BELIEVE IT OR NOT! CUBA RETURNED TO UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

    Cuba was reelected without opposition on Tuesday to the United Nations' top human rights body, prompting a fierce response by Washington that it was "like putting Al Capone in charge of bank security." The voting took place in the 54-nation U.N. Economic and Social Council, which two years ago ousted the United States from the Human Rights Commission for the first time since Washington helped found it in 1947. The United States was returned to the body in a vote the following year.

    In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters: "Cuba does not deserve a seat on the Human Rights Commission. Cuba deserves to be investigated by the Human Rights CommissionƒIt is an inappropriate action that does not serve the cause of human rights in Cuba or at the United Nations." In the last month, the Cuban authorities have rounded up 78 dissidents and imprisoned them for terms of up to 28 years. As part of the crackdown, Cuba also executed three men who hijacked a ferry in a failed bid to reach the United States.

    Human rights groups said: "You have a huge powerful and very well organized bloc that doesn't want any country criticized, opposes U.N. human rights monitoring and wants to weaken the office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights." "It's almost a rule now. You get criticized by the commission or you might be, so you get a seat on the commission and you vote as a bloc against criticism."

    SECRETARY POWELL LOBBIES FOR OAS SUPPORT AGAINST THE CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell lobbied on Monday for support for Cuban dissidents through the Organization of American States. "We look to our friends in the OAS to live up to the ideals we share (and) take a principled stand for freedom, democracy and human rights in Cuba," Powell told the annual conference of the Council of the Americas.

    "We look to them to join us in developing a common hemispheric approach to supporting Cubans dedicated to building a democratic and free Cuba," he added. Last week the United States and its allies in the Americas failed to win an OAS resolution condemning rights abuse in Cuba but said they would come back with a revised text soon. The proposed text, presented before the OAS's Permanent Council by Nicaragua and co-sponsored by the U.S. and Costa Rica, called on Havana to "immediately free all unjustly arrested Cubans."

    Earlier on Monday, Secretary Powell said the United States was reviewing all aspects of its policy on Cuba in response to the recent crackdown on Cuban dissidents. "We are reviewing all of our policies and our approach to Cuba in light of what I think is a deteriorating human rights situation within Cuba," Secretary Powell told reporters. "I'm very pleased that His Holiness has also commented on the situation." The Secretary gave no details of the review but a State Department official said it covered "all policy tools at our disposal."

    U.S. SENDS IRAQI EXILE TEAMS TO BAGHDAD

    The Pentagon is sending to Baghdad teams of Iraqi exiles with professional experience suited to rebuilding a democratic government, pentagon officials said Saturday. The group comprises individuals selected for the kinds of expertise needed to revive various government ministries such as oil, public health, industry and transportation.  The pentagon said Saturday that about 150 Iraqis who have been living in the United States or Europe have volunteered to go back, and a small number already have gone.

    The Iraqi exiles represent a talent pool of people who not only have, in almost all cases, very substantial technical skills but also have a good understanding of how free societies function, the pentagon said. Their mission is to advise American officials in Iraq on what is needed to get the ministries functioning again. Additionally, they will act as a "cultural liaison" between the Americans in charge of establishing an interim Iraqi administration and the Iraqis who emerge as candidates to lead the country.

    This work is one facet of President Bush administration's undertaking to establish a democratic government in Baghdad. The goal of the Iraqi exiles, who are organized as the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council (similar to the organization adopted by CAMCO to assist in the reconstruction of a FREE CUBA), is to provide the technical and professional expertise to get government ministries running again. These Iraqis have been living in exile in the United States and Europe since the 1970s and 1980s, and some worked in Iraqi government ministries before fleeing the country.

    CHAVISTS ATTACKED ANTI-CASTRO GROUPS NEAR THE CUBAN EMBASSY IN CARACAS

    Venezuelan troops and police fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to separate opponents and supporters of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro who pelted each other with stones and bottles on Saturday near the Cuban embassy in Caracas.  At least one person was hurt. Around 100 anti-Castro demonstrators and opponents of Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez had gathered near the embassy to protest the Cuban government's recent jailing of 75 political dissidents.

    The protesters carried Venezuelan flags and banners, including one reading "CASTRO, CUBA'S MURDERER,"  which criticized the April 11 executions in Cuba of three men who hijacked a ferry in a bid to reach the United States. A group of supporters of Castro and Chavez, many carrying posters of the Cuban dictator, confronted them. Police fired tear gas to separate the groups but more and more pro-Chavez militants began to arrive in buses and rushed the rival demonstrators.

    The topic of communist-ruled Cuba, where Castro is facing a storm of international criticism over his crackdown, is highly sensitive in Venezuela. The leftist Venezuelan President is a close friend and political ally of the Cuban dictator and has turned his oil-rich country into the Caribbean island's single biggest trading partner. Venezuela ships oil to Cuba under a preferential energy accord and several hundred Cuban doctors, coaches and sugar specialists work in the South American country. Foes of Chavez accuse him of trying to imitate the Cuban dictator and of seeking to install Cuba-style communism in Venezuela.

    REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS CONDEMNS TRANSFER OF DISSIDENTS TO PRISONS FAR FROM THEIR HOMES 

    Reporters Without Borders protested today at plans to transfer a dozen independent journalists arrested last month to provincial prisons hundreds of  kilometers from their Havana area homes and warned that it would lead to their ill-treatment. The families of a dozen of the 26 journalists detained in a crackdown on 78 dissidents were told by state security police that their relatives would shortly be sent to jails up to 900 kms from the capital.  The families immediately denounced the move as an effective "second sentence" in view of the problems of moving around the country.

    "This second isolation will make them even more vulnerable to the abuses and humiliating treatment that political prisoners are routinely subjected to in Cuba," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard.  "The failure to provide medical care for journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who is seriously ill, is a very bad sign."

    The Cuban government took advantage of the imminent US invasion of Iraq to launch an unprecedented wave of repression on 18 March, arresting nearly 80 dissidents, including 26 independent journalists, and accusing them of undermining the country's "independence and territorial integrity" in league with the US Interests Section (diplomatic representation) in Havana. They were jailed for between six and 28 years.

    POPE APPEALS TO CASTRO SHOW CLEMENCY FOR DISSIDENTS

    The Vatican said Pope John Paul II, upon learning of ñthe heavy sentences inflicted on a significant group of Cuban dissidents, three of whom were sentenced to death,'' asked the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, to express his ñdeep sorrow.î  In a letter, Sodano asked Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to show clemency toward dissidents. The pope appealed to Castro ñas soon as he heard about the news of the heavy sentences '' a Vatican statement said.

    The appeal, dated April 13 was released only Saturday by the Vatican press office. A Vatican official said the letter had not been publicized to give Castro a chance to respond. Apparently, there was no answer. The Pope expressed ñprofound painî over the recent firing-squad executions of three hijackers of a ferry boat and ñdeep sorrow'' over the long prison sentences handed out to 75 dissidentsñ,  the Vatican said.

    ñI am sure that you also share with me the conviction that only a sincere and constructive confrontation between the citizens and the civil authorities can guarantee the promotion of a modern and democratic Cuba ever more united and fraternal,'' Sodano concluded.

 MESSAGE TO THE CUBAN ARMED FORCES

    Greetings, members of the Cuban Armed Forces.  For those of you we have not spoken to directly, let us tell you who we are and the mission of CAMCO.  We are over 1000 Cuban American former members of the military armed forces.  Some served in the Cuban military before the Castros.   Some served in CastrosÍ armed forces but defected, disillusioned with the failed revolution.  Some served in the Brigade 2506 and many more in the United Stated armed forces.   We represent all the arms of the military.  Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and even Merchant Marines.  We served in all the military functions.  We have infantrymen, engineers, pilots, submariners, etc.  Many of our members were enlisted people and some went as high as General officers.

    Our mission is to help you transition from communism to democracy with minimum disruption to your careers and the welfare of your families.  For those who remain in the military after communism, CAMCO has plans and personnel willing and able to support and guide you through the changes.  For those of you who leave the military, CAMCO has a plan to transition you from the military to a civilian free economy.  The bottom line is that you will not be alone during the difficult but exciting time that is coming.  Soon, the Cuban people will be able to charter their own lives, choose their own government representatives and join the Commonwealth of Nations that live and prosper in a free society. VIVA CUBA LIBRE! 

    CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO ACCUSES UNITED STATES OF CONSPIRING AGAINST CUBA.

    Fidel Castro harshly criticized America's top diplomat in Cuba on Friday, accusing him of provoking his government by hosting dissidents whom the Cuban president called ñcounterrevolutionaries'' and ñmercenaries.'' Castro listed a series of acts and statements by U.S. Interests Section Chief James Cason, who took up his post in the fall. ñHe came here with instructions to carry out all kinds of provocations against Cuba,'' Castro said in a speech carried live on the island's Cuba's state-run television and radio.

