EU delegation pressures Havana over rights record

[Freddie Stubbs]

A European delegation visited Cuba in a bid to further dialogue and to press for the release of political prisoners.

By VANESSA ARRINGTON

Associated Press


HAVANA - European Union Commissioner Louis Michel tackled the topic of Cuba's political prisoners in meetings with some of the island's top officials Friday, but no agreements were made yet about the activists' fate, he said.

The talks come at a hopeful yet cautious time as the EU and Cuba warm relations amid existing tensions over the prisoners and an upcoming United Nations vote on the island's human rights record.

''I think there is an acceptance on the Cuban side to discuss these very sensitive issues,'' Michel said after meeting with parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcón.

The EU has asked that Cuba release all political prisoners, and in particular 61 dissidents who remain behind bars after a roundup of 75 government opponents two years ago. The other 14 activists were later released on medical parole.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/11234449.htm

[Robbien]

1. The US funds these agents in their covert activities against Cuba

and when Cuba captures and jails them for their anti-Cuba activities, the International Human Rights Commission condemns Cuba. The same International Human Rights Commission of the UN mentioned nothing about the US and its practice of torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gitmo.

[Itsthetruth]

4. Cuba's Response

The Human Rights Commission
is discredited when the United States utilizes it against Cuba
• Affirms Cuban ambassador in Geneva • Responds to US representative with photos of the torture in Abu Ghraib

Granma International Edition
GENEVA, March 24, 2005

Cuba affirmed on Thursday that the UN Human Rights Commission (HRC) is discredited each time that the United States imposes an anti-Cuba resolution on it, as it is trying to do in this 61st session.

Senator Rudy Boschwitz, head of the US delegation, boasted of being a personal friend of President Bush and lauded the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, describing the military occupation of those nations as "democratic advances."

However, Juan Antonio Fernández, head of the island’s delegation, made use of the right to reply, during which he displayed to the plenary the well-known images of torture committed by Pentagon troops.

"How do they dare to come here to speak on human rights, democracy and freedom? These photos say it all," he exclaimed while holding the photos aloft for the auditorium to see. We at least expected silence from the United States. This is Guantánamo, this is Fallujah, we know what we are talking about," concluded the diplomat.

http://granmai.cubaweb.com/ingles/2005/marzo/vier25/14cdh-i.html

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. So, opposing Castro is anti-Cuba?

If we use that logic, every Democrat who opposes Bush is anti-American.

[Itsthetruth]

7. Most Cuban People Would Think That

The great majority of Cubans would believe that, except those Cubans who don't actually live in Cuba. Supporting Bush's right-wing campaign against Cuba is helping the right-wing in America. Very few Cubans in Cuba like George Bush and his policies. The right-wing terrorist in Miami love him.

However, you can disagree with Cuba's policies without being a right-winger. Just respond to the news articles and try to be open minded without using the standard "hate Castro" stuff. And keep in mind the decades long media campaign of disinformation, lies and distortions about the Cuban revolution.

[Robbien]

8. If that person is being paid by a foreign country for his subversive

activities, then yes that person should be jailed.

No other country pays me for my low opinion of the Bush Regime, but NED and USAID have funneled over a million a year to NGOs in Cuba for covert activities.

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. So asking for free elections and freedom of speech is subversive?

:shrug:

[Say_What]

12. LOL you mean US-style *free elections* and *free speech* ala Iraq

and the *democracies* the US created in LatAm via military dictatorships? A f*ck'n joke.

The USSA has lost any credibilty when it comes to human rights. Uncle Sam is in no position to criticize anyone. Particulary Cuba, where the sole aim for the past 40 years is a bottomless pit of $$$$ to overthrow the government that presents such a threat to the Corporate Government of the USSA.

Nobody buys that Miami propaganda anymore. :spank:

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Amnesty Internation has a lot of credibility on human rights

The events of March/April 2003 signalled a step backwards for Cuba in terms of respect for human rights. The authorities tried to justify the crackdown by citing provocation and aggression from the United States. Amnesty International declared the 75 convicted dissidents to be prisoners of conscience(1) and called for their immediate and unconditional release, since the conduct for which dissidents were prosecuted was non-violent and fell within the parameters of the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms as guaranteed under international standards.

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022005?open&of=ENG-CUB

[Say_What]

16. USSA has 600 foreign nationals detained indefinitely, torture, death...

sentences imposed and carried out, police brutality, and you want to point out 71 US-paid stooges *longing for freedom*?? Give us a break. But hey, the USSA did stop executing juvenille offenders--the LAST country on the planet to stop that barbaric practice.

<clips>

More than 600 foreign nationals were detained indefinitely without charge or trial or access to family members or legal counsel in the US naval base in Guantánamo, Cuba, on grounds of possible links with al-Qa’ida; others were held in undisclosed locations. There were allegations of torture or ill-treatment of detainees held at a US base in Afghanistan and of detainees held by US forces in Iraq following the US-led invasion and occupation. Three people were held incommunicado without charge or trial in the USA as “enemy combatants”. Death sentences continued to be imposed and carried out under federal and state law. There were reports of police brutality, deaths in custody and ill-treatment of prisoners.

http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/usa-summary-eng

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. So, you're dodging the question about free speech in Cuba?

Why is Castro so afraid of free speech?

[Say_What]

19. Why do you think your country wants you in the dark about everything?

The masquerade of *defender of freedom and democracy* has finally been exposed as the horseshit it always was and you criticize a tiny country who tries to defend itself?? You can rail all you want about Castro--that's what Gusanos do--but you can't deny the death and destruction the USSA visited on countless nations around the planet since 1945 in the name of *freedom and democracy*. :spank:

<clips>
THE FRIENDLY DICTATORS
Meet the Friendly Dictators - three dozen* of America's most embarrassing "friends", a cunning crew of tyrants and corrupt puppet-presidents who have been rewarded handsomely for their loyalty to U.S. interests.

