CUBA-POLITICS: Cuba Still Unsettled by Bomb Attacks

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jul 25 1997 (IPS) - President Fidel Castro leads celebrations Saturday for the annual commemoration of Cuba’s “rebellion day” but the fallout from bomb attacks on two hotels in Havana this month still affects city life.

The slightest unexpected noise, the sound of breaking glass, or a slight emission of smoke suddenly becomes suspect and there has been much speculation in political circles about how castro will handle the day’s festivities.

Rolando Vives, a professor at a Havana polytechnical school, offers this comment on recent attacks: “We have lived through some very bad moments, much worse than this current scenario, but I never thought I would witness such things.”

On Saturday, July 12, bombs exploded in the National and Capri hotels located in the heart of Havana’s most modern zone, leaving three people injured and causing some property damage. Since then rumours and sp[eculation have swept the capital on who was behind the incident.

Workers at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital informed IPS that several days after the explosion, the hospital – one of the most prestigious on the island – received a telephone threat that a bomb had been placed inside the building.

The hospital attends to the medical needs of Havana’s two most populous residential areas, and provides free specialized treatment – such as organ transplants – to Cubans in need. A laboratory worker said “we workers are taking turns keeping watch, thus increasing security vigilance. There is also a rigid order to check the bags of anyone entering the hospital.”

Other rumors circulated in the capital conceuning threats to tourist venues and other economically sensitive sites. One report said a foreign citizen accompanied by a Cuban women were detained for trying to place an explosive device in a tunnel under Havana Bay.

Until now, authorities have only confirmed attacks on the two hotels. These attacks have been referred to as an “enemy” attempt to damage the tourist industry, the most dynamic sector of Cuba’s economy since the beginning of the economic crisis in 1990.

On the day of the bombings, the interior ministry issued a communique saying it had evidence that the bomb – and the bombers – came from the United States. The president of Cuba’s parliament, later issued a curt appraisal of the incident as simply “terrorism”.

Then Eduardo Rodriguez de la Vega, Cuba’s Vice Minister of Tourism, said that the attacks were linked to Cuban exile groups exile in Miami acting in close collaboration with organizations very close to the Clinton Administration.

Rodriguez downplayed any possible damage this type of attack might have on the tourist industry, saying that flights into Cuba remain full and that tour operators report no alteration in their business activity.

A statement issued by Cuban Change, an exile organization based in Miami, said that the explosions were the result of “a remote control terrorist war guided overseas.” In Madrid, an exiled Cuban dissident said he received an anonymous call, supposedly from Cuba, in which a group called the Internal Resistance Army claimed responsibility for the hotel bombings.

Influential right-wing exile organizations say that “finally” internal opposition is gathering strength, and suggested a link between the bombings and someone close to the armed forces, or to Cuban security agencies.

Within Cuba, things are seen differently. While opposition voices deny any connection to violence, authorities maintain that these disruptive incidents are promoted from overseas. Nevertheless, the Cuban government has not denied the possibility of some internal involvement in the explposions.

The last act of sabotage of this sort that most Havanans recall, was an act of arson in May, 1980, which engulfed the Le Van Tam child care center in flames at the very moment a class of five-year-olds was leavbing the building. Earlier, in March, 1978, another 2 fires were declared acts of sabotage. One occurred at the Amadeo Roldan theater, one of the capital’s most elegant venues which had just undergone remodeling. The other fire took place at Valdes Rodriguez school.

A student at the University of Havana commented “I may be against many of the things that happen in this country but I am completely opposed to violence. In the end it solves nothing.”

A private taxicab driver who disagrees vehemently with the taxes he must pay to the Cuban government chose his words carefully. Not wishing to approve or disapprove of the explosions, he simply said: “Some people appear to have taken up arms.”

A 1994 poll conducted by the Costa Rican affiliate of the Gallup organization showed that most Cubans believe Castro’s revolution has resulted in more achievements than failures.

Of those polled, 47 percent considered themselves “revolutionary,”eight percent said they were “socialist”and 12 percent identified themselves as “communist.” Another 27 percent admitted they were not integrated into the government’s process at all.

The Gallup poll covered 75 percent of the nation’s territory and took place in the wake of anti-government disturbances on August 5, 1994, disturbances which led to the exodus of more than 30,000 Cubans to the United States.

A university professor who subscribes to the official version of the hotel bombings said: “Here, anyone who is against the government leaves the country.”