U.S. baseball defeat a birthday present for Castro

[Say_What]

<clips>

The Cubans beat the United States 3-2 on Tuesday night in the Dominican Republic to win the Pan American Games baseball gold medal for the ninth time in a row.

The triumphant players chanted "Viva Cuba, Viva Fidel" on the field at the end of the game and dedicated their gold medals to Castro for his birthday.

At a concert staged by Cuba's Communist Youth on Havana's Malecon waterfront, 3,000 people watched the baseball victory on a giant screen and, at midnight, performers cut a large cake for Castro as the band played the happy birthday tune.

Elian Gonzalez, the shipwrecked boy who was at the center of a custody battle between Cuba and exiles in Miami in 2000, wished Castro all the best for the day in a letter published by the youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth).

<http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/08/13/cuba.castro.birthday.reut/index.html>

---

Players and the team doctor for Cuba's national baseball team celebrate victory over the U.S. in the Pan American Games.
<>

[SpiralHawk]

1. Oooo - that hurts

A sharp slap in the face for baseball-man George AWOL Bush -- a former owner of the Texas Rangers.

You can bet Fidel is lighting up a MAJOR FRIKKING STOGIE right now to celebrate, and to flick his ashes in the general direction of Senor Arbusto at the Pig Farm in Crawford, TX.

I take this as a -- cOsmiQue sPoRts oMen -- that Bush is losing. More and more each day, he is being encircled by his KARMA and his family's KARMA. Losing....

And as for the rest of us: drop 10 pushups right now and then report to the dugout for extra training.

[Mika]

2. Fidel doesn't smoke em any more

He won a UN health award in the 90's for leading the anti-smoking health campaign in Cuba, led by Castro swearing off the stogies forever and sticking to it.

A Conversation With Fidel
http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Profiles/People_Profile/0,2540,4,00.html

Castro: Later I did not smoke because of reasons of health. Many people in our country were against smoking. I didn't not smoke because I didn't like cigars. I was very much in the habit. But there was a whole national movement against smoking.

Shanken: In what year was this?

Castro: I can't remember exactly. It was '84 or '85. No. It was on Aug. 26, 1985. It was when there was a general health issue in Cuba against smoking. At first, I thought that I would simply try not to smoke in public for this campaign against smoking, and I did not make a commitment to it. I used to be with a cigar in my mouth all the time. I always had a cigar. When I was with a foreigner in a meeting like this, I would be smoking my cigars. Pictures would show me smoking cigars, or in an interview on television I was smoking cigars. And then the interview would be shown on television here, and you can imagine what people would think watching me smoke my cigars. Then I came to a decision that to really launch a campaign against smoking, I had to set the example and quit smoking. That was why I quit smoking. As I had a very strong motive, it was easier for me. I not only had a strong commitment; I had a strong motive. So, it was not so hard for me to stop smoking.

People used to ask me if I still smoked when I was alone because it seemed impossible to them that I could quit smoking cigars after all those years. I must be smoking at home.

Shanken: I question that, too. It's hard to believe that you've stopped completely.

Castro: I said, look, in order to smoke, you need some accomplices. You need somebody to buy the cigars for you. You need somebody to hide the ashes that are left around. You need at least three, four, five accomplices who know that you are smoking cigars. They would know that you are doing something like that. They would know that you are smoking behind closed doors, and I wouldn't want three, four or five people knowing that I was deceiving others. So I chose not to do that.

Shanken: You are saying that you do not smoke even in the privacy of your home by yourself?

Castro: No.

Shanken: Not even a puff?

Castro: No. No.

Shanken: Not even a little puff?

Castro: Not one....A few days ago, I was in a meeting with a large Spanish firm. It was Tabacalera . And they were analyzing different cigars and all that. And I did not try any cigars, even though it might have benefited our economic relations with them. I remember the quality of cigars and how a great cigar should be. (He picks up a Cohiba Esplendido.) They should not be too compact. And they should burn very evenly. Even if you light them in one corner, they soon come to an even burn. With other cigars, if you do that, they continue to burn unevenly throughout the smoke.

[Say_What]

3. Cuba always excels at sports. They've been kicking ass the

entire week. The US also lost the gold to Cuba's women's basketball team.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - The rematch was a bust, too.

The Cuban women's basketball team beat the United States for the fifth straight time Saturday, defeating the poor-shooting Americans 75-64 for the gold medal at the Pan American Games.

The Cubans erupted after their win, with reserve players draped in the country's flag leaping off the bench and onto the floor to celebrate.

