STATE SECURITY THREATENS DIRECTOR OF HABANA PRESS

HAVANA, MAY 15, 1997, BPIC. On the afternoon of May 14, Joaquin Torres Alvarez, director of the independent agency Habana Press, was threatened by an official of the State Security with imprisonment for presumed participation in a meeting of the Union of Social Christians in the capital.

At approximately 6 o'clock on the afternoon of said day, an official of the Technical Department of Investigations (DTI) -named Aramis - appeared at the home of Torres Alvarez home, located in the Virgen del Camino neighborhood in the City of Havana, and told the independent journalist that he had held a meeting in which the humanitarian Union of Social Christians supposedly called on Cuba's people to sign a document in favor of the solution to the Cuban-United States stalemate, an issue that the aforementioned colleague debated.

"I informed public opinion concerning what was intended by collecting the signatures," said Torres Alvarez to the official, who rebuked him calling him one of the most aggressive journalists. The same official told the Habana Press that it was the decision of the interior ministry that Torres could not leave the country although he had not made any such plans.

Concerning the threats of possible imprisonment, the director of the Habana Press answered the State Security officer: "I will not be the first nor the last Cuban who goes to prison. Of course, I will continue to defend my right of freedom of expression."

REPORT BY MERCEDES MORENO

EVICTIONS OF SO-CALLED ILLEGALS CONTINUES

HAVANA, MAY 14, 1997. BPIC. - Using the national police forces, the party and the Union of Communist Youths, officials of Architecture and Urbanization of the Housing Department of the municipality of Regla continue dramatic evictions of the outlying neighborhoods of Casa Blanca in the Cuban capital.

The victims were on May 9 the so-called illegals of the neighborhood located along the Casa Blanca stretch between the shipyards and farms where humble houses and families of different social classes can be found.

At this location, beginning on the morning of the 9th, children, women, men and the elderly were all involved, as well as militants of the communist party, combat veterans of the war in Angola, of the insurrection of the Sierra Maestra, led by the present leader of the Cuban government, and other citizens of various professions or jobs.

Most of the residents are from the eastern provinces and received a document warning of the infraction that was given to them by municipal authorities and by means of which they were told to "voluntarily" demolish by themselves what they had built.

The controversial document initially states that those who build structures without licenses will be sanctioned with fines as high as 750 pesos in the national currency.

Some people decided to destroy their houses before being fined and live with other families in the same place, while others remain where they are, and still others are living outside, awaiting some kind of positive answer to the petitions made before state entities.

It was on that dramatic May 9, a little before the Decree Law 217 would take effect, when a young man Modesto Torres Ramirez, father of three children and civil employee of the Armed Forces, distressed by the unforeseen tragedy of the eviction, tried to hang himself, but was saved by the timely intervention of his family.

REPORTING: OMAR RODRIGUEZ SALUDES.

RESIDENTS OF THE OUTLYING NEIGHBORHOOD "CALLEJON DE SAN NICOLAS" ARE THREATENED WITH FINES AND CONFISCATION OF THEIR PERSONAL PROPERTY IF THEY DO NOT DESTROY THEIR RUSTIC HOUSES

HAVANA, MAY 10, 1997. BPIC. - The independent Press Bureau of Cuba gained knowledge of the aforementioned during a visit on Thursday May 8 to the humble settlement where residents have all been threatened with application of Decree Law 217 if they do not abandon the area, which could leave them without homes and work, since most are presently employed.

Different social classes live in the outlying settlement, nearly all from the country's interior, although most come from eastern provinces.

This press agency observed and talked with, among others, nurses, active military doctors and other employed citizens, as well as with children and young people of different ages who study in nearby schools.

Next to the outlying neighborhood El Callejon, there is another rustic settlement where petty officer of the national police, Yodismil Paneque Estrada, who lived with his wife and other family members, committed suicide on April 22, distressed by the superior orders that would oblige him to intervene in the eviction of his own people.

REPORTING: MERCEDES MORENO