Yahoo! News
October 5, 2001.
Cuba Approves Nine Terror Treaties
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. Thursday October 4
7:34 PM ET
HAVANA (AP) - Paying homage to those killed 25 years ago in the bombing of a
Cuban jetliner, lawmakers on Thursday unanimously signed a series of
international anti-terrorism treaties.
President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) presided over the special session,
but did not address the National Assembly. However in a letter Wednesday to
Ricardo Alarcon, the assembly president, Castro had recommended approval.
After the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, Castro said there was "the
need to strengthen the authority of the United Nations (news - web sites) during
the current crisis.''
The Cuban leader wrote that the action was necessary for "the battle
that our country is fighting to repudiate'' terrorism and prevent "useless
and dangerous wars that multiply violence and hate among nations.''
The Cuban action follows an appeal from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
(news - web sites) for nations to sign 12 anti-terrorism treaties adopted by the
U.N. General Assembly since 1963. Only five have been ratified by more than 100
countries.
Nine anti-terrorism treaties were signed Thursday. Previously, Cuba had
signed only three.
Since the terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon (news - web sites),
Castro has suggested the United Nations is best suited to take the lead in any
international effort against terrorism. He also has called for a solution that
would prevent massive military action.
Lawmakers held a minute of silence for the victims of the Oct. 6, 1976
bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people off the coast of Barbados.
Two Venezuelan men were convicted in the deadliest act of terror ever
committed against communist Cuba and each sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Also, Cuban exile Orlando Bosch spent 11 years behind bars in Venezuela
during a lengthy judicial process that ended with acquittal. He now lives in
Miami.
Luis Posada Carriles, another Cuban exile, was arrested in the attack but
escaped from Venezuelan prison. He currently is being held in Panama on charges
of plotting to assassinate Castro during a visit to that country for a regional
summit last year. Panama has refused Cuba's request to extradite him.
A government rally to remember the victims is planned for Saturday, the 25th
anniversary of that attack.
Cuba is on the U.S. State Department's list of nations that sponsor
terrorism for many years, a status the island nation says is unwarranted.
Big Client Law Firm Reps Accused Spy
By Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer .
WASHINGTON (AP) - A law firm that represented convicted FBI (news - web
sites) spy Robert Hanssen (news - web sites) and former White House intern
Monica Lewinsky is defending a Pentagon (news - web sites) intelligence analyst
charged with spying for Cuba.
Attorney Preston Burton appeared in court Thursday for Ana Belen Montes, who
will be held without bond until a Nov. 5 hearing before U.S. Magistrate Deborah
Robinson. Burton is a partner at the firm of Washington defense lawyer Plato
Cacheris.
Montes, accused of conspiring to deliver U.S. national defense information
to Cuba, allegedly transmitted a substantial amount of classified information to
that country's intelligence service.
She has worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency, the intelligence arm of
the Defense Department, since 1985.
The FBI alleged that the Cuban intelligence service passed messages to
Montes via shortwave radio and that the DIA analyst began spying for Cuba five
years ago.
In court papers, the FBI alleged that one message from Cuban intelligence
found on the hard drive of Montes' computer stated that she had provided "tremendously
useful ... information.'' Another message from her Cuban contacts prior to a
1996 war games exercise that she attended allegedly said that "practically
everything that takes place'' at the conference "will be of intelligence
value. Let's see if it deals with contingency plans and specific targets in
Cuba.''
Several members of Congress have expressed concern that Cuba shares
intelligence information with terrorist states, making it critically important
that any spying be stopped now that the United States is embarked on a war
against terrorism.
Regarding other clients represented by the law firm representing Montes, FBI
spy Hanssen avoided the death penalty by agreeing to plead guilty to espionage
and detailing his espionage activities to U.S. intelligence officials. Lewinsky
was granted immunity from prosecution and testified against President Clinton in
the perjury and obstruction probe of the president. | 
