CUBA NEWS
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Cuba frees ailing dissidents, but diplomats
and opponents want more
HAVANA, 25 (AFP) - Cuba's release of ailing
dissidents in recent weeks is a first gesture
by the communist government, but diplomats
and opponents of President Fidel Castro
are not convinced that it marks a major
change.
On Thursday, one of the best-known dissidents,
poet and journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal,
52, became the sixth of the 75 dissidents
rounded up during a major crackdown on the
opposition in April 2003 to be released.
He had been serving an 18-year jail term.
Since April 14, Castro's government has
released 10 political prisoners, a figure
that would rise to 14 if four dissidents
on conditional release are included. The
four were sentenced to prison terms by a
trial in Ciego de Avila on April 26.
"Really, they are jittery. One feels
like saying: 'How about trying a bit harder?'"
said one European diplomat.
The diplomat stressed that the European
Union, which froze relations with Havana
after last year's crackdown, is waiting
for bigger gestures like the release of
the most prominent dissidents, including
poet and journalist Raul Rivero and economist
Marta Beatriz Roque.
All of the released dissidents had health
troubles prior to their imprisonment but,
according to another European diplomat,
the isolated Cuban government is gradually
trying to improve its image after the considerable
negative fallout from its crackdown last
year.
A US diplomat said, however, that the releases
"really are designed to divide the
European Union" between those backing
a resumption of dialogue with Cuba and those
holding out for bigger change from the only
one-party communist government in the Americas.
"Amnesty International (AI) welcomes
the release of two further prisoners of
conscience by the Cuban authorities but
calls for more to be released," the
London-based rights group said in a statement,
reacting to the releases of Vazquez Portal
and Juan Roberto de Miranda Hernandez.
"AI recognises a further 78 prisoners
of conscience in Cuba and calls on the authorities
to immediately and unconditionally release
them all," it added.
On June 11, France officially welcomed
the release of five dissidents, calling
it a positive gesture and expressing hope
that it would be a prelude to the freeing
of all others.
The government is apparently not seeking
a domestic political boost from the releases,
which have not been covered in official
media or commented on by government officials.
Dissidents say the releases are not a sign
of something new from the government.
"They were released because of their
ill health. They don't want them to die
in prison, given the likely international
impact. It is not, in my opinion, any trend,"
Vladimiro Roca, president of the outlawed
Cuban Social Democratic Party, said in a
telephone interview.
Oswaldo Paya, another key dissident, said
there had been a "witch hunt"
against people who gave their signature
in a petition campaign he has led.
Paya leads the Varela Project, which seeks
peaceful political and economic change within
the current system. It has collected 25,000
signatures seeking a referendum on political
and economic reforms which have been rejected
by Castro.
"While we welcome each release as
good news, we don't see a trend, because
there are more than 80 prisoners of conscience
and about 300 political prisoners still
in prison," said Elizardo Sanchez,
president of the Cuban Commission for Human
Rights and National Reconciliation.
Still, for Vazquez Portal, his release
Thursday was a sign that Havana is reaching
out to the international community.
Last year's crackdown led to 75 dissidents
being tried and sentenced to between six
and 28 years in prison.
List of U.S. Government Rules on Cuba
By The Associated Press.
Sat Jun 26.
New U.S. rules take effect Wednesday for
U.S. residents visiting and making cash
remittances to Cuba:
CASH REMITTANCES: Up to $300 per quarter
can be sent to relatives in Cuba, but now
limited to immediate family: children, spouses,
siblings, parents, grandparents, grandchildren.
No longer allowed for cousins, aunts, uncles.
No money may be sent to government or Communist
Party officials.
VISITS TO CUBA: Travelers limited to 44
pounds in luggage and $300 in cash, down
from previous $3,000. May spend only $50
a day in Cuba, down from $167. Visits limited
to 14, compared to previous no limit.
PURCHASES: Travelers cannot bring back
merchandise acquired in Cuba, except for
informational materials such as books. Previous
rules allowed $100 in total purchases for
personal use.
EDUCATIONAL VISITS: Now must last at least
10 weeks, although college employees and
graduate students doing independent research
can stay shorter periods. High school students
no longer allowed to study in Cuba.
"FULLY HOSTED" TRAVEL: Now barred.
That category previously let U.S. citizens
visit if they could prove they did not spend
any money while in Cuba.
Yankees Pummel Mets 8-1
By Ronald Blum, AP Sports
Writer. Sun Jun 27.
