EXCESSIVE FORCE USED BY THE VENEZUELAN MILITARY AGAINST THE CIVILIAN POPULATION

   Clashes between troops and thousands of protesters pressing for the recall of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez overshadowed the opening of a summit of developing nations, with two men killed and fifty wounded; 25 by small caliber weapons.

    The confrontation came as Chavez hosted leaders from 18 other developing nations in Caracas, urging them to reject free-market policies imposed by industrialized nations. Near the summit site at the downtown Hilton Hotel in the capital, guard troops, using excessive force, fired dozens of tear gas canisters at the jeering crowd of anti-Chavez protesters, who responded by throwing rocks. Some in the crowd set trash and tires ablaze and blocked a highway.

     The military had put 50,000 troops and police on the streets for the summit and warned it would not tolerate opposition protests. Venezuela's government cut live TV and radio broadcasts of the violence on private channels and replaced it with summit coverage. Citing the possibility of more violence, the U.S. State Department late Friday urged Americans in Venezuela to monitor news broadcasts and avoid demonstrations.

    VENEZUELA OPPOSITION MARCHERS DEFIED THE GOVERNMENT

    Venezuelan troops firing tear gas and plastic bullets Friday stopped opposition protesters from marching to a summit of Third World leaders to demand a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. The clashes broke out as hundreds of National Guard troops backed by armored vehicles barred the path of the demonstration by thousands of opposition supporters advancing toward the summit venue in Caracas.

    National Guard troops fire round after round of tear gas canisters, scattering the demonstrators, who threw stones. Television footage also showed the soldiers firing shotgun pellets. Clouds of tear gas wafted across one of Caracas' main avenues, less than a mile from the hotel and theater complex where leaders from 19 nations from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean were gathering. The demonstrators had planned to try to hand over a message to the foreign leaders explaining their campaign to secure a recall vote against populist Chavez.

    The Organization of American States, the European Union and the U.S.-based Carter Center have urged Venezuela to ignore technical glitches in favor of voters' apparent intent. On the eve of the summit, the Group of Friends of Venezuela -- Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and the United States -- issued a statement from Brazil calling for "transparency" in Venezuela's electoral process. The group was formed to help Venezuela resolve its political crisis, which has included a brief 2002 coup in which dozens died. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, once considered a close ally of Chavez, urged the Venezuela president recently to respect the will of his people.

    U.S. CONSIDERS SENDING MARINES TO HAITI

    The United States is considering sending a three-ship group carrying U.S. Marines, headed by the helicopter carrier USS Saipan, to rebellion-torn Haiti as the Pentagon weighs a range of options to address the crisis, defense officials said on Friday. The officials said no deployment orders had been issued to send the Saipan group to Haiti from Norfolk, Virginia, but called that one of the options under review.

    President Bush on Friday underscored his administration's suggestion that the embattled president of Haiti should consider stepping down for his country's good. Asked if the United States would like to see President Jean-Bertrand Aristide leave office, Bush pointed to Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks Thursday on the subject, which questioned whether Aristide should leave.

    ''President Aristide has the interests of the Haitian people at heart,'' Powell said. ''I hope he will just examine the situation he is in and make a careful examination of how best to serve the Haitian people at this time,'' Powell SAID. He added that the United States spent a lot of money attempting to build democratic institutions in Haiti after U.S. military forces reinstated Aristide in 1994 from a military regime that had deposed him. ''But unfortunately, it didn't stay together,'' Powell said. ''Corruption came into play, inefficiency came into play, cronyism came into play and the whole political tapestry of the country came apart.''

    PRESIDENT BUSH TIGHTENS RULES ON TRAVEL TO CUBA

    President Bush tightened U.S. restrictions on travel to Cuba on Thursday, saying that Fidel Castro's government has taken steps to destabilize relations with the United States over the past year. President Bush signed an order to expand the government's authority to prevent the unauthorized departure of ships from U.S. waters bound for Cuba. He said U.S. authorities would be empowered to inspect any vessel in the territorial waters of the United States and take other steps if necessary .

    The President's order would tighten enforcement of the U.S. embargo on Cuba by making it harder for unauthorized vessels to enter Cuban territorial waters. He said Castro's government "has over the course of its 45-year existence repeatedly used violence and the threat of violence to undermine U.S. policy interests. This same regime continues in power today, and has since 1959 maintained a pattern of hostile actions contrary to U.S. policy interests." President Bush said that over the past year, Cuba has taken a series of steps to destabilize relations with the United States, such as threatening to rescind migration accords with the United States and to close the U.S. interests section in Havana. Further, he said that Cuba's top officials have repeatedly said that the United States intended to invade Cuba, despite explicit denials from the United States.

    The president noted that the United States had warned Cuba last May 8 that any political moves that resulted in a mass migration would be viewed as a hostile act. Crossing into Cuban territorial waters is already against U.S. law for unauthorized vessels, he said. Moreover, such boats and ships bring money and commerce into Cuba, which runs contrary to U.S. policy aiming to "deny resources to the repressive Cuban government," Bush said. Castro's government may use such cash to support terrorist activities, he said.

    CUBAN-AMERICAN CONGRESSMEN PRAISE PRESIDENT BUSH FOR HIS FIRM ACTION AGAINST THE CUBAN TERRORIST REGIME

    The three Cuban American Congressmen from South Florida, Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) today praised President Bush's tightening of U.S. restrictions on travel to communist Cuba, labeling it a "bold, important act that will deny resources to an anti- American terrorist state".

    "President Bush has taken another firm step in the global war on terrorism. The Castro regime harbors terrorists and has repeatedly hampered U.S. anti-terrorist efforts since September 11, 2001. President Bush's commendable action will reduce the resources available to the Cuban terrorist regime," said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

     PRESIDENT BUSH REBUFFS ARISTIDE AND WARNS HAITIANS NOT TO FLEE TO THE UNITED STATES

    President George W. Bush on Wednesday rebuffed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's appeal for immediate security assistance to head off a rebel advance and warned Haitians not to flee to the United States. Aristide, trying to fend off a bloody revolt against his presidency by insurgents, had appealed for international help for his outgunned police. But President Bush was insistent that peacekeepers only be sent once a political settlement to the crisis was reached.

    Speaking in the White House Oval Office, The President also said he had instructed the U.S. Coast Guard to "turn back any refugee" from Haiti who seeks to land on U.S. shores. Aristide had said on Tuesday that "we may have more Haitians leaving by boat to Florida," apparently trying to touch on U.S. fears of a repeat of the early 1990s when thousands of Haitians fled political violence and tried to reach America.

    "We will have a robust presence with an effective strategy. and so we strongly encourage the Haitian people to stay home as we work to effect a peaceful solution to this problem," President Bush said.

    RAÚL RIVERO AWARDED UNESCO'S WORLD PRESS FREEDOM PRIZE

    UNESCO announced Tuesday that it has awarded its World Press Freedom Prize to a Cuban journalist, Raúl Rivero Castañeda, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for allegedly trying to undermine President Fidel Castro's government. UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura said the prize was: ña tribute to Raúl Rivero's brave and long-standing commitment to independent reporting.''

    Rivero, 58, accused of having assailed Cuba's "independence and integrity", is a renowned writer and one of 75 Cuban dissidents jailed in March in the worst crackdown by the regime of President Fidel Castro in recent years. Sentenced to 20 years' jail, he is being held at the high security prison in Canaleta, Ciego de Avila province, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) from Havana.  Rivero has lost more than 30 kilos (66 pounds) in weight since his arrest, and is currently staying at Ciego de Avila provincial hospital where he has tested negative for tuberculosis, according to Reyes.

    ARISTIDE APPEALS FOR INTERNATIONAL HELP TO PREVENT BLOODBATH; OPPOSITION REJECTS PEACE PLAN 

    Haiti's opposition rejected a U.S.-backed peace plan to avert all-out civil war, demanding that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resign and creating a stalemate that alarmed the international community. The Democratic Platform coalition, a broad alliance of opposition groups, rejected the plan despite last-ditch efforts by Secretary of State Colin Powell to stem a crisis sparked by a three-week uprising by rebels who have overrun the northern half of the country.

