Published Monday, January 15, 2001, in the
Miami Herald
Czechs reported arrested in Cuba over dissident visits
Ex-finance Minister Ivan Pilip, now a parliamentarian, and Jan Bubenik,
of the Czech pro-democracy foundation, were detained Friday in Ciego de Avila.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- (AP) -- Two Czech politicians have been detained
in Cuba while on a private visit, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
Former Finance Minister Ivan Pilip, who now sits in parliament, and Jan
Bubenik, a member of a Czech pro-democracy foundation, were detained Friday in
Ciego de Avila, 185 miles southeast of Havana, the ministry said in a statement
sent to The Associated Press.
There was no official explanation, said the statement, but according to
unofficial information from Cuban police, the two were detained for having
allegedly met with unidentified members of Cuba's opposition.
They were transferred to the Cuban capital, Havana, where they remain in
jail.
The two met with an official from the Czech Embassy there on Saturday.
"The Foreign Ministry considers the detentions groundless and
incompatible with principles the Czech Republic as well as other democratic
states profess,'' the statement said.
It said all necessary steps are being taken by the Czech side to secure
their immediate release.
Cuba's elderly find a haven at social center
Church-based group offers help amid economic troubles
By Vivian Sequera. Associated Press
HAVANA -- The elderly men and women applauded a saxophonist, and some of the
more audacious got up to dance to an old Cuban classic, The Peanut Seller.
Earlier, they enjoyed a lunch of steaming vegetable soup, a generous portion
of chicken and rice, and bananas for dessert. Before their meal, some played
dominoes, others watched movies -- all for free.
"It is marvelous here, I never want to go home,'' Aida del Valle, 74,
said as she clapped to the music.
FILLING GAPS
As Cuba struggles to overcome an economic crisis triggered by the collapse
of the Soviet Union and exacerbated by the U.S. trade embargo, Miraculous
Medallion Roman Catholic Church in South Havana is trying to fill gaps in the
nation's social safety net.
Cuba's older citizens -- one of every four Cubans will be over 60 by 2025 --
have been particularly hard hit by economic need. Although most citizens don't
pay rent and receive much of their food at heavily subsidized prices, elderly
Cubans often live alone on monthly pensions of about 80 pesos -- fewer than $4
-- not enough to cover other necessities.
GROWING NEEDS
The need to attend to the nation's elderly will only grow with time. Cuba
has the longest life expectancy in Latin America -- 68.4 years, according to the
World Health Organization.
At Miraculous Medallion Church, every weekday more than 100 elderly people
visit the center established for them in Santos Suárez, once a
fashionable neighborhood that is now characterized by pothole-marked streets and
crumbling homes.
The government operated similar centers for decades, but many were shut down
during the worst years of economic crisis.
Miraculous Medallion's priest, the Rev. José María Lusarreta,
saw the need for some kind of help for the neighborhood's elderly when he
arrived from Spain six years ago. Many older people lived by themselves in
extreme loneliness and poverty.
CREATING HOPE
Lusarreta established the center in a two-story building next to the church.
Here, volunteers try to "create an environment of hope,'' ensure that
people are not alone and that they are enjoying themselves, while improving
their diet, Lusarreta said.
The center opened in 1997 with just 12 participants -- it now serves 175.
People eat breakfast and lunch, socialize, take part in activities and receive
medical attention.
Along with the meals and the socializing, the center offers twice-weekly
haircuts and pedicures for men and women, a library, a video room and a workout
area. There is even a laundry service.
To be eligible, participants must live alone and have small incomes and no
economic assistance from their families.
Lusarreta and a dozen volunteers do what they can with donations of cash and
clothing from individuals, churches, and local governments in Spain. The Cuban
government helps by selling food for the center's breakfasts and lunches at
heavily subsidized prices.
The participants, too, help keep the center going, assisting in preparation
and serving of meals. When one of their companions falls ill, they visit him or
her at home, bringing food and medicine.
"We owe our well-being to Father'' Lusarreta, said Nicolasa Ordóñez,
97.
With a cigarette dangling from her mouth, Ordóñez leaned in
close to the priest.
"Do you remember, Father?'' she asked. "You gave me my first
breakfast here. You, yourself. Bread with cheese and a glass of hot chocolate.''
