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HAVANA, December 31

    CUBA OPPOSES TRANSFER OF PRISONERS TO GUANTÁNAMO
    Senior Cuban officials voiced their opposition Saturday to Washington's plans for housing Taliban fighters and al Qaeda terrorists at a U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo Bay on the communist-run Caribbean island.

    "Of course, we don't agree with this, since even though Guantánamo Bay is occupied by the Americans, this is Cuban territory," said Gen. Ramon Espinosa, head of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces' eastern command, which includes the Guantánamo area.

    The Education Minister Fernando Vecino Alegret (the alleged chief of the thugs who tortured the American Prisoners of War in Vietnam-Honor Bound, by Stuart Rochester and Frederick Kiley,) also criticized the plan to bring detainees from the conflict in Afghanistan to the naval base at Guantánamo. "I think it would be yet another mistake by the Americans to use that usurped territory ... I think there will be repudiation of that around the world," Vecino told reporters. Cuban Attorney General Juan Escalona scoffed at the proposal as "another provocation" from the Americans." Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has opposed the bombardment of Afghanistan, calling it a ñbarbaric massacre of civilians to advance imperial goals".


MOSCOW, December 31

     RUSSIA BEGAN ITS FAREWELLS TO CUBA
     Russia began its farewells to its former communist ally Cuba as it prepared to close its big spy centre, ending four decades of Russian military presence on the Caribbean island.

     As Russian and Cuban officials held farewell ceremonies near Havana, Russian military officials said work to dismantle the Lourdes electronic spying centre in Cuba would start on January 15. Interfax news agency quoted Russian defence ministry officials as saying three An-124 planes would be used to transport the equipment centre back to Russia. The Russian foreign ministry separately announced on Saturday that official ceremonies had been held in Lourdes to mark the closure of the base.

     President Vladimir Putin's decision to close the costly eavesdropping centre near Havana, from which Moscow listened in to U.S. secrets through, has met resistance from Cuban dictator Fidel Castro but has won applause from U.S. President George W. Bush.


HAVANA, December 30

     FIVE DISSIDENT JOURNALISTS WERE BEATEN BY POLICE
     Cuban police beat up five dissident journalists as they tried to cover an opposition event on Christmas Day, a local reporters' association and an international press watchdog said Friday. Uniformed and plain-clothes officers hit the journalists and dragged some through the street, to stop them covering the inauguration of an unauthorized independent library in the central province of CamagÙey, the groups alleged.

    "There is no reason for attacking five journalists carrying out the functions of our profession," the Manuel Marquez Sterling Journalists' Association, which represents about half of Cuba's roughly 100 dissident reporters, said in a statement. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said the alleged beating was the worst act of repression in 2001 against Cuban dissident reporters, who defy Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's government by working unauthorized outside state media.

    "From Jan. 1, 2001, there have been nearly 100 acts of harassment against independent journalists by the authorities," the group added in a communiqué from Paris. The dissident journalists operate in Cuba without authorization, writing and sending stories abroad by dictation or fax for publication mainly on the Internet.


WASHINGTON, D.C., December 28

     SECRETARY RUMSFELD SAID: ñWE ARE MAKING PREPARATIONS TO HOLD DETAINEES IN GUANTÁNAMO BAY"
     The United States is planning to turn its Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, into a detention center to house al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban fighters taken prisoner in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Thursday. "We are making preparations to hold detainees there," Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon.

     The decision to hold Afghan and Arab fighters in Cuba could anger Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who has criticized the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and described Guantánamo as a "dagger pointed at Cuba's heart." But Rumsfeld said the United States did not anticipate any trouble from the communist leader.

     "I would characterize Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as the least worst place we could have selected. Its disadvantages ... seem to be modest relative to the alternatives," Rumsfeld said. He added there were no plans to conduct any kind of tribunal at the 45-square mile facility in southeast Cuba. Asked when the first prisoners from al Qaeda and the now-ousted Taliban might arrive in Cuba, Rumsfeld said the base would not be ready for a number of weeks. Access to the base, long a sore point in the United States' tense relations with communist Cuba, is only possible through the U.S. military. The perimeter is heavily guarded by U.S. troops, with Cuban militia keeping a close watch.


CARACAS, December 28

      VENEZUELAN FARMERS AGAINST CUBAN STYLE AGRARIAN REFORM
      Venezuela's new agriculture minister, Efrén Andrade, said in an interview published last Wednesday that land reforms fiercely opposed by local farmers and ranchers, were not intended to confiscate property but to improve food output. Venezuela's private commercial farmers have staged several public protests against a Lands Law decreed by President Hugo Chávez.

     Labor and business leaders say the law, part of a package of disputed left-leaning reforms introduced by the president to advance his self-proclaimed "revolution," violates private property rights. They accuse Chavez of copying radical agrarian reforms introduced by Cuba dictator Fidel Castro in communist Cuba and say the measures will damage Venezuela's already depleted farm production and cause social upheaval in the countryside.

     The Lands Law is one of 49 contested economic reforms promulgated by Chavez that triggered a widely supported national protest strike earlier this month staged by business and labor leaders. The Dec. 10 stoppage shut down almost all private business for a day. However, Chavez, a former army Lieutenant Colonel, has refused to suspend the disputed laws, which are also being challenged by his opponents in the Supreme Court and the National Assembly.


