CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Dissident group released after attempted demonstration

Several Cuban dissidents were allowed to return home after a night of being detained for trying to participate in a public demonstration.

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Sun, Jul. 24, 2005.

Several Cuban dissidents picked up by authorities during the second attempt this month to launch rare public protests in Havana were released without charges Saturday.

But leaders vowed to continue their bold acts of defiance even as the fate of about a dozen detained dissidents remained unknown, clashes with government supporters continued and police presence on the street increased.

''We are going to continue to insist and we are calling for demonstrations across the island,'' Martha Beatriz Roque, Cuba's most prominent female opposition leader, told reporters in Havana after being released from custody Saturday. Roque, who in May also led an unprecedented two-day gathering of government opponents , said that while no charges were filed authorities warned that the attempted protest was viewed as a "provocation.''

Meanwhile in Washington, the State Department condemned the arrests.

''We call on the Cuban government to end this deplorable repression and immediately free all of those arrested. We urge other countries to join us in condemning these acts,'' said Adam Ereli, a spokesman.

The protest in front of the French Embassy was called to demand the release of all political prisoners, including six who remain jailed on ''public disorder'' charges for taking part in demonstrations on July 13 to commemorate the 1994 deadly sinking of a tugboat filled with Cubans trying to flee the island.

The six were among as many as 30 would-be protesters taken into custody July 13 after clashes with a contingency of government supporters who carried out raucous counterprotests.

Prominent dissident Vladimiro Roca told The Herald that police presence has since been bolstered.

''A large apparatus of security is roaming the streets, even in neighborhoods where they aren't usually visible,'' Roca said by telephone from Havana. "Police presence is heavy, especially in central and Old Havana.''

As many as 26 government opponents were detained Friday either at their homes or on their way to the French Embassy, human rights activists on the island reported. At least nine, including Roque, were allowed to return home but the whereabouts of the remainder were not known.

''Since they took him at 9:30 in the morning Friday, I know nothing,'' said Jorge Gómez Manzano, brother of opposition leader René Gómez Manzano.

''I've called everywhere and authorities keep saying they have no information,'' an agitated Gómez told the Herald in a telephone interview from Havana. "I'm very worried.''

René Gómez Manzano, a lawyer, and engineer Félix Bonne, who also was detained Friday, are the two other leaders who joined Roque in the creation of the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society. The assembly, which lists more than 300 opposition groups as members, has labeled Fidel Castro's government as ''Stalinist'' and called for the return of ''democratic traditions'' in the communist-ruled island.

Herald staff writer Pablo Bachelet contributed to this report.

Roque among 20 well-known dissidents retained by government

Martha Beatriz Roque, who spearheaded an unprecedented May 20 dissident meeting, was among 20 dissidents rounded up Friday.

By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press. Posted on Sat, Jul. 23, 2005.

HAVANA - As many as 20 dissidents were detained Friday, including the top three organizers of an unprecedented meeting of opposition members in Cuba this spring, said a veteran human rights activist who tracks the communist-run island's political prisoners.

Martha Beatriz Roque, who spearheaded the May 20 dissident meeting, was among those rounded up by state security agents, said Elizardo Sánchez of the nongovernmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. He said René Gómez Manzano and Félix Bonne, two other organizers of the May opposition meeting, were detained after chanting government supporters helped dissolve a protest they planned for Friday morning.

Sánchez said in a telephone interview that he confirmed the detentions through relatives. He said it was unclear if the opponents had been formally arrested or were detained temporarily to prevent them from attending the morning protest they planned outside the French Embassy.

About 200 people attended the Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society that Roque organized in May in Bonne's backyard. Dissidents and observers were surprised then that the government allowed the event to go ahead without interruption.

Roque and other organizers of that meeting had been expected at the Friday morning protest outside the embassy, but she never showed and her whereabouts were unknown until Sánchez confirmed her detention. Gómez Manzano's arrest was confirmed earlier in the day by his brother, Jorge Manzano.

A dozen dissidents showed up for the morning protest to demand the release of political prisoners, far fewer than expected.

''Our objective is to demand that the European nations take an interest in the political prisoners of our country,'' said opposition member Adolfo Lázaro Bosk.

At least 40 cases of dissidents being blocked from attending the event were reported by Sánchez earlier in the day.

Sánchez said that government supporters from the dissidents' neighborhoods organized counter-protests around their homes, making it impossible for them to leave for Friday's opposition event.

In some cases, dissidents planning to attend were visited and warned by state security agents not to go, Sánchez said.

Pro-government neighbors of dissident León Padrón Azcuy surrounded his home, sang the Cuban national anthem and shouted in support of the revolution and President Fidel Castro.

''That man belongs to the mercenary groups paid by the United States,'' Alberto Lisea said.

