Top Cuba legislator says US court won't hurt talks

Top Cuba legislator says US court won't hurt talks
AP
By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer Will Weissert, Associated
Press Writer – 32 mins ago

HAVANA – The head of Cuba's parliament says the U.S. Supreme Court's
decision not to consider an appeal by five convicted Cuban spies is "a
great insult," but it won't jeopardize upcoming negotiations with
Washington.

Ricardo Alarcon told The Associated Press in an interview late Wednesday
night that no date has been set for immigration talks with the U.S., but
he said that Raul Castro's government hopes to expand the agenda to
include environmental issues and efforts against terrorism, drug
smuggling and natural disasters.

Yet Alarcon also called the U.S. "an ignorant lion," criticizing the
Supreme Court's refusal this week to hear an appeal by the so-called
"Cuban Five," men convicted of being unregistered foreign agents by a
Miami court in 2001. Their lawyers claim that anti-Castro sentiment kept
them from receiving a fair trial in South Florida.

Cuban officials say the men were heroes trying to avert terrorist
attacks on the island and they have held massive rallies for their
freedom, plastered their faces on billboards and commissioned songs,
poems and paintings in their honor. Alarcon said the government will
continue campaigning on their behalf, but he suggested that their legal
status won't impede U.S.-Cuban talks.

"We share the sentiments of many who feel insulted by that decision, but
I don't see why one necessarily has to affect the other," Alarcon said
when asked if the high court's move could spoil negotiations.

The five were sentenced to terms that ranged from 10 years to life in
prison. Three were also found guilty of conspiracy to obtain military
secrets from the U.S. Southern Command.

A three-judge federal appeals court panel reversed their convictions in
2005, but the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reinstated
them, ordering new sentences for two of the men in coming months.

Alarcon said the men's freedom will be "at the top" of any list of
priorities in talks with U.S. leaders, adding that President Barack
Obama "has a moral obligation" to pardon the five if he really wants
improved relations with Cuba and Latin America.

Still, he acknowledged that Obama has a clear desire for improved
U.S.-Cuban ties, and noted that "there is an obvious change in language"
in Washington, even if some people are "working to try and sabotage that."

Cuba's parliament meets just two weekends a year, when its members do
little more than unanimously back measures proposed by Castro's
government. Still, Alarcon is one of the island's most-public faces. He
lived in the U.S. for years as Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations,
and answered questions on Wednesday partly in English.

Alarcon also suggested that the June 4 arrest of two new accused Cuban
spies, retired State Department official Walter Kendall Myers and his
wife, was intended to undermine improved relations between the
neighboring nations.

"The administration makes traveling to Cuba easier for Cuban Americans
and Congress is discussing the elimination of travel restrictions for
everyone, and suddenly this strange case pops up," he said, calling it
something "out of a police novel."

The pair is not believed to have been paid, but rather to have been
ideological supporters of the communist-run island.

"Cuba does not buy spies," he said. "They don't do it for money."

Top Cuba legislator says US court won't hurt talks - Yahoo! News (18
June 2009)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090618/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_us_1