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Cuba's Film Institute Head Retires
By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Alfredo Guevara, a leading figure in Cuban culture who brought acclaim to the nation's filmmaking, retired Wednesday as president of the film institute he founded shortly after the revolution.
The Communist Party daily Granma on Wednesday said that after leaving the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry Guevara would now ``dedicate himself with important international tasks associated with culture.''
Among the first well-known Cuban intellectuals to embrace socialism after Castro's 1959 revolution, Guevara was a defender of the country's artists who criticized - while still remaining respectful of - Cuban society.
``Guantanamera,'' a 1995 Cuban film that poked fun at the absurdities suffered by a family arranging a relative's funeral, typified that philosophy.
The film was criticized three years later in a lengthy speech by President Fidel Castro, alarming Cuban intellectuals and sparking quiet criticism of Guevara.
``Guantanamera,'' directed by Juan Carlos Tabio and the late Tomas Gutierrez Alea, was among Cuba's most popular films. Taibo and Gutierrez Alea also directed ``Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate),'' another highly acclaimed film that examined homosexuality in Cuba.
Guevara, said to be a close friend of Castro, never publicly responded to the criticism.
Guevara was president of the institute for a total of 31 years, with a break after the first 22 years to serve as Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
He will be replaced by Omar Gonzalez, president of the Cuban Book Institute.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Reno: Reunite Elian With Father
MIAMI , 23 (AP) - Attorney General Janet Reno reiterated her belief that 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez should be returned to Cuba, saying it is time for the boy to be ``reunited with his father.''
Reno commented Wednesday evening after meeting in Washington with a lawyer for Elian's father. She said the boy would be returned in an ``orderly, fair and prompt'' manner.
However, Justice Department officials have said they want to avoid traumatizing the boy or provoking a confrontation with Miami's Cuban exile community.
The boy is with relatives here who want him to remain in the United States. Attorneys for Elian's great-uncle say they will take their battle to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
``This (is) an extraordinary case that could reach the highest levels of our court system,'' attorney Kendall Coffey said. ``I've never seen a more compelling or dramatic story in my life.''
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore this week essentially upheld the government's decision to send Elian back to Cuba by dismissing a lawsuit seeking an asylum hearing for the boy. The ruling has been appealed.
Elian has been the subject of controversy since he was found clinging to an inner tube off Florida on Nov. 25. His mother and 10 others drowned when their boat capsized during an attempt to reach the United States.
The case has become a tug-of-war between the Cuban government and U.S. family members who oppose the Cuban government's Communist ideology and want to raise the motherless boy.
In January, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, in a decision approved by Reno, ordered Elian returned to his father. The Miami relatives responded with the lawsuit.
Bush Protests Elian Policy
abcnews.com
WASHINGTON, 22 — Presidential campaign rivals Al Gore and George W. Bush weighed in on two high-profile court decisions announced today.
After a federal judge dismissed a suit that would have prevented the U.S. government from returning 6-yea r-old Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba, Bush took a shot at Gore and the White House for not doing more to keep the boy with his relatives in Miami.
"I urge Attorney General Janet Reno to reconsider her plans to send Elian back to Cuba, back to the place his mother died trying to escape," Bush said in a prepared statement. "This case should be decided by a Florida family court, which will protect the best interests of
Elian, not by a Clinton-Gore Justice Department whose record of putting politics ahead of the law does not inspire confidence."
Gonzalez was found floating off the shore of Fort Lauderdale last fall, when his mother and 10 others drowned in a shipwreck while trying to escape from Cuba.
Gore Blames Castro
During a visit to New York today, Gore agreed with Bush that the case should be decided by a family court.
"I think that what we still need is a full and fair court hearing based on due process where all the parties can present the facts," Gore said.
But the best solution, argued Gore, would be for the father to leave Cuba and come to the United States to make his decision.
"The father is not free to speak his true mind. What is his true feeling? We know what his mother’s true feeling was because she lost her life in trying to get freedom for her son," Gore said. "This child should never have been put in the situation where the choice is
freedom or his father. The real fault here lies with [Cuban president] Fidel Castro."
Tobacco Ruling
Gore also reacted to the Supreme Court’s finding that tobacco is beyond the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration by calling on Congress to expand the law that governs the agency.
"Tobacco is one of the most addictive substances known to the human race. Nicotine is more addictive according to many doctors than heroin or cocaine," Gore said. "It should be regulated as a drug."
In the wake of the ruling, the Bush campaign also called on Congress to act, but merely to keep tobacco from being sold to children.
"Gov. Bush believes decisions about tobacco regulation should be made by Congress and state legislatures," a campaign statement said. "He believes that Congress should pass tough laws to keep tobacco out of the hands of kids similar to strict anti-teen smoking laws he
advocated and signed in Texas. The Texas laws are recognized as some of the nation’s toughest."
Gore was in New York this afternoon touring a community center on the Upper East Side and raising cash this evening for his Democratic campaign. Gov. Bush spent the day attending to state business in Austin, Texas.
