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US to keep Cuban airline bombing suspect in custody

MIAMI, 22 (AFP) - The US authorities said that Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted in Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, would remain in US custody even though he has been ordered expelled.

The United States refuses to send Posada Carriles, a radical opponent of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and a former CIA agent, to Cuba or Venezuela citing fears that he would be tortured.

But it has also failed to find another third country that would accept Posada Carriles, 78, who is currently detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) centre in El Paso, Texas.

"Following a routine custody review, as required by regulation, ICE has issued Mr. Posada an interim decision to continue detention," said an ICE statement.

"This letter advises Mr. Posada that his custody status has been reviewed and it has been determined that he will not be released from the custody of ICE at this time."

The agency said it "will continue to review Mr. Posada's custody in light of any additional information that he may submit, collateral developments, and efforts to remove him to other countries.

"ICE continues to move forward to carry out Mr. Posada's removal from the United States."

A judge ruled in September that Posada Carriles could not be sent to Cuba or Venezuela, in a decision based on the International Convention on Torture which prohibits extraditions to countries where there is a pattern of torture or flagrant human rights abuses.

Cuban and Venezuelan authorities have accused the US government of harbouring a known terrorist.

Posada Carriles was detained in Venezuela in 1976 following the bombing of a Cubana airlines plane that left 73 people dead.

Recently declassified US documents show that Posada Carriles worked for the CIA at least from 1965 until June 1976.

In 1985 he fled a Venezuelan prison and turned up in El Salvador where he helped the US government ferry supplies to "Contra" rebels in Nicaragua.

He is accused of taking part in numerous plots to kill Castro, including one to assassinate the Cuban leader during an Ibero-American summit in Panama in 2000.

He was jailed for eight years in Panama but was pardoned last year and appeared to be laying low until reports began circulating that he had entered the United States.

In mid-April, he officially requested political asylum in the United States, putting the US government in an embarrassing situation because of his past activities.

Cuba Makes Big Statement Despite Loss

By janie mCcauley, AP Sports Writer Tue Mar 21, 2006.

SAN DIEGO - Cuba still has plenty of reason to celebrate.

The Cubans surprised a lot of people just by reaching the World Baseball Classic final, even though losses in international competition are rare for the communist Caribbean nation. And after all, they almost weren't allowed to participate because of the country's touchy political relationship with the United States.

So while Japan won Monday night's championship game 10-6, the fact that Cuba made it so far showed fans back home that this team - which has lost top stars to defection in recent years - could compete against rosters loaded with major leaguers.

The Cubans advanced through the 16-team tournament when the talented teams from the Dominican Republic and United States, both filled with All-Stars, could not. Cuba made it farther than three of New York Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner's superstar multimillionaires: Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

"Reaching the gold medal game wasn't a gift from anyone," Cuban manager Higinio Velez said. "Cuba was even included in the toughest group, the group of death."

It was quite a tournament for Cuba, which has reached 37 straight title games in major international events and won 22 of its last 25 games.

But the Cubans, who consider themselves amateurs despite their star status on the streets of Havana, couldn't add the inaugural Classic to a long list of accolades that includes last year's World Cup title, the 2004 Olympic gold medal and the championship of the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo.

Moments after their defeat, with the Japanese celebrating in the middle of the diamond, Cuba's players made their way out of the dugout to congratulate their opponent - a respectful gesture common in international play.

"I think this Classic is historic because it demonstrated that not only the players from the paid major leagues can carry the supremacy. We've demonstrated that what matters is sacrifice, human values and the effort you give on the field," Cuban outfielder Frederich Cepeda said. "This is a well-deserved second place. We're not satisfied, but we're happy with our performance."

It was such an honor for them to take part that Cuban officials have hinted they would like to be considered as a host for the next WBC three years from now.

Cuba's Yadel Marti and Carlos Tabares posed on either side of Ichiro Suzuki for a postgame photo.

"It was a great tournament," Marti said. "It's good for Cuba. We have to be happy."

As the game wore on Monday night, Cuba staged a final rally in the eighth. Cepeda delivered a two-run homer off Japan reliever Shunsuke Watanabe to pull the Cubans to 6-5, and their spirited fans - many draped in the country's flag and clanging cowbells - who had packed Petco Park kept chanting "Cuba! Cuba!"