Panama: Exile says aim was Castro hit
By Glenn Garvin. ggarvin@herald.com. Saturday, January 13,
2001, in the Miami Herald
PANAMA -- One of the four Cuban exiles arrested in Panama last year in
connection with an alleged plot to kill Fidel Castro told investigators in an "informal
conversation'' that he planned to assassinate the Cuban leader with a car bomb
but changed his mind at the last minute, Panamanian authorities say.
In a series of interviews with The Herald this week, the officials also
offered the most complete account yet of the events leading up to the arrest of
four alleged conspirators last November -- including a disclosure that Castro
himself personally delivered a key piece of information to Panamanian
investigators.
According to the officials, 70-year-old Luis Posada Carriles, a veteran of
countless previous anti-Castro conspiracies, told investigators that he called
off the plan to kill Castro during a Latin American summit in Panama because too
many innocent people would have been harmed as well.
Posada Carriles and three Miami men are in jail here on charges of illegal
possession of explosives and conspiracy.
However, Panamanian officials -- who spoke on condition that they not be
identified -- admitted their case against the men is extremely weak and
predicted that they will be acquitted at trial.
NO EXTRADITION
Extradition of the men to Cuba, which Castro has demanded, has been flatly
ruled out at the highest levels of the Panamanian government, the officials
said. In addition to Posada Carriles, the others are Gaspar Jiménez, 65;
Pedro Remón, 56; and Guillermo Novo, 61.
The four were arrested Nov. 17 during the Ibero-American Summit, after
Castro warned Panamanian security forces that Posada Carriles was in Panama City
to assassinate him.
According to the version of events provided by Panamanian officials, the
Cubans brought as many as 100 security agents to Panama to prepare for the
summit; some of them were under cover as teachers and businessmen.
But the Cuban government
never offered any evidence that Posada Carriles was in Panama until Castro
himself was passing through the reception line at Panama City's Tocumen
International Airport Nov. 17.
As he shook hands with Panamanian officials, Castro said he needed to meet
with them at his hotel -- "I've brought some information from Havana for
you.''
CASTRO'S NEWS
About half an hour later, at the hotel, Castro told the Panamanians that
Posada Carriles had entered Panama earlier in the month and was staying at a
Panama City hotel under an assumed name. The Panamanian officials immediately
dispatched a team of policemen to the hotel.
But what they did not know was that, immediately after meeting with them,
Castro gave a press conference at which he revealed Posada Carriles' presence to
the entire world.
"If any of those four guys had been watching television, they would
have gotten away,'' said one Panamanian official.
Instead, two of the men -- Novo and Remón -- were arrested in the
street outside the hotel when they tried to run after spotting the police.
Posada Carriles and Jiménez were arrested upstairs in their hotel rooms,
where they had just awoken from naps.
GROUNDS FOR BELIEF
"That's why I'm inclined to believe Posada Carriles when he says the
plot had been called off,'' said a Panamanian official.
"He wasn't acting like a guy who was stalking Castro. Instead of
watching TV, trying to figure out Castro's plans, he was sleeping. That doesn't
sound like an active assassination plot to me.''
The three Miami men continue to insist that they came to Panama merely to
protest Castro's visit, authorities say. But Posada Carriles, in informal
conversations, has admitted that he was here to kill Castro, according to the
same sources.
They said he told them the plan was to pack an automobile with plastic
explosives and then detonate it as Castro's motorcade passed. But he decided
that too many other people would be killed, the authorities said, and decided to
drop the idea.
Because Posada Carriles talked about the plan but would not provide a sworn
statement to investigators, however, his declarations cannot be used as
evidence.
And, the Panamanian officials admitted, the links between the accused
plotters and the only significant physical evidence in the case -- a briefcase
full of plastic explosives found in a rental car they were using -- are too weak
to win a conviction.
"I think that's going to be a pretty difficult case to sell in a
courtroom,'' said one official. "I don't see any way we'll get a
conviction.''
Plots against Castro outlined
Defense refocuses Cuban spy trial
By Gail Epstein Nieves. gepstein@herald.com. Published
Saturday, January 13, 2001, in the Miami Herald
Trying to turn the tables on the government, attorneys for five accused
Cuban spies spent Friday outlining a play-by-play of anti-Castro plots -- some
committed by violent Cuban exiles, others by the U.S. government.
