CUBA-PANAMA: Diplomatic Crisis Is ‘Transitory’, says Leading Dissident

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Aug 27 2004 (IPS) - Cuban dissident Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo considered the diplomatic crisis between his country and Panama, triggered by the pardon of four Cuban exiles convicted of plotting to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro, a “transitory” situation.

“I hope that very soon, relations will be re-established and improved,” Gutiérrez Menoyo, a leading dissident who is in favour of dialogue with Cuba’s socialist government, told IPS. He pointed out that outgoing President Mireya Moscoso’s term ends next Wednesday in Panama.

In his view, Moscoso was subject to pressure from the United States to take a decision that perhaps “in her heart” she would have preferred to avoid.

He said, however, that Moscoso’s decision, which the Castro government predicted last weekend, makes certain sectors of the Cuban exile community in the United States “happy”.

“I believe this crisis is transitory” and that “very shortly, as soon as the new government begins to function, relations will improve,” said Gutiérrez Menoyo, who lived for years in Miami, the bastion of the anti-Castro Cuban exile community in the United States, but returned to Cuba a year ago.

Moscoso will hand over the presidential sash next Wednesday to Martín Torrijos, the son of late Gen. Omar Torrijos, who governed Panama from 1968 to 1978, and restored the severed diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1974.

The Cuban government confirmed Thursday in a statement that it was breaking off diplomatic relations “indefinitely”. Last Sunday, the government warned that it would take that step if Moscoso pardoned the four Cuban exiles.

On Thursday, Moscoso did so, and Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jiménez, Pedro Remón and Guillermo Novo were immediately released and left the country.

The four men were serving seven to eight year sentences, considered far too lenient by Cuba and civil society organisations involved in the case, which appealed. The appeal is still pending.

The four men were imprisoned in November 2000, when Castro accused them of planning an attempt on his life during a summit of Ibero-American presidents taking place at the time in Panama.

According to the verdict handed down by a Panamanian court, Posada Carriles and the others planned to place high-power explosives in the auditorium of the University of Panama and detonate them while Castro was speaking there.

The explosives found were powerful enough to destroy several city blocks and kill thousands of people, according to the Panamanian organisations concerned about the case.

Havana holds Posada Carriles responsible for planning the Oct. 1, 1976 explosion of a Cubana de Aviación airliner minutes after it took off from the Barbados airport. All 73 people on board were killed.

The notorious anti-Castro Cuban exile was sentenced to 11 years in prison by a Venezuelan court for the terrorist attack. But Posada Carriles only served part of his term, escaping from prison in Venezuela in 1985.

“The Cuban government also faces the pressure of the families of the victims of the Barbados case and has to demand justice,” said Gutiérrez Menoyo, the president and founder of Cuban Change, a U.S.-based dissident group.

The official communique released by Havana stated that “Moscoso did not even wait for Panama’s higher courts to reach a decision on the appeals process, which amounts to” a violation of the laws of that Central American country.

The government called the outgoing president “an accomplice of terrorism, who is responsible for the impunity enjoyed by the four assassins.” Moscoso cited humanitarian reasons in pardoning the four men.

Gutiérrez Menoyo pointed out that “The pardon has already taken place, there is no turning back, and the new Panamanian government will be free of pressure, it won’t have to carry the burden of that case.”

Last Sunday, the Cuban government threatened to cut off ties, saying it had heard from “friends” in Panama that Moscoso was planning to pardon the four men. The Panamanian leader then withdrew Ambassador Abraham Bárcenas from Havana and asked Cuban Ambassador Carlos Zamora to leave. Zamora returned to Havana late Wednesday.

The case had already caused moments of tension between the two countries. In 2001, Moscoso turned down a Cuban extradition request for the four men, despite the fact that Havana had promised not to apply the death penalty, which is not provided for by Panamanian legislation.