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HAVANA, August 31
CUBA FIRES
BACK IN U.S. VISA PROTEST
Yesterday,
Cuba blasted as false and malicious a complaint from
Washington that Havana was preventing Cubans with U.S.
visas from leaving the Caribbean island. In a heightening
war of words over why Cubans keep making the perilous
90-mile trip over shark-infested sea to the United States,
Havana said Washington's protest was a suspiciously
timed, defamatory publicity maneuver. It is a fact that
thousands of Cubans have died in recent decades trying
to cross to Florida.
Since
the custody dispute over Elián González,
Cuba has kept up a campaign of weekly rallies, daily-televised
round-tables and other events to condemn the Cuban Adjustment
Act. Havana has sought to harness political momentum
from the saga of Elián to overturn the Adjustment
Act and mobilize opposition to the U.S. embargo.
The Elián affair briefly brought Havana
and Washington together in their united desire to send
the boy home, against the wish of his Miami family and
their anti-Castro supporters.
But any political truce
that that may have produced has blown apart in recent
days, with the U.S. protest and, in a parallel issue,
the U.S. refusal to give a visa to a top Cuban official
to attend the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a world legislative
meeting, that will be celebrated in New York.
WASHINGTON, D.C., August
31
FEUD
THREATENS PACTS ON CUBA-U.S. MIGRATION
In recent days,
Cuban and U.S. officials have said historic migration
accords that for five years have helped prevent a large
Cuban exodus are in jeopardy. Semiannual talks between
Cuban and U.S. officials to clarify issues related to
those agreements, signed in 1994 and 1995, have lapsed
for more than two months, and no new talks have been
scheduled.
Secretary of
State Madeleine K. Albright said in a statement this
week. “Over the past year, the Cuban government
has engaged in ceaseless rhetoric about migration issues,
including the importance of family reunification,"
"Now would be a good time to back that rhetoric
with responsible action."
The sharp immigration
debate reflects a consensus among Cuban officials that
Elián, has presented a rare opportunity to push
for change in decades-old U.S. trade and immigration
policy. Cuba has found a growing number of allies in
Congress and among American business interests in support
of loosening a 41-year-old U.S. trade embargo, while
Miami's Cuban exile lobby tries to recover from its
public relations setback in the Elián case.
HAVANA,
August 31
CUBAN POLICE
ARRESTS THREE SWEDISH JOURNALISTS OVER SEMINAR
Yesterday, the Cuban police arrested three Swedish journalists
who gave a seminar to local reporters on the freedom
of the media, according to sources from Cuba. Birger
Thuresson, Peter Goetell and Helena Soederqvist arrived
in Cuba last Thursday on behalf of the Swedish liberal
international center, or Silc. According to the Cuban
police, they were arrested for participating in journalistic
activities while holding tourist visas. However, from
Sweden a member of the group, said his colleagues
traveled to Cuba with no intention of writing any articles.
Early this
morning, a Cuban official announced that the three Swedish
journalists are being expelled. The three would be put
on an Air France flight out of the Caribbean island
to Paris at 8.40 p.m. this evening.
WASHINGTON, D.C., August
30
THE NUMBER OF CUBANS FLEEING CUBA HAS INCREASED
A senior State Department official
said yesterday that Coast Guard personnel recently have
picked up an increasing number of fleeing Cubans who
have U.S. travel documents. Established procedures require
that Cubans intercepted by the Coast Guard be immediately
returned to the island.
According to the diplomat, exit permits routinely are
denied family members of Cubans who defect to the United
States. ``The Cuban government is punishing entire families,
including small children, for the action of one family
member,'' the official said.
Cubans who hold U.S. visas are tempted to undertake
such departures because of $600 exit fees, payable in
dollars. The average annual salary in Cuba is in the
$140.
The official
said the recent death of two fleeing Cuban brothers
``highlights the growing propensity of Cubans denied
the means to migrate in a safe, orderly and legal fashion
to risk their lives in desperate sea voyages.'' The
brothers were victims of a shark attack in the Florida
Straits.
HAVANA, August 29.