HAVANA, December 27

     "WE ARE BUILDING SOCIALISM HERE," READS A LARGE SIGN ON TOP OF A GARBAGE DUMP  (CAMCO's Department of Engineers)
     Police agents recently removed a huge sign at a Havana busy  corner, San Rafael y Gervasio, that reads: "WE ARE BUILDING SOCIALISM HERE." Under the sign, the area residents have built a garbage dump which rendered its socialist propaganda message counterproductive.

     Garbage accumulations in city streets are an increasingly common sight in Havana, due mostly to shortages of fuel to power the garbage pick-up trucks. In this case, the dump, adjacent to a produce market, grew inconveniently close to the socialist sign.

    Another large police operation was directed against graffiti that showed up at a truck depot in the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo. It reads, "WE PREFER BUSH WITH BLOOD THAN FIDEL WITH HUNGER." The anonymous author was likely tweaking fun at a recent Cuban government propaganda campaign according to which the U. S. war against terrorism is a bloody war against the people of Afghanistan.

    NOTE: ALL CAMCO MEMBERS SHOULD READ INSIDE OUR CLASSIFIED PAGES  THE INTELLIGENCE REPORTS  PREPARED BY  LTC ENRIQUE FERNANDEZ


WASHINGTON, D.C., December 24

      HISTORY'S CHARISMATIC LEADERS JOINED BY OMAR, BIN LADEN (By Georgie Anne Geyer) 
    " Among the stunning images of the war in Afghanistan -- a war so ancient on the ground and so post-modern in the air that it sometimes leaves one breathless -- two striking pictures emerged this week. First was the sweet home in war-torn Kandahar of Mullah Muhammad Omarƒ "

     "Another of the 'charismatic' leaders (the word denotes a magical or spiritual magnetism on the part of a leader that bonds the people, usually slavishly, to him) who fits this profile is Cuban President Fidel Castro. While Cuba gets poorer and poorer, Castro carefully perpetuates the myth that he owns nothing and has no real home, except, of course, the Revolution. In truth, Castro has a number of estates (La Deseada and La Vibora, and an entire island, Cayo Piedra), some with underground Japanese bowling alleys and heated pools. He also had his own "vice and virtue" organization, the spying Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, and he, too, had his favorite cows, of which he spoke to guests endlessly." (Click Here to Locate CastroÍs Residences).

    "Castro, like so many other of these leaders, was also fully capable of bin Laden's sadistic joy at having his men die for him. When the U.S. prepared to invade the little island of Grenada in 1983 to prevent a communist takeover in the eastern Caribbean, Castro unmistakably ordered his small contingent there to fight to the last man. When the Cuban commander there, Col. Pedro Tortolo, gave up, he was humiliated, exorcised and banished from Cubaƒ "(Click here and read the Complete article).

(Click here and read the latest on the DIA/PENTAGON Spy)

Click here and read: "ARE CUBAN AMERICANS AND NOT CASTRO THE ENEMY?" By Dr. Ernesto F. Betancourt.

CAMAG EY, December 24

    "ZORRO," A MAN OF ACTION, DISTRIBUTES BEEF TO THE POOR IN CUBA
    A man who calls himself "El Zorro," after the storybook character, has been killing cattle from the government herd and distributing the beef to the needy, according to sources in CamagÙey province, and police don't have a clue as to who he may be.

    "December 15, "El Zorro" slaughtered a cow, and went around knocking on doors between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m., telling residents where they could go to get the beef," said an activist with the Cuban Human Rights Foundation in the municipality of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.

     The dissident added that many residents got whatever they could carry, saying "We are going to get the beef Fidel Castro's government won't sell us." Cubans rarely see beef, or meats in general. There have been reports lately of unscrupulous operators who have packaged dog meat and sold it as mutton, at eight pesos a pound. Although the theft or illegal slaughter of livestock is severely punished, it seems to be a growing problem. The government has not released official figures.  


CARACAS, December 24

    VENEZUELA TO ASK PANAMA TO EXTRADITE LUIS POSADA CARRILES
    Venezuela's Supreme Court said last Friday it had authorized the government to seek the extradition from Panama of a Cuban American accused of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner which killed 73 people.

     The ruling, dictated on December 19, gave President Hugo Chavez' administration the go-ahead to begin extradition proceedings against Luis Posada Carriles, who has been held in Panama since November 2000 after an alleged plot to kill Cuban dictator Fidel Castro there.

     Chavez, a friend and political ally of Castro, said last year his government would seek Supreme Court approval to extradite Posada from the Central American country. It is assumed that once in Venezuela, Posada will be extradited to Cuba. Havana also accuses Posada of being behind a series of bomb attacks against Cuban tourist locations in 1997 in which an Italian visitor was killed.


HAVANA, December 23

     CASTRO SAYS HIS SPIES WILL BE PROMPTLY RETURNED TO CUBA
     Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said in the presence of relatives of the five Cubans convicted in Miami of spying for Havana that ñthe supreme court of world public opinion'' will force the United States to free them.

    Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañino both received life sentences, René González and Fernando González were sentenced to 15 and 19 years in prison, respectively, and Antonio Guerrero is scheduled for sentencing Thursday.


CARACAS, December 23

    CHÁVEZ FIRES HIS ARMY COMMANDING GENERAL
    One of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez' most prominent supporters in the country's armed forces, General Victor Cruz Weffer, was replaced as Commanding General of the Army yesterday. Defense Minister José Vicente Rangel announced the substitution to reporters in Caracas, but declined to give reasons, saying these were known only to the president, who made the decision. The Venezuelan head of state, himself a former lieutenant colonel, is commander in chief of all the armed forces.

