer the majority of Hispanics here. And few people have batted an eyelid at the arrival of this new subgroup in the exile diaspora.

QUIET POLITICS

The political energy that characterized the first wave of Cuban exiles seems subdued among these new arrivals. Most of those interviewed for this article know little or nothing of South Florida politics, and keep their criticism of Castro's government to a minimum.

Ariadne Quiñones, 27, arrived barely a month ago. To her, Miami is a mere ''country town'' compared to Shanghai in China, where she spent six months singing in Mandarin to wealthy Chinese nationals in 2003 -- thanks to the Cuban government.

''I don't like politics,'' she said. "In Cuba, you leave when you can, not when you want to. It's all the same to me. All systems have good and bad things. You have to be happy where you live.''

For Barbarita Herrera, 39, assimilation into American life, Miami style, has been a culture shock. Even the water tastes different than the ''parasite-laden'' water she said flowed from Havana pipes. But unlike others, Herrera has a hatred of the government she left behind, a system she believes is bound to change.

''Sometimes I feel like just giving up and going back,'' she said. "But I can't go back to that system. Castro really has to fall. You don't realize how bad things are there until you get here.''

One of the few politically charged new arrivals is Manuel Vásquez Portal, a dissident journalist who served time in a Cuban prison before he went into exile last June. He says the political apathy of newly arrived exiles is a product of their disillusionment with the Cuban system, which led them to immunize themselves from politics.

''The economic deterioration on the island, a direct result of bad politics, has made living on the island a nightmare,'' Vásquez Portal said. "No one feels love for a nightmare, so they try to forget it.''

As Herrera put it, "I'm just looking for a better life.''

She seems to have found it. In her apartment: two televisions with satellite connections, an air-conditioning unit and a computer with Internet access, all donated.

Herrera said she and her daughter, Rocio De La Torre, were smuggled out of Cuba on a go-fast boat on a quiet evening off the coast of Guanabo in September. She says her daughter never paid the $10,000 smuggling fee. But the chaos on the craft -- packed with 33 people who boarded after swimming 100 yards -- was so great that the smugglers didn't notice the extra body until the drop-off point in Dry Tortugas.

Some Cubans come with visas, some as political refugees. Some sneak across the Florida Straits or the Mexican border. But they all have a rare privilege: U.S. residency practically guaranteed a year after arrival.

More Cubans gained U.S. residency last year, about 36,000, than in any year since the early 1980s. This year, the U.S. Border Patrol is on pace to detain more Cubans who sneak into the country than any year in the past decade. They usually spend a day or two detained before being paroled into freedom.

LIFE IN HIALEAH

Hialeah has a sophisticated infrastructure to ease the transition for Cubans: video stores that rent copies of Cuban government-produced TV shows, movies and cartoons, thrift stores that sell quinceañera and wedding gowns for $20, restaurants and other businesses that keep their doors open to new arrivals who need work.

L & J Video on East Ninth Street -- where Saavedra works -- rents Cuban television shows and movies, such as Punto y Coma, De Cubano a Cubano and Elpidio Valdés to new arrivals nostalgic for a dose of communist-era programming. Nayibi Pérez, 22, who arrived four months ago, scooped up 10 videos on a recent visit.

''This is the best thing on Cuban TV,'' she said, holding up a video of a Cuban detective series. 'You can't even watch TV in Cuba without [the political show] Mesa Redonda interrupting it. Everyone wants to leave there. The food is no good. You don't get paid enough. I used to talk a lot when I was there about coming here and making money just by kicking over rocks. But few people come here and actually face this reality.''

Pérez's boyfriend, Elpidio Amores, 40, who came from Cuba during the 1994 rafter crisis, told her that in Miami the only thing that can bring success is hard work.

Pérez and Amores paid the $20 and hauled away their slices of Cuban nostalgia.

''I love these shows. They remind me of all the lies,'' Pérez said. "In Miami, life is hard. But it's not a lie.''

Read Oscar Corral's blog Miami's Cuban Connection in the blogs section of MiamiHerald.com or at http://blogs.herald.com/cuban_connection/

Eatery offers a taste of home and needed support

A Hialeah restaurant serves more than food. To many newly arrived Cubans, Tropical is a place that reminds them of home.

By Oscar Corral, ocorral@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Tue, Jul. 11, 2006.

