PRESS RELEASE #10 THE HEAD OF VILLA MARISTA PRISON IS SPOTTED
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Thursday, May 19, 2005
PRESS RELEASE #10
THE HEAD OF VILLA MARISTA PRISON IS SPOTTED
NEAR THE SITE OF THE GENERAL MEETING OF MAY 20th
Miami, Florida - Information Center - It is reported via telephone from
Havana, Cuba by the Executive Committee of the Assembly to Promote Civil
Society that Coco Fariña, the Delegate to the Assembly from Villa Clara and
former prison mate of Marta Beatriz Roque, while she was hospitalized at
Carlos J. Finlay Military Hospital, spotted the head of the Prison of Villa
Marista - the infamous official Rabeiro- who spent of Wednesday afternoon
around the location where the General Meeting will take place on Friday,
May 20th.
The Executive Committee further informs that as of last night 65 delegates
from throughout the island have arrived in Havana to participate in the
General Meeting and that numerous foreign news agencies that had requested
credentials to cover the meeting have also arrived in Cuba.
Norberto Dolta Sanchez, President of the Liberal Progressive Party and
current political prisoner has requested that his wife attend the General
Meeting of the Assembly on his behalf.
Juan Ochoa of the Liberty Movement received yesterday a notice from the
Castro regime scheduling him to report to the precinct of Párraga. Mr. Ochoa
has refused to comply with the notice.
The Executive Committee concluded the update by stating that the harassment
by Castro's officials continue in an effort to intimidate the delegates and
participants so that they not attend tomorrow's General Meeting.
CONTACT: 786-552-7579
**********************************************
PARA SU INMEDIATA PUBLICACION
Jueves, Mayo 19, 2005
COMUNICADO DE PRENSA # 10
JEFE DE VILLA MARISTA VISTO POR EL SITIO DE LA REUNIÓN GENERAL DEL 20 DE
MAYO
Centro de Apoyo e Información, Miami, Florida, 19 de mayo de 2005, Parte de
las 12 del mediodía - Nos reporta el Grupo Ejecutivo de la Asamblea vía
telefónica que Coco Farina, Delegado de Villa Clara a la Asamblea para
Promover la Sociedad Civil en Cuba y companero de presidio de Martha Beatriz
Roque en el Hospital Militar Carlos J. Finlay, se percató que el Jefe de
Villa Marista - el connotado oficial Rabeiro - se pasó la tarde de ayer
merodeando por el sitio donde se llevará a cabo la Reunión General del 20 de
mayo.
Reporta el Grupo Ejecutivo que desde anoche habían ya 65 delegados del
interior de la República en La Habana para participar en la Reunión General,
y que ya se encuentran allí numerosos medios de prensa extranjeros, muchos
de los cuales han solicitado credenciales para participar en la Asamblea.
El prisionero político René Montes de Oca, supuesto a ser excarcelado en el
día de hoy, llamó desde prisión para denunciar que las autoridades van a
demorar su salida para impedir su participación en la Asamblea, debido a la
convulsión política en que se encuentra el país.
Norberto Dolta Sánchez, Presidente del Partido Liberal Progresista,
prisionero político cubano, a quién también se le niega su excarcelación, ha
pedido que su esposa ocupe su lugar en la Reunión General.
Juan Ochoa, del Movimiento Libertad, recibió una citación ayer para que se
presente en el precinto de Párraga, lo cual se ha negado a hacer.
El Grupo Ejecutivo reporta que continúa el hostigamiento por parte de las
autoridades castristas que intentan intimidar a los delegados y
participantes de la Reunión General a que no asistan a la misma.
CONTACTO: (786)-552-7579
**************************************************************************
Apoyemos todos unidos a la Asamblea para Promover la Sociedad Civil en Cuba
la cual tendrá lugar el próximo 20 de mayo de 2005 en la Habana, Cuba. Desde
cualquier rincón del mundo hagamos patente nuestra solidaridad y ayúdenos a
divulgar su Sitio en Internet: www.asambleasociedadcivilcuba.info
¡HAGAMOS HISTORIA, CUBANOS!
