Castro (not CNN) sends unequivocal message with execution of hijackers, crackdown

HAVANA (AFP) - Amid an international outcry over its crackdown on dissidents, Cuba sent a clear message to anyone who would destabilize the regime from within, summarily executing three men who tried to hijack a ferry to get to the United States.

An official statement said the men were tried "with full respect for their ... basic rights," convicted Tuesday and shot dead at dawn Friday.

Another four of the men involved in the hijacking of the ferry with some 40 people aboard were sentenced to life in jail, and one man to 30 years in prison. The three women who took part were sentenced to five, three and two years respectively.

A swift appeal was nixed by the Council of State, which is led by President Fidel Castro, the statement added.

The ferry was seized April 2 -- a day after a Cuban plane was hijacked to the United States -- and sailed halfway to the Florida coast before it ran out of fuel and was towed back to Cuba.

Eleven people reportedly armed with knives and hand guns took over the 15-meter (50-foot) long vessel and forced it to sail toward the United States.

The commuter craft and spent 20 hours in open waters before it was towed back to the port of Mariel 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Havana.

Cuba has been staunchly critical of the US policy dubbed "wet foot, dry foot," of granting asylum and US residence to any Cuban who manages to set foot on US soil, but turning back those stopped at sea. Havana claims the US policy encourages illegal and often dangerous emigration attempts.

Havana explained the death sentences saying they took into account "the seriousness of the events for the country's security, target of a sinister program of provocations fueled by the most extremist sectors of the US government and the Miami terrorist mafia with the lone objective of creating conditions and pretexts for aggression against our country."

Dissident Elizardo Sanchez, who leads the Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said he was "absolutely troubled, because by no means was a death penalty justified."

The executions followed a week of harsh sentences -- from six to 28 years in prison -- doled out to 75 dissidents rounded up in a recent crackdown and accused of being threats to state security, after trials lasting a few hours.

Prominent dissidents including journalist Raul Rivero and economist Marta Beatriz Roque were sentenced to 20 years in jail. Dissident physician Oscar Elias Biscet was sentenced to 25.

International condemnation has come from the United States and the European Parliament, which demanded the immediate release of the dissidents. Cuba insisted the sentences were an appropriate response to aggressive US policy toward the only communist, one-party system in the Americas.

"We have the right to defend our own political system and our right to self-determination," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told an almost four-hour press conference Wednesday, which included sheafs of documents and testimony from state agents who infiltrated dissident groups.

"We were patient, tolerant, but the activities of James Cason (the head of the US Interests Section in Havana) have forced us to enforce our laws," Perez Roque said, charging that the dissidents were paid agents of the United States.

The agents presented as having infiltrated dissident groups claimed in their testimony they were paid in US dollars by various NGOs or others affiliated with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and were given free access to the US Interests Section.

In Washington, the United States said it was pleased that Peru, Uruguay and Costa Rica introduced a resolution on Cuba to the UN Human Rights Commission urging Havana to allow a visit by the high commissioner's personal representative.

A State Department official added privately: "we condemn hijacking, which is an act of terrorism. (But) we believe strongly in the due process of law, including right to counsel and have a good amount of time to prepare a defense and proceedings with transparency and accountability."

"We are concerned that these executions may have been a result of summary proceedings which are a hallmark of totalitarian dictatorships like Cuba's."

The Roman Catholic bishops conference of Cuba condemned the executions saying in a statement "violence does not eliminate violence."

For years CNN has enjoyed a bird's eye view of Cuba from their bureau in Havana. Castro likes their coverage of his regime enough to allow them to remain and report to the world. Following is their report.

Cuban ferry hijackers executed - state TV - Friday, April 11, 2003 Posted: 3:58 PM EDT (1958 GMT) [Full Text] HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuba has executed three men convicted of hijacking a passenger ferry to sail to the U.S., Cuban state-run television reported Friday.