Exiles helped found high school

Once upon a time, La Salle High School moved across the Florida Straits with the help of 100 Christian brothers and six students.

By Joselle Galis-Menendez. jgalis-menendez@herald.com. Posted on Sat, Jul. 23, 2005.

It's 1961.

In Cuba, Fidel Castro has closed all Catholic churches, convents and schools, and banned priests and nuns from the island.

Over 100 Christian Brothers of La Salle arrive in Miami -- with no money. But with a small group of teenagers, they start one of the most successful private schools in Miami history.

These days, La Salle High School is known for its scenic campus on Biscayne Bay and a history that stretches from Cuba's communist revolution to the band of undaunted Christian brothers.

The expelled brothers arrived in Miami and were rushed to the Everglades Hotel for a warm welcome from six former students, including Jose Arellano, then about 16.

The brothers told the kids about their plan to open their school in Miami.

At first, Arellano said they were reluctant to set down roots like that.

''We still had hopes of returning to Cuba,'' he said.

But the reality of relocation soon set in. They took up the challenge to help open the Catholic school by helping rally support from the growing exile community.

And then, they approached the Archdiocese.

''It was actually Father Bryan Walsh who arranged the meeting with Bishop Coleman Carroll,'' Arellano said.

What the group didn't know was that the diocese already had its hands in another project aimed at protecting exiled children -- Operation Pedro Pan.

These children were being housed and Carroll and Walsh wanted a Catholic education for them.

So, the brothers got their funding for the relocated LaSalle.

''In a week they approved it and in three months they had it built,'' Arellano said. But there was more money that had to be raised.

''We raised about $5,000,'' Arellano said. "In those days that was all the money in the world.''

And the biggest expense was the bill at the Everglades Hotel, where the brothers had spent two weeks before finding housing.

''We laugh now, but it wasn't funny back then,'' he said. The diocese had already funded one Catholic school, Immaculata Academy for girls, with the Sisters of St. Joseph.

The school sat near Mercy Hospital and Vizcaya and the two schools shared the land and certain facilities.

La Salle High School was ready just in time for the 1961 school year with about 160 students from grades eight through 12.

In May of the following year, 30 graduates marched together in the face of exile, assimilation and suffocating odds.

Among them were the six students from the Everglades Hotel.

All 30 graduates moved on to colleges and universities.

In 1970, the school merged with Immaculata Academy and became Immaculata-La Salle High School. The school is run by The Salesan Sisters and its name was later changed back to La Salle High School.

In 2004, Arellano, whose two children Gaston and Diana now attend La Salle, and his five friends were inducted into their school's Hall of Fame.

''I could hardly believe my eyes,'' he said. "To think, we started this.''

Cuban system gains support in Venezuela

Two polls showed Venezuelans' support for Cuba's form of socialist government is increasing but remains unpopular with the majority.

By Phil Gunson, Special to The Herald. Posted on Fri, Jul. 22, 2005.

CARACAS - Venezuelans' support for Fidel Castro's model of government and the installation of socialism here has been growing, two recent polls show, although a majority remains critical of the Cuban system.

The polls suggest that President Hugo Chávez, Castro's closest ally, is succeeding in shifting public opinion toward the left as he pushes his ''revolution'' among a population that historically identified more with the values of Miami than Havana.

Chávez, whose own approval rates are running at over 70 percent, makes frequent pro-Cuba speeches, and more than 20,000 Cuban medical personnel and sports instructors work in poor neighborhoods here.

A poll released last weekend by the Caracas-based Datanálisis company showed 11.6 percent approved using Castro's Cuba as a model for Venezuela, while 63.2 percent said they were opposed.

The percentage of pro-Cuban sentiment represented a significant increase. In July 2002, in response to the same question, only 3 percent expressed support and more than 91 percent were opposed. As recently as this January, the support was under 6 percent.

Another nationwide poll, carried out by Seijas & Asociados in late May and early June, showed that about 48 percent of respondents preferred a socialist over a capitalist system, with less than 26 percent preferring the latter.

After years of denying that his ''Bolivarian revolution'' -- named after independence hero Simón Bolívar -- was socialist, Chávez now openly calls himself a socialist and attacks what he calls the ''perversions'' of capitalism.

Datanálisis director Luis Vicente León warned, however, that the various poll results must be analyzed ''with tweezers'' and do not necessarily mean that Venezuelans want a Cuban-styled system in their country.

Venezuelans, León said, associate the Cuban system not with socialism but with communism, which the majority abhors. ''There remains a very high level of rejection of extreme models such as communism,'' he said.

''Chávez has not succeeded with his discourse in diminishing people's association of capitalism with well-being and development,'' León told The Herald. "Nor has the opposition succeeded in demonizing socialism by reference to Chávez's relationship with Fidel.''