NetforCuba International
http://www.netforcuba.org/
From: LouP...@NetforCuba.org
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Distributed by
Chachi Novellas-Bengochea
Delray Beach, Florida U.S.A.
FOR FREEDOM &JUSTICE GROUP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ForFreedomandJustice/
"...one nation UNDER GOD" "IN GOD WE TRUST"
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Cuban civil society
By Nat Hentoff
Published May 16, 2005
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20050515-094255-7377r.htm
Despite Fidel Castro's prisons holding ever more dissenters in
foulconditions, courageous Cubans will be in Havana on May 20 for a general
meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba, a force for
democracy encompassing 365 independent groups. Its members are still free in
mind and spirit, and aware they too may wind up behind bars for coming.
Among the delegates to that May 20 meeting are two librarians from
eastern Cuba, Elio Enrique Chavez and Luis Elio de la Paz. They cannot
attend, however, because in a secret trial they were sentenced to prison on
a charge of "dangerousness" (peligrosidad). Mr. Castro does indeed see the
attendees to this assembly, as well as other resisters across the country,
as a danger to his brutal regime.
In a statement on the librarians' imprisonment, the executive committee
of the Civil Assembly reports to the world: "This case demonstrates that
Fidel Castro and his regime are employing all their resources and methods to
frustrate the preparations and ultimately prevent the General Meeting of the
Assembly to Promote the Civil Society in Cuba on May 20th.
"We are calling the attention of the international organizations and
community in general to the risks facing the participants of the Assembly."
As is his practice, Mr. Castro has undoubtedly inserted spies among the
planners of, and delegates to, the assembly, with the obvious intentions of
limiting the attendance and spurring the fear of resistance throughout the
country.
Mr. Castro still fears hostile international reaction, especially from
the European Union, to the savagery of his dictatorship. In the May 6 Wall
Street Journal, Mary Anastasia O'Grady, a ceaseless recorder of Mr. Castro's
cruelties, quotes an example of that savagery as reported in the March 30
Toronto Globe and Mail by Marcus Gee: "Amnesty (International) says prison
guards beat one handcuffed dissident by stomping on his throat till he lost
consciousness."
But Mr. Castro's continuing sensitivity to international disapproval of
his thuggery has been revealed in a letter smuggled out of their prison by
Messrs. Chavez and de la Paz. As reported on the Web site
www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org: "The police told the defendants that their
prison terms would be publicized as a government work/study program rather
than a form of punishment." According to the prisoners, the colonel said "it
would be made known that we are not prisoners, that [their detainment]was fo
ra work/study program of the Revolution; we told him we did not agree,that
we weren't going to work or study but that they were sentencing us for our
political position.... We're going to serve our sentence behind bars."
Their refusal to be broken by Castro is also exemplified by others in
the dictator's gulag, and by those who, as of this writing, will be facing
his police, overt and secret, on May 20. Oswaldo Paya, whose Varela Project
got more than 10,000 brave Cubans to sign his petition for democracy, told
the Associated Press in March: "When Cubans are capable of saying that,
beyond our fear, we want change, that hits the nucleus of power." What also
can cause Mr. Castro more fear is if the international media covers the May
20 Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba. Though time is short, surely
the resourceful executives at American television and cable networks can try
to get their cameras into Havana by that fateful day.
It would also be a great impetus to the further dissipation of what Mr.
Paya calls "the culture of fear" in Cuba if the world can see on television
what Miss O'Grady describes in the Wall Street Journal: "For more than two
years now, Fidel Castro has faced a frightening scene in Havana every
Sunday. Some 30 women dressed all in white meet at St. Rita's church; when
Mass is over they form a silent procession and walk 10 blocks to a nearby
park. This is the kind of stuff that keeps dictators up at night.
"They are the Ladies in White, wives of prisoners of conscience doing
time in Castro's gulags. The ladies are appealing for the release of all
political prisoners, in the name of justice and humanity. Their pleas go
unheeded. But that doesn't mean that their act of defiance hasn't been
effective. Indeed, sources say that similar groups of women decked out in
white have begun forming processions in other cities around the country."
