Cuba Dissident Case Revives U.S. Debate *** HAVANA - Cuba's accusations about dissidents in the pay of Washington have revived a long-standing debate over whether using U.S. government funds to support the Cuban opposition does more harm than good. Some $20 million has been paid by the U.S. Agency for International Development to U.S.-based groups working to end communist rule in the island. They run Web sites, distribute pro-democracy books and pamphlets, and even provide food and medicine to the families of political prisoners. But some veteran activists say the money only gives Fidel Castro's government ammunition to persecute dissidents, like the 75 sentenced in recent days for allegedly conspiring with the United States. ***
Cuba's brutality an eye-opener for a new generation*** For many young Cuban Americans who grew up in South Florida, the oppression, the mock justice, the summary executions that their parents and grandparents recall from Fidel Castro's dictatorship had become the lore of a hellish place that they had never known. But now, for the first time in years, the Castro government is exhibiting the same type of behavior that drove their families into exile -- giving the younger generation a glimpse of modern-day oppression on the island.
It remains to be seen whether the crackdown on human-rights activists and executions of accused hijackers are enough to inspire them to carry on the anti-communist spirit of their elders. But at the very least, they say they see for themselves what the anti-Castro feeling is about. ''When you're young, the only opinions of dictatorships like Castro's are formed from what your parents and grandparents tell you,'' said Christy Fojo, 21, an English literature major at Florida International University. ``But when you see it happening now, it does open your eyes to the brutality going on there.''***