(This is the introduction to the special issue of the magazine
SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY, which is devoted to this topic. Alas,
most of the rest of the journal isn't online. All looks good.)
=================================================================

The Reawakening of Revolution in Latin America
http://www.sdonline.org/39/introduction.htm

Introduction

Gerardo Rénique

Today the specter haunting capitalism journeys through Latin America.
The region’s ongoing social and political upheaval—be it through the
ballot box or direct mass action—threatens the hegemony of global
capital and neoliberal ideology. In an unprecedented cycle of
strikes, mass mobilizations and popular insurrections extending from
the early 1990s to the present, the marginalized, exploited and
despised subaltern classes have drawn on deeply rooted traditions of
struggle to bring down corrupt and authoritarian regimes closely
identified with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and
Washington. Important electoral victories have been achieved in
Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Uruguay. Mass direct action has
toppled governments in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Argentina.
Government proposals to privatize public services have been soundly
defeated in Uruguay, Peru, and Bolivia. In Mexico, the peasants of
San Salvador Atenco blocked plans to build a new airport on their
agricultural lands, and in Peru the peasants and provincial
authorities in Tambo Grande kept agricultural land from being taken
over by a multinational mining company.

Confronted by the retrenchment of the state from its most basic
social duties, many popular movements and organizations mobilize to
address such aspects of everyday life as housing, nutrition,
childcare, education, and productive work. One thinks here of the
communal kitchens in Peru, squatter organizations in Uruguay,
cooperatives of unemployed workers in Argentina, landless peasants in
Brazil, and the autonomous municipalities and Juntas de Buen Gobierno
(Good Government Councils) in the territories in Mexico controlled by
the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army). Driven by principles
of solidarity, self-respect, collective participation and communal
interest, these popular institutions constitute a powerful challenge
to the individualism, self-interest and exclusion that are the core
values of neoliberalism. They also constitute a frontal assault on
post-Cold War triumphalism and on the neoliberal celebration of
unrestricted markets, free trade and electoral regimes as the only
possible path to a modern, democratic and civilized existence.

In opposition to this agenda, the new subaltern movements offer a
politics of hope, which is the focus of this special issue of
Socialism and Democracy. Analysis of Latin America’s anti-systemic
rebellions and social movements becomes all the more imperative as
the U.S. hastily regroups forces to restore the neoliberal order
which has been under attack since the early 1990s. The recent visit
of Condoleezza Rice to Latin America, the White House's aggressive
campaign to force the approval of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade
Agreement), Bush’s threats to interfere with the transmissions of
Telesur (the news and TV network established between Venezuela, Cuba,
Argentina and Uruguay), and, more ominous, the expansion of
Washington’s geo-strategic reach with the Paraguayan government's
recent authorization of a military base in the Triple Border region
with Brazil and Argentina, are telling expressions of the U.S. effort
to reassert its imperial presence and to restore the confidence of
its chastised local elites.

The neoliberal offensive had its foundational moment in that other
September 11 in 1973, when General Augusto Pinochet, with the support
of the United States, led a bloody coup d’état against the government
of Salvador Allende—the first elected Marxist president in Latin
America. For the most reactionary sectors of global ruling elites,
the establishment of the Pinochet regime offered an unsurpassed
opportunity to voice openly and aggressively an ultraliberalism*
which had previously been constrained both by Keynesian strictures of
the welfare state and by political compromise with social-democratic
forces and organized labor. The Chilean junta’s free market policies,
uncompromising anti-communist discourse, and hostility toward any
state welfare functions, galvanized an ideological and political
offensive, guided by economist Milton Friedman and his “Chicago
Boys,” against the regulatory and social policies which they viewed
as fetters to the “invisible hand” of the market. Today their
multinational cadre of followers educated in mainly U.S. universities
hold key executive posts both in multilateral institutions such as
the World Bank and the IMF, and in Latin American central banks and
ministries of economy and finance. Not only did Pinochet enjoy the
personal admiration of Henry Kissinger, Margaret Thatcher and their
ilk, but many of his measures, such as the privatization of social
security, were swiftly incorporated into the emerging neoliberal
orthodoxy. Operación Cóndor—a secret multinational effort aimed at
eliminating left-wing and popular opposition—marked the beginnings of
a regional reactionary offensive that had managed, by the 1980s, to
defeat other left-wing and popular movements and to largely isolate
the Cuban regime.

Neoliberalism, dubbed capitalismo salvaje (savage capitalism),
reached its peak during the so-called “lost decade” of the 1980s,
when the privatization of public services and national resources
devastated the already highly polarized societies and economies of
Latin America. The post-World War II Latin American developmentalist
state had broadly acknowledged—though not always honored—demands for
labor rights, basic social services, free education, land reform, and
national control of strategic resources. Informed by a wide range of
ideological orientations and political traditions encompassing the
anarcho-syndicalism of the early labor movement, elite republican
liberalism, the communitarianism of peasant and indigenous
communities, revolutionary socialism and communism, social doctrines
of the Catholic Church, revolutionary nationalism, and the
counterinsurgent reformism of the Alliance for Progress, the promises
of the developmentalist state provided a framework for subaltern
expectations and demands that were voiced in reformist or
revolutionary modes.

On the heels of the Chilean coup, however, Latin America's
developmentalist states were swiftly and thoroughly dismantled
through the combined efforts of the World Bank and IMF. The result
was an extraordinary deterioration of the material conditions of
existence, with 225 million—44% of the total Latin American
population—reduced to poverty. In response to this onslaught,
however, new social actors emerged who, together with older
activists, have created new social movements and revitalized older
class-based organizations to defend popular interests. By the 1990s
these movements had managed not only to erode the legitimacy of
neoliberalism, but also to realign social and political forces in the
region. Strikes and mass mobilizations in Peru (2000), a popular
insurrection in Argentina (2001) and most notably rebellions with
prominent indigenous participation in Ecuador (1997, 2000, 2005) and
Bolivia (2003, 2005) have overthrown corrupt, repressive and pro-U.S.
regimes. It is this popular mobilization of what can be described as
a “social left” that has made possible the election of progressive or
left-wing governments in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Uruguay.
Tellingly, discontent with neoliberalism has even reached Colombia,
where president Alvaro Uribe—Washington’s most loyal vassal in the
region—lost control of the capital city of Bogotá (in the October
2004 mayoral election) to Luis Eduardo Garzón, a former communist
union leader. Recently, Uruguay not only elected its first ever
left-wing president (the socialist Tabaré Vázquez), but in the
ensuing regional elections the Frente Amplio-Encuentro Progresista
(Broad Front-Progressive Encounter) managed to win in seven of the
country's nineteen states including the capital city of Montevideo.
Despite their ideological differences and differing degrees of
commitment to improve the well-being of the masses, these new
progressive regimes are all characterized by an independent foreign
policy that represents a serious challenge to U.S. unilateralism.

The Latin American reestablishment of diplomatic and economic
relations with Cuba, led by the recently elected progressive
governments, constitutes a dramatic reversal of Washington’s
decades-old attempt to isolate and strangle the Cuban revolution.
Other signs of such newly found independence include: the defeat of
U.S. efforts to amend the Inter-American charter to isolate the
Venezuela's elected but revolutionary government; rejection by the
region’s defense ministries of U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s
proposal—supported by Colombia—to form a Latin American multinational
force; defeat of a U.S-backed candidate for Secretary General of the
Organization of American States; and the explicit rejection of
unilateralism in the foundational charter of the newly created South
American Community of Nations. The rejection of the Free Trade
Agreement of the Americas (FTAA)—slated to go into effect in January
2005—by the ten South American countries of MERCOSUR(Common Market of
the South) represents a severe setback to future U.S.-led trade
agreements, which are apprehensively regarded in the region as no
less than a strategy for neo-colonization.

Brazil not only has played a prominent role in the region’s
opposition to the FTAA but has also acted as an important deterrent
to U.S. interventionism in both Cuba and Venezuela, while
prioritizing the expansion of relations with India, China, the Middle
East and the Southern African nations—including technological and
military aspects. Venezuela likewise has privileged economic ties
with Southern Hemisphere nations as well as with Russia, India, and
China. Venezuela’s close cooperation with Cuba and president Hugo
Chávez's plan to use oil—Venezuela’s most important resource—as a
tool for the economic and political integration of the Caribbean
Basin also represents a challenge to U.S. domination. Even the IMF,
the most powerful instrument of the neoliberal offensive, has
suffered defeats in the ongoing Latin American upheaval. Argentine
President Néstor Kirchner, who was elected in the aftermath of the
tumultuous rebellions that brought down Fernando de la Rúa, stood up
to the IMF by declaring a moratorium on private debt. His call for a
boycott of the transnational oil corporations Esso and Shell (for
increasing oil prices) was enthusiastically embraced by thousands of
demonstrators who occupied gas stations.

In contrast to their independent foreign policies, on the domestic
front these left-wing and progressive regimes have in most cases
fallen short on their commitments to the marginalized non-white
masses. Perhaps the most tragic example of such disappointment is the
case of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose
concessions to the Brazilian right as well as to global financial
elites have come at the cost of postponing an urgently needed land
reform and other basic social and democratic measures. Through such
reversals, Lula has managed not only to bolster the confidence and
demands of the propertied classes, but also—the greater tragedy—to
spread a debilitating apathy and uncertainty among the same social
movements whose organization, mobilization and electoral
participation were central to the political ascendance of his Workers
Party (PT). While recent disclosures of the PT’s bribes to
representatives of its political ally the Brazilian Labor Party (PTB)
and of its legally dubious bank loans (obtained through the publicist
with the largest government contracts) have forced the resignation of
the PT’s president, the crisis plaguing the PT is not recent. It goes
back to the party’s decision during its 2002 electoral campaign to
leave untouched the interests of financial capital.

The centrist reconversion of Latin America's institutionalized
left—described by Subcomandante Marcos in the recent EZLN Sixth
Declaration of the Lacandón Jungle as “left-handed neoliberal
administrations”—resembles the “molecular transformation” that
Gramsci saw as affecting leftist political formations in times of
crisis, blurring whatever distinguished them from those of the right.
This seems to be the case of Manuel López Obrador, the popular
leftist PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution) mayor of Mexico City
who has ridden an unprecedented wave of protests against the
right-wing government’s attempts to derail his candidacy in the
upcoming 2006 presidential election. In response, López Obrador has
simply taken this massive support for granted. Declaring himself to
be a “centrist,” he has betrayed the massive popular movement that
stood in his defense, by appointing former political advisers of the
neoliberal Salinas government to his electoral campaign. As with
Brazil’s PT, the immediacy of a possible electoral victory has pushed
the PRD’s leadership to sacrifice their founding project of a
sovereign, democratic, and more just nation for an expedient and
shortsighted moment of power.

The institutional left’s manipulative and disrespectful relationship
to the masses stands in marked contrast to the relation of mutual
dependence that links Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez with his country’s
popular classes. Massive mobilizations defeated both the
U.S.-sponsored coup against Chávez (2002) and the oil strike aimed at
his overthrow. In turn Chávez’s organizational efforts and social and
economic policies are mainly geared to the benefit and empowerment of
the most marginalized sectors of society. Despite its limits and
shortcomings—discussed by Gregory Wilpert in S&D #37— Chávez’s
Bolivarian Revolution, grounded on a mixed economy, welfare programs,
popular participation, independent foreign policy, and popular
nationalism, constitutes Latin America’s most radical break from the
Washington consensus. His March 2005 declaration on the ineptitude of
capitalism and on the need for a new 21st-century socialism
represents a hopeful departure from the embarrassing opportunism of
the more established left parties.

Another important case illustrating the centrality of the popular
organizations and mass mobilization in overcoming neoliberalism are
the 2003 and 2005 popular uprisings that overthrew the last two
Bolivian presidents. Unlike Venezuela, where popular mobilization was
promoted by the state, the Bolivian mobilization emerged from below
and was led by autonomous indigenous organizations. The 2003 uprising
against the ultra-liberal Gonzalo Sánchez de Losada came in the
aftermath of a “water war” (against privatization) and a “gas war”
(against foreign ownership) that left more than 80 dead and hundreds
wounded. Acknowledging popular anti-imperialist feelings and pressure
from the Indian-based MAS (Movement to Socialism—the country’s
second-ranking party, led by former coca-grower Evo Morales),
President Carlos Mesa—successor to the ousted Sánchez de
Losada—organized a referendum in which the majority voted for the
Bolivian government to retake the gas and oil industry, and in the
meantime to impose a 50% tax on transnational corporations exploiting
those resources. Under pressure from multinational corporations and
multilateral institutions, and after 10 months of intense debates and
demonstrations, Mesa announced that he would be unable to enforce the
50% tax. Led by indigenous people organized by the MAS, the
Pachakutik Indigenous Movement (MIP), and the Confederación Obrera
Boliviana(COB, Bolivia’s Labor Confederation), regional and ethnic
organizations mobilized around four demands: 1) a constitutional
assembly to draw up a pluri-ethnic constitution, 2) rejection of the
FTAA, 3) expulsion of the French water company Aguas del Illimani,
and 4) the 50% tax.

Demonstrations, marches, roadblocks, and occupation of oil and gas
fields paralyzed the country for several days. Unable to govern, Mesa
finally resigned. Polarized along regional, class and ethnic lines
the country witnessed the emergence of a separatist movement in the
rich provinces of Cochabamba and Tarija where right-wing
non-indigenous elites demanded a form of territorial autonomy
amounting to secession and called for the appointment of one of their
ranks as the president to replace the outgoing Mesa. Popular
mobilization and parliamentary action led by Evo Morales finally
managed to defeat the separatist movement and to secure an acting
president committed to fulfillment of the four-point platform.

As in Bolivia, indigenous peoples in Ecuador led by the Pachakutic
Movement (the political arm of the Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of the Ecuadoran Andes—CONAIE) have also played a
crucial role in the popular mobilizations that have forced the
resignations of two of the last three presidents. Chile during the
last decade has likewise witnessed the emergence of a strong and
militant movement among the marginalized Mapuche Indians, defending
natural resources threatened by multinational mining and lumber
corporations and also demanding cultural autonomy. Having displaced
the more established parties, these new movements act as a pole of
attraction for anti-systemic forces including parties and
organizations of the “old left” and the “old labor movement.” Unlike
the old left, these new movements—as discussed by Raúl Zibechi in
this issue—tend to privilege unity of action over political
homogeneity, and diversity over uniformity. As such they do not
constitute—nor do they aspire to be—a unified and centralized
movement, and they are frequently subjected to tensions and
contradictions bred by ideological and tactical differences,
caudillismo,* and opportunism. Such problems for instance undermined
the role of the indigenous movement in the most recent uprising in
Ecuador, when a group of parliamentary and cabinet members of the
Pachakutik movement sided with President Lucio Gutiérrez in
opposition to the majority members of CONAIE who favored his ouster.
The ensuing crisis in the indigenous movement was solved with the
expulsion of the dissidents and a renewed commitment to strengthen
grassroots oversight and control of leaders and elected officials. By
contrast, during the Bolivian rebellion that ousted president Mesa,
despite serious political differences (including tensions between
movements represented in parliament and those in the
extra-parliamentary opposition), the different popular social and
political forces managed to create unity of action against both the
state and the right-wing opposition.