Venezuela and Cuba recently agreed to increase by the end of the year the number of Cuban medical personnel here to 30,000. The Information Ministry has reported that more than 9,000 Venezuelans have been treated in Cuba for everything from cataracts to heart disease.

''Socialism is just another word for the social work the government does,'' said Cuban doctor Angel Sosa, who works in a housing project in western Caracas. "Some people who come to the clinic are pro-government, others are not. We don't care what they think.''

The government clearly does, however, and has been using its Cuban-inspired health and social welfare programs as a major element in its electoral propaganda.

According to the Datanálisis figures, almost one in two Venezuelans does not believe Chávez intends to create a ''second Cuba,'' while about 37 per cent are convinced he does.

The poll also showed support for President Bush is running at less than 14 percent and for imitation of the U.S. system at under 16 percent.

''What the majority wants is a home-grown model,'' León said.

Cuban Vegas troupe granted asylum

Members of the Havana Night Club show defected to Las Vegas from Cuba in November. Now, the U.S. government has granted them asylum.

By David Ovalle, dovalle@herald.com. Posted on Fri, Jul. 22, 2005.

Members of Havana Night Club, the show that drew headlines when its members defected en masse last year from Cuba and settled in Las Vegas, will walk into a government office today to apply for something many Americans take for granted:

Social Security cards.

''Then, a new life starts,'' said Nicole Durr, the show's director.

The 49 dancers, singers and musicians this week received letters in the mail at their Las Vegas apartments with the word: They had finally been granted U.S. asylum.

Said Puro Hernández, the show's musical director: "Now comes the responsibility that comes with credit cards and bills. You have it all -- now you have to know how to manage it.''

The troupe defected in November and began an extended run at the Wayne Newton Theater at the Stardust Resort & Casino.

The show spans the history of Cuban music, starting from deep drums entrenched in the island's African roots, to the Spanish colonial era, the Tropicana cha-cha-cha pre-Castro days and the infectious reggaeton of today.

''This is great news and I'm glad they've been received as openly and generously as they have,'' said Joe Garcia, the former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, who lobbied for their visas.

Havana Night Club had performed across Europe and Asia and was invited to play in Las Vegas by entertainers Siegfried & Roy.

But troupe members couldn't obtain visas because of the chill in relations between Cuba and the United States.

After Durr proved to the U.S. State Department that the troupe operated independently of the Cuban government, visas were granted.

Cuba balked at letting them come, but amid international pressure -- from exile groups and even protests by cast members -- the Castro government relented.

Saying they would never be able to return to Cuba and perform, 51 of 53 members defected. Two of the defectors eventually went back to the island.

Gloria Estefan performed with the troupe in Las Vegas in December.

Later, professional baseball pitcher Orlando ''El Duque'' Hernandez, who had defected with the help of the same immigration attorney as theirs, also visited the show. He teared up after seeing the performance.

The troupe has since done two stints at the University of Miami's Convocation Center.

The group also made headlines in June when producers pulled from the market a CD that featured a music video that critics said promoted travel to Cuba. The show said the CD was produced well before the defections.

Havana Night Club's run has been extended at the Stardust until Sept. 4.

Big plans are in the works, said show director Durr, who promised the performance is being made even grander.

Posada's lawyer claims lack of evidence

Lawyers for Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles asked a judge to throw out the government's evidence against Posada, claiming it's based on hearsay and media reports.

By Alfonso Chardy and Oscar Corral, ocorral@herald.com. Posted on Wed, Jul. 20, 2005.

A lawyer for anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles is asking an immigration judge to throw out the U.S. government's case against his client, arguing that it hangs on hearsay testimony that Posada masterminded the bombing of Cuban tourist sites and other terrorist acts.

Attorney Eduardo Soto is also fighting Posada's deportation, saying that his client has had a relapse of skin cancer and has a worsening heart condition.

U.S. immigration authorities declined to comment on the motion.

Soto contends the case is tainted because it is partly based on an interview Posada gave a New York Times correspondent who likely will refuse to testify.

The Posada interview with The New York Times in 1998 is a key component in the U.S. government's case to deny him asylum because Posada reportedly acknowledged his involvement in the Havana blasts, which killed an Italian tourist.

The motion was filed in preparation for next Monday's immigration hearing in El Paso, where Posada will ask a judge to release him on bail. Soto said doctors had recently discovered that Posada is suffering from new manifestations of skin cancer and a heart condition.

A key point for Soto has always been that Posada has not been directly linked to an attack -- only via hearsay from supposed accomplices who have been convicted of attacks and have no credibility.

The closest link comes from Cuban investigative records, which The Herald reviewed in Panama. The records say that one of the Havana bombers linked Posada to the terror attacks in Cuba. U.S. immigration authorities don't cite the Cuban records found in Panama, where Posada and three accomplices were once accused of trying to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro.