The firing squad sentences were carried out immediately after a Cuban court found the men guilty of terrorism.

They were part of a gang of approximately 10 involved in the April 2 hijacking in which the ferry, carrying at least 30 men, women and children, was forced to sail into the Straits of Florida, but ran out of fuel 30 miles from Havana.

Cuban officials towed it back to the Port of Mariel.

In a statement, the Cuban government said: "The maximum sentences [were] given out ... in response to these dangerous acts by the hijackers, [who] not only endangered the lives of many innocent people, but also endangered the security of the country."

During the hijack ordeal three passengers were released because of their physical conditions.

But the gang held knives to the throats of others and threatened to kill them if the vessel was not given enough fuel to carry them to the United States.

President Fidel Castro joined attempts to persuade the hijackers to free the passengers.

After about three hours, military officials boarded the ship and freed the hostages without firing a shot.

The executions come in the wake of two plane hijackings in recent weeks and amid a crackdown on civil liberties that has unfolded as world attention has been focused on Iraq.

Since the U.S.-led war on Iraq began last month, 75 dissidents have been sentenced to as many as 27 years in prison. [End]

CNN Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella contributed to this story.

____________________________________________________________________

CNN didn't mention the people just arrested and given one day show trials before being sent to rot in Castro's prisons are independent journalists trying to do the job they won't do, report the hell of living under communism.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fidel Castro - Cuba

French Sonia Arbib, 20, left, and Deborah Jaoui, 21, two of the tourists who were among the hostages when Cuban hijackers kidnapped a ferry in Havana, Cuba, last week, are seen Friday April 11, 2003 in Havana, Cuba. They said they were shocked to hear about the execution of three of the hijackers Friday. After the arrest April 3 in Mariel, west of Havana, the women pleaded with Cuban President Fidel Castro, who was at the scene, to show leniency in the trials of the hijackers. The women said the hijackers treated them well, in particular one of them they had befriended, Barbaro Leodan Sevilla. Sevilla was killed by firing squad Friday. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)

Ramona Copeyo Castillo, mother of executed hijacker Lorenzo Enrique Copeyo Castillo, shows her anger at the death of her Son(AFP/Adalberto Roque)

My brother was not a terrorist, woman says - to Castro "We are like dogs BY ELAINE DE VALLE edevalle@herald.com [Full Text] The half-sister of one of the men executed by Cuba boldly denounced the government in a telephone interview with The Herald from her aunt's home in Old Havana.

''We went to the trial and the sentence was very harsh. They treated my brother and the others like dogs. They said they were going to be sanctioned to death. Just like that. They used those ugly words, sancionado a muerte,'' said María Ester Montoya Isaac, sister of Jorge Luis Martínez Isaac.

She said her brother was not a terrorist.

''They never proved that they mistreated anyone on board the ferry. On the contrary, everyone said they tried to maintain the peace. The one with the gun, he shot into the air and into the water, but never threatened anyone,'' Montoya said.

She characterized the trial as a joke and said her brother never got due process.

''We appealed the same day as the trial, but they never gave us time to get a good lawyer. The next day was the appeal, at 7 p.m. I had to go and find the same lawyer,'' Montoya said. ``His lawyer said that they were not terrorists, that they were victims of the Cuban Adjustment Act. That Fidel himself had not called them terrorists, but pirates.

``He said that here, in this country, they were constructing many hospitals and policlínicos [all-purpose clinics] with the idea to save lives, not kill.''

But, apparently, the argument did not sway the state.

Relatives didn't know that it would be their last visit when they saw Jorge Luis Martínez on Thursday morning.

His sister said they got a call to come to the prison for a visit. Her mother and stepfather went with her and another sister.

'He was drugged with pills. He said the guards were drugging him. He was like a crazy man. He kept screaming, `They're going to kill me! They're going to kill me!' We told him to calm down,'' María Ester Montoya said, her voice shaking with anger.