But it is the EZLN—analyzed below by Pablo González Casanova—that
expresses most fully the potentialities of indigenous organization
and mobilization, both for the formulation of a new socialist vision
and for the establishment of democratic and participatory mechanisms
that assure close oversight of political leaders and elected
officials. Since its emergence, symbolically staged on the day marked
to launch the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United
States, Mexico and Canada (January 1, 1994), the EZLN became, in the
words of Immanuel Wallerstein, the "barometer and trigger" for
anti-systemic movements worldwide (La Jornada, July 19, 2005). Born
at the peak of the neoliberal ideological offensive, when uncertainty
and disillusionment with both socialism and collective action were
radically transforming the oppositional stance of the left, the EZLN
uprising represented the turning point in the articulation and
configuration of a new anti-systemic movement. Voicing the demands of
the most oppressed and marginalized sectors of society, the EZLN's
claims for Indian peoples' autonomy and right to well-being generated
an unprecedented movement of support both local and international.
The EZLN's anti-neoliberal and anti-colonial stance and its strategy
of building local democratic power without taking over the state
galvanized actions and political debate within the emerging
anti-globalization movement. The political encounters called by the
EZLN attracted social and political organizations, indigenous leaders
and representatives, social movements, and intellectuals from all
over the world. An important outcome of these activities was the
formation of the Consejo Nacional Indígena (CNI)—the first
independent national indigenous organization in Mexican history. The
“intergalactic encounters against neoliberalism” staged in the
Chiapas jungle were forerunners of the World Social Forum. The recent
EZLN 6th Lacandón Jungle Declaration calling for a global left-wing
extra-parliamentary alliance of social and political forces coincides
with widespread disillusionment with the failures of
social-democratic, progressive and left-wing regimes to act
decisively against neoliberalism. The EZLN uprising and indigenous
insurgency elsewhere in the region have also brought to the surface
the legacy of colonial oppression and racism that lay at the heart of
the current Latin American nation-states. The dead weight of this
cultural and ideological legacy has rendered invisible subaltern (in
particular, indigenous) agency in the historical formation of modern
Latin America. Political independence from Spain led by Creole elites
was achieved in the aftermath of widespread popular insurrections in
both Mexico and the Andes. The apprehension generated by the violent
and sweeping radicalism of Indian action hardened the law-and-order
mindset of the "enlightened" founders of the Latin American
republics. Their racialized fear of the masses together with liberal
emphasis on individual rights have stood as the most important
obstacles to the creation of truly democratic nation-states,
particularly in countries with non-white (Indian or Black)
majorities. This has even had an effect within the left, often
impeding collaboration between its institutional and its social
sectors. Hence the importance of understanding contemporary subaltern
and indigenous mobilizations, their articulation with new and old
political traditions, their amalgamation of democracy and collective
interests, and their simultaneous deployment of reform, insurgency
and rebellion. An understanding of this dynamic will be crucial for
developing the revolutionary strategy prophetically envisioned in the
1920s by Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui as the fruit of
confluence between socialist objectives and indigenous communitarian
political traditions and struggles.

Contributors to this issue, reflecting the innovative modes of
thinking and acting of Latin America’s new poor and marginal
subjects, stress subaltern historical agency and challenge the
state-centered and linear understandings that have long dominated
both the social sciences and left-wing analyses. The centrality of
the excluded sectors in the political scenario and their
reconfiguration as new subjects on the margins of the neoliberal
state and economy are examined by Raúl Zibechi. Unlike the
traditional working class, whose political subjectivity was
determined by its subordination to capital, the new poor of the
neoliberal age, Zibechi argues, have some control over the production
and reproduction of their living conditions, and this becomes a key
factor informing their anti-systemic disposition and militancy. The
organization of militant and unemployed workers is also examined by
Peter Ranis in his study of worker-occupied factories and
cooperatives in Argentina. He discusses how the experience of
self-management has helped generate a new level of awareness and an
anti-capitalist stance. The consciousness and actions of the mostly
indigenous popular classes are likewise the focus in Adolfo Gilly’s
analysis of the 2003 Bolivian insurrection, in which he eschews the
more traditional Marxist emphasis on state and party. Drawing on a
comparative analysis with other revolutionary situations and
considering the historical trajectory of the Bolivian popular
classes, Gilly concludes that this uprising constituted in fact the
first revolution of the 21st century.

Peasant/Indian intervention in politics has long been manifested
through everyday acts of resistance. These remained fragmented and
localized, however, until the second half of the 20th century.
Landlord and state responses to subaltern defiance rested on the
systematic use of violence and the deepening of colonial forms of
domination and exploitation—what Aníbal Quijano calls the coloniality
of power. In his essay, Quijano examines the political trajectory of
Indian resistance in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, describing the
current power crisis in terms of the crisis of coloniality. He
suggests that the achievement of autonomy and of a pluri-ethnic state
will not only mark the end of the Eurocentric nation-state but will
also force the redefinition of both the national question and the
problem of political democracy. González Casanova argues similarly,
in his essay on the EZLN, that the Zapatista forms of autonomous
self-government express what he describes as a “culture of power”
forged, with the deliberateness of caracoles (snails), in 500 years
of resistance to colonialism and to the Eurocentric logic of state
power. In place of the latter, Zapatista forms of people’s power
offer an idiosyncratic form of direct rule aimed on the one hand at
strengthening democracy, dignity, and autonomy, and, on the other, at
building an alternative way of life, thereby helping to revitalize
the universal struggle for democracy, liberation and socialism.

The importance of direct democracy is also explored by José De Echave
in his examination of Peru’s popular resistance to large
multinational mining corporations. Both in his article and in Hugo
Blanco's assessment of recent popular organization and social
movements in Peru, direct democracy is counterposed, in terms of its
practical workings, to the democratic centralism of the old left and
to the vanguardism of political-military organizations. Chile's
attempt at a democratic road to socialism remains, after the Cuban
Revolution, the most important socialist experiment to date in Latin
America. Its implementation by president Salvador Allende remains a
highly controversial—if not mythologized—issue. In his time, Allende
was vilified by the extreme left as defeatist and reformist, while
being cited by the reformist left as validating their strategy of
national capitalist development as a prelude to socialism. Today,
Allende's successors conveniently stress the democratic aspect of his
strategy while obliterating its commitment to socialism. In a timely
discussion, Peter Winn explores the inseparable relationship between
democracy and socialism in Allende’s strategy. His stubborn and
principled commitment to both socialism and democracy, Winn asserts,
was the product of Allende’s political pragmatism informed by his
radical intellectual formation, family history of oppositional
politics, and a long political trajectory of social justice
struggles, and not by theoretical concerns or ideological
motivations.

Thirty years later, through the lens of neoliberal capitalism and the
demands and aspirations of the new social movements, Allende’s
democratic road to socialism takes on another dimension. As the EZLN
6th Lacandón Jungle Declaration implies, an alternative to
neoliberalism/neocolonialism is not conceivable without considering
democracy and socialism as equal members of the same equation.
Although Allende's parliamentary democracy clashed with the type of
direct democracy embraced by the popular movements, the challenge of
achieving a degree of collaboration between the two approaches is one
of the important practical issues emerging from the present essays.

All the articles below except those of Ranis and Winn are translated
from the Spanish. Those translated by Elizabeth Kilburn were revised,
corrected and edited by Victor Wallis. Adolfo Gilly’s contribution
was translated by Victor Wallis. Footnotes in brackets are those of
the editors. Helpful suggestions were also made by Emelio Betances
and Hobart A. Spalding.

* Liberalism in the Latin American context refers to the original
economic meaning of the term, which was synonymous with free markets
and free trade.

* movement or political leadership based on the predominance of a
single charismatic leader

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
Posted on Fri, Mar. 31, 2006

College students get rare look at Cuba

ANITA SNOW
Associated Press

HAVANA - Molly Morris didn't realize how isolated Cubans are from the
United States until a worker at her hotel asked for a U.S. map to see
where she and other visiting American college students came from.

"It just about broke my heart," said the 19-year-old from Houston,
who didn't have a U.S. map and didn't know where to find one on this
Caribbean island.

Cubans' isolation from the United States has sharpened over the past
two years as the U.S. government has increasingly choked off travel
to the communist-run nation.

As the Bush administration tightens the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba,
students, academics, religious groups and even Cuban-Americans with
family on the Caribbean island are finding their travel here
increasingly restricted.

"They're trying to find more ways to get tough with Cuba," said
Philip Brenner, a Cuba expert and associate dean at American
University in Washington D.C.

"This is a foretaste of more restrictions that will prevent Cubans
and Americans from dealing with each other at all," added Brenner,
who helped arrange the four-month visit to Cuba by nine students from
the university.

The students said they were at times puzzled by the contradictions
between Cuban government rhetoric about the benefits of a socialist
society and Cubans' lack of material wealth.

"I've traveled a lot and for me it has been very frustrating," said
21-year-old Jessica Skinner, of Grand Junction, Colo. "I came here
being very anti-embargo and now that I'm here, I'm confused."

Such exposure to the complex Cuban reality is increasingly rare.

In June 2004, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed restrictions
requiring that academic trips to Cuba be at least 10 weeks long,
eliminating popular one- and two-week visits that universities once
offered on everything from salsa dancing and bird watching to
colonial architecture.

Treasury officials had complained the shorter visits were often
tourism disguised as academic tours and were enriching the government
of President Fidel Castro, who has been in power for 47 of his 79
years.

U.S. licenses for academic travel to Cuba have fallen from 181 in
2003, before the new restrictions took effect, to 69 last year,
Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said.

Among the trips halted was an annual cruise-ship visit to Cuba by the
University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea, which brought hundreds of
students for trips of a few days that often included a face-to-face
meeting with Castro himself.

At the same time, authorized visits by relatives of people living on
the island were sliced from once annually to once every three years -
a move criticized by some Cuban-Americans.

A Cuban report released last fall said 57,145 Cuban-Americans visited
Cuba in 2004, compared with 115,050 in 2003 - a 50 percent drop.

For other Americans, the number of visits fell from 85,809 in 2003 to
51,027 in 2004, the report said. The numbers continued to decrease in
2005, it said. Cuba has not yet released figures for 2005.

Castro and other Cuban officials have criticized the travel
crackdown, saying the Bush administration is violating the
constitutional rights of American citizens.

The United States has also tightened travel by Cuban academics to the
United States. In March, it denied visas to about 55 Cuban academics
who had hoped to attend the Latin American Studies Association
congress in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2004, U.S. visas were also
denied for more than 60 Cuban scholars who wanted to attend the
congress held that year in Las Vegas.

The Bush administration has also tightened restrictions on American
religious groups wanting to visit Cuba.

But for now, the American University students are getting a glimpse
of a country unfamiliar to most Americans who don't have the means or
the time to make an academic visit lasting at least 10 weeks.

The students, who arrived in January, are studying Cuban history,
culture, international relations and Spanish at the University of
Havana.

"Ten weeks gives you a much better look at the country," said
20-year-old Jake Patoski of Austin, Texas. "But it rules out a lot of
Americans who now cannot come here."

Coast Guard returns 172 Cubans, Dominicans to homelands

sun -sentinel.com

March 30, 2006, 2:45 PM EST

MIAMI - The Coast Guard repatriated 172 Cuban and Dominican migrants
to their homelands this week.

Of the Cubans repatriated, 28 were spotted and picked up by the
cruise ship Carnival Conquest 85 miles east of Grand Cayman on March
21. The cutter Tornado met with the Carnival Conquest after the
cruise ship's port call in Galveston, Texas, and transferred the
migrants to the cutter.

On Saturday, a Coast Guard aircraft crew from Clearwaterand the
cutter Vigilant located 26 missing Cuban migrants and one suspected
smuggler in a 33-foot vessel about 30 miles northeast of Havana,
Cuba. They were repatriated today.

The crew of the Coast Guard cutter Venturous also repatriated 88
Dominican migrants to La Romana, Dominican Republic, on Thursday. Of
the 88 repatriated, the Coast Guard interdicted three seperate
groups, the largest being 50 migrants, about 10 miles southwest of
Mona Island, Puerto Rico.

Once on board Coast Guard cutters, all migrants receive food, water
and any necessary medical care.

Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Kennedy Raises Concerns About Darfur
By Associated Press

March 30, 2006, 7:21 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy called
Thursday for more attention to reports of genocide in Sudan's Darfur
region, saying that Rwanda should serve as a lesson to the world.

Kennedy used a speech at a meeting of the American Society of
International Law to call attention to Darfur. He said that his views
were his own, not those of the United States.

"It is the duty of the world to do more than watch," he said.

Kennedy said that after the genocide in Rwanda "the world wept but
little, and then went on its way."

Kennedy was asked separately by an audience member about the U.S.
military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which has sparked
international criticism of the Bush administration.

"The lessons of history, the lessons of literature must teach us that
it is all too easy to fall into the mistakes of the past," Kennedy
responded. "We must be diligent as we meet threats that we had never
contemplated five years ago."

An estimated 180,000 people have died and 2 million others have been
displaced by the three-year rebellion in the Darfur region. Although
the United Nations has described the Darfur conflict as the world's
gravest humanitarian crisis, the Sudanese government has opposed U.N.
involvement and denied charges of genocide.

Copyright C 2006, The Associated Press

Rice Faces More U.K. Anti-War Protesters
By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer

April 1, 2006, 7:18 AM EST

BLACKBURN, England -- A second day of loud anti-war protests greeted
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday, and the U.S.
diplomat heard subtler pleas for peace and tolerance from Christian
and Muslim leaders in this multiethnic but divided northern town.

Rice toured a Gothic cathedral in a gray rain, and later met with
local Muslim leaders including the town's mayor, a Ugandan immigrant.
Blackburn is about 20 percent Muslim, and opposition to the U.S.-led
war in Iraq is strong.

The dean of Blackburn Cathedral concluded a tour of the stone church
with a short prayer.

"We hold before God all those who have a responsibility to make good
and far-reaching decisions whilst listening to different views of how
peace and justice may best be promoted," the very Rev. Christopher
Armstrong said, as Rice stood beside him with bowed head.

Outside the town hall later, about 200 demonstrators shouted "Shame
on you," as Rice's party arrived. A huge orange banner read, "War on
terror war on Islam."

"To a certain extent, the protesters make my point, that democracy is
the only system where people's voices can be heard and heard
peacefully," Rice told reporters following a meeting with about a
dozen local Muslim leaders.

Rice also said she looked forward to the day when the U.S. could
close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The prison will not remain open "any longer than is needed," Rice
said at a news conference in Blackburn's town hall. "We have to
recognize Guantanamo is there for a reason, because we captured
people on battlefields ... who were either plotting, or planning or
actively engaged in terrorist activities."

The U.S. will be "glad of the day when conditions permit the closure
of Guantanamo," Rice said.

The shouts of demonstrators and the blare of police whistles could be
clearly heard outside the building as Rice spoke alongside her
British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"I'm not embarrassed in the least," by the reception Rice received in
his Parliament district, Straw said.

At the meeting, Muslim community leaders expressed to Rice the
widespread opposition to the war in Iraq. They also raised concerns
about Guantanamo as well as U.S. policies in the Palestinian
territories, a mosque leader and Muslim businessman said afterward.

Kham Khotia, of the Blackburn Asian Business Council, said he and
other leaders gave Rice the same message of opposition to U.S.
policies that could be heard in less polite tones outside the window.

"I'm not naive enough to think that this meeting of an hour is going
to change American foreign policy," Khotia said.

"We never thought she would say she would close Guantanamo Bay
tomorrow, or would pull out of Iraq tomorrow, or that Palestine would
have a state tomorrow," said Ibrahim Master, an official at the
town's Masjid-al-Hidayah mosque -- which earlier canceled a planned
visit by Rice.

Outside, Abu Musa, a 27-year-old computer technician and worshipper
at the mosque, said the Muslim leaders holding talks with Rice inside
the civic building did not represent majority opinion.

"Fallujah is the city of mosques and was decimated by U.S. soldiers,
we could not then allow Rice to visit mosques here, her presence
would have been a desecration," Musa said. "Young Muslims protesting
are more politically aware than the older generation -- who never
want to rock the boat."

The town's mayor, Yusuf Jan-Varmani -- a Muslim and former Ugandan
refugee who was dressed Saturday in ceremonial red and brown robes,
greeted Rice.