"In history, Cuba has always been a really strong team," said Japanese reliever Akinori Otsuka of the Texas Rangers. "I realize how strong the baseball system is in Cuba. Probably everybody knows about Cuba."

But Japan and its effective small-ball style exposed every weakness on a Cuban pitching staff that had been near perfect in its previous seven WBC games. Cuba's deep staff looked hittable again, two days after Marti and Pedro Lazo shut down the Dominicans in the semifinals.

The pitchers, and all of Cuba's players for that matter, sacrificed their stardom to participate in this special event even if it was in a more limited role than they might have liked. Most members of the pitching staff are starters back home, accustomed to working deep into games.

In Havana's central park, where hundreds watched the game on giant screens, the mood was quiet and somber after the loss.

"Cuban baseball, Olympic and world champion, was always questioned because it didn't face professionals. And look, they reached the Classic final," said Jorge Perez, a construction worker in the city.

Cepeda might have said it best when he described what this run meant in his country.

"If we could win, that would be the greatest victory that would have been expected in Cuban baseball," he said. "The world has been waiting for this day playing against the major leaguers."

And Cuba made the most of it.

Cuba donates 30 field hospitals to quake-hit Pakistan

By DPA. Wednesday March 22, 02:27 PM

Islamabad, March 22 (DPA) Cuba has donated more than 30 mobile field hospitals established in Pakistan after last October's earthquake that killed an estimated 75,000 people, a senior official said Wednesday.

'Two more field-medical facilities run by the Cuban paramedics have been donated to the government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir,' Col. Muhammad Usman clarified.

Cuba's First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla signed an agreement in Muzaffarabad, the region's capital, to formally hand over the field hospitals.

The first group of 2,463 Cuban medical personnel arrived in Pakistan a week after the Oct 8 quake that wounded more than 100,000 people and left an estimated 3.5 million people without shelter.

'Cuban hospitals treated more than 130,000 patients and performed 12,000 surgeries during their stay in Pakistan,' Usman stated.

Further, as many as 14 critically wounded patients from the quake-hit areas were transferred to Cuba for treatment, local officials at the Cuban field hospitals in the North-West Frontier Province district of Mansehra said.

Some members of the Cuban medical team have already returned while the remaining are likely to leave for home during the next few days.

Meanwhile, the US medical team also announced Tuesday it would wind up its relief operation with 1,200 personnel in Pakistani Kashmir by March 31.

Public Health in Cuba. Related information.

19 Cubans Found On Sand Key

Clik10.com, Tue Mar 21, 2:02 PM ET

A group of Cuban refugees who were found on Sand Key were in the custody of the border patrol Tuesday morning, but because they made it to dry land, their stay in the country should be permanent.

According to authorities, 19 Cubans, including one child, came ashore on Sand Key on Monday. Five were taken to nearby hospitals to be treated for dehydration; the other 14 were taken to border patrol headquarters in Pembroke Pines.

The refugees claim they left Villa Clara, Cuba, five days earlier by boat before arriving on Sand Key.

Authorities are questioning them.

Japanese down Cuba to capture World Baseball Classic crown

SAN DIEGO, United States, 21 (AFP) - Japan's greatest-ever baseball squad captured global supremacy in its beloved national pastime, defeating Cuba 10-6 here in the World Baseball Classic championship game.

Scoring four times in the final inning, the Japanese team beat the Communist dynasty's amateur dynasty for only the fifth time in 38 games to capture the crown in the first global event with Major League Baseball talent.

"This is probably the biggest moment of my baseball career. This event has decided the true world champions and we have won," Japan star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki said. "I'm unbelievably happy. It's amazing,"

The title game featured only two major leaguers - Suzuki of Seattle and Japan pitcher Akinori Otsuka of Texas - but both had a key role in the outcome and Ichiro was even ready to sacrifice the club season for a triumph.

"I didn't even think about the upcoming season. I didn't care if I would get injured in this game," Suzuki said. "That's how much I wanted to win this game. That's how driven we were for this championship."

Suzuki singled in a run in the ninth to put Japan ahead 7-5, Hitoshi Tamura added a two-run single and Nobuhiko Matsunaka scored on a sacrifice fly.

