Fidel Castro

This is a LINK to articles since April 21, 2001 about Cuba and the communist threat - CHILDREN'S CODE At this LINK is a LINK to many Elian articles. Below I will post similar articles since the FR format changed and locked posts to this LINK. Please add what you wish to this thread.

Eyes Wide Open--[Excerpts] The Los Angeles kids, chosen for their photographic skills and their ability to work with others, represented the Venice Arts Mecca, a nonprofit organization that brings volunteer artists together with youngsters from low-income families to nurture their creativity in areas ranging from literary arts to photography. They looked. They listened. They photographed. And they took notes for their journals.

…….Before embarking on their adventure, the kids--who were joined by two young people from Washington, D.C., and accompanied by adult mentors--studied the sociopolitical history of South Africa, including apartheid. All were Latino or African American or a mix of the two, and were encouraged to think about their own identity, their own experiences with racism.

……..Before embarking on their adventure, the kids--who were joined by two young people from Washington, D.C., and accompanied by adult mentors--studied the sociopolitical history of South Africa, including apartheid. All were Latino or African American or a mix of the two, and were encouraged to think about their own identity, their own experiences with racism.

…..At the conference exhibit hall, the L.A. kids mounted a photo exhibition showing the underbelly of America. There were bleak images of life on an Indian reservation, of the homeless in Los Angeles. It was an eye-opener to some South Africans, who thought everyone in America was rich. "They were absolutely shocked," said Lynn Warshafsky, executive director of Venice Arts Mecca.

In turn, the L.A. group was surprised at the degree of anti-American sentiment, something they had to process. "They had to ask themselves questions they'd never asked before" about how others see them, Warshafsky said.

……..For Eamon, the highlight was hearing Fidel Castro speak. "I had thought of him as seriously evil. I realized he's not evil, he's doing what he thinks is best. He has this sort of demeanor about him. Whether you like him or not, you respect him. It opened my eyes." [End Excerpts]

Communist Revolt Is Alive, and Active, in the Philippines - "tactical alliance" with the Muslim insurgents ***A nationwide movement that feeds on the country's widespread poverty and government abuses, the Communist rebels - the New People's Army - pose a greater potential long-term challenge, according to analysts, than does the Muslim insurgency in the south that today preoccupies the military, as well as the United States. Active in a number of areas around the country, the insurgents generally operate in small units, although they sometimes carry out attacks with as many as 100 or 200 fighters.

Here in the shadow of Mount Arayat, a rebel stronghold, villagers say the Communists are more active than ever. "Do I feel safe?" said Father Sahagun. "Who feels safe in a place like this? Nobody feels safe." Adding to the danger, the Communists have threatened to form a "tactical alliance" with the Muslim insurgents, who are fighting a separatist war on the southern island of Mindanao and on smaller neighboring islands. Some of the Muslims are believed to have links with terrorist groups associated with Al Qaeda.

The United States has placed one small, violent band, Abu Sayyaf, on its list of terrorist organizations and earlier this year offered to send some 2,000 troops to help fight it. It is the much larger group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, with which the Communists have been in contact. Last August, at the request of the Philippine government, Washington also added the Communist insurgency and its front organization, the National Democratic Front, to the list.***

Draft to U.N. Does Not Condemn Cuba As Castro Jails Scores of Dissidents (Kick the UN to Havana) *** GENEVA - A resolution presented Wednesday to the top U.N. human rights body does not include a condemnation of Cuba's record, a rare move that immediately drew protests from rights campaigners. The activist groups charged that just last week Cuba arrested scores of dissidents, accusing them of conspiring with American diplomats in Cuba to encourage opposition to the communist government.

The annual meeting of the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission has censured the communist island for its lack of democracy and free speech every year over the past decade except 1998. But in wording that will likely draw U.S. protest as well, the draft measure produced by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay simply asks Cuba to accept a visit by a U.N. monitor appointed earlier this year by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Censure by the U.N. body brings no penalties but draws international attention to a country's rights record.