What a wonderful, liberating final chorus it would be for Ted Koppel's
"Nightline" (soon to be banished by ABC in an act of non-public service) to
be in Havana on May 20, with Koppel on site reporting live on the assembly,
or the assault on it by Mr. Castro's hoodlums.
Maybe some of the American entertainment and literary elite, who have
basked in Fidel's glowing presence, will also be there to provide the
maximum leader with their amoral support.
Copyright © 2005 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
FAR_FAR
Caracas, viernes 20 de mayo, 2005
Nacional y Política
Capturan nueve guerrilleros en zona limítrofe
San Cristóbal. El Teatro de Operaciones Número 2 (TO2) con sede
en La Fría, anunció la detención de nueve presuntos guerrilleros que
integraban la columna de irregulares que el pasado martes atacó a una
patrulla militar venezolana, causando la muerte de un soldado e hiriendo a
otro, en las cercanías de San Vicente de la Revancha, en el Municipio Junín
del Estado Táchira.
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Cacerolazo discreto en el Este
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Venezuela exige más seguridad fronteriza
Después de lamentar la muerte del soldado venezolano durante el
enfrentamiento que se registró en la frontera del Estado Táchira, entre los
efectivos de la 21 Brigada de Infantería y un grupo de irregulares, el
vicepresidente ejecutivo, José Vicente Rangel, pidió nuevamente a las
autoridades colombianas mayor vigilancia en la zona.
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Inadmisible amparo incoado por chavismo contra CNE
Con ponencia de la magistrada Luisa Estella Morales Lamuo, la
Sala Constitucional del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ), declaró
inadmisible un recurso de amparo constitucional incoado contra el Consejo
Nacional Electoral (CNE), por haber fijado fecha tope para las inscripciones
a los aspirantes a juntas parroquiales y concejos municipales, las cuales se
realizarán el próximo 7 de agosto.
ver más información
Orlando Fernández señala que en Venezuela su vida corre peligro
"Yo no me voy a quedar en Estados Unidos, voy a regresar a
Venezuela después de solicitar ante los organismos internacionales el
resguardo para mi vida", declaró el miércoles desde la ciudad de Miami,
Orlando Fernández Medina, quien acusa directamente al presidente Hugo Chávez
Frías de haber ordenado su encarcelación, así como al abogado Gastón
Saldivia de tener un plan de asesinato en su contra.
ver más información
900 afectados por lluvias en Zulia
Maracaibo. Unas 500 personas resultaron afectadas por las
intensas y continuas lluvias registradas durante el día de ayer en el
Municipio Baralt, elevando la cifra de perjudicados en el Estado Zulia por
esta causa a más de 900.
ver más información
Aznar cuestiona nexo Caracas-La Habana
Río de Janeiro. El presidente de la Internacional Demócrata de
Centro (IDC) y ex jefe del Gobierno español, José María Aznar, criticó en
Brasil la relación entre el mandatario de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, y su par
cubano, Fidel Castro, y la calificó de "negativa para Iberoamérica", dijo
AFP.
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Oficialismo firmó pacto de no agresión
Un total de 16 organizaciones políticas firmaron un acuerdo para
ratificar la unidad del chavismo, no agredirse en la coyuntura electoral que
se avecina y retomar la praxis de los comandos Maisanta, que influyó en el
triunfo de los partidos del Bloque del Cambio en los comicios regionales de
agosto pasado.
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"Todos los planes de emergencia han fracasado"
El presidente de la Comisión Judicial e integrante de la Sala
Constitucional del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ), Luis Velásquez
Alvaray, afirmó que "todos los planes de emergencia han fracasado",
coincidiendo así con los diputados de oposición que denunciaron en sus
intervenciones la crisis del Poder Judicial y las malogradas intervenciones
acometidas desde 1999, cuando la Asamblea Constituyente designó a Manuel
Quijada.
ver más información
Centre Ernesto Che Guevara
FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION
Hoy habràn 100.000 revolucionarios frente a oficina de intereses imperiales
y también (creo) que habràn 200 come basuras mercenarios tratando de hacer
algo para que les envìen dinero. Este mes se han movilizado 7 millones en
toda Cuba (mas de un millon en la Plaza de la revolucion) de hombres y
mujeres para festejar el dia de los travajadores, por supuesto los
mercenarios no fueron, pero no importa, no se nota en absoluto. 1 millon
doscientas mil personas para la marcha antiterrorista, y hoy habràn unas
100.000 frente a la tribuna antiimperialista.
