HAVANA, July 25

     CUBA PLANS LARGEST ANTI-AMERICAN PROTEST OF ITS HISTORY

     About 10 percent of the Cuban population is expected to march on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana on Thursday the 26^th of July, in the Caribbean island's largest anti-American protest. A communiqué released on Tuesday by the ruling Communist Party said more than one million Cubans were being mobilized to take part in the protest "against the aggressions and crimes of imperialism against Cuba." Thursday marks another anniversary of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's July 26, 1953, attack on the Moncada Barracks that launched his armed uprising.

      The 74-year-old dictator is expected to lead the march and make the main speech, despite promising to be more "prudent" after fainting in recently in the town of El Cotorro. It was announced that all precautions have been taken in case that the dictator faints again. Castro gave a rallying cry to the nation in a speech late on Monday, urging Cubans to treat Thursday as one of the most important "days of combat" in their history.

     In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said he hoped most Cubans would find something better to do with their time than join an orchestrated demonstration against the United States. "I think they could come up with far better things to do -- perhaps, stay home and think about who's truly responsible for problems in Cuba," said Reeker. "The Castro regime, as you know, has not been a model of freedom of speech or allowing people to express their own thoughts, or to think about steps that the regime might take -- that Castro could take -- to open up to democracy and improve the lives of Cubans," he said.


HAVANA, July 25

     COLLEGE GRADUATES REFUSED TO ANSWER GOVERNMENT POLL

     Many of this year's college graduates refused to cooperate with the government by answering a poll about TV round-tables, here in the capital.

     The round-tables are a series of daily programs discussing political issues, and the platform for many political campaigns carried out by the government, mostly against the U.S and Cuban exiles. The programs, that were created with the Elián Gonzalez's national campaing, run simultaneously on the only two TV channels (state owned) every night at prime time.

     One of graduates, that requested anonymity, expressed: "This poll is ridiculous. I'm tired of being used as a propaganda tool to sustain an obsolete administration. But, what can one do? The other day I had to assist to a political activity just to calm down my mother, that insisted that I should  Independent polls show that most students just want to find any way out of the country, "to work and live in freedom". Simply, leave the country at any cost.


WASHINGTON, D.C., July 23

     CASTRO'S SUCCESSION - WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN? (Intelligence Report No. 20-07242001 By Marcelo Fernández-Zayas„For More Information See: PUBLISHED ARTICLES )


     Immediate Successor: First Vice President, Raúl Castro
     Age: 70
     Experience: 42 years in power as a secondary leader.
     Assessment: For years, Raúl Castro has been the second man in power in Cuba. Unless he dies before Fidel, Raúl will take immediate command.  Raúl has two options for governing:
     1.  Radical and fanatical like his brother, or
     2. Negotiate at least some moves toward a free society to obtain a lifting of the embargo and improved investment from overseas.

     Those around Raúl (Military and Cuban Communist Party leaders) may press Raúl to depart Cuba to enable a transitional government to negotiate an agreement with the internal and external opposition. Raúl could facilitate the departure from Cuba of members of
Fidel's family, his own family and those persons most seriously compromised during Castro's dictatorship.


HAVANA, July 23

     U.S. PRODUCTS POUR INTO CUBA

     Despite being the target of the U.S. government's economic sanctions, Cuba is awash with U.S. goods. If you own an American company that wants a piece of the action in the Cuban economy, there's no problem, as long as the investment is an indirect one.

     Everywhere across this Caribbean island of 11 million people, evidence of U.S. influence abounds. At the beach one can see it been cleaned by a U.S.-manufactured Caterpillar beach cleaner. Truck cabs, made by U.S. firm International Harvester, pull adapted train cars around Havana's busy streets in lieu of buses. Black-market satellite TV salesmen offer Direct TV, complete with HBO and Pay-Per-View at no extra cost, and brand new U.S.- manufactured satellite dishes and receivers that make it all work.

     President Bush announced recently he would seek to reverse this trend and make the embargo work -- but that's a promise many experts believe will be hard to keep.


PARIS, July 21

     THE EUROPEAN UNION CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT BUSH FOR FOLLOWING CLINTONÍS POLICY ON CUBA

      The European Union congratulates President Bush for the suspension of  Title III of the Helms-Burton Act that imposes an embargo against Cuban dictator Fidel CastroÍs government. The enforcement of this provision would affect mainly Spanish firms investing in Cuba, but it would also impact on French, German, British and Italian companies.

     The Bush administration decided to suspend provision of the Act which regulates the trade embargo on Cuba, for a further six months, after the European Union threatened to take the matter up with the World Trade Organization. The European Commission, however, is only partly satisfied, for as its foreign relations spokesperson pointed out, the full objective is the revocation of all US unilateral legislation on Cuba.

