By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, May 7 2002 (IPS)

The release of Cuban dissident Vladimiro Roca has eliminated one of the touchiest issues on the agenda of former United States president Jimmy Carter (1977-81), set to visit Cuba next Sunday.

Roca was the only one of the so-called Group of Four who served out nearly his entire sentence, despite the fact that even Pope John Paul II interceded on his behalf.

Carter will remain in Cuba for four days, on the invitation of Cuban President Fidel Castro, but the official programme of his visit has not been announced.

Dissident groups hope to meet with Carter, who has described his trip as a mission “of exchange of viewpoints and exploration.”

Roca, a 59-year-old ex-combat pilot, left the prison in Ariza, near the city of Cienfuegos in central Cuba, 336 kms from Havana, on Sunday, around one and a half months before the end of his five- year term.

But Elizardo Sánchez, the head of the illegal, albeit tolerated, Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), as well as Roca himself said they saw no link between the dissident leader’s release and Carter’s visit.

“We see no cause and effect relation, because this had been decided long ago by the authorities. Although if it is a coincidence, we think it is a happy one,” Sánchez told IPS.

Roca said that “I was told back in 2000 that my sentence would be reduced by 70 days.”

Roca, the son of the late Communist thinker Blas Roca, was convicted of “sedition” and sentenced to five years on Mar 1, 1999, although he had been in prison since 1997.

The members of the group headed by Roca were arrested after releasing a document titled La Patria es de Todos (The Fatherland is for/of All), in July 1997, calling for political reforms, and urging voters to boycott elections.

Convicted along with Roca were Félix Bonne, Martha Beatriz Roque and René Gómez, who received lighter sentences and were freed one by one before completing their terms.

Roca’s release “is positive, although a bit late,” the secretary-general of the dissident Cuban Democratic Socialist Current, Manuel Cuesta Murúa, told IPS.

He said Roca’s freeing “could be a political gesture” towards the former U.S. president, “who is committed to defending human rights through the route of dialogue.”

The Carter administration’s policies eased tension between Washington and Havana, and several steps were taken towards reaching some sort of understanding.

Carter’s greatest achievement in that sense, which remains in effect today, was an agreement that paved the way for the opening of Cuban and U.S. interests sections. The offices, which were opened simultaneously in Havana and Washington on Sep 1, 1977, provide consular services and serve as channels of communication between the two governments, whose diplomatic ties were severed in 1961.

However, tension began to rise again towards the end of the Carter administration, when more than 125,000 Cubans headed to the U.S. state of Florida in rafts and other precarious watercraft in 1980.

The so-called Mariel exodus triggered one of the worst migration crises in decades, and Carter was maligned by Cuba’s state-dominated press.

“Carter is demonstrating generosity by coming to Cuba despite the insults of which he was a target,” said Sánchez, recalling the incidents surrounding the exodus of “Marielitos”.

In the human rights activist’s view, Carter’s visit will have a positive impact on Cuban-U.S. relations, which “could not be any worse” than they are now.

“The two governments should take advantage of this unique occasion, because the great majority of Cubans want good bilateral relations, marked by cooperation and good-neighbourliness,” said Sánchez.

Cuesta Murúa, meanwhile, noted that Carter was opposed to the four-decades-old U.S. embargo against Cuba, and that his visit would likely fuel the efforts of business groups and other sectors in the United States that advocate a shift in Washington’s policy towards Havana.

The U.S. blockade against Cuba’s socialist regime, in effect since the early 1960s and stiffened in 1996 by the Helms-Burton Act, bans economic and commercial ties between the two countries.

On May 2, Carter met with a delegation of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), which represents the most fervently anti-Castro sector of the Cuban exile community in Miami, as part of the preparations for his trip, the first visit to Cuba by a former U.S. president in over 40 years.

According to CANF president Jorge Más, his organisation asked the former president “to meet with the dissidents…and to press for democracy and human rights.”

On his part, Sánchez, who frequently meets with high-level foreign delegations in Havana, said “I am almost certain that there will be a meeting with Carter.”

The activist estimated that there are more than 200 political prisoners in Cuba, a country of 11 million – “in relative terms, one of the largest numbers (of political prisoners) in the world.”

But Sánchez stressed that he did not expect any “miracle” from the visit by Carter, who he described as a world-renowned and highly-respected humanist, “nor do I hope for spectacular results. The situation in our country is complex, and it is up to Cubans to work things out,” he added.

The Reflection Panel of the Moderate Opposition, an umbrella of five dissident groups, said Carter’s visit may contribute to easing relations between Cuba and the United States.

“It is also important to continue fostering a debate on Cuba’s human rights record, and on improving the situation here,” said the opposition coalition.