    "Just as the head of state names or replaces a minister, so he can name and replace any head of a section of the armed forces," Rangel said after the change of command ceremony in which Cruz ceded command to his replacement, General Efrain Vasquez. Reporters were barred from attending the ceremony.

    Although Chavez has expressed confidence in the loyalty of the armed forces, he has denounced many times what he says are plots and conspiracies by opponents to stir up trouble in the barracks. However, critics of the tough-talking president say members of the armed forces, many of whom were trained in the United States, are unhappy about his left-wing policies and over his friendly ties with communist Cuba and China.


CARACAS, December 23

    CHAVEZ: ñONLY PATH IN VENEZUELA IS REVOLUTION"
    The Venezuelan opposition accuses President Hugo Chávez of trying to create an authoritarian socialist state in the country inspired by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's communist Cuba. "The only path to save Venezuela is called the Bolivarian Revolution," the president said yesterday. Business and labor opponents of Chavez staged a widely supported national protest strike December 10 to press their demands that the disputed package of 49 reform laws decreed by him using special powers be revoked and revised.

     Business leaders have followed up the strike, which shut down the whole country for a day, with petitions to the Supreme Court and the parliament asking that the contested laws be suspended, pending further public debate on their content. But Chavez, whose popularity has slipped dramatically since he won an election in 1998, has so far refused to suspend the laws and he bluntly reaffirmed this stance yesterday. "Suspend them? Now I'm going to hurry up so they can be applied as quickly as possible," he said.

    Chávez scoffed at his opponents' attempts to have the disputed laws overturned in the Supreme Court and parliament. "I am certain that the National Assembly is not going to betray the hopes of the Venezuelan people," the President said. He added: "I am also sure the men and women (of the Supreme Court) ... will choose justice for the people and their rights." His veiled warnings to the parliament and Supreme Court, which are dominated by his supporters, raised doubts about how successful his opponents' efforts to block the 49 approved laws.

CARACAS, Venezuela, December 23

     CHÁVEZ: ñA REVOLUTION IS THE ONLY ANTIDOTE TO ARGENTINE CRISIS"
     Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday "explosive" inequality had caused the bloody riots in Argentina and only a wealth-distributing revolution could defuse such a social and economic time bomb, and added, "The only way to eliminate these explosive forces, which can carry a country to war, to disaster ... is by carrying out a revolution."

    In his first reaction to what he called "the sad events in our brother Republic of Argentina," the former paratrooper seized on the example of the turmoil there to justify his own government's disputed left-leaning reforms. Chávez has pledged to implement a self-proclaimed social and economic "revolution" in Venezuela to help the majority of its 23 million people.

    "And what causes this? Poverty, misery," the Venezuelan president said. He added the countries of Latin America were suffering an ongoing drama in which a wealthy minority grew richer every day, while the majority fell deeper into poverty. "This generates explosive forces which burst out one day, as they did in Caracas in 1989 ... and as they are doing now in Argentina in 2001," Chavez emphasized.

HAVANA, December 23

    HAVANA'S WATER SUPPLY BECOMES PRECARIOUS
    Irregularities in Havana's water supply have become more pronounced in the last seven days, leading residents to envision a worse crisis while the official press has no information on the matter. A reliable source said the worsening situation is due to a break in the main carrying water into the city from the Vento basin, south of Havana.

    "We don't know when service will be re-established," said the source. Residents of central and old Havana can be seen filling water buckets from tank trucks or from water hydrants in street corners." All the leaks in the network of pipes, caused by age and lack of maintenance, conspire against adequate service to the city of Havana," said a water authority employee


BUENOS AIRES, December 22

     TROUBLED ARGENTINA PICKS INTERIM PRESIDENT
     Argentina, battered by two days of rioting prepared to hold new elections in March in search of a president who can help steer the country away from the economic and social chaos that resulted in the looting or burning of hundreds of banks, supermarkets and stores and led to 27 deaths, 2,500 injured, 4,000 arrests

     After a day of private conferences, the Peronist partyÍs leadership announced Friday night it will use its control of Congress to set elections for March 3. The Peronists will make Adolfo Rodríguez Sáa, the governor of a San Luis province, an interim president who will serve only until the general elections. Rodríguez Sáa will become the second interim president in 24 hours. Ramón Puerta, the head of the Senate, accepted the job Friday only on the condition that he wouldn't have to serve past this weekend. Neither of Argentina's two ñinterim'' presidents said publicly what steps they will take to turn around Argentina's economy, currently sinking under the weight of a $132 billion foreign debt.

    There was little sign that residents of this shattered capital, still shaken by the mayhem and looting that rocked the city a day earlier and forced the resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa, felt bolstered by Rodríguez Sáa's appointment. Many Argentineans voiced concern about their immediate future even as the noise of breaking windows, gunshots and exploding tear-gas grenades have subsided.

HAVANA, December 22

    CUBA TOUGHENS WHAT IT CALLS ñANTI-TERRORISM LAW"
    With Cuban dictator Fidel Castro presiding, Cuba's legislature unanimously approved an expanded anti-terrorism law yesterday that reaffirmed the use of the death penalty in the most extreme cases. ñI have not the slightest doubt about the death penalty as an appropriate punishment in terrorism cases,'' Castro said. The new legislation includes punishment for anyone convicted of using the Internet or e-mail to plan violent attacks.

    National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón said that while Cuba opposed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, it opposes just as strongly the United States' subsequent war in Afghanistan aimed at destroying the network Al-Qaeda blamed for the acts of terror.

