By Myriam Marquez The Salt lake Tribune-The Orlando Sentinel

    With the war in Iraq over and the road map to peace in the Middle East delivered, there's plenty of opportunity for America to gloat. It shouldn't. Not when our own hemisphere is in such turmoil. Where's the road map for the Americas?     As Secretary of State Colin Powell noted this past week at the Council of the Americas conference, Latin America's poverty, coupled with political setbacks, challenges the most ardent defender of democracy and capitalism in the region. "We told them that democracy would work," Powell told business leaders. "If we collectively do not deliver, then democracy has no meaning, the free-market system has no meaning."    With oil-rich Venezuela in the midst of a political and economic meltdown; Colombia's people terrorized by leftist narco-traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries; Central America still struggling with democracy; and Cuba suffering through its 44th year of a communist dictatorship, the region's challenges are immense.     Latin America was supposed to be George W. Bush's job numero uno. Bush was working with Mexico's Vicente Fox to create a massive Americas trade zone that would rival the European Union's and lift all boats, as the Republicans like to say. But the terrorist attacks on America forced a reshuffling of U.S. priorities.     Cuba remains at the epicenter of the political chaos, having recently killed by firing squad three hijackers of a ferry and imprisoned 78 dissidents, including dozens of independent journalists. In the face of such repression, even European communists and Latin American intellectuals have woken up to Cuba's reality, some calling for a trade embargo against the island unless the dissidents are set free. No one with half a brain is buying the Cuban regime's line that the dissidents are a made-in-USA plot to destroy the revolution.    Powell says the United States is retooling its policies toward Cuba. There's talk the U.S. embargo will once again be tightened. Great -- just what Castro intended, another hard-line U.S. policy he will manipulate.     Here's what Castro wouldn't expect: a tough, principled stand by Latin America and the European Union to put their money behind their human-rights rhetoric. They have argued for years that trading with Cuba would help open that society. Now that Castro has called their bluff and tightened the noose on his people, the only thing left that hasn't been tried is the big stick of economic sanctions.     Not because Tio Sam says so. But simply because it's the moral thing to do, the right thing to do, and, when all is said and done, the only road map that can lead Cuba's desperate people to freedom.

De: "Judicial Watch" info@judicialwatch.org Fecha: Jue, 8 de Mayo de 2003, 8:54 am Para: "Judicial Watch Infonet" infonet@lyris.corysecure.com

MCI SPOKESMAN SUPPORTS CASTRO: TERRORIST MURDERER WHO SYSTEMATICALLY VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS

MCI Should Fire Glover

Actor Danny Glover Signs Document Supporting Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro, Who Recently Executed Three Innocent Freedom Seekers And Has Sentenced 75 Intellectual Dissidents To Lengthy Prison Terms

(Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, is calling for a boycott of telecommunications giant MCI after its spokesman, actor Danny Glover, signed an offensive document titled, "To the Conscience of the World" which supports Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro and asks the United States to respect the island's sovereignty.

Glover's support for the dictator comes only weeks after Castro summarily executed--by firing squad--three men who unsuccessfully tried to flee the island prison on a ferry as well as the jailing of 75 passive dissidents, many of them independent journalists, simply for opposing the communist regime. Most of them are serving sentences in deplorable conditions that include dark, dirt cells infested with rats, no food and scarce water.

Castro has come under harsh international criticism, even from his traditional leftist supporters, for this latest wave of crimes against humanity yet Glover, often seen in prime-time MCI television commercials, continues to publicly support him. MCI's code of ethics handbook includes a hard-hitting message from Chairman and Executive Officer, Michael Capellas, which stresses "pride in company ethics" and a commitment to "do the right thing." Mr. Capellas also writes that, "our reputation is a critical asset." Glover's actions clearly contradict this.