A spokesman for the U.S. mission to U.N. European offices in Geneva said only that the United States supported the efforts of the sponsoring nations to address the human rights situation in Cuba. In Cuba, at least 75 people, including independent journalists, been arrested since the crackdown was launched last week, according to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation. ***

After 40 years Castro Regime knows how far to go and when, experts say of crackdown*** Despite worldwide condemnation of Cuba's recent crackdown on dissidents, Fidel Castro's government once again appears likely to escape any damaging consequences, according to a variety of policy analysts. The manner in which the Cuban government has orchestrated the moves designed to silence human rights activists, the analysts say, displays the various techniques and tactics Castro has used over the years to remain in power and to avoid complete isolation within the international community.

These include well-calculated timing -- in this case, amid a major world crisis that distracted international attention; knowing where to draw the line, such as avoiding the arrest of Cuba's best-known dissident, Oswaldo Payá; and taking actions that can later be reversed, to portray the government as lenient. ''Castro is a master of international theater,'' said Steve Johnson, a policy analyst for Latin America at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. ``This is all part of a calculated effort to keep people cowed.'' ''But it's a kind of reversible measure that can be taken,'' he said. ``It strikes fear and will always work to their advantage to lighten up and let people out later because then it shows some progress.''***

Crackdown in Cuba / A reminder that Castro is still a tyrant*** Criticism of current American policy toward Cuba tends to focus on the fact that it is monolithic, basically waiting for the death of Fidel Castro before it evolves into something more nuanced. Another growing group of critics of present policy appreciates growing U.S. export sales to Cuba, particularly by American farmers and pharmaceutical companies. They lament that Cuba is still obliged to pay cash, because U.S. banks cannot extend credit.

Another group of critics of current U.S. policy focuses on the electoral aspects of the issue, particularly the fact that President Bush's brother, the governor of Florida, draws votes from the Cuban-American exile community in Florida, some of whom still hold the Democrats responsible for what they consider to be the selling down the river by the Clinton administration of Elian Gonzalez in 2000.

Then there are the tourists and those in the travel industry who profit from Americans' visits to Cuba. Cuba is, in fact, an interesting and attractive Caribbean destination, perhaps competitive in charm and cost with Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and other tourist spots.

What the "Fidel Castro is really a cuddly agrarian reformer" group may have missed is that over the past week or so the Castro regime has arrested as many as 75 economists, librarians, journalists and human rights activists -- in sum, pretty much the active opposition to his regime. Some of them were arrested for being too much in communication with the wrong Americans, officials of the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Cuba, where American diplomats are based absent U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba.***

Castro laments American, Iraqi deaths in war HAVANA - President Fidel Castro, who has repeatedly criticized any U.S. military involvement in Iraq, said he was saddened by the deaths in the opening days of the conflict. "Every death is painful for us, both the young Iraqis and the American soldiers that die, whether it's 1, 10, or 100," Castro said. The Cuban leader's comments late Saturday night were his first on the war since it began, and he expressed concern about any psychological impact of days of prolonged fighting.

"It's not a just a question of taking care of the oil wells. You have to be concerned about how this will affect the mental health of millions of people," he said. He said he was particularly concerned about the effects of the bombings on Iraqi women and children. Castro also insisted many people around the world were disturbed by the "colossal spectacle brought on by those extremely powerful bombs" being broadcast live on television. ***

Thousands rally on Calle Ocho - Continuing call to change Cuba's regime*** A 12-block-long surge of demonstrators, most of them Cuban Americans, flowed across the heart of Little Havana on Saturday to pump up support for a litany of struggles that stretched from the future of Cuba to the war in Iraq. With chants of ''Long Live America!'' and ''Long Live A Free Cuba!'' they applauded the Bush administration's tough stance against terrorism and likened Cuba's Fidel Castro to Iraq's Saddam Hussein. But the sea of red, white and blue flags along Southwest Eighth Street, known more commonly as Calle Ocho, also conveyed one distinct message: that the exile community in Miami has not shifted to a more moderate position in bringing about democratic reform in Cuba, despite recent polls indicating that today's exiles favor a more pragmatic approach.

