Cuba to Try Guatemalans Accused of Terrorism Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [The following item is replete with arch comments, quotation marks and implications that planning a bombing campaign is somehow not terrorism and as if the historical campaign of violence against the island by Cuban exiles and their CIA sponsors is an invention of the Cuban government. After 911, one might expect Reuters to be a tad less cavalier about terrorism, but apparently it is still the case that only the USA and its hirelings can be victims of terrorism.] source - JosePertierra@aol.com Cuba to Try Guatemalans on Terrorism Charges By Nelson Acosta HAVANA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Cuba will try next week three Guatemalans arrested in 1998 on accusations of smuggling explosives into the Caribbean island for a planned bombing campaign, Guatemala's ambassador in Havana said on Friday. The trial of the men on formal charges of "crimes against state security," for which the prosecution has requested jail terms of between 20 and 30 years, will begin next Thursday, Guatemala's envoy, Hugo Rene Guzman, told Reuters. Havana has publicly denounced the two Guatemalan men and one woman as "terrorists" and will likely use the trial to try and link them to anti-communist Cuban-American groups and demonstrate how Cuba has been a victim of terrorism. President Fidel Castro's government accuses various Florida-based exile groups, with the complicity of the CIA, of masterminding decades of violence against the island, using in recent years a network of Central American mercenaries. The Guatemalans, Nadel Kamal Musalam, Maria Elena Gonzalez Meza and Jazid Ivan Fernandez Mendoza were caught on March 20, 1998, at Havana airport transporting explosive materials hidden in their luggage, according to Cuban authorities. Since they were jailed "they have received the correct attention," Guzman said, asked about their condition. "They have received consular and diplomatic attention systematically and their health is good." Havana's decision to try the trio now, more than three years' after their arrest, is probably part of a campaign, in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, to show how it has suffered from alleged terrorism planned from U.S. soil, diplomats and analysts said. SALVADORANS STILL ON DEATH-ROW While Cuba is still on the U.S. list of alleged sponsors of state terrorism, it accuses Washington of 42 years of "terrorism" against the island since Castro's 1959 revolution. Castro condemned last month's attacks on New York and Washington, but also opposes the bombing of Afghanistan where suspected perpetrator Osama bin Laden is hiding. Relatives of the three Guatemalans will travel to Cuba for next week's trial at the Provincial Tribunal in Havana. "We hope the trial goes ahead with all the proper regulations of a civil process," Guzman added. Cuban officials were not available to confirm or comment on news of the impending trial. It will follow a similar 1999 case when a Havana court tried and sentenced to death two other Central Americans, this time from El Salvador, for their alleged role in a 1997 bombing campaign at Cuban tourist installations. An Italian visitor died in one of the attacks. The Salvadorans, Ernesto Cruz Leon and Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena, were accused of working for anti-Castro exile militant Luis Posada Carriles. They are still in jail awaiting an appeal against the death penalty, which Cuba carries out by firing squad. 15:11 10-26-01 ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytcamer-10.27.01-02:34:51-905