    Castro's detailed accounting included the numerous meals, cocktail parties and other gatherings - complete with dates and names of people in attendance - that he said Cason hosted for dissidents, who the dictator characterized as ñcounterrevolutionaries'' and ñmercenaries.'' Castro leader has criticized Cason in the past as a ñbully with diplomatic immunity.''

    In the past month, Cuba has come under heavy world criticism for holding rapid tribunals and giving 75 dissidents sentences ranging from six to 28 years on charges of collaborating with American diplomats to subvert the socialist system - charges that the opponents and U.S. officials deny.

     NORTH KOREA SAYS IT HAS NUCLEAR BOMB

     During trilateral talks with China aimed at making headway in a nuclear standoff, North Korea's representative Li Gun pulled aside U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly on Wednesday and told him "blatantly and boldly" that the country has at least one nuclear weapon, one official said. Gun asked, "Now what are you going to do about it?" the official said. In the past, North Korean officials have privately told U.S. officials that they have a nuclear weapons program, but they did not declare having any nuclear weapons.

    Gun said his country would "prove" it has the weapon "soon," implying that North Korea may test a nuclear bomb, though he did not explicitly threaten that, a source said.  Gun said it's up to the United States to determine whether there is a "physical demonstration" of such a weapon, said a senior administration official. Pyongyang would consider dismantling its nuclear weapons program if the United States provides a written assurance that it will not attack North Korea, Gun said according to one source. U.S. intelligence has indicated for some time that North Korea has nuclear weapons, including one capable of hitting the western United States. But North Korea has publicly denied the claim.

    COALITION FORCES CAPTURE TARIQ AZIZ

    U.S. forces in Iraq have taken custody of Tariq Aziz, the former deputy prime minister and the most visible Iraqi leader other than Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials said Thursday. On the U.S. list of the 55 most-wanted members of the former government, Aziz was No. 43, the eight of spades in the military's card deck of top Iraqi leaders.

    He was the only Christian in Saddam's inner circle. He served as foreign minister during the 1991 Persian Gulf War and was a frequent spokesman at that time. Born in 1936 near the northern city of Mosul, Aziz studied English literature at Baghdad College of Fine Arts and became a teacher and journalist.

    U.S. ADMITS BACKLOG IN CUBAN VISAS

    Answering Havana's complaints about a backlog in U.S. immigrant visa requests, a senior State Department official acknowledged the American mission is behind in processing but said it will fulfill its commitment of 20,000 such visas this year. The American official's comments on Wednesday came as the head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington accused the United States of ``trying to create conditions for a crisis'' by cutting back on legal migration and by not being harsher with Cubans who hijack planes and boats to the United States.

    Cuban Interests Section Chief Dagoberto Rodriguez said Wednesday that so far this fiscal year the U.S. government has given permission to only about 700 Cubans to immigrate permanently to the United States, compared with the annual U.S. quota of 20,000. American officials say that the backlog is caused by stricter screening of would-be immigrants under regulations adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

    NOTABLE QUOTES -- US CUBA POLICY REPORT, INSTITUTE FOR U.S. CUBA RELATIONS  (Ralph J. Galliano, Editor)

    îCuba can easily do without this office, an incubator for counter-revolutionaries and a command post for the most offensive subversive actions against our country.î Cuban dictator Fidel Castro threatens to close de U.S. Interests Section in Havana, which relieves the government of 20,000 Cubans annually ostensibly discontented with the regime by granting them visas to come to the United States under the 1994-1995 bilateral immigration accords.

    "The Venezuelan military is the only entity that can put an end to the implementation of a 'socialist' regime and prevent Venezuela from suffering the same fate as Cuba. Now, there are those who have to rise to the occasion and vigorously reject the meddling of international terrorist forces that are disguised as 'military advisers,' doctors, teachers and trainers who are trying to manipulate the Venezuelan armed forces." Erneido Andres Oliva, a retired U.S. general of Cuban origin, sends a message to the members of the armed forces of Venezuela. Oliva was second in command of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion and is currently the President of the Cuban-American Military Council (CAMCO). 
     Click here and read the complete message.

    "After years of calling for liberalized relations with Cuba, this editorial page must now urge American policy makers to hit the brakes. This month, Fidel Castro threw up a roadblock that cannot be ignored: He sicced his political police on about 90 independent journalists, political dissidents, union activists and people who had made the mistake of privately lending books by such authors as Vaclav Havel and George Orwell. Labeling their targets traitors, Castro's cops seized computers, typewriters and books. At least 70 are still in jail. Those found guilty of 'conspiratorial activities' could end up with sentences of 20 years. The return to repression looks like a trend." Editorial page of The Los Angeles Times.

     CUBAN DIPLOMAT ACCUSES UNITED STATES OF CREATING CRISIS

    Cuba's top diplomat in Washington said Wednesday the President Bush administration is ñtrying to create conditions for a crisis'' by cutting back on legal migration and showing a tolerant attitude toward plane and boat hijackers who flee to the United States. Dagoberto Rodriguez, who heads his country's small diplomatic mission here, also said that President Bush's policy of pre-emption poses a threat to Cuba. ñThis is the dark reality we face today,'' Rodriguez told a news conference. Under the pre-emption doctrine, the United States may use force against a country if it has reason to believe U.S. citizens or interests may be targets of a terrorist attack from within that country. It was a key rationale for the attack on Iraq last month.

    Rodriguez said there have been seven hijackings of Cuban planes and boats in recent months but there ñhas been no clear action'' by the administration to stop these activities. He appeared to be saying that a lax U.S. attitude toward hijackings could prompt many Cubans to try that option as the most efficient way to reach U.S. shores. State Department officials disputed Rodriguez's premise, noting that all hijackers involved in two incidents in recent weeks remain in pre-trial detention. The United States does not consider several other incidents to be hijackings because the captains in these cases headed for the United States on their own without coercion.

    Rodriguez also said there has been a substantial drop in the number of Cubans who have been given permission by U.S. officials to migrate legally to the United States. He suggested that the slowdown could encourage Cubans prevented from migrating legally to seek illegal means to flee the country, possibly creating a migration crisis similar to the ones that occurred in 1980 and 1994.

    CONDEMN THE CASTRO BROTHERS, NOT CUBA (By: Arch Kielly)

    The world must make a distinction between the evil acts of the Castro brothers and the country of Cuba.  Lately, the world has condemned Cuba for the criminal measures taken by Fidel Castro and his brother Raul to snuff out the embryonic democratic movement on the island.  It is not the country, it is not the people, and it is not the military.   It is the Castro brothers who should be blamed.  As absolute dictators, they answer to no one in Cuba.  The Cuban parliament is no obstacle to their transgressions.  Regardless how they twist existing laws or govern by ego, no one in Cuba can legally rein them back or stop them.

    The professional Cuban military is in shock.  As a patriotic and structured force, they feel disgraced, dishonored and humiliated by these two undisciplined madmen who mock the very rules that guide their institution.  Senior officers attempt to hold together and to control junior officers who question the dictatorial misappropriation of power.  These acts of desperation by the CastrosÍ crumbling regime demonstrate the instability in the island.  They know that no one is safe in Cuba today.  Any act that is perceived to be against the rule of the Castro brothers, can throw you in jail or against the ñparedónî.

    Senior Cuban military officials have told us that the military is in crisis.  Several members have secretly indicated that they are looking for the right opportunity to leave the island.  Many fear for themselves and their families.  CAMCO advises our brothers in the Cuban Armed Forces not to defect.  Now that the end of the Castros is near, you are needed more than ever at your posts.  Continue to do your job and do not break any international laws.  When the time comes, protect the Cuban people and do not use your arms to support the Castro brothers.  CAMCO will send you messages.  VIVA CUBA LIBRE!

    IRAQI REGIONAL COMMANDER SEIZED

    The opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC) said on Monday Free Iraqi Forces (FIF) had captured regional commander Mohammed Hamza al-Zubeidi. Zubeidi was 18th on the U.S. desk of 55 of top Iraqi officials wanted dead or alive. The INC said on Sunday that Jamal Mustafa Sultan al-Tikriti, Saddam's only surviving son-in-law, had had been captured by them after returning from Syria. He was later also handed over into U.S. custody. Sultan al-Tikriti, number 40, had served as the Iraqi leader's private secretary right up till the end.

    The U.S. military also announced on Sunday the detention of Saddam's minister of highest education and scientific research minister Abdul-Ghafur, number 43.. On Saturday, Iraq's new police force handed Saddam's finance minister, Hikmat Ibrahim al-Azzawi, to U.S. forces after capturing him in Baghdad. A day earlier, the U.S. military said Iraqi Kurds had handed over senior official Samir Abul Aziz al-Najim. Also under custody is Hikmat Al Azzawi, Saddam HusseinÍs minister of finance.

