CUBA NEWS The Miami Herald 5wx6w

Cubans tell Rivero to consider leaving

Imprisoned Cuban dissident writer Ral Rivero was freed, ing a few other jailed government opponents who were released this week.

By Nancy San Martin, [emailprotected]. Posted on Wed, Dec. 01, 2004.

Cuba's best-known dissident writer, Ral Rivero, who won international prizes for both his poetry and his activism, was released from prison Tuesday along with another government critic, bringing the total of dissidents freed this week to five.

But Cuban authorities gave Rivero a year to consider leaving the island, his stepson told The Herald. The alternative, apparently, is a return to prison if he continues speaking out against the communist government.

''They told him he didn't have to leave the country now, that he had a year to think about it,'' said stepson Miguel Snchez, who lives in Miami and spoke with Rivero by phone. "His release does not convey the liberation or democratization of Cuba, but it is a relief for his family.''

Snchez said the once heavy-set, now much thinner 59-year-old Rivero, whose health deteriorated significantly in prison, was in good spirits Tuesday and even told a couple of jokes despite his 20-month incarceration, including 11 months in solitary confinement.

At his home in Havana, the white-haired writer told foreign reporters that he had no immediate plans. The Cuban media have not mentioned any of the dissidents' releases.

''I've never wanted to leave Cuba,'' Rivero said. "I think I'm going to step back and observe, and see if I can do regular journalism, like I was doing. If I can do my work, I have no reason to leave.''

OPPOSITION PARTY

Also freed Tuesday was Osvaldo Alfonso Valdes, a member of an illegal opposition political party. Three other dissidents were released Monday -- economics writer Oscar Espinosa Chepe, physician Dr. Marcelo Lpez and activist Margarito Broche.

Rivero was among 75 dissidents jailed last year on treason charges for allegedly working with U.S. diplomats in Havana to undermine the Cuban government. Most were sentenced to long prison -- Rivero's sentence was 20 years -- after mostly one-day trials.

Rivero has long been one of the most respected dissidents on the island because he is one of the few with professional journalism experience and the author of a long list of poetry books.

His journalism career began at the state-run Prensa Latina news agency, where he rose to Moscow correspondent. He broke with the government in the late 1980s and later founded CubaPress, an independent news agency. Three years ago, he helped establish the first association of independent journalists in Cuba.

Rivero, who also is the regional vice chairman for the Press Freedom Committee of the Miami-based Inter-American Press Association, filed regular reports from the island, bringing worldwide attention on human rights abuses in Cuba.

''We are extremely happy about his release and will continue in our daily struggle for the release of the other imprisoned journalists and the ultimate return of a free press in Cuba,'' press association President Alejandro Mir Quesada said in a phone interview from Lima.

Rivero has won numerous awards and earlier this year received the prestigious World Press Freedom prize from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.

Even behind bars, Rivero wrote about love, justice and the struggle for a free Cuba. He said Tuesday that he hopes to publish a book of poetry and memoirs about his confinement.

WIFE'S

While in jail, Rivero often told his wife Blanca Reyes that he was prepared to remain incarcerated ''as long as it takes.'' She kept his struggle in the international spotlight.

''It still feels like it's all a dream,'' a beaming Reyes said in Havana. "The only time I have been this happy is when my son was born.''

In Miami, Rivero's release sparked joy among Cuban exiles as well as cautions that Cuba's communist system can still arbitrarily jail, as well as free, any of its citizens.

''On a personal level, we're happy for these political prisoners and their families, but . . . this does not signal a change in the situation that landed these activists in prison,'' said Omar Lpez, head of the human rights section of the Cuban American National Foundation.

Said one State Department official in Washington: "For every one of the dissidents released, we have reports they are arresting others . . . They give with one hand but take from the other.''

The release of Rivero and the others raised expectations in Cuba that even more jailed activists will be freed soon. They were among a group of more than a dozen prisoners transferred from provincial prisons to a prison hospital in Havana over the weekend, and more transfers are expected soon.

So far, Cuba has released a dozen of the 75 activists jailed last year. All were suffering from poor health and allowed to return home under a parole-like status.

The releases followed an announcement last week that Cuba had resumed diplomatic s with Spain, whose previous conservative government had ed the European Union in condemning last year's crackdown on dissent.

Cuba broke off s with EU diplomats in Havana after they began inviting dissidents to their embassy functions.

Spain's new Socialist prime minister, Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero, has advocated resuming a dialogue with Cuba, and is expected to push the issue when EU leaders meet in Brussels next month.

Happy landing for 10 rafters

A group of Cuban migrants came ashore on a Fort Lauderdale beach on Tuesday. They were released after being questioned by authorities.

By Jeannette Rivera-Lyles And Wanda De Marzo. [emailprotected]. Posted on Wed, Dec. 01, 2004.

