Published January 8, 2002 in
The Miami Herald
Russia postpones dismantling of spy base in Cuba
Posted at 11:02 a.m. EST Tuesday, January 8, 2002
MOSCOW -- (AP) -- The dismantling of a Russian spy base in Cuba, originally
set to begin Jan. 15, has been postponed, a Russian general said Tuesday.
Lt.-Gen. Viktor Denisov, commander of the operation, told the
Interfax-Military News Agency that the departure of the three AN-124 heavy cargo
planes that are to pick up radar equipment from the listening post in Lourdes,
Cuba, had been delayed because the military didn't receive the money to pay for
the flights on time. He said the delay was caused by the New Year's holidays,
according to the agency.
Denisov did not say when the flights would be rescheduled, but said the
crews were ready to go any time.
Moscow announced in October that it would close the base in an effort to cut
costs in the country's bloated military. The closure of the station -- built in
1964, shortly after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis -- will allow Russia to save
at least dlrs 200 million a year in rent and an undisclosed amount in salaries.
Politician: 'Irony' at base in Cuba
By Lila Arzua . Larzua@herald.com. Published Sunday,
January 6, 2002.
South Florida's congressional representatives are stepping up their
criticism of the treatment of Cuban refugees at the U.S. Naval Base at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, now that the military is preparing to also house top al
Qaeda prisoners there.
"It's a sad irony that those fighting for freedom will be placed with
those who want to destroy democracy,'' said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
R-Miami, at a press conference on the nearly 30 refugees in immigration limbo at
the base.
Ros-Lehtinen and U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, have sent letters
to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England
requesting the refugees, many of whom have been at Guantanamo for years, be
released to the United States.
All, they said, have family members -- mostly in South Florida -- who have
signed or will sign affidavits asserting the immigrants will not be a public
burden.
Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart emphasized that they are not opposed to the
captives from Afghanistan coming to Guantanamo, but rather the continued
confinement of the refugees at the site.
Currently the Cuban detainees are awaiting transfer to a third country.
Meanwhile, Guantanamo is being converted to hold suspected terrorists. The
Cubans detainees' advocates fear that might affect the living arrangements of
the refugees.
One of those at the press conference was Alejandro Perera, a carpenter whose
brother, sister-in-law and their two children have been at Guantanamo for more
than three years. Perera hasn't spoken to his brother, a human rights activist
he says was threatened by the Cuban government, in six weeks. He and others have
alleged that phone calls and communication with relatives are monitored,
censored and often restricted.
The U.S. Navy has repeatedly denied that the refugees at Guantanamo are
mistreated. But that does little to allay Perera's fears about his relative's
imminent neighbors.
"I don't know how they are going to separate them,'' Perera said of the
suspected terrorists. "Just imagine, those people who are so evil, housed
with these families.''
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