Otsuka, who pitched Japan out of a jam in the eighth, gave up a run before striking out Yulieski Gourriel to end the game and spark a joyful celebration in which Japan players tossed manager Sadaharu Oh into the air and caught him.

"I thought I would never get a chance to manage a team like this," Oh said.

Winning pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, a 25-year-old Seibu Lions right-hander, was named the Classic's Most Valuable Player, finishing the tournament 3-0 after striking out five and allowing only one run in the first four innings.

"I'm excited I had a chance to play on the best team ever," Matsuzaka said. "With the world championship on the line, I was really proud I did a good job."

Matsuzaka had struck out seven in 8 1/3 innings in a 6-3 victory at the 2004 Olympics in the most recent prior Cuba-Japan meeting.

"This brings a lot of responsibility and a lot of pride," Matsuzaka said. "We wanted to show our baseball is at a top level. This makes us very happy."

Classic batting leaders Japan, which escaped the second round only because Mexico upset the United States, pounded Cuban pitching for six runs on seven hits in the first five innings then fought off a late Cuban rally.

"Our team doesn't give up," Cuban manager Higinio Velez said. "Our team continued to fight with courage but it was very difficult."

Cuba had pulled within 6-5 on Frederich Cepeda's two-run homer in the eighth inning off left-handed reliever Soichi Fujita.

Cepeda and Osmani Urrutia each drove in a run for Cuba in the sixth to start the comeback but Cuba failed to score in the seventh despite two Japan errors, a wasted golden opportunity that proved costly.

The Cubans, no worse than second in any global event since 1951, proved they could compete with the best US clubs had to offer, ousting major leaguer-laden teams from Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.

"What Cuba has shown is not only can we play up to par with major leaguers, but our character," Cuban outfielder Frederich Cepeda said. "We don't get paid. We do this with sacrifice, human courage, value and sportsmanship.

"Cuba has shown the world that we have our heart in baseball, that we want to play in every single tournament."

Cuban talent lost in the defections of major league pitchers Orlando Hernandez, Livan Hernandez and Jose Contreras was sorely missed against Japan.

With the bases loaded in the first inning, Tamura was hit by a pitch and Michihiro Ogasawara walked to force in runs. Toshiaki Imae followed with a single up the middle to give Japan a 4-0 lead.

Eduardo Paret smacked the fourth pitch from Matsuzaka for a first-inning homer but Tamara singled in a run in the fifth and Matsunaka scored on a pair of sacrifices to give Japan a 6-1 lead.

Baseball Crazy Cubans Disappointed by Loss

AP, March 21, 2006.

A stunned silence fell across hundreds of fans crowded around a giant outdoor television screen in Parque Central early Tuesday as they watched Japan beat their beloved Cuban national team 10-6 in the World Baseball Classic final.

Earlier in the evening, the fans sang and danced to salsa music and boisterously cheered on the Cuban ballplayers as they struggled against the Japanese.

"It hurts, it hurts a lot," Alexei Serrano said of Cuba's loss.

"Cuba lacked batting and speed, but I'm still proud of my team," added his twin brother, Alberto.

Both men were among those crowded around the screen put up in the hours before the game in the park, where sports fans gather daily to loudly argue about teams and players.

Cuban state television carried the ESPN broadcast of all the games live across this island of 11.2 million, but the giant screen wasn't erected until the final.

In recent days, euphoria about Cuba's chances for success in the inaugural Classic had reached a fever pitch, especially after the team's dramatic 4-3 win over Puerto Rico at the end of the second round, and its 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic on Saturday.

"Cuba has overcome the best players in the world," said Jorge Perez, still proud of those earlier wins.

Ives Luciano, who wore a red Cuban team baseball cap, acknowledged that "I'm not happy," about the loss. "But I'm not disillusioned either, because we won with honor."

"It had been said that if we wound up in fifth place, that would have been fine," said another fan, who gave his name as Rainoldi Cuba. "And look, there are teams with great professional players who left empty-handed.

"They did so much," he said of his team. "We could not have asked for more."

Wives of Political Prisoners March in Cuba

AP, March 18, 2006.