NEW YORK - With his family looking on,
Jose Contreras performed like the dominating
pitcher the New York Yankees (news) expected
all along. Making his first start since
his wife and children defected from Cuba
last week, Contreras struck out a career-high
10 in six shutout innings Sunday, beating
the New York Mets (news) 8-1 in the opener
of a day-night doubleheader.
A day after the Mets tripped up their wealthy
crosstown neighbors 9-3 in the opener of
this year's Subway Series, Contreras restored
the usual order, stifling the Mets on two
hits until a forearm cramp forced him out
of the game three pitches into the seventh.
He frustrated the Mets so much that Ty
Wigginton broke his own bat in half after
he struck out in the third inning, then
flung the two pieces.
Derek Jeter, who turned 30 a day earlier,
backed Contreras with a pair of solo homers
against Steve Trachsel (7-6), and Gary Sheffield
homered for the second straight day. Hideki
Matsui added an eighth-inning grand slam
on the first pitch after former Yankee Mike
Stanton entered the game.
Contreras (5-3), signed to a $32 million,
four-year contract after defecting from
Cuba in October 2002, has showed flashes
of brilliance with the Yankees but has been
maddeningly inconsistent. The Yankees even
sent him to the minor leagues for two starts
last month.
He often talked of how much he missed his
wife and two daughters, and Yankees manager
Joe Torre said that his family situation
might have contributed to his trouble adjusting
the major leagues.
Contreras' wife Miriam and daughters Naylan,
11, and Naylenis, 3, left Cuba on a 31-foot
boat last Sunday night and were captured
by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Big Pine
Key, Fla., the following morning. Contreras
finally was reunited with them Tuesday night
in Miami Beach, and they all traveled to
New York two days later.
Looking on from a mezzanine luxury suite
on a sunny summer afternoon, Contreras'
family watched him pitch in the major leagues
for the first time.
He allowed a single to Jose Reyes, his
first batter, who promptly was caught stealing
by catcher John Flaherty, then retired 10
in a row until center fielder Kenny Lofton
dropped Kaz Matsui's easy fly in the fourth.
After a walk to Mike Piazza, Contreras
threw a called third strike past Cliff Floyd,
then got Richard Hidalgo swinging.
Mike Cameron got the Mets' second hit,
a leadoff single in the fifth, but he, too,
was thrown out at second by Flaherty. Contreras
then got out of synch and walked the bases
loaded - the four walks tied his career
high - but he got out of trouble when Matsui
flied softly to left on a 3-2 pitch.
After Contreras went to a 3-0 count on
Cameron leading off the seventh, he began
bending his right index finger, was examined
by a trainer and departed. Cameron doubled
off reliever Paul Quantrill and scored on
Todd Zeile's groundout.
Tom Gordon struck out four of six batters
for his second save, completing the three-hitter.
Jeter went 3-for-4 with homers in the first
and third, the fourth multihomer game of
his career and second this season. Sheffield,
playing despite painful bursitis in his
right shoulder, also homered in the first,
giving the Yankees consecutive homers for
the sixth time this season.
Trachsel settled down after Jeter's second
homer and didn't allow another hit until
Jeter singled leading off the eighth. In
all, Trachsel allowed six runs and six hits
in seven-plus innings.
Matsui also hit a slam last year in the
opener of a day-night doubleheader against
the Mets, connecting off Jeremy Griffiths.
Notes:@ Attendance was 37,305 for the day
game, a makeup of Friday night's rainout.
The Yankees used the turnstile count rather
tickets sold because unused tickets can
be exchanged for games later this season.
... Yankees 1B Jason Giambi, who has one
hit in 14 at-bats and is in a 13-for-69
slide, was removed from the starting lineup
because of flulike symptoms. ... Torre didn't
want to start Bernie Williams in both games,
After dropping Matsui's flyball, Lofton
was taunted with chants of "Bernie!
Bernie!"
She left with only kids
By Ralph R. Ortega, New
York Daily News staff writer. Sun Jun 27.
PINAR DEL RIO, CUBA - There's a padlock
on the door of the dreary, ground-floor
apartment where the wife and daughters of
Yankee pitcher Jose Contreras lived before
they escaped from Cuba in a speedboat.
And for the neighbors who had been quietly
rooting for Miriam Murillo-Flores to be
reunited with her husband, it was the first
clue she successfully changed her address.
"We were surprised," a friend
of the family told the Daily News. "We
knew she was sad because she was separated
from her husband. But we never expected
she would try to leave this way, so dangerously."
Now the daring defection is the talk of
Pinar Del Rio - despite the fact that Fidel
Castro's government-controlled media has
not yet reported the escape.