"This is a very triumphant moment for Cuba," said Yamile Martinez, who led her team with 21 points and six rebounds.

In the fifth meeting of the teams in an 18-day span, Cuba used many of the same tactics it did in winning the first four matchups: Pound the ball inside, push the tempo and make shots - including several uncontested layups - and play great defense.

<http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0810panam0810.html>

[Judi Lynn]

21. In reference to your statement, "Cuba always excels at sports."

They would have cleaned up at the events held in the U.S. (was it last week?) if _Bush's State Department claimed it couldn't get the visas processed so the athletes could attend the games held here. I think the archers were supposed to be among the best, and they were kept out.

Reminds you of the Orlando Bosch/Luis Posada Carriles bombing of the Cubana airliner, carrying the Olympic championship fencing team, too.

73 souls murdered in that one, thanks to certain "exiles'" mindless hatred.

[Say_What]

6. Cohibas, etc...

[Say_What]

4. Cuba wins ninth straight gold medal at Pan Am Games

....Cuban fans stood on their seats dancing to festive music played by an eight-piece band next to Cuba's dugout. Even the games' official mascot, Tito, joined in the fiesta, shaking his giant green manatee costume to the music as he mingled in the crowd.

"It's a great atmosphere for baseball," U.S. coach Ray Tanner said. "This is what it's all about. Much like the U.S., they have a tremendous passion for baseball. And they've been very successful."

Four Cuban flags were draped over the dugout, and many smaller ones were waved by fans, who chanted "Cu-ba! Cu-ba!" Two men held cardboard signs reading "Cuba Campeon" -- Cuba champion.

"Their whole delegation is probably here," U.S. left fielder Danny Putnam said

<http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2003/08/12/pan_am_games_ap/>

[Judi Lynn]

17. Ha! Found a photo of the manatee mascot!

Very handsome!

Tito, the Pan Am Games manatee mascot.

Also, a very young Fidel Castro.



By the way, Say_What, that photo you posted of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara is exceptional. Is it possible it was taken by Alberto Korda?

[Judi Lynn]

5. Pssst. Look!

Fidel Castro played baseball. I read he also was a great basketball player as a yout'.




When the honestly elected former President Jimmy Carter went to Cuba, he and Fidel Castro attended a baseball game there.




Baltimore Orioles, in an exhibition game against the Cuban All-Stars in Havana, Cuba.

[Say_What]

7. If I'm not mistaken,

Fidel excelled in all sports. According to what I've read, there was nothing he wasn't good at.

Nice pix, JudiLyn!

:-)

[Judi Lynn]

10. Thanks, Say_What! I love looking for these things.

The internet gives you so many chances to find great photos, right?

I've heard Fidel Castro was an outstanding athlete, too, as in REALLY good at sports.

Do you remember hearing that Cuban "exiles" hate the Baltimore Orioles, for its practice of playing games with the Cuban baseball players?

Found an interesting article on this, and you can see they are prepared to drop a lot of money into protesting Baltimore, too. I'd be fit to be tied if we learn at some point the money they are paying to charter planes and buses to protest in Baltimore ALSO comes from the U.S. taxpayers!!!! Teeth-grinding!

(snip) Cuban and U.S. ball players may be planning nine innings of the Great American Pastime. But anti-Castro activists are already engaged in a different sport: They are trying to transform the game into a platform for political protest -- both against Fidel Castro and the U.S. policy of people-to-people contacts that is bringing the game to Baltimore. (snip)

(snip) Two busloads of mostly elderly exiles leave from Miami on Sunday night. The trip is free, thanks to a $7,000 contribution from an anonymous South Floridian, said Arthur Estopinan, aide to Florida's Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The Miami contingent plans to link up with a 15- to 20-bus caravan from New Jersey being organized by the Cuban American National Foundation.

But CANF regional director Remberto Perez said protest organizers were refused their request, brokered by New Jersey Democratic Rep. Robert Menendez, to buy a 500-seat block inside the stadium -- then were told Tuesday that anyone who unfurls posters or flags will be warned once and ejected the second time.

Now anti-Castro activists are debating whether to protest only outside the stadium -- or to also sit inside, in pairs, for smaller private protests like Montaner's.

Also, the Orioles are seeking a ban on air traffic over the downtown Baltimore stadium -- to ground planes hired to tow such slogans as We Are One People Divided by One Man and Beisbol sí, tiranía no, Yes to baseball, no to tyranny. (snip/...)

http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/limitvoice.html

By the way, I'd dearly love to see what a green manatee mascot looks like!