Copyright © 2000 ABCNEWS.com.
Elian Relatives Fight Judge's Ruling
By MILDRADE CHERFILS, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI (AP) - Attorneys for Elian Gonzalez's great-uncle said Wednesday they would go to the Supreme Court if necessary to keep the 6-year-old boy in the United States, while Cuban-American groups met to discuss the tactics they would use if the boy is sent back to the communist island.
``This an extraordinary case that could reach the highest levels of our court system,'' said Kendall Coffey, an attorney for Elian's great-uncle. ``I've never seen a more compelling or dramatic story in my life.''
Coffey's comments came as Attorney General Janet Reno met in Washington with Greg Craig, an attorney for the boy's father.
``I believe it is time for Elian to be reunited with his father.'' Reno said. ``I told Mr. Craig that we will work with everybody concerned to achieve this goal in an orderly, fair and prompt manner,''
The legal team for Elian's great-uncle, meanwhile, is focusing on the next step. The attorneys filed a notice of appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Tuesday, hours after U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore dismissed the Miami family's lawsuit and affirmed the
government's decision to send Elian to his father in Cuba.
``Elian has been saying over and over again that he doesn't see why he has to go back,'' said the boy's cousin, Georgina Cid Cruz. ``I don't think sending him back is in his best interest. We want his father to be here. We love our family in Cuba and for us it's tearing us apart.''
Elian has been at the center of an international custody dispute and a power struggle among his relatives since he was found clinging to an inner tube off Florida on Nov. 25. His mother and 10 others drowned when their boat capsized during an attempt to reach the United States.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has ordered the boy to be reunited with his father in Cuba, but his relatives in Miami have sued to prevent that, saying he deserves the opportunity to live in America that his mother sought for him.
The leaders of 17 Cuban-American groups - which have often protested the government's decision to send Elian home - met Wednesday in Miami to discuss measures they would take if the boy is returned.
``Should a decision come where something happens, that the people don't like, let's demonstrate so that our message can get to Washington,'' said Ramon Saul Sanchez of the Democracy Movement.
Reno has not set a deadline for Elian's return, and Justice officials have made clear that they want to avoid anything that would traumatize the boy or provoke a confrontation with Miami's large Cuban exile community.
Craig said on NBC's ``Today'' that Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, would come to the United States immediately to pick up Elian, but only if he were certain the boy would leave with him.
In South Africa on Wednesday, Cuba's foreign minister said Elian was being manipulated by forces that think only ``about revenge against Cuba'' and ``dream of a war between Cuba and the United States.'' The minister, Felipe Perez Roque, would not elaborate, but it was clear he was speaking about
the Cuban community in South Florida.
The Miami family's appeal focuses on a provision of U.S. asylum law that says any alien has a right to apply for asylum. ``Any alien also means Elian Gonzalez,'' Coffey said.
Moore rejected that argument, upholding the Clinton administration's stance that only Elian's father can make an asylum petition for the boy.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Analyst: Castro Remains Anti-U.S.
By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Memo to the next U.S. president: Don't count on Fidel Castro's advancing age to mellow his hatred of the United States.
Brian Latell, who served as chief Cuba analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency until several years ago, offered that advice Wednesday as he talked about the Cuban leader at a gathering of Cuba experts on Capitol Hill.
Latell said the next president should not be naive about Castro's intentions.
``He's not going to move an inch,'' Latell said of Castro, who turns 74 this year. ``There will be no free press, and no dissidents will be allowed to run for the National Assembly.
``In his soul, in his core he despises the U.S.,'' Latell said.
As for the U.S. embargo against Cuba, Latell said Castro would like to see key parts lifted but not if it means making political concessions to the United States.
He said that although Cuba has been weakened significantly since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Castro still retains the option of allowing another mass exodus of boat people as a means of inflicting pain on the United States.
``He can unload another sea borne migration at almost any moment, whenever he decides it is opportune for him,'' Latell said.
Last week, the State Department took notice after an article in the Communist Party newspaper Granma hinted that a new boat lift was possible in response to Cuban complaints about U.S. immigration policies.
Department officials subsequently warned Cuban diplomats against any such action. Later, Cuban officials in Havana denied that a mass migration was in the works although it is not clear whether the denial was triggered by the U.S. warning.
Some 30,000 Cubans fled the island in 1994, mostly in makeshift rafts. An exodus in 1980 brought more than 125,000 Cubans to U.S. shores, including many who were either violent criminals of suffered from mental illness.
Latell predicted an outbreak of violence in Cuba once Castro dies or is forced from office because of frustrations built up among many in Cuba over the past 41 years.
There is uncertainty over the short-term direction in Cuba once Castro leaves the scene because the question of whether the Cuban armed forces will remain unified is impossible to answer at this point, he said.
Latell also raised the possiblity of Castro achieving martyrdom by dying in a ``terrible blaze of violence.''
For the United States, Latell said there will be at least one positive outcome in Cuba once the transition takes place: ``The obsessive anti-Americanism of Fidel Castro will disappear.''
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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