Police on Venezuela's Margarita Island arrested at least seven Cuban exile leaders Monday to prevent them from making a public demand for the democratization of Cuba during the Ibero-American Summit Conference that begins Friday, exile sources in Venezuela said.

Among those arrested and put on a plane to Caracas were Carlos Alberto Montaner, president of the Cuban Liberal Union; Jose Ignacio Rasco and Rafael Sanchez of the Christian Democratic Party of Cuba; Emilio Martinez Venegas and Julio Hernandez of the Social Democratic Coordinating Assembly; Roberto Fontanillas of the Cuban-Venezuelan Democratic Foundation; and Julio Mestre.

All are members of the Cuban Democratic Platform, a coalition of political organizations that favor dialogue as a means to peaceful political change in Cuba. Montaner lives in Spain; Rasco, Sanchez and Martinez Venegas are from Miami; Hernandez lives in Puerto Rico; and Fontanillas and Mestre in Venezuela.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Burelli said Monday that the strong security measures surrounding the summit conference ``had not been in vain,'' particularly after last week's arrest in Puerto Rico of four Cuban exiles who allegedly planned to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro this weekend.

Burelli said the Venezuelan government will not allow anti-Castro groups to stage public demonstrations on Margarita Island. However, the complaints of Cubans in exile ``deserve our respect'' and ``are accepted and taken into account,'' he added.

It is the first time that Cuban opposition activists attending an Ibero-American summit meeting are rounded up and expelled by the host country to keep them from making public statements.

``I am appalled by the absurdity of these measures, which are an outrage and a stupidity,'' said Venezuelan Sen. Pedro Pablo Aguilar, a member of the Social Christian Party and president of the Senate's Committee on Foreign Policy, as well as secretary general of the Christian Democratic Organization of America.

The steps taken by the government of President Rafael Caldera to bar Cuban political exiles from Margarita Island not only violate the standards of the Venezuelan Constitution and human rights ``but also injure Venezuela's good image at a time when the country prepares to host a conference on the ethical values of democracy,'' Aguilar said.

Naturalized Venezuelans

Some of the Cubans arrested are naturalized Venezuelan citizens, Aguilar said, and the government lacks legal authority to carry out the raids and the arrests.

``Not even when [constitutional] guarantees are suspended can you hinder the free movement of Venezuelans,'' Aguilar said. ``Nor is there any reason to prevent foreigners from holding a press conference on Margarita to present their points of view.''

Speaking from Caracas, Silvia Meso, president of the Venezuelan branch of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, said agents of Venezuela's political police, known by its initials as DISIP, burst into the exiles' apartment at about 4 p.m. Monday and seized several political documents printed by the Platform.

``This is a blow to civil rights, an unconstitutional act that we're going to protest with all our strength,'' Meso said.

Expelled from island

The detainees were escorted at once by DISIP agents to Porlamar Airport and expelled from the island, she said. All those arrested were released after arriving in Caracas, the Spanish news agency EFE said.

Sanchez said Sunday, before leaving for Venezuela, that the Platform had scheduled a press conference for Thursday morning, when its members would release a major document received from Cuba.

``We will make public a proposal directed at the government of Fidel Castro, signed in Cuba by several political opposition groups, civic groups and independent trade unions,'' Sanchez said.

Other, more radical exile groups that have also denounced the Castro government at previous summit meetings had planned various activities on the island.

``We shall convey our opposition to Castro's regime, as well as our support for those leaders who finally decide to confront him for his noncompliance with the Viña del Mar accords,'' said Pedro Lopez, president of Miami-based Agenda Cuba.

Last year's accords

According to Lopez, Agenda Cuba and 30 other exile organizations have formed the Divulging Committee of the Viña del Mar Declaration, to publicize the accords signed last year at the Ibero-American summit meeting in that Chilean city.

In the Viña del Mar Declaration, the participating countries reaffirmed their commitment to democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the fundamental freedoms. Castro was among the document's signatories.

The Divulging Committee's member groups include the Cuban American National Foundation, Agenda Cuba, the Cuban Patriotic Junta, Cuban Unity, Brothers to the Rescue, and Independent and Democratic Cuba.

Leaders of several opposition groups have expressed their disappointment with Castro's participation at these summit meetings and his failure to honor the accords he signs.

``In that sense, the summit conferences have become very boring,'' Ninoska Perez, a director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said Monday in Miami.

The foundation does not plan to send an observer to the Margarita Island conference, Perez said, although it will distribute, with the assistance of the Divulging Committee, some documents dealing with the human rights situation in Cuba.

Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald