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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Cubans tell Rivero to consider leaving
Imprisoned Cuban dissident
writer Raúl Rivero was freed, joining
a few other jailed government opponents
who were released this week.
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 01, 2004.
Cuba's best-known dissident writer, Raúl
Rivero, who won international prizes for
both his poetry and his activism, was released
from prison Tuesday along with another government
critic, bringing the total of dissidents
freed this week to five.
But Cuban authorities gave Rivero a year
to consider leaving the island, his stepson
told The Herald. The alternative, apparently,
is a return to prison if he continues speaking
out against the communist government.
''They told him he didn't have to leave
the country now, that he had a year to think
about it,'' said stepson Miguel Sánchez,
who lives in Miami and spoke with Rivero
by phone. "His release does not convey
the liberation or democratization of Cuba,
but it is a relief for his family.''
Sánchez said the once heavy-set,
now much thinner 59-year-old Rivero, whose
health deteriorated significantly in prison,
was in good spirits Tuesday and even told
a couple of jokes despite his 20-month incarceration,
including 11 months in solitary confinement.
At his home in Havana, the white-haired
writer told foreign reporters that he had
no immediate plans. The Cuban media have
not mentioned any of the dissidents' releases.
''I've never wanted to leave Cuba,'' Rivero
said. "I think I'm going to step back
and observe, and see if I can do regular
journalism, like I was doing. If I can do
my work, I have no reason to leave.''
OPPOSITION PARTY
Also freed Tuesday was Osvaldo Alfonso
Valdes, a member of an illegal opposition
political party. Three other dissidents
were released Monday -- economics writer
Oscar Espinosa Chepe, physician Dr. Marcelo
López and activist Margarito Broche.
Rivero was among 75 dissidents jailed last
year on treason charges for allegedly working
with U.S. diplomats in Havana to undermine
the Cuban government. Most were sentenced
to long prison terms -- Rivero's sentence
was 20 years -- after mostly one-day trials.
Rivero has long been one of the most respected
dissidents on the island because he is one
of the few with professional journalism
experience and the author of a long list
of poetry books.
His journalism career began at the state-run
Prensa Latina news agency, where he rose
to Moscow correspondent. He broke with the
government in the late 1980s and later founded
CubaPress, an independent news agency. Three
years ago, he helped establish the first
association of independent journalists in
Cuba.
Rivero, who also is the regional vice chairman
for the Press Freedom Committee of the Miami-based
Inter-American Press Association, filed
regular reports from the island, bringing
worldwide attention on human rights abuses
in Cuba.
''We are extremely happy about his release
and will continue in our daily struggle
for the release of the other imprisoned
journalists and the ultimate return of a
free press in Cuba,'' press association
President Alejandro Miró Quesada
said in a phone interview from Lima.
Rivero has won numerous awards and earlier
this year received the prestigious World
Press Freedom prize from the U.N. Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization, or
UNESCO.
Even behind bars, Rivero wrote about love,
justice and the struggle for a free Cuba.
He said Tuesday that he hopes to publish
a book of poetry and memoirs about his confinement.
WIFE'S SUPPORT
While in jail, Rivero often told his wife
Blanca Reyes that he was prepared to remain
incarcerated ''as long as it takes.'' She
kept his struggle in the international spotlight.
''It still feels like it's all a dream,''
a beaming Reyes said in Havana. "The
only time I have been this happy is when
my son was born.''
In Miami, Rivero's release sparked joy
among Cuban exiles as well as cautions that
Cuba's communist system can still arbitrarily
jail, as well as free, any of its citizens.
''On a personal level, we're happy for
these political prisoners and their families,
but . . . this does not signal a change
in the situation that landed these activists
in prison,'' said Omar López, head
of the human rights section of the Cuban
American National Foundation.
Said one State Department official in Washington:
"For every one of the dissidents released,
we have reports they are arresting others
. . . They give with one hand but take from
the other.''