"We haven't heard from Fidel,"
said a grinning 32-year-old tobacco plantation
worker who found out the way everybody else
did - by illegal satellite TV.
"You can imagine how he feels,"
he added. "Very bad."
Just how bad was evident Friday when we
drove up to the shabby building on the outskirts
of the crumbling colonial town where Murillo-Flores
and daughters, Naylan, 11, and Naylenis,
3, lived.
Gray laundry hung from the balconies. Scrawny
dogs scampered across the dirt lawn. And
government snitches known as chivatos crawled
out of the corners demanding to know what
we were doing there.
"What do you want?" they said
while others took down the license plate
number of our rented car. "What do
you need to know that for?"
Ten blocks and a safe distance away at
a rooftop paladar, a restaurant run out
of a private home that serves black beans
and rice and savory roast pork for $10 a
plate, Contreras' fans did not hide their
glee.
"He got his dream," said the
30-year-old cook whose name and those of
others interviewed in Cuba - is being withheld
by The News. "If he's happy, then so
are the people who love him. We miss him."
The owner of the paladar said Contreras
was a regular at the restaurant and pointed
at the nondescript plastic table where Cuba's
best pitcher and his wife used to sit.
"Now we videotape his games for history's
sake," he said. "He's going to
be the greatest player of all time."
Castro was incensed when Contreras, his
favorite pitcher, defected 20 months ago,
and called him a traitor.
The fact that Murillo-Flores was watched
so carefully - and still managed to escape
- astounded her supporters, all of whom
said they knew nothing of her plans to defect.
"It's the talk of the town,"
said the 24-year-old brother of the plantation
worker. "People were all saying, 'Contreras'
wife has left.' There were rumors she was
going to be gone, but no one knew when or
how."
He said she saw Murillo-Flores often and
not once did she let on that she was leaving.
"She just got up and left all her
things behind," he said. "She
just took her daughters and her clothes
on her back. It's logical she would want
to be with her husband. The only sad part
is she'll never be able to go back to Cuba."
The Contreras family slipped out of Cuba
late Sunday aboard a crowded smuggler's
boat. It is believed the smugglers were
paid between $5,000 and $10,000 per passenger.
But the trip across the Florida Strait was
no pleasure cruise.
They were intercepted by the Coast Guard
and ran aground on Big Pine Key, Fla., early
Monday after they were chased through the
dark and across shark-infested waters.
When the terrified family members scrambled
ashore, they were met by Border Patrol agents
who took them to the grim Krome Detention
Center, where they were granted asylum.
Contreras was reunited with them in Miami
on Tuesday. Today, they will watch him pitch
in Yankee pinstripes for the first time
as the Bronx Bombers take on the Mets.
"I'm proud Contreras plays for the
Yankees," the tobacco plantation worker
said. "He wasn't doing well for a time,
but now that he's reunited with his family,
he's going to be great."
Full
story at New York Daily News
Family finally to see him pitch
By Anthony McCarron, New
York Daily News Sports Writer. Sun Jun 27.
Another chapter of the Jose Contreras story
will be written today as the Cuban hurler
pitches in front of his family for the first
time as a Yankee when the Bombers meet the
Mets at the Stadium.
Contreras was supposed to pitch yesterday,
but rain washed away Friday night's game
and the makeup was scheduled as part of
today's split doubleheader.
The Yankees kept their pitching rotation
the same, so rookie Brad Halsey was slated
to start yesterday afternoon, and Contreras
was in line to pitch today's 1 p.m. game.
The Mets and Yankees complete their first
Subway Series set of the season in an 8
p.m. game.
While Contreras was at the Stadium yesterday
to prepare for his start, his wife and two
daughters planned to spend the afternoon
at their Fort Lee, N.J., home.
But Miriam Murillo-Flores and the couple's
daughters, Naylan, 11, and Naylenis, 3,
will see Contreras pitch today, their first
visit to Yankee Stadium.
Contreras believes his family's presence
will help his pitching - he has been uneven
all season, certainly not the $8 million
pitcher the Yankees expected.
"I think I'm going to be a lot more
relaxed now, a lot more tranquil,"
Contreras said. "My head is going to
be a lot clearer."
He had better hope so - Yankees owner George
Steinbrenner is watching. Steinbrenner told
his spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, last week
that he was "absolutely delighted"
that Contreras was reunited with his family
and he hoped it meant good things for the
Yankees, too.
"George said he was very pleased,
and he hopes it has a significant impact
on his game," Rubenstein said.
Full
story at New York Daily News
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