CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

TVenezuelan court bars Cuban doctors

By Frances Robles. Frobles@herald.com

The 1,000 Cuban doctors providing healthcare to Caracas' poor are illegally practicing medicine in Venezuela and should be replaced, a top appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision was a blow to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's ''Inside the Neighborhood'' program, in which doctors from the communist island nation provide primary care to people in the slums of Caracas. The program was widely assailed by Venezuelans who argued the doctors are practicing illegally and may not even be physicians.

''They gave them jobs without even seeing if they were doctors,'' said Douglas León Natera, president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation. "This is causing big public health problems.''

Leon's group filed an injunction two months ago seeking to bar the Cubans from practicing. They said Venezuelan law spells out what foreign doctors -- and Venezuelans who studied abroad -- must do to practice medicine legally in the country. The doctors failed to undergo the yearlong process to have their foreign degrees validated by one of the nation's nine medical schools.

The judges ordered the government to replace the Cuban doctors with Venezuelans or licensed foreigners.

POLITICAL MOTIVATION

Behind the federation's resistance to the program is a belief that the Cubans are proselytizing in the nation's ghettos just as Chávez opponents seek to oust the president in a recall referendum. Venezuelan doctors have repeatedly said that there are enough out-of-work local physicians to do the jobs.

Chávez is a leftist former paratrooper who won the presidency in 1998. He has made enemies of everyone from the church to the media, oil sector, business and labor communities. A two-month general strike aimed at driving him out fizzled, and now opposition leaders are seeking a recall.

CHAVEZ'S PLAN

Just as the recall movement grew, Chávez brought Cuban physicians and teachers to work in low-income neighborhoods, where he enjoys popular support. Chávez considers Fidel Castro ''a friend,'' and Venezuelans fear he is trying to ''Cubanize'' one of the world's leading oil-producing nations.

Directors of the ''Inside the Neighborhood'' program say Venezuelan doctors are unwilling to work in neighborhoods with some of the highest crime rates in the hemisphere.

''We're here to elevate the level of healthcare -- that's it,'' Cuban doctor Laura González, one of the program managers, said earlier this month.

The government did not immediately react to the court decision, which can be overturned by the supreme court. Program directors Inner Ruiz and Rafael Vargas could not be reached by telephone.

''Now Chávez has to follow the law,'' León said by phone from Caracas. "If he wants, he can follow the legal path and come up with a serious health policy.''

Exiles say charges follow pressure on Bush

Some criticize indictments as politics

By Larry Lebowitz And Peter Wallsten. Pwallsten@Herald.Com

The U.S. government Thursday indicted a Cuban air force general and two MiG fighter pilots for shooting down two Brothers to the Rescue planes flying in international waters in 1996, killing four exile activists.

The indictment charges former Gen. Rubén Martínez Puente and brothers Lorenzo Pérez Pérez and Francisco Pérez Pérez, both lieutenant colonels, with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder.

U.S. Attorney Marcos Daniel Jiménez said there was no justification for the Cuban pilots' actions.

''This was not a reaction to any perceived threat,'' Jiménez said. "This was an act of premeditated murder.''

Fidel Castro is not named in Thursday's indictment, although he has been widely quoted as saying that he ordered the shoot-down in consultation with his brother, Raúl, who commands the armed forces, and their top military leaders.

Jiménez did not rule out the possibility of amending the indictment at a later date.

''We'll go where the evidence takes us,'' he said.

Experts acknowledge that the case is largely symbolic at this point: The defendants cannot be tried in absentia, under federal court rules. And short of luring the defendants into a third country or staging a kidnapping on Cuban soil -- in the manner in which Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega was taken -- it is highly unlikely that any of the defendants will appear soon in a Miami courtroom.

Miami exile leaders said Thursday that the indictments were a direct result of a recent series of letters sent to President Bush by the Cuban American National Foundation, Republican state legislators and other local officials suggesting that the president risked losing the community's financial and electoral support for his reelection campaign next year if the administration did not move aggressively to target the Castro regime.