    The plan would have kept Aristide as president, but with diminished powers and a shared government. ''There will be no more delays. Our answer remains the same. Aristide must resign,'' said Maurice Lafortune, president of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce that is part of the Democratic Platform. Even if the opposition coalition had accepted the U.S. peace plan, the rebels still insist they will lay down their arms only when Aristide is out of power.

    Aristide, who has accepted the plan, appealed to the world for urgent help and warned of a rising death toll and a new exodus of ''boat people'' if rebels try to take the capital. At least 70 people have been killed in the three-week uprising, about 40 of them police officers. ''Should those killers come to Port-au-Prince, you may have thousands of people who may be killed,'' Aristide said. ''We need the presence of the international community as soon as possible.''

    U.S. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY TO VISIT SOUTH FLORIDA 

     On Friday, February 27, 2004, Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Rules of the House Homeland Security Committee, along with full Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-CA) and a bipartisan delegation of members of the Committee will visit South Florida to review crucial homeland security issues, including drug trafficking and terrorism links.

    The delegation will hold a press conference at 11:15am on Friday, February 27 on the second Floor of Terminal 5 of the Port of Miami. The Port of Miami is located next to the American Airlines Basketball Arena. Go over the Port bridge, and follow signs to Terminal 5.  

    In Miami, the congressional delegation will review the security enhancements in passenger screening at Miami International Airport, including an overview of airport and air cargo security. Members will also tour the Port of Miami and observe the baggage and passenger screening process, and document security programs.

    FLORIDA LAWMAKERS ARE BATTLING CASTRO FROM TALLAHASSEE

    State Rep. David Rivera was elected to represent a district that includes parts of Miami-Dade, Broward and Collier counties. But if he had his way, he'd be the ñalcaldeî of the city in Cuba where his family comes from, Cienfuegos. ''You grow up and all your family does is talk about Cuba. Your parents, your grandparents, they instill in you a sense of pride in the homeland,'' said Rivera, who was born in New York and has never been to Cuba. ñI want to be mayor of Cienfuegos in a free Cuba.''

    At a time when the United States is exploring new ways to weaken Cuba's communist dictatorship, Rivera has emerged as the main architect of an anti-Castro strategy aimed at Havana from an unlikely place: Tallahassee. As part of the Republican Hispanic caucus, a group consisting mostly of Cuban-American lawmakers from South Florida, Rivera and others want to be players in Cuba as well as Florida. The caucus plans to meet again in the next two weeks to discuss ways to further the anti-Castro cause, Rivera said.

    Rivera, 38, proudly says that his top priority is to help Cuba become free. ''It's the most important issue to me,'' Rivera said. ``I see my role as being vigilant so that wherever the Castro regime tries to rear its ugly head in the state of Florida, I try to chop it off.'' State Rep. Manny Prieguez, a close Rivera ally, said the catalyst that drew the Cuban American politicians together in Tallahassee for the Cuban cause was the Bush administration's decision last year to repatriate 12 Cubans suspected of hijacking a boat to reach Florida. ''That was very hard to swallow,'' Prieguez said. ñ

    TREASURY DEPARTMENT: EMBARGO MAKES IT ILLEGAL TO EDIT ARTICLES FROM ROGUE NATIONS

    For U.S. publishers, changing so much as a comma in an author's work can be more than a delicate process. It can be criminal „ punishable by fines of up to $500,000 or jail terms as long as 10 years. Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control recently declared that publishers cannot edit works written in nations under trade embargoes. Although publishing the articles is legal, editing is a "service" and it is illegal to perform services for embargoed nations, the agency has ruled.

    NO PLANS FOR U.S.-CUBA MIGRATION TALKS

    America's top diplomat in Cuba said on Monday there were no plans to restart formal U.S.-Cuba migration talks that the United States suspended last month. The meetings, held every six months, were established to monitor 1994 and 1995 accords designed to promote legal, orderly migration between the two countries - and prevent a mass exodus as in 1994 when tens of thousands of Cubans took to the sea in flimsy vessels for Florida.

    The United States said it suspended the migration talks because of Cuba's repeated refusal to discuss key issues, while Cuba blamed the suspension on U.S. presidential election politics. îThe talks potentially could be useful,'' James Cason said. ñBut I think we have found in recent years that they haven't been.''

    The negotiations were the highest level contact between the two countries that haven't had diplomatic relations for more than 40 years. Their suspension indicated U.S.-Cuba relations were worsening. Cason said the suspension of the talks does not mean there is no channel of communications with the Cubans. ñI meet with my counterpart here in the Foreign Ministry every week and we discuss migration issues,'' he said.

    MARINES SENT TO SECURE U.S. EMBASSY IN HAITI

    Two planes carrying approximately 50 U.S. Marines charged with protecting the U.S. Embassy and its staff against possible attack by rebels landed in the Haitian capital Monday. The Marines were requested by the U.S. ambassador to secure the compound as rebels continue to make advances in that country.

    Pentagon sources said the elite contingent of Marines does not portend a large-scale military intervention in Haiti, but is intended solely to ensure the safety of embassy personnel. The Marines, trained in counter terrorism, would add to a Marine security detachment already based at the embassy.

    The marines are part of a Fleet Anti-Terrorism Support Team, known as a FAST team. These troops are trained for missions such as securing the Navy's fleet as well as embassies when security becomes an issue. This past weekend, the U.S. State Department ordered the departure of all family members and non-emergency personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. 

    COMMITTEES FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE REVOLUTION  (CDR) PREPARE FOR WAR  

    After Cuban dictator Fidel Castro called a U. S. invasion of the island a "sure thing" in his last speech, the neighborhood watch Committees for the Defense of the Revolution together with Civil Defense authorities prepared a plan they called "update in time of war" which they delivered to provincial authorities last Saturday, February 21. The CDR is a neighborhood spy network organized by the communist government of Cuba in every block of all Cuban cities and towns

    "We have had to activate evacuation plans," said one Committee president in the Havana municipality of 10 de Octubre. He explained the plan consists of making a list of children and older people in the neighborhood, who would be evacuated to Villa Clara, in central Cuba.

    A very old woman butted into the conversation at this point, saying that the buses taking these people toward the center of the island would not arrive at their destination among the bombs and the shooting. "Here, everything works backwards," she added. The measures taken in preparation for an attack include a reserve of food: rice, beans, sugar, salt, milk, and baby food, which must be rotated every six months.

    CUBA BUYING U.S. MEAT DESPITE MAD COW DISEASE

    Cuba, the U.S. poultry industry's eighth export market, said Saturday it would increase imports despite the appearance of the dreaded bird flu in four states and bans slapped on U.S. chicken and eggs by some countries. "We have limited purchases from a few states due to avian influenza, but see no problem with the vast majority," said Pedro Alvarez, chairman of Cuba's state food importer Alimport.

    Alvarez said Cuba would purchase 120,000 metric tons of U.S. poultry in 2004 as his company increased U.S. food imports in general. The communist-run Caribbean island has emerged as the 35th-biggest export market for U.S. agricultural products since Washington in 2000 loosened the trade embargo to allow food sales for cash.

    Cuba purchased $256.9 million worth of U.S. agricultural products last year, including more than 74,000 metric tons of poultry valued at $37.2 million. "The statement by Alimport is significant as Cuba, based on our analysis of government data, is the poultry industry's eighth-largest foreign market," said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

    JAMES CASON: U.S. HAS NO PLANS TO ATTACK CUBA

    America's chief diplomat in Havana issued a statement Friday to emphasize that no U.S. military action is planned against Cuba. The statement by James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, was distributed to international journalists in Cuba one week after President Fidel Castro challenged President Bush to be clear about how Washington plans to realize a transition to democracy on the island.

    For nearly a year, Castro and other officials have publicly expressed concerns that the U.S. military could attack the communist nation. In a public speech, Castro wondered aloud if Washington was planning to kill him. Last month, Castro directly accused Bush of plotting with Cuban exiles in Miami to assassinate him. In his statement, Cason said that President Bush has repeatedly emphasized that Washington seeks a peaceful transition to democracy to Cuba brought about by Cubans. He also quoted Secretary of State Colin Powell as saying last spring that Washington did not need to take military action against Cuba, because Castro's regime was "an anachronism and would eventually fall of its own weight."