ELIMINATED CUBA AS A POSSIBLE HOST OF 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS
Vowing to keep applying to host
a future Olympic Games, Cuba's Olympic Committee condemned
on Tuesday the final list of candidates for the 2008
Summer Olympics as another blow to the Third World.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) halved
the list of candidates for the 2008 Games on Monday,
with Beijing, Paris, Toronto, Osaka and Istanbul reaching
the final stage. Ruled out were Bangkok, Havana, Seville,
Kuala Lumpur and Cairo.
WASHINGTON, D.C., August
29
RICARDO ALARCON
DENIED U.S. VISITOR’S VISA
The Clinton administration has
denied a visa to the president of Cuba's National Assembly,
preventing him from attending an international conference
of parliamentarians in New York.
The Cuban, Ricardo Alarcón, said last
week in Havana that he had submitted an application
a month ago and was to have taken a flight Friday to
attend the four-day meeting of the International Parliamentary
Union, which opens on Wednesday. More than 140 countries
are expected to send delegations, including many legislative
leaders. A visa also was denied an assistant to Alarcón.
The visa was
denied under a 1995 presidential proclamation that authorizes
denying entry to the United States if a visit is considered
contrary to U.S. interests.
WASHINGTON, D.C., August
28
U.S. LODGED A FORMAL
COMPLAINT AGAINST CUBA
The United States lodged a
formal diplomatic complaint with Cuba on Monday accusing
it of preventing U.S. visa-holders from leaving the
communist island, thus violating ``fundamental human
decency.'' ``The government of Cuba is increasingly
obstructing the safe, legal and orderly migration of
individuals from Cuba,'' Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright said in a statement.
"The result
is to cruelly deny long-separated families a chance
to reunite, and to heighten the chance that Cubans will
risk their lives trying to reach the United States through
illegal means,'' she added.
Hundreds
and perhaps thousands of migrants have perished trying
to make the 90-mile (144 km) journey across the Florida
Straits in recent decades, a tragic outcome Washington
blames on Cuba's failed economic and social policies.
MIAMI, August 27
GEORGE W. BUSH TAKES
HARD LINE AGAINST CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO
George W. Bush is showing off
his statesmanship with a double dose of foreign policy,
taking a hard line against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
and meeting with Mexico president-elect Vicente Fox.
"My word to you, Mr. Castro: Let your people live
in freedom,'' Bush told about 500 people Friday at Florida
International University.
"I
challenge the Castro regime to surprise the world and
adopt the ways of democracy,'' Bush said. "Until
it frees political prisoners, and holds free elections
and allows free speech, I will keep the current sanctions
in place.''
CARACAS, August 27
CHAVEZ WILL PROVIDE
OIL TO CUBA
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
said today that his government was studying a project
to build a giant undersea natural gas export pipeline
through the Caribbean including Cuba and on to Florida,
Mexico and Central America.
OKLAHOMA, August 27
AN OKLAHOMA WOMAN
LEAVES PART OF HER ESTATE TO ELIAN’S FAMILY
An Oklahoma woman
who committed suicide last month rewrote her will to
exclude her own kin and leave part of her $500,000 estate
to the Miami relatives of Cuban shipwreck survivor Elián
González. Anne Katherine Abernathy, 57, also
left part of her estate to the Amirault family of Massachusetts
who were involved in a controversial child-abuse case.
Abernathy had never met either family.
Abernathy rewrote her will in a four-page note
just before she killed herself to delete 12 relatives
and friends. In her suicide note, Abernathy praised
the Miami relatives of Elián González,
who waged an abortive seven-month battle to keep the
6-year-old in the United States, for treating the child
with ``such love.''
HAVANA. August 26
BEATRIZ ROQUE’S
HARASSMENT CONTINUES
The well-known dissident Beatriz
Roque, presently under conditional release, has been
harassed by provocateurs and has received several death
threat telephone calls.
HAVANA, August 26
MEMBERS OF
ORTHODOX PARTY ARRESTED BY POLICE
This Wednesday, several arrests
were reported among members of the illegal Orthodox
Party that organized a pilgrimage to Eduardo Chibás’
tomb (1907-1951) to commemorate the 49th anniversary
of his death. In spite of police pressure, a group was
able to meet in the Havana Cemetery Columbus to carry
out the act of remembrance.
CIEGO DE AVILA, August 25.