Traditional Dictators seize control through force and often are self-styled "Generals." Constitutional Dictators hold office through voting fraud or severely restricted elections and are frequently mouthpieces for the military juntas which control the ballot boxes. Both types of dictators are covered here, along with a few tyrannical kings. but don't look for "enemy dictators" (communists and the like) in this set of cards. These are America's allies, strange and undemocratic as they may be.

Friendly Dictators often rise to power through bloody CIA-backed coups and rule by terror and torture. Their troops may receive training or advice from the CIA and other U.S. agencies. "Anti-communism" is their common battle cry and a common excuse for political repression. They are linked internationally through extreme right-wing groups such as the World Anti-Communist League (see card 17). Strong Nazi affiliations are typical - some have been known to dress in Nazi paraphemalia and quote from Mein Kampf, while others offer sanctuary for actual Nazi war criminals.

Friendly Dictators usually grow rich, while their countries' economies go down the drain. U.S. tax dollars and U.S. backed loans have made billionaires of some; others are international drug dealers who also collect CIA paychecks. Rarely are they called to account for their crimes.


http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Cards_Index.html

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. So you disagree with Amnesty International that these people should not be

thrown in jail for exercising thier human rights?

[Say_What]

23. WEAK... talking in circles will get you nowhere

try again

:nopity:

[Freddie Stubbs]

25. So you refuse to comment on Amnesty International's claims?

:shrug:

[Say_What]

28. You missed the comment...

Cuba's report is mild by comparison.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1343905&mesg_id=1347470&page=

[Judi Lynn]

32. Amnesty International also has Cuban "exile" members in its Miami chapter

who beyond any doubt shape and direct its official pronouncements.

Good lord.

Here's a fast grab from google I found in a jiffy. This "exile" is obviously going to be right-wing perpetually. Tell us her opinions won't color the group persuit of information on Cuba:

I started activity against Castro when I was 13 and still in Cuba," says Gladys Perez, 53, a banker and a volunteer for Amnesty International. When a communist militiaman came to Perez's Catholic school and shoved a nun out of the way, Perez fought back, jumping on his back and attacking him. "The officials then ordered the nuns to kick me out of school. Later I joined a secret group that would go out with crayons and write anti-government slogans on walls at night. It was dangerous. Finally, my parents sent me here to this country."

Perez later became a fire-breathing, anti-Castro activist, hooking up with the agenda-setting Cuban American National Foundation and other exile political organizations. "I demonstrated and picketed. I was very conservative and very intolerant to anyone who didn't think like me," she says. "I saw it from the inside. The people who run things in the exile movement are really a very small group."

Then, in 1997, after becoming disillusioned with the conservative hard-line, Perez decided to visit Cuba. "What I did there was meet with dissidents," she remembers, speaking of anti-Castro activists on the island. "They sounded much different than I did. They were fighting for democracy but were much more moderate. The foundation had always said that many of these people were Castro agents, but I could see that wasn't true. I understood that the effort they were making was the one that mattered most."

Perez told no one of her change in sympathies -- at least not at first. "I didn't come out of the closet immediately," she says. But she quietly began supporting the dissident cause, helping to raise money and later as a member of Amnesty International to try to draw international attention to the plight of people imprisoned in Cuba for their political beliefs.
(snip/...)

http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2000/04/07/movement/print.html

[Judi Lynn]

33. Did you ever see a more likely whopper?

People who follow the stories and claims arising from the Miami reactionaries will quickly learn a lot of stories get floated which cannot be verified which sound like something hatched by obsessed, congential liars.

This woman would have been 8 years old when the Cuban revolution occured. What are the chances any part of this yarn is true, other than the fact she ended up in Miami and is currently a proud member of the Miami chapter of Amnesty International?

:woohoo: :rofl:

[Judi Lynn]

30. It's considered subversion here, too.

Funny how our right-wing psychopaths insist laws apply only to their enemies, isn't it?

In a recent television interview in Miami, Cason said the help he
Gave dissidents was "moral and spiritual" in nature. But, according to the
testimony of several Cuban security agents who infiltrated the
Organizations that received U.S. support, the Interests Section became a
general headquarters and office space for dissidents. Some of them,
including Marta Beatriz Roque, had passes signed by Cason that allowed them
free access to the Interests Section where they could use computers,
telephones, and office machines.

The State Department calls these activities "outreach." However,
Under the United States Code, similar "outreach" by a foreign diplomat in
the United States could result in criminal prosecution and a 10-year prison
sentence for anyone "who agrees to operate within the United States subject
to the direction or control of a foreign government or official (Title 18,
section 951 of the United States Code).
(snip)

They are able to pass their baloney around for public consumption ONLY UNTIL enough Americans finally take the time to get up to speed on what has been happening personally. You can be sure our right-wing administrations aren't going to be interested in telling the truth about what they've been doing!

The Cuban government has always maintained that dissidents are
Created and funded by the U.S. government. Under that rationale, Cuban law
makes collaboration with U.S. policy, especially the 1996 Helms-Burton Act,
a criminal offense punishable with lengthy prison terms. In 1997, the
National Assembly passed the Reaffirmation of Cuban Dignity and Sovereignty
Law as an "antidote" for Helms-Burton, and in 1999, the Protection of Cuban
National Independence Law, which criminalized any act of cooperation with
U.S. policy toward Cuba. These laws are similar to U.S. laws governing
activities of unregistered agents of foreign governments.

Evidence supporting the Cuban claim that dissidents are mercenaries
of the United States is available on U.S. government Web sites. The Web site
of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) lists recipients of
U.S. funds to support dissidents, independent journalists, independent
librarians, and human rights organizations in Cuba.

For example, in 2000, USAID gave US$670,000 to three organizations to
support "the publication abroad of the work of independent journalists from
the island...and to distribute their writings within Cuba" (USAID report,
Evaluation of the USAID Cuba Program, 2001).

The State Department's 2003 review of the Cuba Program, set up to
Carry out the regime change directive in the Helms-Burton Act, notes that
the Cuba Dissidence Task Group "was created to support the activities of
dissident groups in Cuba," especially the Group of Four--the group led by
Marta Beatriz Roque. The task group received a US$250,000 grant in 1999.