Ten Cuban migrants who said they spent 10 days at sea in a makeshift inner tube raft washed ashore Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale in seemingly good health and, despite their trip, cheerful enough to break out in song.

The oldest man in the group, who identified himself as Romn Eliezer Rodrguez, 65, serenaded the crowd of reporters and photographers in the beach with a Mexican ranchera song. The rest of the group cheered him on and clapped.

''Hace un ao que tuve una ilusin, hace un ao que se cumple en este da,'' (I had a dream a year ago, a dream that comes true today), sang Rodrguez, while the rest of the men laughed.

''We are happy to have made it here, to the land of liberty,'' said Rodrguez.

The U.S. Border Patrol took the men into custody after they landed at around 6:30 a.m. on the beach in the 3400 block of Galt Ocean Drive. They were taken to the U.S. Border Patrol's Pembroke Pines station to be questioned by that agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

They were released by midafternoon, said Robert Montemayor, a spokesman for the Border Patrol. He said they were all in good health and had been debriefed.

One of the questions authorities ask immigrants who arrive on rafts is whether they were assisted by smugglers.

Montemayor would not say what the men told officials.

''We are still determining that,'' he said when asked about the possibility of smuggling.

At least six of the men gave their names to reporters at the beach. They were: Rodrguez, Odi Prez Reyes, Eliezer Rodrguez, 32; brothers Vicente Miguel Reyna Modelo and Vicente Pascual Reyna Modelo; and Hugo Rodrguez, 29.

The other four rafters did not give their names. Immigration authorities would not identify them.

The rafters said bad weather and a rough sea ed for the long trip. Under optimum conditions, it could take under three days to navigate on a raft from Cuba to South Florida, according to groups that work with Cuban rafters. In a motorboat, it's just six to eight hours.

''The sea was very rough,'' said Hugo Rodrguez. "It turned the raft over. We were lucky to get it back. Very lucky.''

The rafters said they rowed for three days with homemade oars after the small outboard Honda engine they had mounted to the raft puttered out and died.

''We spent four days rowing day and night,'' said Vicente Pascual Reyna. "We split in two groups and would take turns rowing one hour at a time [for] each group.''

The 1996 Cuban Adjustment Act allows undocumented Cuban migrants who have made it to land to stay in the country and work. They can be sent back, however, if they are intercepted at sea. After a year and a day in the U.S. the migrants are eligible for permanent resident status, the first step toward citizenship.

The eldest Rodrguez summarized the feelings of his fellow rafters at the end of the dangerous journey.

''I'm not going to say that I was born [again] today, because I'm old,'' he said. "But these kids were born again today when they arrived at this beach.''

Cuban dissident writer freed, ing other jailed government opponents released this week

By Nancy San Martin, [emailprotected]. Posted on Tue, Nov. 30, 2004.

Prominent Cuban dissident writer Ral Rivero was released from prison Tuesday, ing three other government critics freed this week in an apparent move by Havana to mend relations with the European Union.

Rivero was among 75 dissidents jailed last year by Fidel Castro's government, which accused them of working with U.S. diplomats in Havana to undermine Cuba's communist system. Three others were released Monday, including Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Marcelo Lpez and Margarito Broche.

Like other dissidents, Rivero denied the charges, which also were dismissed by the United States. But in summary trials, most of which lasted only a day, the dissidents weresentenced to up to 28 years in prison.

''I don't have any plans for the future,'' Rivero, 59, told the Associated Press after he arrived at his Havana home. "I'm still confused.''

Rivero, who has won numerous awards for his prose, has a history of poor health, which worsened behind bars.

His release brings to 11 the number of dissidents from the group of 75 who have been allowed to return home since June for medical reasons. All of the releases came with a warning by authorities that the parole could be rescinded at any time.

Castro's government has not issued any statements on the releases. But the move followed an announcement last week that Cuba had resumed diplomatic s with Spain, whose previous conservative government had ed the European Union in condemning the arrests. Cuba broke off s with EU diplomats in Havana after they began inviting dissidents to their embassy functions.

Spain's new Socialist government of Prime Minister Jos Luis Rodrguez Zapatero has advocated resuming a dialogue with Castro's government and is expected to take up the issue when EU leaders meet in Brussels next month.

Cuba releases fourth, fifth dissidents in two days

HAVANA, Dec. 1 (AFP) - Cuba's communist regime set free two jailed dissidents including poet and journalist Raul Rivero, one of the most prominent critics of President Fidel Castro.

The move follows the release of three other political prisoners on Monday, all of whom were among 75 dissidents jailed in March and April for between seven and 28 years in a crackdown by the Castro regime.

Rivero, 59, urged diplomatic engagement of Castro's isolated regime.

"I would advise dialogue. I have always believed in dialogue. It seems to me, as a citizen, that dialogues are better than pressure," Rivero, who had been serving a 20-year jail term, told journalists in his modest Havana flat.

