U.S. lawmakers: Cuban officials say Castro to return to public life

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. lawmakers: Cuban officials say Castro to return to public life
The Associated PressPublished: 2006-12-17 20:30:06

HAVANA: Fidel Castro does not have cancer or a terminal illness and will eventually return to public life, Cuban officials told visiting U.S. lawmakers in the communist government's most comprehensive denial of rumors about the ailing leader's health.
(snip)

U.S. officials have said they believe Fidel Castro suffers from some kind of inoperable cancer and will not live through the end of 2007. Some U.S. doctors have speculated he could have a colon condition called diverticulosis, which is relatively common among older people.
(snip)

The 75-year-old Raul Castro has appeared increasingly confident in his new role since July. The younger Castro has called on two occasions for normalized relations and improved dialogue with the United States. The visit by the U.S. lawmakers was a response to that call, said William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat.

"It's incumbent on us, representing the first branch of our democracy, to come here and to state that we are willing to engage in a sincere and open dialogue, and that everything is on the table," he said.

The trip "underscores the desire for a change in policy that we believe is embraced by most Americans," he said.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/18/news/CB_GEN_Cuba_US.php

[Judi Lynn]

1. Newsday: For U.S., it's close but no cigar with Cuba

For U.S., it's close but no cigar with Cuba
BY J. JIONI PALMER
Newsday Washington Bureau

December 17, 2006, 11:46 PM EST

HAVANA -- A contingent of U.S. lawmakers left here Sunday without meeting with the nation's leader, but in agreement that a possible U.S.-Cuba prisoner swap might open a way to improve relations.

The 10-member bipartisan contingent -- the largest delegation of U.S. Congress members to visit this country since the socialist revolution in 1959 -- met Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcon and Basic Industries Minister Yadira Garcia over the course of their three-day visit.
(snip)

Rep. Gregory Meeks of Far Rockaway said ideally the visit would result in a "change of course" on the U.S. side from a policy based on undermining the Cuban government by punishing the population, to one guided by humanitarian aims.
(snip)

"We know there are fugitives from American justice here, and there are some in U.S. custody who are of interest to Cuba," Flake said. "Perhaps there is the basis of an agreement there."
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wocuba1218,0,6076698.story?coll=ny-leadworldnews-headlines

[Mika]

3. Fugitives vs. persons of interest

I guess that the persons of interest are airline bombers/ mass murderers Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada (among others, terrorist/murderers/commandos like Rodolfo Frometa of Alpha 66 notoriety that the US gov is harboring/protecting)?

[Judi Lynn]

4. Could be, or it also might be the 5 men who came to watch the Cuban "exile" terrorists in Miami

and gathered their evidence, took it to the FBI to ask for their help, and got thrown in jail, themselves, for spying, and have been there 6 years, even though a higher court REVERSED THEIR CONVICTIONS and:

.....The appellate judges concluded, "Pervasive community prejudice against Fidel Castro and the Cuban government and its agents and the publicity surrounding the trial and other community events combined to create a situation where they were unable to obtain a fair and impartial trial.Their decision concurred with an earlier UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruling, which found the conviction of the Cuban Five "arbitrary" and against international law.
(snip)

http://www.counterpunch.org/landau09032005.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There aren't so many other Cuban (from Cuba) prisoners here, as you know, because _Bush doesn't want them to be punished when they terrorize Cuban citizens.

On May 20, 2002, the Secret Service allowed Sixto Reynaldo Aquit Manrique (<a.k.a>. El Chino Aquit) to sit a few rows behind the President on the platform as he spoke in Miami. The President's security detail knew that, on November 2, 1994, the FBI anti-terrorism squad nailed Aquit after he and two colleagues had "pulled up to a Southwest Dade warehouse...armed with 10 gallons of gas, fuses, and a loaded semiautomatic handgun." The November 4, 1994 Miami Herald story cited police saying, "The men smashed a window and tried to get inside before officers moved in."

A Florida court sentenced Aquit to five years in prison. Then, without explanation, the government accepted Aquit's guilty plea on a misdemeanor charge, which allowed him to skip prison and spend less than two years under house supervision. The government went soft on a man with a clear record of terrorism. You don't need Sherlock Holmes to find the reason. Aquit's terrorism was "patriotic zeal." He was a "good terrorist" who belonged to The Secret Armed Army, an anti-Castro group that advocates violence as the way to effect regime change in Cuba.