     The other detained members on the list are Saddam's half brothers Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti -- who ran Iraqi intelligence from 1979 to 1983 -- and Watban al-Tikriti, as well as top scientific adviser Amer Hammoudi al-Saadi, who voluntarily turned himself in. Coalition forces already have in custody Lt. Gen. Amer al-Saadi, believed to have led IraqÍs unconventional weapons program. With the new captures, eight of the 55 most wanted members of SaddamÍs inner circle are now in custody, though none of them are from the very top of the list.

    VENEZUELANS PROTEST CUBA CRACKDOWN, MEDDLING IN INTERNAL AFFAIRS

    Venezuelan troops blocked streets around the Cuban embassy in Caracas to prevent opponents of President Hugo Chavez protesting against Cuba's recent crackdown on dissidents and its meddling in their domestic politics. Hundreds of opponents of Chavez, a close ally and friend of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, lined a street near the embassy where they traded insults with a small group of pro-Castro demonstrators waving Cuban flags. ChávezÍs opponents burned an effigy of the Venezuelan president.

    A group of National Guard troops and police formed barricades between the rally and the embassy building. "We don't want Venezuela to be turned into another Cuba and that is what we are heading for. We have to show solidarity with the repressed Cuban people," said a demonstrator. Opponents of Chavez, a left-wing former paratrooper elected in 1998 on a populist platform, brand him a fledgling dictator and fear he will drive Venezuela toward Cuban-style communism.

    UNITED STATES READY FOR POSSIBLE NEW EXODUS FROM CUBA

    Coast Guard cutters operating off South Florida's shores have picked up fewer Cuban migrants in the first three months of the year than Haitians and Dominicans combined. But the absence of large numbers of Cuban migrants headed for South Florida may be the calm before the storm. A wave of repression in Cuba in recent weeks has been so alarming that U.S. officials have begun to wonder whether Cuba may unleash a new Mariel-style exodus -- a typical Cuban response in times of crisis. American officials are so worried that they have already quietly advised Cuba not to attempt any such action.

    But if a new exodus occurs, officials say they will activate a classified federal contingency plan designed to deal with migrant surges. Operation Distant Shore would trigger a dramatic escalation in the number of Coast Guard and other military vessels patrolling the Florida Straits -- a veritable floating wall designed to interdict as many migrants as possible at sea. Talk of the plan is all the more relevant in the wake of reports last week that President Bush was preparing punitive steps against Cuba along with a possible public warning to Fidel Castro not to resort to a new exodus. No one will say when Bush would deliver the warning, but officials at the White House's National Security Council and the State Department have left no doubt that Washington is concerned.

    ''The United States remains committed to safe, legal and orderly migration from Cuba to the United States,'' National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said. ''We make clear to Cuba that the United States expects it to live up to its commitments under the migration accords,'' a State Department official said.

    SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL CRITICIZED BY VENEZUELAÍS FOREIGN MINISTER

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent comments expressing concern about democracy in Venezuela suggest he has been has been misinformed about the country's political situation, Venezuela's foreign minister said Saturday. Secretary Powell said Wednesday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez can show a commitment to democracy by holding a referendum later this year on whether he should step down.

    ''I think that someone in Washington has kept secret from Secretary Powell two important pieces of the truth about what's happening in Venezuela,'' said Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton. ''The first is that the referendum is in the national constitution, and it got there not by initiative of the opposition but by initiative of the government,'' Chaderton said. The second, Chaderton said, is that Chávez's opponents generated distrust by waging a two-month national strike last December and January and staging a failed military coup a year ago.

    PEREZ ROQUE: ñEXECUTIONS MEANT TO DETER MIGRATIONî

    Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque Friday justified the recent executions of three men who hijacked a ferry as an effort to avert a ''migration crisis'' that could result in a ''war'' with the United States. Speaking to reporters, Pérez Roque said that ''we were obliged by the circumstances under which the country is living, and with pain'' to carry out the executions, which he labeled a ñlast resort.î   The executions, Pérez Roque said, were intended to dissuade other would-be hijackers and nip in the bud an ensuing exodus across the Straits of Florida that would create a confrontation with the U.S. government. ''This is an exceptional step, a painful measure taken as a last resort and founded on the hope of avoiding great loss of life and costs for both countries,'' Pérez Roque said, ``impeding a migratory crisis that would end in a war between both countries.''

    The executions followed a wave of detentions and convictions of about 75 Cuban dissidents on charges of subversion. Pérez Roque Friday warned those dissidents who have not been arrested to be careful because there would be no ''impunity'' for anyone who commits treason. His comments marked the first effort by the government of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to address the executions, which, together with the wave of repression, have drawn an extraordinary round of condemnation from a number of nations and human rights organizations.

    CUBA SAYS IT CAN SURVIVE BAN ON U.S. REMITTANCES

    Communist-run Cuba reacted angrily on Friday to a report the United States government was considering suspending family remittances by Cuban-Americans and said its socialist economy would survive the blow. The cash remittances from relatives in the United States, now estimated to total as much as $1 billion a year, are a vital source of income for many Cubans coping with economic hardship in Cuba since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

    It was reported on Thursday that President Bush administration was studying a series of steps to punish the Cuban government for a recent crackdown on dissidents.  Washington was also considering halting direct charter flights to Cuba to limit the number of Americans traveling to the island, as part of a series of sanctions in response to the wave of repression. U.S. officials said they may consider new steps to pressure Cuba, but so far discussions of specifics were at a low level of government. Last week, Cuba shocked human rights organizations with the execution by firing squad of three men who hijacked a Havana Bay ferry in a bid to cross the Florida Straits to the United States.

    BUS, TRUCK COLLIDE IN CUBA, KILLING 30

    A bus and a semi truck collided on a highway in central Cuba Thursday, killing at least 30 people and injuring 71, the government said. The collision occurred before dawn as one of the vehicles swerved to avoid an animal and struck the other vehicle, according to the government's National Information Agency. But it wasn't immediately clear which vehicle swerved, causing the crash.

    The accident near the central provincial capital of Santa Clara, about 155 miles east of Havana, was also reported on government television and radio and the state-run newspaper Vanguardia in Santa Clara. Vanguardia reported that there were 44 people riding on the bus, which was eastbound on a regular trip to the eastern city of Santiago. It was not immediately clear if the other victims were traveling in the tractor-trailer or were in other vehicles. Due to the lack of public transportation, truck drivers sometimes allow passengers to travel on their flatbed trailers.

    SENIOR BAATH PARTY OFFICIAL CAPTURED

    Coalition forces captured a senior Baath Party official on the U.S. most-wanted list, marking the second major arrest of a close Saddam Hussein adviser in as many days, the Central Command reported Friday. Samir Abd al-Aziz al-Najim was handed over the U.S. troops by Iraqi Kurds near the northern city of Mosul overnight. Al-Najim was the Baath Party Regional Command Chairman for east Baghdad and was the four of clubs on the 55-card deck U.S. military officials handed out to American forces to help in identifying wanted Iraqi officials. He was a member of the Baath party's Regional Command, the top decision-making body of the party. He was Iraqi Oil Minister until last month and was Saddam's chief of staff for several years after the 1991 Gulf War.

    Najim is the fourth person on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis to be captured. He is number 24 on the list. The capture of al-Najim marked the second straight day that a significant former Iraqi official is captured. Thursday, U.S. forces grabbed Barzan Ibrahim Hasan, a half-brother of Saddam Hussein and a former head of Iraqi intelligence.

    U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION APPROVES RESOLUTION CONDEMNING CASTRO

    Thursday, the Castro dictatorship has been dealt another blow with the passage of resolution L-2 at the United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva.  The resolution, condemning Cuban human rights practices, passed by a vote of 24 to 20, with 9 abstentions.

    The censure is particularly timely because of the recent brutal crackdown in Cuba that led to the arrests of more than 75 members of peaceful opposition groups who were sentenced to a combined total of 1454 years in prison, as well the execution by firing squad of three Cubans, all following summary judicial proceedings that received world-wide condemnation.

    The resolution, which urges Havana to receive the U.N. human rights commissioner's representative, Christine Chanet, was introduced by Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay.  It is the second time the resolution condemning Cuba is introduced by Latin American nations and the thirteenth time in 14 years that Fidel Castro's dictatorship has been censured by the U.N. for its continued violation of human rights.

    PRESIDENT BUSH ADMINISTRATION PONDERS SANCTIONS AGAINST CUBA 

    President Bush administration is considering a series of steps to punish the Cuban government for its recent crackdown on dissidents, officials said on Thursday. President Bush is likely to make a public statement soon about the crackdown, in which nearly 75 government critics have been jailed, dampening the hopes of some U.S. lawmakers seeking to ease the current trade sanctions, the officials said.