Rivero was released along with Osvaldo Alfonso Valdes, 40, who headed the Liberal Democratic Party when he was arrested.

On Monday the Cuban regime released Oscar Espinosa Chepe, 64, an economics writer sentenced to 20 years; Marcelo Lopez, 39, a member of the outlawed Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN); and Margarito Broche, 44, head of a group formed by would-be emmigrants who were repatriated to Cuba.

The dissidents were freed following a meeting Thursday between Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Spain's ambassador to Cuba, Carlos Alonso Zaldivar.

The meeting marked the first official between Cuba and the European Union since June 2003, when EU officials imposed sanctions protesting the crackdown and the executions of three Cubans convicted of trying to hijack a ferry to the United States.

"We believe that it (the release) is linked to the attitude of the Spanish government which advocates firmness on the principles but urges the European Union to adopt more effective tactics in its relations with Havana," a Spanish government spokesman said.

Rivero thanked Spain for its intervention, although Castro's archenemy, the United States, said the prisoners' release came after international pressure and not Spain's diplomacy.

"I can't describe this Cuban decision as being the result of any specific nation or meeting or anything like that," said US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

Rivero, who appeared fit though he suffers from several illnesses, said he hoped he would be able to write and work as a journalist in Cuba where all media are state controlled.

He told reporters he was a free man "without rage, with a position that is constructive rather than belligerent; I don't have hatreds, or at least not great ones."

"I never wanted to be in any party (but) I feel a bit like I should work on behalf of those who are still in prison, above all for the journalists," Rivero added.

And he rejected the Cuban government's charge that he is a "mercenary" in the pay of the United States.

"I can respect and ire the United States as a country, as a nation, a people ... but I never am going to want for Cuba anything but a government that is Cuban and authentic," said Rivero, who in 2003 was awarded a UNESCO freedom of speech award for his activism.

Rivero was transferred to a prison hospital in Havana from his prison in Canaletas, 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of the capital prior to his release.

Considered one of the best poets of his generation in Cuba, Rivero in recent years turned to journalism to spotlight the lack of civil rights on the island. Many of his articles were published in the southern US state of Florida, home to some 800,000 Cuban-Americans.

In 1995, he founded the independent news agency Cuba Press, harshly criticizing Castro's government. He had become disillusioned with the direction taken by the revolution, which he had defended for decades in poems and news stories.

After the government crackdown, governments and rights organizations prodded Castro to free the dissidents.

Rivero's wife Blanca Reyes struggled during his 20-month incarceration to keep him in the public eye, highlighting the fragile state of the poet's health.

Favalora leads clergy to Cuba

Regional religious leaders ed in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Cuba's Archdiocese of Santiago.

By Fred Tasker. [emailprotected]. Posted on Tue, Nov. 30, 2004.

Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora led a delegation of 12 religious leaders to Cuba over the weekend to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Santiago -- a diocese Florida had been associated with nearly 500 years ago.

In a Sunday ceremony at the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba attended by thousands, Favalora said, "I found a church very, very alive. Their hearts were full of fervor. You could see it in the way they prayed.''

Favalora, however, also experienced the religious and humanitarian restrictions of the Cuban government. The group had taken 21 suitcases filled with donated rosaries and such medicines as insulin, antibiotics, vitamins and decongestants. They were stopped at the airport by Cuban government agents.

''If we hadn't brought them back, the government would have taken them,'' Favalora said. "We couldn't permit that. We will try to deliver them later, by different means.''

South Florida Catholics feel a strong spiritual connection with the Archdiocese of Santiago, Cuba, Favalora said: from 1518 to 1793, Florida and Louisiana -- then Spanish possessions -- were part of that archdiocese.

''When the church in Florida was founded . . . in St. Augustine, it was subject to the Santiago de Cuba Archdiocese,'' Favalora said.

The church in Florida later came under the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The Diocese of Miami was founded in 1958, becoming an archdiocese in 1968.

The church delegation -- which included Favalora, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Monsignor Toms Marn of Our Lady of Guadeloupe in Miami and nine others -- arrived in Santiago, at Cuba's eastern tip, on Saturday. Favalora said Mass at the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Caridad del Cobre just outside the city. He was ed by bishops from the 11 dioceses of Cuba.

''We prayed for the needs of the Cubans of the island and of the diaspora,'' Favalora said.

It was Favalora's fourth visit to Cuba. One came in 1998 during the visit of Pope John Paul II.

On Sunday, the 200th anniversary was celebrated at the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba, with Mass led by Archbishop Pedro Meurice Estu of Santiago. It was the close of a yearlong celebration of the anniversary.

Favalora said the congregation filled the pews, stood in the aisles, lined the balconies and crowded the area around the cathedral.

''The church was filled by people of every age,'' he said. "You might expect that, 40 years after the revolution, it might not have many young people. But they were there.

"It's a credit to the church in Cuba. They've had a great deal of success. The grace of God is abounding because of it.''

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