"MCI must fire Glover. Any more than it should have a spokesman supporting Osama bin Laden, it can't have a spokesman supporting terrorist Castro," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. " Perhaps"

Mr. Glover should speak to Judicial Watch client Yordanis Montoya Isaac whose brother was summarily executed in front of a firing squad for trying to leave Cuba without giving his mother a chance to say goodbye. Or, he should chat with Judicial Watch client Isabel Roque whose frail 55-year-old sister is dying in a dark, rodent-infested cell because Fidel Castro won't allow her to receive medicine for her ailments.

washingtontimes.com Ernesto Betancourt

     During the week the war in Iraq ended, Fidel Castro sentenced 75 dissidents to a total of 1,454 years in prison for owning faxes and computers, writing unapproved reports, meeting with American diplomats and surfing the Internet.

     He finished the week executing three men for hijacking a motorboat in Havana harbor. It was no accident, or sheer coincidence. It was the culmination of a deliberately planned operation aimed at setting the stage for Mr. Castro's grand finale, his Goetterdaemmerung: a conflict with the U.S.

     Sen. Christopher Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, is disappointed once again by Mr. Castro's antics. In 1996, Sen. Dodd had bottled up a House-Senate conference final approval of the Helms-Burton Law. On Feb. 24 that year, Mr. Castro downed two American civilian planes of the organization Brothers to the Rescue, killing the four crewmen. Three of them were American citizens and Vietnam veterans. Mr. Dodd gave up his blocking of the legislation and the law was enacted. President Clinton signed it.

     Why did Mr. Castro ensure approval of Helms-Burton? For two reasons:      (1) That same day, the Cuban dissidents, under the banner of Concilio Cubano, had convoked an assembly of more than 300 organizations.      (2) And he needed to prolong the role of the U.S. as the enemy of his regime, so he could wrap himself in nationalism before Cubans, and anti-Americanism internationally.

     Afterward, the Elian Gonzalez crisis offered Mr. Castro a golden opportunity to isolate the Cuban-American community from mainstream America and reawaken the revolutionary appeal of his regime to younger Cubans. This while modest economic reforms, in particular legalization of dollar circulation, and development of tourism, attenuated the economic hardships resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union. But this also required a softening of repression, and the dissidence continued to grow, challenging his monopoly of power.

     Mr. Castro's high-ranking spy at the Pentagon, Ana Belen Montes, the top Cuban analyst at the Defense Information Agency, had managed to sell to the Southern Command and the CIA the idea of a succession by his younger brother Raul. This was advanced, and accepted under President Clinton, as the formula most likely to satisfy basic U.S. security needs in a post-Castro Cuba: no mass migration, no civil war requiring a U.S. intervention, and cooperation in drug interdiction. The fact that it ignored completely the interests and possible behavior of the Cuban people, seemed irrelevant to its advocates.

     Mr. Castro's wildest dreams of prolonging his regime beyond his departure from Earth all of a sudden became feasible with the cooperation of Gens. John Sheehan, Charles Wilhelm, Edward Atkeson and Barry McCaffrey. Pentagon policy institutes started promoting the rationale for such a solution, and all these retired generals started visiting Cuba and a Cuban military policy institute was even established to organize and facilitate such cooperative efforts. Mr. Castro's charisma overtook American generals as if they were Hollywood stars.

     But, three events changed the situation: George W. Bush was elected president, al Qaeda launched the September 11, 2001, attack and the United States shed the passive policy against the third-rate powers and terrorist organizations that emerged during the Cold War. Under the banner of fighting the axis of evil, the U.S. dismantled Taliban rule in Afghanistan, rejected Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization and now has crushed Saddam Hussein and Ba'ath Party rule in Iraq.

     Ana Belen Montes was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole. Russia withdrew its electronic monitoring base in Lourdes after a meeting between Mr. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

     Economically, tourism has lost its momentum, low sugar prices continue to make Cuba lose money with that crop, forcing the closing of half of the sugar mills and displacing more than 100,000 workers. Mr. Castro made a bold gamble of diverting $250 million from paying old debts to buy U.S. agricultural products for cash. The goal was to wet the appetite of farm states' congressional delegations to approve amendments allowing private financing of such purchases and allow American tourists to visit Cuba to earn several hundred million dollars. These amendments were blocked by President Bush's threat to veto the appropriations bill where they were inserted.

