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Yahoo! News.
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. Thu Feb 27, 4:28 PM ET
HAVANA - Works by Martin Luther King Jr., John Steinbeck and Groucho Marx
were among 5,101 books seized by Cuban authorities after being shipped in by the
U.S. government, America's top diplomat in Havana said Thursday.
American diplomats were told it was a "firm decision by the government"
not to allow the books into the communist-run country for distribution to
dissident groups, including independent libraries, U.S. Interests Section Chief
James Cason said.
"They said it wasn't the books, but who we were going to give them to,"
he told a small group of international reporters. He said the American mission
has imported similar books in the past.
Rafael Dausa, North America Director in Cuba's Foreign Ministry, was not
available for comment Thursday.
The Cuban government takes exception to, but largely tolerates, the scores
of independent libraries now operating across the island. However, it resents
their contacts with American officials.
The $68,770.41 shipment seized recently remains in the control of Cuban
customs officials, Cason said. American officials said they would happily pay
duties on the books, but were told that was not an option.
"It's fear of losing political control," said Cason, who arrived
in Havana five months ago. "That's how Groucho Marx ... can suddenly become
a subversive."
Cason showed a waybill for the shipment, which listed Spanish translations
of books including "Who Moved by Cheese," by Spencer Johnson,
journalism textbooks, Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath," and speeches by
the late civil rights leader King.
Other books included "Democracy and Market System," by Charles E.
Lindblom, and "International Human Rights in a Nutshell," by Thomas
Buergenthal.
Cason made a high-profile appearance earlier this week — and even spoke
with the foreign media — during a meeting of opposition groups at the home
of well-known dissident Marta Beatriz Roque.
Senior U.S. officials said later that American diplomats regularly visit
with Cuban dissidents at their homes. Cason in particular has made a point of
getting to know the dissidents in his first few months here.
Dissidents also visit the American mission, where they are given free
Internet access.
Cason denied the Cuban government's charges that the mission provides
financial support to dissidents.
"We don't give out cash to the opposition," he said. "We
provide information materials from the United States. What we do here is
logistics." | 
