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Posted on Thu, Feb. 20, 2003 in
The Miami Herald.
Cuba increases pressure on pro-Payá dissidents
By Elaine de Valle. Edevalle@herald.com
Barely two weeks after Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá returned to
Havana after a world tour to promote the Varela Project, the government has
stepped up what he described as a crackdown on supporters of the reform
movement.
Dozens of Cubans have been harassed, jailed, threatened and expelled from
jobs and universities in the past few weeks for their open support of the
project, Payá and others say. On Tuesday, a provincial court sentenced
two members of the Payá-led Christian Liberation Movement to 18 months in
prison.
Jesús Mustafá Felipe, 58, and Robert Montero, 32, were found
guilty of contempt and resisting arrest, charges that stemmed from a
confrontation with police in December, movement spokesman Efrén Fernández
said. The men had gone to their local police station to get information about a
third man who had been detained and refused to leave when ordered, Fernández
said.
Reached by telephone in Havana, Payá called the trial illegal and
arbitrary and said the stepped-up repression shows that the Varela Project is
gaining steam.
''This is a campaign of terror by the government because what is happening
is the following: Many people want to get to know the project. Even people
within the government are expressing an interest,'' Payá said.
Supporters of the Varela Project said the men were being persecuted for
their public promotion of the initiative.
''They collected signatures and had reunions in their homes to explain the
project to the public,'' said Francisco de Armas, Payá's cousin and
spokesman outside of Cuba.
Mustafá, de Armas said, even had a banner outside his home to
identify the location as a Project Varela ''center of information.'' Another
sign at the house reiterated words spoken by Pope John Paul II on his historic
visit to Cuba: "Don't be afraid.''
''The reason is obviously intimidation,'' said de Armas, who added that
Mustafá and Montero were told of their trial only the day before. "They
want to make out of Mustafá and Roberto an example, because if people
lose fear and they sign the project and get together to discuss the Varela
Project, the regime can't survive.''
U.S. REACTION
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fisk agreed.
''The Cuban government arrest of two individuals working on Oswaldo Payá's
Project Varela and its continued harassment of dozens of others highlight its
fear of the project,'' Fisk said Wednesday. "Its reaction to a simple call
to reform signed by tens of thousands of Cuban citizens is to increase
suppression.''
Payá said that as the economic situation worsens on the island --
with the closing of small, individual businesses and other crackdowns that have
impacted the underground economy -- more and more people are interested in
alternatives.
''In the middle of this grand crisis, the Varela Project is seen more and
more as a peaceful, just and necessary solution,'' Payá told The Herald. "Like
all tyrannies, [government officials] are acting with arrogance, but also with
panic because there is already an avenue, a clear path to change, which is the
Varela Project.''
OTHERS DETAINED
At least 19 other members of the organization were detained Tuesday,
including some who tried to attend the trial of the two men who were sentenced,
de Armas said. All remained in police custody Wednesday, he added.
A State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Cuban
authorities are "trying to gut Payá's organization because they are
afraid of it. They're trying to dismantle his structure.''
At the same time, the regime wants to discourage others from inquiring about
the project, the official said: "The message they are sending is that
they're not going to tolerate open dissent.''
Some Varela Project supporters believe the crackdown is evidence that the
Varela Project has already succeeded, in a way.
''It shows a weakness on the part of the regime, the fear they have of the
Varela Project and how it has been able to break the immobilization of the
people,'' said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban exile in Miami who supports Payá's
movement.
''The government wants the people to be paralyzed by fear. The project has
broken that paralyzation and the government is afraid,'' Saladrigas said.
Payá, who is among the nominees this year for the Nobel Peace Prize,
told The Herald he will not be deterred.
"All of this is happening because the change is already on its way and
the regimen is acting like a dam to keep it contained. They are alarmed.''
Exiles should expect little compensation from post-Castro Cuba, author
warns
By Christina Hoag. Choag@herald.com.
Many Cubans whose assets were expropriated after the 1959 revolution should
be prepared to receive only token compensation by a post-Castro government,
warns the former U.S. official who headed the 1990s campaign for Holocaust
reparations.
''Cuba is a very poor country. It's going to take billions of dollars in
assistance from the U.S. and the world to rebuild,'' said Stuart E. Eizenstat,
who served as President Clinton's special envoy on property restitution in
Central and Eastern Europe and as special envoy to promote democracy in Cuba.
Eizenstat spoke Thursday to journalists in Coral Gables about his book
Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor and the Unfinished Business of
World War II in a session held by magazine publisher Zoom Media Group.
Following the experience of Eastern Europe's former communist nations, a new
Cuban government simply won't have the resources to pay the original owners in
cases where returning the property is impractical, he said.
''The original owners ought to get the property back if the state owns it,
but if that property has been converted to economic use, such as a school, you
can't suddenly yank everybody out,'' he said.
In those cases in Europe, owners are receiving as little as five cents per
dollar of value from small government funds. ''It is at least symbolic,'' he
said.