WASHINGTON, December 21

     GOOD NEWS! PRESIDENT BUSH MAY APPOINT AMBASSADOR OTTO REICH DURING SENATE BREAK
   President Bush may use his authority to appoint Ambassador Otto Reich during the Senate's holiday recess, bypassing Democrats who have held up his appointment for months. The former U.S. Ambassador Reich is strongly opposed by liberal Democratic senators led by Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who was quoted last month as saying the nomination was "not going anywhere."

   The administration has appealed to the Senate on behalf of Otto Reich, tapped by the President to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, a key Latin American policy post. The candidate is an outstanding diplomat of Cuban origin who worked on the Reagan administration's strategy against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in the 1980s.

   "The White House is hopeful that the Senate will fulfill its duties and will confirm the president's remaining nominees this week before they leave," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. But he added, "The Constitution does give the president authority to act otherwise." The President has the authority to make so-called recess appointments when Congress is on break, but they would only serve in office through next year's congressional session.


HAVANA, December 21

     CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO BEGGED HIS PEOPLE TO BE OPTIMISTIC
     Observing the dramatic pictures from Argentina, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro begged Cubans Wednesday there would be enough food for the nation in the coming year and asked his citizens to trust his leadership amid concerns over the long-term economic effects of Hurricane Michelle.

    ñWe need your confidence that things are getting better ƒWe have food guaranteed for the coming year.'' Castro said in a lengthy nighttime address on state television. While the American shipments will help Cuba's food reserves, Castro said they represented just 4 percent of annual food imports.

    Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) of Decatur, Ill., has contracted to sell Cuba about $14 million in grain. The first shipment of 26,400 tons of American corn arrived last Sunday. ADM will make seven additional grain shipments over the next two months. Five hundred tons of frozen chicken parts from the United States, valued at $300,000, also docked Sunday. Nearly all trade between the two nations is banned under the U.S. embargo. Congress, however, passed a law last year that permitted the sale of American food to Cuba.

HAVANA, December 20

    CUBAN DICTATOR SAYS U.S. FOOD BUYS OVER FOR NOW
    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said that Cuba's purchases of U.S. food were over unless the U.S. embargo is loosened further. He said Cuba would buy no more food from the United States for now. "We have bought what we are going to buy," said Castro. "The future depends completely on the other part."

    Perhaps responding to reports from U.S. business sources that the United States had stopped expediting licenses for humanitarian reasons related to Michelle, Castro warned his country would buy the products from other countries if shipping delays developed. "We have alternative solutions for all situations," he said.


CARACAS, December 20

   VENEZUELAÍS CHAVEZ SAYS CUBA COMPARISONS ñCRAZY"-- REALLY!
     Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday dismissed as "crazy" suggestions by political opponents he was seeking to establish a Cuban-style communist system in his country. The former paratrooper told soldiers that he had ñrespect and friendship for Cuba" and its dictator, Fidel Castro. "Cuba has its communist regime, and it's one we respect because it's not our problem," Chavez said, visiting a garrison at Guasdualito in Apure State, near the border with Colombia.

    "Anyone who says that Chávez is Cubanizing the country and is going to establish the same kind of regime here which Cuba and Fidel Castro has, is, quite simply, crazy," Chávez said. Since he was assumed power in 1998, the leftist president has pledged to implement a self-proclaimed "revolution," inspired by CastroÍs Cuba, to help the majority of Venezuelans

    But critics, among them retired soldiers, say the president has riled conservative officers in the armed forces by forging friendly ties with communist Cuba and China, and by seeking to involve the military in his left-leaning reform campaign. They said these disgruntled officers, many trained in the United States, were also concerned about anti-U.S. bias in Chavez's foreign policy and his sympathies with communist rebels in neighboring Colombia.


MIAMI, December 19

    CUBAN SPY SENTENCED TO 19 YEARS
    Cuban spy Fernando González, whose tasks included shadowing militant Cuban exiles in Miami and targeting Cuban-American politicians for harassment, was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison on Tuesday for acting as an unregistered foreign agent. The FBI found 31 death certificates in his apartment when he was arrested, ready sources of new names for Cuban intelligence agents. He went by the name Ruben Campa in South Florida. The name Campa was fake, taken from death certificates of a baby who died in California in the late 1960s.

    González also oversaw other agents who tried to infiltrate the U.S. Southern Command and Key West's Boca Chica Naval Air Station, and helped with reporting the movement of aircraft at Boca Chica, evidence showed.  When FBI agents busted up the Cuban spy ring in September 1998, González was sharing a small Hollywood apartment with co-defendant Ramón Labañino who was sentenced last week to life in prison for espionage conspiracy.


HAVANA, December 18

    FLORIDA FAMILY MURDERED IN ATTACK
     A Hialeah couple who flew to Cuba to visit relatives was found slain Monday on the highway between Havana and Santa Clara -- along with their daughter, 8-year-old grandson and a friend, the couple's grieving family said. Cuba is no more a peaceful place to visit.

     ñWhat we know is not a lot,'' said the couple's son, Osmani Placencia, of Hialeah. ``The only thing we have confirmed is that five people have been killed.'' His parents -- Ada Lorenzo, 52, and Celedonio Placencia, 60 -- left Miami International Airport about 4 p.m. Sunday, he said. They were going to visit his paternal grandmother, who is gravely ill, Placencia said. All five were found dead on the side of the road after relatives in Santa Clara -- wondering why they had not returned the night before -- set out to find them Monday, said Placencia, a rafter who left Cuba in 1994.