US$280,000 went to the Cuba Free Press between 1998 and 2000, for
"giving voice to independent journalists and writers inside Cuba."
CubaNet, which operates out of Miami, posts the work of independent
journalists on its Web site. Florida International University, another
USAID grantee, works with CubaNet to translate articles written by dissident
journalists into English, French, and German.
CubaNet received US$343,000 up through 1997.
(snip/...)

http://www.blackpoolandfyldecsc.org.uk/archive/ar154.html

[hector459]

36. Havana should pressure EU over US rights violations.

If there is any justice on earth the US and Israel should be held accountable for their human rights violations.

[Itsthetruth]

2. Cuban News Article On The Meetings

Republic of Cuba
Saturday, 26 March 2005

Will to extend friendly relations between the European Union and Cuba
BY ELSON CONCEPCION—Granma daily staff writer—

Louis Michel, the EU development and humanitarian aid commissioner, yesterday advocated extending relations of friendship with Cuba and their prospects.

During a meeting with Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, the EU commissioner said that his presence on the island “is testimony to the EU’s will to deepen its relations with Cuba and once again open and instigate political dialogue in a way that we can implement a genuine process of political, economic and cultural cooperation.”

On Friday afternoon the European commissioner was received by Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, with whom he had an animated conversation.

Ricardo Alarcón affirmed that he very much appreciated the actions of the European commissioner and his efforts directed at facilitating those relations.

Louis Michel during his meetings with Felipe Pérez Roque and Ricardo Alarcón.

[Spazito]

3. Wow, very different take!

Thanks for posting this. These days, I think the Cuban take is probably more accurate especially as the other article is from Miami, not known to be very objective re Cuba, lol.

[Robbien]

5. Nice to see this in contrast to the NED funded MiamiHerald article

Ever since it was reported that the NED funds anti-Cuba reporters at the MiamiHerald, all stories in that paper are suspect.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Except that the article was written by the Associated Press not the Herald

[Say_What]

13. The AP is nothing but a RW propaganda machine, anybody with

1/2 a brain can determine that by the crap they float.

<clips>

Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged Television News

....Tracking precisely how a "good news" report on Afghanistan could have migrated to Memphis from the State Department is far from easy. The State Department typically distributes its segments via satellite to international news organizations like Reuters and Associated Press Television News, which in turn distribute them to the major United States networks, which then transmit them to local affiliates.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/031305Z.shtml

[Freddie Stubbs]

24. Is Amnesty International a RW propaganda machine?

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250022005?open&of=ENG-CUB

[Say_What]

29. SPIN, SPIN, SPIN---Infinite Loop Logic and Rhetoric

You are like a broken record. Is this the best you can do?? ROFL

:boring: :boring: :boring:

[robcon]

10. The embargo is not a right-wing policy against Cuba.

It's a Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon-Ford-Carter-Reagan-Bush I-Clinton-Bush II policy.

It's been a failed policy for decades, but the problem is that most Americans could care less about Cuba, while, for a strong political group, mostly in Florida, it is a life-and-death issue.

We need a statesman who can do the right thing. We haven't had one in the 45+ years since Castro took over Cuba.

[Say_What]

14. The embargo is most certainly a RW policy against Cuba

It's changed considerably since Kennedy both by REPUKE and DEMS to secure the vote from Miami.

<clips>

....1963...February 8. The Kennedy administration prohibits travel to Cuba and makes financial and commercial transactions with Cuba illegal for U.S. Citizens.

.... 1981....January. Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President, and institutes the most hostile policy against Cuba since the invasion at Bay of Pigs. Despite conciliatory signals from Cuba, the new U.S. administration announces a tightening of the embargo.

...October 15. U.S. Congress passes the Cuban Democracy Act, which prohibits foreign-based subsidiaries of U.S. companies from trading with Cuba, travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens, and family remittances to Cuba. The law allows private groups to deliver food and medicine to Cuba. (At this time, 70% of Cuba's trade with U.S. subsidiary companies was in food and medicine. Many claim the Cuban Democracy Act is in violation of international law and United Nations resolutions that food and medicine cannot be used as weapons in international conflicts.)

October 23. President Bush signs the Cuban Democracy Act into law. Congressman Torricelli says that it will bring down Castro "within weeks."

...1996....March 12. President Clinton signs the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act (also known as the Helms-Burton Act) which imposes penalties on foreign companies doing business in Cuba, permits U.S. citizens to sue foreign investors who make use of American-owned property seized by the Cuban government, and denies entry into the U.S. to such foreign investors.

http://www.cubatravelusa.com/history_of_cuban_embargo1.htm

<clips>

October 2004....Six months before an election in which the state of Florida may again play a decisive role, U.S. President George W Bush on Thursday announced new measures to tighten the 44-year-old US embargo on Cuba and hasten what he called "democratic change" on the Caribbean island.

http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=2493

Below CANF leader, now worm-food Jorge Mas Canosa, with Bush and Clinton.

[redqueen]

18. Thanks for the truth!

:thumbsup:

[robcon]

20. The most offensive part of the policy is Helms-Burton

Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Law.

The embargo, and its detestable violations of international law is not RW or LW. It has been the consistent policy of the U.S., no matter which party was in power - presidency or Congress - since the early 60's.

The idea that it is 'worse' during Republican administrations, is fiction, IMO.

[Freddie Stubbs]

22. Castro brought Helm-Burton onto himself

Shooting down two unarmed airplanes in international airspace played right into the hands of anti-Castro hardliners.

[Judi Lynn]

26. Cuba's protecting itself against warned aircraft entering its space

is tantamount to earning even more hardship for its people? You're counting on our ignorance of the facts, aren't you? That's how right-wing propaganda continues to linger on here. As soon as the travel ban is lifted (and Jimmy Carter DID ease it GREATLY, only to have Ronald Reagan replace it) you're going to see people laughing until they collapse at the size of the lie they've been living with all this time.

