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HAVANA — With shouts of "Freedom" and the singing of the Cuban national anthem, more than 200 people on Friday opened a rare opposition assembly in communist Cuba, uninterrupted by authorities despite the expulsion of European lawmakers, journalists and others who planned to attend. Martha Beatriz Roque (search), the meeting's lead organizer and a former political prisoner who attempted a similar gathering nine years ago, called it "a point of departure" for future work. "There will be a before and after for May 20 in Cuba," Roque said, claiming it was the first such gathering in Fidel Castro's (search) 46...

<p>HAVANA - (KRT) - Under a hand-painted banner proclaiming, "The homeland belongs to all," about 150 Cuban dissidents from across the island gathered for a landmark opposition meeting to demand freedom for political prisoners and debate the future of their fledging civic and political organizations.</p>

PRAGUE/BERLIN - A Czech senator and a German member of parliament were expelled from Cuba for planning to meet dissident opponents of Cuban president Fidel Castro, officials in Prague and Berlin confirmed on Friday, while two Polish journalists were detained for the same reason. The European Union responded on Friday by threatening to reimpose sanctions on Cuba. In Brussels, the European Commission expressed regret at the move. "These are not the right steps," said a Commission spokesman, warning the EU could again impose sanctions on Cuba as early as June. Previous EU sanctions in protest over human rights shortcomings and...

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- In what organizers called an unprecedented event, dissidents from groups opposed to Fidel Castro's communist regime gathered publicly Friday and chanted "Down with Fidel." "Freedom! Freedom!" the group of more than 100 delegates cheered in the yard of Felix Bonne, a veteran dissident, in a working-class section of Havana. Castro's regime would not allow the use of a theater or hotel for the assembly. Participants included members of dissident groups that are sometimes at odds but share the goal of driving Castro from power. "We think this is the first democratic assembly that has ever been...

Cuban dissidents meeting in Havana listen to a pre-recorded message from president Bush. "No tyrant can stand firm forever against the strength of freedom," said the president in Spanish. "Because the hope for freedom is in each of our hearts. So today, we are certain that Cuba soon will be free." One of the Cuban dissidents gathering for an Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba proudly displays his tattoos with the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers.More than 200 dissidents are currently meeting in the house of one of Cuba's best known dissidents. Their first free vote in...

Czechs, Slovaks, Poles firm in support for Cuban dissidents 15.4.2005 - Rob Cameron The U.N. Human Rights Commission last week passed a U.S.-sponsored proposal condemning Cuba for its record on human rights. The vote has been widely welcomed in Central Europe where countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland are highly critical of Fidel Castro and his regime. But it wasn't always so. Before 1989 the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were close allies of fellow Communist Cuba. The voice of former Czech President Vaclav Havel, speaking in a recorded message to a crowd of people in...

Inmates in a Cuban prison set mattresses and other materials ablaze in violence that left several prisoners seriously injured, a veteran rights activist said Thursday. The Tuesday night disturbance, later controlled by Cuban authorities, was the second in less than 20 days at the Combinado del Este Prison, which houses thousands of inmates. Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Havana-based Cuban Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation, learned of the disturbance from prisoners' relatives who were contacted by authorities. Cuba's communist government issued no official report on the incident at the prison in Havana, and it was unknown how the disturbance...

Cuban dissidents have made emotional appeals from Havana for the United States and Europe to do more to help the opposition to President Fidel Castro. They spoke in an unprecedented telephone call Thursday directly to a congressional hearing marking the second anniversary of a 2003 Cuban government crackdown on dissidents. Three of Cuba's best-known dissidents told lawmakers on the House Western Hemisphere and Human Rights Subcommittees they and others campaigning for democracy still risk harsh reprisals in retaliation for their activities. Rene Gomez Manzano is a lawyer and key dissident leader imprisoned in the late 1990s for his pro-democracy activities....

HAVANA -- After Cuban authorities released seven political prisoners recently, some of us, wives of imprisoned Cuban dissidents, received calls from abroad rejoicing over these "liberations" and over the improved human rights situation in Cuba. But these were not liberations; the regime simply released a few sick men on parole. And in any event, all 75 dissidents detained in the spring crackdown of 2003 are prisoners of conscience, recognized by Amnesty International. All should be freed. Foreigners tend to attribute these releases to pressures from outside (the United States or the European Union) or as a nice gesture by Fidel...

Three Cuban dissidents in a telephone hookup from Havana told a congressional panel on Thursday that allowing American tourists to visit the island would bring corruption, not democracy. As members of a House of Representatives International Relations subcommittee praised them for defying Cuban President Fidel Castro, the dissidents endorsed U.S. policies to isolate his government. "We are supporting what you are doing there because we have a lot of people suffering in jail. We need democracy," said Martha Beatriz Roque, leader of the Cuban Dissident Working Group. Castro "could present it as a great political victory" for himself if the...