Tropical Restaurant in Hialeah serves up a daily mix a la libra, by the pound: the feel of home in a new country; the first sliver of opportunity for many Cubans who've recently made the exile leap, and of course, congrí and ropa vieja at a budget price.

Take Rocio De La Torre, waitress, Miami Dade College student, and recent survivor of a dangerous smuggling operation that brought her across the Florida Straits. She now works at Tropical with her mom, Barbarita Herrera.

Tropical, 652 E. Ninth St., is the Versailles restaurant of the new arrivals, a U.S.-flag draped place where there's always a buzz around the timbiriche window, with plenty of seating and kitschy decor, and where language is not an issue, as long as you speak Spanish.

''I went looking for work when I got here and found a job here immediately,'' said Yudenia Cruz, 26, who arrived two months ago after getting a visa. "I just want a normal life, a family, a house, the things necessary to live. This restaurant is the first step.''

Indeed. Tropical owner Regino Rodríguez prides himself not only on the savory churrascos he serves by the hundreds every day, but by the support network he has created for new arrivals.

OPEN DOORS

''I feel like it's an obligation I have to help people reach the American dream,'' Rodríguez said of his open-door policy. "Sometimes one will come in and ask for work and even if there are no positions available and no money, I don't turn people down.''

Rodríguez, like other business owners in the area, has a close-up view of the new arrivals' work-ethic and struggles.

He said many are distrustful and fearful because of the oppressive communist system they were raised in, and it takes some of them years to appreciate their new-found freedoms.

''They come with a mentality that you can get anything you want here, do what you want, but what they don't always understand is that here you have to work very hard for what you have,'' he said.

Most of the new arrivals who work there are young, in their 20s and 30s. Many of them are taking English-language courses and have plans to better themselves.

Julio Acosta, 21, took a boat from Cuba to Mexico in the spring of 2005, then crossed the Mexican border on his way to Miami. He came to Tropical looking for a job, and got one. Now studying massage therapy, he wants to be a doctor. ''This is so different because it's capitalism, it's a free country,'' he said. "What a person does is entirely up to them.''

Many of Tropical's customers are also new arrivals. Marlene Acosta, 36, recently stopped in with her son, Gilberto Curbelo, 14, for some food. Both of them arrived in March. An accountant by trade, she just finished her first accounting course at Miami Dade College and hopes to practice her profession.

As a single mother, Acosta struggles to make ends meet. She said she appreciates her new freedoms but is still leery of her surroundings.

''For us Cubans, mostly the ones who were professionals, we had to keep appearances to keep our jobs in Cuba,'' she said. "All Cubans steal from the state to survive. It's the only way.''

Herrera knows that well. As a restaurant worker in Cuba, Herrera had access to all kinds of food, which she said she would steal and trade for U.S. dollars. Her salary of about 160 Cuban pesos, or $6 a month, plus the monthly rations of six eggs, some rice and bread, were not enough. A bottle of oil fetched her $2; 30 eggs, $3. She had to pay the guard at the door to keep quiet, too.

NO NEED FOR STEALING

Herrera's job at Tropical pays her enough to live and send money home. In Miami, she said, she doesn't have to steal to get by.

She said Tropical is the only place that really reminds her of Cuba, where neighbors see each other on the street every day, and there's a greater sense of community. In Hialeah, no one walks anywhere, and few people know their neighbors, she said.

''When we started working here the owner's daughter gave us a bag full of great clothes,'' said Herrera, a self-proclaimed santera who practices the Afro-Cuban religion. "Everything we had here was given to us, the clothes, the job. But it's never easy to leave your country behind.''

President Bush approves Cuba policy report

By Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Mon, Jul. 10, 2006.

WASHINGTON - President Bush approved today a much-awaited report that updates U.S. policies to hasten and assist Cuba's turn to democracy after Fidel Castro, including an immediate $80 million program to assist the Cuban opposition.

Bush also approved an accompanying Compact with the People of Cuba, ''which outlines how the United States will support the Cuban people as they transition from the repressive control of the Castro regime to freedom and a genuine democracy,'' according to a White House statement.

''The report demonstrates that we are actively working for change in Cuba, not simply waiting for change,'' Bush said in the statement. "I call on all our democratic friends and allies around the world to join us in supporting freedom for the Cuban people.''