"I don't mind the boos," he said. "The more they boo, the better for
me. It means they have the right to protest."

Copyright C 2006, The Associated Press

Nelson, Martinez say no to making illegal immigrants criminals
By Curt Anderson
The Associated Press

April 1, 2006

MIAMI . A House-passed bill making illegal immigration a felony crime
and proposing to build major new fences at the U.S. border with
Mexico stands little chance of becoming law, Florida's two U.S.
senators said Friday.

"The issue of criminalization -- that's off the table. Nobody's
talking about that," said Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican who
emigrated from Cuba in 1962 at age 15.

Martinez and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said during an appearance at a
Dade County Bar Association luncheon that they favor reforms that
would allow give the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United
States a chance to become legal, while still assuring that they pay
fines, learn English, undergo background checks and clear other legal
hurdles to become citizens.

Martinez rejected criticism that this approach amounts to granting
amnesty to illegal immigrants, arguing that the current system could
be called that now.

"The current system is for sure amnesty, because no one is going
anyplace," Martinez said.

Debate opened this week in the Senate on competing immigration reform
proposals, including a measure approved by the Senate Judiciary
Committee that would accomplish many of those goals. That bill
includes provisions sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and
Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

Nelson said industries such as agriculture, construction and services
-- all vital to Florida's economy -- would suffer without immigrants
willing to do the work.

"You've got to have that available labor supply in order to serve
that industry," Nelson said.

He said he was "inclined to support" the Judiciary Committee bill but
plans to introduce several amendments, including one that would
enlist U.S. technology such as unmanned aerial flights and electronic
surveillance to reduce illegal border crossings in the Southwest.

"You can't just solve the problem on the Texas and Arizona and New
Mexico border by just putting up a fence," Nelson said.

Finding compromise is even more difficult when two of the major
Senate players -- McCain and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,
R-Tenn. -- are both eyeing a run for president in 2008. Frist has
proposed a measure more in line with the approach sought by GOP
conservatives.

Nelson compared McCain and Frist to "two dogs circling around,
looking at each other" in the immigration debate. Martinez noted that
his attempts to broker a compromise make him feel like "I'm the guy
in the middle of that circle."

Martinez and Nelson said they were optimistic that legislation would
emerge that would satisfy legislators of both parties as well as
President Bush.

Copyright C 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Trial of 2 FIU academics on Cuba spy charges delayed until 2007
The Associated Press

March 30, 2006, 5:25 PM EST

MIAMI -- Trial of two Cuban-American academics accused of acting as
agents of Fidel Castro's government will be delayed until early 2007,
in part because of a legal fight over secret recorded conversations
involving the married couple.

The trial of Carlos Alvarez, 61, and Elsa Alvarez, 55, had been set
to begin in May. But U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said at a
status hearing Thursday that he would postpone the trial until
sometime in January 2007.

One key reason for the delay is that defense attorneys are
challenging whether the FBI lawfully obtained warrants under the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to eavesdrop on the pair.
Prosecutors said it will take months for federal officials to produce
the information about those thousands of intercepts being sought by
the Alvarez lawyers.

The defense lawyers are also appealing a previous decision to keep
the couple in detention prior to trial. Moore said he was concerned
that the lengthy trial delay could keep them jailed ``for longer than
they would otherwise serve if they were ever convicted.'' No date has
been set for Moore to hear that appeal.

The Alvarezes, both longtime employees at Florida International
University, have pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to register
as required as agents of a foreign government. Prosecutors have said
they spied for Castro for years on Miami's Cuban-American exile
community.

Copyright C 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Lawyers for alleged Cuban agents push to move trial

By Vanessa Blum
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

March 31, 2006

Miami . Lawyers for alleged Cuban agents Carlos and Elsa Alvarez told
a federal judge Thursday that they would try to move their clients'
trial out of Miami.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore agreed to delay the couple's
trial date from May until January, giving attorneys time to seek a
transfer and raise a host of other pre-trial issues.

Defense lawyers plan to argue that the jury pool in Miami is tainted
because of the community's passionate opposition to Cuban President
Fidel Castro's government.

Prosecutors claim that Carlos and Elsa Alvarez admitted to sending
Cuban officials encrypted reports on the activities of university
colleagues and South Florida's Cuban exile groups.

A Miami grand jury indicted the pair in January for failing to
register as agents of a foreign power. They are currently being held
at Miami's Federal Detention Center.

The question of whether individuals accused of aiding Cuba can get a
fair trial in Miami is not new.

In August, a three-judge panel of U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th
Circuit overturned the 2001 conviction of five men charged with
spying for Cuba, saying they had not received due process because of
pervasive anti-Castro sentiment in the community.

The decision is currently under review by all 12 judges on the
appeals court.

Copyright C 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

MIAMI HERALD
letter to the editor
April 1, 2006
RIP in Cuba

In the March 25 story Growing number of exiles choose Cuba to rest in
peace, Joe Garcia, former director of the Cuban American National
Foundation said that, ``If my mother asked me to bury her on the
moon, I would send her to the moon.''

We congratulate Garcia for putting family over any kind of politics
or ideology. When will we learn that crucial lesson and not allow our
hatred for one man to continue to erode our thinking?

SILVIA WILHELM, executive director, Cuban American Commission for
Family Rights, Miami

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
letter to the editor
President's policy repeats history

Louis Krane
Boynton Beach

April 1, 2006

In fairness to President Bush, he is not the first president to
pursue a militaristic, imperialistic, empire-building foreign policy.

U.S. expansionism started with James Polk, a Democrat and the 13th
president, who sought to acquire Arizona, New Mexico and California,
which belonged to Mexico in 1846. Just like Bush, he needed a
military incident to begin a war. When Mexican soldiers fired upon
American soldiers, Polk asked for a declaration of war and Congress
approved.

In February 1898, the U.S battleship Maine was destroyed by a
mysterious explosion in Havana harbor. Despite the fact that no
evidence was ever produced as to the cause of the explosion,
President William McKinley and his corporate sponsors now had an
excuse to eject Spain from Cuba. Following the defeat of Spain, the
United States annexed not only Cuba but Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Wake
Island, Guam and the Philippines.

When Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, became president in 1913, he
promised not to intervene in European affairs. He broke that promise
when he declared war on Germany in 1917. A German submarine sank the
Lusitania, carrying war materials to the Allies. The U.S. armed
forces helped the Allies defeat Germany. The Allies imposed harsh
peace terms, which fueled the rise of Adolf Hitler.

The U.S. intervened in two civil wars in Asia. In 1950, we went after
North Korea, and in 1965, we broke our agreement with Ho Chi Minh,
who had been promised by the Roosevelt administration a united
Vietnam in return for his rescue and shelter of American pilots who
had been shot down in Southeast Asia during World War II. When
Roosevelt's successors reneged on that promise, Ho's army of
communist peasants defeated the French colonialists.

President Lyndon Johnson responded by installing a corrupt puppet
government in South Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson, like Bush,
manufactured a fake military incident to bomb North Vietnam, killing
and maiming millions of innocent civilians. To crush political
dissent, Karl Rove, Bush's hit man, asserts that anyone who opposes
the Iraq war is unpatriotic, which is "the last refuge of a
scoundrel."

Copyright C 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

(Great letter from Boca Raton, Florida. My own father and his
parents had nearly the same experience as this man talks about
having been Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who wanted to be
able to come to the United States. They weren't allowed in due
to the strict quota on Jewish immigration maintained by the
Roosevelt administration. They were lucky to have been able to
enter Cuba on the last boat before the St. Louis. There they
waited until their lottery number came up in 1942 when they
came to the United States. My father met my mother here, they
married and I was born in New York City in January 1944.)
=================================================================

Immigration now a political issue
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL
letter to the editor
Louis Goldbrum
Boca Raton

April 1, 2006

I am amazed at the furor being caused by our government wanting to
control illegal immigration into the U.S., which is its right and is
pursued by every country.

Americans who are for allowing illegal entry into the U.S. have short
memories.

It is true that America was built by immigrants, and their labors are
a colorful part of our history, but they came in under strict
immigration laws, they had to have sponsors vouching for them and
were examined physically and medically before they were allowed into
the United States. Under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese
immigration was not allowed and those Chinese who came here before
the law was passed were not allowed to become citizens.

The Alien Contraband Labor Laws of 1885 and 1887 prohibited certain
laborers to enter the United States.

Remember the ship St. Louis, which carried Jews fleeing Germany?
Cubans, who are in the United States today, demand their relatives
fleeing Castro be allowed to enter the United States, but they
refused to allow the Jews fleeing Hitler to enter Cuba, thus causing
the ship to return to Germany and death for people they turned away.

Remember the ships carrying Holocaust survivors trying to enter
Palestine being turned back by the British and interned in Cyprus
camps?

Americans today must carry passports in order to enter other
countries. Every country has checkpoints and border crossings.

In closing, the illegal immigration problem has become a political
one with politicians looking for votes. How sad this situation has
become!

Copyright C 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

(Jim Lobe's writings are frequently picked up and reprinted in
Juventud Rebelde, the Cuban daily newspaper.)
=================================================================

LATAM-US:
Bush Policies Stoke Anti-Yanqui Sentiment
Jim Lobe
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32725

WASHINGTON, Mar 31 (IPS) - While anti-U.S. sentiment has deep roots
in Latin America, particularly among populist and left-wing parties
that are winning elections there, specific policies pursued by the
administration of Pres. George W. Bush and the Republican-led
Congress are fueling the growing alienation from Washington,
according to a new report.

An analysis of recent public opinion polls, statements by elected
leaders, and newspaper editorials and cartoons, the 20-page study
details U.S. actions -- from detainee abuse in the "global war on
terror" to U.S. aid and immigration policies -- that have stoked
anti-U.S. sentiment.

"Tarnished Image: Latin America Perceives the United States",
released this week by the Latin America Working Group Educational
Fund (LAWGEF), also cites the serious damage done by a U.S. law that
bans certain kinds of military and economic aid for countries that
refuse to sign a treaty pledging that they would not turn over U.S.
citizens to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

So far a dozen Latin American and Caribbean nations have turned down
the aid rather than accept U.S. demands to exempt its citizens from
ICC jurisdiction, according to the report, which notes that the new
court is a particularly popular cause in Latin America where
accountability for serious abuses of human rights of the kind the ICC
was set up to prosecute has proven so difficult to achieve.

The new report, which was released during Thursday's summit meeting
of Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canada's new prime
minister, Stephen Harper, comes amid growing concern here about
relations between Washington and Latin America sparked in major part
by the electoral success -- both recent and imminent -- of leftist
candidates throughout the continent.

That Washington's image in Latin America has been badly tarnished is
confirmed by recent surveys. Aside from the Arab and Islamic worlds,
where Washington's standing has fallen sharply, particularly since
the Iraq invasion, the U.S. -- and Bush, in particular -- gets the
least positive ratings in Latin American countries.

In a December 2004 BBC Globescan poll of 21 countries, the four Latin
American countries surveyed were among the 11 that felt most
negatively towards Washington's influence in the world. The most
negative of all 21, in fact, was Argentina, where 65 percent of
respondents said U.S. influence was "mainly negative" (against 19
percent who said it was "mainly positive"). Majorities in Mexico and
Brazil also assessed Washington's influence as negative, as did a 50
percent plurality in Chile.

Larger majorities in all four countries said Bush's 2004 re-election
made them feel less optimistic about prospects for global peace and
security, while significant majorities in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico,
and Uruguay and pluralities in Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and the
Dominican Republic said that his foreign policy made them feel
"worse" about the United States.

In a January 2005 Zogby study of more than 500 Latin American elite
opinion-makers, only six percent said Bush's policies were better
than those of his predecessors, while half claimed they were worse
for the region, rising to two-thirds in Mexico.

While some analysts have argued that the rise in anti-U.S. sentiment,
most vividly on display during the protests last November at the
Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, is a byproduct of
this "turn to the left", the report insists that it is a "reaction to
specific U.S. policies in Latin America and broader concerns about
the use of U.S. political and economic power in the world today".

Indeed, most of the centre-left leaders who have come to power in
Latin America in recent years have tried to work cooperatively with
Washington and avoid antagonising it, the report notes. But the Bush
administration has generally failed to respond, insisting instead on
policies that alienate their populations -- a pattern that has become
more damaging to long-term U.S. interests, as Latin America expands
its economic ties with extra-continental powers, including Europe and
China.

Tactics in the "global war on terror" -- particularly the treatment
of detainees -- have been particularly damaging, according to the
report, which noted that the issue has gotten heavy coverage in Latin
America media. It excerpted several outraged commentaries by Latin
American newspapers, such as Colombia's El Tiempo, that have
historically defended the United States.

"U.S. disrespect for international law -- indelibly imprinted in the
world's imagination through the Abu Ghraib photographs -- has done
great harm to United States' never-stellar reputation in Latin
America," LAWGEF director Lisa Haugaard told IPS, adding that it had
also undermined U.S. credibility on human rights-related issues with
the region's military and security forces.

Disaffection with Bush's human rights policies has been made
particularly stark by the controversy surrounding the ICC, according
to the report, which notes that Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela have preferred to
forgo millions of dollars in aid rather than bow to U.S. demands that
they sign "Article 98" agreements exempting U.S. citizens from ICC
jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, Washington's international economic stance has also harmed
its image in Latin America, according to the study, which notes that
its "unreflective, unbudging support" for neo-liberal policies and
U.S.-style trade agreements that "have failed to deliver equitable
development" has fueled the success of left-wing and populist
candidates.

The administration's aid policies have also harmed Washington's
image, the study argued, noting that while military assistance to the
region has risen steadily since Bush took office in 2001, economic
aid has stagnated.

Moreover, political considerations in aid decisions appear to have
become more important. Not only has aid to countries that refuse to
sign Article 98 agreements declined, but the two countries Washington
considers most important to its war on terror -- Colombia, because of
its internal war against leftist insurgents; and El Salvador, which
has provided a steady supply of soldiers to the war in Iraq -- have
been given the most military aid.

The administration's record in coping with disasters has also hurt
its standing in Latin America, according to the report, which noted
that the Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New
Orleans, provoked widespread criticism in Latin America media for its
"disorganisation and callousness".

The U.S. response to Hurricane Stan, which tore through Central
America a few weeks later, provided a damaging contrast to the Bill
Clinton administration's performance after Hurricane Mitch hit the
region in 1998.

Not only was the 21 million dollars provided by Washington a fraction
of the 750 million dollars in aid provided seven years before, but
insensitive public comments about Bush's immigration policies by his
public-diplomacy chief, Karen Hughes, who visited the region after
Stan, added salt to the wounds, according to the report.

Republican-sponsored legislation pending in Congress that would
criminalise undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and fund the
construction of some 1,100 kilometres of new walls along the Mexican
border has similarly provoked outrage in the Mexican and Central
American media and become a symbol -- "figuratively and literally" --
of the growing divide. (END/2006)

Criminalizing illegal immigration not the answer,
Florida U.S. Senators say

By Curt Anderson
The Associated Press

March 31, 2006, 4:33 PM EST

MIAMI -- A House-passed bill making illegal immigration a felony
crime and proposing to build major new fences at the U.S. border with
Mexico stands little chance of becoming law, Florida's two U.S.
senators said Friday.

``The issue of criminalization _ that's off the table. Nobody's
talking about that,'' said Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican who
emigrated from Cuba in 1962 at the age of 15.

Martinez and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said during an appearance at a
Dade County Bar Association luncheon that they favor reforms that
would allow give the 11 million illegal immigrants in the United
States a chance to become legal, while still assuring that they pay
fines, learn English, undergo background checks and clear other legal
hurdles to become citizens.

Martinez rejected criticism that this approach amounts to granting
amnesty to illegal immigrants, arguing that the current system could
be called that now.