She said authorities only allowed them to visit for 10 minutes. ``We hardly had time to talk to him. When we left, a colonel came up to us and told us in a very low voice that the Supreme Court had upheld the sentence.''

But they didn't know it would come that fast, she said.

About 6 a.m. Friday, someone called the family to tell them they had to go to the Colón Cemetery for the funeral of Jorge Luis Martínez Isaac. But by the time they arrived at the historic cemetery, her brother had already been buried.

``It is a criminal act, what they've done. My family is devastated. My mother is having a heart attack, she is hysterical. She is going crazy. And my other sister is controlling her blood pressure with pills.

''He was shot in less than 24 hours,'' his sister cried. ``We want the world to know what happened here. They say that there is no death penalty in this country. The world needs to know who El Comandante Fidel Castro is. He was the one who directed all of this, the trial, the firing squad, everything.''

She said many families were still trying to appeal the quick sentences handed down earlier this week and that some had been turned away because they didn't have the required 150 pesos [about $7.50] for the paperwork to be processed.

``Many families did not have the money to ask for the appeal. That is an injustice. There were no international journalists.''

A brother held in detention for lacking identification papers has been subjected to harsher treatment and slapped with a 1,000-peso bond after authorities found out he was related to one of the accused hijackers, Montoya said.

And Montoya's sister-in-law, Dania Rojas Gongora -- a 26-year-old from Holguín -- was sentenced to two years in prison for her part in the ill-fated hijacking attempt.

''She did nothing wrong,'' Montoya insisted. ``She went because she was in love with my brother, but she didn't do anything.

``None of them did.

``There were declarations that at no time did they threaten anybody. They used the arms to see if they could flee to the United States. It was the only solution.''

She said the family has been living in the dining room of a state-run labor center for nearly a year since part of their apartment building in Old Havana collapsed and housing authorities condemned the structure, ordering that it be demolished.

''They said we would be here for 24 hours and it's been a year now,'' Montoya said.

``We are like dogs.'' [End]

Castro's crackdown © St. Petersburg Times published April 12, 2003 [Full Text] Fidel Castro apparently thought the world's attention on the war in Iraq would leave him free to carry out another crackdown on political dissidents without anyone noticing. Dozens of peaceful Cuban activists, writers and other opponents of Castro's regime have been subjected to closed trials and sentenced to jail terms averaging 20 years. Most were arrested on trumped-up charges of conspiring with U.S. diplomats to undermine the government.

Among the 80 people arrested over the past month are some of Cuba's most respected voices: political activists Hector Palacios and Osvaldo Alfonso Valdes; economist Marta Beatriz Roque; physician Oscar Elias Biscet; human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez; journalist Ricardo Gonzalez. From all evidence, they and the other defendants are guilty of nothing more than espousing political ideas that the Castro dictatorship considers dangerous.

On Friday, Castro's crackdown continued. Three men charged with terrorism for hijacking a passenger ferry earlier this month were executed after short trials. At least they were accused of real crimes, but their trial violated all standards of due process and their death sentences were notably harsh.

After more than 40 years of oppressive rule, Castro isn't likely to change his stripes, but the timing of this crackdown is especially unfortunate. The Cuban people have suffered the brunt of cultural and economic sanctions that have failed to weaken Castro's grip on power. Recently, U.S. and Cuban officials have made tentative progress toward new ties that would allow for increased American aid to Cubans in need and increased contact among families divided between the two countries. Cuban-American communities in South Florida and elsewhere in the country have been increasingly supportive of those efforts.

But Castro doesn't appear to be capable of moving past the perverse agenda that has defined his teetering revolution. Instead of taking steps to encourage a political thaw that would improve the lot of his own people, he has reverted to old habits, punishing those who have the courage to speak the truth about Cuba's tyranny. In his vain effort to bottle up the pressure for reform, he has increased the odds that the overdue end of his regime will come with a bang, not a whimper. [End]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.