[Say_What]

14. I went looking for something related to Menoyo and the game your

article refers to and came up with this. Only the wannabe exiles could f*ck up a baseball game, oh and yeah, the Grammies.

<clips>

...Some 1,500 opponents of Castro, inside and outside the stadium, showed their discontent with the man they consider "an implacable dictator." To show an image of tolerance, Castro invited Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, the head of a Cuban exile group called Cuban Change, to attend the game. Menoyo - who spent 22 years in a Cuban jail - declared that Castro's gesture was a positive event during this time of tensions and strong repression against dissidents in Cuba.

Menoyo in recent years has represented a moderate U.S. current in favor of a U.S. dialogue with the Cuban government, but he has been unable to win many concessions from Castro since he left prison and came to the United States. Cuba repeatedly has refused to give Menoyo permission to open an office for his political party in Havana.

Nevertheless, the Castro government has allowed Menoyo to visit his second fatherland any time that he wishes since his release from prison. Menoyo also is not attacked verbally as are other opponents of the Cuban government. Menoyo was born in Spain.

To prevent an incident between pro- and anti-Castro people, the Baltimore police took strong measures on behalf of the security of the Cuban delagation. The U.S. authorities rejected a petition by a group of exiles to fly a plane over the ball stadium and to drop leaflets critical of the island regime. The U.S. as well as the Cuban authorities wanted peace and tranquility. They got their wishes.

http://www.cubafreepress.org/art/cubap990504g.html

---

Speaking of Menoyo, there is an opinon piece on him today in the Miami Herald if you want to check it out.

<clips>

Changes among Cuban Americans

What are we to make of Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo's decision to remain in Cuba? To answer that, we first have to figure out what it was: A reverse defection? A re-defection? A courageous anti-Castro act? The act of a secret Castro collaborator?

Gutiérrez-Menoyo's wife, Gladys, says that it's the act of a Cuban patriot who wants to reconcile Cubans abroad and on the island. ''He still wants to achieve the revolution that he fought for many years ago,'' she says. I spoke with her last Thursday at the Gutiérrez-Menoyos' home in Southwest Miami-Dade.

She was flanked on the couch by their three sons -- Miguel, Alex and Carlos, ages 9, 11 and 13 respectively. They say that they learned that Gutiérrez-Menoyo would remain in Cuba only when they got to José Martí Airport after a 17-day vacation.

Gutiérrez-Menoyo has lived in exile here for the last 17 years and led a moderate group called Cambio Cubano (Cuban Change). He hasn't always been a moderate. After leading his own guerrilla movement to topple Batista (and arriving in Havana before Fidel Castro), Gutiérrez-Menoyo turned against Castro and fled the island. In Miami, he co-founded Alpha 66 and, with three others, sneaked into Cuba in 1964 hoping to start a rural uprising. He was caught, convicted and sentenced to death. He spent 22 years in prison before the Castro regime released him at the urging of Spain's prime minister.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/6519214.htm

[Mika]

18. Michael Putney is a whore

Michael Putney is a CANF/Diaz-Balart whore. :puke:

[Judi Lynn]

20. Unbelievable, Mika

I looked him up in google and learned he's the beast who "moderated" the gubernatorial debate between McBride and JEB.

I live far from Florida, and watched it intently, I think on C-Span. Right off the bat, it was obvious the moderator was giving McBride a very, very unpleasant reception. He was hideous, blatant, smug.

Just found this article, after you mentioned he's pro-Miami Mafia. Figures, by now.

(snip) Michael Putney's moderation of Friday's gubernatorial debate was extremely biased. His performance marred what should have been an opportunity for Florida voters to contrast the party nominees. Several times he gave extra time to Gov. Bush under some "fairness" doctrine, apparently of his own making. In addition, he attributed statements to McBride and either had Bush refute them or asked McBride to defend them. And halfway through the debate, he tried to tar McBride as a tax-and-spend "big government guy."

After the candidates responded to the question of how they were different, Putney addressed the governor: "You said that Mr. McBride would take the state of Florida back to the old ways. Are you saying, essentially, that he is a classic tax-and-spend big government kind of guy?" Outrageous. At the end of Bush's reply, you could see that McBride was clearly trying to get Putney to allow him to respond, but Putney ignored him. This was absolutely the low point of the debate. What Putney should have done was introduce the questions which were pre-recorded and have the candidates respond to them, then move along to the next question.