The release of Rivero and the others raised
expectations in Cuba that even more jailed
activists will be freed soon. They were
among a group of more than a dozen prisoners
transferred from provincial prisons to a
prison hospital in Havana over the weekend,
and more transfers are expected soon.
So far, Cuba has released a dozen of the
75 activists jailed last year. All were
suffering from poor health and allowed to
return home under a parole-like status.
The releases followed an announcement last
week that Cuba had resumed diplomatic contacts
with Spain, whose previous conservative
government had joined the European Union
in condemning last year's crackdown on dissent.
Cuba broke off contacts with EU diplomats
in Havana after they began inviting dissidents
to their embassy functions.
Spain's new Socialist prime minister, José
Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has advocated
resuming a dialogue with Cuba, and is expected
to push the issue when EU leaders meet in
Brussels next month.
Happy landing for 10 rafters
A group of Cuban migrants
came ashore on a Fort Lauderdale beach on
Tuesday. They were released after being
questioned by authorities.
By Jeannette Rivera-Lyles
And Wanda De Marzo. jrivera@herald.com.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 01, 2004.
Ten Cuban migrants who said they spent
10 days at sea in a makeshift inner tube
raft washed ashore Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale
in seemingly good health and, despite their
trip, cheerful enough to break out in song.
The oldest man in the group, who identified
himself as Román Eliezer Rodríguez,
65, serenaded the crowd of reporters and
photographers in the beach with a Mexican
ranchera song. The rest of the group cheered
him on and clapped.
''Hace un año que tuve una ilusión,
hace un año que se cumple en este
día,'' (I had a dream a year ago,
a dream that comes true today), sang Rodríguez,
while the rest of the men laughed.
''We are happy to have made it here, to
the land of liberty,'' said Rodríguez.
The U.S. Border Patrol took the men into
custody after they landed at around 6:30
a.m. on the beach in the 3400 block of Galt
Ocean Drive. They were taken to the U.S.
Border Patrol's Pembroke Pines station to
be questioned by that agency and Immigration
and Customs Enforcement officials.
They were released by midafternoon, said
Robert Montemayor, a spokesman for the Border
Patrol. He said they were all in good health
and had been debriefed.
One of the questions authorities ask immigrants
who arrive on rafts is whether they were
assisted by smugglers.
Montemayor would not say what the men told
officials.
''We are still determining that,'' he said
when asked about the possibility of smuggling.
At least six of the men gave their names
to reporters at the beach. They were: Rodríguez,
Odi Pérez Reyes, Eliezer Rodríguez,
32; brothers Vicente Miguel Reyna Modelo
and Vicente Pascual Reyna Modelo; and Hugo
Rodríguez, 29.
The other four rafters did not give their
names. Immigration authorities would not
identify them.
The rafters said bad weather and a rough
sea accounted for the long trip. Under optimum
conditions, it could take under three days
to navigate on a raft from Cuba to South
Florida, according to groups that work with
Cuban rafters. In a motorboat, it's just
six to eight hours.
''The sea was very rough,'' said Hugo Rodríguez.
"It turned the raft over. We were lucky
to get it back. Very lucky.''
The rafters said they rowed for three days
with homemade oars after the small outboard
Honda engine they had mounted to the raft
puttered out and died.
''We spent four days rowing day and night,''
said Vicente Pascual Reyna. "We split
in two groups and would take turns rowing
one hour at a time [for] each group.''
The 1996 Cuban Adjustment Act allows undocumented
Cuban migrants who have made it to land
to stay in the country and work. They can
be sent back, however, if they are intercepted
at sea. After a year and a day in the U.S.
the migrants are eligible for permanent
resident status, the first step toward citizenship.
The eldest Rodríguez summarized
the feelings of his fellow rafters at the
end of the dangerous journey.
''I'm not going to say that I was born
[again] today, because I'm old,'' he said.
"But these kids were born again today
when they arrived at this beach.''