SEEN AS INSINCERE

Critics were quick to label the indictments as pure politics.

Richard Nuccio, a former Cuba policy advisor to President Bill Clinton and currently directing international programs at the Los Angeles-based Center for Civic Education, called the indictments "a fairly meaningless gesture that follows in a long string of meaningless gestures that help out on domestic politics and don't do anything to either advance or undermine U.S.-Cuban relations.''

The bulk of the evidence in the new indictment was based on the 1998 arrests of a South Florida-based Cuban spy network known as La Red Avispa, or the Wasp Network.

One of the spies, Gerardo Hernández, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for his part in the plot to shoot down the Brothers planes.

The prelude to the shoot-down began on Jan. 13, 1996, when a Brothers to the Rescue aircraft violated Cuban airspace and flew over Havana dropping leaflets bearing the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

PLAN IS HATCHED

Within days, the indictment said, the Cuban government hatched Operación Escorpión -- a plan to kill a U.S. national, using information supplied by spies in Miami that would terrorize the exile community and intimidate the population at home.

Two of the spies, Rene González and Juan Pablo Roque, had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue. On Feb. 13, Cuban spies Hernández and Alberto Manuel Ruiz ordered González to provide specific information about upcoming Brothers flights. They also ordered González to stay off the flights.

Four days later, Cuban intelligence officials relayed instructions barring González and Roque from flying with Brothers to the Rescue ''under any circumstances'' between Feb. 24 and Feb. 27.

Roque fled Miami for Havana on Feb. 23, the day before the shoot-down.

Three Brothers civilian planes left Opa-locka airport around 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 24. They filed flight plans and communicated with Havana air traffic control during the flight.

The Cuban air force launched two MiG fighter jets from the San Antonio military base around 3 p.m. Within 20 minutes, the Pérez Pérez brothers were seeking and receiving authorization from unidentified handlers in Havana. They killed pilot Carlos Costa, 29, and his passenger, Pablo Morales, 29, 16 miles from the Cuban coast at 3:21 p.m.

APPROVAL TO FIRE

Within five minutes, the Pérez Pérez brothers sought authorization to shoot down a second unarmed civilian plane. According to the indictment, Gen. Martínez, who headed the Cuban air force from 1987 to at least 1996, personally authorized the second missile attack. Pilot Mario de la Peña, 24, and his passenger, Armando Alejandre, 45, were killed two minutes later, 21 miles off the Cuban coast and heading toward Florida.

''The plan was in place four weeks before the planes were shot down,'' said Hector Pesquera, special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami field office. "This was an act of premeditated murder. . . .''

POLITICAL CONCERNS

There were clear signs Thursday that the White House was working to stem a dangerous political uproar for a president who relied on massive support among 400,000 Cuban-American voters in 2000 to score a razor-thin victory in Florida and could well need them again.

Hours before the indictments were unveiled in Miami, administration officials in Washington announced they would begin using satellite transmissions to improve the reach of TV Martí over the island by evading Cuban jamming -- specifically matching one of the demands issued by exile leaders.

Exile leaders said they took the administration's moves Thursday as evidence that, ultimately, the United States under Bush might bring charges against Castro himself and rewrite the so-called ''wet foot, dry foot'' policy that allows fleeing Cubans to remain in the United States only if they reach land -- although there was no direct suggestion of that Thursday from the White House.

ENCOURAGED

''These are very, very positive steps,'' said Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, in an interview. "Still, there's a lot more that can and should be done.''

Gov. Jeb Bush, who drew national attention recently when he criticized his brother's administration for sending 12 suspected boat hijackers back to the island as part of a deal with the Castro government, issued a statement calling the indictments an ''act of justice'' and said they reflect the administration's "ongoing commitment to the people of Cuba.''