The Cuban government has blasted the report as a blatant violation of the island's sovereignty and calls Cuban dissidents ''mercenaries'' of the U.S. government. The report's inclusion of a classified annex -- whose contents remain unknown -- prompted the head of the Cuban legislature, Ricardo Alarcón, to speculate that it may include plans to assassinate Castro.

The second Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba report was officially unveiled by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Cuban-American Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, the co-chairs of the commission. The State Department's Cubatransition coordinator, Caleb McCarry, briefed the media on the text.

A draft version of the report obtained by The Miami Herald two weeks ago recommended creating an $80 million fund to promote democracy in Cuba and a broad array of measures aimed at tightening the enforcement of U.S. sanctions on the island, from creating a task force to target Cuba's growing nickel exports to stopping humanitarian aid from reaching organizations with alleged links to the government, like the Cuban Council of Churches.

U.S. officials said the final version approved by Bush contains only minor modifications.

''Under a new two-year, $80 million program, we are stepping up our efforts along multiple fronts,'' Rice told the media. "We are increasing our determination to break the regime's information blockade, and we are offering support for the efforts of Cubans to prepare for the day when they will recover their sovereignty and can select a government of their choosing through free and fair multi-party elections.''

After the initial two-year period, at least $20 million will be added to the program, known as the Cuba Fund for a Democratic Future, every year. Officials said the money comes on top of the $35 million a year that Radio and TV Martí already gets from the U.S. government, although the stations could get even more money under the new arrangement.

Officials say the money also would be in addition to the other democracy-assistance programs run by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which amount to about $10 million a year.

Officials repeatedly underscored that many of the recommendations for U.S. actions during a transition would only kick in if Cuba's post-Castro leadership asks for them.

Gutierrez said the U.S. government would supply emergency food, water, fuel and medical equipment, and work with other nations to contribute assistance and stop "third parties from intervening to obstruct the will of the Cuban people.''

The aid would only be provided if the transition government moves toward a full democratic system, as mandated by current U.S. laws, an apparent rejection of a Chinese-like model that would move toward economic but not political freedom.

''We will do all this and more, provided we are asked by a Cuban transition government that is committed to dismantling all instruments of state repression and implementing internationally respected human rights and fundamental freedoms, including organizing free and fair elections for a democratically-elected new Cuban government within a period of no more than 18 months,'' said Gutierrez.

U.S. visas will be denied for Cuban officials who take part in human rights abuses, and the U.S. government will work with allies to curtail Venezuela's support for Castro.

The report says there are ''clear signs'' that Cuba is using money provided by the government of leftwing Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to "reactivate its networks in the hemisphere to subvert democratic governments.''

The text was commissioned in December as a follow-up to the commission's 400-plus page 2004 report that, among other measures, tightened travel by Cuban Americans to the island. More than 100 government officials and 17 government agencies worked on the latest report, which was presented last week to President Bush.

Report to the President / Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba

Cuban envoys facing new curbs

Congress wants to make it harder for Cuban diplomats to lobby, and the Bush administration may retaliate for restrictions on U.S. diplomats in Havana.

By Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Sat, Jul. 08, 2006.

WASHINGTON - Cuban diplomats here send some of their children to a school set up by their mission. Their spouses tend to work at the mission. And often, four or five diplomats' families live in the same apartment blocks in the wealthy suburb of Montgomery County.

Working and living in the capital of their communist government's longtime foe, Cuban diplomats generally seem to lead quiet and private lives -- fueled by the perception that the U.S. government is watching their every move.

They are most visible in Congress, where they assiduously lobby for proposals to relax U.S. sanctions on Cuba. But that could grow harder in coming weeks. The Bush administration is said to be considering retaliation for what it claims are harassments that U.S. diplomats face in Havana, including the poisoning of family pets and the dumping of feces in U.S. diplomats' homes.

A U.S. government official, who asked for anonymity because of the delicate nature of the issue, said reprisals against the Cuban mission in Washington were ''always under consideration.'' He declined to elaborate.

Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, R-Miami, is pushing a measure that would force diplomats from countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism -- including Cuba -- to register all their lobbying contacts in Congress, presumably making congressional offices more reluctant to talk to the Cubans.

The two countries' missions in Havana and Washington are known as Interests Sections instead of embassies because the governments have had no formal diplomatic relations since the 1960s. Officially extensions of the Swiss embassies in those capitals, they nevertheless operate from the same buildings that once served as their embassies.