    Cason said the Cuban government was "fabricating the threat of a U.S. military attack to engender fear in the Cuban population, to spend scare resources to maintain large military, security and intelligence structures, and to justify extreme measures in a vain attempt to crush Cuba's nascent independent civil society."

    HAITIAN REBELS CAPTURED CAP-HAITIEN

    Rebels stormed Haiti's second largest city Sunday, sending police fleeing as residents chanted slogans against President Jean Bertrand Aristide throughout the northern port city of 500,000 residents. Another rebel attack overnight on a police station on the northern outskirts of Port-au-Prince -- the closest the rebels have come to the capital in their two-week old drive to topple Aristide -- left at least one wounded, witnesses said.

    Witnesses said the rebels aboard five trucks and cars attacked in plain daylight around 10 a.m., from the south, where armed pro-Aristide militants had been manning barricades since rumors of a rebel raid first surfaced last week. Hundreds of residents were nevertheless on the streets, cheering on the rebels and chanting ''Down with Aristide'' and his Lavalas Family Party.

    The rebels said they were members of the Haitian Liberation Front headed by Guy Philippe, a former city police chief whose group is estimated to have some 50 fighters, most of them former members of the military abolished by Aristide in 1995. Aristide on Saturday accepted a plan brokered by a U.S.-led delegation, but the political opposition said it needed more time to mull over the deal, which would require them to give up their demands for the president's resignation.

    PRESIDENT BUSH CRACKDOWN KEEPS AMERICANS AWAY FROM CUBA

    A crackdown by the Bush administration on U.S. travel to Cuba has reduced the number of non-Cuban Americans visiting the island to a trickle, travel agents and Cuban officials said Thursday. At Havana's Hemingway Marina, it is hard to find a yacht or big-game fishing boat with a U.S. flag these days. "The Commerce Department began asking for export licenses for the vessels," said the marina's commodore, Jose Miguel Diaz. "The yachters didn't want trouble."

    The so-called people-to-people licenses were introduced by the Clinton administration as a way of increasing U.S. contacts with the Cuban people with a view to encouraging democratic change under President Fidel Castro's government. But that doorway to Havana slammed shut on Dec. 31 after President Bush canceled cultural exchange travel licenses as he tightened sanctions against Castro. "It had a tremendous impact on the flow of people. Business is down by 30 percent," said Michael Zuccato, president of Cuba Travel Services, which operates charter flights to Cuba from Los Angeles and Miami.

    The Bush administration said many of these travelers were just going for fun, to sip mojitos and enjoy rhythmic Cuban dancing, and their dollars were helping keep Castro in power.  In addition, an estimated 22,000 to 25,000 Americans defied the travel ban and went to Cuba unauthorized in 2003, via third countries such as Mexico, Jamaica or the Bahamas. Since Oct. 10, more than 1,000 charter flights returning from Cuba have been inspected and 50,000 passengers screened at Miami, Los Angeles and New York airports, while 275 travelers were stopped from boarding planes to Cuba, the department said.

    JORGE DOMÍNGUEZ:  PRESIDENT BUSH FOLLOWS BILL CLINTONÍS FOOTSTEPS

    A Cuba expert at Harvard University suggested Thursday that there is an unspoken alliance between the Bush administration and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Citing migration accords, joint ant narcotics operations and agricultural trade as examples of Cuba-U.S. cooperation, Jorge Domínguez, a Cuban-American Harvard professor of government, said the relationship between the two countries has grown under Bush despite the ''high, hostile rhetoric'' often issued by both governments

    ''The trend has been toward greater cooperation under the Bush administration,'' Domínguez told a gathering of more than 200 at Florida International University. He added that the alliance resulted not because the two nations were fond of each other but because it suited their respective needs. U.S. policy toward the communist-ruled island has not changed, Domínguez said, because ñCuba is for the most part, not at all a salient issue outside of this city. It doesn't register politically outside of this city.''

    DIAZ-BALART: DOMINGUEZ' "THEORY" IS TOTALLY CONSISTENT WITH CASTRO'S STRATEGY TO DISCOURAGE CUBAN-AMERICAN TURNOUT IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

    Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) today issued the following statement regarding Harvard's Jorge Dominguez's statement alleging collusion between the Bush Administration and the Castro regime.

    The primary objective of the Castro dictatorship with regard to the United States is to do everything possible to defeat President George W. Bush in this year's election. To that end, Castro will take multiple actions to try to weaken Cuban American support for President Bush and discourage Cuban American voter turnout in November. Dominguez' "theory" coincides totally with Castro's campaign to discourage Cuban-Americans from voting in this year's Presidential election.  Dominguez' remarks are a clearly calculated political maneuver to weaken Cuban American support for President Bush.

    President Bush has expelled Castro agents disguised as diplomats, indicted regime officials for the murder of U.S. citizens, penalized violators of U.S. law, and repeatedly threatened to veto any weakening of the embargo and travel restrictions on Castro's dictatorship." Congressman Diaz-Balart concluded by adding, "Castro would benefit greatly from a Democrat victory in November and he will try repeatedly to influence the election is by discouraging Cuban-American support for President Bush." 

    AMERICANS BEGIN FLEEING HAITI

    Americans began fleeing Haiti on Friday after insurgents torched police outposts and threatened new attacks in a spreading rebellion against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who defiantly declared he's ready to die for his nation. In Haiti's west, pro-Aristide supporters burned down homes in a seaside neighborhood and fired guns above the heads of residents who jumped into the ocean for safety.

    Meanwhile, the new leader of several rebel groups, Guy Philippe, said he plans to attack Cap-Haitien, the government's last remaining stronghold in the north, during carnival celebrations starting Friday. Philippe was Aristide's police chief in Cap-Haitien but fled in 2002 amid charges he was plotting a coup. Citing mounting violence, the United States on Thursday urged the more than 20,000 Americans in Haiti to leave while transportation was still available. The Peace Corps also said it was withdrawing about 70 volunteers.

    The Pentagon said it was sending a small military team to assess the security of the U.S. Embassy and its staff. The northern rebellion has killed dozens of people, including about 40 police officers. Aristide, wildly popular when he became Haiti's first freely elected leader in 1990, lost support after flawed legislative elections in 2000 led international donors to freeze millions of dollars in aid. Even before the rebellion, about half of Haiti's 8 million people went hungry daily. President Clinton sent 20,000 troops in 1994 to restore Aristide, end the killings of his supporters and halt the flood of refugees.

    U.N. CRITICIZES CUBAÍS TREATMENT OF IMPRISONED DISSIDENTS

    The Cuban government's imprisonment of 75 dissidents is an "unprecedented wave of repression" in the country, a United Nations official said. In a report produced for next month's annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Christine Chanet noted that the dissidents were tried and criticized their convictions within weeks or days of their arrests last year and the fact that the trials were closed to the public.

    The 75 dissidents were sentenced in April to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years on charges of working with U.S. diplomats to undermine Cuba's socialist system. American officials and the activists denied the accusations. Cuba has refused to allow Chanet, a French judge, to visit the island, claiming the trip would infringe on its sovereignty. The government also did not respond to her request for a pardon for the dissidents.

    Chanet, who prepared her report based on meetings with activists, human-rights investigators and other governments, said she has information that the dissidents are kept in very poor conditions, either in total isolation or in overcrowded cells with common criminals. They are often moved from one prison to another, making it difficult for their families to visit them. Chanet said she also was concerned about the April 11 execution of three Cubans who hijacked a ferry to try to reach the United States.

    CHÁVEZ CHALLENGES OPPONENTS TO START GUERRILLA WARFARE

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez challenged his opponents Wednesday to start a guerrilla war against him if they failed to secure a recall referendum this year on his rule. In the latest scathing attack against his foes, the outspoken left-wing president condemned opposition leaders who have accused electoral authorities of siding with him and delaying a decision on whether or not to allow a vote.