    At the same time, the president is expected to issue a stern warning to the Havana government that the United States will not tolerate another exodus of rafters. Several times during Castro's 44-year dictatorship, most notably in 1965, 1980 and 1994, he has relieved internal tensions by allowing mass migrations to Florida.

    Administration officials said they were preparing a variety of options for the president, and no final decisions have been made. The harshest sanctions involve restricting or eliminating the transfer of cash payments, called remittances, to friends and relatives on the island. The payments, sent primarily from South Florida exiles, are a lifeline to millions of Cubans and, with estimates as high as $1 billion, a mainstay of the economy. Also being considered is a move to limit the number of Americans who travel to Cuba by ending direct charter flights between the countries.

    HBO CANCELLED PRESENTATION OF DOCUMENTARY  ñCOMANDANTEî

    HBO stated today that it is not airing Oliver Stone's glowing documentary of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. "We are indeed not airing it in May," said a network spokeswoman. "It's obviously an incomplete film." HBO said Stone's documentary, which was filmed in February 2002, is not appropriate given today's circumstances. The network hopes Stone returns to Cuba to interview Castro about recent events and updates the documentary.

    The network had breathlessly promoted the 8 p.m. May 5 broadcast of Stone's documentary, "Comandante," before saying Tuesday that the show would not go on until a "later" date that has yet to be announced. HBO representatives would not disclose why the change occurred, except to say that the network reschedules shows "all the time."

     SECRETARY POWELL DECRIES CUBAÍS HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD

     Secretary of State Colin Powell, calling Cuba's rights situation horrible and getting worse, urged the U.N. Human Rights Commission to censure Cuba for suppressing dissent. The 53-member commission, winding up its annual meeting in Geneva, is expected to vote on a Cuba resolution on Wednesday. The United States has been pushing for the strongest resolution possible. The resolution already drafted asks only that Cuba accept a visit by a U.N. monitor assigned to observe the rights situation on the island. In recent years, the commission has usually approved resolutions critical of Cuba.

    Secretary Powell spoke in unusually harsh terms about Cuba when he was asked Tuesday at a news conference for an assessment of its rights record. "It has always had a horrible human rights record. And rather than improving as we go into the 21st century, it's getting worse," Powell said. He noted that scores of dissidents were arrested and given long prison terms recently "just for expressing a point of the view that is different from that of Fidel Castro." Powell said Cuba's behavior "should be an outrage to everyone. It should be an outrage to every leader in this hemisphere, every leader in this world."

    DISGUSTED BY EXECUTIONS, CASTRO ALLY CUTS TIES TO CUBA

    In a bitter criticism of the executions carried out last week in Cuba, José Saramago, the 1988 Nobel Prize-winning Portuguese writer considered Fidel Castro's best friend among European intellectuals, broke with the regime Monday. ''This is as far as I go,'' Saramago wrote in a short but powerful essay printed in Spain's leading newspaper, El País, as the European Union, various countries and organizations around the world continued to offer public repudiations.

    Killing three men by firing squad at dawn Friday for trying to hijack a ferry boat is unacceptable -- especially since the would-be hijackers didn't hurt anybody, wrote Saramago, a communist. ñCuba has won no heroic victory by executing these three men, but it has lost my confidence, damaged my hopes, robbed me of illusions.''

    Meanwhile, groups ranging from France's Socialist party to the foreign ministers of the EU condemned the killings -- part of a dissident crackdown that began in March as the war unfolded in Iraq. Leaders of the EU, which opened a Havana mission earlier this year, alluded to rejecting Cuba's petition to join the Cotonou Agreement, a trade accord that offers economic help to more than 70 developing nations. The recent arrests signal a further deterioration of the human rights situation and ''will affect Cuba's relations with the European Union, and the perspective of increased cooperation between both groups,'' the EU statement read.

   AFTER IRAQ, CUBA NOT NEXT ON U.S. LIST, SECRETARY RUMSFELD SAYS

    Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggested Sunday that Cuba would not likely become a U.S. military target. During an interview on NBC News' Meet the Press, Secretary Rumsfeld responded to a question about Cuba from program moderator Tim Russert. ''There are some suggestions that thereÍs a checklist, that if Syria, Iran, North Korea does not get rid of their weapons of mass destruction, that they could very well meet the same fate as Iraq,'' Russert said. ñWhat about a country like Cuba, which has just executed some political prisoners, waged a major crackdown over the last few weeks? Would we ever consider trying to liberate the people of Cuba?''

    ''We care about the people of Cuba, who are repressed in a dictatorship,'' the Secretary replied. ñPeople are imprisoned and killed and denied rights to speak their mind, and thatÍs sad. It is unfortunate. ñBut we recognize we canÍt try to make everyone in the world be like we areƒWe hope they have the opportunity to say what they want, and practice freedom of religion and freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. But we recognize in a complicated world that there are countries that live differently. And so it isnÍt a matter for the United States to try to have everyone else be like us,î he added.

    However, Secretary Rumsfeld did not totally close the door to the possibility of U.S. military action in Cuba. ''But if they had weapons of mass destruction, thatÍs a different matter?'' Russert asked. Rumsfeld answered: ñTo the extent our country is threatened or our people are threatened, then the president and the government ¿ thatÍs the first responsibility of government, is to see to the protection and security of our country.'' President Bush administration said last year that it believed Cuba has ''at least a limited offensive biological warfare'' program and could be sharing its expertise with other countries that are hostile to the United States. In May 2002, Cuban dictator Fidel said at Tehran University: ñThe people and the governments of Cuba and Iran can bring the United States to its knees. The U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up.''

    (Click here and read "Cuba policy should be changed)

    CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO CRACKDOWN MAY THWART ANTI-EMBARGO MOVES

    Cuba's intense crackdown on dissidents threatens to stymie attempts to ease travel and trade restrictions between the United States and its communist neighbor, U.S. lawmakers said. Cuba's quick execution on Friday of three men who hijacked a ferry on April 2 in hopes of reaching the United States only highlights the human rights abuses that embargo supporters have decried for years. Many lawmakers say Washington's response to Cuban president Fidel Castro's actions must now be to tighten the noose.

    Even before Friday's executions, a unanimous U.S. House of Representatives last week condemned the roundup of dissidents, and called for Cuba to release all political prisoners. The Senate's working group on the embargo also took its first action -- sending a letter to Havana's interests section in Washington that also condemned the political crackdown.

      SEVEN U.S. TROOPS FREED IN IRAQ

      Seven U.S. troops freed Sunday after being held by Iraqi forces arrived by helicopter at a base south of Baghdad and were transferred to a C-130 transport plane headed for Kuwait. One of the prisoners is a female. Two of the soldiers were wounded.  
 
     All seven were able to walk on their own, but two appeared to be more seriously injured and limped to the plane at the base, about 65 miles south of the Iraqi capital. The other five ran to the plane. The seven were being flown to Kuwait City. The rescued prisoners of war are: Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young Jr., one of two Apache helicopter pilots shot down over Iraq; Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, who was in the helicopter with Young; Sgt. James Riley; Spc. Edgar Hernández; Spc. Shoshana Johnson; Spc. Joseph Hudson; and Pfc. Patrick Miller of the 507th  They all were found by a marine unit operating north of Samarra, about 25 miles south of Tikrit -- Saddam Hussein's ancestral home and the last major Iraqi city that is not under coalition control.

     THE CUBAN DICTATOR DEFIANT AMID CRITICISM, PROTESTS

     Cuban dictator Fidel Castro remained defiant amid international criticism of Cuba's harsh measures taken against Cuban dissidents and the execution of three hijackers, saying he would fight to the end to defend his nation against the United States. "We are now immersed in a battle against provocations that are trying to move us toward conflict and military aggression by the United States," Castro told a group of Venezuelans in a Friday night speech broadcast on state television. "We have been defending ourselves for 44 years and have always been willing to fight until the end," Castro added in the speech, which marked the coup attempt against his political ally Venezuelan socialist president Hugo Chavez a year ago.

     Castro made no direct reference to Friday's execution of three convicted hijackers by firing squad, nor the sentences of up to 28 years handed down earlier in the week for 75 government opponents charged with collaborating with U.S. diplomats to undermine the socialist system. But he made it clear that he considers his country to be under attack from the United States and that he will do all to ensure his communist system remains intact. "They have not been able to [harm Cuba] up to now," Castro said. "If someday they make us disappear from the map, we will die (excellent idea) with the greatest dignity in the world," Castro added. 

     "I think that the Cubans have looked at what is happening in Iraq and have concluded that the United States will not be restrained by international law and international institutions," a Cuban affairs analyst said. "And I do think they have the idea they could be next."