     The European Union considers the Helms-Burton law extra-territorial because the US  is obliged by law to impose sanctions on companies from other countries operating in Cuba and it is this issue that the EU threatened to take up at the next meeting of the WTO in Doha, Qatar, at which Russia will be present for the first time as an observer.


MIAMI, July 20

     ROBERTO MARTÍN PÉREZ  AND HIS WIFE NINOSKA PÉREZ CASTELLÓN QUIT THE CUBAN AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION

     A great patriot and popular Cuban radio talk-show host Ninoska Pérez Castellón quit the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) on Thursday, just days before a board of directors meeting in Puerto Rico where the future of her beloved broadcast radio trasnmission, ñLa Voz de la Fundación", will be discussed.

     Ninoska had been dedicated to the foundation for 15 years. Her husband, Roberto Martín Pérez, a longtime Cuban dissident and old friend of CAMCO leadership, also quit. Roberto is considered not only a prominent member of the Foundation but a courageous leader respected by all Cuban freedom fighters. He spent nearly 28 years in Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's communist prisons. Since reaching this land of freedom, Roberto, always at the side of the late great leader and CANF founder Jorge Mas Canosa (until the day he died), has performed an extraordinary work for the liberation of Cuba.

     The departure of these two prominent and beloved Cuban fighters-- a year after the resignation of at least four other important members -- comes at a time of simmering discontent among some pioneers of the organization. ñNinoska and Roberto Martín Pérez  have a lot of followers not only in exile but in the island. She has an audience in Cuba that is immense,'' said a former CANF director.


MADRID, July 19

     SOL MELIA IS DELIGHTED WITH PRESIDENT BUSH CUBA POLICY

     The powerful hotel chain Sol Melia that is taking advantage of  Cuba's  ñslave force" has cheerfully welcomed the suspension of the legislation that would have allowed U.S. lawsuits against foreign firms using property confiscated after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Despite his promises to the Cuban community during the presidential campaign, President George W. Bush on Monday continued the policy on Cuba established by former president Bill Clinton, and extended for another six months the suspension of the controversial Title III of the Helms-Burton law, passed in 1996 to strengthen the U.S. economic embargo on the government of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

     The leading foreign investor in Cuba, Spanish hotel chain Sol Melia welcomed the new Cuba policy, saying in comments on Tuesday that it favored world trade. Sol Melia is the biggest player in the Caribbean island's booming tourist sector, and is considered one of the companies most likely to be affected by application of Helms-Burton provisions. A few weeks ago, Gabriel Canaves, head of the firmÍs Cuba operations, said he was confident President Bush would follow Clinton administrationÍs example in signing a 6-month waiver of the provision. The Spanish government and the European Union have both consistently opposed Helms-Burton and promised to back Sol Melia if President Bush would have enforced the U.S. law. It seems certain that the European politicians would have fulfilled their promises to their constituents.


WASHINGTON, D.C., July 17

      WELL, YESTERDAY WE HAD AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION WE FORMULATED ON JULY 14 -- PRESIDENT BUSH WILL CONTINUE CLINTON POLICY ON CUBA (See President ClintonÍs Years)

     President Bush said on Monday that he will continue a Clinton administration policy of suspending a law that allows U.S. citizens and companies to sue foreign firms that use property confiscated by CubaÍs revolutionary government after its 1959 takeover of the island. The law, part of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that stepped up U.S. sanctions against Cuba, has never been implemented. As President Clinton did 10 successive times, Bush took advantage of a provision that allows a presidential waiver every six months. The current waiver expires Aug. 1. 

     The reactions of the three Cuban-American representatives were:

     Rep. Bob Menéndez, a New Jersey Democrat, accused Bush of making a ñshameful" decision after promising to get tough on Castro. He said: ñOn his first opportunity to show his true colors, the president was dishonest and weak, and has failed the Cuban people seeking political, social and economic freedom.''

    Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, said in a statement: ñPresident Bush reached the conclusion that a trade war with Europe at the World Trade Organization over a single title of Helms-Burton at this time would dangerously strengthen the coalition of those seeking to eliminate the entire embargo.''

     Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, said: ñIt is a shame we have a waiver again. But though President Bush's decision is regrettable, we must also take note of the positive work he's done in a few months in support of programs which will help bring freedom to the Cuban people.''


MIAMI, July 15

     US COAST GUARD DETAINED CUBAN EXILES FOR ENTERING CUBAN TERRITORIAL WATERS AND ALSO SEIZED THEIR VESSEL

     The U.S. Coast Guard seized a vessel and briefly detained three Cuban exiles for entering Cuban territorial waters Saturday as they took part in a protest flotilla of boats near the communist-run island. The Cuban exiles were commemorating the seventh anniversary of the sinking of the Cuban tugboat "13 de Marzo" near Havana in which 42 Cubans, women, men and children, were murdered while trying to escape from the communist inferno. Participating in the demonstration were several survivors of the massacre. They were: Jorge A. García Mas, who lost 14 members of his family during the tragedy, his daughter Victoria, Iván Prieto and Daniel Prieto. See the report on the tragedy published on this pages on July 13.