    "They have threatened a war, a coup, foreign intervention if the National Electoral Council does not give them the answer they want," Chavez said in a speech in Caracas. "Well, let them go and start a guerrilla front in some mountain. We'll go and find them there, war is war," said the former paratrooper, who himself took up arms in a failed 1992 coup six years before winning power through an election.

    In what opposition leaders portray as a bid to rally supporters and stoke political tensions, Chavez has stepped up public attacks against his foes and the U.S. government, which he says is backing their efforts to oust him. The Venezuelan leader this week directly accused U.S. President George W. Bush's administration of supporting a brief coup against him in 2002. "We do not and will not accept interference by any foreign power," he said Wednesday.

    DESPITE A "FEROCIOUS BLOCKADE." CUBA NOW 35TH U.S. FOOD MARKET 

    Despite four decades of trade sanctions and increasing White House hostility, Cuba has become the United States's 35th market for food exports, according to a report by a New York-based business group on Tuesday. Cuba's purchases of American agricultural products doubled last year, as U.S. agribusiness giants sold more and more grain to the Caribbean island thanks to an easing of the embargo. The U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which monitors trade between the two countries, said Cuba imported $256.9 million worth of U.S. agricultural products in 2003.

    Since food sales were allowed in 2000, Cuba has moved up from 144th position among U.S. markets, to 50th in 2002 and 35th last year, the council's analysis of U.S. government data said. The trade surge came as the Bush administration clamped down on travel to Cuba and studied other measures to increase economic pressure on President Fidel Castro's communist-run government.

    President George W. Bush last year appointed a commission to come up with ways to accelerate a transition to democracy in Cuba, where Castro has been in power since a 1959 revolution. American business groups, meanwhile, have been lobbying for the lifting of a travel ban and further relaxing of the embargo. Both chambers of the U.S. Congress last year voted to end travel restrictions, but Republican leadership scuttled the move in conference.

    CHÁVEZ SAYS U.S. ñHAD A RESPONSIBILITY IN THE MASSACREî OF APRIL 2002

    President Hugo Chavez angrily accused the United States on Tuesday of backing a coup in 2002 and of helping Venezuela's opposition stage another attempt to overthrow him. Chavez also accused the Bush administration of spreading lies about his government to justify its demise, saying it used similar tactics in Iraq, and of falsely charging Venezuela with supporting Colombian rebels.

    "The government of the United States is attacking the Venezuelan people again, just like they attacked the people of Iraq," he added. Relations between Venezuela, a top U.S. oil supplier, and the United States have been strained over Chavez's friendship with Cuba's Fidel Castro and his open criticism of Washington-backed free market policies. Chavez accused the United States of "deceiving the world, deceiving the very people of the United States, deceiving the people of Europe" when it said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. "They are hatching a similar deception about Venezuela," he said.

    He said he had evidence that Washington was involved in an April 2002 coup that ousted him for two days. He said the Bush administration "had a responsibility in the massacre" that helped trigger the coup, and that U.S. military personnel were involved alongside rebel Venezuelan military. Chavez was toppled after 19 people died in clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters during an opposition march. The government and opposition blame each other for the unresolved deaths. Loyalist troops restored Chavez to power. 

    TWO CONSECUTIVE LAUNCH FAILURES DURING RUSSIAN MANEUVERS IN THE BARENT SEA

    A Russian ballistic missile self-destructed moments after taking off from a submarine Wednesday, the second failed test launch in two days of maneuvers meant to display the country's military might. President Vladimir Putin didn't mention the failure, but said Russia would soon get new strategic weapons that would protect the country for years to come. He also said the Moscow might develop a missile defense system.

    The massive exercises have been described as the largest in more than 20 years, and come less than a month before a presidential election Putin is expected to win. They are broadly seen as part of campaign efforts aimed at playing up Putin's image as a leader determined to restore Russia's military power and global clout.

    But two launch failures in as many days were an embarrassment for Putin and further tarnish the image of the Russian military, which has been plagued by chronic funding shortages, low morale and frequent crashes and accidents. The missile launched from the Karelia submarine on Wednesday veered from its flight path less than two minutes after take-off, triggering its self-destruct system, Russian Navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said. No one was hurt, he said in a telephone interview.

    DESHAZO ADMITTED FUNDING TO BOTH SÚMATE AND GOVERNMENT GROUPS

    Vice President José Vicente Rangel said that a ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice  of November 21, 2000, declares all foreign financing to Venezuelan civil society organizations illegal. Venezuela's Súmate civil association would have been receiving funding from a U.S. agency connected to the Department of State, DeShazo said that the office had also benefited organizations that support the Venezuelan government.

    "The United States supports various non governmental organizations that work to strengthen democratic institutions and promote democracy in the world," he explained. "These organizations work in the whole world, and have worked in Venezuela for years. Their programs are open to all democratic political sectors. In the past, they have supported groups identified with the government and groups that are not. The two (sides) have received funds from these non governmental groups."

    As journalists insisted in asking him if the U.S. government has given funds to Súmate and, more specifically, if these funds were aimed at promoting democracy or at changing the government, DeShazo refrained from giving details, but reaffirmed that the funding program was transparent and had helped democratic organizations worldwide for many years. However, Rangel denied that Venezuelan government organizations have received such a financing support.

    VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION PROTESTS RECALL DELAYS

    Waving copies of voter signatures, Venezuela's opposition took to the streets Saturday to protest delays in the verification of its petitions for a recall referendum against President Hugo Chavez. Thousands of protesters banged on drums, blew whistles and played anti-Chavez jingles on loudspeakers as they marched along several routes to a rallying point on a Caracas highway. Some held up signs with their signatures asking for a vote on Chavez in huge letters.

    Several dozen Chavez sympathizers drove past in trucks, yelling, "Traitors!" at the protesters. The "Chavistas" held rallies of their own, blasting fireworks and chanting in defense of their president. Marchers had planned to go to the downtown National Elections Council headquarters, which has been surrounded by hundreds of Chavez supporters all week. But Chavez's government organized a massive public market near the end of the planned route and posted hundreds of police and National Guard troops, backed by armored personnel carriers, in front of it.

    Organizers agreed to cut the march short to avoid violence and rally instead at a park about a mile from the council headquarters. It's been more than two months since opposition leaders said they turned in more than 3.4 million signatures to demand the recall. The council missed a February 13 deadline to validate the petitions and now says it will finish the count by February 29.

    SECRETARY POWELL: LATIN AMERICA IS NOT A TOP PRIORITY FOR THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

    The Bush administration's repeated claims that Latin America is one of its highest foreign policy priorities pretty much fizzled last week when Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted to Congress that U.S. foreign aid to Latin America will suffer larger-than-average cuts in the 2005 fiscal year budget. ''We have reduced the overall amount of funding there because we had higher priorities that we had to deal with, of a more serious nature . . . in other parts of the world,'' Powell told the House International Relations Committee on Wednesday. ñIt's one of these trade-offs we make.''

    From the very start, President Bush proclaimed he would make Latin America a centerpiece of his foreign policy. It should be remembered that, during the 2000 presidential campaign, he said, ''Should I become president, I will look south, not as an afterthought, but as a fundamental commitment of my presidency.'' And as recently as Sept. 9, Powell stated, ñThere is no region on Earth that is more important to the American people than the Western hemisphere.''

    But the fact is that Latin America is the only region in the world that will suffer foreign aid cuts in Bush's proposed 2005 fiscal year budget. Economic aid to Latin America will drop from $757 million in 2004 to $721 million in 2005. 'So much for being a `buen amigo,' '' Rep. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. said Friday. ñIt is shocking that these cuts have been made at a time when Latin American democracies are threatened, and extreme poverty is growing.'' The fact is, Latin America is sinking into growing social turmoil.

    CUBA REMITTANCE LIMITS FEARED

    The Treasury Department announced this week that it would ''take a hard look'' at restricting ''remittance'' rules that allow Cuban Americans to send as much as $1,200 a year to relatives on the island. The government wants to be sure that the money really is ''going to where it's supposed to,'' Treasury Secretary John Snow said during a press conference announcing a crackdown on Cuban-owned companies conducting illegal business in the United States.

