Castro Bugs Fox Because Fox Is Bugging Castro***Now that the air has been cleared, the Fox government is free to join more aggressively in the growing Latin outcry against the Cuban regime's human rights violations. It may even take the lead. With Mr. Fox's foreign minister Jorge Castañeda, a reformed Marxist, taking a special interest in human rights in Cuba, Castro's world image could take a real beating.***
Castro to Free Vladimiro Roca on Sunday - Gift to Carter ***Roca, along with three other prominent dissidents who had urged political reform on the Caribbean island, was arrested in 1997, convicted of inciting sedition in 1999, and sentenced to five years behind bars including time served. The other three -- economist Martha Beatriz Roque, lawyer Rene Gomez Manzano and academic Felix Bonne -- were sentenced to 3-1/2- to 4-year terms, and released in 2000. Roca, who is his late 50s and is the son of a founding father of Cuban communism, Blas Roca, had been due to complete his sentence and be released in 70 days, de Armas said. The early release appeared aimed at smoothing the way for Carter's May 12-17 visit to Cuba. ***