Published Wednesday, May 24, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Cuban officials release a third jailed dissident
By Juan O. Tamayo. jtamayo@herald.com
Cuban authorities freed the third top dissident in 10 days Tuesday, lawyer Rene Gomez Manzano, 56, jailed 1,043 days on sedition charges that sparked international condemnation of Havana's human rights record.
The release left only one of the four best-known dissidents on the island behind bars -- Vladimiro Roca, a former air force combat pilot who is the son of the late Blas Roca, a longtime member of the Cuban Communist Party's politburo.
Gomez Manzano was released at 3 p.m. and immediately went to a reunion with the two other leading dissidents freed during the past 10 days -- Felix Bonne, 60, an engineering professor, and economist Marta Beatriz Roque, 55.
``He is healthy and anxious to join Marta and Felix to resume their work, said Gomez Manzano's brother, Jorge, in a telephone conversation from Havana.
The three freed dissidents and Roca are leaders of the Internal Dissidence Working Group, which issued a harsh 1997 attack on the Cuban Communist Party's monopoly on power titled ``The Motherland Belongs to All.''
They were arrested July 16, 1997, and were convicted of incitement to sedition March 21, 1999, in a one-day trial closed to foreign diplomats and journalists.
The case sparked outcries from foreign governments and the Vatican, and played a key role in the U.N. Human Rights Commission's votes to condemn Cuba during its last two annual sessions in Geneva.
Cuban human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez said the release of the three dissident leaders was ``very good news, but noted that about 350 political prisoners remain in President Fidel Castro's prisons.
He is especially worried about Roca, who has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest. ``The prison conditions have been very harsh for him, Sanchez said in a telephone interview from Havana.
Roca's status as the son of a Communist Party founder and as a former combat pilot makes him the most famous Cuban to break with Castro's 41-year-old revolution and join the dissident movement, although many top government officials have defected and left the country.
Gomez Manzano and Bonne were sentenced to four years in prison, Roque to 3 1/2 years and Roca to five as the mastermind behind the document that angered the government. The three freed were granted "conditional freedom, the Cuban equivalent of early release for good conduct.
I sought business ties, Faget testifies
By David Kidwell. dkidwell@herald.com
Mariano Faget, the former immigration supervisor on trial charged with leaking government secrets, took the stand in his own defense Tuesday to say his meetings with Cuban spies were to build business contacts for a post-Castro Cuba.
The 54-year-old Cuban immigrant and father of three grown sons also described his six-hour interrogation by FBI agents on Feb. 17 as ``very intimidating'' and laden with false accusations of espionage against a lifelong friend, Pedro Font.
``They had this fixation that I was not being truthful with them,'' Faget said about the FBI agents who were trying to get him to cooperate -- an offer he refused ``because Mr. Font is not a spy.''
Faget testified all afternoon in a packed courtroom sprinkled with some of South Florida's top federal law enforcement officers who showed up to hear prosecutor Richard Gregorie cross-examine Faget about his alleged lies and deceit during that interrogation.
But they came a day early. Those fireworks are expected today.
On Tuesday, Faget's own attorney -- Ed O'Donnell -- directed the questions designed to persuade the jury that Faget's motives were innocent and that he never intended to damage the nation's security.
Faget and Font are partners in a company called America-Cuba Inc. formed in 1993 to help facilitate American businesses in Cuba once the U.S. embargo has been lifted. Faget said he met with officials of the Cuban Interests Section to discuss Cuba's future and the potential business climate
there, not to divulge secrets.
``As one gets older, I guess one's roots start tugging at him,'' Faget testified. ``I was really anxious to try to do something in the future to try to help Cuba.''
In an attempt to gauge Faget's involvement with Cuban officials, the FBI used a ``dangle'' operation to see if Faget would pass a secret. In a sham orchestrated by the FBI, Faget was asked to do the immigration paperwork for a top-secret Cuban defector, Luis Molina, one of the two Cubans who had
been seen meeting with Faget.
Within 12 minutes, Faget telephoned Font to pass along the classified information. Faget said Tuesday he knew Font was going to meet with Cuban Interests Section official Jose Imperatori that day and wanted to warn Font to be on guard not to ``fall into any trap of any kind.''
``Here was a man, Luis Molina, who both Mr. Font and I had met with on several occasions and here he was leaving Cuba -- as you say defecting,'' Faget testified. ``And Mr. Imperatori had asked for a meeting with Mr. Font. . . . I thought, wow this could be a problem.''