    ñThey all had been shot or stabbed,'' he said. ``It doesn't look like a robbery because there were still personal items on them.'' But his wife, Ileana Atucha, said information from friends and family on the island was coming in bits and pieces. ñAt first they said that nothing was taken,'' Atucha said. ñBut somebody else told us afterward that everything was gone.''


VENEZUELA, December 16

      CHÁVEZ THREATENED TO NATIONALIZE BANKS
      Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez threatened on Saturday to nationalize banks that resisted his leftist reforms and warned opponents that his revolutionary movement would be defeated only over his dead body. In a speech in the National Assembly that marked a toughening of ChávezÍs response to bitter domestic criticism, the former paratrooper said he would not change any aspect of recent leftist legislation that has caused an outcry in the private sector.

     "If any banker, the president of a foreign or domestic bank, refuses to comply with the constitution or our laws, not only could we nationalize the bank but that banker could be imprisoned for breaking the law," Chávez said. "There is no going back from here, not even one step," said a stern Chavez.

     Fresh from a Caribbean summit this week at which he once again showed his close friendship with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro of Cuba, Chávez paraphrased that island's communist guerrilla Ernesto "Che" Guevara, saying, "In a true revolution, you either win or die."


HAVANA, December 16

     THE LEADER OF THE IRISH TERRORIST GROUP IN HAVANA
     Northern Irish nationalist leader Gerry Adams will meet Cuban leader Fidel Castro during a visit to Cuba this week invited by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) announced the Granma, the libel of the PCC. The meeting risks antagonizing the United States, home to a strong Irish republican lobby and already concerned about alleged links between Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrillas and Colombian Marxist rebels.

    There had been speculation Adams would call off the visit after the arrest in August of three IRA men in Colombia on charges that included training Marxist FARC rebels. The U.S. government cautioned in September that an Adams trip to Cuba would rise "troubling questions" if it turned out the IRA had links to the Colombian terrorist FARC.


MIAMI, December 15

     A SECOND CUBAN SPY SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT
     A second Cuban spy has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Florida court, one day after the spy ring's leader, Gerardo Hernández, received the same sentence. Ramon Labañino, 38, was found guilty of spying for Cuba in June, accused of trying to infiltrate two US military bases in south Florida.

     Hernandez was the only one of the five charged with murder conspiracy, which related to the deaths of four members of the Cuban exile group. Their planes were shot down by Cuban jet fighters in international airspace while patrolling the sea for Cuban refugees. Prosecution lawyers said Hernandez knew a plane would be attacked because he had advised two men who had infiltrated the group not to fly during a four-day period.

     The five men -- three Cuban intelligence officers and two US citizens -- acknowledged before the trial began that they were acting on orders from the Cuban Government. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro had launched a campaign on behalf of the five men, organizing huge political rallies around the country to denounce the detentions of the spies.


HAVANA, December 14

     DISSIDENT WEB SITE BLOCKED IN CUBA, ACTIVISTS DENOUNCE
     One week after it was launched, access to the first Web site run by opposition activists within Cuba has been blocked on the island by Cuba dictator Fidel Castro's government, a group of dissidents said on Friday.

     "As they can't refute what we have said they have to resort to force," said Martha Beatriz Roque, one of the best-known Cuban dissidents, who was released from jail last year after nearly three years behind bars on charges of inciting sedition.

      The site, http://www.cubaicei.org, could not be seen in Cuba but it was accessible in the United States on Friday. The site was launched on Dec. 7 by Roque's Cuban Institute of Independent Economists and includes one of the most extensive lists available of local dissident organizations, including 132 groups numbering around 21,000 activists.


HAVANA, December 12

     CUBA CRACKS DOWN ON RIGHTS PROTESTS
     Cuban state security cracked down heavily on a day of activities to commemorate world Human Rights Day, arresting some dissidents, forcibly diverting others and blocking protest meetings, opposition groups said on Tuesday.

     Various dissident groups said dozens of activists across the Caribbean island were targeted on Monday as they sought to hold a series of meetings to protest against President Fidel Castro's government and one-party system. Although precise numbers were not available, a group said dissidents were rounded up for temporary detention. Others were collected in cars and dumped far from their homes.

     In the western province of Pinar del Rio, at least 14 dissidents were arrested and may face charges after taking to the street with banners saying "DOWN WITH FIDEL!" and "FREEDOM FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS!" In the towns of Camajuaní, Cienfuegos, Perico y Caibarién, dissidents read writings of JOSÉ MARTÍ on human rights.

BRUSSELS. December 11

     EU WILL NOT INTENSIFY CUBA TIES UNLESS HAVANA IMPROVES RIGHTS RECORD
  The European Union (EU) said Monday it cannot intensify relations with Cuba unless Havana makes significant improvements in human rights record. The EU foreign ministers issued a statement at their monthly meeting, saying the human rights situation in Cuba ñis still seriously wanting as regards the recognition and application of civil and political freedoms.'' It criticized Cuba for refusing ñto contemplate reforms leading to a political system based on those values.''

    The statement came a week after an EU delegation held talks in Havana to discuss relations between Cuba and the 15-nation EU. The EU said the visit showed there was no room yet for closer ties, despite minor improvements, including greater religious freedom, fewer political prisoners and the recent decision by the Cuban parliament approving the country's accession to all U.N. anti-terrorism conventions.

     At last week's talks in Havana, the two sides simply agreed to reopen a broad political dialogue and said they would ñexchange relative information'' about human rights issues. Relations have been tenuous since several EU countries joined a U.N. vote condemning Cuba's human rights record last year. Within the EU, notably in Britain, there is a strong view that any significant improvement in relations with Cuba would only upset the United States as it tries to keep together a global alliance in its war on terrorism, officials said.