Y usted quiere hablarnos de 200 mercenarios ?, vàyase p'al carajo, ese
gentuza tendrà la respuesta que se merece.
www.centre-ernesto-che-guevara.org
Centre Ernesto Che Guevara
PM
By Marc Frank
2 hours, 55 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050521/ts_nm/cuba_dissidents_d
c_2
An unprecedented meeting of dissidents seeking political change in Communist
Cuba wrapped up on Saturday with the election of a panel to direct the
group.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro's government made no effort to stop the two-day
event, but it did deport politicians and other observers from Europe who had
arrived on tourist visas to attend the meeting.
Similar attempts by dissidents over the years to bring together the dozens
of tiny and illegal organizations spread around the Caribbean island had
been met with repression during the planning stages with the arrest of
leaders.
Chants of "freedom" and "democracy now" rang out from the fruit-tree shaded
backyard of a home on the outskirts of Havana where more than 100 delegates
gathered to vote for a 36-member steering committee from a list of 75
candidates. The committee will then elect officers to lead the group, the
Assembly to Promote Civil Society.
Neighbors appeared to pay little attention as they went about their chores
and chatted on street corners.
"This is what we are all about, true democracy, and what we seek for our
country," Martha Beatriz Roque, lead organizer of the event, said as 105
registered delegates lined up for a snack and to collect their ballots
around noon.
Roque, an economist who has spent four of the last eight years in jail, was
expected to be elected by the new steering committee later on Saturday to
lead the organization that unites dozens of small dissident groups across
Cuba.
A handful of American and European diplomats attended the meeting, but
politicians and other observers who came from Europe for the event on
tourist visas were detained by police and ejected from Cuba, as was an
Italian reporter and five members of the Polish press.
"We find these expulsions very disturbing," one of two European diplomats
observing the meeting on Saturday said, "though it is obviously very
positive this event happened."
ONE STEP FORWARD ...
Italy and Spain summoned the Cuban ambassadors in Rome and Madrid to explain
the expulsions, which could hurt Havana's ties with the European Union that
are already complicated by human rights concerns.
"This is not acceptable ... As such incidents occur even the best friends of
Cuba would find it difficult to maintain their position," Amadeu Tardio,
spokesman of the executive European Commission, told a news conference on
Friday.
The EU must decide next month whether to continue its policy of seeking
political dialogue with Castro or reimpose diplomatic sanctions against
Cuba, which has ignored EU calls for the release of 61 jailed dissidents
arrested in 2003.
The EU dropped diplomatic sanctions in January at the request of Spain's
Socialist government.
President Bush praised the dissidents for their courage in coming out of the
"shadow of repression" in a video message played to the meeting on Friday
from a laptop computer.
Bush said his administration, which last year stepped up restrictions on
travel and cash remittances to Cuba, will keep working to hasten political
change on the island.
"We will not rest. We will keep the pressure on until the Cuban people enjoy
the same freedom in Havana that they have in America," he said.
Cuba's small dissident movement, which is recovering from a crackdown in
March 2003, remains badly divided and silenced by censorship in the island's
state-run media.
Several opposition groups stayed away from the meeting because they disagree
with Roque's close ties with right-wing exiles in Miami and the public
support the United States gave to organizing the meeting.
PM
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
Knight Ridder Newspapers
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11712852.htm
MIAMI - (KRT) - A resolution adopted by Cuban dissidents who participated in
an unprecedented and undisturbed two-day gathering in Havana labeled Fidel
Castro's government as "Stalinist" and called for the return of "democratic
traditions" in the communist-ruled island.