    A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department said Friday that details of how remittance rules would be changed are still to be determined. The move to restrict remittances, spokeswoman Tara Bradshaw said, stems from President Bush's speech in October that condemned Cuban President Fidel Castro for recent crackdowns on dissidents. Various estimates say remittances contribute between $400 million and $1 billion to the island's economy each year, making it the largest source of revenue behind tourism.

    Travelers to the island can take up to $300 per household for people who are related to them; it is illegal to carry money on anyone else's behalf. However, Cuban Americans say they sometimes circumvent the rules by paying travelers a commission, sometimes as high as 15 percent, to smuggle bundles of bills to the island. In reality, remittances are contributing to a brutal government. Cuban households with senior-level Cuban government or Communist Party members are not supposed to receive remittance money. ''The money goes to the dollar stores, and who are the owners? The government,'' said a Cuban exile. ñThe Cuban government gets it all.''

    CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO RIDICULES PRESIDENT BUSH 

    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro resorted to humor on Saturday to defend himself from U.S. hostility, ridiculing President George W. Bush and the Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar. He made fun of  President Bush, reading directly from a compilation of verbal blunders Bush has made during his presidency. "Bush could not debate a Cuban 9^th-grader, who knows more than he does," Castro said in a speech closing an international conference of economists hosted by his communist government.

    Looking cheerful and dressed in a dark gray business suit instead of this trademark uniform, Castro laid to rest recent rumors that he may have died by delivering a four-hour 20-minute speech in which he railed against White House efforts to get rid of him. Castro also lashed out at the ñfoolishnessî of the U.S. economic ñblockadeî saying it hadnÍt stopped Cuba from surpassing the United States in many areas. Even if his days are numbered by the United States, ñdonÍt feel any pityî, Castro told his listeners, ñThere is no fear. To demonstrate fear would be a mistake.î And in any case I would have to say to this illustrious gentleman (Bush) what the Roman gladiators said: ñHail, Caesar. Those who are going to die salute you.î

    Cuban authorities have told the population to get ready to defend their country with guerrilla tactics. "Everything is prepared," Castro said to the economists, among them Nobel Prize winner Daniel McFadden of the United States. The Cuban dictator said Washington would have to invade quickly after his death if it wanted to put an end to his revolutionary government. Castro said he would continue to govern Cuba "until his last breath. ... The dead man is not dead yet. They have not killed him," he said.

    CHAVEZ: I'LL FIGHT VENEZUELA VOTE IN SUPREME COURT

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday he would appeal to the Supreme Court if electoral authorities decided he should face a recall referendum sought by opponents he accuses of "massive fraud." The announcement signaled a toughening by the leftist leader of his opposition to a referendum petition being evaluated by Venezuela's National Electoral Council. Opposition leaders accuse the electoral authority, which missed a deadline Friday to announce the referendum decision, of being biased in the president's favor. The National Electoral Council said the decision on a vote would now be announced Feb. 29.

    Chavez, who was elected in 1998, had previously said he would accept any decision by the electoral authority, even if it approved a recall poll this year. Upping the stakes of a growing political battle over the referendum bid, the president presented what he said was evidence that his opponents had forged "tens of thousands" of signatures seeking a vote on his rule.

    "In the eventuality that the National Electoral Council says there will be a referendum ... we would go to the Supreme Court with all this proof," he told a news conference. He showed copies of what he said were fraudulent pro-referendum signature forms filled out in the same person's handwriting, containing forged thumbprints or including the names of dead voters. "A massive fraud," he said. But he added that if the Supreme Court still approved a recall vote, he would accept it and win.

    VENEZUELAN STUDENTS DISPLACE CUBANS

    Hundreds of Cuban students at the school for social workers in Cojímar, east of Havana, were taken out of their school last week to allow the ministry to use the school for a contingent of Venezuelan students. The measure has provoked resentment and protests among the Cubans, who say the Venezuelans are given better quality food and have hundreds of computers at their disposal, both sore spots among Cubans.

    One of the students, a resident of central Havana, said they had been assigned in small groups to "houses of study" to allow them to continue their classes. "It really is educational apartheid," said the student. "Not only can we not go into certain hotels or enjoy certain beaches, now the educational system relegates Cuban students to second-class status in order to accommodate foreigners," said the student. Her mother said: "This is a shame. In what other country in the world do you see something like this? My daughter has told me she's planning to drop out."

    CHAVEZ FOES, BACKERS CLASH AS POLL RULING DELAYED

    Opponents and supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez fought in the streets in two cities Thursday as electoral authorities postponed a decision on whether the leftist leader should face a referendum on his rule. Opposition and government supporters clashed in Valencia, Carabobo state, 100 miles west of Caracas. Local television showed them exchanging punches and kicks and hitting each other with sticks.

    In Barcelona in eastern Venezuela, foes and backers of the populist president fought with stones, bottles and sticks outside local electoral offices. No details of injuries were immediately available. Earlier, opposition students in the western Andean city of Merida clashed with riot police who fired tear gas and plastic bullets. Television reports said there were several arrests and injuries.

    The violence broke out as National Electoral Council officials admitted they could not meet a Feb. 13 deadline to announce the long-awaited ruling on a possible referendum against Chavez this year. Furious opposition leaders accused some electoral officials of siding with the president and of deliberately delaying the verification of an opposition referendum petition. Opposition leaders have called a march Saturday to the electoral council's headquarters in downtown Caracas to press for a speedy decision.

    RESIDENTS OF THE ISLE OF YOUTH CANNOT FIND SOAP, TOOTHPASTE AND SUGAR

    The 80,000 residents of the Isle of Youth cannot find soap, toothpaste and sugar available for purchase under ration books. Toothpaste became scarce in December as did soap and sugar in January.

    The government's Municipal Commerce and Gastronomy Company has offered no explanation for the shortages. Those unable to find rationed goods and products have to pay for them in dollars at dollar stores. Said resident Julio César Benítez: "This shows that the situation of the Cuba is getting more difficult. Not everyone has access to dollars."

    THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE ISSUED A WARNING TO U.S. CITIZENS RESIDING IN VENEZUELA

    The U.S. Department of State issued a warning to U.S. citizens on the current political situation in Venezuela. 

    It said that the country's political situation "remains fluid."  It added, however, that "on or after February 13, 2004, the Venezuelan Electoral Council (CNE) will announce whether it will ratify either the opposition or pro-government signature petitions, aimed at gaining approval for a recall referendum of President Hugo Chávez and a number of pro-government and opposition legislators. Political demonstrations, with potential for violence, may take place during this period of uncertainty." 

    It advised U.S. citizens to avoid all demonstrations and areas where groups are gathering and to monitor radio and TV broadcasts for any sudden changes in the political situation.

    JANE FONDA DEFENDS JOHN KERRY

    The publication of an old photo of Jane Fonda and John Kerry at an anti-Vietnam War rally is raising questions about the antiwar activities of the Democratic presidential front-runner. Kerry became an antiwar activist after he returned to the United States. The photograph, taken on Labor Day 1970, shows Fonda at an antiwar rally in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Kerry, who at the time led a group called Vietnam Veterans Against The War, can be seen in background behind her. Kerry's campaign confirmed that he was at the rally and spoke.

    Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, told the Washington Times that Kerry's attendance at the rally with Fonda "symbolizes how two-faced he is, talking about his war reputation, which is questionable on the one hand, and then coming out against our veterans who were fighting over there on the other." "It bothered us, anyone who associated themselves with Jane Fonda, with (her husband) Tom Hayden, with the antiwar movement," said Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-California, a former Navy pilot shot down in 1972.

    Kerry enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1966 and served as the officer of a swift boat that patrolled the Mekong Delta. He left Vietnam in 1969 after being wounded three times. In 1971, Kerry and other veterans threw their military decorations and dog tags onto the steps of the Capitol. "This was an organization of men who risked their lives in Vietnam, who considered themselves totally patriotic," Fonda said of Kerry's antiwar group.