In the early 1970s, the U.S. government certified 5,911 Cuban claims of
confiscated property, and there are likely more, Eizenstat said.
''This is one of the greatest challenges of post-Castro Cuba,'' he said. "It's
important that this issue be on the table and that the U.S. government mediate
in any dispute between private claimants and the Cuban government.''
Outspoken Cuban American among free speech honorees
By Jacqueline Charles. Jcharles@herald.com
Years after his father and the Cuban American National Foundation were
accused of stifling freedom of expression in Miami, Jorge Mas Santos is being
hailed as a champion of free speech.
Mas Santos, the son of late CANF founder Jorge Mas Canosa, surprised many
two years ago when he wooed the Latin Grammy awards show to Miami over the
objections of CANF hard-liners who opposed it because Cuban artists from the
island might perform or be present to claim awards.
Ultimately, the show withdrew from Miami, following a dispute over planned
protests by other exile groups. But Mas Santos' efforts are being honored by
People for the American Way, a civil liberties organization that will also give
awards on Sunday to civil rights pioneer Dr. John O. Brown, police critic Max
Rameau of Brothers of the Same Mind and Haitian journalist Michele Montas.
''Someone like Jorge Mas doesn't have to speak out. He can continue to
maintain the status quo,'' said Jorge Mursuli, Florida director of People for
the American Way Foundation.
"He chose to open up windows, avenues for something like the Latin
Grammys.''
And that, says Mursuli, is what his organization will celebrate this weekend
as it recognizes Mas Santos, chairman of the CANF, during the Miami
International Film Festival. The foundation has partnered with the festival to
help launch phase two of its ''Celebrate Free Speech'' project.
The project was started by the group nearly a year ago as a way to get
people in Miami to talk openly and, in the process, recognize those who speak up
regardless of whether their opinions are popular.
''Last year was the inaugural year. We were breaking the taboo, talking
about free speech in Miami,'' Mursuli said.
"This year, we hope to elevate that by talking about sensitive issues
within the different communities.''
Among them: the Elián González controversy, racial profiling
and other tensions among ethnic groups.
The award recipients have different perspectives, but all speak out for what
they believe.
''The common attribute is these individuals have had to pay a significant
price or could have paid a significant price,'' Mursuli said.
To provide other examples of those who have paid a price, the organization
will also screen two foreign documentaries that deal with the issue of free
speech.
The first is Uma Onda No Ar (Something in the Air), which tells the story of
Radio Favela, a Brazilian radio station that gave voice to the underprivileged.
From prison, one of the station's announcers recounts how a group of friends
decided to create the station, only to be persecuted and imprisoned as a result.
The second film, The Agronomist, is the story of Jean Dominique, the Haitian
radio journalist who was gunned down in April 2000 in the courtyard of his Radio
Haiti Inter station in Port-au-Prince. Academy-award winner Jonathan Demme has
spent nearly a decade making the film, which focuses on Dominique's use of his
independent Haitian radio station to expose corruption in his troubled nation.
People for the American Way will present Montas, who is Dominique's widow,
with The Voice Award -- The Jean Dominique Memorial. The awards ceremony is 2
p.m. Sunday, following the free screenings of both films at the Gusman Center
for the Performing Arts, 174 E. Flagler St., downtown Miami. A round-table
discussion on ''Is Speech Free?'' will follow the awards ceremony.
Rameau, one of the South Florida award recipients, says he's surprised by
the honor. He has campaigned for civilian investigation of police misconduct
allegations -- successfully in Miami, so far unsuccessfully in Miami-Dade
County.
''I am an unusual choice, but very appreciative,'' Rameau said. "It
recognizes the people who are trying to create that political space in ways you
don't in other parts of the country.''
Mas Santos, who was harshly criticized in his attempts to bring the Grammys
to Miami, said, "If I have in any way broken some taboos or perceived
taboos, that is a benefit.''
The award, he said, is not only a recognition of his attempts to make Miami
a place where opinions can be freely expressed, but also of the type of
organization he wants the CANF to be seen as.
''There is not a monolithic viewpoint in our organization; there is a
diversity of viewpoints and ideas and that is what makes CANF strong,'' he said.
Todd Simmons, a spokesman for the film festival, said including People for
the American Way in this year's activities brings a new dimension to the event.
''It furthers this very American idea of celebrating free speech and free
speech being such a core part of what America is about,'' he said.
By partnering with the organization, Simmons said Florida International
University, which presents the film festival, hopes to increase the event's
scope.
For instance, he hopes Demme's documentary produces a strong turnout among
Haitian Americans.
As for Mursuli and the question he wants Miamians to ponder -- Is speech
free? -- he has found his answer already.
"I think speech is rarely free. There is always a price to pay. It's
the people who pay the price and know they are going to do it, but do it anyway,
not for reasons that are self-serving but for reasons larger than themselves.'' | 