Faget -- who said he had met and disliked Imperatori -- said he had pure motives for passing the secret to his friend.
Authorities, however, argue that Faget was ``targeted and assessed for recruitment by Molina and Imperatori, both classified as ``known Cuban intelligence officers'' by the FBI, agent James Patrick Laflin testified earlier Tuesday.
Laflin said Faget repeatedly lied about his contacts during six hours of questioning on Feb. 17. ``We wanted to determine the nature and scope of Mr. Faget's relationship with the known Cuban intelligence officers and to obtain his cooperation,'' Laflin said. ``We did not obtain either of those
objectives because Mr. Faget was manipulative and deceitful.''
Faget said he felt threatened, nervous and reluctant to cooperate because of the FBI's false accusations that Font was a spy.
Faget recalled an October meeting he had with Imperatori at a Miami hotel lobby that the FBI was secretly videotaping.
``He asked me to come visit Cuba,'' Faget said. ``I told him I couldn't do that because I wouldn't be safe there. We weren't talking about anything subversive, but I told him that if we were having this conversation in Cuba, he would be arrested and I would be arrested for plotting to overthrow
the government.
``I told him that the only country in the world where we could have this conversation was one with freedom and liberty like this one,'' Faget said. ``Of course he disagreed. The facts bore out that I was probably wrong and he was probably right.''
Faget, a 33-year INS veteran, is charged with disclosing classified information, giving false statements to the FBI, and converting government secrets to his own use. He faces five years in prison if convicted.
Testimony in the weeklong trial is expected to end today.
Dade plans for Elian ruling
By Gail Epstein Nieves. gepstein@herald.com
From police to pastors to protesters, planning for the upcoming Elian Gonzalez appeals-court ruling is uniting disparate players around a common goal: avoiding violent street demonstrations should the news from Atlanta prove disappointing to the boy's Miami supporters.
Anxious to be prepared, a coalition of local police chiefs has asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for 12 hours advance notice of the ruling. The U.S. marshal in Miami, James Tassone, said he will get a heads-up at least several hours before the decision is made public and will notify
Miami Police immediately.
``To expect more than two or three hours from a Circuit Court is probably unrealistic,'' Tassone said.
Police and others monitoring the public pulse say they do not expect a repeat of the angry street protests that erupted in April after federal agents removed 6-year-old Elian from his Miami relatives' home. Still, a cross-section of community players are putting plans in place to lessen the
chance of violence if the court decides that Elian is not entitled to an asylum hearing and should return with his father to Cuba.
Black, Hispanic and white non-Hispanic business leaders got together and enlisted commitments from Miami-area clergy to keep their churches and synagogues open from 6 p.m. until midnight the day of the ruling. The idea is to provide easily accessible gathering spots where people can pray and
vent.
Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora, leader of the Catholic Archdiocese; Rabbi Solomon Schiff, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami, a Jewish group; and the Rev. Richard Bennett, executive director of the African-American Council of Christian Clergy, all have
asked their houses of worship to participate.
Cubans are predominantly Catholic, but sponsors said there is symbolic value in having all denominations participate in the open house, even if fewer congregants show up.
``Quite honestly, we felt the fact that non-Catholic denominations and synagogues would do this would be a sign of more cohesion in our community,'' said car dealer Ed Williamson, co-chair of the civic leadership circle called the Non-Group, which helped develop the plan.
Said Rabbi Schiff: ``We're showing our Cuban friends that we share in their anguish.''
The possibility of street demonstrations still looms. Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Democracia Movement and a frequent coordinator of protests, said an ``adverse'' ruling could result in demonstrations at several traditional gathering spots: Eighth Street in Little Havana, Biscayne Boulevard
near the Port of Miami, Southwest 87th Avenue and Bird Road.
Sanchez said that while civil disobedience is possible -- such as lying in the street or forming human chains -- he is not calling for such behavior.
``Our goal right now is to try to limit any kind of confrontation and try to heal wounds,'' he said. ``I think the best we can do at this point is channel our energies toward Cuba and against Fidel Castro, and not against each other here.''
Sanchez also said he has asked ``both sides'' -- police and protesters -- to be tolerant and respectful of each other. Miami and Miami-Dade Police arrested 362 demonstrators after the Elian raid on a variety of misdemeanor and felony charges, including setting fires, throwing bottles and
disorderly conduct.