``The current system is for sure amnesty, because no one is going
anyplace,'' Martinez said.

Debate opened this week in the Senate on competing immigration reform
proposals, including a measure approved by the Senate Judiciary
Committee that would accomplish many of those goals. That bill
includes provisions sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and
Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

Nelson said industries such as agriculture, construction and services
_ all vital to Florida's economy _ would suffer without immigrants
willing to do the work.

``You've got to have that available labor supply in order to serve
that industry,'' Nelson said.

Nelson said he was ``inclined to support'' the Judiciary Committee
bill but plans to introduce several amendments, including one that
would enlist U.S. technology such as unmanned aerial flights and
electronic surveillance to reduce illegal border crossings in the
Southwest.

``You can't just solve the problem on the Texas and Arizona and New
Mexico border by just putting up a fence,'' Nelson said.

Finding compromise is even more difficult when two of the major
Senate players _ McCain and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist,
R-Tenn. _ are both eyeing a run for president in 2008. Frist has
proposed a measure more in line with the approach sought by GOP
conservatives.

Nelson compared McCain and Frist to ``two dogs circling around,
looking at each other'' in the immigration debate. Martinez took up
the theme in his own remarks, noting that his attempts to broker a
compromise make him feel like ``I'm the guy in the middle of that
circle.''

Despite all those hurdles, Martinez and Nelson said they were
optimistic that immigration reform legislation would eventually
emerge that would satisfy lawmakers of both political parties as well
as President Bush.

``We will reach out and try to being the sides together and reach
consensus,'' Nelson said.

Copyright C 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

(Interesting obituary. He was recruited by the CIA in Cuba in 1960,
came to the U.S. in 1961, and served the counter-revolution for the
rest of his life. And he robably spoke excellent Spanish, too.)
==================================================================

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Sat, Apr. 01, 2006

ROBERT WILKINSON
Former actor fought Castro via radio

BY YUDY PINEIRO
ypineiro@...

Robert Wilkinson, a former Cuban radio and TV actor and retired CIA
officer based in Miami, died March 21 at his son's home in Virginia.
He was 89.

Born in Argentina, Wilkinson lived in the United States, France and
Mexico before his Argentine father announced in 1942 -- while they
were living in Hollywood, Calif. -- that he wanted to revisit his
roots and move to a Spanish-speaking country.

''My grandfather wanted to move back to Mexico. The borders were
closed between Mexico and the U.S. So they flew in to Cuba,'' said
son John Wilkinson. 'They were supposed to go on to Mexico, but they
said ` Well, this is close enough. We'll stay .' ''

While in California, Wilkinson had starred as a teenager in several
B-rated western flicks. But it wasn't until he moved to Cuba that his
acting career really took off.

John said his father ended up with a radio gig. His first role: ''El
Fantasma'' -- The Phantom -- for a Cuban serial show.

In 1951, he switched to TV, producing and directing Cabaret Regalias,
a variety show that featured Cuban and international artists, and the
weekly drama Esta es tu Vida.

The Central Intelligence Agency recruited Wilkinson in 1960 to head
Radio Americas, which transmitted news, political commentary and
entertainment to Cuba. He came to the United States and in 1961 moved
to Miami, where he ran the station until it went off the air in 1968.

''He was very professional in what he did. I never saw him as my boss
because he never gave an order,'' said Maucha Gutierrez, a
broadcaster who worked with Wilkinson at Radio Americas until 1968.
``I considered him a courageous anti-communist.''

Wilkinson retired from the CIA in 1978, but continued training
officers until 1990.

In the meantime, he traveled across the world with his wife, Mary
Louise -- a former columnist for The Havana Post and The Times of
Havana in Cuba, a Miami News reporter and a freelancer for national
publications.

Robert Wilkinson met his wife while they both studied at the
University of California at Berkeley. They were married in 1942 and
gave birth to John and Patricia.

Wilkinson's wife died in 1992; his daughter died in 1996.

Robert lived in Miami on and off for more than 30 years. He moved to
Virginia, where his son lived, in June 2005 after breaking a hip and
leg.

John said the word that best described his father was ``survivor.''

An example: ``When we came out of Cuba, we had almost nothing. We had
18 suitcases and $20 between the four of us. And within two years he
was sending me to college.''

In addition to his son, Wilkinson is survived by his daughter-in-law
Mary-Ann and granddaughter Christine.

There will be a memorial service today in Washington, D.C.

Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Washington, D.C.
http://www.embavenez-us.org/

View or print 7-page PDF of ICE letter to Posada:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/posada-03-2006.pdf

Posada Carriles has “a long history of criminal activity and violence
in which innocent civilians were killed,” says the U.S. government

The United States admits for the first time that Posada Carriles is a
terrorist

(Washington DC, March 31, 2006.- Embassy of Venezuela).- In a
document entitled Interim Decision to Continue Detention dated March
28, 2006 and sent to Mr. Luis Posada Carriles, the United States
admitted for the first time that Posada Carriles is a terrorist.

According to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE)
decision, Posada Carriles has a “long history of criminal activity
and violence in which innocent civilians were killed.” His release
from detention concludes ICE in its letter to Posada, “would pose a
danger to both the community and the national security of the United
States.”

In support of its decision, ICE cites Venezuela’s pending extradition
case against Posada and the fact that Posada fled from a Venezuelan
prison while his trial for the downing of a passenger plane in 1976
was pending. “Your past also includes your escape from a Venezuelan
prison which was accomplished after several attempts utilizing
threats of force, explosives and subterfuge,” says ICE in its
Decision.

ICE goes on to cite Posada’s own statements to link him to the
“planning and coordination of a series of hotel and restaurant
bombings that occurred in Cuba . . . in 1997.” These bombings
resulted in the murder of an Italian tourist and the wounding of
several others. ICE also cites Posada’s conviction in Panama for
“crimes against national security,” in reference to his attempt to
assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2000 with C- 4 explosives
as President Castro was to speak to an auditorium with full of
students.

The attorney that represents Venezuela in the Posada case, José
Pertierra expressed that “this is something that the government of
the United States should have said and done since Posada was detained
in Florida in May of 2005. The government has always had the evidence
to conclude that Posada is a terrorist. It is in recently
declassified documents from the CIA and the FBI, and it is also in
the documentation presented by the government of Venezuela as part of
its extradition request.”

However, Pertierra explains, “Washington has always tried to avoid
using the term terrorism in relation to Posada Carriles and has
instead treated him as a simple undocumented immigrant. However, the
truth and the immigration laws now require that the U.S. face up to
the truth: its “detainee” is not an innocent undocumented immigrant,
but is instead a terrorist.¨ “If he were not a terrorist,” Pertierra
adds, “ICE would have to release him.” Pertierra pointed out that
"although ICE avoids using the specific term "terrorism" in its
Decision, the actions it attributes to Posada represent the very
essence of terrorism."

Upon being consulted about the extradition request made by Venezuela
on the 15th of June, 2005, Pertierra said that “just as immigration
laws and the facts obligate the government of the United States to
recognize that Posada is a terrorist, extradition laws and the facts
of the case obligate the United States to admit the truth.” Pertierra
added that the “truth is that Posada is a terrorist, and he is the
mastermind of the downing of the plane in 1976, as well as the
assassin of 73 defenseless passengers aboard the plane.” “He must be
extradited to Caracas to stand trial for murder. If the U.S. does not
extradite him, then it is obligated to try him in Washington for 73
counts of first degree murder,” said Pertierra.

Pertierra recalled the words of U.S. President George W. Bush who
said that those who shelter a terrorist are also terrorists. “To
shelter or deport Posada to a third country in order to avoid
prosecuting him for murder are not legal options for the United
States,” he concluded.

home

Reading this article, in today's edition of the MIAMI HERALD was
indeed a pleasant surprise. The newspaper which has provided this
murderer with so much free and favorable publicity over his long
career has finally been compelled to publish something with some
of the facts of who he really is. This is an article which needs
to be circulated far and wide, by every possible means we can.

Read the formal statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
a division of the Department of Homeland Security, and on their
letterhead, declaring Luis Posada Carilles, a long-time and well-
documented CIA asset, to be a danger to the national Security of
the United States of America based on a U.S. government review of
his life and crimes. It's a profoundly revealing portrait of one
who has supported and been employed by Washington for decades.

It's a seven-page pdf document and if someone can help transcribe
this from PDF to text format, it can be made much easier to read.
http://www.walterlippmann.com/posada-03-2006.pdf

He's being instructed he must now cooperate with Washington in its
efforts to find a foreign country willing to take him since he's
being retained in U.S. custody until he can be deported. Maybe he
will be sent to Palau or the Marshall Islands? The Herald's story
still sugar-coats the story. Be sure to read the document itself
in which it states Posada had "committed a crime involving moral
turpitude," and much, much more.

It should be interesting to see what happens, in the event that the
Federal courts grant the Cuban Five the new trial which they have
been demanding, how this terrorist militant will perform when he is
called as a witness FOR THE DEFENSE. Washington would not want this
man to be called into court FOR THE DEFENSE.
Remember: Jose Basulto's behavior at the first trial was one of the
reasons why the three-judge panel overturned the Five's convictions.

So far, the New York Times has not seen fit to print any kind of
anything about this important development. Go to their site and
put Posada Carriles in the search engine and see it for yourself.

We are living in interesting times, aren't we!


Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews
==================================================================

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Sat, Apr. 01, 2006

LUIS POSADA CARRILES CASE
Posada called a national security risk
Immigration officials listed reasons why Cuban exile militant
Luis Posada Carriles cannot be released, including charges
he took credit for bombings in Cuba.
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/14237689.htm

Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, detained in a Texas
immigration facility, cannot be released because he poses a ''danger
to the community'' and a ''risk to the national security of the
United States,'' federal officials say.

The letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to Posada
also classifies him as a ''flight risk'' and someone with a history
of ``criminal activity.''

This history includes a prison escape in Venezuela after an attack on
a Cuban jetliner in 1976 and allegations he took credit for bombings
in Cuba in 1997 in 1998.

DISREGARD FOR SAFETY

''You have a history of engaging in criminal activity, associating
with individuals involved in criminal activity, and participating in
violent acts that indicate a disregard for the safety of the general
public,'' according to an ICE letter to Posada released by his lawyer
this week.

It added that Posada had a ``propensity for engaging in activities .
. . that pose a risk to the national security of the United States.''

The seven-page letter contains the first public explanation by U.S.
immigration authorities about the reasons why Posada cannot be
released, as his Coral Gables immigration attorney Eduardo Soto had
demanded.

Soto said the ICE letter, dated March 22, ''contained nothing new''
and noted that none of the information the government cited proves
Posada is a danger to U.S. national security.

''If you read between the lines you know the government has
absolutely no evidence,'' Soto said. He added that he plans to sue
the government in federal court.

A Venezuelan embassy statement issued Friday interpreted the ICE
letter as an acknowledgement by the U.S. government ``for the first
time that Luis Posada Carriles is a terrorist.''

Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman in Miami, said her agency issued
a statement on Posada recently and planned no more comment on the
issue for now. That statement, issued March 22, did not give reasons
for ICE denying Posada's release.

Among the government's reasons for holding Posada listed in the
letter, were Posada's ''statements'' that link him to the ''planning
and coordination of a series of hotel and restaurant bombings in
Cuba'' in 1997 and 1998.

That was a reference to statements attributed to Posada in interviews
in which he was quoted as taking responsibility for the bombing
attacks in Cuba.

LANGUAGE BARRIER

In testimony in immigration court in El Paso, Texas, last year Posada
denied those statements.

He said he was not misquoted, but that because he had difficulty
understanding English he had not explained himself clearly and was
misunderstood.

The ICE letter also cited his conviction in Panama in 2004 in
connection with an alleged assassination plot against Cuban leader
Fidel Castro while Castro visited Panama. Posada has denied any plot
to kill Castro in Panama.

The letter also cited Venezuela's extradition request for Posada
''based on your alleged involvement in the 1976 bombing of the Cubana
Airlines passenger jet'' and his ''escape from a Venezuelan prison''
while the case was pending.

(Magnificent interview with Cuban novelist Leonardo Padura and
after this, it should be a little bit difficult for those who
cling to the image of Cuba as an anti-gay hell to maintain any
credibility, though of course they will continue to do so...)
=============================================================

Not Your Usual Suspects: Leonardo Padura Talks to PA
By Political Affairs

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/3091/1/158/

Editor's Note: Leonardo Padura Fuentes is the internationally
acclaimed author of several novels including the "Havana Quartet", a
series of detective novels featuring Havana police Inspector Mario
Conde. The latest installment, available in English, in that series
is Havana Red. Havana Red was awarded the Dashiell Hammett prize for
detective fiction in Spain in 2004. Adios Hemingway, the next Mario
Conde mystery, is due out this month. Padura lives in Havana, Cuba.

PA: Do you favor the detective/crime fiction genre? If so, why?

LP: I remember that back in 1977, when I wrote the first book review
that I had published in a magazine, it was a commentary on a crime
novel. Since that time, when I was a liberal arts student at the
University of Havana and wasn't even dreaming of being a fiction
writer, I was already very close to the crime novel, dark,
detectivesque, or whatever you want to call it, but at the same time
I was developing my preferences for the approaches of authors such as
Hammett and Chandler. Then, in the 80's, I was the critic "par
excelence" of the Cuban-authored crime novel, and was also sketching
out my interests. I did not like the majority of those Cuban crime or
spy novels, but what was lacking was "literature," perhaps because
there were too many very obvious political intentions, almost typical
of socialist realism. For this reason, back in 1990, when I emerged
from a period of six years during which I did practically nothing but
journalism-I had written my first novel in 1984, Horse Fever (Fiebre
de caballos), a story of love and initiation - I had decided to write
a crime novel and I had several objectives. Among these were, it had
to be very Cuban, but not resembling those crime novels that I had
criticized; that it should be a crime novel, but only in appearance,
because I was more interested in the literary aspect than in any kind
of mystery; that it should have Hammett and Chandler as models, but
also authors who I had been reading in those years, such as Vazques
Montalban, Chester Himes, Jean Patrick Manchette and many other
non-crime-novel authors.

My decision to write that novel, which I titled Past Perfect (Pasado
Perfecto) and which was first published in 1991 had several purposes,
but the greatest was that, being a crime novel, it should also be a
social novel, because I believe that one of the virtues of this genre
is that one can utilize it in any way one wishes, as long as it [does
not] violate the known rules of what one is doing. The "dark" novel
can take one directly to the darkest corners of a reality, of a
society, while always maintaining something that is very important to
me: the possibility of communicating with readers. That is why I like
the police-type novel so much - I call my novels "false crime
novels," because the crime novel structure is only a pretext to get
to other places - and being that I have practiced it so much: of my
eight novels, six are police-type, even though I must recognize that
my most ambitious book, The Novel of my Life, is a novel of intrigue
in which there are no cadavers, even though there are some mysteries.

PA: Is there a fictional or real life inspiration for Inspector
Conde, the main character of your "Havana Quartet" series?

