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Article Excerpt
Cuba-US relations worsened over the last few weeks as the Cuban government arrested 75 dissidents, tried them, and handed out prison sentences ranging from six to 28 years. Much of the US and world media coverage of the crackdown portrayed it as evidence that there is no freedom of speech or press in Cuba. The arrests took place in the context of extraordinary actions by the head of the US Interests Section in Havana, and the new US doctrine of preemptive military intervention.
US diplomat increases contacts with dissidents
Since taking over the post of chief of mission at the US Interests Section in Havana in September 2002, James Cason has dramatically increased official US connections with dissidents. In October 2002, he invited a group of dissidents to meet with US newspaper editors at his residence in Havana. Although it has become routine for heads of the US mission to seek out dissidents, Cason set a new benchmark for personalized US encouragement of domestic dissent by holding the meeting at the residence.
On Feb. 24 of this year, he raised the bar higher by participating in a meeting of the dissident group Assembly for the Promotion of Civil Society at the home of prominent dissident Marta Beatriz Roque. Also present at the meeting were several reporters to whom Cason repeated his strong criticisms of President Fidel Castro's government and reaffirmed US support for the dissident movement.
He organized two other such meetings at his residence in March after receiving a formal complaint from the Foreign Ministry.
Cason is not the first mission head to openly promote dissidence. The mission became notorious for its activism while his predecessor Vickie Huddleston headed it. She attended dissident rallies in Havana and boasted frequently of the interest section's program of distributing short wave radios around the country and encouraging Cubans to tune in Radio Marti, the US-funded...
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