     The Coast Guard said in a statement that Ramón Saul Sánchez, who heads the organization Democracy Movement that organized the protest, and two other exiles were detained. Their 23-foot vessel was seized by the Coast Guard and taken to Key West on the southern tip of the Florida Keys. "The vessel ignored verbal warnings from the Coast Guard and entered Cuban territorial seas where it stayed for approximately 60 minutes before returning to international waters," the Coast Guard statement said.

     The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida ordered the vessel seized and the individuals released.


WASHINGTON, D.C., July 14

     PRESIDENT BUSH ANNOUNCES TOUGHER LINE ON CUBA ¿ IS HIS STATEMENT REALLY ñA STRONG COMMITMENT TO THOSE WHO SUPPORT FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN CUBA," AS HIS BROTHER DECLARED? WE MAY FIND THE ANSWER SOON, PERHAPS ON MONDAY (Review  History)

     Calling sanctions against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's Cuba ña moral statement,'' President Bush ordered stricter enforcement of the U.S. trade embargo and greater support to dissidents on the communist island. Bush also said he was asking the Treasury Department to do more to ensure that American tourism in Cuba, banned by law, is not occurring under the guise of permitted pro-democracy cultural exchanges.

     ñThe sanctions the United States enforces against the Castro regime are not just a policy tool, but a moral statement. It is wrong to prop up a regime that routinely stifles all the freedoms that make us human,'' the president said in a written statement.  However, many analysts expect Bush to follow the steps of President Clinton and decide next week to suspend for six months the Title III provision in the 1996 Helms-Burton law that allows any American whose property was seized in Cuba after Castro took power in 1959 to sue anyone who uses the property. Letting that provision take effect would anger European allies whose citizens and companies could face lawsuits.

      Some critics suggested that Bush was trying on Friday to score hollow points with the politically influential Cuban-American community. Cuban-Americans are an especially important political constituency in Florida, where Bush's younger brother Jeb is the incumbent governor seeking reelection next year. ñToday's words and promises are hollow if the president decides to waive Title III next week. It's the enforcement of the law, not mere words, that will bring change,'' said Rep. Bob Menéndez, D-N.J.


KEY LARGO, July 14

    THIRTY-SEVEN CUBANS LANDED IN FLORIDA KEYS

     A group of 37 Cubans landed in the Florida Keys on Thursday morning, two days after two groups of 61 people were dropped off near Miami, U.S Border Patrol spokesman Joe Mellia said. The group, including a 6-month-old baby girl and a 4-year-old girl -- was found in Key Largo, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Miami.

     The Cubans said they set sail from Havana last Saturday on a 29-foot (8.79-metre) homemade boat built with barrels. They denied they were smuggled and said their vessel sank just off Key Largo at about 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, he said.

     "I have my doubts on whether they can fit 37 people on a homemade boat and make it that far," Mellia said. "I believe they were smuggled." The migrants would be turned over to immigration authorities later on. They may be released within the next two days.


MEXICO, July 14

     CUSTOMS INVESTIGATING SHIPMENT OF CUBAN RAT POISON

     U.S. Customs Service agents Thursday night seized three containers from a pro-Castro group hours after the it claimed to have brought more than 30 pounds of Cuban-made rat poison across America's southern border unchallenged.

     Customs officials said the material was detained at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint well inside Texas, adding that the agency was investigating whether the Pastors for Peace violated smuggling and public health laws by failing to declare the pesticide at the border.

     The leader of the group, Rev. Lucius Walker, insisted that he and his group told U.S. Customs agents they had the rat poison and that the agents neither searched for nor seized it. ñThat is absolutely false,'' responded Dean Boyd, a Customs spokesman. ñOur people asked every single individual, including Mr. Walker, if they had anything to declare, and they were emphatic in stating they had nothing.''


WASHINGTON, D.C., July 13

    ON THE SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SINKING OF THE ñ13 DE MARZO" TUGBOAT, LETS REMEMBER ALL THE CHILDREN WHO WERE MASSACRED WITH THEIR PARENTS SEEKING FREEDOM

     On a day like today, on July 13, 1994, forty-two men, women and children were massacred by the Cuban government at sea while attempting to leave Cuba aboard the ñ13 de Marzo" tugboat.  Among those killed were 12 children ¿ one of them, a little six month old baby.