''All those people going around with their little surveys should take a look at Calle Ocho,'' an animated U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, R-Miami, said to resounding applause. ``The exile community does not get confused. It does not make mistakes. The ones who are mistaken are those who are trying to discourage us.''

Carlos Saladrigas, chairman of a prominent Cuban-American organization that has commissioned several polls on the exile community, said the rally did not contradict the results of surveys by his group and The Herald. ''To pretend that a march or a demonstration is an indicator of the will of the majority is inaccurate and even demagogy,'' said Saladrigas, chairman of the Cuba Study Group. ``Polls are a statistical analysis with a high degree of accuracy. The polls indicate an overwhelming rejection of Fidel Castro and his regime and an overwhelming support of dissidents on the island. The more subtle change in Cuban Miami reflects different tactics for achieving democratic reform in Cuba.''

Some analysts said the show of support on Calle Ocho also was a display of political power. ''What we're reminded is that what matters in politics is the voters, and these are the voters,'' said Dario Moreno, a political science professor and director of Metropolitan Center, a Florida International University institute that studies the politics, demographics and the economy of South Florida.

Miami police estimated the crowd at 40,000, with marchers lined along Southwest Eighth Street between Fourth and 16th avenues. Organizers were tallying their own crowd estimate Sunday evening but said they believed the figure to be considerably higher. Díaz-Balart was joined at the demonstration by his brother U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, R-Miami, a freshman in Congress, and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami. Saturday's gathering comes as more than 600 exiles prepare to travel to Havana next month to meet with Cuban officials at the ''Nation and Emigration'' conference scheduled to take place April 11-13. Also fueling the debate is the arrest of nearly 80 dissidents on the island.***

Cuba - Saddam and Fidel are birds of a feather Despite existing half a world apart, Iraqis and Cubans have many things in common. Both are ruled by autocratic tyrants, both are poor and hungry, both must watch what they say about their leaders and both are denied ordinary human rights.

With the world's attention focused on the war in Iraq, Fidel Castro appears to be taking the opportunity to make life even more difficult for Cubans who don't agree with him. In recent days he has been clamping down on their activities and making dozens of nighttime arrests on trumped-up charges. Pro-democracy dissidents, journalists and intellectuals are being seized at gunpoint and their homes searched. Some face 20-year sentences for their alleged crimes. Castro has also forbidden U.S. diplomats to travel freely about the island. ***

A Cuban wakes up facing only two problems every day: lunch and dinner *** "They were on a life-support system with Moscow holding the plug," said Larry Pascal, a partner with Haynes and Boone, a Dallas law firm. When the money stopped flowing from the Soviets, the Cuban economy went into a tailspin. Many people lost their jobs, and everyone received even smaller rations. In 1993, Castro legalized the use of the U.S. dollar, thus encouraging Cuban exiles to send their families money. The money Cubans receive now can be spent in the black market or at state-owned grocery stores, which garner most of the cash.

That is a source of controversy for many Cuban-American exiles who don't want to see any financial support flowing to the Castro regime. "The notion is that with the desire of helping their own relatives, they're also giving aid and help and support to the Castro regime," said Locay, whose family escaped Cuba when he was 6. That's why bumper stickers saying "Don't support the regime. Stop sending money to Cuba" are common in Miami, where 840,000 Cuban-Americans live. But many Cubans continue to send money because every U.S. dollar eases the daily burden of survival. ***

Hijacked Cuban plane lands safely in Florida AP - 4/2/2003 - [Full Text] KEY WEST, Fla. -- A Cuban Airlines plane hijacked by a man claiming to have two grenades landed safely at Key West International Airport yesterday and the man then surrendered, officials said.

The hijacker was carrying a small boy when he left the plane, Key West police spokesman Steve Torrence said. The man, wearing a red jacket with ''America'' stitched in white on the back, was taken into FBI custody.

