HAVANA - The first wave of dissidents rounded up in a nationwide crackdown went on trial Thursday as Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s government moved to wipe out growing opposition. Prosecutors sought life sentences for 12 of the 80 defendants. International media and foreign diplomats were excluded from the trials, the final phase of Cuba's harshest campaign against internal dissent in years. "This is a judicial Tiananmen," said opposition member Manuel Cuesta Morua, referring to the 1989 Chinese military assault on pro-democracy student protesters in Tiananmen Square. The recommended sentences of 15 years to life were aimed at "putting...