     Mr. Castro's ally Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, who is shipping oil to Cuba without payment, is now in serious trouble and may have his mandate revoked by the end of this year. The European Commission's moves to admit Cuba into the Cotonu Agreement, giving Cuba access to a $13.5 billion pool of financial assistance and preferred markets for certain exports, required an unattainable unanimity.

     Meanwhile the Varela Project, proposing a referendum on opening Cuban society, was sneaked into the Cuban legislature and obtained worldwide recognition by the Europeans granting to its promoter, Oswaldo Paya, the Sahjarov Prize. An assembly to promote civil society, gathering several hundred dissident organizations, was started by dissident economist Martha Beatriz Roque. More than 200 independent libraries distributed all classes of unapproved materials.

     In addition, the U.S. announced a policy of expanding support for the Cuban dissidents, which is implemented aggressively by the new head of the U.S. Interest Section. And, the firm and determined attitude of President Bush in ignoring the United Nations in the case of Iraq persuaded Mr. Castro that he faces a serious challenge to his political control inside Cuba, including evident disaffection within his repressive apparatus.

     The desertion of four members of the Coastal Patrol, who took their boat into Key West last month, must have infuriated Mr. Castro and scared him witless, since it revealed serious cracks in his repressive apparatus.

     The repression of the dissidents and the resort to firing squads indicates the desperation of Mr. Castro's predicament. It is the culmination of a response that started last year when, after Jimmy Carter's public appeal for support of the Varela Project, Mr. Castro convoked mass demonstrations in support of his one-party rule and forced through the legislature a constitutional reform making Marxism irrevocable.

     He decided to make a last stand. Economic success requires concessions that undermine his political control. No more reforms, no more concessions. Rule by fear and repression.

     The pathetic collapse of his friend Saddam Hussein may have convinced Mr. Castro his regime is also unlikely to survive this crisis. He realizes that many around him are willing to accept reforms such as the Varela Project. That is why he purged the legislature, with 60 percent of its 609 members not nominated for re-election.

     The possibility of provoking the U.S. to attack him by creating another immigration crisis — which he can claim is out of his hands to prevent — is an idea surfing within his head and occasionally leaking through his mouth. In an article in the Mexican daily Reforma, even a writer sympathetic to him, like Carlos Fuentes, expressed the suspicion that Mr. Castro may be preparing to go down in flames, causing the death of millions of Cubans.

     After all, in June 1958, he wrote to his secretary, Celia Sanchez, that "he felt his destiny was to end in a war against the United States." The time may have come.            •Ernesto Betancourt represented Fidel Castro in Washington during the insurrection against Fulgencio Batista, was the first director of Radio Marti and is the author of "Revolutionary Strategy: A Handbook for Practitioners."

Copyright © 2003 AP Online This story was published Thursday, May 1st, 2003 By ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro, addressing a May Day rally of hundreds of thousands of people, accused the United States on Thursday of trying to provoke a war with Cuba.

"In Miami and Washington they are now discussing where, how and when Cuba will be attacked," the Cuban president said in a speech at the annual celebrations in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution.

"On behalf of the one million people gathered here this May Day, I want to convey a message to the world and the American people: We do not want the blood of Cubans and Americans to be shed in a war."

Cheers erupted from the crowd as Castro, wearing his typical olive green uniform and cap, arrived for the ceremony and took his place alongside other communist leaders.

"Long live May Day! Long live socialism! Long live Fidel!" declared Pedro Ross, secretary-general of the Cuban Workers Confederation, as the event began a half-hour early because of concerns that it would rain.

Castro accused the United States of hypocrisy over recent hijackings of Cuban planes and boats, saying Americans were provoking and actively encouraging the hijackings, only to later denounce them.

As an example of America's "brazenly provocative" actions, Castro said Kevin Whitaker, chief of the State Department's Cuban bureau, warned Cuban diplomats in Washington on Sunday that the American government "considered the continued hijackings from Cuba a serious threat to the national security of the United States." There was no immediate response from the State Department.

On April 11, a firing squad executed three men convicted of terrorism for trying to commandeer a Cuban ferry full of passengers to United States.

Castro has said that the executions were a harsh measure needed to halt the hijackings of boats and planes and stem a brewing migration crisis. No one was hurt in the hijacking, one of a wave of at least four attempted and successful hijackings over the last few weeks.