This debate lacked any semblance of fairness, and the people have Michael Putney to thank for that. He should never again be allowed to moderate a debate. His qualifications as a reporter should be seriously questioned. (snip/...)

http://sptimes.com/2002/10/01/Opinion/Debate_marred_by_perf.shtml


BOOO Putney!

[Say_What]

23. Well, yeah, it's a requirement for working at the Miami Herald

;-)

[Judi Lynn]

19. How interesting!

So they got 1,500 "exiles" all together for the trip to Baltimore for one ball game. Amazing.

It's wry that they made a big thing of visiting a statue of Jose Marti. He was absolutely unlike the hardrightwingnut extremists in Miami, in every way.

He fought his entire life against the kind of corrupt, brutal madness which ruled Cuba for the thirty + years Batista was either visable or running things from behind the scene, the kind of life which favored brutal, materialistic people like the losers who fled to Miami right after the revolution.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The article from the Miami Herald would NEVER lead anyone to believe it coddles that mob, right? Down right unprofessional, actually. It's a total sell-out to the worst among them, the same element which conducted a terror campaign against David Lawrence, the Herald's old publisher, by piling human feces all over the Herald's newspaper vending machines in Miami, and sending death threats, bomb threats to the publisher and editors. The Herald apparently found it could pander to gusanos, and make a handsome profit at it, too.

So the Miami Cuban mafia has figured out that Gutierrez Menoyo first staged a counter revolutionary event, spent 22 years in prison, and now is returning to Cuba, after living for ages in Miami, to become a revolutionary again. Now that's impressive!

The last paragraph from the article:

Still, Gutiérrez-Menoyo has demonstrated that he has no use for that industry or for U.S. government help. ''I'm independent,'' he said. ''I'm not manipulated by the (U.S.) Interests Section.'' We'll soon see if he's manipulated by Castro.

Oh, PLEEEEZE!

Thanks for the hearty snicker!

[Say_What]

24. Radio Progresso Menoyo interview in 'Neighbors to the South' section

<clips>

This interview was conducted last Friday, August 8, for the Francisco Aruca radio program, “Ayer en Miami.” There is no added commentary and/or analysis.

His decision for staying in Cuba involves different legal and political aspects that our readers should bear in mind. This is our first encounter, a kind of initial approach. I should also state that up to the moment there has been no official statement, and I haven’t been the only correspondent in search of his declarations.

In late 1960, early 1961, former rebel commander Gutiérrez Menoyo had a fallout with Cuba’s revolutionary government and left illegally for Miami. In 1964, he infiltrated the eastern coast of the island with a small armed expedition and was promptly captured. He served 22 years in prison and in 1986 went into Miami exile. There he founded Cambio Cubano (Cuban Change) an organization self-defined as moderate that promotes dialogue as a way to force an evolution of the Cuban government.

In 1995 he participated together with several hundred Cuban émigrés in a dialogue sponsored by the Cuban government. On that occasion he met privately with President Fidel Castro. Last August 7, Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, who was visiting the island with his wife and three younger children, decided to send his family back home, but he remained in Cuba. His decision has called the attention of international news media; it has also raised a flurry of contradictory opinions among exiles in Miami, as well as declarations from members of the internal opposition in Cuba.

http://www.rprogreso.com/

[Say_What]

15. I went looking for this article about Menoyo that I believe is the same

game article refers to and came up with this. Only the wannabe exiles could f*ck up a baseball game, oh and yeah, the Grammies.

<clips>

...Some 1,500 opponents of Castro, inside and outside the stadium, showed their discontent with the man they consider "an implacable dictator." To show an image of tolerance, Castro invited Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, the head of a Cuban exile group called Cuban Change, to attend the game. Menoyo - who spent 22 years in a Cuban jail - declared that Castro's gesture was a positive event during this time of tensions and strong repression against dissidents in Cuba.

Menoyo in recent years has represented a moderate U.S. current in favor of a U.S. dialogue with the Cuban government, but he has been unable to win many concessions from Castro since he left prison and came to the United States. Cuba repeatedly has refused to give Menoyo permission to open an office for his political party in Havana.

Nevertheless, the Castro government has allowed Menoyo to visit his second fatherland any time that he wishes since his release from prison. Menoyo also is not attacked verbally as are other opponents of the Cuban government. Menoyo was born in Spain.