For DU'ers who don't know, the five Cuban prisoners (Cuban Five) who are in U.S. prisons now, under extreme conditions, (no clothes, cold floors, no blankets, no visitors, no communication, etc., etc.) went to Miami to learn what the Miami Cuban "exile" terrorists were planning to do to Cuba next, to be able to take necessary measure for self-protection, after the Miami Cuban "exile" community bombed a Cubana airliner IN FLIGHT, killing all 73 passengers, including the Cuban fencing team, and students from Guyana. This community has terrorized them since the 1960's, continually.

They infiltrated the Brothers to the Rescue organization, which flies over the water between Cuba and Florida, ostensibly "looking for refugees," to be able to assist them. Yeah, right.

To read more about how the Cuban "spies" got thrown in jail, and Clinton was maneuvered into signing the Helms-Burton agreement (which he had disapproved, before the shootdown) which brought even greater suffering to Cubans, and how the shootdown happened, please see the following, and do google searches until you feel you understand what happened:

The Cubans did not deny their activities. Their mission in the United States was to act as an early warning system for their homeland because over the years anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the US have carried out literally hundreds of terrorist actions against the island nation, including as recently as 1997 when they planted bombs in Havana hotels. One of the exile groups, Omega 7, headquartered in Union City, New Jersey, was characterized by the FBI in 1980 as "the most dangerous terrorist organization in the United States".{New York Times, 3 March 1980, p. 1}

Some exiles were subpoenaed to testify at the trial, which began in December 2000, and defense attorneys threw questions at them about their activities. One witness told of attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro and of setting Cuban buses and vans on fire. Based on their answers, federal prosecutors threatened to bring organized crime charges against any group whose members gave incriminating testimony and the Assistant US Attorney warned that if additional evidence emerged against members of Alpha 66, considered a paramilitary organization, the group would be prosecuted for a "long-standing pattern of attacks on the Cuban government."{EFE News Service, March 28, 2001}

There was one serious charge, which was levied eight months after the arrests against the alleged leader of the Cuban group, Gerardo Hernández: conspiring to commit murder, a reference to the February 24, 1996 shootdown by a Cuban warplane of two planes (of a total of three), which took the lives of four Miami-based civilian pilots, members of Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR). In actuality, the Cuban government may have done no more than any other government in the world would have done under the same circumstances. The planes were determined to be within Cuban airspace, of serious hostile intent, and Cuban authorities gave the pilots explicit warning: "You are taking a risk." Indeed, both Cuban and US authorities had for some time been giving BTTR -- which patrolled the sea between Florida and Cuba looking for refugees -- similar warnings about intruding into Cuban airspace.{ Associated Press, May 8, 2001} Jose Basulto, the head of BTTR, and the pilot of the plane that got away, testified at the trial that he had received warnings that Cuba would shoot down planes violating its airspace.{EFE News Service, March 28, 2001} In 1995, he had taken an NBC cameraman on a rooftop-level flight over downtown Havana and rained propaganda and religious medals on the streets below,{Carl Nagin, "Backfire", The New Yorker, January 26, 1998, p.32} the medals capable of injuring people they struck. Basulto -- a long-time CIA collaborator who once fired powerful cannonballs into a Cuban hotel filled with people{Jefferson Morley, "Shootdown", Washington Post Magazine, May 25, 1997, p.120} -- described one BTTR flight over Havana as "an act of civil disobedience".{EFE News Service, February 1, 2001} His organization's planes had gone into Cuban territory on nine occasions during the previous two years with the pilots being warned repeatedly by Cuba not to return, that they would be shot down if they persisted in carrying out "provocative" flights. A former US federal aviation investigator testified at the trial that in the 1996 incident the planes had ignored warnings and entered an area that was activated as a "danger area".{Ibid., March 1, 2001}

Also testifying was a retired US Air Force colonel and former regional commander of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), George Buchner. Citing National Security Agency transcripts of conversations between a Cuban battle commander on the ground and the Cuban MiG pilots in the air, he stated that the two planes were "well within Cuban airspace" and that a Cuban pilot "showed restraint" by breaking off his pursuit of the third plane as the chase headed toward international airspace.

"The trigger," said Buchner, "was when the first aircraft crossed the 12-mile territorial limit. That allowed the government of Cuba to exercise their sovereign right to protect its airspace." He stated, moreover, that the BTTR planes had given up their civilian status because they still carried the markings of the US Air Force and had been used to drop leaflets condemning the Cuban government.{Associated Press, March 21, 2001, Miami Herald, March 22, 2001}
(snip/...)

http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/92105

[Say_What]

27. BULLSHIT!! Jose Basulto--CIA operative violated Cuban air space

and set his pals up for the shoot-down. If Cuban planes were violating Washington airspace and dropping anti-US literature it wouldn't be long before they were shot down. The US had a number of warnings they were gonna shoot down the BTTR planes if they continued to violate Cuban airspace and that's what they did.

<clips>

Basulto was sent to Cuba in advance of the invasion to commit sabotage, but was not given a specific assignment. He escaped arrest after the bombings by climbing the wall at the Guantanamo Naval Base. Basulto has had an extensive career as an anti-Castro activist, participating in over three decades of Cold War against Cuba.

In 1991 Basulto was one of the founders of Brothers To The Rescue (BTTR), a search and rescue operation out of Florida with a 1.5 million dollar yearly budget. It was Basulto’s plane that violated Cuban air space three times on February 24, 1996. Cuban MiGs followed and shot down the other two planes in Basulto’s company over international waters.

http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/baypigs/whobop.htm

[Judi Lynn]

31. Apparently not every one in Miami bought Basulto's story

I heard that the family of one of the downed pilots has refused to have anything to do with Basulto after he was the one who initiated their raid, and the one who baited the air traffic people in Havana (on tape and transcript), and the one who returned.