The U.S. government - along with other governments and international human rights groups - has condemned the speed with which the trials and executions were carried out.

Cuba also has been criticized for sentencing 75 dissidents to prison terms of up to 28 years on charges of collaborating with U.S. diplomats to destabilize the socialist regime. It was the island's harshest crackdown on opponents in decades.

Among the crowd, one group hoisted an effigy of President Bush, fashioned of cardboard and plastic bags and bearing the message, "Bush: Don't mess with Cuba."

A scattering of Cuban flags waved above the crowd, along with the flags of nations from around the region, including Brazil, Venezuela, Canada and Uruguay.

"We workers are gathered here to tell the American empire that we are not afraid, in spite of their lies," 66-year-old gardener Jose Rego said shortly before the ceremony began.

More than 900 union leaders from around the world - including 160 from the United States - reportedly were participating in the Havana rally.

Addressing the May Day crowd, the Rev. Lucius Walker Jr., an American pastor who has long backed Castro's government, said that Cuba is "loved, respected, appreciated and supported by millions of U.S. citizens."

But he also called on Cuba to abolish the death penalty.

"Cuba: you are a world leader in human rights and respect for human life," said Walker, pastor of Salvation Baptist Church in Brooklyn and executive director of New York-based Pastors for Peace. "The death penalty demeans that. You are better than that."

Walker exhorted the U.S. government to "cease its hypocritical lies and distortion about Cuba's human rights record because the United States itself is the worst violator of human rights in this hemisphere."

Posted on Thu, May. 01, 2003 By ALEXANDRA OLSON Associated Press

HAVANA - Fidel Castro accused the United States of wanting to attack Cuba, speaking at a May Day celebration on Thursday that aimed to defend the island's socialist system against criticism from abroad.

"In Miami and Washington they are now discussing where, how and when Cuba will be attacked," the Cuban president told a crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered for the celebration in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution.

"I want to convey a message to the world and the American people: We do not want the blood of Cubans and Americans to be shed in a war," he said.

The crowd responded with cries of "Whatever it takes, Fidel!" while waving handheld Cuban flags. One group hoisted an effigy of President Bush that read, "Bush: Don't mess with Cuba."

Castro spoke for less than two hours - brief for the 76-year-old president. He said U.S. officials "provoke and encourage" attacks like the recent hijackings of Cuban planes and boats.

There was no immediate response from the U.S. State Department. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said recently that "there are no plans for military action against Cuba."

The gathering came two weeks after the firing-squad executions of three men convicted of terrorism for trying to hijack a Cuban ferry full of passengers to the United States. No one was hurt in the hijacking - one of at least four over a few weeks.

The Bush administration - along with other governments and international human rights groups - condemned the quick trial and execution of the men.

Castro said the executions were necessary to halt the hijackings and stem a growing migration crisis.

But he said he respected the opinions of Pope John Paul II and some of his longtime supporters, including the New York Rev. Lucius Walker Jr., who have asked him to abolish the death penalty. The Cuban leader said he would consider their arguments.

"Cuba, you are a world leader in human rights and respect for human life," Walker told the crowd earlier in the morning. "The death penalty demeans that."

Walker, pastor of Salvation Baptist Church in Brooklyn, and executive director of New York-based Pastors for Peace is among Cuba's best-known American supporters.

"The day will come when we can accede to the wishes for the abolition of this penalty so nobly expressed here by Reverend Lucius Walker," Castro said. "A wave of hijackings had been unleashed and was already in full development - it had to be stopped."

Cuba also faces stern criticism for sending 75 dissidents to prison on charges of collaborating with U.S. diplomats to destabilize the socialist regime. It was the island's harshest crackdown on opponents in decades, drawing condemnation even from leftist intellectuals traditionally sympathetic to Cuba.

Castro said he was disheartened with "those friends of Cuba" - such as Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes - who have "attacked Cuba unjustly."

He warned they would "suffer infinite sorrow" if Cuba were attacked and "they realized their declarations were shamelessly manipulated by the aggressors to justify a military attack."