To prevent an incident between pro- and anti-Castro people, the Baltimore police took strong measures on behalf of the security of the Cuban delagation. The U.S. authorities rejected a petition by a group of exiles to fly a plane over the ball stadium and to drop leaflets critical of the island regime. The U.S. as well as the Cuban authorities wanted peace and tranquility. They got their wishes.

http://www.cubafreepress.org/art/cubap990504g.html

---

Speaking of Menoyo, there is an opinon piece on him today in the Miami Herald if you want to check it out.

<clips>

Changes among Cuban Americans

What are we to make of Eloy Gutiérrez-Menoyo's decision to remain in Cuba? To answer that, we first have to figure out what it was: A reverse defection? A re-defection? A courageous anti-Castro act? The act of a secret Castro collaborator?

Gutiérrez-Menoyo's wife, Gladys, says that it's the act of a Cuban patriot who wants to reconcile Cubans abroad and on the island. ''He still wants to achieve the revolution that he fought for many years ago,'' she says. I spoke with her last Thursday at the Gutiérrez-Menoyos' home in Southwest Miami-Dade.

She was flanked on the couch by their three sons -- Miguel, Alex and Carlos, ages 9, 11 and 13 respectively. They say that they learned that Gutiérrez-Menoyo would remain in Cuba only when they got to José Martí Airport after a 17-day vacation.

Gutiérrez-Menoyo has lived in exile here for the last 17 years and led a moderate group called Cambio Cubano (Cuban Change). He hasn't always been a moderate. After leading his own guerrilla movement to topple Batista (and arriving in Havana before Fidel Castro), Gutiérrez-Menoyo turned against Castro and fled the island. In Miami, he co-founded Alpha 66 and, with three others, sneaked into Cuba in 1964 hoping to start a rural uprising. He was caught, convicted and sentenced to death. He spent 22 years in prison before the Castro regime released him at the urging of Spain's prime minister.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/6519214.htm

[Say_What]

16. Oops. Double post. Mods please delete

:wtf:

[Yentatelaventa]

8. Oh if only the USA could be like Cuba

All would be quite swell and we could all be happy as comrades and equals in wealth and poordom.

[Mika]

12. Very true

"Oh if only the USA could be like Cuba All would be quite swell and we could all be happy as comrades and equals in wealth and poordom."

True.

We would be, as Cubans are, wealthy with universal health care for ALL citizens, wealthy with a universal high standard of schools with no more than a 12/1 student/teacher ratio for ALL children, wealthy with a healthy organic food system for everyone, wealthy with peace and civility and respect for our leader the world over.

But, we would be short on SUV's & handgun violence and shoot-em-up video games to adle our kids brains. We would be short on anti union corporations running our country into the ground. We would have to suffer that.

[Yentatelaventa]

13. communism is good

(From 5:00 in the morning till 10:00 at night!)
Communism is good. (Give up! ...) Christianity is stupid.
Christianity's stupid. (Give up! Give up!) Communism is good.
(Give up! Give up! IYIYIYIYIYI ...)
Seventeen hours a day! Give up! Give up! Give up! ...
Shop as usual.
And avoid panic buying.

[Yentatelaventa]

9. At a concert staged by Cuba's Communist Youth

If only they could come to America and educate in the blessings of communism and how much better the US would be unser communist rule.

How can we be so blind as to not embrace communism for our betterment?

[Judi Lynn]

11. Bonus link!

If anyone's interested, here's a story from the New York Times which discusses the kind of racial discrimination which black Cuban immigrants from Cuba discover in the U.S., and how it differs from the kind of life they knew in Cuba.

(snip) June 5, 2000
Best of Friends, Worlds Apart

Librado Romero/ The New York Times




Achmed Valdés, top, and Joel Ruiz, bottom. In America, they discovered race matters.

Joel Ruiz Is Black.
Achmed Valdés Is White.
In America They Discovered It Matters.

By MIRTA OJITO

MIAMI -- Havana, sometime before 1994: As dusk descends on the quaint seaside village of Guanabo, two young men kick a soccer ball back and forth and back and forth across the sand. The tall one, Joel Ruiz, is black. The short, wiry one, Achmed Valdés, is white.

They are the best of friends.

Miami, January 2000: Mr. Valdés is playing soccer, as he does every Saturday, with a group of light-skinned Latinos in a park near his apartment. Mr. Ruiz surprises him with a visit, and Mr. Valdés, flushed and sweating, runs to greet him. They shake hands warmly.

