"It was a really big blow, but there are enough dissidents out of jail. We are regrouping," the son of a founding father of Cuba's ruling Communist Party told Reuters. Roca said it would take months before disabled dissident groups could raise their heads again. Western diplomats in Havana wonder whether Cuba's small and divided opposition groups will be able to regain momentum after so many were given severe prison terms of up to 28 years.
The crackdown dealt a devastating blow to a nascent opposition movement that had raised its voice last year calling for democratic reforms to the one-party state while enjoying a rare period of official tolerance. Particularly shocking was the number of undercover security agents who surfaced at the trials as witnesses to reveal that they had been posing as dissidents, in some case for decades. "The damage to the dissidents is enormous. I don't know how they will recover now," said a European ambassador. "Who can they trust now, after it turns out that even leading figures were agents for 10 years?" the diplomat added. ***
In the last month, Cuba has imprisoned 75 dissidents for terms of up to 28 years in a move to stamp out pro-democratic opposition to Cuban President Fidel Castro's one-party state. It shocked human rights organizations two weeks ago with the execution by firing squad of three men who hijacked a ferry in a bid to cross the Florida Straits to the United States.
The Cuba Policy Foundation has been a driving force behind recent efforts in Congress to lift the four-decade-old U.S. economic embargo. The group argued the embargo has failed in its objective of promoting democratic change in Cuba and has hurt sales opportunities for U.S. farmers and other exporters. Brian Alexander, former executive director of the foundation, said the disbanded group still believes the United States would benefit from increased economic ties with Cuba. "But we also feel that under Fidel Castro significant change in Cuba will be very hard to come by. I hate to use the phrase 'death watch,' but the man has made it clear that unilateral efforts by the United States at improving relations will be rebuffed and they will be rebuffed violently," he said.
The group's chairman, William Rogers, was a top State Department official for Latin American and economic affairs during the administration of former President Gerald Ford in the 1970s. Alexander said the group received its funding from a number of sources, including companies and individuals interested in seeing the embargo ended. The Cuba Policy Foundation will cease its daily operations, but remain in existence as a corporation, he said.[End]
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Sally Grooms Cowal's group.