     When the tugboat reached seven miles off the shores of Cuba, it was violently attacked by Cuban Navy boats. The 72 Cubans aboard attempted to surrender and many of them held their children up in the air. But CastroÍs thugs were relentless in their savage attack against the helpless passengers with water cannons. Even as a motherÍs baby was knocked out of her hands and thrown to the ocean by high-pressure water cannons, the attack continued. Other children were simply swept off the deck into the sea. Desperately trying to protect their children, the women carried the remaining children down into the boatÍs hold where all drowned. This barbaric attack with water cannons and the act of repeatedly ramming against the boat eventually sank the ñ13 de Marzo."

     Even though the savage aspect of this event was acknowledged by many human rights organizations as well as Pope John Paul II, the Clinton administration and the U.S. media ignored it and, immediately after the sinking, the president actively sought a migration agreement with the Cuban dictator. This migration agreement so soon after one of the biggest criminal acts performed by the communist government of Cuba, clearly contradicts the U.S. tradition of freedom and justice that has always characterized the United States of America.


HAVANA, July 12

     PETROBAS TO END EXPLORATION IN CUBA  (CAMCOÍs Department of Engineers)

     Brazil's Petrobras is reported to have become the latest major oil company to end exploration in Cuban waters, according to the UK's Institute of Petroleum. The decision to leave the Cuban market apparently was made after the company's wildcat well in offshore Block L was a dry hole. The well was drilled off Cuba's north central coast. Petrobras earlier conducted a seismic program that indicated the area could contain up to 700 million barrels of crude reserves.


HAVANA, July 12

     HIGH LEVEL CHINESE MILITARY DELEGATION VISITS CUBA  (CAMCOÍs Department of Engineers)

    A high level Chinese military delegation has arrived in Cuba to continue "systematic exchanges" between the armed forces of the two countries.

    The delegation, which is to stay on the island until Saturday, is headed by Lieutenant General Qiao Qingchen, political leader for the Chinese Armed Forces. Official media said the visit was part of the "systematic exchanges aimed at increasing the ties of friendship and collaboration between the two peoples and their armed forces,"


PINAR DEL RIO, July 12

     INDEPENDENT PRODUCERS OF PRESERVES ARE BEING SQUEEZED OUT OF BUSINESS   (CAMCOÍs Department of Engineers)

    Dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of independent producers of preserves that have flourished in this province in the last decade are being squeezed out of business by adverse economic conditions of the country.

     The producers, whose exact number it's impossible to know, typically operate out of the home, without a license or other official sanction and not so much outside the law as under the shadow of the law, in the sense that the authorities have never bothered with them. Their production, mostly of tomato, mango and guava preserves, has been camouflaged as "for family consumption" to evade government strictures against private enterprise.

     These cottage industries have flourished by supplying the domestic market with products that are either unavailable or available at prices that the average Cuban cannot afford. Now, due to increases in the cost of their supplies, their bottled preserves are reaching prices that local consumers balk at paying. The problem is consumers whose average salary is just over 200 pesos a month cannot or will not pay more than three pesos a bottle. In addition, these entrepreneurs have to figure that periodically some of their produce will be confiscated by police, even if it's only what they can carry on their backs.


HAVANA, July 12

      PRO-CASTRO GROUP BRINGS ñBIORAT" TO U.S.

      An American Pro-Castro group left Cuba early Wednesday, bound for Mexico and eventually the U.S. border after announcing it would try to import Cuban-made rat poison called Biorat as a challenge to the U.S. trade embargo. "There is a rat problem in the United States in addition to the one in the White House!'' said Rev. Lucius Walker, the leader of the group called Pastors for Peace.

      Walker told reporters last week that he would return home with Cuban solar panels and, most importantly, a rat pesticide called Biorat. ñWe are doing a reverse challenge for the first time in history - taking aid from Cuba by way of our caravan to the people of the United States,'' he said.

      The group was headed Wednesday to the Mexican port city of Tampico, where they left their caravan of vehicles in which they brought their aid shipment from the United States. The aid was transported by boat from Tampico to Havana. After retrieving their vehicles, the group was to drive north across the U.S.-Mexican border, carrying with them the rat poison and other Cuban products.


MIAMI, July 11

     SIXTY-ONE CUBANS REACH MIAMI

     More than 60 Cubans have landed on Miami-Dade County shores this week after trips aboard smuggling boats, the Border Patrol said. Forty landed near a marina at Miami Beach early Tuesday, and 21 arrived near Key Biscayne late Monday.

     The Cubans told Border Patrol agents they paid smugglers between $450 and $500 to board boats near Sagua la Grande on Cuba's northern coast. The arrivals seem to be linked, but officials haven't confirmed it, said Joe Mellia, a Border Patrol spokesman.

    Both groups were scheduled to be processed and then released, Mellia said. A 1966 law allows Cubans who reach U.S. shores to apply for American residency, an automatic right not granted to immigrants of other nations.