A bomb squad removed what appeared to be two grenades from the plane and officers were attempting to determine if they were genuine, he said.

The AN-24 plane landed at 11:34 a.m., about 50 minutes after it took off from Havana's Jose Marti International Airport. Some passengers had safely left the aircraft in Havana, but FAA spokesman Christopher White said 25 passengers and six crew members were still on board when the plane landed in Florida. The crew had been in contact with air traffic controllers in Miami during the flight, White said.

Major Ed Thomas of the North American Aerospace Defense Command said earlier that the Air Force had scrambled two F-15 Eagles from Homestead Air Force Reserve Base to escort the plane to Key West. It was the second hijacking from Cuba to Florida in less than a month. The plane was hijacked late Monday on a flight from Cuba's small Isle of Youth to Havana. Cuban authorities originally reported six children among the 46 people aboard the hijacked craft.

The hijacker demanded to be flown to Florida, but the plane first went to Havana because it didn't have enough fuel to make it to the United States, Cuban authorities had said. Some passengers left the plane at Havana nearly 12 hours after the man seized control. Two separate groups of as many as two dozen passengers, including a woman holding a small child, jumped from an open rear hatch into the arms of emergency workers.

Shortly after daybreak, a tank truck appeared to be refueling the craft. It would be extremely difficult for an average Cuban to get access to grenades in communist-run Cuba, where such weapons are heavily guarded by the military. It was also unclear how anyone would get a pair of grenades through the heavy security checks at Cuba's airports, especially in light of last month's hijacking on the same route. A government statement blamed the hijacking on what Havana says is the lax treatment that six other suspected hijackers received last month after forcing a twin-engine DC-3 from Cuba to Key West at knifepoint March 19.

The suspects in the earlier hijack were charged with conspiracy to seize an aircraft by force and violence and face a minimum of up to 20 years in federal prison. A judge granted them bail -- which is what angered the Cuban government -- but they remain behind bars because they have been unable to come up with the money.

The DC-3 carried 25 passengers and a crew of six. Sixteen of those aboard later opted to return to Cuba and the only non-Cuban on the flight, an Italian, was released in the United States. The rest of the passengers and crew members opted to stay in the United States under a US immigration policy that allows Cubans who reach American soil to stay and seek legal residency after a year. [End]

Passenger ferry hijacked in Cuba, US sends negotiators*** MIAMI (AFP) - US negotiators headed toward a Cuban ferry drifting in international waters after a group of people seized the boat in Havana forcing the crew to head toward Florida, officials said. The incident came barely a day after a Cuban airliner was hijacked to Florida. "We will send negotiators, they are on their way," said FBI spokeswoman Judy Orijuela said in Miami, adding that the boat was drifting in international waters in the Florida Straits between Cuba and the United States.

The father of one of the crew members said the boat was seized around 1:00 am (0500 GMT) as it was ferrying passengers between various neighborhoods along the Havana bay. "Fifteen or 16 people boarded the boat and forced the crew to head to the open seas," Gilberto Vargas, he told AFP. "Most likely they asked to go to Miami," 350 kilometers (220 miles) away, he said, speaking at the docks, before he was escorted to a police car. ***

Castro Seeks Life Sentences for Dissidents - Trial Today - Where's Jimmy Carter? *** The Cuban government has provided no information about the trials and it was unknown if international journalists would be granted access. Authorities here have accused those arrested of being traitors and mercenaries for the U.S. government. Cuban Parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcon said Monday that authorities had sufficient evidence to try the dissidents, adding that most nations had laws "to defend their sovereignty." The crackdown began when Cuban officials criticized the head of the American mission in Havana, James Cason, for his active support of the island's opposition.

Accusations that the detainees engaged in treason and are mercenaries "only show the repressive nature of the Castro regime and its fear of any sign of opposition to its ironclad rule," Roberto Zimmerman, spokesman for the U.S. State Department's Latin America bureau, said in Washington on Wednesday. The Cubans "are being tried for exercising their rights of freedom of expression and association," said Zimmerman.