Some Miami officers were criticized for using excessive force and making unnecessary arrests. The state has said many of the misdemeanor charges will be dropped, largely because of technical problems with arrest forms created by the ensuing chaos.
Miami Police Chief Raul Martinez said his officers will ``facilitate, like we have done in the past,'' any demonstrations that occur. The police are under no special instructions to avoid arrests, he said.
``Our job is to maintain law and order and allow people to get their message out as long as they don't infringe on others,'' he said. ``They can wave whatever flag they want to. When people start throwing rocks and bottle or looting and setting cans on fire, then that's not fine.''
In unincorporated Miami-Dade, the county has dusted off its ``Change in Cuban Government Plan,'' which sets out the county's response to celebrations, demonstrations and mass migration in the wake of Castro's fall.
If Elian's case sparks large demonstrations, Miami-Dade Police would try to steer scattered protesters toward a nearby county facility -- such as Tropical Park or the Dade County Youth Fairgrounds & Exposition Center -- with inducements including portable toilets, public address systems and
lights.
``That would be beneficial not only for protesters, because there are sound systems, but also would make for less disruption to traffic and public safety,'' said Bill Johnson, division manager in the county's Office of Emergency Management.
Hialeah and Miami authorities said they also considered using the Orange Bowl and Hialeah Park in the same way, but nothing is scheduled now for either site.
Reno visit to draw protests
First trip to Miami since Elian raid
By Jay Weaver. jweaver@herald.com
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno is coming to town Thursday to celebrate the state's first 150 women lawyers at a ceremony in Bal Harbour.
And what a gathering it will be at the Sheraton beachfront resort.
On land and sea, protesters and supporters are planning to jeer and hail Reno. She is making her first South Florida appearance since the federal government seized Elian Gonzalez from his great-uncle's Miami home so he could be reunited with his Cuban father.
Her visit as the dinner's keynote speaker has transformed an otherwise innocuous event -- sponsored by the Florida Bar Association and the Florida Association of Women Lawyers -- into a political firestorm.
The Cuban American Bar Association has formally withdrawn from the ceremony, claiming Reno violated the Constitution when she authorized the government's pre-dawn raid to grab the 6-year-old last month.
And on Monday, Miami Beach lawyer Rosa M. Armesto asked the state Supreme Court to stop the Florida Bar from holding the 50th anniversary event because the group is engaging in "political'' activity. On Tuesday, the state's high court tossed out her emergency request.
"By honoring Reno as the keynote speaker, the Florida Bar is fanning the flames of ethnic tension in the Miami community,'' Armesto's petition said. "The Cuban-American community is planning a protest demonstration to picket the event.''
To Miami attorney Edith Osman, president of the Florida Bar, the attacks are unfair because the legal organization extended its invitation to Reno in November -- the very month that Elian was rescued from an inner tube off the Florida coast. Some 700 people have purchased tickets for the dinner.
"If we took a position in the Elian Gonzalez case, that would be wrong of the Bar,'' Osman said. "But we never take political positions. This is not a political event.''
That's not the way Ramon Saul Sanchez, a Cuban exile leader, sees it.
The head of the Miami-based Democracy Movement, which pushes for human rights in Cuba, said the Reno-ordered raid scarred the community forever. He plans to organize a flotilla of boats, including the group's Democracia and Human Rights vessels, for a symbolic protest at sea facing the hotel.
"The attorney general has violated Elian's rights by not allowing him to have a voice,'' Sanchez said, referring to the government's denial of the boy's political asylum request. "He's fearful of returning to a place [Cuba] that will be detrimental to him.''
SEVERAL PROTESTS
Sanchez, who was a constant fixture outside the home of Elian's great-uncle until the day of the raid, said that other groups are planning to protest in front of the Sheraton Bal Harbour Resort. Among them: former political prisoners and Mothers Against Repression.
They will be competing for limited sidewalk space outside the hotel with supporters of Reno, including black activist groups and longtime Miami residents who will be carrying American flags.
``We have a great deal of respect for her,'' said P.J. Donaldson, who has participated in several rallies for Reno in recent weeks. ``We can't stand the thought of disrespecting her. We're going to be there to tell her, `We love you in Miami.'