Cuban dissident writer freed, joining
other jailed government opponents released
this week
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Nov. 30, 2004.
Prominent Cuban dissident writer Raúl
Rivero was released from prison Tuesday,
joining three other government critics freed
this week in an apparent move by Havana
to mend relations with the European Union.
Rivero was among 75 dissidents jailed last
year by Fidel Castro's government, which
accused them of working with U.S. diplomats
in Havana to undermine Cuba's communist
system. Three others were released Monday,
including Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Marcelo
López and Margarito Broche.
Like other dissidents, Rivero denied the
charges, which also were dismissed by the
United States. But in summary trials, most
of which lasted only a day, the dissidents
weresentenced to up to 28 years in prison.
''I don't have any plans for the future,''
Rivero, 59, told the Associated Press after
he arrived at his Havana home. "I'm
still confused.''
Rivero, who has won numerous awards for
his prose, has a history of poor health,
which worsened behind bars.
His release brings to 11 the number of
dissidents from the group of 75 who have
been allowed to return home since June for
medical reasons. All of the releases came
with a warning by authorities that the parole
could be rescinded at any time.
Castro's government has not issued any
statements on the releases. But the move
followed an announcement last week that
Cuba had resumed diplomatic contacts with
Spain, whose previous conservative government
had joined the European Union in condemning
the arrests. Cuba broke off contacts with
EU diplomats in Havana after they began
inviting dissidents to their embassy functions.
Spain's new Socialist government of Prime
Minister José Luis Rodríguez
Zapatero has advocated resuming a dialogue
with Castro's government and is expected
to take up the issue when EU leaders meet
in Brussels next month.
Cuba releases fourth, fifth dissidents
in two days
HAVANA, Dec. 1 (AFP) - Cuba's communist
regime set free two jailed dissidents including
poet and journalist Raul Rivero, one of
the most prominent critics of President
Fidel Castro.
The move follows the release of three other
political prisoners on Monday, all of whom
were among 75 dissidents jailed in March
and April for between seven and 28 years
in a crackdown by the Castro regime.
Rivero, 59, urged diplomatic engagement
of Castro's isolated regime.
"I would advise dialogue. I have always
believed in dialogue. It seems to me, as
a citizen, that dialogues are better than
pressure," Rivero, who had been serving
a 20-year jail term, told journalists in
his modest Havana flat.
Rivero was released along with Osvaldo
Alfonso Valdes, 40, who headed the Liberal
Democratic Party when he was arrested.
On Monday the Cuban regime released Oscar
Espinosa Chepe, 64, an economics writer
sentenced to 20 years; Marcelo Lopez, 39,
a member of the outlawed Cuban Commission
for Human Rights and National Reconciliation
(CCDHRN); and Margarito Broche, 44, head
of a group formed by would-be emmigrants
who were repatriated to Cuba.
The dissidents were freed following a meeting
Thursday between Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque and Spain's ambassador
to Cuba, Carlos Alonso Zaldivar.
The meeting marked the first official contact
between Cuba and the European Union since
June 2003, when EU officials imposed sanctions
protesting the crackdown and the executions
of three Cubans convicted of trying to hijack
a ferry to the United States.
"We believe that it (the release)
is linked to the attitude of the Spanish
government which advocates firmness on the
principles but urges the European Union
to adopt more effective tactics in its relations
with Havana," a Spanish government
spokesman said.
Rivero thanked Spain for its intervention,
although Castro's archenemy, the United
States, said the prisoners' release came
after international pressure and not Spain's
diplomacy.
"I can't describe this Cuban decision
as being the result of any specific nation
or upcoming meeting or anything like that,"
said US State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher.
Rivero, who appeared fit though he suffers
from several illnesses, said he hoped he
would be able to write and work as a journalist
in Cuba where all media are state controlled.
He told reporters he was a free man "without
rage, with a position that is constructive
rather than belligerent; I don't have hatreds,
or at least not great ones."