The roundup followed several years of relative government tolerance for dissidents. During that time, the opposition grew stronger, more organized and more daring. Those arrested included independent journalists, directors of non-governmental libraries, members of opposition political parties and volunteers for the Varela Project, a pro-democracy petition drive.***

Castro's Imbeds Testify Against Dissidents at Circus Trial*** HAVANA - Two reporters who spent years working alongside Cuba's best-known independent journalist revealed at his trial Friday that they were undercover agents as they testified against him, the dissident's wife said. In another trial, of a dissident economist, a longtime secretary told a court that she also worked undercover and had been informing on her employer.

With such stunning courtroom revelations, Fidel Castro's government pressed ahead Friday the prosecution of 80 dissidents accused of working with U.S. diplomats to undermine Cuba's leadership. The well-known independent journalist Raul Rivero was among those being tried Friday in a second day of court proceedings aimed at crushing a small, but growing, opposition movement.

Rivero was being tried alongside Ricardo Gonzalez, the editor of De Cuba, a new general interest magazine publishing the works of Cuban journalists working outside state-controlled media. Prosecutors were seeking 20 years for Rivero and life for Gonzalez after being charged with working with a foreign power to undermine the government. Gonzalez is one of at least a dozen defendants who could face a life sentence. The trials are expected to end early next week with sentences issued days later. ***

Human rights for physicians in Cuba *** WHILE HUMAN RIGHTS groups in the United States rightly insist that the warring parties in Iraq take care to avoid harming hospitals and other medical facilities, closer to home in Cuba independent clinics and physicians have recently been deliberate targets of attack. The clampdown on dissidents across the island -- which coincided with the ground invasion of Iraq -- started with the dismantling of an independent medical clinic in the town of Pedro Betancourt, 150 kilometers east of Havana. More than 150 officers and paramilitaries searched and ransacked the private home of Miguel Sigler Amaya and his wife, Josefa Lopez Pena, where the clinic was housed, confiscating 90 pounds of medicines: antibiotics, pain killers, and vitamins. Police also seized a metered dose inhaler, an oxygen delivery system, a glucometer, some physiotherapy equipment, parental infusion appliances, and topical applications. The family's own medications were confiscated too. *** The operation was carried out in front of small children and their 71-year-old grandmother, Gloria Amaya, who was later hospitalized with a heart attack. Her two other sons (also dissidents) were detained as well.

While international attention is focused elsewhere, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro has ordered his state security to lock up almost 80 people: independent journalists, human rights activists, free trade union organizers, poets, economists, photographers, teachers, and physicians. Trials with harsh sentences for many may begin this weekend. In Cuba where achievements in health are the pride of the regime, dissent among physicians is particularly embarrassing. Yet some members of the medical community have complaints about the current system. They are concerned with the government's tendency to limit health facilities for Cubans, alleging that resources are shifted towards dollars-only ''health tourism,'' making medicines available only for people with foreign passports who can pay with hard currency. Irrespective of their political sympathies, physicians are worried that the extremely low professional salaries in Cuba are particularly dangerous for medical personnel, who must take extra jobs to make ends meet leading to absenteeism, overwork, or poor work ethics.

Under these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that an independent medical association started operating in November 2001. It is still awaiting legal registration. Physicians from across the island, some still in state jobs, others already ''separated'' from official medical institutions, joined forces to set up independent clinics and pharmacies where equipment and drugs prescribed by doctors from the state health system and sent from abroad, including from the Cuban Diaspora, are distributed free. The group's national coordinator is Dr. Marcelo Cano Rodriguez.***

