>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Unverified) > >from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >subject: Cuba press release 30 >PRESS RELEASE NO. 30 FOR ALL DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS >HAVANA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2000 > >MEXICO.- Cuban President Fidel Castro will be granted the "Benito >Juarez" International Award this year. The award honors the most >outstanding fighters for just causes, and is given by 23 countries >and 84 political associations. Berta Zapata Vela, from the Award's >Organizing Committee, said they decided to choose the revolutionary >leader as they considered him the greatest figure of the 20th >Century. She explained that after defeating the tyranny of Fulgencio >Batista, Fidel Castro was at the head of profound changes aimed at >developing different sectors in the country including health, >education, sports, culture, and farming, thus placing Cuba in >a privileged position amongst Third World countries. > >HAVANA.- Relatives, friends and neighbors of Jose Imperatori, former >Cuban diplomat accused of espionage in the U.S., support his >attitude, confident that the truth will finally be revealed. Until >Saturday, Imperatori was Cuban Interests Section in Washington's Vice >Consul. The U.S. implicated him in a case of espionage in Florida and >requested his withdrawal from the country. The former diplomat >decided to renounce his position and diplomatic immunity, stay in >Washington, and testify to his innocence. He also began a hunger >strike. On Sunday, a crowd gathered in front of the former >diplomat's house in support of his decision. > >WASHINGTON.- The rapidity demonstrated by the Federal Bureau >of Investigations (FBI) in the expulsion of the Cuban diplomat >accused of spying, raised suspicion in the U.S. yesterday, compared >with the country's intractability in the case of retained Cuban child >Elian Gonzalez. "If the FBI carried out the order to remove Jose >Imperatori in 24 hours, why are they taking so long to fulfill the >INS (U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service) decision regarding >Elian?" wondered Ana Julia Jatar, host of CNN's Spanish language >program Choque de Opiniones (Encounter of Opinions). Cuban Interest >Section in Washington officials last night confirmed that eight >FBI agents went to Imperatori's apartment in Bethesda, Maryland, to >escort him to the national airport, where an Agency plane was waiting >to fly him to Montreal, Canada. > >HAVANA.- The Cuban authorities yesterday confirmed that former >Cuban diplomat Jose Imperatori is now in Canada, and will maintain a >hunger strike in protest at the impossibility of demonstrating his >innocence in an accusation of spying. An official release read by a >television presenter indicates that Imperatori, former vice consul in >the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, is now in Ottawa. >Imperatori arrived in Montreal in the early hours of Sunday morning, >where he was received by Cuban Consul Pedro Garcia Roque. Half an >hour later, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuban Ambassador to Canada >arrived to meet him from Ottawa. Cuba criticized the way in which >the U.S. passed "its hot potato to Canada", involving it in the >problem, adding that the intervention of a third nation had never >been considered. The Island now wants to legalize Imperatori's stay >with Canada, until an honorable solution to the issue can be found. > >WASHINGTON.- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) yesterday >confirmed that Jose Imperatori, taken to Canada by FBI's agents in >fulfillment of an expulsion order for charges of spying in the U.S., >was scheduled to board a Cubana Airlines plane last night. Accused of >being the contact for Mariano Faget, the U.S. Immigration and >Naturalization Service (INS) official involved in an alleged >intelligence activity for the Cuban Government, the Cuban diplomat >was supposed to leave Montreal "last night at about 21:00 (local >time)", said Angela Bell, Agency spokeswoman. Escorted by FBI >agents to Canada, Imperatori could travel only to Havana, according >to Bell, who denied that FBI agents want to accompany the diplomat to >Cuba. > > HAVANA.- Today, a demand for economic damages, issued by Cuban >social and grass root organizations, will begin the presentation of >evidence stage, said official sources. According to press, a large >number of documents, witnesses and experts' conclusions are expected >to be presented by lawyers before the Court, which resides in the >former Supreme court building, now the Revolution Palace. The >evidence will prove U.S. government knowledge and participation in an >economic war carried out for more than 40 years, which has caused >loss and damage estimated at more than US$ 67 billion up >till now. The demand was issued on January 3 in the Havana Provincial >Court, inthe name of the Cuban people. > >HAVANA.