CARACAS, December 10

     PRESIDENT CHAVEZ BLASTS TODAY'S NATIONAL STRIKE
     Stores will close and public transportation will be idle today as Venezuelan business leaders stage a nationwide work stoppage to urge President Hugo Chavez to compromise on new economic legislation. Labor unions and many newspapers will also join the 12-hour stoppage in one of the biggest challenges to Chavez since he rose to power, promising social revolution for the poor.  Amid fears of violent clashes between government loyalists and opponents, shops and businesses across the country are expected to shut down in today's protest. Banks, ministries and public offices will also likely be affected.

     Chavez said on Sunday that he might take strong measures if powerful elites tried to destabilize his democratically elected government. Chavez emphasized he would not be blackmailed into changing a land law designed to strip rich landowners of their properties, as it happened in Cuba, and added that "Tomorrow we will show that no one can shut down Venezuela, no one can stop this revolution."

     Chavez called on his supporters to attend a massive rally in the capital, Caracas, today to back his government. "They are awakening a force which is out there, the determination of the people to defend this revolution," Chavez said in a four-hour edition of his radio and television show "Hello President." Declaring himself the "president of all Venezuelans, but especially the poor," Chavez has dismissed his critics in the business community as an avaricious minority defending its own economic interests.


SAN CRISTOBAL, December 9

     AT LEAST 60 YOUNGSTERS HAVE COMMITTED SUICIDE IN A SMALL TOWN OF CUBA
     At least 60 Cubans have committed suicide this year in the town of San Cristóbal, in western Pinar del Río province. The "Comandante Pinares" hospital has reported 60 cases of suicide, and that most of the victims were under 30.

     "This is evidence that people feel they have no future," said one neighbor. A town teacher remembered one of his students killed himself two years ago. "He was one of the best students in the class, intelligent, respectful. It's sad for me to know he is no longer around." The teacher added, "I'd rather see them set out to sea. At least in the Straits of Florida they have a chance, even if remote." The official Cuban press rarely publishes news of suicides.


HAVANA, December 8

     ñPELLETIER FOUNDATION" FOUNDED IN HONOR OF JESÚS YANEZ PELLETIER
     Cuban dissidents announced the creation of a new group named after a former army officer who saved Cuban dictator President Fidel Castro's life before turning into a well-known political opponent. The new "Pelletier Foundation was founded in honor of Jesus Yanez Pelletier, who died last year at the age of 83.

     "We want to honor his civic trajectory and continue the work he dedicated a large part of his life ƒ The objective of our foundation is the defense of human rights and civil liberties, and the recognition of political, cultural and religious pluralism ƒ "We have requested official acceptance from the government, but we've received no response," said his widow, Maria de los Angeles Menéndez, who heads the new group.

     As an army officer, Yanez was instructed to poison Castro while he was in jail following a failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks that launched his armed struggle. Yanez refused and soon after lost his job. After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Castro initially appointed him a senior aide-de-camp in recognition of having saved his life, but Yanez soon turned against Cuba's new leader and was sent to jail for 11 years at the start of the 1960s. He emerged from prison to help start the modern Cuban dissident movement, jointly founding in the early 1980s the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, a small group that criticized the dictatorÍs one-party rule and denounced political detentions.


FORT WASHINGTON, December 7

MIAMI, December 7

    CUBAÍS CRITICISM OF THE WAR ARE ñNOTHING SHORT OF APPALLING AND OFFENSIVE" A HIGH U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS
    Lino Gutierrez, acting assistant secretary of state, said Miami on Wednesday that the U.S. Cuba's criticism of the war in Afghanistan is ñnothing short of appalling and offensive.'' Gutierrez said the Bush administration's mission is ñto see a rapid, peaceful transition to a free and democratic Cuba,'' and that the economic embargo against Cuba is a key component of U.S. strategy to do that.

    Gutierrez's statements were part of an administration effort to dispel speculation that the food shipments scheduled to begin arriving in Havana this month could lead to more permanent trade relations between the two nations. Cuban officials did not disagree with Gutierrez's assessment that planned food and medicine sales of up to $30 million are an ñexceptional purchase'' because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Michelle on November 4. But they also have made clear that they are willing to buy more U.S. products if trade sanctions are fully lifted. 


HABANA, December 6

     HAVANA BUILDING COLLAPSES KILL AT LEAST TWO 
    An old, multistoried building in Havana collapsed early Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring two others. The collapse of a condemned building at least five stories high near the main entrance of Chinatown occurred shortly after 1 a.m., state radio reported.

    Building collapses in Havana's more dilapidated neighborhoods are relatively common, especially in the days after heavy rains as soaked buildings dry out and weaken. The radio station said that the building had been evacuated by authorities several months before because of its precarious condition but that some families, having no place else to go, had returned to live there.

    Many of the buildings in Havana, especially in older neighborhoods such as Chinatown, are seriously deteriorated because of lack of maintenance and overcrowding. The nation's capital suffers from a severe housing crisis, exacerbated because many Cubans continue to migrate from the provinces to Havana in search of financial opportunities. About 2.2 million people -- approximately 20 percent of the country's 11 million citizens -- live in the capital.


MIAMI, December 6

    U.S. OFFICIAL SAYS CUBA EMBARGO STILL STANDS
    The four-decade old U.S. economic embargo on Cuba remains firmly in place despite last month's unprecedented sales of food and medicines to the communist-run island, a high-ranking American official said on Wednesday. "The United States will allow the sales of food and medicines as permitted by U.S. laws, the embargo is still in place," acting Assistant Secretary of State Lino Gutierrez told a news conference in Miami.