Just found a site with some interesting commentary:

Letter from Dr. Benjamin Spock printed in the New York Times of March 6:
Several things have become clearer about the downing of the planes piloted by members of the Cuban exile group from Miami. Similar incursions of Cuban airspace evoked warnings from the Cuban Government, which called them provocative acts, but they continued.

The Clinton administration in effect justifies the incursions by accusing Cuba of being "violent" and "scornful of international law" (front page, Feb. 27). This brushes aside several aspects of the past relations between the two countries.

The United States embargo on Cuba, imposed 35 years ago, has hurt the children and adults of Cuba. It has been condemned by the United Nations General Assembly as contrary to international law. Medical and educational personnel who chose to stay in Cuba under the Castro Government have had extraordinary success in providing health care, free, for everyone and schooling for all children. The Government has built new housing. By contrast, other Latin American countries with which we have cordial relations have been military dictatorships that have made no such efforts.

President Clinton is supporting the provocation of the Cuban-American group in Miami, which will win votes in the election. We are in no position to call Cuba violent or scornful of law.

Benjamin Spock, M.D.
Camden, Maine
March 1, 1996
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the Pastors for Peace:

1. A SINGLE WELL-TIMED ACT OF PROVOCATION HAS PUT THE ISSUE OF CUBA RIGHT BACK INTO THE CENTER OF WASHINGTON POLITICAL DEBATE. In this new context, the Helms/Burton bill is being rushed to a vote in Congress. It is clear that the majority of the Senate considers the bill excessive, unenforceable, and an affront to both the U.S. business community and our international trading partners. But Congress will likely pass the bill anyway, given the current climate in Washington. The newly-strengthened version of the bill will make the U.S. blockade of Cuba even harder to lift. We pray that the bill will be defeated, and we urge all possible work to this end.
   
   
2. WE DO NOT CONSIDER BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE A "HUMANITARIAN" ORGANIZATION. It was founded in the office of the notorious Cuban American National Foundation. It is directed by an "ex"-CIA agent who was involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion and the contra war in Nicaragua. Along with Radio Marti propaganda, it helped to stimulate the exodus of thousands of rafters who risked (and often lost) their lives to leave Cuba.
   
   
3. THE FLYOVER ON FEBRUARY 24 WAS JUST ONE IN A SERIES OF 1700 MISSIONS OF VIOLATION OF CUBAN TERRITORY BY BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE. Their flights have been part of a tradition of hostile penetration of Cuban territory that goes back 33 years. In 1971, a Cessna flew over Havana scattering grenades that killed eight people. Cessnas from Miami have sprayed phosphorus on sugar fields; bombed sugar cane mills and tourist hotels; dropped off weapons, explosives, and infiltrators on Cuban territory; scattered leaflets urging people to rise up against their government; buzzed parks and residential neighborhoods to intimidate common citizens. All these attacks were carried out by mercenary Cessnas, not by military planes.
   
   
4. Every attack on Cuba since the Bay of Pigs has been made by so-called "civilian" vehicles. Cuba has submitted reports on 25 specific incursions from Florida into Cuban territory in the last 20 months. These have been reported through all appropriate diplomatic channels, to both the U.S. government and the International Civil Aeronautics Agency. The U.S. government has been well aware that planes from Florida have been violating U.S. aviation regulations and international law. But nothing has been done to stop or sanction the violators. The U.S. government has a responsibility not to harbor terrorists. But Brothers to the Rescue is still being allowed to operate from the U.S. -- even though it has broken national and international laws and regulations. Up until now, the Cubans have reacted to these repeated violations with restraint. The incursions have continued and increased. Cuba might well have assumed that the U.S. was tolerating an escalation of terrorism, since nothing was being done to stop it. The Brothers to the Rescue pilots chose to ignore repeated warnings -- not only that they were in Cuban airspace, but that they were flying over a restricted military zone. (Public records show that a military airport and a naval base are in the area. How many times would a foreign and hostile Cessna be allowed to fly over a U.S. military base?)
   
   
5. CONFUSING CAUSE AND EFFECT. According to international law, any nation whose territory is violated has the right to self-defense -- in the same way that an individual has the right to say no to a molester. We are not unconditionally defending Cuba's actions on 2/24, and we deeply regret the loss of lives. But we feel strongly that if Brothers to the Rescue had not violated international law on 2/24, pilots' lives would not have been lost. If there were no U.S. economic blockade of Cuba, then Saturday's events would never have happened. If relations between our two nations were normalized, there would be no pretext for fly-overs or other terrorist provocations. The U.S. is not at war with Cuba. U.S. citizens are not well served by letting our foreign policy be dictated by the special interests of a small number of self-interested provocateurs in Miami.
   
   
6. WE ARE CALLING ON CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS, AND ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL, TO JOIN US IN A VIGIL OF PRAYER, REFLECTION, AND FASTING DURING THIS LENTEN SEASON. We are praying for reason in Washington; we are asking our leaders not to be consumed by this new wave of vengeance. Matthew 17:21 says that there are some kinds of evil that only come out by prayer and fasting. We are deeply conscious of the suffering which has been inflicted on 11 million Cuban neighbors by our government's meanspirited policy.

http://www.cubasolidarity.net/planes2.html

[Say_What]

39. Basulto set the BTTR's up--everyone in Miami knew it... the Gusanos needed

those martyrs to continue on the anti-Castro hard line against the island. Gutierrez-Menoyo pointed this out in an interview with pbs at the time of the shootdown. Meanwhile, Basulto flat out lied and said they never provoked the Cubans. My a$$!!

You might remember from the CNN board someone used to post a transcript that proved the planes were in Cuban airspace. I tried to turn it up with no luck. I think it was also in the Miami Herald at the time.

Thanks for info--plenty to consider all in one post--unless of course readers buy the Calle Ocho Bullshit. :evilgrin:

<clips>

...BETTY ANN BOWSER: One of the leaders of the pro-dialogue movement, Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, concedes his side has suffered a setback. Once a political prisoner in Cuba now living in Miami with his family, Menoyo says Brothers to the Rescue was deliberately provocative with the Cuban government.