Cuba has 25 diplomats accredited in Washington, led by Dagoberto Rodríguez. Eighty others work at Cuba's U.N. mission in New York City, according to the State Department.

TRAVEL LIMITED

For many years, the department has required Cuban diplomats to obtain permission to travel outside the Washington beltway, just as U.S. diplomats are limited to Havana and its immediate surroundings. U.S. diplomats in Cuba also are denied official contacts with authorities there, State Department officials said.

In 2003, then-Assistant Secretary of State Otto Reich, a Cuban American, tightened that further, limiting travel outside the designated areas to personal and consular reasons. Permission for such travel must be requested 72 hours in advance. Cuban diplomats need only notify the State Department that they will enter or leave this country, but can do so only through Miami, Washington and New York.

The State Department has allowed so few trips to U.S. territory outside the beltway that the Cubans rarely bother to ask anymore, said Wayne Smith, a former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana who has frequent contact with Cuban diplomats.

''I have a sense they've more or less given up on it,'' he said.

The Cuban Interests Section did not respond to Miami Herald requests for interviews. Most of the people who described the Cubans' lives here, such as their schools and apartments, asked for anonymity to avoid affecting their friendships.

U.S. officials say that for Havana's diplomats, a posting in Washington is no cushy affair, especially since their budgets shrank after the Cuban economy plunged into crisis following the end of Soviet subsidies in the early 1990s.

''They are dedicated revolutionaries,'' one former U.S. official said, declining to be identified because the issue of Cuba often involves classified matters.

COMPLAINTS RARE

Members of the diplomatic and nongovernment communities in contact with Cuban diplomats say they rarely complain openly about the U.S. restrictions on them.

But when their e-mail system crashed several months ago, they blamed it on U.S. harassment, according to people in frequent contact with members of the mission. The Cuban diplomats resorted to using Yahoo! accounts.

The Bush administration denies it is messing up their Internet connections. ''If they have a problem, they do need to call their Internet service provider,'' said one Bush administration official.

Under President Bush, the Cuban diplomats appear to have hunkered down more than usual and even cut back on their social engagements.

During the Clinton administration, one journalist who covered Cuban issues recalled, the Interests Section attempted to reach out to Cuban Americans by organizing events like Cuban movie nights.

But the mission hasn't cut back completely on its social engagements. It had a well-attended send-off party for press attaché Lázaro Herrera earlier this year. And a year ago, it held a gala dinner highlighting Cuban culture, music and food. The event was organized by Professionals in the City, a group that sets up events so young professionals can meet each other. A group of Cuban-American activists tried to distribute anti-Castro literature at the dinner and was forcibly evicted by members of the mission.

U.S. officials insist that the Cubans have it easy next to their U.S. counterparts in Havana. While Cubans can freely roam the halls of Congress, officials in Washington say, U.S. diplomats in Havana are systematically denied any permission to meet with government members, journalists or municipal officials. They must import many items such as cars, and often face long delays in customs.

Cubans can buy whatever they need in Washington, within the confines of the beltway. The exception is big-ticket purchases like cars; they usually involve banks that prefer to clear transfers with the State Department.

Younger party zealots the face of post-Fidel Cuba

Cuba's Communist Party appeared to be laying the groundwork for a future without Fidel Castro.

By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Thu, Jul. 06, 2006

A shake-up unseen in more than 10 years is under way in the Cuban Communist Party, in what experts say is a sign that Havana is anxious to lay the foundation for a strong, communist post-Castro Cuba.

The party leadership announced Tuesday that it had resurrected its secretariat, a policy-implementing group that was abolished 15 years ago, officially for financial reasons. Tapped for the new board: longtime party stalwarts who represent a younger generation of Fidel Castro's revolution.

The move underscores the Cuban government's desire to strengthen ruling institutions for a future when a government currently so dependent on the 79-year-old Castro is no longer possible.

WAKE-UP CALL

Several of the new secretariat members were provincial leaders who were replaced in May, at that time fueling speculation of a purge. But experts say that was, in fact, the preparation of a promotion of new leaders.

''They are reorganizing,'' said Alcibiades Hidalgo, a former Cuban diplomat and chief of staff to Defense Minister Raúl Castro. "This is not a purge. They are preparing a party that has been asleep for 15 years.''

The moves came during a party meeting held Saturday, but they were not announced until Tuesday. The party's newspaper, Granma, said Castro presided over the meeting and will head the secretariat along with his brother, Raúl.