LP: Mario Conde was born of necessity. I had to have an investigator,
a protagonist for Past Perfect, and this character would be, in the
novel, my eyes, my voice, my way of seeing and understanding reality
and many things about life. For this reason, he had to be something
more than a police officer - and of course, he had to be a different
kind of police agent than those in those politicized Cuban crime
novels that I mentioned earlier. Thus, Mario Conde had to have a
series of personal characteristics, but his sensitivity and
intelligence had to shine above all else when it came to interpreting
reality. It is for this reason that, even when I knew practically
nothing about criminal investigation, he was a man who showed great
sensitivity. For him, literature, music, relationships with friends,
a vision of the Cuban present and past, were all realities that he
participated in because of his sensitivity and intelligence. The
result is a man who is a bit disenchanted, skeptical, who defends
himself with irony, and who has great loyalties and great phobias.
The bottom line was that for Cuban orthodoxy he was a very
politically incorrect sort of guy, and for this reason the novel
received no prize in a Cuban contest that I sent it to, and it had to
be published in Mexico. In any case, the Conde of the first novel was
like a dress rehearsal for a character who, starting with the second
installment of the "Quartet," became fully fleshed out and had his
own psychology. Already in that installment, Lenten Winds, (Vientos
de cuaresma) is the original title - he is revealed in all his
sadness, his pessimism, his painful feelings about life and his
merciless examination of the reality in which he lives. Conde is thus
totally politically incorrect, but the novel, nonetheless, won the
national prize in Cuba and was published immediately. Thus I see
Lenten Winds as Conde's step toward disenchantment, in which he lives
in the rest of the "Quartet" novels, and in the other two books which
have followed it: Adios, Hemmingway (published in English by
Canongate) and Yesterday's Fog (La neblina de ayer) which came out
this year in Spain and which will begin to be translated next year.
In these two later novels Conde is not even a police agent any more,
since after the "Quartet" he decides to leave the force to feel more
free, because he has become sick of his work as a criminal
investigator and because his sensitivity has reached its limit and he
has to look for some other meaning in his life. (Now he makes a
living buying and selling old books, according to him because that
way he is closer to literature but not too far from the street...)

PA: Can you describe your background, growing up, early career? How
did you come to writing? To fiction?

LP: I am a typical Cuban of my generation. I was born in '55, so I've
passed my whole conscious lifetime under the system of the
Revolution. I was born and grew up (and still live) in a
working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, where I lived
with great freedom, dedicating the majority of my time to that which
is still my greatest passion: baseball. Since I'm a lefthander, I
played first base and outfield, but I didn't have enough strength at
bat to be a good hitter. And for that reason, when I finished high
school I decided to study liberal arts at the University, and shortly
thereafter, I figured that if I would not be a baseball player, I
would be a writer... Thus I began to write literary criticism and my
first short stories, until in 1984 I completed my first novel, after
lots and lots of sweat. At that moment I was going in three
directions: journalism, literary essays and fiction were all debating
inside me. And by one of life's accidents I went to work at a
newspaper where I could do long investigative reports, which were
almost literature, almost socio-literary investigations. This went on
until I decided that the important thing was to create fiction, and
with Past Perfect I began my work as a "professional" novelist, if
you can call it that. Nonetheless, I haven't stopped being a
journalist and because of this I have four published books on
journalism and a fifth on the way. Nor have I stopped being an
essayist, and I have five books published in this field (one of them
dedicated to the crime novel). And, at the same time, since 1990 I
have written seven novels, six of them with the character of Mario
Conde.

I always say that perhaps I'm far from being Cuba's most talented
writer... but one thing I'm sure of is that I'm the hardest working
one, because in these years I have also written several movie
scripts, two books of short stories, and I've given I don't know how
many conferences and published dozens of articles. I feel good when I
write, I like to do it, and for this reason I not only live in
literature but also for literature. And, I have been very lucky,
because my books are published in Spanish by a magnificent publisher
(Tusquets, of Barcelona), and they have now been translated into 10
languages, which allows me to devote myself full time to the
profession of literature. But even now, when I see a good game of
baseball I think that I would have liked even better to be a great
baseball player like el Duque Hernandez, for example: a man whom I
admire for his passion and discipline, which in some way resemble
what I have when I create literature.

PA: True to the genre of detective/crime fiction, in Havana Red, the
urban setting, the city, plays a role in the story, almost as if it
were a living character. If you had to write a character description
or summary for Havana, what would you say?

LP: As I told you, I'm a Habanero [a resident of Havana], but a
marginal Habanero. I live on the outskirts, and the rest of the city
has always been kind of a discovery for me. And, there is something
of this in my novels. Havana is an enormous city full of contrasts,
of beauty and misery, of music and laments. Remember that Havana is a
cosmopolitan city, which in certain moments of its history
accumulated great economic power (as can be seen in its buildings),
and in recent times, a political connotation. It is also a city of
music, of painting, of literature, and of dance. Culture has always
flourished in this city, just like baseball. What has emerged from
all this is a city with many faces, very diverse, a city that cannot
be summed up in a single glance. It is a city that many Cuban writers
(Carpentier, Cabrera Infante) have seen as a true labyrinth. But
today's Havana is also a city of ruins - and this is very important
in my most recent novel. It is a city that has suffered from great
physical neglect and its deterioration is obvious and sad. But it
also an environment that in recent years, with the great economic
crisis of the 90's (post-Soviet Union), has seen the rebirth of old
ills that we once believed were cured, such as prostitution, drugs,
and all kinds of trafficking, all of which had practically
disappeared at the beginning of the revolutionary period. For me,
Havana is a great love and a great heartache. It is my city, I write
about her, about the people who live in her, and with the words that
are heard in her. And it makes me feel frustrated to see how the city
has been deteriorating, both physically and morally, that many people
have become much cruder, and many others want to leave her forever.
Her beauty is falling to earth like a house of cards.

PA: Havana Red addresses the very sensitive issue of gay and lesbian
and transgendered rights in Cuba. How would you describe attitudes on
this subject in Cuba today? Based on your travels and knowledge of
other countries, how do attitudes in Cuba compare to international
sentiments on this matter?

LP: Fortunately, in today's Cuba the problem of homosexuality has
stopped being a social "illness" and has remained only as a problem
of a family nature, being that the Cuban family, by tradition, is
very machista and homosexuality has always been badly regarded. But
even so, many families accept it as something normal, even though
it's not exactly celebrated. Gays and lesbians always had full civil
rights in Cuba, but the pre- and post-revolutionary morality
condemned them as sick, as perverts, and even as political enemies.
The harshest time was in the 70's, which Havana Red talks about, when
being gay was something close to a crime, and it could get you
expelled from the university or from a work center. What was applied
to them was a Stalinist policy, and many notable artists were
marginalized for many years just for being homosexuals (and this
tragedy of the marginalized artist, is, in the novel, more important
than the marginalization of gays, since for me the frustration of
artistic freedom is something more essential, deeper, and more
dramatic than the simple sexual problem).

In the 80's things began to go a different, more permissible way, and
in the 90's when the crisis hit, priorities were elsewhere, and the
government had to admit that circumstances were different, and for
this reason homosexuals were given greater freedom (and - what a
surprise! - artists gained greater freedom as well). This has allowed
us to see a greater number of people who exhibit their homosexuality,
a greater number of gay and lesbian couples who live together without
anyone questioning them, a presence visible in the reflection of this
world in cinema, literature, sculpture, and dance. To sum up, I think
that today in Cuba the homosexual lives more or less with the same
freedom and the same prejudices as in the rest of the Western world,
including Spain, where gay marriage has been legalized but not the
prejudices that many people still have toward homosexuality.
Meanwhile, the intellectuals have gained much more space for
reflection and criticism, and nobody makes you write politically
correct socialist-realism novels, like happened in the 70's. And, as
is my case, you can even create a literature that is critical of
reality and of some aspects (not all, for sure) of the system and
live on the island, get published and recognized in Cuba.

PA: Who are your favorite current and past Cuban fiction writers?
International authors? Why?

LP: The list of my favorite authors would be endless, because all the
good novels, books of short stories or poetry that I have ever read
have left something in me, as a reader and as a writer. But if you
make me give names, I'll give you a few: Among the Cubans my
preferences hang around Alejo Carpentier, Guillermo Cabrera Infante,
Lino Novas Calvo... Among the international authors I would make
three distinctions: 1. Authors of crime novels; 2. Authors in my
language, Spanish; and 3. Authors in other languages... And I make
this distinction because my learning from each group has been
complementary. For example, from those in my language I have gotten a
lesson in how to write well in Spanish, which is something absolutely
necessary for any writer in my culture. Then I would locate Hammett,
Chandler, Vazquez Montalban, Himes, Manchette (who I have already
mentioned) in group one, along with writers like Charym, the
Brazilian Fonseca, and Durremant, among others. In group two, I would
include Vargas Llosa, Cortazar, Garcia Marquez, Fernando de Paso,
Bryce Echenique, and of course the Cubans as well. In group three,
North American authors stand out, with whom I have a great affinity
because from them I learned how to put together a good story. Here I
would include Hemmingway, with whom I have an ongoing love-hate
relationship, Salinger, of whom I am a dedicated follower, Faulkner,
Fitzgerald, Carson McCullers, and many others, to whom I recently
added Paul Auster. And outside of North America, there are Kafka,
Thomas Mann, Sartre and Camus, Kundera... To sum up, there would be
hundreds.

Send your letters to the editor to pa-letters@...

Allende's death in combat

I say to those cowards – those who are still trying to discredit
him 30 years after his death – I say, that he performed the most
heroic act of any Latin American president.  For us, he died in
combat; and that if he did indeed commit suicide, this was no
less than his last action as a combatant.

By Ulises Estrada Lescaille
Tricontinental Magazine #157 (2003)

http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs049.html

(Testimony of the Managing-Editor of Tricontinental magazine and
chargé d´affaires for political work and the defense of the Cuban
embassy in Chile 30 years ago)1

"I will defend with my life the authority that the people have given
me". These were the words of compañero President Salvador Allende in
his last address to the people of Chile. They were delivered 30 years
ago, as fascist military forces were attacking the Moneda (the
Chilean Parliament) on September 11, 1973.

It was only one year earlier, on December 13, 1972, standing before
the people of Cuba as they listened to him from Havana’s José Martí -
Plaza of the Revolution, that he had first pledged to defend with his
life, the legacy that the Chilean people had given him in the 1970
presidential elections.

And he fulfilled his promise. Upon his death, they could only take
the presidential sash from around his body; just as only upon his
death could they take him from the Moneda.

The leaders of the coup have tried to present his death as a suicide.
But they never recognized that – besieged by artillery fire, tanks
and aerial bombarding for more than six hours – this great
revolutionary resisted, this assault led by the arch and most
treacherous fascist, Augusto Pinochet and his Hitlerian emulators,
with courage and heroism.

Yet even today, his enemies seek to diminish Allende's heroism. And,
it is not only those actors of days gone by who try to perpetuate
this notion. The newspaper La Tercera has been reporting on the
intense debate, between the disparate political forces of the
country, surrounding the memory of Allende on the 30th anniversary of
his death in combat. Propounding on this, the paper referred to two
suicidal presidents: José Manuel Balmaceda and Salvador Allende.

Thirty years later, the manipulation is repeated with their lies by
omission - a maneuver denounced very early on by Comandante Fidel
Castro. He reflected on this in a speech in Havana on September 28,
1973, speaking in solidarity with the Chilean people in posthumous
homage to Doctor Salvador Allende. After hearing the account that we
had then, on the Moneda events, he remarked, "the fascists have tried
to hide from the people of Chile and the world, President Allende's
extraordinarily heroic bearing. For this, they have tried to
emphasize the death by suicide version.

But even if Allende, seriously wounded 2, had shot himself so as not
to fall into the enemy's hands as a prisoner, that would not have
brought him discredit. Rather, it would have constituted an
expression of extraordinary bravery."

Fidel, continuing his analysis of those mournful events, remarked
that, "Calixto García, one of the most distinguished figures in Cuban
history, fell prisoner to the enemy. When his mother was informed of
this, she said 'that cannot be my son!' But when they told her that
before falling prisoner, he had shot himself trying to take his own
life, she said, ‘ah, then yes - that is my son!‘”

I say to those cowards – those who are still trying to discredit him
30 years after his death – that he performed the most heroic act of
any Latin American president. For us, he died in combat; and if he
did indeed commit suicide, this was no less than his last action as a
combatant.

What was the alternative? What did Pinochet and his henchmen offer
the elected president who garnered 36.4% of the vote against two
opponents (from the National Party and Christian Democracy) and who
had been confirmed by Congress? They offered him an airplane to flee
the country with his closest relatives. This would have meant the
betrayal of his sacred commitment to the people. And most likely,
from what we know of Pinochet today, they would have probably tried
to shoot the plane down in mid-flight.

Allende's decision was to resist until the end – even when the Moneda
was half destroyed, first by artillery fire and then by aerial
bombing. Whatever the manner in which he died, it must be recognized
that he was killed in combat and left a legacy in the history of
Latin America that today’s and the future’s youth must remember.

The road to revolutionary victory is plagued with obstacles, and when
the enemy with his might causes a defeat, history demands that the
supporters have the ability to continue on. As Che said, "there must
be other hands to take up our weapons, and other people prepared to
intone the mournful songs along with the sounds of rattling of
machine guns and new cries of war and victory."

A popular president who made the powerful uncomfortable

Salvador Allende was born in Valparaíso on June 26, 1908. Early in
his youth, he showed the gifts of a leader, becoming President of the
Medical Students Center, Vice-President of the Federation of Chilean
Students and a member of the University Council. His activism was
such that he was expelled from the university for his leadership in
student struggles during the Ibáñez administration.

Imprisoned in 1932 after the toppling of the short-lived republic
under Marmaduke Grove, that same year he founded the Socialist Party
along with Grove. One year later, he was named Secretary General to
that political organization, and was returned to prison in 1935. He
was subsequently elected to Congress, but resigned in 1939 to assume
the position of Minister of Health in the Popular Front government.

By 1942, Allende assumed the post of the Secretary General of the
Socialist Party of Chile and was elected Senator, where he served for
ten years before running for President of the Republic for the first
time, on this occasion as the Popular Front candidate. As Senator, in
1954 he was elected vice-president of that upper house and ran two
more times (1958 and 1964) as a presidential candidate, losing the
elections in the first instance to Jorge Alessandri, and then against
Eduardo Frei. On the latter occasion, however, he would obtain a
million votes. In 1966, he was elected President of the Senate and
that same year participated in the 1st Tricontinental Conference,
held in Havana.

When Che died and three Cuban survivors of that historic episode were
arrested in Iquique, Allende interceded so that they be transferred
to Santiago, where he joined them to travel on to Tahiti, where he
turned them over to Baudilio Castellanos, the Cuban Ambassador to
France.

As a Senator in 1969, he created Popular Unity – consisting of
communists, socialists, the MAPU, (Movement of Unitary Popular
Action) the social-democratic PADENA (National Democratic Party), the
Radical Party and Independent Popular Action (that later switched
over to the opposition) – which proclaimed him as its candidate for
president.

He won the election against Radomiro Tomic (CD) and Jorge Alesandri
(NP) and on November 4, 1970 assumed the position of the highest
office in the land. This is a brief background of the political life
of the martyr of the Moneda.

But why was the political right and the Chilean oligarchy opposed to
Allende's electoral victory? Why did Washington oppose him through
its agency of espionage and subversion, the CIA? Why did a consortium
of US business interests oppose him, International Telephone and
Telegraph (IT&T) being the most prominent?

Already by 1964, foreseeing Allende's possible electoral victory, the
then Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, in a letter sent to the White
House, pointed out: "We are making our greatest undercover effort to
reduce the chance of Chile becoming the first American country to
elect a President who is a declared Marxist." That same year the CIA
gave three million dollars to Eduardo Frei Montalva in support of his
presidential campaign against Allende.

The first terrorist act against president-elect Allende took place
little less than a month before his taking office. On October 22,
1970, a fascist band tried to kidnap Army Chief General René
Schneider. The objective of this was to create uncertainty in the
country and within the armed forces so as to prevent Congress from
confirming Allende as President. Schneider died in the plot and so
began the unfolding of Eduardo Frei Montalva's plan: to unite the
votes of Christian Democracy and the National Party in the Congress
to elect Alessandri and then to call special elections in which Frei
would triumph. For Frei Montalva it was unacceptable that a Marxist
president govern the country. Although Alessandri was opposed to this
alternative, having declared publicly that who ever won by even one
vote of difference would be the winner, most of the rightwing
supported the anti-Marxist positions of Frei.