    The recent sales have aroused speculation that change is afoot in the hostile relations between Washington and Havana. Gutierrez said there was no shift on the part of the United States, although the Cuban purchases represented a big change in Havana's policy.

    In Washington on Wednesday, the Bush administration said in a statement it strongly opposes a Senate proposal to allow private financing of U.S. food sales because of CubaÍs rejection of the global coalition's efforts against terrorism. A spokesperson also said the White House still wants "to see a rapid, peaceful transition to a free and democratic Cuba", because of the regime's continued denial of basic civil rights to its citizens.


CARACAS, December 6

    TRADE UNIONS JOINING STRIKE BY BUSINESS
    Venezuela's confederation of trade unions decided on Tuesday to join a one-day nationwide strike called by business leaders to protest a package of 49 new economic laws both groups say will discourage private investment.

    The Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) told its one million members to stay home Monday in support of a 12-hour strike called by Fedecamaras, the country's largest association of businesses. The stoppage will include all national and local government employees and workers from the key petroleum industry.


WASHINGTON, D.C., December 5

     U.S. SAYS NO TO CUBA ON INFORMATION
     During U.S.-Cuban migration talks Monday in Havana, the Cuban representative called for a ñterrorism information exchange,'' but U.S. officials showed no interest, partly because of Cuba's forceful opposition to the American air war in Afghanistan. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has adamantly opposes the U.S.-led military campaign against Taliban rule in Afghanistan and the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

     On November 13, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly that ñit would seem that this war has targeted children, the civilian population and the International Red Cross hospitals and facilities as enemies.''

    Not long after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the United States invited all Latin American nations, Cuba included, to assist the anti-terrorist coalition. Cuba's response was to provide documents to the State Department, which officials dismissed immediately as worthless. As a result, Cuban officials were told that the Bush administration was not interested in receiving additional documents. Cuba apparently decided to revisit the terrorism issue at the migration talks because it is the only forum in which the United States and Cuba hold regular bilateral talks.


SANTIAGO DE CUBA, December 4

    WE ALL WISH: A CUBA WITHOUT THE CASTRO BROTHERS MILITARY 
    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro called Sunday on the island's youth to carry his revolutionary "fight" into future generations. "Now it's up to you to live through the most difficult and decisive century in human history ... Your time to fight has arrived," he said, adding the new battle was to champion ideals of social justice over capitalism and imperialism. "

    Despite the dictatorÍs confidence in the future direction of Cuba without democratic changes, foreign analysts are less than sure the Western Hemisphere's only communist leadership will hang on to power for long after the tyrant. They warn that pressure from the United States and anti-communist Cuban Americans, combined with the uncertainty of the Cuban people's reaction to the removal of slavery and torment, could make for an unstable situation.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, December 3

     MILITARY PARADE SHOWS DETERIORATION OF CUBA'S MILITARY POWER
    Unlike its martial parades of the 1970s and 1980s, when Communist Cuba was flush with Soviet weapons it pointedly displayed 90 miles from Florida, the Revolutionary Armed Forces marched on its 45th anniversary without tanks, anti-aircraft weapons, mortars or other big guns. Instead, there were three combat jets and three helicopter gunships. Less than half the 6,040 marchers carried rifles.

    The scaled-down ceremony pointed to the shrunken military mission of a country that once supported rebel movements abroad but has been forced to turn inward and nurse its own struggling economy -- though its leader has lost none of his revolutionary rhetoric. 

    In Cuba, the military institution has lost its power but it has acquired political and economic power. Active and retired military officers hold more than a quarter of the seats on the Communist Party's ruling Central Committee, and generals run important ministries. The Cuban military has assumed a role developing the economy, administering the sugar industry, operating a major tourism company and a gigantic construction enterprise that builds tourist hotels with foreign partners. It has also become a major food producer. Most of the Cuban militaryÍs economic activities are implemented through: Grupo de Administración  Empresarial (GAESA); Empresa Tecnotex SA; V Seccion del MINFAR; Grupo de Turismo Gaviota; Aerogaviota, SA; Almest SA; Almacenes Universales, SA; Antex SA; Sennar SA; Sasa SA; Geocuba; Agrotex SA; and other smaller companies.

NEW YORK, December 2

     SEGMENTS OF THE EXPLANATION OF VOTE BY JAMES B. CUNNIGHAM, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS ON THE ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL AND FINANCIAL EMBARGO AGAINST CUBA -- NOVEMBER 27, 2001
     ñThe United States cannot support this resolution. Our trade embargo against the Government of Cuba is a matter of bilateral trade policy and not an issue that the General Assembly should consider. We do not forbid other nations from trading with  Cuba --  that is their decision. We choose, because of the repressive policies and actions of the Cuban Government, not to trade with the Cuban Government, We have every right to do so."

     ñOur bilateral economic trade embargo represents one element of our policy aimed at promoting democracy in Cuba. While maintaining the bilateral trade embargo, the U. S. has moved over the past few years to dramatically support the Cuban people ƒ The U.S. has been extremely generous in providing humanitarian assistance to Cuba. Last year over $800 million in direct cash remittances and $350 million in humanitarian donations were passed from Americans to Cubans ƒ The goal of our policy is to foster a transition to a democratic form of government, to protect human rights, to help develop a civil society and to provide for the economic prosperity that the Cuban governmentÍs retrograde economic policies are denying the Cuban people."