WASHINGTON, D.C., July 10

     THE CUBAN AMERICAN FOUNDATION SEEKS THE PROSECUTION OF CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO

     From Chile to Costa Rica, from Miami to Madrid, the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) is engaged in a costly, mostly behind-the-scenes, campaign to find a prosecutor to level criminal charges against Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. ñThis is our No. 1 issue today and we really expect this Bush administration to do it,'' said CANF legal counsel George J. Fowler III, who has been pressing Attorney General John Ashcroft. ñWe cannot have dictators willy-nilly doing what they want -- and then answering, `I'm head of state.' ''

     It may be a long shot. Some international law experts say the Cuban leader is protected from arrest and trial under the widely held principle of head-of-state immunity. But recent events -- notably last month's federal conviction of five Cuban spies for Havana -- have revived interest in the effort, which the lobby launched in late 1998 in light of Spain's bid to bring Chile's Augusto Pinochet to justice.

     During all this time, the CANF has been working on the indictment of Castro in the United States,'' as the mastermind of the Feb. 24, 1996, shoot-down by Cuban MiG fighter-jets of two Brothers to the Rescue planes. The strategy is this: Identify unprosecuted murders and other violence tied to leftist guerrilla groups in Latin America and have lawyers take depositions, press investigations and brief prosecutors on possible Cuban links that could lead to the strongman himself, Castro. Such charges put any would-be successors on notice that they, too, could be held accountable for the Castro regime's human rights record. In the meantime, he predicted, a federal indictment would likely force Castro to stop traveling, for fear of arrest


MADRID, July 9

     A MEMBER OF CAMCO PRESENTED CUBAÍS INTERESTS IN AN INTERNATIONAL DEFENSE FORUM

     The organization which observes the security and defense of Latin America at the University Ortega y Gasset Institute in Madrid, Spain and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in Washington, D.C., sponsored a seminar titled ñCivic-Military Relations in Latin America, a Look Towards the XXI Century".  This seminar took place in Madrid, Spain during the period June 26-29, 2001.

     In attendance were senior members of the Spanish Ministry of Defense, the Defense Ministries of most of the Latin American Countries and an American Air Force general representing the American Secretary of Defense.  Many senior officers in the rank of General and Admiral from Latin America and Spain also attended.  An U.S. Army colonel represented the USA South Command.   In this international setting, Cuba ïs interests and concerns were represented by a Cuban American residing in the USA and who is a member of the Cuban-American Council (CAMCO).  He is Colonel Archibald J. Kielly, the Senior Director of CAMCOÍs ñBuilding Bridges 2001", a NED funded civic-military project which main objective is to help the Cuban armed forces and the Cuban people through the transition from communism to democracy.

     The purpose of this international forum was to form a cooperative group capable of combining the efforts of some Latin American, U.S. and Spanish officials to discuss the future of Latin American security.  The seminarÍs members attempted to form a net of collaboration.  This net will allow all participating institutions and personnel involved in the study of civic-military relations and the defense of Latin America to have an equal opportunity to study and discuss these issues.  In addition, the seminar provided an excellent  platform for seminar members in government, the armed forces and academia to meet and to network. (More information on this Seminar for CAMCO membership inside "CLASSIFIED AREA.")


HAVANA, July 8

    INCREDIBLE! THE CUBAN DICTATOR ESTABLISHED A NEW RECORD: HE MADE AN 8-MINUTE SPEECH

     Many Cubans held their breath on Saturday as Cuban dictator Fidel Castro took to the podium at an open-air rally in the town of Bejucal, just as he had done exactly two weeks ago when he fainted in the town of Cotorro. However, this time Fidel Castro, who will soon turn 75, spoke for only 8 minutes, demonstrating the "prudence" he promised after fainting two hours into a speech on June 23.

     Castro, as he did two weeks ago, demanded the release of five Cuban spies, convicted recently in Florida on espionage-related charges and awaiting sentencing. Castro's younger brother, 70-year-old Defense Minister Raul Castro, who Fidel said recently was the most fit person in the country to succeed him, was also at the rally. The Cuban dictator also announced July 26 festivities, marking the anniversary of a 1953 attack to the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, would be held in Havana province.


WASHINGTON, D.C., July 6, 2001

     WOULD PRESIDENT BUSH BE THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO FULFILL HIS PROMISE TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE AND THE EXILE COMMUNITY? (See 42-Years USA-Cuba Relations)

     The Bush Administration appears to be increasing enforcement of parts of the economic embargo against Cuba this year, denying visas to Cuban officials wanting to come to this country and more carefully scrutinizing Americans who fly to the island through third countries. In June, the State Department denied visas for eight Cuban officials coming to a meeting of the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association in Bloomington, Ind., and three officials traveling to Washington for a trademarks conference.