Jurors heard limited testimony about the plots. But just by raising the
issue, the lawyers refocused attention from Cuba's spying apparatus and
reinforced a key defense argument: that Cuba is justified in infiltrating exile
groups as a means of protecting the country from violence.
Retired FBI Agent Stuart Hoyt, an expert in Cuban counterintelligence,
confirmed that Cuba has shared information about violent exile groups with the
United States, albeit "on a limited basis.''
Hoyt testified that the FBI made trips to Cuba "about two or three
times'' that he knew about. And "two officials from Cuba brought some
evidence up to be examined, probably over a year ago, less than two years ago,''
he said, not elaborating.
Cuba blames exile terrorists for a string of bombings at hotels and tourist
sites. Leader Fidel Castro has criticized the U.S. government for failing to
rein in such activists, even after Havana furnished information about them
during the past decade.
The value of some of the information was questionable, however, sources
involved with the contacts have told The Herald.
On Friday, defense lawyers Paul McKenna and Joaquin Méndez questioned
Hoyt -- who remains under FBI contract -- about a "who's who'' of Cuban
exiles linked to anti-Castro plots.
SPY TARGETS
All of the activists were identified as spy targets in Havana-Miami
communications seized from the defendants.
They included:
Guillermo Novo, 61, a member of the defunct terrorist group Omega 7 who was
convicted in the 1976 bombing murder of former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier
in Washington, D.C. The verdict was overturned on appeal, and Novo was acquitted
in a second trial.
Novo also was one of four Cuban exiles arrested Nov. 17 in Panama City,
Panama, in connection with an alleged plot to kill Castro during a Latin
American summit there. The men are charged with "illicit association'' and
possession of explosives.
Luis Posada Carriles, 70, a former CIA operative also under arrest in
Panama, who authorities say has admitted he planned to assassinate Castro with a
car bomb, but changed his mind at the last minute.
Posada has confessed to masterminding about a dozen bombings of Havana
tourist spots in 1997, including one that killed an Italian tourist.
Orlando Bosch, who was held in a Venezuelan jail for 11 years on charges of
masterminding the October 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed all 73
people on board. After 11 years without conviction or acquittal, he was released
and returned to Miami in 1988. Posada was sentenced to death in absentia for
allegedly planning the attack with Bosch.
Hoyt, the Cuban counterintelligence specialist, professed little first-hand
knowledge about the attacks.
Defense attorneys McKenna and Philip Horowitz also focused attention on U.S.
intelligence operations.
McKenna represents Gerardo Hernández.
Horowitz represents René González.
"Isn't it true the CIA carried out assassination attempts against Fidel
Castro?'' asked McKenna.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Buckner jumped up to object.
Sustained, said U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard.
Are you aware of Operation Mongoose, a Miami-based CIA effort to kill Castro
after the 1961 Bay of Pigs failed? McKenna asked.
Again, Hoyt was told not to answer.
Apparently to rebut any suggestion that Cuba alone infiltrates Miami's exile
groups, Horowitz asked Hoyt whether the FBI does the same. Yes, Hoyt said, "probably
since exile groups came into play.''
Hoyt gave high marks to Cuba's foreign espionage operation, calling it "sophisticated''
and "very good'' despite its financial limitations.
U.S. SECURITY
But under cross-examination by attorneys Jack Blumenfeld and Bill Norris,
Hoyt acknowledged that any Cuban spy snooping for "top secret'' U.S.
military secrets would be hampered by a host of security measures.
The attorneys sought to discredit the testimony of witness Joseph Santos, an
admitted ex-spy who testified that accused spies Hernández, Fernando González
and Ramón Labañino directed him to infiltrate the Pentagon's
Southern Command in West Miami-Dade County.
'TOP SECRET'
Co-defendant Antonio Guerrero is accused of trying to learn about "top
secret'' activity at the Boca Chica Naval Air Station at Key West.
Hoyt agreed that just because Guerrero thought the activity was top secret,
that didn't necessarily make it so.
The trial will resume Tuesday.