Some officials said Thursday that the indictments may not be well received by the U.S. armed forces amid continued efforts to negotiate pacts with 34 countries to shield U.S. military personnel from prosecution before the newly created International Criminal Court.

SOURCE OF CRITICISM

The fury over Bush's handling of Cuba policy was exposed last month after the administration sent the 12 suspected boat hijackers back to Cuba under a deal in which the Castro government agreed to spare them from possible execution and to cap their prison terms at 10 years.

Foundation officials assailed the White House for negotiating with Castro and, in general, for failing to follow through on campaign promises to stiffen the anti-Castro policy.

At the same time, foundation leaders have flirted with several Democratic presidential candidates, even escorting Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut through the Versailles restaurant in Little Havana the same day he called a press conference to attack the president's handling of Cuba policy.

In their letters to the White House, exile leaders made their continued loyalty contingent upon four specific demands: an indictment of Castro, improvements to Radio and TV Martí, increased aid to dissidents on the island and a rewriting of immigration policies.

WERE NOT CONTRIVED

While exile leaders celebrated Thursday's indictments as the administration's first response, one former Bush aide said the timing was likely a coincidence.

The indictments, said Emilio González, who left the White House on July 15 to become a lobbyist and consultant on international affairs, have been in the works for years.

''This isn't something that started just because someone sent a letter,'' he said.

The indictment had been a long time coming for the victims' families.

The three families of American victims -- Morales was a Cuban national with U.S. residency -- had successfully sued the Castro government and were eventually awarded $93 million in frozen Cuban assets after a series of political fights in Miami and Washington.

But for the last seven years, through two presidential administrations and three U.S. attorneys, they never stopped pressing for criminal charges.

''Those people, if they should ever plan to travel, they know that they are sought as criminals and that this country will go after them,'' said Michael de la Peña, brother of one of the slain pilots. "I believe there is a strong possibility that one day, these people will be in the custody of U.S. officials.'

Herald staff writers Elaine Devalle, Gail Epstein Nieves and Jay Weaver contributed to this report.

Indictment largely symbolic without a U.S.-Cuba treaty on extradition

By Gail Epstein Nieves And Jay Weaver. Gepstein@herald.com

After years of relentless lobbying -- in Miami and Washington, to Democrats and Republicans, behind the scenes and in front of the cameras -- Cuban exiles finally got another victory in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot-down saga.

But when the champagne stops flowing, Thursday's federal murder indictment against three principal players in the shoot-down might leave advocates for prosecution with little more than an 11-page document -- and a hangover.

The United States and Cuba don't have diplomatic relations, let alone an extradition treaty. That means the chances are slim to none of Cuba handing over fighter pilots Lorenzo Pérez Pérez and Francisco Pérez Pérez or former Cuban Air Force Gen. Rubén Martínez Puente, all named in the seven-count indictment as shoot-down co-conspirators.

WELCOMES ACCUSATION

George Fowler, general counsel for the Cuban American National Foundation, said that while commander-in-chief Fidel Castro remains the group's ''main goal,'' prosecuting the others nevertheless represents a big symbolic victory.

''An indictment maybe will not lead to anything else, but at least they won't die without having had a government accuse them of committing the crimes they have,'' said Fowler, who quipped that the foundation was ready to pop a bottle of champagne.

Others mocked the indictment.

''They can be charged but they can never be prosecuted in absentia,'' said Miami lawyer Richard Sharpstein, who has battled the federal government in murder and conspiracy cases. "You can't just put an indictment on a chair, point your finger at it and put it in jail.

"What's Fidel going to do -- extradite them? I don't think so.''

Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey said that while the prosecution of three defendants still in Cuba may seem improbable, it's not impossible. There is no statute of limitations on a murder charge.

Coffey said that even though Castro would not extradite the men, they could be arrested if they ever left the island. Also, he said Castro could die and a future Cuban government might be willing to turn the three over to U.S. authorities.