Human rights for physicians in Cuba***WHILE HUMAN RIGHTS groups in the United States rightly insist that the warring parties in Iraq take care to avoid harming hospitals and other medical facilities, closer to home in Cuba independent clinics and physicians have recently been deliberate targets of attack. The clampdown on dissidents across the island -- which coincided with the ground invasion of Iraq -- started with the dismantling of an independent medical clinic in the town of Pedro Betancourt, 150 kilometers east of Havana. More than 150 officers and paramilitaries searched and ransacked the private home of Miguel Sigler Amaya and his wife, Josefa Lopez Pena, where the clinic was housed, confiscating 90 pounds of medicines: antibiotics, pain killers, and vitamins. Police also seized a metered dose inhaler, an oxygen delivery system, a glucometer, some physiotherapy equipment, parental infusion appliances, and topical applications. The family's own medications were confiscated too.***

Thought Crimes: Cuban Dissidents Reel Under 'Wave of Repression'*** "The U.S. is riding high. It thinks it can dictate to or run over anyone and ignore international law," said Wayne Smith, a former top U.S. diplomat in Cuba who is now at the Center for International Policy in Washington. "I'm sure the United States has no intention of having a go at Cuba. But I'm not sure the Cubans are convinced of that." Smith also said that Castro may be trying to tighten his control ahead of worsening economic times, which have historically led to unrest and attempts to flee the island. Cuba's sugar industry is barely surviving, and tourism is expected to drop significantly as the war continues. "There's a greater sense of uncertainty: Where is the money coming from?" Smith said. "So they are cracking down."

The sense of chaos has been heightened by the armed hijackings of two airliners and a ferry since mid-March. In the most recent incident, Cuban officials on Friday arrested several men who had hijacked a ferry with 50 passengers aboard and tried to make it to Key West before running out of fuel. Sanchez said the hijackings were "an expression of the discontent and desperation of the people of Cuba -- economic conditions are getting worse every day." The Cuban government has charged the dissidents with conspiring with the United States, citing their frequent meetings with James Cason, the top U.S. diplomat in Havana. Castro charges that the dissidents are funded by the U.S. government, which the State Department and the dissidents deny.

Paya and Sanchez said Castro is worried that the dissident community has grown from a few people to thousands willing to sign pro-democracy petitions. "Nothing they have done has been enough to paralyze this movement, and that's why they are scared," Paya said. Paya said he has gone daily to the courtroom where the trials are being held, but security forces have shouted obscenities at him and forced him to leave. Sanchez said he has tried to send observers to the trials but that security police stopped them before they could get within 100 yards of the building.

The extent of Castro's security network came into view Friday, when two reporters who spent years working alongside the country's best-known independent journalist, Raul Rivero, admitted at his trial that they were actually government agents. And in another trial, the secretary of dissident economist Marta Beatriz Roque also acknowledged spying for Castro.***

Hollywood's Darling, Liberals' Blind Spot***If the valiant Michael Kelly had not been killed in Iraq, he surely would have returned to whacking liberals and liberalism in his newspaper column. I would have read these columns -- it was hard not to read Kelly -- with some irritation but often with chagrin as well. When he said -- and I paraphrase him here -- that at the heart of American liberalism was a deep and inexplicable hole, I knew he was often right. Had he lived, he might have turned his attention to Cuba.

Just recently the government of Fidel Castro arrested about 80 dissidents and almost instantly brought them to trial -- if it can be called that. Foreign journalists and diplomats were excluded from the proceedings, in which 12 of the accused face life sentences. All of them are undoubtedly guilty of seeking greater freedom and on occasion meeting with visiting human rights activists. In Cuba, those are crimes.***

Opponents of US embargo on Cuba lament new crack-down on dissidents - It's Bush's Fault *** "The group of people that's running policy toward Cuba are ideologically committed to ending the regime, and I think would like nothing better than to see even the nominal cooperative relationship we have evaporate," said Sweig. Castro's response has been to send "a message internally to the Americans," said Sweig.

