IBEROAMERICA: Cuban Exiles Draw Spotlight to Fidel Castro

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Nov 5 1997 (IPS) - Reports on a planned attempt on Cuban President Fidel Castro’s life and the expulsion of Cuban exiles from the Venezuelan island of Margarita, the host of the Seventh Iberian American summit, have trained the publicity spotlight on the charismatic leader.

As usual in Castro’s overseas visits, he has become the “star” of the gathering, even before the heads of state and government of 19 Latin American nations plus Spain and Portugal meet at this weekend’s summit.

To the usual reports on summit security measures was added the news of last week’s arrest off the coast of Puerto Rica of four nationalised U.S. citizens of Cuban origin who allegedly aimed to kill Castro during the summit.

Another group of Cuban exiles who were planning a press conference to protest Castro’s participation in the gathering were arrested on Margarita Monday and expelled from the island by Venezuelan police.

Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera and several of his ministers later apologised for the measure which they said had been taken by mid-level police authorities as part of their efforts to guarantee security and order during the summit, whose preliminary meetings got underway Wednesday.

‘Granma’, the official publication of Cuba’s governing Communist Party and the only daily circulating in the Caribbean island nation published reports on both incidents without any comment from the government.

According to ‘El Nuevo Herald’, the leading newspaper of the U.S. Cuban community, the boat ‘La Esperanza’, belonging to a leader of the Miami-based National Cuban-American Foundation, was seized Oct. 28 by the U.S. Coast Guard after it broke down.

The crew members, of Cuban origin, had 50-calibre Barret semi- automatic assault rifles and seven boxes of ammunition stashed away under a false floor.

A former member of the U.S. armed forces who asked not to be identified told El Nuevo Herald that the rifles were high precision weapons used against very specific targets, often in attacks on armoured vehicles.

According to a sworn declaration by special customs agent Ismael Padilla, the captain of ‘La Esperanza’, Angel Manuel Alfonso, admitted that he planned to shoot Castro.

Granma cited press dispatches from Puerto Rico reporting that U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) spokeswoman Sara Lema had confirmed that the investigation had been put under the federal agency’s jurisdiction.

Although numerous reports on attempts on Castro’s life have cropped up since he took power in 1959, this is the first time alleged preparations for an attack have been denounced on the occasion of an Iberian American summit.

Castro, whose travels abroad are surrounded by the utmost reserve, has never missed one of the gatherings of Iberian American leaders, who have met every year since the first summit in 1991 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“The reports on this failed terrorist act have led the Venezuelan government to step up maritime and air security around Margarita island,” said Granma.

The theme of this year’s summit is the ethical principles of democracy, and several leaders are expected to urge Cuba to implement political reforms, as occurred last year in Chile.

Reports in recent months have indicated that Spain, Argentina, and Nicaragua would accuse Castro of signing collective commitments to democracy with which he later fails to comply.

But Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina said this week that “there are no off-limits subjects in families,” and that Cuba would “gladly respond to respectful questions.”

Robaina maintained that the United States could not tolerate free, independent and pluralistic meetings in the Americas, and that it was plotting to divide the participants and keep the Iberian American summits from continuing to gain strength.

“Lamentably, some have echoed those aims and – according to press reports – act as spokespersons for the North, without realising that by acting against Cuba, they are conspiring against themselves and against regional unity,” he added.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Burelli said this week that his government would not allow anti-Castro groups to stage public demonstrations in Margarita, even though the demands of Cuban exiles “deserve respect” and “have been taken into account.”

The minister told IPS in Caracas that a democratic form of government was not a requisite for participating in the Iberian American summits, which emerged as an attempt to promote a community of nations united by a common history, culture and identity.

He also said there were “apparently outside interests” aiming to separate Cuba from the group – an allusion to the United States, which has had a clear influence on the positions of Argentine President Carlos Menem and Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman.

There have also been reports that Washington is trying to convince several leaders to refrain from attending the Ninth Iberian American Summit, scheduled for 1999 in Cuba.

Around two million people have left Cuba since the 1959 revolution, for economic and political reasons and to join family abroad.

Part of the exile community stepped up its activities against the Castro regime after Havana and Washington signed an immigration accord in 1995 in which the United States promised to send home any undocumented Cuban immigrant attempting to enter U.S. territory.