Official says he helps efforts for peaceful democratic transition

By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA – America's diplomatic post in Havana has become "a command center for subversion" and is aimed at propping up the island's dissident movement,
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Wednesday.

In the first government comments on the crackdown, Mr. Perez Roque blamed James Cason, the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, for the arrests last month of 75
members of the political opposition.

By meeting with dissidents at his diplomatic residence, Mr. Cason has openly broken Cuban laws and has carried out "inappropriate actions for a diplomat," Mr.
Perez Roque said.

A spokesman for Mr. Cason said he is simply aiding Cubans who want to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy.

"Cason believes these people need to be heard," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Cuban authorities last month arrested dozens of dissidents, accusing them of conspiring with the United States to undermine the socialist regime.

Mr. Perez Roque described them as "mercenaries" who deserve to be jailed.

Critics say Cuban President Fidel Castro imprisoned the dissidents while attention was focused on the war in Iraq. Mr. Perez Roque denied that, saying the decision
to jail the dissidents came before the war.

He also denied that the dissidents have had their basic legal rights violated. Relatives of some of the defendants have complained that they barely had time to study
the charges before their sentencing.

The summary trials against the dissidents began last Thursday and ended Tuesday. They received sentences ranging from six to 28 years. Mr. Perez Roque denied
press reports that some had been sentenced to death or to life in prison.

He added that the summary trials were permitted under a 1978 Cuban law that was based on a legal precedent set in 1888.

None of the trials were held in secret, he said.

Neither international reporters nor foreign diplomats were allowed to witness the proceedings. Mr. Perez Roque said that was for "organizational and logistical
reasons."

The crackdown on Cuba's dissidents has been condemned by the U.S. government and by international human rights organizations.

Wayne Smith, the former top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, described the crackdown as "deplorable."

"No one in his right mind would have expected the arrest of over 80 dissidents..." he wrote recently. "The Cubans expected a firestorm, and they got it."

He added, however, "It is not up to the United States to decide what form of government Cuba should have. Cuba is, after all, a sovereign country."