Excerpt:

By Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, May 7 2002 (IPS)

The release of Cuban dissident Vladimiro Roca has eliminated one of the touchiest issues on the agenda of former United States president Jimmy Carter (1977-81), set to visit Cuba next Sunday.

Roca was the only one of the so-called Group of Four who served out nearly his entire sentence, despite the fact that even Pope John Paul II interceded on his behalf.

Carter will remain in Cuba for four days, on the invitation of Cuban President Fidel Castro, but the official programme of his visit has not been announced.

Dissident groups hope to meet with Carter, who has described his trip as a mission “of exchange of viewpoints and exploration.”

Roca, a 59-year-old ex-combat pilot, left the prison in Ariza, near the city of Cienfuegos in central Cuba, 336 kms from Havana, on Sunday, around one and a half months before the end of his five- year term.

But Elizardo Sánchez, the head of the illegal, albeit tolerated, Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), as well as Roca himself said they saw no link between the dissident leader’s release and Carter’s visit.

“We see no cause and effect relation, because this had been decided long ago by the authorities. Although if it is a coincidence, we think it is a happy one,” Sánchez told IPS.

Roca said that “I was told back in 2000 that my sentence would be reduced by 70 days.”

Roca, the son of the late Communist thinker Blas Roca, was convicted of “sedition” and sentenced to five years on Mar 1, 1999, although he had been in prison since 1997.

The members of the group headed by Roca were arrested after releasing a document titled La Patria es de Todos (The Fatherland is for/of All), in July 1997, calling for political reforms, and urging voters to boycott elections.

Convicted along with Roca were Félix Bonne, Martha Beatriz Roque and René Gómez, who received lighter sentences and were freed one by one before completing their terms.

Roca’s release “is positive, although a bit late,” the secretary-general of the dissident Cuban Democratic Socialist Current, Manuel Cuesta Murúa, told IPS.

He said Roca’s freeing “could be a political gesture” towards the former U.S. president, “who is committed to defending human rights through the route of dialogue.”

The Carter administration’s policies eased tension between Washington and Havana, and several steps were taken towards reaching some sort of understanding.

Carter’s greatest achievement in that sense, which remains in effect today, was an agreement that paved the way for the opening of Cuban and U.S. interests sections. The offices, which were opened simultaneously in Havana and Washington on Sep 1, 1977, provide consular services and serve as channels of communication between the two governments, whose diplomatic ties were severed in 1961.

However, tension began to rise again towards the end of the Carter administration, when more than 125,000 Cubans headed to the U.S. state of Florida in rafts and other precarious watercraft in 1980.

The so-called Mariel exodus triggered one of the worst migration crises in decades, and Carter was maligned by Cuba’s state-dominated press.

“Carter is demonstrating generosity by coming to Cuba despite the insults of which he was a target,” said Sánchez, recalling the incidents surrounding the exodus of “Marielitos”.

In the human rights activist’s view, Carter’s visit will have a positive impact on Cuban-U.S. relations, which “could not be any worse” than they are now.

“The two governments should take advantage of this unique occasion, because the great majority of Cubans want good bilateral relations, marked by cooperation and good-neighbourliness,” said Sánchez.

Cuesta Murúa, meanwhile, noted that Carter was opposed to the four-decades-old U.S. embargo against Cuba, and that his visit would likely fuel the efforts of business groups and other sectors in the United States that advocate a shift in Washington’s policy towards Havana.

The U.S. blockade against Cuba’s socialist regime, in effect since the early 1960s and stiffened in 1996 by the Helms-Burton Act, bans economic and commercial ties between the two countries.

On May 2, Carter met with a delegation of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), which represents the most fervently anti-Castro sector of the Cuban exile community in Miami, as part of the preparations for his trip, the first visit to Cuba by a former U.S. president in over 40 years.

According to CANF president Jorge Más, his organisation asked the former president “to meet with the dissidents…and to press for democracy and human rights.”

On his part, Sánchez, who frequently meets with high-level foreign delegations in Havana, said “I am almost certain that there will be a meeting with Carter.”

The activist estimated that there are more than 200 political prisoners in Cuba, a country of 11 million – “in relative terms, one of the largest numbers (of political prisoners) in the world.”

But Sánchez stressed that he did not expect any “miracle” from the visit by Carter, who he described as a world-renowned and highly-respected humanist, “nor do I hope for spectacular results. The situation in our country is complex, and it is up to Cubans to work things out,” he added.

The Reflection Panel of the Moderate Opposition, an umbrella of five dissident groups, said Carter’s visit may contribute to easing relations between Cuba and the United States.

“It is also important to continue fostering a debate on Cuba’s human rights record, and on improving the situation here,” said the opposition coalition.

Excerpt: