U.S. backs off stern measures for convicted Cuban agents

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department, citing security concerns, held five Cubans in isolation cells where lights burned 24 hours a day and some detainees wore only underwear.

The department relaxed the extraordinary restrictions this week following an interagency review. The restrictions had been in place for a month.

State Department officials, sharply critical recently of Fidel Castro's crackdown on dissidents in Cuba, had been discomfited by the restrictions.

The Cubans are held in separate U.S. penitentiaries after being sentenced in 2001 to long prison terms for conspiracy to commit espionage.

The Cuban government complained bitterly about their treatment, arguing that the restrictions were preventing them from properly preparing an appeal.

The Special Administrative Measures are designed to ensure that prisoners loyal to a foreign power do not carry out activities on behalf of that country through phone calls or other contacts.

Dagoberto Rodriguez, Castro's chief representative in Washington, said in an interview earlier this week that there was "strong psychological pressure" on the five.

Aside from the solitary confinement in a small punishment cell, he said that in some cases, "they were prevented from wearing clothes. They had nothing more than underwear without shoes. The lights were on 24 hours a day so they didn't even know whether it was day or night. They had no right to a piece of paper or pencil." A lawyer for one of the convicts said his client was barred from contact "with any human being."

In two cases cited by Rodriguez, lawyers were allowed to visit their clients but had difficulty showing them legal documents because of a glass barrier.

Justice Department and Bureau of Prisons spokesmen declined comment on the allegations.

The administration refused to say why the measures were lifted. One official, asking not to be identified, said the measures failed to take into account the full range of U.S. interests, including international obligations to allow Cuban consular officers access to the prisoners.

The Bush administration has been highlighting its concerns about Cuba's biggest crackdown on dissidents in years. The trials in Havana against 78 dissidents got under way Thursday in what State Department spokesman Philip Reeker described as a "kangaroo court" proceeding.

The five, arrested in Miami, were convicted in a Miami court on charges of trying to infiltrate U.S. military bases and Cuban exile groups in South Florida. They are serving sentences ranging from 15 years to life.

One, Gerardo Hernandez, was found guilty of contributing to the deaths of four American anti-Castro activists whose planes were shot down on Feb. 24, 1996, by Cuban MiGs off the island's coast. The fliers belonged to a group that rescued migrants who attempted the 90-mile crossing to the United States in rubber rafts.

Cuban authorities say the men are patriots who sought to prevent violent Cuban exile groups in Florida from launching terrorist acts against their homeland.

In Cuba, the five are venerated as heroes in poems, songs and on billboards.

They are confined to penitentiaries in Colorado, Wisconsin, Texas, South Carolina and California.

Leonard Weinglass, an attorney for Antonio Guerrero -- held in Colorado -- was due to file an initial brief with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta by April 7, but he said the SAM regulations prevented substantive contacts.

In a written request for a one-month extension, Weinglass said Guerrero had no access to his files and legal correspondence. He was barred from having contact telephone or mail with anyone, Weinglass included. He got the extension.

Weinglass said the measures for Guerrero and the other inmates were lifted as of Tuesday.

While the prisoners are now permitted to mix with other inmates, Weinglass said the Cubans are subject to additional restrictions spelled out in a 12-page document, including a ban on visitors except for immediate family, lawyers and Cuban consular officials; and the recording of all conversations.