''It's not that uncommon to indict individuals who may seem beyond the reach of authorities for now, because evolving circumstances create extradition or other arrest possibilities down the road,'' Coffey said, citing Colombia drug cartel members as an example.

U.S. Attorney Marcos Jimenez would not discuss what, if anything, federal authorities plan to do to bring the three defendants to Miami.

''We will take whatever steps we can take legally to secure the presence of these defendants,'' Jimenez said, saying that it was his decision, not the Bush administration's, to seek their indictment.

LIMITS OPTIONS

More than just symbolism, Maggie Alejandre Khuly, sister of shoot-down victim Armando Alejandre Jr., said she was satisfied with how the indictment will limit the defendants' options.

''They will never be able to live in the United States or come to this country to visit. They will never be able to be American citizens,'' she said, adding, "Of course, we hope for more.''

Those hopes will be much harder to realize.

It has been rare for federal authorities to charge Cuban government or military officials with criminal offenses. And the ever-looming question of indicting Castro himself opens a political and legal thicket that no administration seems eager to enter.

In 1982, four senior Cuban government officials and 10 drug suspects were indicted by a Miami federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to use Cuba as a safe haven in the Colombia-to-Miami drug smuggling route. They were never tried because Cuba refused to extradite them.

In 1993, Miami federal prosecutors drafted a proposed indictment charging the Cuban government as a racketeering enterprise and Armed Forces Minister Raúl Castro as the chief of a 10-year conspiracy to send tons of Colombian cartel cocaine through Cuba to the United States.

Raúl is Fidel Castro's younger brother.

Fidel Castro, however, was not listed among the 15 Cuban officials named as co-conspirators in the draft. As Cuba's head of state, Fidel Castro could be immune from U.S. prosecution.

Ultimately, the proposed indictment was never brought.

The question of whether Castro could be charged as Cuba's leader still resonates today. In a 1996 interview with Time magazine, he took personal responsibility for giving the shoot-down orders and acknowledged authorizing Martínez to act on his own.

Asked why Castro was not indicted Thursday, Jimenez said only that the investigation of the 1996 shoot-down continues.

Paul McKenna, Miami defense attorney for convicted Cuban spy Gerardo Hernández, might know the defendants better than anyone outside Cuba. He has traveled to the island more than 15 times and received unprecedented government cooperation in reconstructing the Brothers shoot-down.

''I have sat with the highest members of their Air Force and military to discuss every aspect of how this happened,,'' he said.

Hernández was convicted of murder conspiracy after secret Havana-to-Miami communications introduced at trial suggested that he knew the Cubans were planning the Feb. 24, 1996 shoot-down in advance.

'APPEASEMENT'

But McKenna dismissed the indictment as political ''appeasement'' of Cuban exiles and said there is no chance his client would cooperate with U.S. prosecutors in a bid to reduce his own sentence.

''There never was a conspiracy to commit murder,'' he said, addressing the charge common to both indictments. ''Nobody knew [in advance] they were going to shoot down a plane. The government took a bunch of cryptic messages and played it to a Miami jury and got their'' conviction.

Herald staff writer Elaine de Valle contributed to this report.

For fliers' relatives, indictments offer some relief

By Elaine De Valle. Edevalle@herald.com

Relatives of the four Brothers to the Rescue fliers shot down by Cuban MiGs in 1996 finally crossed a symbolic threshold Thursday: They checked off three names on a list of those they hold responsible for the ''murders'' on that fateful afternoon.

Two pilots of one of the MiGs and the general in charge of the Cuban air force's antiaircraft defense were indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami-Dade County on Thursday for their roles in an alleged conspiracy to kill the four men.

OTHER TARGETS

But that left eight Cuban officials on the list of people the families want to see punished for the deaths of Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales, who died in explosions that left only trails of smoke in the sky on Feb. 24, 1996.