The 10-point resolution, according to a transcript released Sunday, covered
a wide spectrum of issues - from calls for the release of political
prisoners to unity within the island's dissident movement, which has been
divided over how best to pursue changes for a future democratic society.
The Cuban government Sunday did not respond to the resolution.
Some Cuban exiles were pleased.
Ninoska Perez Castellon, a radio personality and founder of the group Cuba
Liberty Council, said adopting the resolution shows dissidents are in line
with Miami's exile community.
"It's a wonderful thing they grabbed onto a piece of democracy. The fact
that so many things they advocated for in the document, are things the
exiles have been asking for, for a long time," she said. "It is
demonstration that the exiles in Miami are no different than the dissidents
in Cuba - and they're a reflection of the Cuban people."
Former Replica magazine editor Max Lesnick, who now works for Radio Miami,
said the Cuban government may have no choice but to recognize the
dissidents' work, assuming the resolution is seen by the nation's general
assembly.
"It's a great way to install some kind of legal procedure," he said. "This
is a good start. Even if they just pretend to legalize the opposition, at
least they're opening up a legal channel."
In a secret ballot, delegates also chose a 36-member board headed by the
assembly's three primary organizers and prominent dissidents, economist
Martha Beatriz Roque, lawyer Rene Gomez Manzano and engineer Felix Bonne.
The resolution, read out loud by Roque, was met with cheers of "Bravo" and
chants of "Cuba libre" and "For Cuba, the time has come," according to a
live broadcast aired by the U.S.-funded Radio Marti Saturday night and made
available Sunday through the assembly's Support and Information Center in
Miami.
"Everybody is very enthusiastic, there is an extraordinary feeling of
accomplishment," said Sylvia Iriondo, one of the Miami exiles supporting the
Havana assembly. "This marks a new day in the struggle for a free and
democratic Cuba."
The assembly, attended by about 200 people, was carried out - for the first
time under Castro's 46-year grip - without incident or obvious police
presence. However, about a dozen foreign observers, primarily European
legislators and journalists, who had planned to attend the event were either
refused entry or expelled from the country. President Bush sent a taped
message to the group stating that America would stand by their "struggle for
the freedom" of their country.
The resolution called for the immediate and unconditional release of all
political prisoners currently behind bars, estimated at more than 300, and
frowned on the arrest of any new citizens "simply for peacefully expressing
disagreement with the ruling" government.
Participants also called for openness in the one-party system, the abolition
of the death penalty and economic reforms.
In a strongly worded statement tied to the democratization of Cuba, the
resolution proclaimed Cuba's government as "a Stalinist model" that
constitutes a "totalitarian regime." The resolution further demanded the
"return to the democratic traditions of our country, of a plurality of
parties, programs, political ideologies and candidates" and called for the
recognition of exiles "as members of the Cuban nation."
On the death penalty, the resolution denounced all applications of the death
penalty "from the summary executions that began on Jan. 1, 1959" (when
Castro seized control) to those carried out in March 2003 against three
Cuban men who tried to hijack a boat to flee the island.
The resolution also blamed the country's economic woes on policies adopted
by a government for which "politics is more important than the economy." The
resolution stated that increased foreign investment was crucial to sustain
development, increase purchasing power and move exports. It also said that
government's recent policy of distributing rice and cookware to Cubans
rendered the population dependent and impoverished and enabled the
government to "manipulate the masses."
The document also called on the government to show it is serious about
cooperating on the global war on terror by expelling members of the violent
Basque organization known by the acronym ETA "and any other foreign
terrorists who have found refuge" in Cuba, including fugitives wanted in the
United States.
The government also should publicly apologize to families of those killed
during the sinking of the 13 de Marzo tugboat in 1994 and the Brothers to
the Rescue pilots shot down by Cuban MiGs in 1996, the resolution stated.
Assembly participants pledged to continue fostering an inclusive coalition
and respecting dissenting views. They also vowed to pursue goals under the
belief that "The Homeland Belongs to Us All," a reference to a seething
critique released by dissidents in 1997, and a newly added principle: "We
will open the door."
---
(Knight Ridder correspondent Charles Rabin contributed to this report.)