    ECUADOR INDIANS PLAN PROTESTS AGAINST PRESIDENT

    Ecuador's powerful Indian movement on Friday called for nationwide protests against President Lucio Gutierrez's year-old government and demanded he resign over disputed economic and social policies. "We're going to lead marches across the entire country," said Leonidas Iza, president of the National Indian Federation, which is known as Conaie. No date has been set for the marches.

    Two elected presidents have been toppled in Ecuador in recent years and the country is considered one of the most unstable nations in Latin America. Indians, who make up about a quarter of Ecuador's population of 12 million, withdrew their support for Gutierrez, a close friend of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, in August after criticizing his economic policies. They helped him win election in 2002 on left-leaning promises to help the poor.

    The rupture damaged Gutierrez. It also weakened the indigenous movement, which was forced to recognize its failure to carry out left-leaning policies while holding key posts in Gutierrez's government. Indians now want Gutierrez to step down because they say he favors market-oriented policies under a $205 million International Monetary Fund loan, backs plans for a free-trade agreement with the United States and opposes freedom of expression.

     CUBA REPLACES MINISTER IN TOURISM SECTOR SHAKE-UP

     Cuba replaced its tourism minister on Wednesday in a shake-up that has put executives from a military-run corporation in charge of the country's main dollar-earning industry. The ruling Communist Party libel Granma said Ibrahim Ferradaz had been relieved of his duties as minister and replaced by Manuel Marrero, who headed the Gaviota tourism group run by the army.

    The government gave no reason for Ferradaz's replacement, simply stating he would be assigned to other duties. The change follows the removal in November of the president and other top executives of Cubanacan, Cuba's largest tourism group that owns 51 hotels, restaurants and shops, travel and car rental agencies, two marinas and scuba diving centers.

    Cubanacan's new president, Manuel Vila, is also from Gaviota, which owns hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, a fleet of buses for tourists and an airline. The naming of Gaviota executives to the key jobs in tourism points to an increasing role in the economy played by the Cuban military, headed by Raul Castro, Castro's younger brother and designated political successor of the tyrant.

    OPPOSITION ANGRY AS VENEZUELA POLL DECISION SLIDES

    Foes of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday they would step up street protests in their campaign for a recall referendum against him, as Friday's deadline for electoral authorities to decide on a vote looked set to slip. Sources in the National Electoral Council said the electoral authority would not be able to announce this Friday, Feb. 13, as originally planned, whether a poll would be held this year in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

    "The opposition has decided to take to the streets," Enrique Mendoza, the anti-Chavez governor of Miranda state, said. Over the last year, the broad but deeply divided opposition coalition has held many pro-referendum protests. It has condemned delays in the poll process as a deliberate maneuver by Chavez, helped by sympathizers in the National Electoral Council, to try to block a vote.

    After the populist former paratrooper survived a brief coup and a general strike in less than two years, his opponents view the referendum as their best chance to try to oust him through the ballot box. They accuse him of economic mismanagement and leading Venezuela towards Cuba-style communism. Opposition leaders say they delivered in December 3.4 million pro-referendum signatures to electoral authorities, well above the legally required minimum of 2.4 million. But the final word rests with the electoral council.

    98 BALSEROS RETURNED TO CUBA, INCLUDING EIGHT OF 11 CAUGHT IN FLOATING BUICK; THREE OTHERS IN LIMBO

    The Coast Guard on Tuesday returned 98 Cubans to their homeland, including eight of the 11 migrants caught trying to make their way to the Florida Keys in a floating Buick. Officials also said 90 of the 98 migrants seized were on three go-fast boats headed for Florida. Five people were arrested on federal smuggling charges.

    A Cuban family of three remains on a Coast Guard cutter at sea while a federal judge in Miami decides whether they have any right to enter the United States. A judge in Miami on Monday ruled that the three other people in the Buick seized at sea will be safe from return to Cuba until at least Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno extended an order while attorneys for the federal government and the family continued to examine immigration law and policies. They were expected to file papers Tuesday and Moreno hopes to rule Wednesday.

    Luis Grass Rodriguez, his wife and 4-year-old son were among 11 people found on the Buick off the Florida Keys last week. Grass Rodriguez and his family are exempt from repatriation -- for now -- because he had started a process in the hopes of emigrating legally to the United States after a similar vehicle-to-boat conversion failed last summer. In that case his floating 1951 pickup came within 40 miles of the U.S. coast.

    DISSIDENTS ASK CUBA TO EXPAND CITIZENS' CIVIL RIGHTS 

    A leading dissident group on Tuesday unveiled a list of proposals it plans to submit to local government representatives in favor of free speech, private business ownership and the formation of labor unions. The proposals include that Cubans be allowed to come and go from the island without restrictions, buy and sell cars and houses, run their own businesses, form unions, subscribe to the Internet and buy cable television.

   The 36-page document was announced by Vladimiro Roca, a former military pilot who broke with the socialist government more than a decade ago and began calling for a Western-style democracy. The initiative represents one of numerous proposals that have been presented over the years by opposition groups.

    "The intention is to mobilize people using the (government) mechanisms that they have available to them," said Roca, who plans to submit the proposals to the local district representative, the lowest level of government. Roca, spokesman for the opposition United For All Movement, said the proposals are a step toward the goal of achieving peaceful change on the communist island. "It is a document to encourage people to seek change," he said.

    SECRETARY SNOW LAUNCHES U.S. CRACKDOWN ON CUBA DEALINGS

    U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow Monday unveiled tough action against 10 business groups that promote travel and trade with Cuba in violation of a more than 40-year-old embargo on dealing with the Communist-run state. Appearing before about 100 Cuban-American businessmen in southern Florida, Snow blasted Cuban dictator Fidel Castro while naming the organizations to be put on a Treasury list that makes it illegal for Americans to deal with them. The organizations listed by Treasury as owned or controlled by Cuba include entities in Cuba itself as well as in Argentina, the Bahamas, Canada, Chile, the Netherlands and Britain.

    Those named are: 2904977 Canada Inc. of Montreal; Corporation Cimex S.A. of Havana; Havanatur S.A. of Havana; Havanatur S.A. of Buenos Aires; Havanatur Bahamas Ltd.; Havanatur Chile S.A. of Santiago; La Compañia Tiendas Universo S.A. of Cuba; Cubanacan Group of Havana; Cubanacan International B.V. of the Netherlands and Cubanacan U.K. Ltd. of London. "Castro's regime has crushed freedom and has held Cuba back from its enormous potential as an economic power and as a friend of the United States," Snow said. Nine of the 10 companies listed by Treasury are travel companies that promote travel to Cuba and one is a gift forwarder to Cuba. "We're cracking down. We mean business," Snow said. "We are cutting off American dollars headed to Fidel Castro.î

    Snow was in Miami for the day after hosting a weekend meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers at a luxury resort in nearby Boca Raton. Miami is a haven for anti-Castro exiles, many of them supporters of President Bush's Republican party. The organizations named are "owned or controlled by the government of Cuba or Cuban nationals," the Treasury said in a statement. Any of their property that falls under U.S. jurisdiction will be blocked and no American can deal with them unless authorized to do so Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC. The Bush administration has made no secret of its wish to hasten the departure of the Cuban dictator, who seized power in 1959, and the latest action was described as a bid to further that objective "and to hasten the arrival of a new, free, democratic Cuba."

    THE CUBAN DICTATOR: BUSH LIKE HITLER, AZNAR A FASCIST

    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro characterized President George W. Bush as Adolf Hitler and Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar as his fascist attendant during a speech to a congress on college education in Havana.

    The speech lasted three hours and 20 minutes, beginning Friday night and ending Saturday morning. The Cuban leader described Bush and Aznar as ''repugnant personages'' and said the work of the Cuban people ñin the face of hostility, a FEROCIOUS BLOCKADE and aggression cannot be destroyed.'' Several news services in Havana reported that Castro also called Aznar a ''Mussolini-like acolyte'' of Bush, whom he described ''the Fuhrer who today holds in his hands the reins of the empire.'' Cuban government officials often refer to the United States as ñthe empire.''