One of the 10 other new members is José R. Machado Ventura, 75, right-hand man to Raúl Castro. The others include three women: María del Carmen Concepción González, party first secretary in Pinar del Río province; Mercedes López Acea, first secretary in Cienfuegos; and Lina Pedraza Rodríguez, ex-minister of audits and oversight.

Cuban government leaders have cautioned in recent months that the revolution has failed to capture the nation's youth. The new personnel changes appear aimed at grooming younger officials, with even Fidel Castro himself recently noting that his designated successor, Raúl, just turned 75.

NOT MAVERICKS

But while many of the new members are in their 50s and considerably younger than the Castro brothers, experts noted that they also are longtime party favorites.

''They are not the youngest generation,'' Hidalgo said. "They have a lot of experience and are not at all inclined to changes.''

Domingo Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence officer who defected in 1994, said the new committee members represent the ''middle generation'' -- people born into the revolution and tapped for leadership positions since their youth.

''These are people with a definite mind-set,'' he said. "The idea is to strengthen the party and offer a message of institutionalism, that Cuba is not going to replace one caudillo for another.''

The party also announced several new members of its central committee and the removal of former Basic Industries Minister Marcos Portal León, who was fired earlier this year from the ruling Politburo. Several experts noted that such moves were particularly important considering the party has not held a nationwide party congress in nearly 10 years.

Some analysts viewed this week's announcements as steps toward reconvening a party convention.

''The party has been adrift for a number of years,'' said Dan Erikson, a Cuba analyst with the InterAmerican Dialogue in Washington. "If there are changes in Cuba and the party is weak and disorganized, that does not do much for a succession process. It has to be a concern.''

Diplomats in Cuba wary of snoops and snubs

U.S. diplomats in Havana say they worry about Cuban government harassment that intrudes on their personal and professional lives.

By Nikki Waller, nwaller@MiamiHerald.com. Posted on Sat, Jul. 01, 2006.

HAVANA - Every time his dog acts strangely or the power goes out at his home, Bill Hawkins wonders, if only for a moment, whether Fidel Castro's agents are trying to get under his skin.

''Anywhere in the world, stuff happens to you,'' said Hawkins, a building-security engineer posted at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana. "Here, you never really know if just life is happening, or if someone's doing it to you.''

Life is tense these days for the 51 Americans assigned to the U.S. Interests Section, the diplomatic mission in the Western Hemisphere's lone communist-ruled nation and enduring thorn in Washington's side.

Interviewed at the Interests Section last month, in an unadorned room crammed with Spanish-language copies of the U.S. Constitution and pro-democracy books available to any Cuban who walks in, five U.S. diplomats talked about trying to lead a normal life in Havana.

Nearly all, like Hawkins, say they are targets of a Cuban government-sponsored harassment campaign aimed at disrupting the activities of the mission and the lives of its staff.

U.S. diplomats tell of endlessly ringing phones and dog feces strewn inside their homes, urine-soaked towels left on a kitchen table and even poisoned family dogs. A high-ranking member of the mission once found his mouthwash replaced with urine.

Government agents follow them in public, say the Americans, and provoke them at social events. Some tell of sexual come-ons from strangers, a gambit designed to compromise them or damage their marriages.

''It's all just a reminder that they're there,'' mission spokesman Drew Blakeney told The Miami Herald during a visit to the seven-story building on the seaside Malecón promenade. The athletic, dark-haired Blakeney arrived in Havana last fall with his wife and child.

STANDS BY HER MAN

At a party in May, a stranger came up to Blakeney's wife and claimed her husband was being unfaithful. Recognizing the provocation, she told the man off, Blakeney said.

He and others play down the harassment, saying the nuisances cannot compare to the government persecution that Cuban dissidents must endure.

But the persistence of the Cuban agents ''makes Ceaucescu's Romania look like real amateurs,'' Interests Section chief Michael Parmly said in an interview, referring to the last and notoriously harsh communist ruler of Romania.

Diplomats' claims of low-level harassment are nothing new, but Cuba's actions appear to have intensified since January, when the Interests Section began scrolling anti-Castro news and commentary from an electronic billboard. Cuba quickly struck back, sending nearly one million people to march in protest past the Interests Section and installing a cluster of 138 flagpoles nearby to block the view of the billboard.