     INCREDIBLE STATEMENT! -- RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: "THE COALITION HAS NOT ACHIEVED ITS OBJECTIVE"

    As television pictures showed the collapse of Hussein's vestiges of power, Putin said: "The goal of war -- to disarm Iraq -- has not been achieved. ... We must never mix notions. No one liked the Iraqi regime apart from Saddam Hussein, but this is not the point." But Putin, who is playing host to France's President Jacques Chirac and Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, said he welcomed the fall of Saddam's dictatorship. Iraq has dominated the two-days of talks in St Petersburg.

    Putin, speaking for the first time since the apparent collapse of Saddam's regime, said the U.N. should play a pivotal role in the reconstruction of Iraq, and repeated his call for future disputes to be settled by international law rather than military means. "The task of restoring the political, economic and social system of Iraq is enormous," Chirac said, and added: "Only the United Nations has the legitimacy to do that.î

    Earlier in the week, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the United Nations "can't be in charge," when he was addressing a U.S. Senate panel. Wolfowitz said Thursday that Russia, France and Germany could contribute to rebuilding Iraq by agreeing Baghdad did not have to repay the tens of billions of dollars in loans taken out by Saddam. Russia is believed to be owed up to $12 billion, with France owed about $8 billion and Germany more than $4 billion.

    SUSPECTED CHEMICAL WARHEAD FOUND IN KIRKUK

    Weapons experts were called Saturday to an occupied northern Iraqi air base in Kirkuk to determine if a warhead discovered there is laden with a chemical agent. Two separate "improved chemical agent monitor" (ICAM) tests showed trace amounts of a nerve agent in two spots on the baseball bat-length warhead. The warhead tested at 1 bar on a 6-bar scale, which would be consistent with leakage from a chemically armed weapon, military sources said.

    Preliminary testing was done on the warhead Saturday after it was found Friday in a box during routine operations to secure the airfield. A big wooden box next to the one containing the warhead had a 13-foot missile in it. CNN has not been able to confirm a connection between the two.

    Meanwhile, on Friday, a former Iraqi air force colonel, claiming to be the former base commander, came to Kirkuk and told U.S. military officials he knew of 120 missiles within about an 18-mile radius of Kirkuk -- 24 of those carrying chemical munitions, according to an army intelligence posting at the airfield's military headquarters. The man said he had been freed recently from an Iraqi prison, military intelligence said.

    ANOTHER CRIMINAL ACT OF CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO

    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has executed three men convicted of hijacking a passenger ferry to sail to the U.S. The firing squad sentences were carried out immediately after a Cuban court found the men guilty of ñterrorism. Another four men received life sentences. They were part of a group of approximately 10 men and women that tried to escape from Cuban communist dictatorship. The group was involved in the April 2 hijacking in which the ferry, carrying at least 30 men, women and children, was forced to sail into the Straits of Florida, but ran out of fuel 30 miles from Havana. Cuban officials towed it back to the Port of Mariel. After the boat was docked in Mariel, west of Havana, Cuban authorities gained control of the ferry April 3 and arrested the suspects without firing a shot.

    The executions come in the wake of two plane hijackings in recent weeks and amid a crackdown on civil liberties that has unfolded as world attention has been focused on Iraq. Since the U.S.-led war on Iraq began last month, 85 dissidents have been sentenced to as many as 27 years in prison. The Baraguá was hijacked a day after a Cuban passenger plane was hijacked to Key West, Fla. Ten of the Cubans aboard that flight opted to remain in the United States.

    The men executed were: Lorenzo Enrique Copello Castillo, Bárbaro Leodan Sevilla García and Jorge Luis Martínez Isacc. Three more names to be added to the list of martyrs murdered by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

    Click here    and read the names of Cubans murdered by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro

    SECRETARY POWELL URGES CUBA TO RELEASE DISSIDENTS

    Accusing Cuba of engaging in ñdespicable repression,'' Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday urged Cuban President Fidel Castro to free the scores of dissidents imprisoned recently and sentenced to long terms. ñNearly 80 representatives of a growing and truly independent civil society have been arrested, convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms in summary, secret trials,'' Powell said in a statement. ñTheir only crime was seeking basic human rights and freedoms.''

    Omitting the Cuban leader's title and first name, Secretary Powell urged ñCastro'' to free these "prisoners of conscience,'' and added that the United States and the international community will be unrelenting in its insistence that ñCubans who seek peaceful change be permitted to do so.''

    Meanwhile, communist-run Cuba condemned one of the island's best known dissidents, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, to 25 years in prison on Thursday, as the last sentences were handed out for 75 dissidents swept up in an unprecedented political crackdown.

    CASTRO FACES WORLD CONDEMNATION (By: Arch Kielly)

    Wise Cuban senior military leaders are beginning to show concern with the Castro brothers unprecedented wave of repression.  Under orders from Fidel, 80 dissidents, independent journalists and human rights activists have been arrested and are being tried in CastroÍs ñkangaroo courtsî.   As the world watches with alarm, sham trials are being held while CastroÍs secret police keep away international diplomats and foreign journalists.  International organizations such as the Human Rights Watch, the Committee to Protect Journalists, lawmakers and intellectuals from Latin America and the Catholic Church are disturbed and condemn the Castros for, what some call, the ñmost despicable act of political repression in the Americasî.

    A few of CastroÍs military officials are secretly predicting the end of CastroÍs Communist rule and fear for their future and the future of their families.  With the worst economic forecast of his 40 plus year rule, many Cubans believe that he is tightening his reins in preparation for political unrest and public discontent.  The Castro brothers are indeed in serious trouble.  The Cuban Sugar Industry is practically destroyed and Tourism is so low, that even state approved prostitution of children and young women will not bring the euros and dollars needed to bolster CubaÍs abused and badly administered economy.

    CAMCO shares the concerns of our brothers in the Cuban Armed Forces. We understand that they are in a very difficult position.  It is with sadness that we have witnessed the Cuban people repressed and spiritually destroyed by the egos of the Castro brothers, but the end is truly near.  What we see today is the desperate attempt of two morally and spiritually diseased despots to retain power as it slips away from them.  Our advice is for the Cuban military to follow their hearts and instincts.  Military force cannot be used against the homeland.  Protect the Cuban people.  When Cuba returns to democracy, CAMCO will be there to help you and your family transition to freedom and to economic prosperity.  Keep talking to us. ¡VIVA CUBA LIBRE! 

   CASTRO AGENTS INFILTRATED CUBAN DISSIDENT GROUPS

    U.S. efforts to back opponents of Cuba's communist government were so heavily infiltrated by undercover agents that some had passes to the American diplomatic mission, Cuban officials said on Wednesday. Opponents of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said they always suspected some of their colleagues were spies but were surprised at the large number -- 12 -- who surfaced as witnesses at last week's trials of 75 dissidents. The biggest surprise was Aleida Beatriz, alias Agent Vilma, who worked as the personal secretary of Martha Beatriz Roque. It is very possible that other undercover agents are still working inside the dissident groups.

    Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque showed videotaped testimony of two undercover agents at a news conference on Wednesday where he accused the Bush administration of turning its diplomatic mission in Havana into the headquarters of the island's small opposition movement. "I'm an agent. Agent Tania of the Ministry of Interior," Odilia Collazo, known as the leader of the Pro Human Rights Party of Cuba, said in testimony taped during the trial of a dissident. She said she supplied the U.S. diplomatic mission with reports on human rights abuses in Cuba.

    Alleged journalist Nestor Baguer, 72, otherwise known as Agent Octavio, who had worked for Cuba's security police since 1960, said he visited the U.S. Interest Section so frequently he had a special pass allowing him entry on any day. On March 14, Baguer attended a meeting of 34 dissident journalists in the residence of the top American diplomat in Havana, James Cason, and was asked to head a workshop on ethics in journalism, he said. Another undercover agent, Manuel David Orrio, or Agent Miguel, organized the journalists' meeting at Cason's residence and invited foreign correspondents to attend by calling them on the cellular phone of a U.S. diplomat. No one knew he was a Castro spy until he testified a week ago at the trial of Raul Rivero.

     CONFIDENT OF WINNING, CASTRO CONFRONTS U.S.  (By: Carlos Alberto Montaner)

     We're probably at the brink of another confrontation between Fidel Castro and the United States. Judging from all the symptoms, Castro is moving his pieces to generate a new conflict. ''An old monkey can't learn new tricks,'' goes the saying. Castro always resorts to the same tactics to achieve his objectives. So it is within that scheme that we must view the attacks on diplomat James Cason, the harsh sentences meted out to the democrats who work within the island to create some space for freedom and tolerance, and this suspicious wave of hijackings of planes and boats that are suddenly landing on U.S. soil.

     Right now we are in the warm-up phase. Castro is dipping his toe in the water to see if the moment is propitious. He wants to ''take the measure'' of President Bush before going on to the next stage. The Americans are embarked on the war in Iraq, just as they were in Vietnam in 1964 during the incident of Camarioca, which was settled with the ''freedom flights'' and 200,000 immigrants.