''An act of premeditated murder,'' U.S. Attorney Marcos Daniel Jiménez called it. "This was a step to secure justice for the families of these victims.''

As he spoke before video cameras and journalists, five members of the victims' families stood solemnly in the rear of the room. Two held photos of loved ones who died in the shoot-down.

CELEBRATORY SHOUTS

Maggie Khuly, Alejandre's sister, closed her eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly as FBI Special Agent Hector Pesquera recalled the celebratory shouts of the Cuban pilots to ground control after the shoot-down.

''To think that the pilots were joyful when they killed four innocent human beings is unconscionable but dreadfully true,'' Pesquera said.

Then he directed his remarks to the families: "We hope this indictment will give them some small measure of assurance that the individuals responsible for these murders will not go unpunished.''

Mirta Costa, the mother of one of the Brothers pilots, rocked back and forth, clenched her hands and rubbed her fingers together nervously as the charges were read: conspiracy to commit murder, destruction of an aircraft -- and four counts of murder.

SURPRISE PHONE CALL

Earlier in the afternoon, as she and her husband surveyed progress on their new home under construction, she had been surprised by a phone call from federal prosecutors.

'They said 'You have to come as you are,' '' said Costa, who dressed up clothes she thought were too casual for the occasion with a jacket hurriedly borrowed from Miriam de la Peña, mother of Mario de la Peña.

''At least it's something,'' said Costa, who like other relatives want to see more indictments, specifically of Fidel and Raúl Castro.

''And I hope it's soon because I am getting older,'' she said.

Khuly fought back tears Thursday as she spoke of how the indictment would have pleased her father, who died in June.

''I'm sorry he wasn't here. This would have been a big comfort to him,'' Khuly told The Herald. "He wanted this a lot.''

'VERY SATISFIED'

Mario de la Peña, the father of one of the pilots, said he was ''very satisfied'' with the indictments, noted with three black X's marked on a list of Cuban officials he and other relatives want brought to trial. They have been pushing Department of Justice and State Department officials for the indictments for several years.

''Despite the difficulty of getting this kind of indictment, they found overwhelming evidence to do so,'' de la Peña said.

Indicted were Gen. Rubén Martínez Puente, chief of the Cuban air force's antiaircraft defense, and brothers Francisco Pérez Pérez and Lorenzo Alberto Pérez Pérez, copilot and pilot of the MiG jet that pulverized both unarmed, propeller-driven Cessnas with air-to-air missiles.

EVIDENCE

De la Peña said he believes there is enough evidence to indict the others, especially Fidel Castro, who publicly took responsibility in an interview shortly after the shoot-down.

''Who wouldn't want that?'' de la Peña said.

But Castro is not on the list of 11 the family says are accountable for the deaths. They've been told it's not legally possible to indict him.

Brother Raúl Castro tops the list as head of Cuba's armed forces. Also on the list are Eduardo Delgado Rodríguez, a brigadier general and chief of Cuban intelligence; Emilio Palacios, pilot of a second MiG that provided air cover for the Pérez brothers; Gen. Ulises Rosales del Toro, chief of the Air Force; Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez, brigadier general of the Cuban Air Force; and Ricardo Martínez, an air traffic controller in Havana.

Two other air traffic ground controllers are listed only as Frank and Antonio because their last names are not known.

'VERY PATIENT'

''I'm a very patient person,'' Khuly said. "We've been waiting for these three indictments for 7 ½ years. And we have younger members of our family ready to take over the fight.''

Next to her, Michael de la Peña -- the 28-year-old brother of the slain pilot -- said the families still live with the shoot-down's aftermath.

''It affects you every day. It's something that steers the course of your life,'' he said.

His mother said she never doubted this day would come.

''I know that sooner or later the others will meet their justice, too,'' Miriam de la Peña told The Herald. "Because we don't give up. And that's what it takes: It takes people who are hurting to push for justice.

"We haven't tired yet.''

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