HARASSMENT
OF POLITICAL PRISONERS INCREASED.
Officials of the Interior Ministry’s
National Directorate of Prisons and Jails have systematically
harassed the journalist and prisoner of conscience Jesús
Joel Díaz Hernández.
His parents, who visited him on August 22, at
the provincial jail of Canaleta, Ciego de Avila, reported
the violation of Mr. Díaz Hernández’s
human rights.
" The journalist was transferred to Cubicle
23 of Detachment
#2, inside this prison. Friends of the prisoner
denounced that prison authorities had also removed his
Bible, literature books, several letters, a book of
notes and envelopes. Also among the confiscated reading
materials were a copy of the Universal Declaration of
the Human rights and a magazine published by the local
Catholic Church.
HAVANA,
August 25.
NEIGHBORHOOD EXPOSED TO TOXIC FUMES.
Residents of Cristina Street in Havana are
being exposed to toxic fumes. Cristina's residents,
concerned for their health, loudly demonstrated their
indignation as they complained about the leak of chlorine
and hipoclorite gases that occurred on August 24th
at an acid plant located in their street following the
breakage of a tank valve.
The incident caused the hospitalization of two
children and numerous adults suffered burns on the face
and body and developed asthma crises. According to one
of the residents, this is the third time that such a
gas leak has occurred in their neighborhood.
Another gas leak was reported days before
in a gas plant located in Melons street, in the neighborhood
of October 10. Fortunately, no one was injured.
HAVANA,
August 25.
BLACKOUTS
INTENSIFIED IN HAVANA.
The Cuban Electric Company still has not
given explanations for the frequent blackouts experienced
recently in the City of Havana. During the past week, the residents of the capital have suffered
oppressive heat and mosquitoes without fans or cold
water. The great audience of the “telenovelas”
has also been affected. Ironically, the blackouts have
not interrupted the government’s televised "informative
round tables" or
"open tribunes" used to disseminate
Marxist doctrine.
BEIJING,
August 25
A CHINESE DELEGATION
WILL VISIT CUBA.
A Communist Party Delegation, headed by Li Tianying,
a high member of the Political Politburo, left China
today in a journey to Latin America that will include
Cuba, Chile and Colombia.
SANTIAGO
DE CUBA, August 23.
A PHYSICIAN FIRED
FOR CONDUCTING A PEACEFUL PROTEST.
Health ministry
officials in Santiago de Cuba fired Dr. Adrián
Rodríguez Noa for wearing a black armband over
his lab coat at work.
Rodríguez started wearing the armband
a few weeks ago in silent protest over a ministerial
regulation designed to prevent physicians and other
health professionals from legally emigrating.
On August 14, Dr. Fernando Liy, director
of the Camilo Torres clinic and Dr. Maritza Ramos, municipal
director of Health, fired Dr. Rodriguez for "having
violated medical ethics and for wearing an unauthorized
accessory over his lab coat."
HAVANA.
August 21.
LABOR DISSIDENTS
ARRESTED.
Police arrested at least 12 union activists planning
to meet in Havana to organize a national congress of
the Unitary Power Committee of Cuban Workers.
HAVANA,
August 21.
TOYS AND CHILDREN’S BOOKS CONFISCATED
BY THE POLICE.
Members of the Cuban Revolutionary Police confiscated
toys and children’s books in the house of activist
Roberto of Miranda of the School of Independent Educators.
The American citizen who gave Miranda the charitable
contributions was arrested.
HAVANA,
August 20.
EXECUTIONS INCREASED IN CUBA.
Execution of the death penalty appears to be increasing
in Cuba. A
human rights group says it has proof of at least 21
executions in 1999.
Elizardo Sánchez, president of the Cuban
Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation,
recently released a list of individuals allegedly executed
by firing squad, along with the name of their birth
provinces. Relatives of the slain persons confirmed
each case, he said.
HAVANA,
August 20.
REPRESSION
AGAINST POLITICAL DISSIDENTS WORSENED.
During the
past week, in the heat of government campaigns for “revolutionary
reaffirmation,” sources inside and outside the
island have indicated that the Cuban regime has worsened
repression and harassment against dissidents and political
prisoners.