    One generation later, in 1980, Castro took advantage of the hostage crisis in Tehran to unleash the Mariel stampede: 130,000 new exiles managed to settle in Florida. In 1994, looking at the terrible economic situation that beset the island and faced with a grave problem of malnutrition that had caused 60,000 cases of neuritis, Castro needed an escape valve. He found it in the tidal wave of rafts. Thirty thousand rafters were legally admitted into ''enemy territory,'' and Havana obtained a juicy booty: 20,000 annual visas. That was a sufficient dose of hope to keep Cubans silent while they endured the growing hardship that afflicted their country.

    Click here    and read the complete article

    COALITION FORCES ENTER BAGHDAD

    Coalition tanks, troops and armored vehicles took up positions in Firdos Square, in central Baghdad Wednesday, encircling and destroying a statue of Saddam. The convoy appeared to meet little resistance, encountering only groups of foreign journalists. In the Baghdad suburb of Saddam City, residents were in the streets, celebrating the apparent end of the Iraqi regime. A Shiite Muslim leader told a group of 400 to 500 people, "The tyrant of the world is finished, thanks to the coalition. Thank God for Iraq the victorious."

    International media showed video of looting in and around Baghdad. Dozens were seen hauling off furniture, fixtures and office supplies, using wheelbarrows and pickups -- with no security forces to stop them. Others ripped down posters of Saddam and destroyed them -- kicking, punching and spitting on the pictures. Residents in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil spilled out onto the streets as well in passionate but less-raucous demonstrations, waving flags, tossing confetti and  flowers.

    Central Command said the demonstrations were a welcome sign but stressed that the war was not over in Iraq. "I would say that there are some fierce days of fighting ahead," U.S. Central Command spokesman. "There are still some cities in the north that we have not gotten to."

     CIA SAYS UNKNOWN WHETHER SADDAM SURVIVED STRIKE

    The CIA does not know whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons were killed or whether they survived a U.S. bombing earlier this week, a CIA official said on Wednesday. "It is not known whether Saddam and sons were present and whether they survived the attack," the CIA official said. A B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound bombs on a building in the Baghdad district of Mansour on Monday after the CIA received a tip that Saddam and his sons, Uday and Qusay, were inside meeting with Iraqi intelligence officials.

    Since the strike, which demolished the building and left behind a huge crater, there has been intense speculation about whether Saddam was killed or whether he survived. British newspapers on Wednesday quoted unnamed British intelligence sources as saying Saddam probably survived the air strike.

    U.S. officials have repeatedly said they do not know the results of the strike and that it would probably take some time to determine the fate of the Iraqi leader. If Saddam survived he will surface at some point or people close to him will talk about him as either dead or alive and that information will be picked up by Western intelligence services, U.S. officials say. It was the second strike that targeted Saddam and his sons, the first one bombed a residential compound on the outskirts of Baghdad on March 19. Since that strike, which launched the U.S.-led war against Iraq, a man believed to be Saddam was seen on several videotapes aired on Iraqi television, but it has been unclear when those tapes were made.

     CRIMES AGAINST FREEDOM (OPINION ¿ The Miami Herald)

     In Havana yesterday, independent journalist Raúl Rivero was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ricardo González Alfonso, his editor at De Cuba magazine, also was sentenced to 20 years. They are among some 80 Cubans accused of crimes against the state, including Martha Beatriz Roque, (20 years) and Héctor Palacios, (25 years). Their real crime? They've spoken out. They've stated their opinions, signed petitions and written articles. They've even congregated in each other's homes to talk politics and how to build a better Cuba.

     Mr. Rivero has had many chances to leave the island, but has refused them all because he insists that he will not be run out of his country. A few years ago at a meeting in Costa Rica, the Inter American Press Association honored him with its highest free-speech award. Although he was given an exit visa by the Cuban government, he declined to attend the meeting because his return to Cuba wasn't guaranteed.

    Today, he sits in jail, still committed to principles of free expression and ideas. Among the items taken from him when the police came about a week ago: a collection of Martin Luther King's speeches, autographed by former president Jimmy Carter on his recent trip to the island. It was taken as evidence of subversive thought. We highlight these jailing to remind readers that each incident is about an individual. They should not be viewed or discussed as numbers, but as tragedies that have fallen on courageous people. The continuing repression of thought and expression in Cuba is a shame on all humanity.

    PRESIDENT BUSH: SADDAM 'WILL BE GONE'

    With fighting raging Tuesday in Baghdad, President George W. Bush said he wasn't sure if Saddam Hussein was alive but he did know the Iraqi leader was losing his grip on power. "Saddam Hussein will be gone," President Bush said at a press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Northern Ireland. "It might have been yesterday, I don't know, but he will be gone."

    The Iraqi people -- not the coalition or the United Nations -- will run the new Iraq, Prime Minister Blair insisted as he and Bush were concluding talks in Belfast on post-war Iraq, the Middle East and Northern Ireland. However, the United Nations should have a vital role in Iraq's reconstruction, Blair said. The allied leaders' remarks came hours after a U.S. B-1 bomber dropped four 2,000-pound, satellite-guided bombs on a building in a Baghdad residential neighborhood suspected to contain Iraqi leaders, including Saddam and his two sons. The strike was part of a larger effort by coalition forces to assert their control over the Iraqi capital and threaten Saddam's regime.

    FREEDOM FOR CUBAN DISSIDENTS NOW 

    The trials of nonviolent Cuban dissidents should be halted immediately, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also called on the Cuban government to drop all charges against the defendants. The ongoing trials are the latest development in a wave of repression that began on March 18. Approximately 80 people have been arrested and detained since the crackdown began, including prominent dissidents, human rights activists, independent journalists, and directors of independent libraries.

    "The fact that this wave of repression coincides with the war in Iraq is surely no accident," said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "It is truly shameful that the Cuban government is opportunistically exploiting the world's inattention to try to crush domestic dissent." "These defendants are being tried for exercising basic rights of freedom of expression and association," Vivanco said. "The Cuban government is putting on an extremely ugly show." The prosecutions and mass detentions represent the most severe crackdown in Cuba in nearly a decade. They come just as Cuba faces likely condemnation for human rights abuses by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

    AMERICAN TANKS RUMBLED INTO BAGHDAD

    American tanks and armored vehicles rumbled into Baghdad on Monday, storming one of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's main presidential palaces and destroying symbols of the Iraqi regime. Iraqis offered little resistance. Fighting also raged in southern Iraq, where British forces increased their control over Basra, as well as northern Iraq, where coalition forces captured a key ridge between Mosul and Kirkuk.

    While U.S. officials characterized earlier incursions as raids and reconnaissance missions, Army sources said that the 2nd Brigade units will not withdraw from Baghdad after moving in early Monday. "The commanders on the ground will make the decisions on what parts of Baghdad they wish to retain control of," a Central Command spokesman said.  U.S. tanks rolled through the city's parade field, adjacent to the Al-Rashid Hotel in the heart of the city and blew up a statue of Saddam in Baghdad's Zawra Park.

     "It can't be anything but alarming to see a [coalition] brigade commander standing in the compound of a presidential palace in Baghdad," a Pentagon official said. "This sends a powerful message to the remnants of the regime that we can go where we want when we want." However, standing in the smoke-filled streets of Baghdad on Monday, Iraqi crazy Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf refused to acknowledge the U.S. raids. "The soldiers of Saddam Hussein have given them a lesson they will never forget," al-Sahaf said.

    CUBA WORRIED ABOUT ITS DIPLOMATS IN BAGHDAD

    Cuba asked both sides in the Iraq war to respect its diplomats, among the last to remain in Baghdad, after an armed attack on a convoy of Russian diplomats leaving for Syria.  A Russian diplomat was badly wounded and four others injured when a Russian convoy of diplomats and journalists was raked with gunfire on Sunday as it left Baghdad, though it was not clear which side was responsible for the attack.

    "Our staff will remain at their post. We hope their diplomatic condition will be respected by both sides in the war if there is fighting around the embassy," the Cuban government said in a statement released early on Monday. Cuba and The Vatican have the only diplomatic missions that are still staffed in the capital of Iraq, after the departure of the Russians, the statement said.

    Cuba said its envoys in Baghdad, ambassador Ernesto Gomez Abascal and four other diplomats, were "absolutely neutral, and the government of the United States knows exactly where all the diplomatic missions are located, including Cuba's." Relations between Havana and Washington, ideological foes for four decades since Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, have hit a new low over increased U.S. support for Castro's opponents on the island. In the toughest crackdown in over a decade, Cuba has rounded over 100 dissidents and put them on trial for plotting against the Castro government with U.S. diplomats.