BLACKOUT

Tensions escalated last month, when U.S. officials complained that Cuba cut electricity to the mission for several days.

Attempts to reach the Cuban Interests Section in Washington were unsuccessful. The missions are known as interests sections because the two countries have had no formal diplomatic relations since the 1960s. Both missions operate from the same buildings that once served as embassies.

GRANMA DENIES

A recent front-page editorial in the Cuban Communist Party's newspaper, Granma, flatly denied interfering with the U.S. mission.

''Our Revolution would never attack or violate a diplomatic office,'' the editorial said. "It never has and it never will.''

But the U.S. diplomats say they often come home to unpleasant surprises: furniture moved slightly, windows left open or freezers unplugged. Some have found a white powder sprinkled around their doorways and gates.

The Cuban government makes its presence known outside the Interests Section building, too. Security huts perch at each end of the complex, and guards photograph visitors from afar and demand passports before allowing people to enter.

Some of the torments seem more like the work of a poltergeist or a band of fraternity brothers than a national government.

Hawkins, who was posted earlier in South Africa and Georgia in the former Soviet Union, once found the covers torn off some matchbooks he had at home, but the intruders left the matches behind.

HIRING REFUSED

Parmly says Cuba also is withholding visas for newly assigned U.S. diplomats and barring the mission from hiring Cuban employees for maintenance and clerical work, leaving at least 25 vacancies at the mission.

The hold-ups have forced Parmly, who speaks passionately about the job in Cuba he took on last year, to shelve several projects until Cuba allows in more personnel.

''This summer could get rough,'' if staff and supply shortages continue, Parmly said with a grimace.

One junior officer, whose supervisor requested her name be withheld, said she and her husband arrived for their first foreign assignment in January -- just as the fight over the electronic billboard grew ugly. Her problems began immediately.

''We wanted a challenge for our first post, and we got it,'' she said.

MYSTERY CALLS

When the couple return to their apartment in the Miramar neighborhood, objects appear to have moved around on their own. The doorbell buzzes at all hours, and the phone rings constantly through the night, with no voice on the line.

More seriously, the Castro government denied the couple's first request to import their car and has ignored the second. The government also ignored their requests to hire a housekeeper.

A former Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala, the officer hastens to say that she's not the type who normally would hire a maid, but with markets open only during work hours, most diplomats need someone to help find food during the week.

The couple spends the bulk of their weekends on their bicycles foraging for groceries and provisions to last the week. It's a challenge: the produce that makes its way to Havana's markets arrives ripe, meaning that Saturday's mango turns to mush by Wednesday. By Thursday, she said, they're cooking creatively.

RESOLVE GROWS

The diplomats say the Cuban government's tactics, rather than destroying morale, have strengthened their resolve.

The junior officer says the harassment campaign bonds her more closely with the visa applicants she interviews and assists every day.

''This helps us understand what a lot of people who don't agree with the regime are experiencing,'' she said.

Still, for U.S. diplomats, living in Havana means living with the Cuban government always in mind.

''Paranoia's good,'' said Carl Cockburn, the consul in Havana. He hasn't noticed break-ins at his apartment -- but then, he adds, he might not be that observant.

At times, the diplomats realize their situation has become almost comical.

Blakeney recalled an American child's birthday party earlier this year, when lightning struck a nearby tree, causing an earsplitting crash.

A second later, a mango dropped from a tree overhead, barely missing a 2-year-old girl's head. After the initial instant of terror, the party guests began joking about the new lighting bolt-hurling and mango-dropping capabilities of the Cuban government.

''We know they're messing with us, just not how much,'' Hawkins said.

Parmly's brashness as mission director has made him a special object of attention. He says Cuban security agents follow him everywhere and snap his picture, but he refuses to hide out at home, reveling in the city's culture and inhabitants.

''I am bound and determined to enjoy living in Havana,'' he said.

Dissidents: Nearly 350 are political prisoners

Posted on Fri, Jun. 30, 2006.

HAVANA - (AP) -- A dissident group monitoring human rights in Cuba said Thursday there are at least 347 prisoners of conscience on the island and warned that the jailing of opposition activists was rising.

''There is a worsening of the situation,'' said Aida Valdés Santana, of the National Coordinating Group of Prisoners and Ex-Political Prisoners.

Valdés told a news conference that her group would begin offering periodic updates on the number of political prisoners.

According to another group, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, there are 333 political prisoners.

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