[Cincinatus' Wife]

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]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Communist Spies For Castro - Cuba Unmasks Spies Among Dissidents *** HAVANA - For years they were familiar faces in Cuba's opposition movement: the elderly man with a black beret, the reporter who used a cane, the efficient secretary. But last week, after the government locked up 75 of its most vocal critics, their real identities became known: government spies. "The True Faces of the Nation" is what the Communist Party daily Granma called them: as many as a dozen men and women who faked opposition to Fidel Castro's government to gather facts and figures about the dissidents.

Several of the undercover agents were so trusted by American diplomats that they had permission to use computers whenever they wished. The unmasking underscored the efficiency of the Cuban government's intelligence services and sent a strong message to diplomats and dissidents alike. "No one in Cuba is sucking their thumb," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said last week, defending the crackdown. "What we have said here is just a part of what we know." ***