Jailed Cuban refugees in limbo
By Claire Osborn . Cox News Service. Published Sunday,
January 14, 2001, in the Miami Herald
AUSTIN -- He was held in jail without charges, then after winning approval
for his release, he had to stay an extra year because there was no place for him
to go.
When Cuban refugee Lázaro Pérez-Ramos finally walked out of
the Bastrop County Jail, he lived on the streets of Austin. When he died of lung
cancer Nov. 13, his lawyer arranged to bury him in a pauper's grave. He was 59.
"He was suffering, and he was lonely,'' lawyer D'Ann Johnson said.
Johnson and her partner were the only ones at Pérez-Ramos' funeral.
His friends could not come because they, too, were being held without charges in
the Bastrop jail.
They are Cuban refugees who, along with Pérez-Ramos, were part of the
1980 exodus from the Cuban port of Mariel that brought 125,000 Cubans to the
United States.
Many of those who, like Pérez-Ramos, broke the law in the United
States ended up in a legal never-never land with almost no way out.
The Bastrop County Jail holds seven detained Cubans.
They have been convicted in the United States and have served their
sentences, but they remain in indefinite detention. The United States does not
want them but will not release them. Their native land does not want them back.
Like all aliens convicted of felonies, they have received deportation
orders. They cannot be deported, however, because Cuba and the United States
have no full diplomatic relations.
"With a criminal sentence, even if you don't have good-time credit, you
have a flat sentence, so you know the absolute day you will get out. But with
this, there is no light at the end of the tunnel,'' Johnson said.
"There's nothing to keep those guys from going into a black hole.''
Citing privacy rules, the Immigration and Naturalization Service declined to
disclose the names or criminal records of the Cuban detainees in the Bastrop
jail or other Texas facilities.
"These guys are on immigration detention, and the U.S. government tries
to keep people away from them so nobody knows,'' Johnson said.
More than 120 Cubans are being held in indefinite detention in Texas,
immigration officials said. Throughout the nation, about 1,700 remain in
indefinite detention, said Denton Lankford, an immigration service spokesman.
The Mariel Cubans have been a problem for the United States since they
arrived. Incarcerated Cubans rioted at several prisons in the 1980s. When
hundreds of refugees held at Fort Chafee, Ark., rioted in June 1980, Gov. Bill
Clinton sent the National Guard. He was criticized for waiting too long and lost
a reelection bid.
More recently, Cuban detainees held guards hostage at a Louisiana prison for
six days in December 1999.
In a way, Pérez-Ramos was one of the few lucky ones. He was released
from indefinite detention -- but only because he was ill, Lankford said. He had
high blood pressure, diabetes and heart problems before he was diagnosed with
lung cancer.
Johnson met him when she began working with the Cuban Detention Project. The
effort, begun three years ago by the Political Asylum Project of Austin and the
Austin chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, provides representation to aliens
in indefinite detention. So far, Johnson said, the Cuban Detention Project has
gotten eight Mariel Cubans released from the Bastrop jail by proving that they
weren't dangerous to society. Pérez-Ramos was one.
Former refugee is inner-city 'savior'
He pours heart into housing
By Arles Carballo . Special To The Herald. Published
Sunday, January 14, 2001, in the Miami Herald
Two decades ago, Armando Perez-Aleman was a newly arrived Mariel refugee
who, using a borrowed car, began life in the United States mowing lawns for a
living with a borrowed mower. Today, he is being praised by the mayor of
Miami-Dade County as the savior of the mayor's program to convert empty and
abandoned inner-city property into homes for the needy.
Born May 2, 1955, in Cienfuegos, Cuba, Perez-Aleman's passion as a youngster
was in the arts, not in the construction business. So, pursuing his dream, in
1975 he set out for the University of Havana to study philosophy and art.
Nearing graduation in 1979, but knowing there was no future for him in his
native country, he looked north.
"In Cuba, if they find out you're leaving the country, you have to pay
for your education in cash -- after you have paid for it with hard work during
your studies,'' he said.
To divert attention from his plan to leave Cuba, Perez-Aleman transferred to
Santa Clara, a town closer to his home, to study law. Then, the Mariel boatlift
came along and, seeing an opportunity to make an exit, he went to the Cuban
authorities and asked to leave.
"The government there ran the whole thing,'' he said of the sea exodus
that brought an estimated 110,000 Cuban refugees to the Miami area in 1980. "It
wasn't a free-for-all. They chose who left and who didn't.''