CONFESSIONS

The Cuban case files contain signed confessions by one of the two convicted bombers -- Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena, who said Posada hired, paid and trained him for the attacks. At the time, Rodriguez said, Posada was using the alias Ignacio Medina.

''Medina visited him in his office and gave him a passport with a plane ticket, a visa and a tourist package for three nights at the Hotel Ambos Mundos, a Casio calculator, a detonator, an interface, a battery to put in a digital radio, a green nylon bag with explosives and markings of where to set the detonators,'' said the confession signed by Rodriguez.

Matthew J. Archambeault, a lawyer in Soto's office, called the Cuban investigation ''unreliable.'' Homeland Security declined to comment.

Cuba sent the files to Panama, hoping that country would extradite Posada to Cuba to stand trial, but Panama refused.

Cuba has been widely condemned for its lack of an independent legal system.

''It's a justice system that doesn't guarantee a right to a fair trial, doesn't guarantee judicial independence, and doesn't guarantee due process,'' said Joanne Mariner, deputy director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, which monitors human right abuses around the world.

Posada and three other Cuban exiles were convicted in Panama of endangering the public because they allegedly had explosives, but then-President Mireya Moscoso pardoned them last year.

According to the Cuban files, Rodriguez told investigators how Posada -- posing as Medina -- gave him instructions on where to place and how to assemble the explosives.

''Medina proposed placing an explosive device in one of the tourist sites in our country with the goal of discrediting tourism,'' Rodriguez's purported confession says. "As payment, Medina told Rodriguez he would be paid $1,000 plus the expenses of the trip and he agreed to it.''

On Aug. 3, 1997, Rodriguez walked into the lobby of the Hotel Melia Cohiba, slipped the bomb under a couch and left. It exploded the next day, causing damage but no injuries.

Rodriguez said he returned to El Salvador, and Medina paid him $1,000, then sent him back to Cuba: ''Medina gave him a briefcase with a false bottom, a pair of shoes, a container of shampoo, a tube of toothpaste, and a tube of deodorant all containing plastic explosives,'' the signed confession says.

Cuban authorities caught Rodriguez in June of 1998, as he tried to smuggle the explosives. He was convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad.

Also sentenced to death is Cruz. The Cuban government said he planted four bombs at three Havana hotels -- Chateau Miramar, Copacabana and Triton Hotel -- and at the landmark Bodeguita del Medio restaurant in colonial Havana. The Copacabana blast killed Italian national Fabio DiCelmo.

ANOTHER MAN

After his arrest, Cruz told Cuban investigators a man named Francisco Chavez Abarca hired him for the attacks. Cruz Leon never met Posada, but a Herald investigation discovered in 1997 links between Chavez and Posada.

Posada, in the 1998 interview with The New York Times, admitted a role in the bombings -- but he has since refused to repeat his confession.

The Herald first linked Posada to the bombings in a 1997 investigation, which found that he was the key link between the Salvadoran bombers and South Florida exiles who raised $15,000 for the operation.

Soto's motion said media reports included in the government's package cannot be used in the case because they cannot be corroborated.

Cuban spy ruling irks U.S.

The State Department rejected a ruling by a United Nations panel questioning the conviction of five Cuban spies.

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Wed, Jul. 20, 2005.

WASHINGTON - The State Department said Tuesday it would not accept a ''ridiculous and perplexing decision'' made by a United Nations panel last week, which ruled that the detention of five Cuban spies convicted in Miami was arbitrary and in violation of international law.

A senior official told The Herald the ruling was a ''politically motivated'' maneuver orchestrated by the Cuban government and added that other efforts within the U.N. to take up the case had been rejected.

'NOT LETTING THIS GO'

A U.S. response to the panel's ruling is under way.

''We have a number of ideas on how to respond,'' said the official, who cannot be named due to department policy but was speaking officially for the U.S. government. "We're not letting this go.''

The judgment came from the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, one of several sections within the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The group found that the five Cubans, convicted in Miami federal court in 2001, were denied full access to evidence and to their lawyers.

The panel also urged the U.S. government to ''adopt the necessary steps to remedy the situation,'' The Associated Press reported.

''The defendants in this case were tried in federal court and convicted for being covert agents,'' the state department official said. ''They've never denied being covert agents. It's outrageous.'' The official said the ruling calls into question the work of the U.N. panel, citing provisions that stipulate that the group is supposed to provide a platform for individual complaints "not for states to use to go after other states. It's a complete perversion of the process.''

FIVE MEMBERS

According to the U.N. website: "The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is the only nontreaty-based mechanism whose mandate expressly provides for consideration of individual complaints.''

Established in 1991, the panel includes five members, currently from Algeria, Spain, Iran, Hungary and Paraguay.

The five convicted Cubans -- Geraldo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labanino, Fernando González and René González -- were arrested in September 1998 and are serving sentences ranging from 15 years to life.

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