    Castro's attack on Aznar appeared to be in response to a statement made by the Spanish leader during a speech to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday in Washington:  ñThis Caribbean island is one of the last remaining anomalies of history not just in the Americas, but anywhere in the entire world, and I would like to reiterate my desire and hope here today that before too long Cuba can be welcomed into the fold of free nations". On Jan. 30, Castro accused President Bush and Cuban Americans in Miami of plotting to assassinate him. ''We know that Mr. Bush has committed himself to the mafia . . . to assassinate me,'' Castro said, using his favorite term for hard-line Cuban exiles. In previous speeches, Castro says the plot was hatched during a Texas meeting between Bush and exiles before the 2000 presidential election.

    IN SPITE OF A ñFEROCIOUS BLOCKADE,î U.S. LEGISLATORS VISIT CUBA SEEKING ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS

    Two Idaho Republicans, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday under which Cuba's communist government committed itself to buying at least $10 million in farm products, including 5,000 tonnes of potatoes and 10,000 tonnes of beans. Craig, who last year co-sponsored a measure to end travel restrictions on Americans wanting to visit Cuba, said it was time to start a fresh relationship with Havana.

    Senator Graig shook hands with Pedro Alvarez, chairman of CubaÍs food import agency, as Congressman Otter looks on during the signing ceremony in Habana. In recent years, increasing numbers of Americans have traveled to Cuba -- many defying the U.S. travel ban.

    MOSCOW SUBWAY CAR BLAST KILLS AT LEAST 39 PEOPLE

    President Vladimir Putin blamed Chechen militants for an explosion Friday in a Moscow subway car that killed at least 39 commuters during the morning rush hour. Putin called the attack ''a grave crime'' that was part of ''the plague of the 21st century.'' He also rejected any peace negotiations with rebels from the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

    ''Russia does not hold talks with terrorists,'' Putin said. ñRussia destroys them.'' More than 200 people were injured in the blast, which occurred just before 9 a.m. in the second car of a Green Line subway train. Some bodies were so shredded that identifications were proving difficult. Authorities think the explosion was caused by an 11-pound bomb that was left under a seat in a backpack or suitcase. No group immediately claimed responsibility, and officials at the scene were divided about whether it was the work of a suicide bomber. After the explosion, witnesses said, there was little panic in the smoke-filled tunnel deep below ground. About 700 passengers, their faces blackened by soot and bloodied by flying glass, walked about a quarter-mile in the dark to get out.

    U.S. JUDGE DELAYS RETURN OF THREE OF CUBAN BUICK RAFTERS

    A U.S. federal judge ordered on Friday that three of the 11 Cubans who tried to sail to Florida in a boat made from an old Buick car not be sent home at least until Monday afternoon. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno was responding to a motion filed in court by a Cuban American exile group seeking an injunction to stop the group from being repatriated.

    The Cubans, currently being held on a U.S. Coast Guard cutter at sea after being stopped by the Coast Guard in the Florida Straits on Tuesday as they tried to make the 90-mile (140-km) crossing from the communist island to Florida in their green 1959 Buick remodeled as a boat. Moreno's order applied only to a family of three -- Luis Grass, his wife and son -- and not to the other eight on board the Buick. In theory, that means those eight could be repatriated at any time.

    Moreno said he wanted time to know whether he had any jurisdiction in the case and asked for the plaintiffs to resubmit an amended case to the court. He set another hearing on the case for 3 p.m. on Monday. He said the government should not send Grass and his family back to Cuba until at least 5 p.m. that day, and added this was reasonable in that the government probably would not have sent them home by this time even without his order.

    PRESIDENT AZNAR SAID THAT CUBA REPRESENTS ONE OF THE LAST REMAINING ANOMALIES OF HISTORY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD

    Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, in an address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, said he continues to support the United States in Iraq, the war on terrorism and expanded trade with Latin America. ''In Iraq, terrorists are trying to prevent the Iraq people from taking their own destiny in hand,'' said Aznar, who supported the war over the strong opposition of a majority of Spaniards.

    Aznar called for a free trade zone between the U.S. and the European Union and urged closer bonds with Latin America. ''For me, Latin America is a key continent for my country,'' Aznar said. ñSpain is the world's second-biggest investor in that region behind the United States.''

    Aznar, referring to his family's roots in Cuba, told lawmakers, ñThis Caribbean island is one of the last remaining anomalies of history not just in the Americas, but anywhere in the entire world, and I would like to reiterate my desire and hope here today that before too long Cuba can be welcomed into the fold of free nations.''

    VENEZUELAN TROOPS ARRESTED CUBAN DOCTOR WHO TRIED TO FLEE TO COLOMBIA

    Venezuelan authorities have arrested a Cuban doctor who defected from a state-run health program and tried to flee to Colombia by forcing two reporters to drive him to the border, military officials said on Thursday. Authorities said troops had detained Ulises Bernal Perez, one of around 10,000 Cuban doctors sent to Venezuela as part of growing cooperation between leftist President Hugo Chavez and his ally Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

    "He abducted the journalists by tricking them and threatened to kill them. At first he said he was going to give them some news. ... Then along the way he said he was armed with a pistol," Gen. Vivian Duran told Reuters by telephone. Details of the case were confused. Bernal last week told local media he was seeking asylum after abandoning the "Barrio Adentro" health project.

    Soldiers nabbed Bernal after the reporters alerted authorities when they pulled into a service station. Duran said the doctor was being held in western Tachira state for making death threats and illegally detaining other people. But officials found only a pair of scissors in Bernal's bag. He was carrying a Cuban passport.

    CUBANS TRADE IN PICKUP FOR BUICK ON TRIP TO U.S.

    Two Cuban men, both of them desperate fathers and childhood friends, plotted to make a vintage vehicle seaworthy and took to the Florida Straits this week, relatives said. Tuesday, a floating automobile spotted chugging toward U.S. soil carried Marciel Basanta López and Luis Gras Rodríguez, relatives said -- two of the men whose ill-fated attempt to escape Cuba aboard a Chevy pickup in July garnered international headlines and a swift repatriation to the communist island. Seven months later, the men -- plus nine others, including their wives and children -- slipped once more from the shores of their homeland in hopes of freedom.

    Relatives said they knew the men were planning a second escape attempt. Basanta's wife, Mirlena, told relatives the family would be leaving this week -- but didn't say how. The six adults and five children left the island in a 1959 Buick around 8 p.m. Monday. ñThey've been waiting the past two weeks for good weather.''  ''Their houses have been searched by Cuban security. Marciel's driver's license was taken away from him,'' a neighbor said. ``They are desperate, desperate men.''

    The U.S. Coast Guard would not confirm the status of the floating car or the origin of photos broadcast Tuesday on television showing the vehicle chugging through the waves. According to a source familiar with Coast Guard communications, the tail-finned car -- its hood snugly wrapped in what appeared to be a boat prow -- was spotted northwest of Havana moving at about five or six knots per hour. When the Cubans realized they had been spotted, they climbed down from the rooftop, into the interior, and rolled the windows shut. By 6 p.m. Tuesday, the car was nearly halfway to Key West .

    MERCHANT MARINE CREW FRUSTRATED WITH DOWNSIZING OF CUBAN FLEET

    More than 100 merchant marine crewmen were brought together January 23 by the contracting agency Agemarca to notify them of downsizing decisions in the fleet that will idle more than 2,500. A veteran with more than 35 years of service said he had always fulfilled the duties the Revolution had requested of him, and that he had gone into the merchant marine when the Revolution asked him to do so in order to reinforce the service ideologically, and that now he was being asked to leave.

    He pointed out most of the people in the room were former Interior Ministry, Armed Forces or even Rebel Army, Castro's revolutionary fighters, and finished asking that "a little justice be done." Another crewman said it was now possible that they would be required to speak English as a condition for keeping their jobs, whereas previously speaking English had been forbidden aboard, and Russian was a requirement.

    A third crewman argued that it wasn't their fault there were no ships, since the Cuban fleet had once been the largest in the Caribbean. "We weren't the ones who sold the ships," he said. At another similar meeting a few days before, a stewardess asked why some workers were being told to take early retirement when Castro, who is now 77, is still leading the country.

    CHAVISTAS RECEIVE TRAINING IN CUBA TO HEAD ON THE REFERENDUM

    Up to 7,200 young followers of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez could be training in Cuba in preparation for an upcoming referendum Chávez may be facing as early as next April.