One of four conditions had to be met to leave Cuba during Mariel: having a
police record, having served time in prison, being mentally ill or being a known
homosexual, Perez-Aleman said.
"I didn't meet any of those criteria,'' he said, "so they turned
me down. But I went back the next day and convinced someone into allowing me in
[the port of Mariel]. I had a traffic ticket. He thought it was something
else.''
Cuban government agents decided who boarded the privately owned U.S. vessels
that brought refugees from the island, he said.
"They would place only a few families in a boat, then fill it with
criminals. My boat had a capacity of 100. They put in 250 people. I don't know
how we made it. But, once I was on the boat, I looked back only to say goodbye.
It was hard. I left all my family there,'' he said.
Since his May 9, 1980, departure from Cuba, Perez-Aleman has brought over
his parents, Eva Aleman and Armando Perez, and his son, Carel Perez. His two
daughters, Carolina and Patricia Perez, were born in the United States.
"I'm a happy man. Everyone's here,'' he said.
That is now. At the beginning, life was not easy. Once in South Florida,
Perez-Aleman set out to find a job. Two weeks later, answering an ad for a cook,
he dialed the wrong number and got Principal Realty Inc. in Hialeah. Ramon
Orsini, the owner, answered. The two met and Orsini ended up giving Perez-Aleman
a job, but not as a real estate agent. He lent him a car and a lawn mower.
"I'm very grateful to Ramon. He had confidence in me, gave me support
and treated me like a son,'' Perez-Aleman said. "It's funny. I didn't know
how to speak one word in English but Ramon taught me to say, 'I'm a gardener.
Let me cut your grass for $15.' Knowing only those words, I went out and started
cutting grass.''
Three months later, he'd saved enough money to buy his own car and mowing
equipment.
By 1982, he moved on to plumbing. Two years later, he took and passed the
Miami-Dade County journeyman's exam on his first try and began working for Jorge
Bravo of Good Plumbing in Sweetwater.
"I have a great deal of respect for Armando,'' said Bravo, who has
since retired and closed his company. "He came here with nothing, like the
rest of us, and, today, he's become very successful. He's worked hard to be
where he's at.''
Three years after Bravo hired him, Perez-Aleman took and passed the Florida
plumbing contractors state exam. He then told his boss he was leaving to start
his own business. Bravo asked him to stay on and join him in forming a new
plumbing company. They started Sunward Corp. at 10522 W. Flagler St.
By 1988, construction slowed in Miami-Dade County and Perez-Aleman left
Sunward to Bravo and set out on his own. In 1990, he bought an empty lot in
Kendall for $89,000 and built a house as owner-builder. It cost him $210,000 and
he sold it for $339,999 right away.
"From that moment on, I started building custom homes,'' he said.
On Jan. 3, 1996, Perez-Aleman passed the general contractor's state exam and
obtained his license. From then on, his business of helping others began to take
shape. He bought two 17-unit abandoned buildings at Northwest 16th Street and
Seventh Avenue that he still owns.
"Many of the apartments were used as crack houses,'' he said. "With
the help of community development funds, I fixed up the place. The rent hasn't
changed; I still charge $350 per month. Seeing the people's happy smiles after
what I did to the building and the low rent were worth it.''
Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas is satisfied Perez-Aleman is helping to house
the community.
"It's because of Armando that my Infill Housing program is a success
today,'' said Penelas, who was present Dec. 20 when keys to five new homes were
handed over to home owners. "He finds the lots, builds the homes, teams up
with a mortgage company or a bank and then sells the property. I haven't found
many developers who are willing to work for such low wages and willing to wait
to get paid. He's the savior of the Infill Housing program. He's the story you
never hear about, the unsung hero.''
Penelas' Infill Housing Initiative promotes low-income family homeownership,
targeting vacant and neglected lots in urban neighborhoods for revitalization
and development. Perez-Aleman, who built 23 of the homes last year, says the
houses sell for $89,900, with down payment as low as $500.
The three-bedroom, two-bath homes are furnished with refrigerators, stoves
and microwave ovens.
The Miami-Dade Housing Agency picks up half the cost for the home, leaving
the homeowner with a monthly payment of $450 that includes taxes and interest,
on a mortgage of $45,000.
