CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Journalists detained over activist interviews

Posted on Sun, Dec. 04, 2005.

Two foreign journalists who were working in Cuba without government authorization were detained by authorities after they interviewed opposition activists, human rights and journalism advocacy groups said.

Polish citizen Anna Bikont, of the leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and Nelly Norton, identified as a Swiss journalist, were detained Thursday night in the central province of Sancti Spiritus, said Elizardo Sánchez of the nongovernmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

Cuban authorities could not be immediately reached late Friday, after government offices were closed for the weekend. But in the past, they have justified occasional expulsions of foreign journalists working on the island without journalist visas, saying they are in violation of immigration regulations.

Nine of 10 migrants saved at sea returned to Cuba

Nine Cubans saved from the sea last month by a cruise ship -- the latest in a surge of Cuban nationals attempting to reach U.S. soil by sea -- were returned Sunday to Cuba.

By Robert L. Steinback. rsteinback@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Dec. 05, 2005.

Nine of the 10 Cubans rescued in the Florida Straits Nov. 27 by the Celebrity Cruises ocean liner Zenith were returned to Cuba Sunday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Gretchen Eddy would not disclose why the 10th migrant was not returned with the others, or when a decision would be made about the individual's fate. The refugee was still being held aboard a Coast Guard cutter Sunday evening, Eddy said.

Also on Sunday, 18 Cubans who apparently reached the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix by boat were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by local police, and will be flown to Miami to be reunited with relatives, according to The Associated Press.

Passengers aboard the Miami-based Zenith, a 682-foot cruise ship carrying about 1,300 guests, spotted a foundering 15-foot boat about 12:45 p.m. a week ago Sunday as the ship passed within sight of the mountains of western Cuba on its way to Cozumel, Mexico. The little boat, outfitted with a canopy and propelled primarily by homemade oars, was in ''obvious distress,'' the Coast Guard reported last week.

The 10 migrants -- seven men, two women and a 7-year-old girl named Jennifer -- spent 10 hours aboard the Zenith before being transferred to a Coast Guard cutter, where they remained the rest of the week.

On Sunday, AP said, police in Frederiksted, St. Croix, found 15 Cubans walking along a highway shortly after dawn, local police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Hannah said. Three others turned themselves in at a nearby police station, AP said.

The 10 men, four women and four children were all in good health, Hannah said.

Police think the group was dropped off by a smuggling boat, however, a search offshore turned up no sign of the vessel, ICE spokesman Ivan Ortiz said, according to AP.

According to current U.S. policy, Cuban migrants who are interdicted at sea typically are not admitted into the United States, and most are repatriated to Cuba. Those who reach land are generally allowed to stay and later can apply for permanent residence -- hence the informal name of the ''wet foot/dry foot'' policy.

Through Friday, the Coast Guard had interdicted 2,632 Cubans at sea so far this year, the largest annual total since Cuban leader Fidel Castro ordered his nation's Border Guards not to stop outbound rafters in 1994, launching an exodus during which 37,191 were rescued. This year's total so far is the third highest since 1982. The annual number of Cubans interdicted has increased every year since 2001.

A total of 2,530 Cubans have successfully reached South Florida during fiscal year 2005, a substantial jump from 955 in fiscal year 2004, 1,072 in fiscal year 2003 and 1,335 in fiscal year 2002, according to U.S. Border Patrol figures.

Dissident set free

By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press. Posted on Fri, Dec. 02, 2005.

HAVANA - One of 75 political prisoners arrested in a spring 2003 crackdown was released for health reasons on Thursday, bringing to 15 the number of those who have been freed. Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández, an activist from the central-eastern province of Camaguey, walked free Thursday morning, his sister Marilú Mayo Hernández told The Associated Press by telephone.

Mayo Hernández is the only member of the original group to be freed this year.

''They told us this morning that we were to go pick him up,'' Marilú Mayo Hernández said. "We were so happy, we cried.''

The sister said Mayo Hernández, a 41-year-old attorney, got a one-year medical parole for his high blood pressure and emotional problems. It was unclear what would happen at the end of the year or whether the parole could be extended.

Veteran human-rights activist Elizardo Sánchez said he hoped Mayo Hernández would be the first of several dissidents released this year.

''This perhaps could be a wider process,'' said Sánchez, of the nongovernmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, which tracks the island's political prisoners. "We'll be alert.''

Last year, 14 dissidents were freed early for medical reasons, half of them in December.

Fidel Castro's communist government did not comment on Mayo Hernández's release. In a report to the United Nations early this year, Cuba described the other early releases as an example of "humanism, without rancor and hate.''

Governments and rights groups around the world protested in March 2003 when Cuba rounded up 75 independent journalists, opposition politicians, rights activists and others in a crackdown on the opposition. Cuban courts convicted the activists on charges of being mercenaries for the United States trying to undermine Castro's government -- charges that the dissidents and Washington denied.

Among those released last year were renowned journalist and poet Raúl Rivero and the only woman in the group, Martha Beatriz Roque.

Castro vows to go after the 'new rich'

By Marc Frank, Financial Times. Posted on Fri, Dec. 02, 2005.

Fidel Castro is mobilizing tens of thousands of young people and threatening a Cultural Revolution-style humiliation of corrupt officials in what the Cuban leader characterizes as a do-or-die struggle against graft, pilfering and the "new rich.''