    BODY OF 'CHEMICAL ALI' FOUND 

    Ali Hassan al-Majid, one of the most brutal members of President Saddam Hussein's inner circle, was killed by an air strike on his house in Basra, British officials said Monday. Al-Majeed, who was in his 50s, had been dubbed ñChemical Ali'' by opponents for ordering a 1988 poison gas against rebellious Kurds in northern Iraq in 1988 in which entire villages were wiped out. An estimated 100,000 Kurds, mostly civilians, were killed.

    Al-Majeed's body was found along with that of his bodyguard and the head of Iraqi intelligence services in Iraq's second-largest city, which lies about 250 miles [400 kilometers] southeast of Baghdad. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had entrusted al-Majeed, his first cousin, with defending southern Iraq against invading coalition forces.

    The Iraqi general was killed during intense bombing of several sites in the city, including his home. The bombing killed several high-ranking Baath Party officials and left the forces in Basra "in disarray." The discovery of al-Majid's body was one of the reasons the British decided to move infantry into Basra, because they hoped that resistance in the southern Iraqi city might crumble with the top leadership gone. ñThe regime is finished. It is over, and liberation is hereƒThe leadership is now gone in southern Iraq,' a British spokesman said.

    NORTH KOREA WARNS ITÍLL IGNORE U.N. ON NUKES

    North Korea warned Saturday it would ignore any U.N. resolution over its suspected nuclear weapons development as the Security Council prepared to discuss the international standoff over the issue. ñThe nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is not something that should be discussed at the United Nations,'' the state-run KCNA news agency said. North Korea ñwould not recognize and pronounce null any resolution or document on the nuclear issue,'' said KCNA, monitored by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

    The Security Council is due to discuss the nuclear dispute on Wednesday. North Korea rejects U.N. involvement in the standoff, saying the North's dispute is only with the United States. Pyongyang demands direct talks with Washington. ñThe U.N. seems to have lost its mandate because of the U.S. invasion of Iraq,'' KCNA said. ñIt is ridiculous for the (Security Council) to talk about handling the (North Korean) nuclear issue.''

    Washington, which wants multilateral talks, has been pressing the council to adopt a statement condemning Pyongyang for failing to meet its obligations to prevent the spread of nuclear arms. China, which has ties with the reclusive North Korean regime and is one of the five veto-wielding members of the council, has refused to even discuss such a statement. The 15-member council could eventually discuss imposing sanctions against North Korea if a political solution is not found - a move the North has warned it would regard as a declaration of war.

    DEATH SENTENCE REQUESTED FOR CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT LIBERATION MEMBER IN CUBA

    A judge in the Province of Santiago de Cuba has requested the death penalty for Jose Daniel Ferrer, a member of the Christian Liberation Movement, modifying previous cases where alleged infractions were given life sentences in accordance with the Cuban Penal Code. The recent trial also implicated other dissidents including José Ramón Gabriel Castillo, Luis Milán Fernández, Ricardo Silva, Leonel Grave de Peralta, Jesús Mustafá y Aléxis Rodríguez. The judge will decide the fate of the case on Monday.

    This past Friday, independent journalist Raul Rivero was also sentenced. According to the judge, Rivero worked for the "Subversive Court", Journalists without Frontiers of France. Even though the trials were supposed to be "public", the foreign press and diplomats were asked to move to another room and prohibited from taking pictures or videos of the police deployed outside the court.

    CUBA CALLS OFF A CONFERENCE DUE TO DETERIORATING TENSIONS WITH U.S.

    Cuba's communist government, blaming "U.S. provocations" for deteriorating relations with the United States, announced on Friday it had called off a conference that was to be attended next week by hundreds of Cuban émigrés from Florida. A government statement published in the ruling Communist Party libel Granma said the conference designed to build a bridge with Cuban exiles would be held at a later date.

    "To the international tension caused by the war against Iraq is now added the growing deterioration in the relations between Cuba and the United States, as a result of the increased hostility and provocations against our country," the statement said. In the past two weeks, Cuban dictador Fidel Castro's government has repeatedly attacked the top U.S. diplomat in Havana, James Cason, for actively supporting the island's small but growing opposition.

    More than 600 Cubans émigrés had planned to attend the "Nation and Emigration" conference scheduled to take place in Havana April 11-13. The meeting was called to supposedly improve communications between the Cuban exile community and Havana, and discuss ways to clear obstacles to travel to Cuba and financial remittances to relatives that help economically battered Cuba.

     U.S. CONDEMNS DISSIDENTSÍ TRIALS IN CUBA

    The State Department condemned trials in Cuba against 78 dissidents and called the proceedings a "Kangaroo court." ñThe Castro regime's actions are the most despicable act of political repression in the Americas in a decade,'' spokesman Philip Reeker said Thursday, hours after the trials got under way. ñWhile the rest of the hemisphere has moved toward greater freedom, the anachronistic Cuban government appears to be retreating into Stalinism,'' he said.

    Reeker said at least a dozen of the accused could face life sentences. ñThe United States calls on the international community to join us in condemning this repression and in demanding the release of these Cuban prisoners of conscience,'' he said. "The government has never before tried so many people for their political beliefs or sought such draconian sentences," said Elizardo Sanchez, president of the non-governmental Cuban Human Rights Commission.

    Among those facing life sentences are dissident economist Martha Beatriz Roque; poet and journalist Raul Rivero; opposition labor activist Pedro Pablo Alvarez; opposition leader Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and Ricardo Gonzalez, editor of Cuba's only dissident magazine. Diplomats from Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Canada and the United States were turned away from court houses in Havana. "They told us the diplomatic corps and journalists could not attend," a European diplomat said.

    BAGHDAD AIRPORT TAKEN BY U.S. TROOPS

    Advancing U.S. troops seized Saddam International Airport outside Baghdad with little opposition as night fell on Iraq Thursday. Also, the lights went out in Baghdad in what appeared to be the first city-wide blackout since the Iraq invasion began two weeks ago. It wasn't clear why power was lost, and the Pentagon said that coalition forces hadn't targeted the electrical grid in the Iraqi capital.

    Tanks from the 3-69 Battalion of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division swept onto the airfield at Baghdad's airport at 7:30 p.m. local time and reported the airport secured 15 minutes later. Infantry troops took up defensive positions on the airfield, which is about 12 miles southwest of Baghdad. Marines, approaching Baghdad from the southeast, are within 18 miles of the Iraqi capital. Neither the Army nor the Marine advance encountered serious resistance.

    "They are closing in on Baghdad," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon briefing. "They have taken several outlying areas and are closer to the center of the Iraqi capital than many American commuters are from their downtown offices." 

    HAVANA FERRY HIJACKERS DEMAND FUEL AT HIGH SEA

    Armed hijackers who commandeered a Cuban ferry boat with 50 people aboard were demanding fuel to get to the United States as the boat drifted in choppy international waters off Cuba, the Cuban government said on Wednesday. After the launch docked at Casablanca, on the east side of the bay,  at approximately one oÍclock in the morning, about 15 or 16 people climbed aboard and forced the crew to head for the open sea. Shortly afterward, the boat ran out of fuel and drifted in international waters, at least 30 miles from the Cuban shore.

    The hijackers threatened to throw hostages overboard if their demands were not met. The sudden spate of hijackings, the second in two days, comes as tensions between the United States and Cuba, longtime political foes, have worsened due to U.S. support for dissidents on the communist-run island. When tensions have risen in the past, Cubans have seized the opportunity to try to leave.

    Two Cuban Border Patrol boats followed the ferry out to sea, while the U.S. Coast Guard sent two boats toward the hijacked vessel from Key West, at the southern tip of Florida. U.S. official said Washington believes it is the Cuban government's responsibility to deal with the hijacked boat. "This is a Cuban vessel that was hijacked in Cuban waters by a Cuban citizen. Under the various maritime conventions for suppressing maritime hijackings, it is quite clearly the Cubans' responsibility to resolve this situation," said the U.S. official.

    PENTAGON: TWO REPUBLICAN GUARD DIVISIONS DESTROYED 

     Coalition forces have pummeled Iraq's Republican Guard, leaving two divisions ineffective, Pentagon officials said Wednesday, even as they warned that some of the fiercest fighting lies ahead. In the 13th day of the ground campaign, coalition forces are moving closer to Baghdad. The Baghdad Division in Kut and the Medina Division of the Republican Guard are no longer "credible forces," a Central CommandÍs spokesman said

    U.S. ground forces closed in on multiple fronts south of Baghdad Wednesday after battling Republican Guard troops protecting key routes to the Iraqi capital. However, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf denied reports that coalition forces had crossed the Tigris River and were approaching Baghdad, saying they have lost significant numbers of troops and equipment. "They are lying every day, they are lying always and mainly they are lying to their public opinion," al-Sahaf said. "What they say about a breakthrough is completely an illusion."