What measures did Allende's government adopt from the outset that
stirred up such reaction from his adversaries? All were of a popular,
democratic character. And all respected the laws established by the
economic elite (the bourgeoisie) and he granted a role to the
politically hostile armed forces.

Within only a week of taking office, Allende pronounced several acts
aimed at reducing the high cost of living, aimed principally at the
great mass of dispossessed people who had been subjected to historic
exploitation. In addition, he freed all prisoners and detainees in
the country who were being held for political reasons.

But, without a doubt, the decisive measure was the decision to
nationalize the coal, saltpeter, copper and other industries without
reimbursing the corporate owners of Anaconda and Kennecot. For this,
he stood squarely opposed by powerful US interests in the country,
presenting their claims on behalf of the US government.

His nationalization program included the assets of International
Telephone and Telegraph (IT&T), a US iron consortium, textile
industries, an important part of the banking industry (including nine
US banks) and other smaller industries. Additionally, Popular Unity
enacted an agrarian reform program focusing on those who possessed
more than 200 acres of land. Popular Unity also established a state
monopoly over the sale of copper; intervened in the operation of the
Ford automobile industry regarding arbitrary measures taken against
its workers; placed the movement of foreign currencies under its
control; and took measures to improve the health system and treatment
of the populace. These were among many other actions that favored the
general population and contributed to guaranteeing the sovereignty
and economic independence of the country. It has been forgotten that
all these measures were based on the Chilean Constitution, on
existing laws enacted by the Marmaduke Grover government at the end
of the 1930’s, and even on some legislation from the Frei Montalva
administration. Therefore, none of the actions undertaken was
unconstitutional.

Allende also fought for the unity of the left, some of whose forces
constantly pressured him demanding more drastic measures or – as some
of them said – “more revolution.” These forces failed to take into
account that the President had to act with caution, applying only
those measures that did not violate the existing laws. I cannot
forget to mention that such division within the left itself
obstructed a monolithic unity of the people and the revolutionary
government that would be needed during crucial moments. In our
contacts with leaders of the Popular Unity and the MIR (Movimiento de
Izquierda Revolucionaria or the Left Revolutionary Movement), on many
occasions we tried to make them understand that without the unity of
the revolutionary forces and the people, a true revolution could not
be consolidated.

As for the rightwing political groups, the president tried to
dialogue with them (principally with Christian Democracy) but could
not reach an agreement due to the demands and attacks made by their
leaders. Christian Democracy – along with the National Party,
National Renovation, the Independent Democratic Union, the PIR (the
radical left party) and Patria y Libertad – all questioned
presidential authority and, in effect, ultimately ended up being the
principal backers of the coup. After they accused Allende of serious
and repeated human rights violations, they originated the demand for
the convening of a plebiscite. This was approved by Congress on
August 22, 1973.

Despite knowing that a coup was brewing, Allende maintained dialogue
with the armed forces. More than ten high military chiefs held
cabinet positions in during different periods of his administration.
Among these were: the Chief of Police, General José María Sepúlveda,
in the Land Ministry; the Marshall of the Air Force, Caesar Ruíz
Danyau, in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport; and the Field
Marshall of the Army, Carlos Prats, in the Ministry of the Interior –
a position that by constitutional order substituted him for the
president in his absence. Prats would later perform that act on one
occasion.

The last of these military men were appointed to these positions on
August 27, 1973 – just fourteen days before the coup. That is to say
that Allende, knowing that there was a military conspiracy in play,
maintained his confidence in the armed forces as a constitutional
institution, and not even such trust prevented the fascists from
executing their treacherous overthrow.

Beginning in October 1972, the military – mainly members of the air
force protected by the Weapons Control Act – took to the streets.
They set up roadblocks, stopped automobiles, conducted searches, made
arbitrary arrests and generated a general state of uneasiness. Their
actions even included disregard for diplomatic cars, many of which
were stopped and searched.

I remember that on evening of the 8th of September 1973, we
celebrated Beatríz Allende's birthday at the Cañaveral farm on the
outskirts of Santiago, the military set up a roadblock through which
we would have to pass to get back to the capital. With the President
and Beatríz, were leaders of the Socialist Party, some cabinet
ministers and five Cuban friends of the family. There, General Prats
met in private with Allende. We supposed that they discussed the
difficult situation within the armed forces following Prats’
resignation as Army Chief. The atmosphere was one of uncertainty
about the possibility of a coup. But when Prats left, the President
greeted the assistants, conversed with some of them and then started
playing chess, all with a serene and calm demeanor.

In order to avoid a provocation, the assistants suggested that no one
leave while the military operation was underway. In discussing our
return to the city Juan Carretero (then an advisor to the Cuban
embassy), my wife and I decided that we were prepared to resist being
searched by the military. Nonetheless, once we identified ourselves
as Cuban embassy staff, they let us through.

Actions against the people, the Coup gets underway

As part of their politics of repression, the military stormed the
SUMAR factory, made arrests, harassed the workers, searched the
cemetery and even opened tombs. Allende ordered that these operations
cease, while the Socialist and Communist Parties organized public
protests. However, the fascist military leadership directing the
soldiers paid scant attention to the presidential order. We Cubans
were convinced that the conditions for a coup were rapidly maturing.

On this point, it is not idle recollection to think back to when
Fidel Castro visited Chile in 1971. After witnessing rightwing street
demonstrations and knowing from up close of the terrorist actions and
campaigns against Allende, Fidel said that what he had seen was the
onset of fascism in Chile.

In March 1972, a Washington Post journalist, Jack Anderson, revealed
documents showing the role of IT&T in instigating a military uprising
to prevent Allende from taking office in 1970. He revealed that IT&T
continued working with the political right and members of the
military to overthrow Allende. These sordid operations were, of
course, carried out with the active and enthusiastic participation of
the CIA.

Meanwhile, the Popular Unity government (ultimately comprised of the
Socialist, Communist, MAPU, Rural Workers, Radical and Christian Left
parties) was constantly attacked by the right and their media for its
relationship with Cuba, calling it penetración cubana (Cuban
incursion). Nonetheless, some business groups showed interest in
negotiating with Cuba, among them the right-wing SOFOFA (La Sociedad
de Fomento Fabril) – the Federation of Chilean Industry. Our Trade
Office in Chile was receptive and open to these potentially mutually
beneficial relationships.

In September 1971, Chilean agricultural cooperatives and producers
agreed to export today’s equivalent of 30 million dollars worth of
onion, garlic, wood, wine and saltpeter to Cuba. The saltpeter was
bought from Chile more as a form of assistance to the country, since
it was not an indispensable purchase.

Cuba exported coffee and tobacco to Chile and donated to our
fraternal country, 40,000 tons of sugar valued at around $10 million.
Cuba also made a loan of powdered milk to help insure the daily half
a liter of milk to the population as promised by Allende. But as soon
as they began repaying that milk to us, the infamous press campaign
was launched alleging that President Allende was giving away milk to
Cuba. The same thing happened regarding other commercial agreements
that were rejected by the political right and the reactionary press,
always serving the interests of the oligarchy and with interference
by the United States.

In 1972, this happened with a purchase of Chilean strawberries
through David del Curto, a close friend of Belisario Velasco, who had
been Vice Minister of the Interior during Frei's government, but who
did not hold an anti-Cuban posture. This was reported on the front
page of the newspaper La Tribuna, as a gift to Cuba from President
Allende.

Parallel to the political operations of the right to weaken and
overthrow President Allende's government, and alongside those of the
fascist military and terrorist groups (such as Patria y Libertad –
breastfed and financed by the CIA), a campaign of terror was
unleashed across the country. Focused mainly on the capital, this
campaign had among it central targets, Cubans serving in our embassy.

One of their terrorist actions took place on June 8, 1971 with the
kidnapping and murder of Edmundo Pérez Zujovic, the former Vice
Minister of the Interior in Frei's government whose murderers were
discovered and killed in a confrontation with the police. Later, a
high Army official was implicated in the crime and convicted by the
courts. Nonetheless, during the incident, following false accusations
that the murderers were hiding in his house, Cuban Trade advisor
Mitchel Vázquez’ home was raided.

Fortunately, the police operation was directed by Eduardo (Coco)
Paredes, the Police Department’s Chief of Investigations and a
Socialist Party activist who, upon learning that the suspects were
not in the house, understood the nefarious maneuver.

Allende had already faced personal attacks and two coup attempts
prior to Pinochet’s. One of these took place on September 30, 1972,
directed by General Alfredo Canales. The other occurred on June 29,
1973, commanded by Colonel Roberto Souper – that was later smothered
by the Head of State himself who at the time carried with him the
AK-47 rifle given to him as a gift by Commandante Fidel Castro.

In the early morning of July 27, a terrorist commando group murdered
Allende’s naval escort, Arturo Araya. When this savagery came to my
attention, while we were celebrating the 26th of July at Coco
Paredes’ house, I immediately left for the embassy. On route to our
mission, as I drove along Pedro Valdivia Street and passed Araya’s
house on the corner where police officers opened fire on my car,
despite its having diplomatic plates. I responded by firing back in
self-defense and they dispersed to protect themselves. I finally made
it back to our headquarters unhurt. Incredibly, it was then
insinuated in the sensationalist press that the probable perpetrator
of this crime was Luis Fernández Oña, Chief Officer of the Cuban
Embassy and husband of Beatríz (one of Allende's daughters).

At that point, the terrorist group Patria y Libertad devised the
delivery of a note to the Cuban diplomats that read, "Remember
Jakarta", referring to the slaughter of communists that occurred in
Indonesia and to the attack on the Chinese Embassy.

The rightwing could not accept the economic bonds between our two
countries and the terrorists worked to damage them, placing
explosives in the houses of officials of the Cuban Ministry of
Foreign Trade. In addition, on July 3, 1973, our trade office was, at
some hour during the night, strafed by machine-gun fire from a moving
car. During that same month, a dynamite device was placed in the
school for Cuban children who, fortunately, were not there when it
went off.

During the month of August, bombs were placed in the residences of
the Cuban Ambassador, Mario García Incháustegui, and in those of
compañeros who worked in the Trade Office: Mitchel Vázquez, Nelly
Cubillas and his wife. Likewise, bombs were placed in the homes of
officials Pedro Orlando Fernández, Dionisio González and Andrés
Martínez, whose car was destroyed by the explosion. Compañero José
Albite, representative of a Cuban enterprise conducting business in
Chile, was arrested and accused of curfew violation. In the Ministry
of Defense, where they drove him, the military had him handcuffed,
stripped, and then abused and humiliated him in an interrogation as
to his possible participation in guerilla activities. This was done
by order of a certain General Bravo. Due to intervention by
Ambassador Incháustegui, Albite was freed pending a subsequent court
hearing that would ultimately never occur.

Confronted with this brutal persecution – and with President
Allende's expressed authorization – we resolved to prepare ourselves
to stave off any direct attack. We were ready to protect Cuban
sovereignty as represented by our diplomatic headquarters at the
price of our own lives if necessary.

We prepared and organized ourselves by reinforcing the building with
the aid of Cuban construction workers at the embassy, stocked a
medical post, collected water and canned foods, and – of course –
secured the weapons that the fascist provocations and aggression had
forced us to obtain in order to defend ourselves.

We were convinced of the truth in the saying: “with the people alone,
the Revolution can not be carried out – weapons are necessary; and
that, with weapons alone, the Revolution can not be carried out –
people are also necessary.” Therefore – at their request – we
assisted the Socialist and Communist parties in their preparation to
defend the revolution that they were trying to build. To a lesser
extent, we also assisted the MAPU and the Christian Left by preparing
their members for combat, if that would prove to be necessary.

They were convinced that they required arms if they were to be able
to lead a popular resistance in the event of a coup. It was Coco
Paredes (Chief of Police Investigations) who was in charge of
delivering them to Chile working along with Hernán del Canto, a
socialist leader and Minister of the Interior. Despite the campaign
unleashed against Paredes by the rightwing press accusing him of
bringing weapons into the country, the operation was successful.

As an act of solidarity between Cuba and left political forces, we
strictly complied with the instructions of our party’s leadership to
do only that which was requested or authorized by President Allende -
nothing was done behind his back. He knew that the coup would come
and that it was necessary to prepare those forces supportive of the
government to defend the revolution. This was done, in some cases
with the knowledge of Generals Prats and Sepúlveda, the Chief of
Police to whom Allende communicated some of these activities – a
decision that did not please us in the least.

For that reason, the coup was not a surprise to us Cubans. A little
before 6:00 am on the morning of the 11th, a friend called me from
Valparaíso to inform me that the coup was underway. Immediately, I
called the officer on duty at the embassy and ordered the entire
place padlocked and sealed tight. Once within our diplomatic
headquarters, the key to the entire mobilization of Cuban personnel
was that the building be sealed off and that we occupy our respective
defensive positions.

At 7:30 everyone was ready and in their assigned posts. I called
Carlos Altamirano (General Secretary of the Socialist Party) and
Samuel Riquelme (Deputy Chief of Police Investigations and member of
the Political Commission of the Communist Party) to find out what
they knew about the coup. Until that moment they did not know
anything about it.

The Embassy was located at the intersection of Estanques and Pedro
Valdivia Streets, both of which were now closed off by large water
tanks. The only access we had to Pedro de Valdivia Street was blocked
by terrorists of the Patria y Libertad Party supplied with large
armored tanks and weapons that we could see. As we would soon find
out, the neighboring buildings had been taken over by the Army and
machine guns posted on the balconies. From behind our Venetian
blinds, we could observe them – we knew where they were, but they did
not know where we were.

What is certain is that on two occasions we fought against the
military insurgents, and today I can say that on both occasions we
defeated them.

Around noon, the first attack began by soldiers firing at the wall
that fenced the access to our diplomatic mission. We responded
immediately. Admiral Carvajal communicated with our ambassador
threatening that our firing would meet a forceful and resolved
response. Strange I thought, first they attack us and then they
threaten us. The ambassador responded by saying that the military had
shot first and that we would defend ourselves if we were attacked
again. Soon after, the Swedish ambassador, Ernest Edelstam, came to
our headquarters offering us food and water and committing to stay
with us since we might be attacked again. We explained to him that we
had the necessary supplies and that it was not necessary that he
remain in the embassy. He described his experience combating fascists
in the Second World War and insisted that we would be attacked again
and asserted his resolve to run the same risks as us.

As night fell, Commandante O'Paso called and spoke with our
ambassador requesting that compañero Luis Fernández Oña accompany
them to pick up Allende's wife and daughters. According to him, the
objective was to turn over the president's body to the family so that
he could be buried in Valparaíso.

Captain Gac, who later spoke with me by telephone, said that he would
pick up Luis and, after I alerted him of the danger that he faced
because of the military cordon around the embassy, he committed to
take all necessary steps to prevent any problems. He said that he
would go on foot to meet them in the middle of the street. But he did
not keep his word. When Luis and the Ambassador left through the door
to wait for the captain, it was the military that opened up with a
burst of machine gun fire. Still Gac called again announcing again
that he was heading for the embassy. They were the ones who opened
fire on our compañeros and it was we who responded to that aggression
with all our force, causing an unknown number of loses that forced
them to fall back. Once the combat was over we heard quite a few
ambulances arrive on the scene.

A few minutes later General Benavides called to protest that we were
using high-powered weapons from which “balls of fire” (tracer
bullets) were spewing out of the embassy. He added that they would
raise their level of weapons to ours and that if we did not return to
Cuba, they would shell us. That was the second major direct threat
leveled by the fascists. I responded saying that if they attacked, we
would respond again with even more force, with all our weapons. I
also said that at that moment we did not have a means to return to
Cuba; that it would be necessary to discuss the conditions of a
return.