     Lawyers representing Americans who have gotten in trouble for traveling to Cuba say there has been a marked increase in enforcement by the U.S. Treasury Department. A lawyer who defends Americans accused of violating travel restrictions to Cuba, said he has about 400 current cases and has stopped taking any more. The State Department said it was "looking very carefully at visa applications from Cuban government officials." Cuban officials in the United States can meet with anyone they want; but American officials based in Havana, must get permission to meet with even the lowest ranking government officials. "Part of this is the difference between a police state and a free society," said an American official.

     Americans who do not qualify for one of a limited number of licenses allowing them to legally fly directly from the United States to Cuba, usually travel via Canada, Mexico or the Bahamas. If they are caught by Customs agents on their way back to the United States, American travelers may be questioned in writing about their trips. Many are later told to pay a hefty fine, about $7,500, or ask for a hearing before an administrative law judge. One such letter, sent out in May read in part: "You were observed by U.S. Customs Service Inspectors ... at Dorval International Airport in Montreal, Canada, as you arrived on a "Cubana de Aviación" airlines flight from Havana, Cuba. During your inspection by U.S. Customs you repeatedly denied that you had traveled to Cuba. You also claimed not to have a passport. Customs inspectors searched your belongings, and your person, and found clothing inconsistent with travel to Canada." The letter asked the passenger to supply details of the trip within 20 business days.


HAVANA, July 7

    ACTIVISTÍS IMPORT OF CUBAN RAT POISON WILL TEST EMBARGO

    A New York pastor, the Rev. Lucius Walker, arrived in Havana Wednesday with 80 tons of unlicensed humanitarian aid from the United States in tow. But it's what the activist plans to take home next week that will pose a unique challenge to the American economic embargo of the Communist-run island. Walker said the Cuban aid to the United States would likely include locally made solar panels and, most importantly, a rat pesticide called Biorat.

    "There is a rat problem in the United States in addition to the one in the White House!" he said, in reference to President George W. Bush who opposes the lifting of the embargo that Washington has enforced for decades against Cuba.  Walker plans to return with cases of a product called Biorat for distribution to community groups in inner cities, his first attempt to break the embargo by bringing a Cuban import to the United States. Cuban scientists and their state-owned Labiofam company that produce the poison, say they have used the recipe for nearly a decade to decimate the rat populations in aging Havana and in nations as far off as Vietnam, Uganda and Mongolia.

     A U.S. Customs official said Thursday the agency is conferring with the Environmental Protection Agency and ñformulating a joint plan to address the situation.'' Walker, whose Pastors for Peace group has sponsored a dozen aid caravans that have delivered more than 2,000 tons of aid here since 1992, calls his first attempt to import a Cuban product into the U.S. ñreciprocal solidarity.'' When he returns with the Cuban products, Walker said, ñthat may be an occasion when the Bush administration may show its true colors.''


HAVANA, July 5

     CUBANS' OPINIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE

     After June 23, when Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who for 42 years has maintained an image of invincibility in front of his own people, collapsed in front of 70,000 supporters and millions of television viewers, many things have changed in Cuba. One of them, the Cuban peopleÍs perception of what had really happened to ñThe Horse" and a future without him.

     The two big talking points that Cubans were often hesitant to discuss openly before June 23 are how long the 74-year-old dictator will remain in power and who will replace him, both in the short- and medium-term, once he goes. Some opinions sound like these:  ñRaúl cannot succeed ïthe HorseÍ because he does not have charisma". ñProbably it will be a pentarchy: Raúl, Alarcón, Lage, Pérez Roque and one of the generals". ñHe still looks strong to me, but who knows? At that age, anything can happen. ... After the fainting, it really hit me that he won't live forever."  "There was a lot of anxiety, and even panic, in our street when we saw him falling on television, because the camera changed and we didn't know what was happening." "Bad health for Fidel Castro is good news for freedom lovers everywhere." ñI hope he dies tomorrow".

     ñThe end is near and I donÍt know if we are prepared". "Look, I'm in my 60s, I've worked all my life, I love my country, don't misunderstand me, ƒ But we've tried to stop the clock here in Cuba and the world has gone marching on without us. Change is inevitable. Let's just hope it's quiet and peaceful, not violent, for God's sake."    



HAVANA, July 4

     SPAINÍS SOL MELIA AWAITS PRESIDENT BUSHÍS DECISION OVER TITLE III OF THE HELMS-BURTON LAW

     Gabriel Canaves, head of Sol MeliaÍs Cuba operations, the biggest foreign player in the island tourism, said Tuesday it was waiting for a U.S. decision over potential legal action against firms using confiscated properties. Canaves also said he was confident President Bush would follow Clinton administrationÍs example in signing a 6-month waiver of the Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton law.