    According to a source in Cuba's educational system who asked to remain anonymous, the youths are receiving "political and ideological" training at four sites around the island. 1,200 are reportedly lodged in the school for social workers in Santa Clara, in central Cuba, and 2,000 each are in similar facilities in Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, and Havana. More are expected to follow this first group, said the source.

    Students at the nearby Provincial School of Art Instructors report that the Venezuelans are not allowed to mix with the locals, and only venture out of the facility in planned, escorted visits. Some of the students also expressed resentment at the Venezuelans' privileges, saying they receive better food and medical care and even have available digital audio visual equipment, whereas they have to rent such equipment when needed.

    RICIN FOUND IN THE OFFICE OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER BILL FRIST

    A white powder found in Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's office tested Tuesday as an ''active'' form of the deadly poison ricin, forcing cancellation of most Senate business in the second such scare from a lethal toxin to hit the capital. Between 40 and 50 Capitol employees were quarantined briefly and decontaminated, said Senate aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

    But officials have found no evidence that anyone was significantly exposed to the poison enough ''to make them sick,'' said Dr. John Eisold, the Capitol physician. However, he urged employees to be alert for symptoms over the next 48 to 72 hours. Frist said tests confirmed that the powder was ricin: ''It is active, how active we don't know,'' meaning that it could potentially sicken people. But he said he was confident that everyone who was at risk has been identified.

    The discovery forced the Senate to cancel much of its business Tuesday, although the chamber's leaders initially made a show of going forward. Senate office buildings where 6,200 people work were closed and the much of the Capitol Hill area were eerily quiet. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said it would be four or five days before the buildings would be reopened.  All three Senate office buildings were closed to permit inspection even though the powder found Monday was only in the Dirksen building.

    HAVANA SAYS PRESIDENT BUSH SEEKING REGIME CHANGE IN CUBA

    Cuba accused the U.S. government on Tuesday of preparing the ground for an invasion of the island and the assassination of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Recent attacks by President Bush administration officials on Castro for forging an axis with oil-producing Venezuela to destabilize Latin American countries are building a pretext for an invasion, the ruling Communist Party libel Granma said.

    They aim to "create a climate of artificial hysteria that would justify before American public opinion a military adventure against our homeland, including the physical elimination of compañero Fidel," Granma charged in a front-page editorial. The editorial responded to a Wall Street Journal article on Tuesday that said Castro had found in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez an "heir apparent" to his revolutionary mantle and the cause of derailing U.S. policies in Latin America.

    Granma also said U.S. free-market policies were to blame for turmoil in Latin America. "If Latin America is an unstable region today the reason is not be found in imaginary and macabre plans by Cuba and Venezuela, but in the real results of imperialist policy of imposing a perverse model of savage capitalism," Granma said.

    CUBAÍS OIL DEBT TO VENEZUELA TOPS $752 MILLION

    Over the past three years, Cuba has run up a massive debt of $752 million for oil shipped by Venezuela's state oil company, according to people close to the company and internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Though Venezuelan officials deny that Cuba is falling behind, people familiar with the debt say it is piling up and that the government has made little effort to collect. This makes the shipments a crucial subsidy that is helping keep the island's economy afloat as it struggles with the impact of endemic mismanagement, declining sugar sales and U.S. sanctions.

    Among other things, Cuba has 90 days to pay for the shipments, compared with no more than 30 days for the other clients of the state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, according to company documents. Unlike other PDVSA clients, Cuba wasn't required to obtain bank guarantees from a world-class bank. Instead, Cuba's National Bank provides a letter of credit. But Cuba quickly fell into arrears, fueling an internal clash in PDVSA between long-time professional employees and the new leaders Chávez brought in to run the oil giant.

    When Cuba asked to renegotiate its debt in November 2001, its short-term debt to PDVSA was $95.7 million. By August 2002, Cuba owed $144 million. By late last year, that figure had leapt to $520 million. Last month the figure was $752 million. The debt represents about 80 percent of the roughly $931 million owed to PDVSA by its clients. ''If Chávez loses in VenezuelaÍs referendum it would be total devastation to the Cuban economy,'' said an expert at Miami's Florida International University.

    CONGRESSMAN DIAZ-BALART WELCOMES SPANISH PRIME MINISTER TO THE U.S. CONGRESS

    Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) issued the following statement today regarding the visit of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar:

    "It is an honor to welcome Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar to the U.S. Congress; he is a great statesman whose leadership will be missed on the world stage. A man of great character and principle, he refused renomination to a third term as Prime Minister despite leading in the polls, because he had said he would only serve two terms. We will never forget Prime Minister Aznar's commitment to the protection and expansion of freedom, and his deep friendship with the United States."

    ONGOING REPRESSIVE CAMPAIGN IN EASTERN CUBA

    A repressive campaign unleashed by police in the mining community of Moa, in eastern Cuba, seems directed against the self-employed in the area. Several pedicab operators who don't have all the required permits to ply their trade were fined between 500 and 1,500 pesos. The operators say the government refuses to give them the permits and licenses even though they try to comply with all procedures and regulations.

    An independent journalistic was stopped on January 20 as he walked down the street with his 15-year-old son. Two officers searched the boy's backpack and asked for his ID papers. When the journalist asked for an explanation, one of the officers said: "We are the police and we have the right to stop and search any person, on the street or anywhere."

    GUANTANAMO BAY DRILL FOCUSES AL-QAIDAÍS ATTACK

    Firing heavy machine-guns and mortars, U.S. soldiers practiced repulsing a commando attack Saturday at the maximum-security prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.  While the possibility of terrorists trying to break out prisoners seems remote, it's crucial for the soldiers to be prepared, said Capt. Gregg Langevin. îThere have been reports that the al-Qaida are out there actively trying to buy small crafts,'' Langevin said, suggesting a stealthy approach from the coast.

    Some 650 men from more than 40 countries are detained at the remote camp in eastern Cuba, suspected of fighting for Osama bin Laden or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered his insurgents. Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of the detention mission, said guards warned detainees that they would hear blasts that were part of a training exercise. Tracer rounds glowed red against the Caribbean Sea as gunfire pattered the water and struck a floating metal target simulating a boat. Mortar shells exploded with thundering force, sending up puffs of smoke.

    Guantanamo is about 110 miles from Haiti, 150 miles from Jamaica and 230 miles from the U.S. coast around Miami. Other troops patrolled the rocky hills around the prison while some soldiers manned machine guns atop Humvees. Saturday's drills ended four days of exercises involving about 1,200 soldiers. Because escape from the base is an ñenormously remote'' possibility, that scenario isn't a training priority, Miller said.

    CASTRO: ñI WILL DIE FIGHTING WITH A RIFLE IN MY HANDî IF THE U.S. INVADES CUBA

    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro vowed on Friday to die fighting "with a rifle in my hand" if the United States invaded Cuba to overthrow his communist government. "I don't care how I die, but for sure, if they invade us, I will die fighting," the 77-year-old dictator said at a meeting of anti-free trade activists from across the hemisphere. "We don't want a conflict, but we will not give an inch on our principles," Castro said in a rambling five-and-a-half-hour speech.

    Castro has accused past U.S. administrations of seeking to assassinate him. Now, he called on the Bush administration to clarify to the world if its policy was on assassinating foreign leaders. "It's an absurd declaration, as usual. According to Fidel Castro, he's going to die fighting, probably he's going to die talking," said Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. The assassination of foreign leaders as U.S. policy was banned in 1976 by an executive order signed by then-President Gerald Ford.

   President Bush last year named a commission to speed up a post-Castro transition to democratic rule in Cuba, aggravating fears in Havana that Cuba could be the next on Bush's list for a regime change after Iraq. Castro said Cuba was prepared to resist invasion, with "hundreds of thousands" of soldiers ready to defend the island with guerrilla tactics he had used in the Sierra Maestra mountains to seize power in 1959. He said instructions have been given in the case he were to die in a surgical strike. "This nation will never surrender. ... We have taken all the measures. Everyone knows what to do," Castro said.