Oscar Espinosa, an economist and dissident recently released from prison, said the campaign would create more hardship and illegal activity. ''What we need here is market reform, like in China or Vietnam. By returning to command economics and repression, they are simply throwing gas on the fire,'' he said.

''What you have here is a classic Chinese-style, anti-rightist campaign of Mao's days,'' a foreign banker said.

Castro's initiative is part of a broader effort, government sources say, to make effective use of increased resources flowing into the country from generous Venezuelan energy financing and payment for medical services, as well as Chinese soft trade and development credits.

The first target of the campaign -- dubbed ''Operation July 26'' after Castro's movement in the late 1950s that brought him to power -- has been the country's fuel-distribution system.

Thousands of college-age youths have taken over petrol stations and started working in refineries and riding in fuel trucks to monitor an industry where up to half of this precious resource was being stolen, according to receipts since the takeover began a month ago.

Cuba registered its first balance-of-payments surplus since 1989 last year, and expects another surplus this year, despite an increase of more than 30 percent in imports.

''We need to get back to a situation where the state pays a wage that can meet basic needs and in proportion to what one contributes to society,'' says Anicia García, head of Havana University's Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy.

She points out that state salaries and pensions have increased on average by more than 20 percent this year and that there are more consumer goods, mainly imported household appliances, and food available.

''We are taking advantage of the better situation to deal with the social problems that appeared during the crisis that came with the end of the Soviet Union. For example, that one could do better not working than working, or as a hotel bellboy or gas-station attendant make more than a brain surgeon,'' she said.

'LIBERAL ERRORS'

The Communist party launched an assault two years ago on ''corruption and illegalities'' within its ranks and the state administration as it recentralized economic activity and control over hard currency after what it characterized as ''liberal errors'' in the 1990s.

Bureaucratic corruption and a booming black market are nothing new in state-run economies like Cuba's, but Castro said recently that market-oriented reforms such as decentralization, authorization of small private initiatives and circulation of the dollar alongside the peso, among other emergency measures taken after European communism's collapse, "increased these ills to the point where they have taken on a certain massive character . . . and inequality has grown.''

Castro said he was mobilizing 26,000 young social workers to fight for a purer society and would mobilize more than 100,000 social workers and university students if needed, threatening to drag corrupt officials out in public.

RAUL CASTRO

Raúl Castro, the defense minister and second in the Cuban hierarchy after his older brother Fidel, is reported to have told party officials 18 months ago: "Corruption will always be with us, but we must keep it at our ankles and never allow it to rise to our necks.''

But the drive apparently made little progress, and the military was forced to take over operations at the port of Havana in September to handle increased imports and stop theft by port workers and truckers.

''In this battle against vice, nobody will be spared,'' Fidel Castro said in a recent speech, apparently taking over the campaign from his brother. "Either we defeat all these deviations and make our revolution strong, or the revolution dies.''

He blamed the ''new rich'' for Cuba's social ills, without defining who they were, except that they had access to hard currency.

The Cuban leader said social workers were organizing cells in neighborhoods to fight corruption and illegalities.

Chess mates: Cuban master mentors young players

A transplanted prodigy spreads the gospel of chess to young students while making his professional mark

By Ana Veciana-Suarez, aveciana@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Dec. 05, 2005.

Brow furrowed, hands at the ready, Matthew Galvis studies the chess board with the intensity of a veteran player. He looks up long enough to glance sideways at his mentor, Renier Gonzalez.

''He taught me moves that I didn't know,'' the fifth-grader says, "and he also taught me that the king is the most important piece in the game and that you should never underestimate the pawn and that you have to concentrate and not get distracted by anything else because if you don't think wisely, you lose.''

All important life lessons, to be sure. Lessons Gonzalez, 32, has learned on and off the board and that he now tries to impart to his youngest wards, girls and boys like Galvis who find escape and refuge in a checkered world.

Gonzalez teaches elementary school students the intellectual art of chess five afternoons a week at Henry M. Flagler and Coral Terrace elementaries in Miami. His program is part of a federally funded project that brings extracurricular activities to students enrolled in after-school programs.

Walking the halls at Flagler Elementary right before the final bell, Gonzalez pats his students on the head, stops to say hello to a kindergartener who has become a chess enthusiast this year, and otherwise comments about the thrill of spreading the gospel of chess.

Most of his 70 students, however, know little about him beyond the campus. They might be amazed at the accolades the chess whiz has managed to earn since his arrival in Miami in 2001 as an unknown prodigy who had left everything behind to start a new life.

Gonzalez, a native of Cuba, has made his mark both with the chess team at Miami Dade College and on a professional level. At Miami-Dade, he is considered the ''number one board'' (top player) and, along with a stellar cast of other young Latin prodigies, he has made the underdog team a national contender in the highly competitive circle of collegiate chess. In fact, MDC has become such a force that it earned the coveted Chess College of the Year Award in August 2004 from the U.S. Chess Federation, beating out 120 other schools with more money and a longer track record.

Gonzalez is a student at the Wolfson Campus downtown, majoring in computer science. The chess club sponsor, Rene Garcia, describes him this way: "Renier brings tremendous professionalism. As competitive as chess can be, his demeanor is always positive, even in the face of adversity. I think that his serenity spreads to other team members.''

