Communist Cuba honours ‘noble’ Americans

HAVANA (AP) — Despite its friction with Washington, Cuba’s communist government announced an unprecedented Fourth of July observance to illustrate the regime’s respect for Americans and their traditions.

The Communist Party newspaper Granma said the cultural event would be held at the Karl Marx theatre last night and feature music and poetry in honour of the “noble” American people.

“The cultural, spiritual and moral legacy of the American people is also the patrimony of Cuba and of the Cuban people,” Granma said. No other details were provided, and it wasn’t known if President Fidel Castro would attend.

The government also announced that its evening television programme yesterday evening would be dedicated to “the historic significance of the United States’ Independence Day”.

Meanwhile, the lead organiser of a democratic reform effort on the island also recognised the American people as they celebrated Independence Day.

“We know that these expressions represent the feelings of the American people,” Oswaldo Paya wrote in a July 4 message, thanking US citizens and institutions, as well as their lawmakers and president, for supporting the Varela Project petition drive.

Organisers delivered 11,000 signatures to the National Assembly on May 10 seeking a referendum that would ask voters if they favour individual liberties such as free speech and assembly, the right to own a business, electoral reforms and an amnesty for political prisoners.

Castro himself often reaches out to Americans, saying his feelings for them have nothing to do with his government’s problems with the Bush administration. He has said Americans are more welcome in Cuba than in any other country.

Tensions between the two governments have worsened since President Bush said May 20 that he would not ease US sanctions on Cuba until Castro holds multi-party elections and undertakes other reforms.

Cuban officials also are angry over the US mission here reaching out to Cuban dissidents and distributing hundreds of shortwave radios that can pick up the US government’s anti-Castro broadcasts. Castro said last week that it would be Washington’s fault if the US office was shut down because of diplomats who “violate our sovereignty”.

Vicky Huddleston, chief of the US Interests Section, has described Cuba’s approach to Americans as a “charm offensive” aimed at gaining support in the United States for easing or eliminating US restrictions on trade with and travel to the communist island.

Among the Castro government’s most surprising gestures was the announcement earlier this year that it would not oppose Washington’s decision to house detainees from the Afghanistan war at the US Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

Caribbean boat migrants detained

DANIA BEACH, Florida (AP) — Migrants from several Caribbean island nations were taken into custody yesterday after their speedboat collided with a Customs Services boat.

US Coast Guard spokesman Ryan Doss said there were 15 migrants aboard a go-fast boat and one man who was operating the craft. He said the migrants were from Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana and the Bahamas.

Doss said he did not know the number of different nationalities on the boat.

A Customs spokesman declined comment.

Several of the migrants were taken to a local hospital, where two people were being treated for injuries, Doss said. The rest are in the custody of the US Border Patrol, he said. Doss did not provide specific numbers or injuries.

Doss did not know whether anyone was injured on the Customs vessel or whether the boat sustained damage.

High levels of asbestos found at site in US Virgin Islands

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, US Virgin Islands (AP) — Testing has found unsafe levels of asbestos at a federal demolition site in the US territory and officials are investigating whether the site violated regulations for safe removal of the cancer-causing substance.

The US Department of Interior said in a statement Wednesday that the demolition site was approved by the local government, a claim Virgin Islands environmental officials are denying.

“We’re trying to determine if any federal regulations were violated,” said Leonard Reed of the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

The site on Water Island, a small cay located in the middle of St Thomas’ Charlotte Amalie Harbour, was used by the Department of Interior to dump debris from an abandoned vacation resort.

Reed said his department has no documentation that the US government obtained the necessary permits for the site.

The test results released Monday found 13 of 15 samples taken contained at least one per cent asbestos, the legal limit indicating the need for removal of the material that was once used to fireproof buildings, Reed said.

Water Island was used as a US Army chemical weapons test site until 1996 when jurisdiction was transferred to the Virgin Islands government. Department of Interior still controls portions of the island.

Late last week, public waste managers closed an adjacent residential trash dump, citing concerns of asbestos contamination.

Worries persist among those living nearby and at least one resident requested her home and cistern be tested.

“We do have a letter from a lady. We are in the process of responding to her,” Reed said on Monday.

Contractor Brad Monroe, who lives on Water Island, says other homes near the site have been contaminated by demolition dust. He said the situation is complicated by contractors dumping suspect material on top of debris from the demolition.

Residents have asked the US Environmental Protection Agency to step in and Reed said they are reviewing the case.

The Department of Interior has promised to deliver a remediation plan by Monday.