In the first high-profile case against an opposition figure
since Pope John Paul II's visit in January led to an easing of
Cuba's repression of dissidents, Reinaldo Alfaro Garcia, 37, was
jailed for "spreading false information''.
Outside the court, relatives and sympathizers chanted
''Freedom'', and some cried "Down with Fidel'', after Alfaro
was whisked away by police.
The crowd of several dozen people demonstrated for nearly 10
minutes - watched by foreign journalists and diplomatic
observers - before they were drowned out by a larger crowd
which appeared chanting "Long live Fidel!''
The pro-government demonstrators, nearly all men and
including some uniformed security officials, marched toward the
anti-government protesters who moved out of their way and later
dispersed.
"They filmed us all with their cameras. We shouted
violently. They saw us and heard us, and now we will all go to
prison for this,'' said Carmen Landa, a Cuban teacher who
participated in the anti-government demonstration.
The public protest, which was extremely unusual in
Communist-run Cuba, began when police evaded waiting reporters
and relatives by sneaking Alfaro out of one courthouse door
while a decoy car waited outside another exit.
But despite the demonstration, relatives and supporters said
they believed Alfaro's sentence was light, as one charge of
''enemy propaganda'' had been dropped, and they had expected a
12-year sentence.
"It's a small success. We expected worse. But it's still an
injustice,'' said Alfaro's wife, Odalys Moya Prieto.
The trial opened around 9 a.m. in Havana's Provincial
Popular Tribunal, with only his family allowed into the
courtroom.
Alfaro, who is on the U.K.-based Amnesty International
rights group's list of "prisoners of conscience'', was jailed
on May 8, 1997.
He was on an amnesty appeal list the Vatican sent to Havana
during the pope's historic visit to Cuba in January. But Alfaro
was not among the scores of dissidents released by Castro's
government in the wake of the pontiff's trip.
According to his family, he irked Cuban authorities by
promoting a letter to the National Assembly, the island's
legislative body, calling for freedom of alleged political
prisoners.
"My brother is an internationally-recognized prisoner of
conscience. I don't think he is a criminal, he is not a killer.
What he has merely done is defend the rights of this people,''
said Alfaro's brother, Radame Alfaro Garcia.
Judicial officials were not available for comment at the
court building.
Havana denies it represses freedom of speech, or holds any
prisoners of conscience, saying those government opponents in
jail are there on legitimate charges including "counter-
revolutionary'' activities, sometimes violent.
President Fidel Castro, when asked about the issue, often
replies that many other countries, including in Europe, have
people imprisoned for illegal activities of a political nature.
Alfaro's parents, seven brothers and sisters, and wife were
allowed into Friday's trial. But a dozen foreign journalists,
several diplomats, and a handful of opposition activists were
not permitted into the courtroom, although they did have access
to the building.
Alfaro, a father of three, is a leader of the small
Association for the Struggle against Injustice (ALFIN) and
executive member of the better-known Democratic Solidarity Party
(PSD). Both are illegal movements in Communist-run Cuba, a
one-party state.
According to moderate dissident groups in Cuba, the number
of confirmed political prisoners held in Cuban jails has dropped
to about 380 from more than 1,000 two years ago.
There has been speculation that after's Alfaro sentence, he
may later be allowed to go into exile outside of Cuba. "That
would be the best option,'' said his wife.
Cuba has in the past allowed numerous jailed and convicted
dissidents to go into exile abroad, including, earlier this
year, 14 to Canada.
Prior to the trial, Alfaro was being held at a prison in the
province of Matanzas, east of Havana, where, relatives say, he
suffers from high blood pressure and back pain.
His case came at a time when dissidents in Cuba say
''direct'' repression against them has eased, with fewer arrests
or trials than last year and greater state tolerance of internal
opposition.
Dozens of small, illegal opposition groups exist in Cuba,
but have no access to the media, cannot hold public meetings and
do not threaten the Communist Party's political dominance.
The internal dissident movement is generally perceived by
analysts and diplomats here as relatively weak, marginalized and
handicapped by both internal divisions and state control.
Cuba's four best-known dissident prisoners - Martha Beatriz
Roque, Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez Manzano -
remain in jail without trial since July 1997.
© Reuters
Ltd.