Before Gonzalez enrolled at Miami-Dade, he had already begun to leave his mark. He has won three consecutive Florida chess championships since 2001. (This year was the first year he didn't compete since his arrival.) He was also one of 64 players nationwide to qualify for the U.S. Chess Championship tournament, considered the Super Bowl of the game. He ranked 18th at that competition -- the highest-ranking player who was not already a grand master. (Gonzalez is an international master, one notch below the grand master.)

''I'm working toward that goal,'' he says of the grand master status. "It's something that means a lot to me.''

There are about 800 grand masters worldwide. To earn that distinction, players must go through a rigorous circuit that includes playing a certain number of tournaments against others who have achieved the grand master title. He'll have plenty of practice this fall. This month, he traveled with the MDC chess team to Ohio for a tournament and played solo in the Turkey Bowl in Boca Raton. This month he will also play in the prestigious Pan American InterCollegiate Team Chess Championship, a qualifying meet for the Final Four of College Chess being hosted by MDC.

How does he prepare for this flurry of events while holding a job with the school system, working on a new business and attending college all at the same time?

Easy, he says. "Learning and playing chess has many advantages. Chess quickens the mind and teaches you to concentrate, to analyze, to think ahead.''

It probably helps, too, to believe you're on a mission. And Gonzalez certainly is. He would love to spread the sport to all schools in Miami-Dade, particularly the middle schools where students are more apt to perfect the game. In New York, he points out, chess is offered as an elective, and in Cuba it is a required subject in two grades.

He wants educators to recognize its benefits. Again Rene Garcia: "Renier may see chess as much more than a game. Perhaps he sees it as a set of transferable skills applicable beyond the board. He sees the discipline and concentration needed in chess as excellent skills for children to develop.''

But Gonzalez wasn't always such a fan. Born in Jaguey Grande in the province of Matanzas, he preferred to play basketball, baseball and soccer, though his father and younger sister were chess enthusiasts. He had the good fortune, however, of living right across the street from a chess academy, and he eventually learned to play by watching others. He was 11.

''After that it became a fever,'' he recalls. "I couldn't get enough of it. I was training every single day.''

Months later, he won a state championship. By 12 he was sent to a special provincial school to be trained. Identified as a prodigy, he began playing on the national team and traveled the length of the island for competitions, plus visiting Spain and other Latin American countries.

But in 1997, his growing discontent with the situation in Cuba kept him off the teams that were invited to play overseas -- until, finally in 1999, he was invited to play in Colombia. There, he defected with another teammate. ''I wanted the freedom to come and go as I pleased, to play in the tournaments I wanted,'' he says.

In Colombia, a Bogota businessman who was also a chess enthusiast helped him land a job as a trainer of the national teams, and in 2001, he ended up in Miami, where two first cousins lived and where he eventually received U.S. residency.

With the help of one of the cousins, he attended night school to learn English and worked as a handyman, day laborer and gardener. He also married. Then, after registering at Miami-Dade and re-establishing his chess roots, he and Gilberto Luna II, a national master, founded Professional Chess Services, a company that runs tournaments, offers private and group classes, and sponsors chess camps. Last month, the company put on an open tournament for both private and public school chess players at Flagler Elementary. His company will also run the Pan American tournament, which starts Dec. 27.

The kids, he says, give him hope. He points out Lien Morcate, a third-grader at Flagler Elementary who ranks in the top 20 nationally for her age group. She began playing for him in kindergarten. ''I love chess,'' she gushes. "I love to think a lot and I love giving checks. It makes me feel proud.''

Gonzalez doesn't know how far his young students will go with their new skills, but he fervently hopes that they'll continue playing for pleasure long after they've forgotten him.

''I don't force them to come here,'' he explains. "I want them to come and enjoy themselves. They have to be motivated, to feel the soul of what is chess. I want them to learn to love it.''

As he does.

10 migrants saved by cruise ship

Zenith's crew rescues a 7-year-old Cuban girl and her family

By Luisa Yanez. lyanez@herald.com. Posted on Tue, Nov. 29, 2005.

More than a thousand Thanksgiving holiday revelers cruising within view of Cuba had to make an unexpected stop over the weekend to rescue 10 migrants from a 15-foot boat foundering in the Florida Straits, passengers said Monday.

Among the migrants the crew of the Zenith plucked from the sea Sunday was a young girl named Jennifer.

The 7-year-old won the hearts of passengers during her 10 hours on board the ship, owned by the Miami-based Celebrity Cruises.

But for the girl and her family, the upgrade from a boat powered largely by homemade oars to the luxury liner was brief.

The seven men and two women in the group were taken off the cruise ship at about 11 p.m. by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, where they remained Monday, Petty Officer Dana Warr said. Their names have not been released, and their relatives have not come forward.

The group was being questioned by immigration authorities who will determine whether they will be repatriated or eventually allowed to resettle in a third country.

Meanwhile, the Zenith's cruise ended at the Port of Miami-Dade Monday. But for some passengers, witnessing the drama unique to South Florida left an impression.

''You know, we were in this behemoth of a ship, and they were in this tiny boat with a roof on it, bobbing back and forth, and as they waved at us, you could see real desperation,'' said passenger Steve Wright, an Ohio native, who works for a Miami city commissioner.

