By Pascal Fletcher
HAVANA, March 7 (Reuters) - Cuba's state-controlled media continued on Sunday to vilify four leading dissidents, who have been tried on sedition and are awaiting sentencing, as political puppets manipulated by the United States.
The Communist Youth Weekly Juventud Rebelde published a front-page cartoon showing an Uncle Sam figure, representing the U.S. government, conducting a choir of four worm-like creatures. ``Worm'' is the dismissive term frequently used by the Cuban authorities to designate anti-government opponents.
Sunday's caricature followed the airing of TV propaganda on Saturday night that denounced the dissidents -- Vladimiro Roca, Marta Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez Manzano -- as ``Puppets of Imperialism.'' Roca is an ex-fighter pilot and the son of Cuban Communist Party founder Blas Roca.
As in previous official attacks on the four dissidents, who were tried on sedition charges in a one-day closed-door court appearance last Monday, the cartoon and TV broadcast concentrated on presenting them as exclusively supported by the United States.
The TV spot combined foreign film footage of the four giving news conferences to journalists and Cuban security surveillance of U.S. diplomats, including the chief U.S. diplomat in Havana Michael Kozak, visiting Roca's house.
U.S. diplomats in Havana, who along with other diplomats and foreign journalists were barred from the dissidents' trial, deny giving material assistance to the four. However, the diplomats say Washington supported their efforts to win greater political freedom.
The Juventud Rebelde cartoon announced the reprinting in the Sunday newspaper of a three-page editorial which first appeared in the Communist Party daily Granma on Thursday.
The editorial condemned the so-called ``Group of Four'' dissidents as ``traitors'' and ``mercenaries'' backed and financed by the United States. They strongly deny this.
Since the editorial, the four dissidents have been the targets of an unrelenting public campaign of condemnation launched by authorities through state media.
Their families and some foreign observers fear this could mean they face harsh sentences. The state prosecutor has asked for a six-year jail term for Roca and five years each for the other three. The court's decision is due by March 17. They have spent nearly 20 months in custody.
The prosecution argued they were guilty of inciting sedition because they urged Cuban voters to boycott one-party elections in 1997 and warned foreign businessmen in Cuba that they could be contributing to the suffering of the Cuban people by investing on the island.
The government propaganda offensive appeared to be aimed at countering widespread international criticism of the trial, which was accompanied by the temporary detentions of numerous anti-government activists.
Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy, who has championed a policy of ``constructive engagement'' with Cuba in contrast to Washington's strategy of economic and political sanctions, has sent a letter to the Cuban government expressing his country's strong concern at the recent events. Other governments, especially from Europe, have also expressed concern.
13:22 03-07-99
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