"I never wanted to be in any party
(but) I feel a bit like I should work on
behalf of those who are still in prison,
above all for the journalists," Rivero
added.
And he rejected the Cuban government's
charge that he is a "mercenary"
in the pay of the United States.
"I can respect and admire the United
States as a country, as a nation, a people
... but I never am going to want for Cuba
anything but a government that is Cuban
and authentic," said Rivero, who in
2003 was awarded a UNESCO freedom of speech
award for his activism.
Rivero was transferred to a prison hospital
in Havana from his prison in Canaletas,
450 kilometers (280 miles) east of the capital
prior to his release.
Considered one of the best poets of his
generation in Cuba, Rivero in recent years
turned to journalism to spotlight the lack
of civil rights on the island. Many of his
articles were published in the southern
US state of Florida, home to some 800,000
Cuban-Americans.
In 1995, he founded the independent news
agency Cuba Press, harshly criticizing Castro's
government. He had become disillusioned
with the direction taken by the revolution,
which he had defended for decades in poems
and news stories.
After the government crackdown, governments
and rights organizations prodded Castro
to free the dissidents.
Rivero's wife Blanca Reyes struggled during
his 20-month incarceration to keep him in
the public eye, highlighting the fragile
state of the poet's health.
Favalora leads clergy to Cuba
Regional religious leaders
joined in the celebration of the 200th anniversary
of Cuba's Archdiocese of Santiago.
By Fred Tasker. ftasker@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Nov. 30, 2004.
Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora led a
delegation of 12 religious leaders to Cuba
over the weekend to celebrate the 200th
anniversary of the Archdiocese of Santiago
-- a diocese Florida had been associated
with nearly 500 years ago.
In a Sunday ceremony at the Cathedral of
Santiago de Cuba attended by thousands,
Favalora said, "I found a church very,
very alive. Their hearts were full of fervor.
You could see it in the way they prayed.''
Favalora, however, also experienced the
religious and humanitarian restrictions
of the Cuban government. The group had taken
21 suitcases filled with donated rosaries
and such medicines as insulin, antibiotics,
vitamins and decongestants. They were stopped
at the airport by Cuban government agents.
''If we hadn't brought them back, the government
would have taken them,'' Favalora said.
"We couldn't permit that. We will try
to deliver them later, by different means.''
South Florida Catholics feel a strong spiritual
connection with the Archdiocese of Santiago,
Cuba, Favalora said: from 1518 to 1793,
Florida and Louisiana -- then Spanish possessions
-- were part of that archdiocese.
''When the church in Florida was founded
. . . in St. Augustine, it was subject to
the Santiago de Cuba Archdiocese,'' Favalora
said.
The church in Florida later came under
the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The Diocese
of Miami was founded in 1958, becoming an
archdiocese in 1968.
The church delegation -- which included
Favalora, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez of
San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monsignor Tomás
Marín of Our Lady of Guadeloupe in
Miami and nine others -- arrived in Santiago,
at Cuba's eastern tip, on Saturday. Favalora
said Mass at the Basilica de Nuestra Senora
de la Caridad del Cobre just outside the
city. He was joined by bishops from the
11 dioceses of Cuba.
''We prayed for the needs of the Cubans
of the island and of the diaspora,'' Favalora
said.
It was Favalora's fourth visit to Cuba.
One came in 1998 during the visit of Pope
John Paul II.
On Sunday, the 200th anniversary was celebrated
at the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba, with
Mass led by Archbishop Pedro Meurice Estíu
of Santiago. It was the close of a yearlong
celebration of the anniversary.
Favalora said the congregation filled the
pews, stood in the aisles, lined the balconies
and crowded the area around the cathedral.
''The church was filled by people of every
age,'' he said. "You might expect that,
40 years after the revolution, it might
not have many young people. But they were
there.
"It's a credit to the church in Cuba.
They've had a great deal of success. The
grace of God is abounding because of it.''
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