ON CAMERA

''How do people do that?'' said Wright, who spotted the group through the lens of his camera.

Another passenger, Cuban-born Joel Villa, a senior systems analyst for Knight Ridder, which owns The Herald, was on the five-day cruise with his family.

Villa, who came to the United States when he was 12, knows about the endless stream of Cubans trying to reach U.S. soil. ''You hear about these refugees, but you don't get to see it up close like this,'' Villa said.

Knowing a child was among the migrants touched Villa. ''I have an 8-year-old son,'' he said.

Some of the other 1,300 passengers on board went to meet the young girl in the cabin the captain provided for the migrants.

Villa said when the Cuban girl was escorted off the ship, passengers yelled: "Goodbye, Jennifer!''

Some unaware of the U.S. wet-foot, dry-foot policy for Cuban migrants may have envisioned a happy ending: The girl and her family were headed to Miami. Villa explained the reality to some.

''Living in Miami, I knew that when the Coast Guard came, that meant they were probably being sent back,'' Villa said. Only those who reach land are allowed to stay.

The unscheduled excitement for the Zenith, which left Miami Thursday headed for Key West and Cozumel, began as the ship passed near Cuba's western coast, said Lynn Martenstein, spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean Cruises, which owns Celebrity.

''I could see some rolling mountains,'' Villa said of his cloudy glimpse of Cuba just before the 12:45 p.m. sighting of the migrants rowing in rough waters.

'OBVIOUS DISTRESS'

Wright was on deck shooting photos of a tiny speck in the water out in the distance. He enlarged the picture and saw people waving from a boat with a canopy. He ran to alert the crew.

''A small boat in obvious distress was spotted,'' Martenstein said.

Zenith's captain, Michael Margaritis, made the decision to shut the engines and turn back to help. An announcement was made to the passengers that the ship was making a sea rescue. Hundreds of passengers lined up for a look-see.

Once on board, the migrants were given food, clothes and medical attention, Martenstein said. The crew then notified the Coast Guard, as is required.

Monday, Wright and Villa were still thinking of the migrants and their fate.

''I'm just glad they're OK,'' Wright said.

Villa wanted to know: "Have they been sent back to Cuba yet?''

Cuba: Wilma losses to top $704M

Hurricane Wilma had a steep price tag in Cuba, according to the Cuban government.

By Frances Robles. frobles@herald.com. Posted on Tue, Nov. 29, 2005.

Losses from Hurricane Wilma surpassed $704 million in Cuba, the government announced Monday, for the first time offering a damage estimate on the devastating storm that flooded Havana before taking a swipe at South Florida in October.

Granma, Cuba's Communist Party daily newspaper, said the storm cost $704.2 million, including seven days of lost productivity in the days before and after the storm. After several days of preparations and evacuations, the hurricane hit Cuba on Oct. 23, causing an unprecedented storm surge in the capital, leaving many blocks in waist-high water.

More than 7,500 homes were damaged, 446 of them destroyed, the paper said.

The tobacco industry in the western Pinar del Río province lost some 2,000 storage facilities and 54,000 seed boxes.

Although the paper did not offer details, it said the fishing, wood, honey, transportation and construction industries suffered either directly or indirectly.

POSSIBLE GROWTH

Despite the blow from Wilma, Economy Minister José Luis Rodríguez said the economy may grow 9 percent this year, Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency reported. Rodríguez credited brisk tourism with saving the economy.

''The problem is Cuba doesn't have $700 million to fix things,'' said University of Nebraska Cuba expert Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado. "Hurricane damage is always devastating, and I am always suspect as to whether they can address it.

''They are probably holding things up with spit and bailing wire,'' he said.

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a leading U.S. expert on Cuba's economy, warned that high agricultural losses would increase Cuba's trade deficit and put a bigger strain on prices. But he cautioned against taking Cuba's word on economic figures, noting that the $1.4 billion loss after July's Hurricane Dennis came after just one day.

''Many things have changed during the revolution, but the one thing that has always been there is the government blaming external factors -- the embargo, hurricanes, droughts, whatever -- for bad economic performance,'' he said. "Taking it at face value, $700 million is a very significant loss. That's similar in value to Cuba's annual exports of sugar and nickel combined.''

Mesa-Lago said Cuba's hurricane losses last year surpassed $2 billion. Hurricane Michelle in 2001 wiped out so much of Cuba's agriculture that it forced food sales with American farmers.

ECONOMIC MEASURES

Cuba's announcement came just days after Cuba made a series of important economic proclamations, including a 333 percent increase in energy costs for heavy users.

The government said it would raise salaries beginning Thursday, and temporarily address inflation by lowing prices at food markets.

Government officials urged Cubans to cut back on necessities, such as electricity and gasoline.

Backer's arrest clouds case

The ripple effects of Santiago Alvarez's arrest on federal weapons and passport charges could reach the man he swore to help, Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles.

By Oscar Corral And Alfonso Chardy, ocorral@herald.com. Posted on Tue, Nov. 29, 2005.

With his biggest benefactor, Santiago Alvarez, behind bars, Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles' chances of walking out of federal custody before year's end have sustained a serious blow.

So far, exile leaders, who came out in force to support Alvarez at his first court appearance, have taken a wait-and-see approach. Only a small protest from a fringe anti-Castro group is planned in front of federal court Dec. 6, when Alvarez is scheduled to be arraigned.