ELOY GUTIERREZ MENOYO, Cambio Cubano: (speaking through interpreter) They have done it with conscience. They needed those martyrs.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Martyrs?

ELOY GUTIERREZ MENOYO; (speaking through interpreter) Martyrs. They needed them because it has proven that they have put an obstacle towards all the talks that have been done or anything that Clinton was doing with Cuba and trying to talk through a peaceful solution.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Jose Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue, says he and his pilots have never tried to provoke Castro.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/cuba_3-4.html

[Judi Lynn]

41. Interesting to see that from Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo. Great.

By the way, it's hard to get enough Jorge Mas Canosa photos, isn't it?



Here's a new one which just floated up, from s-o-m-e-w-h-e-r-e!



Went to the Bay of Pigs invasion and NEVER got out of his boat, instead, turning around and going right back to Miami, while some of the "exiles" got whacked for their efforts, in that stupid invasion, and others rounded up and exchanged for food and medicine!

Became Miami's little demon "Godfather" and boasted that they owned Miami, while buying off God-knows how many politicians over the years through the Cuban American National Foundation, AND receiving money from N.E.D. (American hard-earned tax dollars). Sheesh....

Although I'm sure you know the story, it's good to have it here for public record!

SLAPPing Down the Debate Over Cuba
Right-Wing Exile Foundation in Florida Uses Defamation Suits
To Chill Criticism of Its Policies

By John S. Nichols
And Robert D. Richards

A panel of judges in Florida's Third District Court of Appeals is now considering the case of an outspoken retired diplomat who is seeking not only personal justice but also is fighting for a fundamental principle of democracy against an organization that seems bent on destroying free speech in the United States under the guise of establishing it in Cuba. While Smith vs. Cuban American National Foundation appears to be a routine defamation case in which Wayne S. Smith, former head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, is appealing a Miami jury's verdict against him, it actually is a complex web involving bare-knuckle Washington politics, an article in a national opinion magazine, and ultimately the First Amendment.

The combatants in the case are long-standing political adversaries in the contentious debate over U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba. In one corner is the Cuban American National Foundation, a tax-exempt foundation that represents the interests of the right wing of the Cuban exile community and is a strident opponent of the government of Fidel Castro. The late Jorge Mas Canosa, CANF's founder and chairman until his death from cancer earlier this year, was a veteran Castro hater who aspired to be the next president of Cuba. With the substantial financial backing from other wealthy exiled businessmen and a willingness to brand opponents as Communist sympathizers, Mas Canosa and his organization became feared and effective players in the corridors of power in Washington. The controversial Mas Canosa and other foundation leaders frequently appeared in the media or testified before congressional committees advocating tough measures against the Castro regime and have been extraordinarily successful in pushing both Republican and Democratic administrations to strengthen the U.S economic embargo on Cuba. Their goal, they contend, is to bring freedom and democracy to their homeland.
(snip)

That outspokenness is what got him in trouble, at least with Mas Canosa. in 1992 Smith was interviewed by filmmakers from the University of West Florida for a documentary titled "Campaign for Cuba," which aired on PBS that year. Smith's statements on that program formed the basis of CANF's lawsuit against him. In a 20-second sound bite, he summarized an article by John Spicer Nichols that appeared in The Nation in 1988. The article, titled "Cuba: The Congress; The Power of the Anti-Fidel Lobby," reported that the National Endowment for Democracy, a quasi-governmental institute that funnels U.S. tax dollars to projects intended to support democracy abroad, signed contracts with CANF from 1983-1988 awarding the foundation grants totalling $390,000 for the purpose of supporting a European organization also seeking to marshal opposition to the Castro government.


During that same period, the po-litical action committee associated- through interlocking directorships with CANF gave a nearly identical sum of contributions to political candidates. Among the candidates to receive a portion of this PAC money was then Congressman Dante Fascell, who introduced the legislation creating NED and later became a member of the NED board. As a board member, Fascell, whose congressional district in South Florida encompassed the headquarters for CANF and the homes of many of its leaders, voted for grants to CANF on at least three occasions.
(snip/...)

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/98-3NRfall98/Nichols_SLAPP.html

Funny, isn't it, that no one dared speak up against the violent anti-Castro Cuban "exiles" in Miami until AFTER the old #### had died, and national attention was finally focused on how nutty the right-wing "exile" whacko's were, and how powerful they thought they were?

[Judi Lynn]

38. The entire course of relations between the U.S. & Cuba would have changed

had Kennedy been allowed to finish his Presidency. Have you not read about the declassified papers concerning his wish to bring Cuba closer to the U.S.? Well, it's never too late.

You'd better refuse to read the link in this post if you want to keep using the same argument:

Kennedy Sought Dialogue with Cuba

INITIATIVE WITH CASTRO ABORTED BY ASSASSINATION,
DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS SHOW

Oval Office Tape Reveals Strategy to hold clandestine Meeting in Havana; Documents record role of ABC News correspondent Lisa Howard as secret intermediary in Rapprochement effort

Posted - November 24, 2003

Washington D.C. - On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the eve of the broadcast of a new documentary film on Kennedy and Castro, the National Security Archive today posted an audio tape of the President and his national security advisor, McGeorge Bundy, discussing the possibility of a secret meeting in Havana with Castro. The tape, dated only seventeen days before Kennedy was shot in Dallas, records a briefing from Bundy on Castro's invitation to a U.S. official at the United Nations, William Attwood, to come to Havana for secret talks on improving relations with Washington. The tape captures President Kennedy's approval if official U.S. involvement could be plausibly denied.