A year before his 1994 felony in Miami, Aquit allegedly fired a 50 caliber machine gun at a Cypriot tanker in Cuban waters. So, a good terrorist can sit close to the president without contradicting Bush's new security rules. Recall his September 20, 2001 address to Congress: "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists." Trying to sink a cargo ship and burn down a warehouse does not constitute terrorism if done with anti-Castro intentions. Imagine an Abu Reinaldo Bin Aquit trying to sit near the President! The Secret Service would have shot him. But Bush directs his anti-terrorism compulsion at people with Islamic roots, not zealous, patriotic anti-Castro Cubans whose passion compels them to use violence - even in the United States.

Bush (43) also disregarded strong opinions from the FBI and INS when he ordered the freeing from INS deportation custody of Virgilio Paz and Jose Dionisio Suarez, both confessed conspirators in the 1976 car-bombing murders of former Chilean Chancellor Orlando Letelier and his U.S. companion Ronni Moffitt in Washington DC.
(snip/...)

http://www.counterpunch.org/landau06052004.html



Sixto Reinaldo Aquit Manrique (aka, El Chino Aquit), sharing the platform with Bush in Miami, May 20, 2002. The UN Rapporteur cited Aquit firing a 50 caliber machine gun at a Cypriot tanker in Cuban waters in his 1994 annual report on human rights in Cuba.

(Mika, is that Ninoska Perez Castellon sitting diagonally to his left, in front of the kid with the white shirt and tie? It looks like her to me.)

(Sorry the photo's fuzzy, it's taken from a tv shot, obviously, with a picture-in-picture.)



El Chino Aquit in Prague

[Judi Lynn]

2. To see some great photos of the American Congress people in Havana,

see DU'er Say_What's post #15:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2654267#2654934

[Judi Lynn]

5. Alabama ag commissioner cooks in Cuba

Alabama ag commissioner cooks in Cuba
The Associated Press
December 18, 2006, 7:04PM EST

MONTGOMERY, Ala.

Ron Sparks went from state agriculture commissioner to cooking instructor during his latest multimillion-dollar trade mission to Cuba.

Sparks returned Sunday from a four-day trip to follow up on trade commitments made to Alabama companies during the Havana Trade Expo in November.

"Over the last several months, there have been many rumors as to the future of Cuba because of President Castro's health," Sparks said Monday. "We felt that it was important for us to make this trip because we want to ensure that no matter what happens with Cuba, that Alabama will be able to continue our trade relationship."

While in Cuba, Sparks and his staff used Alabama products to prepare a traditional Southern meal for Cuban officials. It included fried catfish from Southern Pride Catfish, cornbread, butter beans, green bean casserole, coleslaw, pecan pie with ice cream, and Red Diamond sweet tea.

During the lunch, Alimport Chairman Pedro Alvarez, who determines which products Cuba purchases from North American countries, received a cooking lesson from Sparks.
(snip/...)

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8M3IP5G4.htm



U.S. lawmakers attend a press conference at the National hotel in Havana, Sunday, Dec.17, 2006. Cuban officials told a group of visiting U.S. lawmakers that Fidel Castro does not have cancer or a terminal illness, denying rumors about the leader's health.
(AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

[Judi Lynn]

6. Canada to be helpful for Cuba-U.S. relations when Castro dies: U.S. official

Canada to be helpful for Cuba-U.S. relations when Castro dies: U.S. official
Jennifer Ditchburn, Canadian Press
Published: Monday, December 18, 2006 Article tools

OTTAWA (CP) - As the United States watches regime change in Cuba from the sidelines, Canada's long-standing relationship with the Communist country will prove "useful," says a top Washington official.

Tom Shannon, assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, was almost complimentary Monday when referring to Canada's open lines of communication with Cuba.

He said with President Fidel Castro reportedly near death, Cuba has been his top item of discussion as he travels internationally.

"I do believe that this government (in Canada) really is committed to promoting a democratic future for Cuba, and Canadians have been able to maintain relationships both with the regime and with members of Cuban society and Cuban dissidents, and that's no small feat," Shannon said during a briefing for Canadian reporters.

"There's only a few countries that have been able to do that."
(snip/...)

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c7ca8c19-2456-4526-b0aa-0c057cc1cdf7&k=45542