"The message is that 'if you force us, if you rub in our face the fact that you're helping to organize these dissidents, we're going to have to crack down on them, but if you pull back a little bit we'll allow them to function.'" According to Erikson, both the US and Cuban governments are interested in increasing hostilities: the United States, to boost areas of its own national politics, notably in favor of the anti-Castro community in Miami, and Castro, because he is fearful of losing power. ***

The Last Straw? White House lashes Cuba over dissident crackdown*** WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House pointed an accusing finger at Cuba's latest crackdown on dissidents, calling it proof President Fidel Castro's government remains a "totalitarian blight" on the region. "We are not going to reverse our policy of helping the dissidents," pledged national security spokesman Michael Anton, who said US President George W. Bush was "deeply concerned" about Castro's heavy-handed tactics. In the widest crackdown on opposition to the Castro government in years, dozens of dissidents, including journalists, economists and political reformers, were sentenced to lengthy prison terms this week. "The Castro regime's arrest, prosecution and sentencing of these brave and peaceful activists are repugnant reminders that the regime remains a totalitarian blight in an otherwise peaceful and democratic hemisphere," said Anton.

The US House of Representatives meanwhile unanimously approved a resolution condemning the arrests of 79 Cuban dissidents and the harsh sentences handed down to dozens of them. The measure passed by 414 "yes" votes and 10 abstentions, said the office of Florida Republican Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who co-sponsored it. "The House of Representatives sent a clear message today in support of the Cuban people's right to be free and in opposition to the brutal tyranny that oppresses Cuba," said Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American and hardline Fidel Castro opponent. "Today's vote honors the Cuban people as well as the American people," he said. ***

From Cuba, an Urgent Appeal to the World***My name is Elsa Morejon Hernandez. I'm a Christian woman who defends human rights in Cuba. My wish is that this letter serves as testimony to the world concerning the injustices and psychological terror presently suffered by those of us who struggle peacefully in our country for the freedom of all Cubans. My husband, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet González, president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, is a pro-democracy activist presently incarcerated and accused of committing crimes against Cuban State Security. He has been subjected to the physical and psychological mistreatment suffered by all those who oppose the present Cuban regime such as beatings, threats, humiliation, blackmail, intimidating interrogatories and incarcerations in cells deprived of light, along with insane individuals and common criminals. On several occasions, State Security tried to subject him to psychiatric examinations, pressured him to leave Cuba and has prohibited him from practicing medicine.

For his peaceful struggle in favor of human rights, my husband had to serve a three-year sentence in the maximum security prison "Cuba Si," 768 kilometers away from his family. Thirty-six days following his excarceration on Oct. 31, 2002, he was rearrested Dec. 6 as he was about to assemble with other activists to discuss human rights. He remained 19 days at a Police Precinct (PNR) in Havana, sharing a cell with five delinquents and sleeping on the floor. He was transferred Dec. 24, 2002, to the Combinado del Este Prison where he was confined to a cellblock with 30 common criminals. Since March 29, 2003, he has been imprisoned at Villa Marista, the general headquarters of the political police in Havana, and was summoned to appear Monday, April 7, before the Municipal Tribunal of 10 de Octubre. Authorities are requesting a 25-year sentence, based on article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code, which implies Crimes against State Security.***

Castro moves their cheese - Journalists, economists given 27 years in one day, Castro trials***Opposition political party leader Hector Palacios, among those originally recommended for a life sentence, received 25 years, said his wife, Gisela Delgado. "This is an injustice," Delgado said after leaving the courthouse. "We are as Cuban as members of the Communist Party." The Communist government accuses the dissidents of being on Washington's payroll and collaborating with U.S. diplomats to harm Cuba and its economy. In many trials, undercover government agents who infiltrated opposition ranks revealed their true identities to testify against dissidents.

International condemnation of the sentences was swift. The U.S. State Department said the proceedings amounted to a "kangaroo court." "The Castro government is persecuting journalists for acting like journalists. They're persecuting economists for acting like economists, and peaceful activists for seeking a solution to Cuba's growing political and economic crisis," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said. Jose Miguel Vivanco, of Human Rights Watch, criticized the trials as a violation of human rights norms and called on the United Nations Human Rights Commission now meeting in Geneva to condemn Cuba for the sentences, which he characterized as "draconian."***

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