LONDON - Cuban-born novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante, regarded as one of the most original voices in 20th-century Spanish literature and an outspoken critic of Fidel Castro (news - web sites), has died in London. He was 75. Cabrera died in a hospital Monday from septicemia, said Carmen Pinilla, a spokeswoman for his literary agents, the Balcells agency in Barcelona, Spain. Septicemia is a type of blood infection. The writer, a London resident since 1966, had suffered a series of illnesses in recent years including diabetes as well as heart and kidney problems, Pinilla said in a phone interview Tuesday. She...

With the European Union agreeing on January 31 to lift the sanctions that it imposed on Cuba in 2003 after Fidel Castro imprisoned 75 political dissidents, European officials will be resuming their visits to the island. Spain's government pushed for the policy switch that critics have labeled a victory for appeasement. Cuban dissidents and exiles, Spanish opposition parties, human rights organizations and former Czech President Vaclav Havel have denounced the new policy as an abomination. Still, in foreign affairs as complicated as those involving Cuba, there are rarely any clear-cut victories. Madrid's proposal triggered a welcome and enlightening debate on...

(CNSNews.com) - Amid moves by the European Union to soften its diplomatic stance towards Cuba, the Czech Republic, an E.U. newcomer, has stymied an attempt to ban Cuban dissidents from attending receptions at European embassies in Havana. The Prague Post called the achievement Czech's "first foreign-policy victory since joining the E.U." on May 1 last year. The E.U. froze diplomatic ties with Fidel Castro's regime after it cracked down on dissidents in March 2003, imprisoning 75 of them. The bloc also resolved to support Cuban dissidents by inviting them to functions at the E.U. diplomatic missions, a move that in...

A handful of Cuban dissidents jailed during a harsh crackdown last year were allowed to return home Monday amid widespread speculation that the Cuban government's surprise move is part of a strategy to ease strained relations with the European Union.The releases came after a meeting last week between Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque and Spain's ambassador in Havana and an announcement that the two nations had resumed formal contact.Cuba broke off diplomatic contacts with European Union member nations in Havana last year after the EU adopted sanctions against the communist-ruled island in response to the government's jailing of 75...

HAVANA -- A former political prisoner whose case was highlighted by President Bush urged Cuba's government Friday to hold a referendum on whether to change the communist island's political system. In a 10-page report called "The Cuba We Want," Leonardo Bruzon Avila and fellow dissident Carlos Rios Otero called for the referendum and laid out a plan for Cuba's transition to a multiparty, democratic system and free-market economy. The report was delivered Friday to the offices of Cuban Justice Minister Roberto Diaz Sotolongo. There was no public reaction by the President Fidel Castro's government to the recommendations. The proposal echoed...

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba freed on Thursday dissident economist Marta Beatriz Roque, the only woman among 75 people arrested 16 months ago in a crackdown on dissent. Roque, the most prominent dissident to be released this year by President Fidel Castro's government, was surprised. "I didn't expect to be let out. I will continue my opposition work. They can't change my ideas," she told reporters at the home of a relative in central Havana. The 58-year-old dissident said she had spent the last year in a military hospital suffering from diabetes, hypertension and heart problems and was released on...

Treatment of Oscar Elias Biscet and Other Cuban Political Prisoners Press Statement Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC July 21, 2004 http://www.free-biscet.org/biscetarticles/2004/press_statement_richard_boucher.htm

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, one of Cuba's most prominent detained Christian dissidents, has urged family and friends to pray with him amid fears he may die of starvation as prison officials have denied him food for about three weeks, Assist News Service has learned. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, or CSW, and an activist Internet website dedicated to him published a letter from Dr. Biscet, which was apparently smuggled out of prison, expressing concern about the situation. "Since June 17 I haven't had any food brought to me, practically forcing me to be on a hunger strike. No one has given me...

Cuba's ruling Communist party has launched a far-reaching assault on "corruption and illegalities" that could lead to the expulsion of moderate members. The campaign - yet to be reported by official government media - reflects the party's ideological retrenchment and underlines the extent to which the government has renounced its timid market-oriented reforms of the early 1990s. Over the past two or three months members of the party's political bureau have been visiting local party branches to tell militants that they have one last chance to clean up their acts. The new focus on corruption has been accompanied by measures...

Sometimes in the unscripted moments of a campaign, when the handlers are away, a candidate shows his true nature. Earlier this month, Andres Oppenheimer of The Miami Herald asked John Kerry what he thought of something called the Varela Project. Kerry said it was "counterproductive." It's necessary to try other approaches, he added. The Varela Project happens to be one of the most inspiring democracy movements in the world today. It is being led by a Cuban dissident named Oswaldo Payá, who has spent his life trying to topple Castro's regime.