But the ripple effects of Alvarez's arrest could well reach the man he swore to help, Posada.

''If the government makes the argument and shows that [Posada] is a danger to the community because of his ties to these people now being indicted, they can hold him for six more months, and obviously that is concerning us because he is an older gentleman of deteriorating health,'' said Renee Soto, one of Posada's lawyers.

Last week, a U.S. magistrate refused to release Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat, another exile who worked for Alvarez, because their possession of machine guns, grenades and rounds of ammunition amounted to a ''crime of violence'' and posed a danger to the community.

That could be devastating for Posada, who is now in detention in an immigration facility in El Paso and recently persuaded a judge to stop his deportation to Venezuela or Cuba. Now the government may not release Posada if he is believed to be dangerous or a threat to national security or the community.

''This could potentially open up a can of worms against Posada by bringing him some kind of guilt by association,'' said immigration and criminal defense lawyer Luis Fernandez, who is not involved in the Posada case.

While there has been no legal link made between the two men's cases, Posada's mere presence in this country may have brought federal scrutiny on Alvarez, who publicly took credit for helping Posada, a Cuban with Venezuelan citizenship, enter the United States illegally.

Posada's presence in the United States has embarrassed the Bush administration, by putting it in the uncomfortable position of being accused of harboring a suspected terrorist even as it wages a global war on terror.

'SETUP' ALLEGED

Soto said Posada told her he believes the case against Alvarez was a ''setup.'' He also thinks the U.S. government's confidential informant in the case may have had ties to the Cuban government.

Alvarez, 64, and Posada, 77, have known each other for years. Like Posada, Alvarez is a U.S. Army veteran who was trained by the CIA for the failed Bay of Pigs mission.

Alvarez's arrest also may make it harder for Posada to afford his legal defense. Posada's lawyers are working pro-bono, but Alvarez was paying the lawyers' travel to El Paso and other expenses. For now, Soto said the firm will continue to represent him.

Alvarez, who said he once drove a Ferrari, has not always run a money-making real-estate business. His companies have declared bankruptcy, he has owed $500,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, and banks have foreclosed on buildings he owned, according to public records.

His longtime civil lawyer, Juan Zorrilla, said Alvarez's financial problems were legitimate parts of a growing business that stretched itself too thin.

In 1989, a company Alvarez owned filed for bankruptcy after he ran out of money in the middle of a development project in Hialeah Gardens, Zorrilla said, adding that all banks were eventually repaid.

In the mid 1990s, the IRS put a lien on Alvarez for about $450,000 in unpaid taxes, records show. And a company he owned with family members, Coastline of Indian Creek, became the target of a mortgage foreclosure case.

''That was a company he had,'' Zorrilla said of Coastline. "When Santiago buys a building, he puts in a big amount of capital investment. In some cases, he miscalculated. This is one of them.''

Records show the IRS lien was released in 2000.

Alvarez is well known for backing militants, such as Posada and other hard-line exiles. That could come back to haunt Posada in court.

Some immigration experts believe that foreign nationals who have been spared deportation under terms of the Convention Against Torture, like Posada, could be held indefinitely.

Complicating matters is an internal memorandum that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued last year favoring release of detainees who have been granted asylum or protection under the convention. Exceptions can be made if there are "concerns, such as national security issues or danger to the community and absent any requirement under law to detain.''

Alvarez's lawyer, Kendall Coffey, says the government may try to move Alvarez's case out of Miami-Dade County to increase the likelihood of getting a jury to convict him.

POTENTIAL JURORS

''There is a very strong concern, even deep resentment, about the possible attempt of the government to manipulate the venue away from Miami-Dade county,'' Coffey said. "For an administration that relies so heavily on Cuban-American voters, it should not be running away from Cuban-American jurors.''

The way the exile community reacts to Alvarez's arrest will certainly play a factor in whether the case is moved, Coffey said. If the arrests spawn protests and demonstrations, Coffey said the government could seize on that to say ''disruptive'' events are grounds to move the case.

''We are going to win this case in the courtroom, not in the streets,'' Coffey said.

So far, only Vigilia Mambisa, a small fringe group that protests often, is planning to demonstrate in front of federal court Dec. 6.

Some exile activists said they felt that the U.S. government merely caved in to pressure from Havana when federal officials arrested Alvarez.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has repeatedly claimed Alvarez smuggled Posada into the United States on his boat, Santrina, and has called for Alvarez's arrest. Alvarez denies using the Santrina for smuggling.

On Cuban TV Friday, Castro accused Alvarez of sponsoring terrorism against Cuba. ''He sent armed people here, and he sent them with dynamite and instructions to blow up Tropicana [nightclub],'' Castro said.

''They were going to kill someone because they've always been used for that, to kill and prepare assassinations,'' Castro said.

Alvarez has never been charged with attacking Cuba.

DEMONSTRATIONS

Exiles who have the ability to sway public opinion through Spanish-language radio say they don't feel Alvarez's arrest warrants public demonstrations.

''The demagogues are using this for personal and political reasons, saying that Castro gives an order in Havana and Washington follows. This is their opportunity to defend the Democrats and attack Bush,'' said Cuban Liberty Council President Ninoska Perez-Castellon, who co-hosts a talk show on Radio Mambi.