The possibility of a meeting in Havana evolved from a shift in the President's thinking on the possibility of what declassified White House records called "an accommodation with Castro" in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Proposals from Bundy's office in the spring of 1963 called for pursuing "the sweet approach…enticing Castro over to us," as a potentially more successful policy than CIA covert efforts to overthrow his regime. Top Secret White House memos record Kennedy's position that "we should start thinking along more flexible lines" and that "the president, himself, is very interested in ." Castro, too, appeared interested. In a May 1963 ABC News special on Cuba, Castro told correspondent Lisa Howard that he considered a rapprochement with Washington "possible if the United States government wishes it. In that case," he said, "we would be agreed to seek and find a basis" for improved relations.
(snip)

Among the key documents relevant to this history:

• Oval Office audio tape, November 5, 1963. The tape records a conversation between the President and McGeorge Bundy regarding Castro's invitation to William Attwood, a deputy to UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, to come to Cuba for secret talks. The President responds that Attwood should be taken off the U.S. payroll prior to such a meeting so that the White House can plausibly deny that any official talks have taken place if the meeting leaks to the press.
  
• White House memorandum, Top Secret, "Mr. Donovan's Trip to Cuba," March 4, 1963. This document records President Kennedy's interest in negotiations with Castro and his instructions to his staff to "start thinking along more flexible lines" on conditions for a dialogue with Cuba.
  
• White House memorandum, Top Secret, "Cuba -- Policy," April 11, 1963. A detailed options paper from Gordon Chase, the Latin America specialist on the National Security Council, to McGeorge Bundy recommending "looking seriously at the other side of the coin-quietly enticing Castro over to us."
  
• CIA briefing paper, Secret, "Interview of U.S. Newswoman with Fidel Castro Indicating Possible Interest in Rapprochement with the United States," May 1, 1963. A debriefing of Lisa Howard by CIA deputy director Richard Helms, regarding her ABC news interview with Castro and her opinion that he is "ready to discuss rapprochement." The document contains a notation, "Psaw," meaning President Kennedy read the report on Howard and Castro.
  
• U.S. UN Mission memorandum, Secret, Chronology of events leading up Castro invitation to receive a U.S. official for talks in Cuba, November 8, 22, 1963. This chronology was written by William Attwood and records the evolution of the initiative set in motion by Lisa Howard for a dialogue with Cuba. The document describes the party at Howard's Manhattan apartment on September 23, 1963, where Attwood met with Cuban UN Ambassador Carlos Lechuga to discuss the potential for formal talks to improve relations. In an addendum, Attwood adds information on communications, using the Howard home as a base, leading up to the day the President was shot in Dallas.
  White House memorandum, Secret, November 12, 1963. McGeorge Bundy reports to William Attwood on Kennedy's opinion of the viability of a secret meeting with Havana. The president prefers that the meeting take place in New York at the UN where it will be less likely to be leaked to the press.
  
• White House memorandum, Top Secret, "Approach to Castro," November 19, 1963. A memo from Gordon Chase to McGeorge Bundy updating him on the status of arrangements for a secret meeting with the Cubans.
  
• White House memorandum, Top Secret, "Cuba -- Item of Presidential Interest," November 25, 1963. A strategy memo from Gordon Chase to McGeorge Bundy assessing the problems and potential for pursuing the secret talks with Castro in the aftermath of Kennedy's assassination.
  
• Message from Fidel Castro to Lyndon Johnson, "Verbal Message given to Miss Lisa Howard of ABC News on February 12, 1964, in Havana, Cuba." A private message carried by Howard to the White House in which Castro states that he would like the talks started with Kennedy to continue: "I seriously hope (and I cannot stress this too strongly) that Cuba and the United States can eventually sit down in an atmosphere of good will and of mutual respect and negotiate our differences."
  
• United Nations memorandum, Top Secret, from Adlai Stevenson to President Johnson, June 16, 1964. Stevenson sends the "verbal message" given to Lisa Howard to Johnson with a cover memo briefing him on the dialogue started under Kennedy and suggesting consideration of resumption of talks "on a low enough level to avoid any possible embarrassment."
  
• White House memorandum, Top Secret, "Adlai Stevenson and Lisa Howard," July 7, 1964. Gordon Chase reports to Bundy on his concerns that Howard's role as an intermediary has now escalated through her contact with Stevenson at the United Nations and the fact that a message has been sent back through her to Castro from the White House. Chase recommends trying "to remove Lisa from direct participation in the business of passing messages," and using Cuban Ambassador to the UN, Carlos Lechuga, instead.
  (snip/...)

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB103/

[Judi Lynn]

34. EU development chief sees greater hope for dialogue with Cuba

EU development chief sees greater hope for dialogue with Cuba 27/03/2005

EU development chief Louis Michel wrapped up a brief visit to Cuba with greater optimism about renewing political dialogue, he said.
"My hope is greater now than it was before coming," Michel said Saturday when asked if President Fidel Castro's government had signalled a desire to improve ties with the European Union.
"Cuban authorities confirmed their willingness to reopen political dialogue on all topics without exception," including human rights, political prisoners, the state of prisons, and legislation, among others, he said.
The former Belgian foreign minister carried out a packed two-day official visit to Cuba during which he met with Castro, cabinet members, academics and dissidents.
A four-hour meeting with Castro was marked by "frankness," he said, adding: "We covered all topics in an open atmosphere."
(snip/...)

http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/050327132756.twm1sdpp

[Judi Lynn]

35. Here is more of the AP article your source,Miami Herald, didn't include

I'm sure it was just an oversight!

But a new chapter was opened earlier this year when European nations lifted the sanctions, partly in response to Cuba's release of 14 of the 75 political prisoners for medical reasons last year. The policy will be up for review this summer, but Michel made clear he hopes new sanctions will not be necessary.

"The sanctions lead to nothing, and I would like that all these discussions and debates lead to something," he told reporters.

Michel also met with several activists Saturday, as well as wives of the political prisoners. "The Cuban government in no way interfered with these meetings," Michel said, calling that a hopeful sign.
(snip)

Meanwhile, the lead member of a delegation of a dozen EU lawmakers also in Havana warned that new advances in Cuba-EU ties could be undermined by anti-Castro exiles and other enemies of Cuba.

"There are powerful sectors that will try to sabotage this process … among them the United States and its mercenaries," Miguel Angel Martinez said at a news conference Saturday, wrapping up a weeklong trip to the island.