Everything indicated that their main objective was not to combat
directly against us. The important thing was that we leave the
embassy and return to Cuba. They were afraid that we might become a
militant fighting force, capable of uniting with the resistance that
left groups had already started to forge. Such an action, though, was
frankly not among our objectives.

That night, in his first television appearance, Augusto Pinochet
announced the breaking of diplomatic relationships with Cuba and
North Korea.

Colonel Uros Domic was designated to negotiate our exit. Not only had
he met Fidel Castro when he visited Chile, but he was also a friend
of our ambassador – their respective children maintained very good
personal relationships.

The Ambassador and I directed the negotiations. They asked us if we
had political refugees in the Embassy, making it clear that we could
not be accompanied out by journalist Fridda Modak (who was not in the
Embassy) or with Max Marambio, who was. Max had been there not so
much as a “refugee” but more as a compañero who had joined with us in
the fight to defend the embassy. I spoke personally with Max when we
had secured the Swedish ambassador’s protection. We had two decisions
to make: to keep Max and risk the lives of 142 Cubans – including 22
women – who were in our headquarters, or to part for Cuba leaving him
in Swedish protection. Max did not hesitate for an instant; he asked
that we leave and said that he would arrange things with the Swedish.

We expressed to Domic that we needed the military’s authorization to
take our files that were packed away in boxes. He said that he would
check and inform us as to the decision of the Chancellery’s Chief of
Protocol. The judgment made was that despite the breaking of
diplomatic relations, international law protected our right to take
our files. I have no doubt that the military knew that what we had
packed away in such a large number of boxes were not files, but
again, the important thing for them was that we leave.

And so we did leave, taking with us our weapons – with the some
exceptions. Some arms we had been unable to deliver because the party
that was to have get them, never came to pick them up. Others had
been set aside for the MIR and, under Allende’s direction, were to be
released only if the coup took place. Conditions prevented them from
doing that given the Embassy was surrounded when the MIR arrived.
Later, Max was able to get them all to the MIR.

So that brings us to today. Although 30 years after those events, I
believe that there are still many things left to say and many others
left to do.

President Allende was a great Chilean and Latin American patriot; an
honest, upright, and selfless man with an incomparably humane and
caring quality; cheerful and extroverted, with a discipline and
capacity for limitless work; a person who completely and fully
identified with his people.

I cannot forget that one week before the coup, on September 4th,
there was a political gathering of a million people in La Alameda
(The Boulevard) to celebrate the third anniversary of his coming to
power. The people were with him then, as they are with his memory 30
years later. For that reason today, even though fascism advances in
giant steps – in diverse corners of the planet, under the aegis of
Bush’s imperial government – and although hundreds of thousands of
human beings are victims of genocidal aggression, I hold fast to the
certainty that Allende bequeathed to us when he asserted that
“sooner, rather than later, the Alamedas of the world will open up
for free human beings as they venture to build a better society.” Not
only in Chile, but all over the entire world.

========================

1 I was called on to live through an intense period in the last days
of the Popular Unity government as chargé d´affaires for political
work and the defense of our diplomatic mission. We were aided by our
esteemed Ambassador, Mario García Incháustegui, who coordinated all
of our work, and captain Patricio La Guardia, who led a the small
group of combatants of the Special Forces of the Ministry of the
Interior that protected the embassy, our ambassador's life and mine.

Along with me, were the dedicated and hard working compañeros of the
General Leadership of National Liberation headed by the unforgettable
Major Manuel Piñeiro, the team from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and
the Cultural Consultant, Lisandro Otero. Of special support in
providing information that facilitated us were the group of
journalists from the Agency Prensa Latina, led by Jorge Timossi.

To all of them, I wish to express the deepest recognition for their
total service in the defense of the democratic government of
Compañero President Salvador Allende. They all risked their lives in
executing the political internationalism of our Revolution, the
deeply rooted ideas of José Martí and those clearly outlined by our
Commandante, Fidel Castro Ruz.

2 I note this in reference to one of the military leaders of the coup
who stated that Allende had been wounded by a captain.

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Fri, Mar. 31, 2006

FERNANDO MENDEZ
From Pedro Pan refugee to police major

BY DAVID OVALLE
dovalle@...

Fernando ''Freddy'' Mendez, a longtime Miami-Dade police officer who
for years led the criminal intelligence unit, died Thursday of a
heart attack. He was 59.

He retired four years ago with the rank of major.

Mendez was known for his charisma and his firm view of right and
wrong, friends said Thursday.

''He was loyal to his friends. He was loyal to the community. He was
loyal to everybody around him. That's what made him a good cop,''
said Miami-Dade Sgt. Tony Rodriguez, a close friend.

His son, Michael Mendez, is also a Miami-Dade officer.

Fernando Mendez was born in Cuba in 1946. When he was about 12, he
came to the United States during the freedom flights known as
Operation Pedro Pan.

He joined the department in 1975, and patrolled in the West district,
which today encompasses the Kendall area.

Mendez worked as a robbery detective for years, and in the early
1980s became a sergeant in the organized crime unit -- which later
became the criminal intelligence unit.

His outgoing persona helped make people comfortable, whether
criminals, fellow officers or other law enforcement agents.

''He made everyone feel so welcome,'' said Amy Rodriguez, his
secretary during the last 11 years of his police career.

Mendez was crucial in providing intelligence for the landmark 1994
Summit of the Americas, when 34 heads of state visited Miami.

He met with different protest groups, and helped supply information
about them to security planners. The summit was held without any
major incidents.

''The guy could give you names and people and places and positions
and origins,'' said Nelson Oramas, a retired Miami-Dade division
chief who was the department's chief planner for the summit. ``He was
a terrific intel guy.''

After he retired, Mendez kept a loose daily routine: he read the
newspaper, walked the dog, went to the gym, lunched with friends.

''I spoke to him very often. He wasn't doing anything but enjoying
retirement,'' said Miami-Dade Maj. Carlos Gonzalez, who heads the
department's homeland security bureau.

He is survived by his wife, Mercy Mendez, his son, Michael, and his
daughter, Marcy Mendez. Funeral services are pending.

Walter,

Thank you for the correction.  Luis Posada Carriles is a CONVICTED
terrorist - I trust that you, unlike the Miami media, are not trying to
obscure that fact.   In my defense, I was trying to be as brief as
possible and didn't want to get bogged down in legal argument, but now
that you have raised the point it is worth responding to for fear of
loosing the important distinction between a convicted terrorist (Posada)
and an radical (Bin Laden).

You are right, Posada was found guilty of possession of C4 explosives on
the day before Fidel Castro was to address a public audience at the
University in Panama City.  Given the circumstances of the arrest - they
were caught red handed (thanks to Cuban intelligence) - this is the very
least they could have been charged with.  Political considerations must
have restricted the charges - remember this happened whilst a staunchly
pro-US administration was in power in Panama, an administration that was
subsequently to pardon the terrorist Posada and his terrorist buddies.

Many enlightened countries do not regard conspiracy as a crime, the USA
is one that does. Under the US definition of conspiracy, as applied, for
example, in the case of the Miami Five, Posada and his buddies were
clearly involved in a terrorist conspiracy.  Whether it was to blow up
Fidel Castro or George W Bush is immaterial to the charge.  In a US
court their only possible defense would be to prove beyond reasonable
doubt that that they had all arrived at the car in which the explosives
were found purely by coincidence.  If anyone knows of a previous case in
history where four people bought plane tickets to fly into another
country and arrived accidentally at the same time at the precise
location where there were illegal explosives hidden, but had no prior
communication with each other, then it is possible that a normal
rational person could be persuaded that it was not a conspiracy.  But I
doubt it.

The fact remains that the illegal possession of explosives is a
terrorist crime and Posada was found guilty.  He is therefore a
CONVICTED terrorist.  I, for one, will continue to do my best to prevent
this fact being airbrushed out of history.

Simon,
Dublin.



-----Original Message-----
From: CubaNews@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CubaNews@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Walter Lippmann
Sent: 31 March 2006 19:10
To: CubaNews@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [CubaNews] Jailed Cuba airline bombing suspect said to be a
threat to US security


Posada and his friends were NOT convicted of the assassination plot and
were never charged with that crime. They were charged with having
bomb-making equipment and entering the country illegally. They were
never charged with an assassination plot, if my memory is correct.


Walter Lippmann
======================================================================
SIMON McGUINNESS WROTE:
This article states that Posada was "accused" of taking part in a plot
to assassinate Fidel Castro in Panama.  This is incorrect.  The truth is
that he was CONVICTED of this crime and served jail time for it up until
he was pardoned by the now discredited Panamanian president on her last
day in office.

This makes Posada a CONVICTED TERRORIST, not a "radical", or an
"extremist" or a "former CIA agent" as his friends in Miami would like
us believe.

In contrast, Osama Bin Laden has not been convicted of any terrorist
crimes, he therefore can justifiably be referred to as a "radical", or
an "extremist" or, possibly even a "former CIA agent".

Now class, which of the two should the world call a "terrorist"?  And
what does the USA do to terrorists?  Correct, it harbours them.

Oh, er, I mean ...

Simon,
Dublin.



-----Original Message-----
From: CubaNews@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CubaNews@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Walter Lippmann
Sent: 31 March 2006 15:46
To: CubaNews
Subject: [CubaNews] Jailed Cuba airline bombing suspect said to be a
threat to US security


Jailed Cuba airline bombing suspect
said to be a threat to US security

03-31-2006

MIAMI, USA (AFP): US authorities say they will not release Luis Posada
Carrilles, wanted in Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner,
because he represents a threat to national security.

"Because of your long history of criminal activity and violence in which
innocent civilians were killed, your release from detention would pose a
danger to both the community and the national security of the United
States," the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency
(ICE) said in a letter to the suspect obtained by AFP.

The immigration authorities announced last week that Posada would remain
in custody in El Paso, Texas, but did not publicly announce the reasons
for the decision.

Posada was jailed for eight years in Panama in another bomb plot, but
was pardoned last year and made his way to the United States, where he
was eventually arrested in May after he requested asylum and later
withdrew the request.

The United States refused to send Posada, 78, a radical opponent of
Cuban leader Fidel Castro and a former CIA agent, to Cuba or Venezuela
citing fears that he would be tortured.

But it has also failed to find another third country that would accept
him.

Cuban and Venezuelan authorities accuse the US government of harboring a
known terrorist.

Posada was detained in Venezuela in 1976 following the bombing of a
Cubana airliner that left 73 people dead.

He fled prison in 1985.

Recently declassified US documents show that Posada Carriles had worked
for the CIA at least from 1965 until June 1976, and he reportedly helped
the US government ferry supplies to "Contra" rebels in Nicaragua.

He also has been accused of taking part in numerous plots to kill
Castro, including one to assassinate the Cuban leader during an
Ibero-American summit in Panama in 2000.

"Your expertise in assuming false identities, your disregard of
immigration laws of the United States, your history of escape and the
presence of your pending extradition request demonstrate that you pose a
significant risk of fleeing if released from custody," the ICE letter
said.

"Further, you have shown a cavalier attitude toward the impact your
actions have had on the safety and well-being of persons and property,"
it said.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
----

CopyrightC 2006 Caribbean Net News at www.caribbeannetnews.com All
Rights Reserved

License is granted for free print and distribution.



To view the current thirty CubaNews messages:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/messages

If this message was forwarded to you, subscription details may be found
here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

To unsubscribe from this CubaNews group, send an email to:
CubaNews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.
Yahoo! Groups Links











To view the current thirty CubaNews messages:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/messages

If this message was forwarded to you, subscription details may be found
here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

To unsubscribe from this CubaNews group, send an email to:
CubaNews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.
Yahoo! Groups Links









To view the current thirty CubaNews messages:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/messages

If this message was forwarded to you, subscription details may be found
here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/

To unsubscribe from this CubaNews group, send an email to:
CubaNews-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.
Yahoo! Groups Links

Colombia Envoys Parley with Cuba

Havana, Apr 1 (Prensa Latina) President Fidel Castro received
Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina Barco and a group of high level
policymakers at the Revolution Palace, according to an official note.

The Cuban leader and the Colombian official discussed "aspects of

interest regarding bilateral relations," and a front page Granma
article includes a photo of the Cuban president and Colombian Barco
shaking hands.

"Economic and international policy issues" were discussed during
their meeting, and Barco conveyed to Fidel Castro a personal message
from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, the paper added.

Barco is accompanied by ministers of Trade, Industry and Tourism,
Jorge Humberto Botero, and Energy and Mining Luis Ernesto Mejia, as
well as High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo.

Also on Friday, the Colombian delegation was received by Cuban
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque at the Foreign Ministry in
Havana.

During their stay through Sunday, Barco and her entourage will visit
places of economic and historic interest and meet with other Cuban
officials.

hr/rma/gc/mf

These people invariably omit to mention that they came to the
U.S. in direct flights which were formally negotiated between
the U.S. and Cuban governments. Details and even a list of the
people who came on the first of the "freedom flights" here:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/migration.html


Walter Lippmann, CubaNews
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews
================================================================

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Sat, Apr. 01, 2006

A nation of immigrants

BY JOE SANCHEZ
jsanchez@...

We are a nation of immigrants. The whole of our great nation's
success is the sum of millions of individual immigrant success
stories.

In a post-9/11 world, in a nation where dollars for schools, medical
care and social services are pushed to the limit, it is
understandable that immigration is a hot topic in the United States.

I fully acknowledge our need for appropriate policies to control
security and other myriad concerns regarding the millions who wish to
make the United States their home.

However, we must never close our doors to the ambitious, creative,
hardworking and decent people who would sacrifice everything to come
to the United States.

When I speak in favor of allowing guest workers to stay in this
country and petition for permanent residency, I speak as a
five-year-old, wide-eyed immigrant boy from Cuba grown into a man
blessed to hold a position of civic leadership in the greatest
country on Earth.

I was born in 1965, and by 1970 my parents had lived under Fidel
Castro's oppression for a decade and sadly saw no future in their
beloved Cuba for their two sons.

My parents left everything they knew and boarded a freedom flight for
a one-way trip to a nation that was great but completely foreign to
them. My folks barely spoke English and, like countless other
immigrants, they took any work they could get and saved every penny
they made. They never asked for anything -- but they contributed very
much. They became U.S. citizens, homeowners, grandparents and part of
the fabric of the great modern city of Miami.

Because this nation took an interest in supporting Cuban-American
immigrants, tens of thousands of them rewarded their new country by
becoming doctors, lawyers, architects, job creators and community
leaders.

In every city in this country, our workplaces pulse with an energy
that comes from people who have come to pursue the American Dream. In
Miami, our diversity and bright future are the envy of the world --
and we would have neither if we were not a city that warmly accepts
foreign-born people and turns them into success stories written
daily.

When U.S. senators and representatives speak about the expense of
social services for undocumented immigrants, they neglect to mention
that Hispanic buying power is steadily on the rise. Between 1990 and
2000, the number of prosperous Hispanic households -- those with
incomes of at least $100,000 -- rose 137 percent.

Evidently, a lot of immigrant moms and dads with little language
skills, but big dreams and even bigger hearts, are raising some
pretty talented children in the United States.

If our federal government takes a Draconian approach toward
immigration, we lock out all those sacrificing parents and creative
children who will help create jobs and find cures to our most dreaded
diseases.

Why, in heaven's name, would we want to shut down the very lifeblood
that has nourished a nation of progress, innovation and
accomplishment from its very beginning through this moment in time?

Whether an immigrant arrived with an English last name before we
gained our independence, arrived with an Italian name in the
celebrated era of Ellis Island or arrives with an Hispanic surname in
early 21st century -- that person deserves an opportunity to
sacrifice, work hard, save money, be documented, become a U.S.
citizen and continue to make our country great.