Cuban Study Group Chairman Carlos Saladrigas, considered a moderate exile voice, said there is no reason to protest.

''Mr. Alvarez will have his day in court to prove that he is innocent or not,'' Saladrigas said.

"Why should this community be upset about it?''

Anti-Castro activist Jose Basulto, who said he would be willing to serve a month in jail for Alvarez, had a different take: "A long time ago, this community became more Republican than Cuban.''

Herald researcher Monika Leal and Herald wire services contributed to this report.

Internet use restricted in Cuba, which blames U.S.

The Internet is a luxury to the privileged few in Cuba, and the government there says the U.S. economic embargo is at fault.

By Frances Robles. frobles@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Nov. 28, 2005

Oscar Visiedo says that when he helped bring the Internet to Cuba in 1992, he faced three daunting obstacles: the U.S. economic embargo, technological shortcomings and ominous state security.

Thirteen years later, steep prices and strict government controls largely keep ordinary Cubans from the World Wide Web, while the island's authorities still blame the embargo as the reason the country stalled on the information highway.

So, even while the Internet boomed in Cuba -- the government alone has at least 200 sites -- usage remains among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere, and the hurdles remain unchanged.

''There is a fear -- a fear that is practically pathological -- of access to information,'' said Visiedo, who worked at the government office that introduced Cuba to the Internet, back when nobody there knew what it was. He now works in management information systems at Carlos Albizu University in Miami.

While Cuba boasts that it has computers in every school, a U.N. Human Development Report says nine of every 1,000 Cubans are Internet users, compared with 288 in Costa Rica and 44 in Honduras. Even Haiti, with 500,000 Internet users, has a higher rate. Other reports estimate the number of internet users in Cuba at 150,000.

PERMITS NEEDED

Private persons in Cuba cannot legally buy computers or sign up for regular Internet service without government permits that are almost impossible to obtain, so the nation's 335,000 desktops and laptops belong largely to the government, state enterprises and special individuals such as trusted doctors.

Internet cafes aimed at foreigners charge up to a month's wage -- $15 -- for an hour of surfing and ban locals. But a black market for illegal passwords has emerged, where users ''rent'' time slots from friends.

''We, for instance, used to have a connection between the horrendous hours of 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., but it was better than nothing,'' anthropologist Katrin Hansing, an associate with Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute, who lives in Havana, said in an e-mail.

The government blames its cyberspace inadequacies on the United States. At an Internet summit in Tunisia this month, Cuba used the international stage to argue that the U.S. economic embargo prevents it from buying not only software and servers, but marine fiber-optic cables that would allow it to plug into the Internet at higher speeds and lower costs.

The Cuban and other delegations also pushed to break the U.S. monopoly on Internet domain names, saying it amounts to a worldwide impediment.

'SATELLITE ACCESS'

''Our country counts on satellite access as the only Internet connection,'' Cuban Information Minister Ignacio González Planas wrote during an Internet forum earlier this month. "We haven't been able to implement plans for fiber-optic cables for international connectivity principally because of the lack of necessary permissions needed from the Yankee government.''

But U.S. officials and other experts say the embargo is a smoke screen for Cuba's real problems.

''I cannot think of a single thing they need that they would absolutely only be able to get from us,'' said a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not cleared to speak publicly.

'They can go to a Spanish telephone company . . . which uses Japanese equipment and say, 'Help us set up Internet.' That has nothing to do with us.''

The real obstacles, the official added, are internal Cuban policies that prevent ordinary people from getting on the Internet.

Earlier this month, the France-based organization Reporters Without Borders denounced Cuba as one of a dozen nations with the most controlled and least accessible Internet. It lumped Cuba with Iran and Vietnam.

''The Chinese model of encouraging online activity while controlling it is too expensive, so President Fidel Castro has plumped for an easier way -- simply keeping the Internet out of reach of virtually all Cubans,'' the organization said.

Visiedo said there is no question that the American embargo hampers Cuba's efforts to buy the equipment it needs. But he said he doubts that the government would embrace the technology even if it could.

Experts said the Internet on the island is more like an intranet -- it's an internal network of more than 200 government-run sites and controlled access to outside sites.

Every school in the country -- even those with just one student and no electricity -- has a computer, González said. Because the focus is to provide collective social access rather than individual use, he added, 600 youth clubs nationwide are also equipped with Internet access.

''We are doing everything possible to extend it more every day,'' González wrote.

But only up to a point.

WEBSITES BLOCKED

The Cuban government acknowledges that it blocks websites that it considers terrorist, subversive or pornographic. Attempts to view blocked sites, such as the Cuban American National Foundation's, result in generic messages such as "This page cannot be shown.''

''Even the trusted Cubans they authorize to have [Internet access] can't see all sites,'' said dissident writer Oscar Espinosa Chepe. 'If they send an e-mail the authorities don't like, they get an e-mail that says, 'Hey, you can't do that.' ''

That has not restricted news sites like The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, The New York Times and The Washington Post, Espinosa added in a telephone interview from Havana.

To get around the controls, homemade computers using smuggled parts are growing in popularity, and government workers with legal Internet access are selling passwords and log-on hours on the black market for up to $50 a month.