- Partial elections scheduled for April 23 will be carried >out without individual political campaigns, according to Cuban >electoral law's principles and ethics. Preparations for the election >of delegates to local parliaments are now in the voting list >publication stage. Over 7,790 million Cubans, aged 16 years and over, >eligible to vote, are included in these lists. In March, proposals >for delegates will be made, and finally on April 23, elections will >take place by direct and secret ballot. > > *********** >Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: "ml" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "clancy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Jose Imperatori news >Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 > >(Official statement broadcast on Cuban television > >on February 27, 2000 at 2:10 p.m.) > >JOSÉ IMPERATORI REMAINS ON HUNGER STRIKE > >Last night, Saturday, at close to 12:00 midnight the Cuban >television network broadcast a report on the situation involving José >Imperatori based on the news gathered until 10:00 p.m. with regard to >the events that occurred at 8:35 p.m., when eight FBI agents burst >into the apartment where the former vice consul of our Interests >Section in Washington lived. > >Various television networks and other media were reporting rumors >that he was being taken to Canada. It was only after midnight that it >could be confirmed that he had arrived at the Montreal airport at >approximately that time. The Cuban Interests Section in Washington >alerted our embassy in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, to the >possibility of Imperatori’s arrival in that country. The Cuban >consulate in Montreal had also been alerted. > >Once they were relatively certain that the airplane taking Imperatori >was headed for the Montreal airport, the Cuban officials contacted >the Canadian immigration authorities who confirmed that the plane was >in fact expected there. First, it was said that it would arrive at >11:00 p.m.; later, then, that it would at 12:00 midnight. Two hours >before, Cuban Ambassador Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who was in >Ottawa, had been instructed to head for Montreal by car while the >consul in Montreal, who had also been alerted, prepared to receive >Imperatori. > >At that point, the circumstances under which Imperatori would arrive >in Canada remained unknown. Nothing was known about what had been >agreed upon between Canada and the United States: who had applied for >the visa and how, the time he would stay there, the way he would be >returned to Cuba and who was responsible for this unusual operation, >which was planned without any coordination whatsoever with the Cuban >authorities or diplomatic delegations. > >The leader of the FBI detail failed to say anything about their plans >either to the consul or the other Interests Section official who were >in the apartment at the time, and there was certainly no >communication with our Interests Section. As was reported in the >statement broadcast on Cuban television last night, all that was >known was that the Canadian embassy political attaché to the White >House was waiting for a response from our Interests Section to his >request that Imperatori make no statements to the press in the event >that he was expelled to Canada. > >The only information given to our diplomatic delegation in >Washington, announced by a State Department official at 11:00 a.m. >yesterday, was that the State Department planned to propose that >Imperatori be expelled and that the final decision would be made at >the top level. No third country was mentioned. It was assumed that he >would be sent directly to Cuba from New York or Florida, where there >are daily flights to our country. It had not occurred to anyone in >Cuba that they would try to use Canada for this purpose. > >As of 10:40 a.m. that day, they had been informed of the letter sent >by José Imperatori to the head of the Cuban Interests Section >submitting his resignation from his post and renouncing all >diplomatic immunity. There, he also stated his determination to >remain in the United States in order to expose the blatant lies and >slanders and the shameful maneuver with which the Miami mob hoped to >prevent the kidnapped child Elián González from being returned to his >family and homeland. > >The airplane used by the FBI agents to take Imperatori to Montreal >was apparently delayed at the Washington airport. It must have taken >off at around 10:00 p.m. The flight would take two hours. The agents >treated the prisoner under their custody with formal courtesy. They >told him that they knew he was on a hunger strike and on two >occasions they approached him to offer some liquid. Imperatori did >not