"There's nothing like seeing the happiness that it brings to families
that would otherwise not be able to afford a home,'' Perez-Aleman said. "It's
a dual purpose. I'm also helping to bring up areas of the county that really are
in need of help.''
Cuban visit changes artist's soul, work
By Fabiola Santiago . fsantiago@herald.com. Published
Saturday, January 13, 2001, in the Miami Herald
Xavier Cortada's first sojourn to Cuba took all of eight hours -- from the
airport in Havana to the Plaza de la Revolución to hear Pope John Paul II
celebrate Mass, and back to the airport.
But the experience changed the Miami artist's views on Cuba, his identity,
and even had an impact on his art.
"What the Pope did was give me an invitation to rediscover my
Catholicism and my island,'' says Cortada, 36. "[His message] was 'You have
a place here, you belong here.' ''
Inspired by the pontiff's 1998 visit and his own spiritual transformation,
Cortada is staging a solo show of paintings and conceptual art pieces that
commemorate John Paul II's historic presence on the island. The exhibit, No
Tengan Miedo (Have No Fear), titled after the Pope's famous words to the Cuban
people, opened Friday and runs through Jan. 27 at the Latin American Art Museum
in Little Havana.
In hues of celestial blue, Cortada's paintings portray the hope and
confusion of Cubans gathered in La Plaza before the clashing images of Che
Guevara and Jesus Christ.
"One of the most visually impacting images was of a light blue bed
sheet that said 'Viva Cristo Rey (Long Live Christ the King),' which I knew was
what prisoners screamed before being executed in the early days of the
Revolution,'' Cortada said. "It was flowing in front of Che Guevara, the
great executioner.''
His own experience trying to take Communion compelled him to create the
painting Communion in the Plaza.
"In Cuba, you need un papelito, a piece of paper, for everything,''
Cortada says. "I didn't have the piece of paper required to take Communion,
and the state security people wouldn't let me get through to where nuns and
priests were giving Communion. Something I take for granted was an ordeal in
Cuba. That gave me the strength to continue exploring what it means to be
Cuban.''
The son of exiles who fled in 1962, Cortada was born in Albany, N.Y., but
grew up in Little Havana with a grandmother who spent long hours telling him
stories about the family's life in the fishing village of Nuevitas, Camagüey.
She and the boy drew sketches of the family's grand house, the farm, their
salt-making plant.
An altar boy at Gesu Catholic Church, Cortada watched the Rev. Agustín
Román, now auxiliary bishop, "collecting pennies'' from exiles to
build the shrine to Our Lady of Charity, Cuba's patron saint. He contemplated in
awe as artist Teok Carrasco painted the stunning mural at La Ermita that
chronicles Cuba's history and Catholic faith.
Then, as an adolescent, Cortada discovered the American rock concert scene,
became "assimilated'' and experienced "a great disconnect'' with his
culture and faith. He stopped going to church and writing to relatives in Cuba.
He was amid "an awakening,'' a return to his cultural roots, when Pope
John Paul announced his visit to Cuba.
"For me, there has always been a connection between Cuba and
Catholicism,'' Cortada says.
Last year, he returned to Cuba for an 11-day trip "that rocked my
world.'' The most powerful experience was not the visit to the family house, but
to a packed church in Nuevitas.
Back in Miami, the pope's famous words firmly planted in his heart, Cortada
decided to take a risk with his art. Like the island's Cubans, who struggle to
to make ends meet by being resourceful, the artist set out to create art "without
paint and paint brushes.''
The result: A series of 20 conceptual art pieces that are "almost a
homage'' to the Cuban people.
"I went through my house, garage, shed, through Key Biscayne's littered
beaches . . . picking up every scrap I could find to capture the essence of Cuba
and the Pope's impact on the island,'' Cortada says.
In a piece titled Faith Fuse Box, the message is: "The only way to get
any energy in Cuba is to plug in to faith.'' Another called Victor features rat
traps molded in the form of a wooden cross.
"The great tragedy of the Pope's visit to Cuba was the fear that he was
going to clean up Fidel Castro's image,'' Cortada says. "But the victor was
the Pope because that Nuevitas church was packed to the gills.''
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 