``But I think this is going to be a touchy situation,'' she added. ``I pray that this will go peacefully.''
The Department of Justice would not comment on Reno's visit. She last visited her hometown on April 12-13, when she made a personal plea to Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez to hand over the child peacefully to federal authorities. He defied the government's order, saying they would have to
take the boy "by force.''
Gun-wielding agents for the Immigration and Naturalization Service did just that in the wee hours of April 22.
Three days later, the Cuban American Bar Association wrote a letter to Osman decrying the Florida Bar's invitation to Reno to speak at its event on Thursday.
"CABA feels that this raid was contrary to the democratic traditions of our great nation,'' the group's board of directors said in a statement.
``We respect the attorney general's right to speak at the event,'' the board continued. ``However, CABA is seriously concerned about the sensitivity of the entire community to the attorney general's actions.''
QUESTIONS RAISED
The group's president, Miami attorney Oscar Marrero, said that some leading constitutional scholars questioned the legality of the search warrant obtained by the government for the raid because it allegedly violated the great-uncle's right to privacy.
But Marrero also said: ``We understand there are differences of opinion about the constitutionality of the raid.''
He declined to answer questions about whether the group's boycott of the Florida Bar's event was simply an expression of its opposition to the raid itself, which resulted in Elian's being reunited with his father. An appeals court in Atlanta will soon decide whether the federal government should
give the child an asylum hearing or whether he should be allowed to return with his father to Cuba.
Miami attorney Jose Garcia-Pedrosa, a founding member of CABA, blasted the Florida Bar for inviting Reno, stressing that the attorney general accepted the invitation in January, when the Immigration and Naturalization Service decided to send Elian back to Cuba.
``It's wrong in every respect,'' said Garcia-Pedrosa, who has represented Elian's great-uncle throughout the boy's legal saga. ``It's insensitive to this community.''
The Bar's Osman laments the conflict, but considers it an honor to have Reno at the event celebrating Florida's pioneering women in the law. Thirteen of the 150 legal pioneers are still alive, and some will be coming to the gala dinner.
``These women are profiles in courage,'' Osman said.
Elian, family may leave estate
Cuban diplomats frustrated, adults isolated, sources claim
By Frances Robles. frobles@herald.com
WASHINGTON -- Elian Gonzalez, his parents and entourage of guests may leave the secluded Maryland estate where they've lived for a month in order to move to a site closer to the nation's capital, federal government sources said Tuesday.
The Gonzalez family and the adults visiting them are feeling increasingly stranded at the Wye Plantation, a 1,100-acre compound 70 miles outside Washington -- far enough that Cuban diplomats must register with the State Department every time they visit. People close to Juan Miguel Gonzalez have
begun searching for other sites that could accommodate Elian, his father, stepmother, half brother, four friends, their parents and teacher.
Among the agencies considering hosting them: Youth For Understanding, an international exchange program with a housing facility in the city's northwest district that is big enough for at least 15 people.
``I have heard them looking around,'' the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, former general secretary of the National Council of Churches, confirmed. ``The main reason: They've been there a long time, they're isolated.''
Campbell said the adults visiting Wye have little to do there and rarely leave the premises. ``They just hang out,'' she said. ``They watch the kids. At least in Cuba, they know the language, they go to the store and know where they are going. In Cuba, of course, they work.''
Government sources speculated that one reason behind the move would be to skirt a rule that forces Cuban diplomats to report to the State Department every time they travel anywhere 25 miles outside of Washington. Since Juan Miguel and Elian's move to Wye last month, diplomats have logged dozens
of trips to Wye -- each one reported to unfriendly Republican lawmakers.
``It's very frustrating for them,'' Campbell said. ``They have to ask permission every time they go.''
Cuban Interests Section spokesman Luis Fernandez would not confirm that the family planned to leave Wye.
``They're leaving?'' Fernandez said. ``Until now, I have no information on that. Not yet.''
The U.S. Justice Department referred inquiries to Gonzalez's attorney, Greg Craig. Immigration and Naturalization Service spokeswoman Maria Cardona had no comment. ``We have nothing on what they are thinking about or talking about,'' Justice Department spokeswoman Carole Florman said.
Craig did not return calls seeking comment, and no one from the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security, could be reached for comment.
The Gonzalez family went to Wye shortly after Elian was taken by force from his Miami relatives.
Herald staff writer Juan O. Tamayo contributed to this report.
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