Yahoo! February 21, 2001
Exile Group To Stage Demonstration
By Alex Veiga, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI, 21 (AP) - A Cuban exile group planned to launch fireworks off boats
just outside Cuban waters Wednesday to coincide with a protest in Cuba over food
rationing, organizers said.
Ramon Saul Sanchez, head of Democracy Movement, said his organization and a
Cuba-based group had coordinated efforts to protest the Cuban government's
rationing system.
"This is the first stage of a campaign aimed at getting rid of the food
rationing card,'' Sanchez said.
About 25 people boarded two boats and set off from the lower Florida Keys
Wednesday morning, heading for international waters just half a mile outside
Cuban territorial waters, Sanchez said.
The group planned to be 121/2 miles off the coast of Havana by 7 p.m., when
a $1,500 barrage of fireworks was to be set off to coincide with some Cubans on
the island banging pots and pans together.
"They will be protesting the food rationing card and the long lines
they have to stand in every day,'' Sanchez said.
The group's supporters in Miami will echo the protests by banging pots and
pans during a caravan through Little Havana, Sanchez said.
U.S. Coast Guard (news - web sites) officials did not immediately return a
telephone call seeking comment on plans for the flotilla.
Sanchez said he sent a letter to Cuban officials advising them of the
flotilla, but had not received any reply.
Woman Seeks Damages for Cuban Spy
By Catherine Wilson, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI, 20 (AP) - A woman who unwittingly married a Cuban spy testified
Tuesday that she felt like a pawn who was used by her husband and the Cuban
government.
Ana Margarita Martinez is seeking financial damages for her relationship
with Juan Pablo Roque as part of his official cover before he returned to Cuba
in 1996.
"They have no right to invade the life of a woman and two children and
use them and destroy them for political reasons,'' she said.
The Cuban government is the sole defendant and has failed to offer a
defense. Judge Alan Postman said he expects to decide on damages within two
weeks.
Roque, who was indicted in absentia as part of an alleged 14-member Cuban
spy ring based in Miami, defected in 1992 to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo
Bay in Cuba.
Martinez said she met the former Cuban air force major when he was brought
to a Bible study class by his cousin, an FBI (news - web sites) agent. Roque
later went on the FBI payroll as an informant.
He volunteered with Cuban exile group, Brothers to the Rescue, but fled to
Havana the day before a Cuban MiG shot down two planes flown by the group on
Feb. 24, 1996.
Martinez has had her 11-month marriage annulled.
Her attorney said he planned to suggest a dollar figure for damages in
closing arguments Wednesday. But he said it would take a presidential order to
recover any money from Cuban funds frozen in U.S. accounts.
The families of three victims from the 1996 MiG incident were awarded $188
million in damages against the Cuban government, and $97 million was to be paid
from Cuban funds in frozen U.S. accounts under special federal legislation last
week.
On The Net:
Brothers to the Rescue:
http://www.hermanos.org
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