But when Mr. Valdés darts back to the game, Mr. Ruiz stands off to the side, arms crossed, looking on as his childhood friend plays the game that was once their shared joy. Mr. Ruiz no longer plays soccer. He prefers basketball with black Latinos and African-Americans from his neighborhood.

The two men live only four miles apart, not even 15 minutes by car. Yet they are separated by a far greater distance, one they say they never envisioned back in Cuba. (snip/...)

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/2001/national-reporting/works/nytimes2.html

[5thGenDemocrat]

22. Ah, ya can't win 'em all

Trust me on this. I'm a Detroit Tiger fan.
John
Two wins a week sure and steady.

[Judi Lynn]

25. Take a moment to check this article on Bush's position on Cuba

I know it's not about beisbol, but it concerns _Bush's war on Cuba, which is unpardonable:

(snip) As a signatory of numerous international anti-terrorist treaties, Washington has an indisputable obligation to prevent terrorist attacks launched from U.S. soil. However, it has pointedly ignored Havana’s pleas to curtail the Miami-based violence aimed at the island since the revolution of 1959. U.S.-based Cuban exile groups have harassed, wounded and at times murdered Cubans, including diplomats, employing terrorist tactics such as car and airplane bombings. Due to U.S. inaction, these attacks have continued into the present era. Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban exile who claimed responsibility for organizing a 1997 string of bombings of Cuban hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs, in which innocent civilians were killed, summed up the situation in a New York Times interview: "As you can see," he said, "the FBI and the CIA don't bother me, and I am neutral with them."

Washington also has allowed convicted anti-Castro terrorists such as Orlando Bosch, Virgilio Paz, and Jose Dionisio Suarez to walk free and to continue preaching their message of violence in the U.S. Furthermore, the Bush administration has demonstrated its tolerance of Miami-based terrorism by slamming down on five pro-Castro Cuban anti-terrorist monitors who were sentenced to maximum prison terms following ill-founded and highly controversial conspiracy convictions imposed by a Miami federal court in 2001.

Washington’s war on terror grows even more contradictory in light of the deceptive terrorist accusations made against Havana in order to maintain the island on the U.S. State Department’s list of state-sponsored terrorist countries—alongside Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan—and thus to counter waning domestic support for Washington’s travel and trade embargo policies against the island.

Close allies as well as U.S. legislators reject the Bush administration’s portrayal of Cuba as a terrorist threat. “We are not in agreement with the U.S. view that Cuba sponsors terrorism,” said British Energy Minister Brian Wilson in Havana last October. Nor has the UN ever accused Cuba of violating any of its 12 counterterrorism accords, all of which Cuba voluntarily signed. “It is outrageous that they include Cuba only for political reasons,” said U.S. Congressman James McGovern (D-Mass.), requesting last March that Secretary of State Powell remove Cuba from the list. (snip/...)

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0813-09.htm

[Say_What]

26. Free the Five

the Bush administration has demonstrated its tolerance of Miami-based terrorism by slamming down on five pro-Castro Cuban anti-terrorist monitors who were sentenced to maximum prison terms following ill-founded and highly controversial conspiracy convictions imposed by a Miami federal court in 2001.

As someone pointed out on one of the Cuba boards I read, most 'muriKans don't even know about the Five because there is so little mainstream press about them in the USSA. There is a growing movement around the globe however and many, including Ireland and England, have urgent appeals out calling for their release. Their website, www.freethefive.org is down at the moment, but I found this about them on IndyMedia:

<clips>
Who are the Five?

They are five Cubans who were trying to stop the ultra-right terrorist groups in Miami from carrying out violent actions against the people of Cuba.

Since 1959, these organizations have conducted bombings, assassinations and other sabotage, killing hundreds of innocent Cuban civilians. Groups like Alpha 66, Omega 7, Brothers to the Rescue, and Cuban American National Foundation have terrorized the Cuban people for years with impunity.

The Cuban people have been targets of U.S. policy, including a 43-year economic blockade designed to punish a whole people who have chosen a different road for building their society. They have been victims of terror attacks by the Miami-based mafia, many of whom came from the wealthy class that left Cuba after the popular overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Others of the ultra-right in Miami were police thugs for the Batista regime.

Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, René González and Fernando González, acting in defense of their people, were living in Miami, monitoring these terrorist groups to prevent future violence.

But because the U.S. government - through the CIA - has played the principal role in funding, training and arming the ultra-right Miami mafia, the FBI targeted the five Cubans instead of arresting the terrorists.

http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/09/146039.php