We are, my fellow Americans, a nation of immigrants.

Miami City Commissioner Joe Sanchez represents Little Havana.

Colombia, Cuba Boost Relations

Bogota, Mar 31 (Prensa Latina) Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina
Barco, who is scheduled to arrive in Havana Friday, praised bilateral
relations with Cuba, saying there are strong links and good
understanding between the two countries.

Barco, who will be in Cuba till Sunday 2, told Prensa Latina before
taking off for Havana there is good progress in education, cultural
and scientific-technical cooperation, among others.

During her visit in Cuba, Barco will be accompanied by Trade,
Industry and Tourism Minister Jorge Humberto Botero, Energy and
Mining Minister Luis Ernesto Mejias and High Commissioner for Peace
Luis Carlos Restrepo.

The aim of Botero and Mejias in the island is to increase trade
relations with Cuba and exchange energy policies.

Barco will meet with her Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque to
discuss issues of bilateral interest, as well as regional and
international affairs.

She said Colombia will participate in the 14th Non-Aligned Countries
Movement (NAM) Summit, scheduled in Havana next September 11-16.

The Colombian delegation has meetings scheduled with other Cuban
high-ranking officials and will tour sites of economic and historical
interest.

mh/iff/lac/ale

Colombian Foreign Minister in Havana

Havana, Mar 31 (Prensa Latina) Colombian Foreign Minister Carolina
Barco arrived on Friday in Havana on a work visit media described as
a contribution to strengthen bilateral relations.Colombia,

The Colombian FM was welcomed at Jose Marti International Airport by
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Rafael Dausa.

Relations between Cuba and Colombia are fluid and transparent, based
on respect and non-interference in internal affairs, local media
said.

Minister Barco"s visit will contribute to broaden relations between
both countries, Granma daily stressed.

During her stay in the Island through Sunday, Barco will meet with
her Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque.

Barco is accompanied by ministers of Trade, Industry and Tourism,
Jorge Humberto Botero, and Energy and Mining Luis Ernesto Mejia, as
well as High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo.

The Colombian FM and her entourage will meet with other Cuban
officials and visit places of economic and historic interest.

Before traveling to Cuba, Barco told Prensa Latina that bilateral
links boast an excellent level. She highlighted progress made in
cooperation in the fields of education, culture and science and
technology, among others.

Ollanta Humala still Peru Favorite

Lima, Apr 1 (Prensa Latina) Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta
Humala continues leading intention of votes Saturday with more than
four points over his closest rival for April 9 elections.

According to the surveying entity CPI, Humala, candidate for the
Union por el Peru Party (UPP) achieved 31.5 percent followed by
Lourdes Flores from the party National United Alliance with 26.8.

Candidate for the Peruvian APRA party Alan Garcia was supported by
23.1 percent of 3,896 surveyed throughout the country´s 24
departments.

Representative of Frente de Centro and former President (2000-2001)

Valentin Paniagua (2000-2001) obtained the fourth place with 6.7
percent followed by candidate for the Alianza por el Futuro Party
Martha Chavez with 5.9.

Director of Public Opinion of the Peruvian Catholic University
Fernando Tuesta considered that the electoral preference towards the
President of the Peruvian Nationalist Party could even increase
during the next days due to the growing support of people from out of
the capital just eight days before > elections.

hr/isn/ro/mf

In Ecuador, Final Battle against FTA

La Paz, Apr 1 (Prensa Latina) The Ecuadorian Popular Movement was
preparing Friday for the "final battle" against the free trade
agreement the government intends to sign with the US, announced
Paulina Munoz, popular activist and coordinator of the campaign
"Ecuador Decides".

Munoz denied speculations of alleged exhaustion after last weeks'
great marches and said demonstrators have now deployed throughout
their provinces to celebrate assemblies and prepare new protests.

The fight against the US-sponsored FTA, still under negotiation, is
closer to its final stage and has been centered on social
demonstrations and appeals to institutional entities.

The campaign "Ecuador Decides" is aimed at a definitive referendum on
the FTA, a treaty only supported by a minority sector of
businesspeople and the government.

The indigenous movement against the polemic agreement demands that
Ecuadorian President Alfredo Palacios remain true to his position of
rejection of this treaty, which before reaching the presidency, he
considered a fetter for the people, Munoz summarized.

The FTA is unsupportable because it favors the US and negatively
affects Ecuadorians in investments, health, agriculture and services.

hr/ccs/isn/mrs

Chavez Calls to Avoid Invading Iran

Caracas, Mar 31 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
warned on Friday that the US intends to invade Iran in its search for
energy resources, and said the world can avoid that aggression.

At the opening of a hydroelectric station on the Caroni River Chavez
publicly asked Europe, Russia, and China to save the world by evading
the US aggressive policy.

After denouncing the genocidal occupation of Iraq, he said Europe has
an important role in preventing that "US imperialist policies cause a
greater tragedy in Iran."

The Venezuelan president, who called to resolve international
differences diplomatically, accused US President George W. Bush of
trying to implement a fascist anti-immigrant law.

Chavez wondered how Bush could justify the immigration law, which is
something horrible, an atrocity," against millions of human beings,
and said that measure, together with the wall to stop immigration of
Latin Americans to the United States, "borders on fascism."
hr/ccs/iom/ml

Minimum Wage Hiked in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, Apr 1 (Prensa Latina) The Brazilian government put
into effect as of Saturday Apr 1 the Provisional Measure No. 288
readjusting minimum monthly wage to about 165.

The hike, which benefits nearly 40 million people countrywide, will
be 16.7 percent over the previous minimum wage, Minister of Labor
Luiz Marinho said.

The step taken by the Planalto Palace (government headquarters) and

published by the Official Daily of the Union on Saturday meets the
deadline agreed upon by the federal government and labor unions in
January, the source said.

It added that in view of a Congress delay in approving the draft bill
6661 06 to increase minimum wage, the Government decided to take the
initiative in order to avoid insecurity in the labor market and
address union demands.

Marinho said the Congressional delay stems from an anti-government

electoral-oriented strategy by the opposition, which has also
prevented budget approval this year.

hr/rma/rr

Hoodwinked
Why is Florida's voting system so corrupt?
By Ann Louise Bardach
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2004, at 3:45 PM ET
http://www.slate.com/id/2105524/

At least there won't be chad this time

One indicator of the dire state of electoral affairs in Florida is
the fact that Theresa LePore, the election supervisor who designed
the infamous butterfly ballot, will once again be on the job. It was
Ms. LePore's ballot that awarded the votes of thousands of elderly
Jews in Palm Beach County to Pat Buchanan, arguably costing Al Gore
the election. Given the multitude of other failures in the state's
voting system, that's the good news.

In the wake of the most scandalous election in U.S. history, which
led to an unprecedented 36-day recount, most Americans believed that
state and federal authorities would take steps to ensure that the
country would never again go through such an ordeal. But in truth
very few changes have been made, and those that have been implemented
have raised new concerns. Yet nearly all of Flordia's current
troubles share a common denominator—they were decisions made or
endorsed by Florida's secretary of state and chief elections officer,
Glenda Hood, who was handpicked by Gov. Jeb Bush in November 2002.

Gov. Bush's own task force on the 2000 election recommended that the
Legislature change county election supervisors from elected to
nonpartisan positions. But the Legislature did not act on this
recommendation, nor on the suggestion of election reform groups that
the secretary of state also be selected by a nonpartisan commission,
to ensure the necessary firewall between election officials and
politicians.

There are excellent reasons for this recommendation. Following the
contentious 2000 recount, e-mails on former Sec. of State Katherine
Harris' computer revealed that she had been in contact with Jeb Bush
during the recount, contrary to both their claims. Miami Herald
reporter Meg Laughlin discovered that e-mail messages sent to Jeb
Bush from Harris had been deleted after the recount. Harris then had
the operating system of her computer changed, a procedure that erased
all its data. "What was odd about what she did," said Mark Seibel, an
editor at the Herald, "was that they installed an old operating
system—not a new one—which makes you wonder why they did it."

Continue Article

According to Gallup polls taken yearly since 2000, roughly 50 percent
of Americans believe that the election of George W. Bush was either
"won on a technicality" or "stolen." Only 34 percent are "very
confident" that the vote will be counted accurately in November.

But rather than allay those doubts by selecting an election
supervisor of unimpeachable integrity, Gov. Bush seems to have found
an equal to Katherine Harris in Glenda Hood, the former Republican
mayor of Orlando. True, Hood is not juggling Harris' other job—state
chairman for George W. Bush's campaign—but she has done little to
assure Floridians that all the votes will be counted this time
around.

For one, Hood and Jeb Bush have strongly endorsed the state's
Republican-controlled legislature's new rule that outlaws manual
recounts. This means that if any of the new optical-scan or
touch-screen machines fail—as they did in the 2002 elections; and the
recent March primaries; and just last week, when a backup system
failed in a test run in Miami-Dade—there will be no recourse for
counting votes. A coalition of election-reform groups has challenged
this rule, and Rep. Robert Wexler of Palm Beach sued in federal court
after a state appeals court dismissed the matter, ruling that while
the right to vote is guaranteed, a perfect voting system is not.

Unlike the recent elections in Venezuela, where the new touch-screen
voting machine provided every voter with a receipt, Floridians will
have to take the word of Hood and Bush that their vote was counted.

To the embarrassment of Hood and Jeb Bush, even the state's
Republican Party has voiced its doubts about the electronic voting
system. A flier disseminated last month by the party, featuring a
picture of a smiling President Bush striking a thumbs-up sign, urged
Republicans living in Miami-Dade County to vote by absentee ballot
even if they will be home on Election Day. "Make sure your vote
counts," read the flier. "Order your absentee ballot today.'' Now
many Democrats also believe that the only safe vote is an absentee
ballot vote.

But it is in the "low-tech area" of absentee ballots, as Miami Herald
columnist Jim DeFede puts it, "that things get really funky." Most
critically, Hood and Gov. Bush have championed a new state law that
abolishes Florida's longtime requirement that absentee ballots be
witnessed. While some other states, like California, do not require
witnesses, no state has Florida's history of institutional vote
fraud.

Indeed, election fraud in Florida long precedes the 2000 debacle. In
some counties it extends all the way back to the early days of
Florida's statehood, in 1845. Florida's political culture derives
from several different regions—the north, near Georgia, has more in
common with the southern part of the United States; the south with
Latin America—so election fraud tends to differ in the two regions.
In the northern part of the state, for example, sheriffs have been
known to let certain boxes of ballots—thought to be unfavorable to a
particular politician—fall out of their squad cars and tumble into
the Gulf of Mexico. In the south, notably Miami-Dade, a remarkable
number of dead people have been known to rise up and make it to the
polls. In 1998, Miami's mayoral election of Xavier Suarez was
overthrown for a host of irregularities, including the fact that a
man named Manuel Yip, who had died four years earlier, had voted for
Suarez. (In fact, it was the fourth time he had voted since his death
in 1994.)

But most of the fraud that has dogged Florida centers on absentee
ballots. In the mayoral election mentioned above, approximately 5,000
absentee ballots were found to be fraudulent. Some folks were unaware
they had voted, some did not live in Miami, and (naturally, being
Florida) some were dead. In addition, many of the ballots had the
same witness. One Miami vegetable peddler had witnessed more than 70
absentee ballots. And some of the city's poorest had been paid $10 to
vote for Suarez. Without the state's witness requirement, officials
would never have been able to prove that the absentee ballots were
bogus. Buying ballots is another current problem. In 1998, an
election volunteer was caught selling ballots to undercover agents.
And just last week, the Cuban exile columnist Max Lesnik reported
that absentee ballots were being sold on Miami's Calle Ocho for $25
apiece.

So, by doing away with the witness requirement, Hood, Gov. Bush, and
the Florida Legislature have removed the only existing brake on
absentee-voter fraud. It's now open season in the Sunshine State.

There is also the matter of Florida's large elderly population, which
can be susceptible to manipulation. For example: For years, until he
disappeared in 1982 after a drug-smuggling indictment, a Bay of Pigs
veteran named Rafael Villaverde bused hundreds of Cuban exile
ancianos in Miami-Dade from old-age homes to the polls so they could
deliver the vote for the Republican Party.

Then there is the issue of the felon list. Florida is one of only
seven states that does not automatically restore a felon's voting
rights after his or her release from prison (another of the ignored
recommendations made by the commission Jeb Bush created). More than
52 percent of Florida's felon population happens to be
African-American, a demographic that voted Democratic in 2000 in
unprecedented numbers. No matter whether one's crime has been
marijuana possession, check bouncing, or DUIs, anyone who has been
convicted of a felony must endure an arduous obstacle course in order
to have their voting rights restored. Most will have to face the
state's clemency board chaired by Gov. Bush and two other Republican
officials. There is no appeal process. One veteran official with
Florida's Corrections Department, who asked for anonymity, noted
that, "We have the president's brother deciding whether people get to
vote or not vote, which strikes me as a conflict of interest."

How critical is the felon issue? Consider that in Florida in 2003,
more than 54,000 felons were released or completed their parole; and
the ACLU alleges that more than 600,000 former felons living in
Florida had been improperly deprived of their right to vote by
Katherine Harris' policies in the 2000 election. (She and Gov. Bush
instituted "purge lists" to ensure that no former felon voted without
state approval.)

About the only thing that could restore confidence in Florida
electoral procedures would be Hood's immediate resignation; her
successor should then be chosen by a bipartisan commission. And as
Gov. Bush cannot possibly be an impartial observer in his brother's
quest for another term, he should recuse himself from every aspect
involving the vote count in Florida. He also needs to flex his power
with his famously compliant Legislature to repeal the new laws
eliminating manual recounts and witnessed absentee ballots. In
addition, all felons who have repaid their debt to society, following
completion of their sentences, should have their voting rights
restored.

If these changes are not made, Florida cannot conduct a credible
election come November.

A.L. Bardach regularly writes "Interrogations" for Slate. She is the
author of Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana
and the editor of Cuba: A Traveler's Literary Companion.

Photograph of Judge Robert Rosenberg by Mayer Robert/Sygma/Corbis.

Cuban Energy Plan Enlights LatAm

Havana, Apr 1 (Prensa Latina) The executive secretary of the Latin
American Energy Organization (OLADE), Alvaro Rios Roca, praised the
Cuban energy efficiency project and said how advisable it would be to
spread it to other Latin American countries.

Concluding his work visit to Cuba, which allowed him to learn about
the reality of the energy sector here, the executive praised the
seriousness and dynamism of the Cuban program, aimed at achieving the
highest efficiency in the rational use of energy.

Roca called his meeting with President Fidel Castro extraordinary,
and praised his and the Cuban government's commitment to energy
efficiency.

The OLADE official said that his organization is aiming to extend the
experiences among the 26 OLADE member countries, and promote an
exchange so that they can be applied according to the conditions of
each country.

R­os Roca also predicted that OLADE is fostering a Cuban contact with
the bio fuel program led by Brazil.

The OLADE leader asserted that Cuba has a great challenge in its
efforts to develop the use of natural gas as fuel and the creation of
additional energy capacities with plants of combined cycles.

hr/ajs/rs/mf

Cuba Young Communists Party Hearty

Havana, Apr 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuban´s Jose Marti Young Pioneers´
Organization (OPJM) and Young Communist League (UJC) are celebrating
their 45th and 44th anniversaries, respectively, with nationwide
sports and cultural activities Saturday.

The festivities are a healthy, functional, educational way to promote
recreation, while encouraging both organizations to increase and
diversify leisure offers.

In the capital, related activities include a sports-recreational
festival, carnival and performances by the national Circus.

The nationwide party will also provide spaces for films, book
launchings and performances by musical groups, along with food and
services.

hr/dig/crc/mf