The wives and mothers of about two dozen political prisoners marched Saturday along several of the city's main avenues, singing hymns and carrying signs reading "amnesty" to commemorate the third anniversary of the crackdown that put their husbands behind bars.

Authorities did not interfere with the march by the "Ladies in White," as the women have become known for their frequent marches to draw attention to their husbands' plight. Dressed all in white as is their tradition, the women carried gladiolas as they walked along Havana's thoroughfares.

"We would never have thought this would go on for so long," said Laura Pollan, wife of Hector Maseda, a political prisoner who was among 75 people rounded up on March 18, 2003. He was sentenced to 20 years.

"We will continue to fight as long as he remains in prison," Pollan said.

The Cuban government has said the arrests were needed to protect the nation from "mercenaries" paid from abroad to undermine the socialist system.

Cuba accused the 75 of working with the United States to undermine Castro's government _ charges the activists and Washington deny.

Group Cites Media Dangers in Latin America

By Eloy O. Aguilar, Associated Press Writer. Mar 21, 2006.

QUITO, Ecuador - Attacks by Mexican drug gangs and government harassment in several countries are having a chilling effect on the news media in Latin America, a hemisphere-wide media group said Monday.

"Although the news media continue to carry out their public-service missions robustly in other countries, individual newspapers and journalists have faced a variety of direct and indirect efforts by governments, politicians and powerful interests to constrain them," the Inter American Press Association said.

The IAPA, in its midyear report on press freedom in the hemisphere, denounced hostility toward news media by Argentina and Venezuela and the jailing of 25 journalists in Cuba.

The IAPA said it was concerned with gang attacks, including a recent incident in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, that seriously wounded a reporter, that have forced some newspapers to avoid any reference to drug activities.

Three journalists working in Latin America have been killed in the past six months and a fourth is missing and presumed dead, the IAPA said.

The report also criticized Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government for "harassing and punishing the independent news media."

"A so-called law of social responsibility for radio and television,", the IAPA said, characterizes dissent as tantamount to criminal conduct.

14 Cubans Get U.S. OK to Return

AP, March 20, 2006.

Fourteen Cubans sent back to their homeland by the Coast Guard after their boat landed at an abandoned U.S. bridge in the Florida Keys can return to the United States _ provided, of course, Fidel Castro lets them go.

The U.S. government will issue visas to the Cubans under an agreement approved last week by a federal judge.

"This will give them visas within 10 days. The other process could take 10 months, or a year or two," said Ramon Saul Sanchez, head of a Cuban-American advocacy group.

There is still no guarantee that Cuba will permit the group, which includes two children ages 2 and 13, to leave the island. A call to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, which represents Castro's government, was not immediately returned Monday.

Under the U.S. "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to stay, while those intercepted at sea are generally returned home.

The group of Cubans arrived at the bridge in January but were sent back because sections were missing and the span is no longer connected to U.S. soil.

U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno ruled Feb. 28 that the Cubans had legitimately reached American shores and should not have been sent home.

Under the agreement he approved last week, Moreno will set aside the ruling, removing it as a potential legal precedent.

There were actually 15 immigrants in the group, but one will not immediately be given a U.S. visa because of questions about his possible criminal history, Sanchez said.

Wives of Political Prisoners March in Cuba

Sat Mar 18, 10:31 PM ET

HAVANA - The wives and mothers of about two dozen political prisoners marched Saturday along several of the city's main avenues, singing hymns and carrying signs reading "amnesty" to commemorate the third anniversary of the crackdown that put their husbands behind bars.

Authorities did not interfere with the march by the "Ladies in White," as the women have become known for their frequent marches to draw attention to their husbands' plight. Dressed all in white as is their tradition, the women carried gladiolas as they walked along Havana's thoroughfares.

"We would never have thought this would go on for so long," said Laura Pollan, wife of Hector Maseda, a political prisoner who was among 75 people rounded up on March 18, 2003. He was sentenced to 20 years.

"We will continue to fight as long as he remains in prison," Pollan said.

The Cuban government has said the arrests were needed to protect the nation from "mercenaries" paid from abroad to undermine the socialist system.

Cuba accused the 75 of working with the United States to undermine Castro's government - charges the activists and Washington deny.

Fifteen of the original 75 have since been released on medical parole.

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