KEY
WEST, August 18.
TWO CUBANS
KILLED BY SHARKS TRYING TO ESCAPE FROM CUBA.
Police have confirmed that a man found floating
off the Florida Keys last week -- his body torn by sharks
almost beyond recognition -- was indeed a Cuban migrant
trying to flee by boat to Florida with his 20-year-old
brother. Family
members identified Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Bueno, 23,
in Miami yesterday
morning. The family called the Florida Marine
Patrol after relatives in Cuba said they last saw the
brothers August 6.
Apparently, after the family heard there were some people
missing in the water, they thought it might be their
brothers, because they weren't at their house in Cuba
and they had been talking about coming over to the United
States. US Coast Guard officers were unable to retrieve
the body of the man's brother -- Alex Rodriguez-Bueno--
after a tiger shark dragged him underwater about 20
miles off Looe.
A Monroe County detective showed a photograph of the
recovered body to the stepbrother of the two men, but
he could not make a positive identification. The stepbrother showed the picture to his father, Carlos Rodriguez,
59, of Hialeah, who identified the badly decomposed
man as his son.
PINAR
DEL RIO, August 12.
SLAVE WORK
INCREASES IN CUBAN PRISONS.
The Cuban
government's drive to earn hard currency extends even
to the prison system, where prisoners are put to work
in various enterprises, often with little regard for
their safety or well-being.
Prisoners are obligated to work in order to have access
to rights, which are stipulated in the Cuban Penal Code,
for instance, conditional freedom after serving half
to two-thirds of a sentence.
At prison Kilo [for Kilometer], outside the city
of Pinar del Río, prisoners are forced to work
in an aluminum refining plant within the prison. The
Ministry of the Interior derives revenue from exporting
the aluminum produced in this facility by the prisoners.
Inmates receive a salary that can be as high as 130
pesos (about 6 dollars) a month. From that, prison authorities
discount 45 percent for food, clothing, and articles
of personal hygiene, which the prisoners seldom actually
receive. The remainder does not always make it to the
families of the inmates because of widespread corruption
in the administration of the Cuban prisons.
TEGUCIGALPA,
August 11.
NINE
CUBAN REFUGEES REACHED THE COAST OF HONDURAS.
Nine Cubans reached the coast of Honduras after being
dragged there by strong Caribbean waters when they tried
to reach the United States.
The police said in an official statement that
the Cubans, eight men and a woman, arrived on the island
of Guanaja, 350 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa, where
authorities assist them. They had left two days earlier
from Santa Cruz del Sur, in Camagüey province, in a
small craft. The 36 year- old captain of the ship was
identified as Leandro Revolved Alberto.
According to a police report, the group rushed to sea
in search of a better future due to the difficult economic
situation in Cuba. The police added that the Cubans
did not request asylum and that they will remain in
the country as refugees.
Early in June, the same authorities had rescued
nine other Cubans after they had arrived at the Island
of the Swan, on the Caribbean.
PHILADELPHIA,
August 3.
REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM; THE CUBA PLANK.
In Cuba, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro continues to impose
communist economic controls and absolute political repression
of 11 million Cubans. His regime harasses and jails
dissidents, restricts economic activity, and forces
Cubans into the sea in a desperate bid for freedom.
He gives refuge to fugitives from American justice,
hosts a sophisticated Russian espionage facility that
intercepts U.S. government and private communications,
and has ordered his air force to shoot down two unarmed
U.S. civilian airplanes thereby killing American citizens.
U.S. policy toward Cuba should be based upon sound,
clear principles. Our economic and political relations
will change when the Cuban regime frees all prisoners
of conscience, legalizes peaceful protest, allows opposition
political activity, permits free expression, and commits
to democratic elections. This policy will be strengthened
by active American support for Cuban dissidents. Under
no circumstances should Republicans support any subsidy
of Castro’s Cuba or any other terrorist state.
Republicans also support a continued
effort to promote freedom and democracy by communicating
objective and uncensored news and information to the
Cuban people via U.S. broadcasts to the captive island.
Finally, Republicans believe that the United States
should adhere to the principles established by the 1996
Cuban Adjustment Act, which recognizes the rights of
Cuban refugees fleeing communist tyranny.
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