Martinez, of Spain's ruling Socialist party, expressed sympathy for the Cuban government, saying it was discriminated against on many levels. But he also met with dissidents while here and said imprisoned activists did not constitute a security threat to Cuba and should thus "be back at home."
(snip)

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=616800&page=1

[Judi Lynn]

37. It's the same AP story. Look at the difference in headlines in Miami's

article, taken from the AP article:

EU delegation pressures Havana over rights record

and
ABC News International's article, in its entirety,not "cherry-picked" for a political effect:

EU: Castro Shares Interest in Closer Ties

[Say_What]

40. Excellent!!

Here it is again:

...Michel also met with several activists Saturday, as well as wives of the political prisoners. "The Cuban government in no way interfered with these meetings," Michel said, calling that a hopeful sign.
(snip)

Meanwhile, the lead member of a delegation of a dozen EU lawmakers also in Havana warned that new advances in Cuba-EU ties could be undermined by anti-Castro exiles and other enemies of Cuba.

"There are powerful sectors that will try to sabotage this process … among them the United States and its mercenaries," Miguel Angel Martinez said at a news conference Saturday, wrapping up a weeklong trip to the island.

Martinez, of Spain's ruling Socialist party, expressed sympathy for the Cuban government, saying it was discriminated against on many levels. But he also met with dissidents while here and said imprisoned activists did not constitute a security threat to Cuba and should thus "be back at home."
(snip)

[Judi Lynn]

42. Remarkable creativity there in Miami, wouldn't you say?

They get a totally different effect with THEIR identical AP story by simply throwing out everything that doesn't please them, and constructing a headline only a gusano ("worm" to Cuban Cubans, directed at "exiles" {for other DU'ers who don't know)) could love! Cool!

[Judi Lynn]

43. Why are Cuban American National Foundation officials going to Cuba?

Won't they be in danger?

Of course not, as bombers say they are the ones who hire them to bomb Cuba and Cubans and Cuban tourists.

CANF Promoting Its Travel To Meeting In Cuba

Mar 11, 2005 3:34 pm US/Eastern
MIAMI (AP) A prominent Cuban exile group is encouraging its directors to travel to Cuba to attend a meeting of dissidents and journalists in Havana in May.

The Cuban American National Foundation said it received an invitation from Cuban dissidents and intends to find a way to send representatives to the meeting without violating U.S. travel restrictions to the communist island.

It is the first time the exile group has encouraged its directors to go to Cuba. In the past, directors who wanted to travel to Cuba had to resign from the foundation on principle and for security reasons.

CANF's declaration came in response to a Feb. 25 invitation from dissidents planning the Assembly to Promote Civil Society on May 20.
(snip)

http://cbs4.com/newslocal/topstoriesmia_story_070153822.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 2, 2001
Connections of CANF’s treasurer

BY JANE FRANKLIN (Special for Granma International)

THE Cuban American National Foundation is well-represented on the GOP’s list of presidential electors from Florida by CANF’s treasurer, Feliciano M. Foyo, who happens to be a good friend of Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Foyo has another friend named Luis Posada Carriles, one of the most notorious terrorists among Cuban expatriates. In an autobiography published in Honduras in 1994, Posada names Feliciano Foyo as one of his financial backers. What does it mean to be one of Posada’s financiers?

Posada, along with three other well-known terrorists, was detained by Panamanian authorities November 17 for an alleged plan to assassinate President Fidel Castro while the Cuban leader addressed thousands of students at the University of Panama. If the plastic explosive discovered in Panama had been used, hundreds of people could have been killed or injured. But Posada does not seem bothered by "collateral damage."

Posada has previously aimed to kill Castro in several countries, including Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Peru. A sales representative for Firestone Tire and Rubber in Cuba, Posada started working for the CIA at least by 1960. Found out and forced to flee, for years he led raids carried out by Alpha 66, a terrorist organization that continues raids to this day–with impunity.

In June 1976, while George H. W. Bush (the elder) was head of the CIA, a CIA operative, Cuban expatriate Orlando Bosch, founded and led the Commanders of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU). Posada was one of those "commanders." As revealed later in FBI and CIA documents, CORU was soon involved in more than 50 bombings and, quite likely, political assassinations. Venezuelans and U.S. authorities reported that a network of terrorists carried out a "vast" number of attacks in seven countries against Cuba and against countries and individuals considered friendly to Cuba. This reign of terror culminated in October 1976 when a Cubana passenger plane was blown up after it took off from Barbados headed for Cuba, killing all 73 people aboard, including 57 Cubans.
(snip/...)

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JBFranklins/granma.htm



Young and old bomber/mass murderer, CANF employee Luis Posada Carriles.

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/posada.htm

[Judi Lynn]

44. Cuban immigrants find themselves stuck after being denied benefits

Posted on Tue, Mar. 29, 2005

Cuban immigrants find themselves stuck after being denied benefits

BY OSCAR CORRAL

Knight Ridder Newspapers


MIAMI - (KRT) - A little-noticed change in federal benefit rules has kept scores of older Cuban immigrants from collecting disability checks that are considered one of America's last-ditch social safety nets, according to a pair of public service lawyers. People like Barbara Diaz, who arrived from Cuba five years ago, are left with little or no income, say the lawyers who are trying to address the situation.

"I don't regret coming to this country because it's the best in the world," said Diaz, 71. "But I thought I would have this help, and I don't."

Diaz was counting on receiving Supplemental Security Income, or SSI - monthly benefits of up to $570 paid to disabled or older people whose incomes are low enough to qualify for the checks. But she and others have been denied the help because of an obscure change in policy made in 2001 by the Social Security Administration, which oversees SSI.

The agency ruled that it would provide SSI benefits to Cuban immigrants only if they arrived via the dry-foot policy, which basically means they fled successfully to the United States without a visa and often by rafts or go-fast boats. Cubans who, like Diaz, arrived on tourist visas but then overstayed them were denied.
(snip/...)

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11257097.htm
(Free registration is required)