    A statement attributed to President Saddam Hussein was read on Iraqi television Wednesday, urging Iraqis to defend their towns. Saddam did not appear in person. "Victory is at hand, God willing, although we have only utilized a third or less of our army while the criminals have used everything they brought in," a statement read by an Iraqi television announcer said.

    SOME CUBAN DISSIDENTS MAY FACE TRIAL THIS WEEKEND 

    Trial will begin Thursday for some of the Cuban dissidents arrested last month after being accused of helping U.S. diplomats undermine the socialist government, the wives of defendants said Tuesday. Government prosecutors are seeking sentences ranging from 15 years to life, said the wives. It was unclear if all 78 of those confirmed arrested around the island would be tried in the first wave of court cases, or if those arrested in other parts of Cuba would be brought to Havana to go on trial.

    Gisela Delgado, wife of Hector Palacios, who operated the non-governmental Social Studies Center, said she was informed her husband would also would be tried this week. Gisela also said the prosecution was seeking life for his husband for the charge of undermining state security. She said she was told that the trials would proceed ñvery quickly.''

    The crackdown, the roughest in recent years, began March 18 when Cuban officials criticized the head of the American mission in Havana, James Cason, for his active support of the opposition. The arrests has alarmed international rights and press advocates, who have urged Cuban authorities to respect human rights and end the crackdown. Those arrested included independent journalists, directors of non-governmental libraries, members of opposition political groups and activists seeking laws to ensure civil rights such as freedom of speech and press.   

    COURAGEOUS MILITARY OPERATION: AMERICAN TROOPS RESCUE POW JESSICA LYNCH

    American troops rescued Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who had been held as a prisoner of war in Iraq since she and other members of her unit were ambushed March 23, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.

    Lynch, 19, of Palestine, W.Va., had been missing since nine days ago with 11 other U.S. soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company. The unit was ambushed near Nasiriyah after making a wrong turn during early fighting in the invasion of Iraq. Five other members of her unit were later shown on Iraqi television answering questions from their Iraqi captors.

    Lynch had been listed as missing in action but was identified by the Pentagon Tuesday as a POW. In a brief statement, a spokesman from the Central Command said: ''Coalition forces have conducted a successful rescue mission of a U.S. Army prisoner of war held captive in Iraq. The soldier has been returned to a coalition-controlled area.''

    SADDAM CALLS FOR JIHAD WAR AGAINST THE COALITION

    An announcement that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would address his nation Tuesday night raised the possibility that he would make an appearance and prove he survived early coalition air strikes. Instead, another Iraqi official read a statement said to be from Saddam. Minutes after Iraqi television announced the address, Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf appeared and delivered the address, which defined the battle in Iraq in religious and pan-Arabic terms. "Long live Palestine," al-Sahaf read. "Long live Iraq." The letter called the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq "an aggression on religion and self and the Islamic nation" and promised that Muslims who die fighting will achieve immortality. "Let's go and do jihad," al-Sahaf read. "Whoever dies will be rewarded by heaven." "Saddam is responsible for many, many deaths of Muslims, Iranians and his own people," a White House official said. "It's ironic that he is trying to wrap himself in the cloak of Islam now." 

    The war began nearly two weeks ago with coalition bombs striking a presidential palace in downtown Baghdad on intelligence reports that Iraqi leaders -- possibly even Saddam -- were inside. Coalition leaders have said they do not know whether Saddam survived or was wounded in that attack. Saddam's appearances since then have been on videotape, and coalition officials have not been able to confirm those tapes were made after the initial attack.

    Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam prepared "lots" of videos before the war and it's impossible to be certain whether the Iraqi leader and his sons Uday and Qusay were killed in the coalition bombing. "I don't know what the circumstances of the leadership of the country is," the Secretary said. "I don't think people in the country know. We haven't seen any evidence in recent days. "Where is Saddam Hussein? Where is Uday? Where is Qusay, his sons? They're not talking."

    HIJACKED CUBAN PLANE LANDS IN KEY WEST

    A Cuban plane hijacked by a man claiming to have two grenades and demanding to go to the United States, landed in Key West. The Cubana Airlines AN-24 was hijacked late Monday on a flight from Cuba's small Isle of Youth to Havana but was forced to land in the capital because it lacked sufficient fuel to make it to the United States, Cuban authorities said. Tuesday morning, a group of passengers safely disembarked in Havana after a tense night of negotiations. After refueling, the plane took off from Jose Marti International Airport about 10:45 a.m. The hijacked plane was escorted into United States airspace by two F-16 fighter jets.

    At about 11:30 a.m., the Soviet-made twin-engine touched down at Key West International Airport, shadowed by a Black Hawk military helicopter. Six crew members and about 20 passengers -- including at least five women and at least two children -- exited the plane one at a time. The adults were instructed to lift their shirts and raise their hands to show they were not armed. The SWAT team entered the plane at about noon, followed by a bomb squad.

    A U.S. official said it would be extremely difficult for an average citizen to get access to grenades in communist-run Cuba, where such weapons are heavily guarded by the military. It was also unclear how anyone would be able to get a pair of grenades through the heavy security checks at Cuba's airports, especially less than two weeks after a successful hijacking on the same route of a passenger plane to the United States.

      WATCH OUT FIDEL! (By Arch Kielly)

    The United States is serious about their war against Terrorism.  Several foreign countries, among  them Cuba, have been agitating against the War to Free Iraq.  They simply do not get it.  9/11 changed it all.  Three thousand Americans were killed by terrorists. The United States has declared war not only against the perpetrators, Al Qaeda, but against all countries that support terrorism.  

    The Castro brothers may be in mortal danger.  The days are gone when they could train foreign and national terrorists with impunity.  They can no longer provide support to AmericaÍs enemies and get away with it.  The message is clear to all.  Terrorism cannot hide behind sovereign governments.  The United States and its Coalition of the Willing may continue to go after terrorist states to deter worldwide terrorism.

    There are many reasons why the Castros should be worried.   They have used terrorism as a weapon against democratic countries even before they took power in Cuba.  Intelligence agencies throughout the democratic world have acknowledged that the Castros have aligned themselves with other terrorist countries and terrorist/narco traffickers.  Their political foundation is hollow because they have little support of the Cuban people.  Many Cuban military officials would welcome a change to democracy.  CAMCO knows that many Cuban military officials are ready to bring freedom to the Cuban people.  VIVA CUBA LIBRE!   

   IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER PREDICTS VICTORY

     Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri,  confidently predicted Monday that Iraqi forces would defeat American and British forces and said only surrender would save coalition troops from the ñholocaust'' the Iraqi people are preparing for them. ñEvery day that passes the United States and Britain are sinking deeper in the mud of defeat. ... Those two states have no choice but to withdraw early and fast, today before tomorrow,'' Sabri told reporters.

    ñWe shall annihilate these forces and the only ones who will be spared are the ones who surrender on the battlefieldƒVictory is near. '' the minister said. As he spoke in a news conference at the Iraqi Information Ministry in Baghdad, a building which was again hit in strikes early Monday, a new air raid was reported in the Iraqi capital.  Sabri also said more than 5,000 Arab volunteers were in Iraq training for ñmartyrdom attacks.''

    SYRIA BACKS ïIRAQI PEOPLEÍ IN WAR

    The Syrian government, under pressure from U.S. officials to choose sides in the Iraq war, said Monday it would back the Iraqi people. "Syria has chosen to align itself with the brotherly Iraqi people who are facing an illegal and unjustified invasion and against whom are being committed all sorts of crimes against humanity," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

    U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld accused Syria last week of allowing war materials to enter Iraq, a move he said could compromise the mission of the U.S.-led coalition forces. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday that Syria is in a position to make a "critical choice." "Syria can continue direct support for terrorist groups in the dying regime of  Saddam Hussein or it can embark on a different and more hopeful course," he said. "Either way, Syria bears responsibility for its choices and for the consequences."

    PETER ARNETT OUT AFTER IRAQI TV INTERVIEW

    NBC announced Monday that both NBC and National Geographic severed their relationships with veteran war correspondent Peter Arnett. In an interview that aired on Iraqi TV Sunday, Arnett said that the U.S. "war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan. Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces." On Sunday, NBC News had issued a statement supporting Arnett, saying that Arnett gave the interview to Iraqi TV as a "professional courtesy" and that his remarks "were analytical in nature and were not intended to be anything more." But a day later, NBC issued a different statement. "It was wrong for him to grant an interview to state-run Iraqi TV, especially in a time of war."

    National Geographic issued a statement that read: "The Society did not authorize or have any prior knowledge of Arnett's television interview with Iraqi television, and had we been consulted, would not have allowed it."  The statement went on to say that Arnett's "decision to grant an interview and express his personal views on state-controlled Iraqi television, especially during a time of war, was a serious error in judgment and wrong."  Arnett had been reporting from Baghdad for NBC News and MSNBC while on assignment for National Geographic Explorer.