     The Title III clause, waived every six months by former President Bill Clinton to appease the Cuban dictator, would allow lawsuits in U.S. courts against foreign companies alleged to be investing on property expropriated by Cuba after the 1959 revolution. With the six-month waiver period up in days, President George W. Bush is under political pressure to allow application of Title III for the first time. However, it seems that despite his strong public stance against Castro, Bush, as the previous nine presidents, will not risk a major dispute with the European Union over CubaÍs violation of international laws. (See 42-Years of Unfulfilled Promises)

     Canaves said his firm, the 10th biggest worldwide in its sector, aimed to further consolidate its already dominant place in Cuba's fast-expanding tourism sector. "If in 10 years we have obtained 20 hotels, in 10 years more, we can obtain another 20 minimum," he said. Sol Melia is joint owner of four hotels in partnership with the Cuban government. The rest are under management contract. The Spanish firm is due to take management of three more hotels around Cuba this year, meaning it would close 2001 with 23 installations comprising a total of 8,562 rooms. "In Cuba, we are going to have a large number of hotels, it's difficult to say how many," Canaves added. Despite his bravado and self-confidence, CAMCO wants to let señor Canaves know that in a free and democratic Cuba, it is certain that Sol Melia will not be able to fulfill his prediction.


MIAMI, July 3

     MIAMI OFFICIALS REVIEW PLANS FOR POSSIBLE TURMOIL AT CASTROÍS DEATH

     Hours after images of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's collapse recently while making a speech in the town of Cotorro flashed across television screens, the Miami Police Department went on alert, bracing for the possibility of a large and emotional public reaction here if the Castro died. Last Monday, Mayor Alex Penelas of Miami-Dade County called a meeting with officials to review the "Cuba Change in Government" plan in this county, which is home to 650,000 Cuban-Americans. PenelasÍ reaction offers a glimpse of plans to deal swiftly with the public, diplomatic and bureaucratic turmoil that Castro's death could cause.

     A command post (CP) to coordinate dozens of agencies and exile groups, will be housed in a building on the north side of Miami. There, the county contingency plan would be set in motion once the mayor signs a declaration of state of emergency in the event of significant civil disturbances or massive boat movement in or out of South Florida. The CP would establish direct communications with Cuba, coordinate the agencies, brief the news media, and keep exiles informed about developments and relatives in Cuba. Every local, state and federal agency and department that had a responsibility would be represented in the CP.

     Some plans would be implemented at sea and in the air, others in the city of Miami, where an emotional outpouring is expected in the streets. The Miami Police Department would cancel vacations, add people to all shifts, and dispatch officers to handle crowds at popular spots for demonstrations and celebrations. The Coast Guard's plan focuses on another serious potential traffic problem -- a huge increase in boats and rafts heading to or from Cuba. The county plan also deals with departing sea traffic. "We could potentially see a situation where numerous people grab boats that have been sitting in their back yards for a number of months or years, and take them to a marina and decide to venture down to Cuba to pick relatives up, celebrate or reclaim property," said a county spokesman. "One of the things we can do under the plan is close the marinas," he added.


MIAMI, July 3

     CUBAN SPIES PLACED IN ISOLATION

     Despite Cuban dictator demonstrations demanding freedom for his agents, five Cuban intelligence agents convicted last month of spying for Havana have been removed from the general prison population at the Federal Detention Center in Miami and placed into what inmates call "the hole,'' lawyers for the men confirmed Sunday. "We're trying to get an explanation from prison officials as to why they have taken this action,'' said defense attorney Jack Blumenfeld, who represents Antonio Guerrero, convicted on June 8 of being part of the spy ring dubbed Red Avispa or Wasp Network. Blumenfeld and fellow attorney Philip Horowitz said they learned last week that their clients had been moved and contacted Bureau of Prisons' officials seeking an explanation.

     The move by prison officials comes on the heels of reports of a letter, allegedly written by the spies from their cells in Miami, which then made its way to Cuba some 10 days ago. Convicted of 23-spy-related charges, Gerardo Hernández, Guerrero and Ramón Labañino face maximum sentences of life in prison. The two González,  Fernando and René, who are not related, face penalties of at least 15 years each.


HAVANA, July 2

     CASTROÍS POSSIBLE SUCCESSORS

     For a few minutes, this Caribbean island had its first taste of the emotions that will surge across Cuba the day Cuban dictator Fidel Castro dies. Shock, sadness, panic and fear were the immediate reactions to what the government said was Castro's ñmomentary fatigue'' at a mass rally outside Havana a week ago. In Havana's residential sections, people ran outside frantically to tell neighbors something had happened to ñthe horse.''

      In power since the Cuban revolution's triumph on Jan. 1, 1959, Castro recognizes there are concerns about his replacement. He has long insisted that his brother Raúl, the 70-year-old defense minister, is his heir. He confirmed that several times after his fainting spell. However, Raúl Castro's detractors note he does not have his brother's charisma and leadership and thus may be unable to gain the popular support necessary to rule the same way his brother does. Also mentioned as a possible successors are: Carlos Lage Dávila, 49, secretary of the Council of Ministers; Ricardo Alarcón Quesada, 64, an old-Communist Party member who has been president of Cuba's parliament since March 1993; and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, 36, a former personal secretary to Castro.