     ñCuba maintains that the human rights of the Cuban people ¿ or, rather, the lack thereof ¿ are a concern for them alone. The U.S. strongly disagrees. Our fundamental premise, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is that human rights violations in any one state are of concern to the entire international community. This observation is particularly relevant given the continued harassment of independent voices in Cuba and the continued imprisonment of people such as Felix Bonne and Dr. Elias Viscet, who were locked up simply for expressing their opposition to the regime ƒ This country is an anachronism in the democratic Western Hemisphere, a throwback to a crueler and less free time. The draft resolution distracts the attention of the international community and, worse, is used by the Cuban government to justify its continued oppressive policies."

HAVANA, December 2

     YOUNG CUBAN DIES OF DENGUE FEVER (CAMCO's Department of Engineers)
     Maikel René Céspedes Arencibia, 25, died a few days ago of dengue fever, after having been repeatedly ignored by the Cuban medical establishment. Céspedes Arencibia went to his districtÍs dispensary November 22 with the first symptoms of the disease. There, a Dr. Baró diagnosed his malady as "acute febrile syndrome", adding that she could not be sure that the man had dengue and that she couldnÍt risk causing a panic in the neighborhood or having the area placed under quarantine.

     On November 23, Céspedes Arencibia was taken to the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, where laboratory tests confirmed he had dengue fever. He was then sent home by authorities at the hospital. Two days later, when Céspedes Arencibia could no longer stand on his own, he was again taken to the Institute of Tropical Medicine. This time, he was admitted. At 3 a.m. the next day he suffered a cardiac arrest and some time later a second, fatal, one. Céspedes Arencibia resided with his family in the San Agustín neighborhood of La Lisa municipality.

MIAMI, December 2

    FAMILY SEEKS TO AVENGE EXECUTION BY SUING CUBA
    After 40 years of grief, Bonnie Anderson and her family is seeking redress in court for the execution of her father Howard F. Anderson in 1961, after the government convicted him of smuggling arms to anti-Castro groups. On Friday morning the Andersons filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against the Cuban government.

     The suit alleges Cuban dictator Fidel Castro government violated its own laws by prosecuting Anderson in a sham trial. The regime executed him for an offense that under Cuban law ordinarily carried a maximum of nine years in prison, the suit says. That constituted a terrorist act, the suit asserts, and the Cuban government should pay Anderson's widow and her children damages.

     The Anti-Terrorism Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996 allows victims to sue foreign countries for civil damages in U.S. courts. However, the nations must be classified by the State Department as sponsors of terrorism -- as Cuba is at this moment. 


WASHINGTON, D.C., December 1^st.

     U.S. RESTATES SUPPORT FOR CUBA EMBARGO
     The offer of Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, to compensate Americans whose properties were confiscated by the revolution 40 years ago was turned down again by President Bush administration.

     State Department spokesman Richard Boucher restated Thursday American support for the embargo. ñThe president repeatedly said, he would oppose any effort to weaken sanctions against the Cuban government until it respects Cubans' basic human rights and civil rights, frees political prisoners and holds free and democratic elections with international observers,'' Boucher said.


ATLANTA, December 1^st. 

     THE REV. JESSE JACKSON RUDELY CRITICIZES PRESIDENT BUSH'S POLICIES
     ñWe're in a tremendous state of danger. An extreme right wing has seized the reins of power in this country,'' the Rev. Jesse Jackson said during a panel discussion at the State of the Black World Conference.

     Jackson was joined on the panel by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III and other black leaders. Sharpton said the anti-terrorism bill would be used ñto justify locking us up, and those that speak up will be attacked as terrorists.'' ñWe're just being cowards in the face of people that are robbing us of our dignity and our rights,'' Sharpton said.

    Several hundred people are attending the five-day conference in suburban Atlanta, including delegations from Cuba, Haiti, Nigeria, Great Britain and Barbados.

CIENFUEGOS, December 1^st.

    NO HELP FOR THE VICTIMS OF MICHELLE
    Hurricane Michelle cleanup and reconstruction efforts have lagged in Cienfuegos province and residents complain they have no received any help from the Cuban government.

    Dozens of families are living practically outdoors since their homes were at least partially demolished by the winds. ñWe have received no help from the government, not even a word about whatÍs going to happen to us," said one affected resident. Four truck loads of roofing file have been delivered to the area, but have not been distributed some say, because they would not be enough to cover two percent of the need. There are still many streets that havenÍt been cleared of debris and areas without electricity.

HAVANA, December 1^st.

    CASTRO DEMANDS A PLEBISCITE; OF COURSE, NOT IN CUBA
    The government of Fidel Castro, in its political struggle against all politics other than its own, hosted a conference in Havana for the Latin American Left. The event, held November 13 16, was officially called the Hemispheric Meeting Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (ALCA). The attack against ALCA is, of course, an attack on the U. S., which are accused of wanting to annex Latin America. ALCA, goes the official line, "will bring more poverty to the peoples of Latin America."

    The Cuban government maintains the peoples of Latin America must be consulted through plebiscites, to learn what they think about ALCA. At the same time, Cuban police and security forces persecute the promoters of Project Varela, a local civil society initiative which asks the government to hold a plebiscite to learn how Cubans think their future should be managed.

WASHINGTON, December 1^st.

      IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR CAMCO MEMBERS 

      We recommend our membership to regularly visit our ñCLASSIFIED AREA."  Very important updates on our ACTIVITIES / PROJECTS and CUBA are posted regularly on these classified pages. See LTC Enrique Fernández's Intelligence Reports.

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