''Like everything else in Cuba, it's resolved through friendships,'' Espinosa said. 'As we say in Cuba, 'Invent as you go along.' ''

'AN ILLEGAL ACT'

The U.S. Interests Section in Havana has 46 terminals available for free to preregistered dissidents, students and activists, a service that the Cuban government has branded "an illegal act.''

Visiedo acknowledges that among his first tasks in bringing the Internet and e-mail to Cuba was to come up with a way to monitor the new technology.

''Otherwise, I knew I wouldn't get very far, and they would prohibit it,'' Visiedo said. "As a technocrat, I walked a tightrope.''

Posada ally could be sent to Cuba if convicted

Santiago Alvarez, benefactor of Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, could face deportation to Cuba and loss of his citizenship application.

By Alfonso Chardy and Jay Weaver, achardy@herald.com. Posted on Wed, Nov. 23, 2005.

Santiago Alvarez, a permanent resident, could face deportation proceedings and be denied U.S. citizenship if convicted of federal weapons and fraudulent passport charges.

Alvarez, a close ally and benefactor of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, is being held on charges of possession of a cache of machine guns, grenades, rounds of ammunition and a fake Guatemalan passport and identification papers. His immigration status could be further complicated by a prior aggravated assault conviction stemming from weapons charges, according to experts on U.S. immigration law.

Alvarez's attorney, Ben Kuehne, said his client is not ''a convicted felon'' because his 1988 case was settled when the judge withheld adjudication. Immigration attorneys, however, say that such a ruling is considered a conviction for the purposes of immigration law.

''He could be subject to deportation on his previous conviction and may now be -- depending on the outcome of this case -- subject to deportation without any relief available to him,'' said Ira Kurzban, a Miami immigration attorney considered a national authority on immigration law.

During Alvarez's bond hearing Monday, Kuehne revealed his client is not a U.S. citizen but was applying for citizenship. Alvarez's co-defendant in the case, Osvaldo Mitat, is a U.S. citizen.

Kuehne also disclosed immigration authorities had questioned his client in recent years as a result of the 1988 case. Under changes to immigration law in 1996, foreign nationals convicted of aggravated felonies are subject to deportation.

Kuehne said Alvarez is optimistic. ''Mr. Alvarez's position is that he is a lawful permanent resident and he's confident that he will be able to obtain his citizenship when he prevails in this case,'' Kuehne told The Herald Tuesday night.

Because Alvarez is Cuban, he would not be deported immediately. But the federal case against Alvarez, a wealthy developer and exile activist, has angered many elderly hard-line exiles who believe the Bush administration is making Alvarez a scapegoat to appease the Cuban government in the Posada case.

Posada is wanted by both the Cuban and Venezuelan governments for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner and hotel bombings in Havana in 1997-98. Posada says he was not involved.

Cuba generally does not take back Cuban nationals ordered deported, though Cuban leader Fidel Castro has clamored for Posada's return.

U.S. immigration authorities generally do not seek to send exiles back to their homeland, but convicted Cuban nationals living in the United States usually face deportation proceedings in case political conditions change in Cuba. If and when those conditions change, immigration officials say, thousands of Cubans ordered deported over the years could be sent back.

In some cases, however, immigration officials have asked immigration judges not to order a Cuban deported. That happened during Posada's recent asylum trial when a Department of Homeland Security assistant chief counsel told the immigration judge Posada should not be deported to Cuba because he could face torture there.

Judge William Abbott eventually agreed not to deport Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan born in Cuba, to either the communist island or to Venezuela -- but said he could be expelled to a third country.

As a permanent resident, Alvarez could ask an immigration judge to spare him deportation but only if his conviction did not amount to an aggravated felony.

However, some of the charges lodged against him over the weekend are aggravated felonies under immigration law.

If convicted, Alvarez would serve prison time and then would be transferred to immigration custody for deportation proceedings.

Once a judge's deportation ruling is final, he could be held up to six more months and then set free under supervision if he cannot be deported to Cuba.

U.S. arrests key ally of Posada

The action against a close supporter of Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles could pit the Bush administration against part of a Republican constituency.

By Oscar Corral and Jay Weaver, ocorral@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Nov. 21, 2005.

Santiago Alvarez, a longtime anti-Castro activist and key supporter of exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, was arrested in Miami this weekend on federal weapons and passport charges -- a move that could cause a clash between the Bush administration and some members of one of the president's most loyal political constituencies.

Alvarez, a wealthy developer, is charged with possession of automatic weapons, including some with the serial numbers obliterated; a silencer not properly registered; and a false passport, Matthew Dates, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, said Sunday evening.

Some Cuban-American activists criticized the arrest as an attempt to appease Fidel Castro at a time when the Cuban president is stepping up his rhetoric against Posada and his associates.

The U.S. government was already in the uncomfortable position of being accused of harboring Posada, who is suspected of terrorism, even as it wages a global war on terrorism. Now, Alvarez's arrest could raise the political stakes by pitting the Bush administration against some segments of the exile community, which has strongly supported the president.

Federal agents arrested Alvarez at his Belle Meade home about 1 a.m. Saturday, just hours after executing a search warrant in his Hialeah office, said Kendall Coffey, Alvarez's lawyer.

It was not clear whether the charges were directly related to Posada, who is wanted by both the Cuban and Venezuelan governments for his alleged role in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner and a string of bomb attacks in Havana in 1997-98.