accept even a glass of water. > >At the airport he was received by the Cuban consul general in >Montreal, Pedro García Roque, who took him to the consulate, a 25 >minutes drive. A half-hour later our ambassador arrived there from >Ottawa. At around 1:00 a.m., communication was established between >them and Cuba. Information was thus exchanged. In a matter of minutes >they received via fax the aforementioned statement broadcast on >television recounting what had happened at 8:35 p.m. on Saturday >night at the Washington apartment. > >There was bitter indignation on both sides of the line over the >blatant maneuver orchestrated in Washington. Nevertheless, >Imperatori’s spirit was unshakable. He was perfectly calm when he >read his message to the people of the United States declaring himself >on a hunger strike. He was perfectly calm at the time of his arrest >and upon arrival in Canada. He was perfectly calm while communicating >with Cuba from the consulate. One of the first things he said, firmly >and strongly, was: "I want to inform you that I will remain on a >hunger strike." > >He had been granted a visa for a 48-hour stay in Canada, which >neither Imperatori nor the Cuban Interests Section in Washington had >requested. Absolutely nothing had been arranged with the Cuban >authorities. The visa had simply been requested by the United States. >Acting on a strange blend of arrogance and impatience, the U.S. >authorities felt the need for our courageous compatriot, maliciously >slandered and determined to defend his personal honor and that of his >country, to be expelled that very Saturday. They were not prepared >for his reaction, his determination to sustain his claim, not on the >basis of force but with morale and truth as the most legitimate >defense against injustice. > >What the empire did was to move a man on a hunger strike from >Washington to Ottawa, tossing the hot potato to its neighbor, Canada, >a country that has thus become the victim of the other’s mistakes, >its overbearing policies and its typical contempt for peoples and >nations. > >José Imperatori has decided to keep up his protest. He refuses to >accept the outrageous manner in which he was arrested in Washington >and dumped on Canada. Our people are fully behind him because they >know that this is an injustice and because they understand that it >all stems from the monstrous crime of kidnapping a six-year-old Cuban >child and holding him for three months in the custody of a >repulsively perfidious and corrupt individual at the service of a >terrorist mob with overwhelming influence in Washington, thanks to >the ambitions of mediocre and corrupt politicians. > >There are three problems now, all of them extremely serious. Firstly, >there is the problem of the child, Elián González, held captive in >Miami. Secondly, there is a grave accusation of espionage, based on >totally false and unsustainable grounds, against a senior INS >official who provided great services to the United States throughout >34 years according to the U.S. authorities themselves, and which >involves two officials from our Interests Section in that country. >And thirdly, there is the newly erupted problem involving a decent >man who, far from running away from these slanderous accusations, is >demanding to appear before a U.S. federal court to testify and expose >the false charges made against him, as well as the absurd unilateral >action which morally condemns him. He has thus declared himself on a >hunger strike. > >The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed the Cuban >diplomatic delegation in Ottawa to request a meeting with the >Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for the following purposes: to >put forward the information contained in the statement broadcast >yesterday on the way the former Interests Section official in >Washington was arrested and expelled from the United States; to >provide the Canadian authorities with background information on this >case and the causes that gave rise to this problem; to explain that >Imperatori has decided to continue his hunger strike; and, to request >a visa that will permit Imperatori to remain in Canada for the >time needed to find an honorable solution to the problem created by >the grave and shameful events that have taken place. > >At approximately 4:00 a.m., José Imperatori arrived at the Cuban >embassy in the Canadian capital accompanied by the ambassador and the >Cuban consul in Montreal. There, he continues his fast as if pointing >an accusing finger at the dirty actions perpetrated against him. > >He is not accusing Canada. He is accusing the government of the >United States. Somebody tricked the Canadian authorities; somebody >lied to them. The fact is that the United States has also brought >that country into this problem. " JC > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