     While talk of succession is now somewhat acceptable, open discussion about a possible change in Cuba's socialist system is not. Cuban leaders are irritated by suggestions about a ñpost-Castro'' period, saying the dictatorÍs ideas will live on long after he dies. ñThere will be no post-Castro era,'' Lage said Tuesday during a visit to the United Nations.


HAVANA, July 1^st

      THE CUBAN DICTATOR ASKED FOR FORGIVENESS FOR ANY ñPASSING UNPLEASANTNESS" THEY MAY EXPERIENCE THE DAY HE DIES

      Fidel Castro asked the Cuban people for their forgiveness in advance Friday for any ñpassing unpleasantness'' they may experience the day he dies. Speaking with reporters after his first outdoor public appearance since his fainting spell last weekend, Castro admitted that many Cubans are upset by the thought of him dying.

     ñI ask the people's forgiveness beforehand for the day that something happens to me ... (for) the passing unpleasantness that it could cause them,'' the 74-year-old Cuban leader said. ñI don't know what day I will die, but I am not worried about it, I enjoy celestial tranquility,'' Castro said after the morning rally called to protest a Miami jury's convictions earlier this month of five Cuban agents. Castro on Friday confirmed once again that his heir apparent is his brother Raul, 70, the defense minister. Raul Castro ñis in good health ... and really after me he is the one who has the most experience, most knowledge, something that may not be well known,'' the Cuban leader said.

     Castro said that if he knew that tomorrow morning he would suffer a heart attack, a stroke or other ailment that would kill him, ñthe person who has the most authority and experience'' after him is his brother. ñI'll go before I faint,'' Castro quipped. ñI promise that I will not faint again, I will not become fatigued again, because if such a disgraceful thing occurs the (news) cables will be raining.''


PINAR DEL RIO, July 1^st.

     RAUL CASTRO LEADS CUBANS IN ñFREE THE FIVE" PARADE

     Raul Castro led 50,000 Cubans in a rally on Saturday as part of Havana's escalating campaign to demand freedom for five undercover agents jailed in the United States. Sitting in front of a huge sign proclaiming "They Will Return," the 70-year-old head of Cuba's armed forces joined the state-mobilized crowd in the eastern province of Pinar del Rio to hear anti-U.S. speeches.

     Havana is casting the men as heroes who sought to protect Cuba from "terrorist" attacks planned from U.S. soil by anti-communist militants.  However, a federal jury in Miami convicted the five Cubans on June 8 of working as agents for a Cuban espionage ring that infiltrated military installations and Cuban exile groups in Florida. 

     The Cuban dictator launched his campaign for the five 10 days ago in what many see as an effort to unite his nation behind a "cause celebre" similar to last year's custody saga over young shipwreck survivor Elián Gonzalez. But the new campaign is unlikely to have the same broad international impact. "Elián was unique. You can't repeat that ... . And you can't get round the fact these men are spies, and were caught. That's not going to awaken a whole lot of international sympathy," one Western diplomat in Havana said.


MIAMI, July 1^st

     FAGET GETS 5 YEARS IN SPY STING

     Mariano Faget, the senior immigration official caught in an espionage sting last year, was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison -- the low end of the scale -- by U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold who noted his ñexemplary'' work record. Faget was convicted of four counts -- disclosing classified information, converting it for his own gain, lying to the FBI and failing to disclose foreign-business contacts on his security clearance application.

     More than 20 of FagetÍs relatives listened somberly as Judge Gold heard final arguments about which sentencing guidelines to use. Faget's wife, Maria, 54, a sales executive for a mechanical engineering firm, appealed to him to be lenient, saying her husband ñis loyal to his family, his country and his work.''

     Faget, 55, was one of the most senior Cuban-American officials in the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Prosecutors said Faget was passing on the information to win favor with the Cubans and boost his business interests. He was a partner in a trading company established to do business in Cuba if the embargo is ever lifted. The judge said he would recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that Faget be allowed to serve his term at the low-security correctional complex at Coleman, Fla. Faget, who has been in federal custody about 16 months, is likely to be in prison a total of three years. He will also lose his federal pension.


FORT WASHINGTON, July 1st

      IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR CAMCO MEMBERSHIP 

      We recommend our membership to regularly visit our ñCLASSIFIED AREA."  Critical  and important updates on our ACTIVITIES / PROJECTS and CUBA will be posted regularly in the section: "INSTRUCCIONES / ACTUALIZACIONES."
(See Mensajes Electrónicos)