REACTION TO ARREST

Alvarez's arrest shocked his friends and many in the exile community who say it was a major propaganda victory for Castro. The Cuban leader has been pressuring the U.S. government for months to take action against Alvarez and others, who Castro claims helped smuggle Posada into the country in March.

''Castro has got to be really happy about this because there was a week of rumor and speculation about his health, and the week ends up with what he will trumpet as a victory against the Miami Cuban-American community,'' Coffey said. "Santiago Alvarez has not violated the laws of this country.''

A federal law-enforcement source said it was a ''pure coincidence'' that Alvarez's arrest occurred the day after a Cuba-based group ran a full-page ad in The New York Times denouncing Posada. The official said the timing of Alvarez's arrest had nothing to do with Castro or any pressure he was trying to exert on the U.S. government.

Coffey said he is concerned that the government will try to charge Alvarez in a court outside Miami-Dade County to help secure a more favorable jury for the government's position.

PROTEST PLANNED

At least one Cuban exile group, Vigilia Mambisa, plans to protest Alvarez's arrest outside the federal courthouse in downtown Miami, Mambisa President Miguel Saavedra said.

''Every time Castro complains about something, this government does whatever they have to so that he doesn't get mad,'' Saavedra said.

Alvarez, 64, became widely known in South Florida this year as the most outspoken supporter of Posada, who has been accused of anti-Castro terrorism around the hemisphere.

Alvarez said he helped shelter Posada in Miami until federal agents arrested him in May on charges of entering the country illegally.

In late September, a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Posada could not be deported to Cuba or Venezuela because he likely would be tortured there -- a decision that angered the governments of both nations.

The Cuban government's campaign against Alvarez goes back years. In 2000, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez-Roque said in a televised speech that Alvarez conspired with other exiles to try to kill Castro at the Ibero-American summit in Panama City that year.

Alvarez denied the allegation.

ALLEGED PLOT

Havana also accused Alvarez of financing a botched terrorist mission to Cuba in 2001. The alleged plot failed after Cuban authorities arrested three Miami-Dade County men who were trying to land on the island with four AK-47 assault rifles, one M-3 rifle with a silencer and three Makarov pistols.

In a bizarre twist, one of the arrested men, Ihosvani Surís de la Torre, called Alvarez from prison while Cuban agents recorded the conversation. Surís said he was well and asked for instructions from Alvarez. He mentioned the popular Tropicana nightclub in Havana, implying that it might be a possible target.

''The other day, when you told me about the Tropicana, do you want me to do something there?'' Surís asked.

The man identified as Alvarez responded: "If you want to do that, so much the better. Makes no difference to me.''

When asked about the tape earlier this year, Alvarez told The Herald that when he talked with the man, he knew that Surís was in the custody of Cuban agents at the time.

CLOSE RELATIONSHIP

Alvarez's ties to Posada run deep.

Last year, Alvarez paid for an executive jet to fly Posada from Panama to Honduras after the Panamanian president pardoned him and three other exiles who were serving sentences in connection with an alleged plot to kill Castro in 2000.

A federal source told The Herald that agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement suspect that Alvarez recently received counterfeit Guatemalan passports, the basis for the search warrant.

Alvarez is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate at 1:30 p.m. today.

Ever since reports surfaced that Posada had sneaked into the United States last March, Castro has repeatedly accused Alvarez of smuggling him into Miami aboard Alvarez's fishing boat, the Santrina.

Castro has cited the Santrina's voyage to the Mexican resort of Isla Mujeres, near Cancún, in mid-March, when the boat ran aground outside the harbor. Alvarez acknowledged in an interview earlier this year that he was in Isla Mujeres in mid-March, but said the trip was a maiden voyage for the overhauled boat.

''I am absolutely innocent,'' Alvarez said. "We made contact with two or three people. I can't say that [the trip] had absolutely nothing to do with Posada because I've been in touch with him for years, but I can say that I didn't bring him. Santrina didn't bring him.''

Mexican government documents obtained by The Herald showed that the Santrina arrived at Isla Mujeres on March 15 with five passengers: Alvarez, Jose Hilario Pujol, Ruben Lopez Castro, Gilberto Abascal and Osvaldo Mitat. Pujol was listed as the captain.

The exit permit provided to the Santrina by the Mexican government, signed by port Captain José Luis Ibarra Rojo, said the group picked up no passengers while they were there.

Alvarez said the boat, which was recently docked on the Miami River, is owned by a nonprofit group that he started, Caribe Dive & Research Foundation. The purpose of the foundation, according to Alvarez, is to teach youths and recent Cuban arrivals to dive and respect marine ecology.

The boat's U.S. registration with the Department of Homeland Security says it belongs to the Caribe foundation and is used for recreation.

Pujol and Mitat also told The Herald that they did not bring Posada to Miami on the Santrina.

POSADA'S TRAVELS

Posada told The Herald earlier this year that he entered the United States in a car through the Mexican border. But on his way to the border, Posada said, a friend drove him from Guatemala into Belize and then into the Cancún area of Mexico.

That was about the same time that the Santrina was docked at Isla Mujeres. Posada declined to say whether he met Alvarez there.

Alvarez's longtime lawyer, Juan Zorrilla, said he visited Alvarez in jail Saturday.

''He feels that it's unfortunate,'' Zorrilla said. "That Castro has initiated this.''

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