Cuban exile group sues Castro in Spain

From Herald Staff and Wire Reports

MADRID -- A Cuban exile group encouraged by the case against former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet filed suit here Thursday accusing Cuban President Fidel Castro of genocide, terrorism and torture.

``Spain's National Court has ruled that it is competent to investigate crimes of genocide, terrorism and torture in the case against Pinochet,'' said Guillermo Alonso Olarra, a lawyer for the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba. ``This case is identical.''

The foundation said the suit was inspired by a National Court decision last week that gave a Spanish judge the green light to try to bring Pinochet to trial for crimes committed during his 1973-90 regime.

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon had Pinochet arrested in London last month as a first step toward his extradition. The case is pending in Britain's House of Lords after a court there ruled that Pinochet was entitled to immunity as a former head of state.

Alonso said his group had submitted papers to Spain's National Court detailing the cases of about 120 people who allegedly suffered torture or other abuses at the hands of Castro's government. The suit also included the names of 18,000 people who lawyers say have been killed or have disappeared in Cuba since 1959, when Castro took power.

``Spain has opened the door to the victims of Argentina and Chile,'' Clara Maria del Valle, foundation vice president, said at a Madrid news conference. ``Today we come to knock on the door of Spanish justice in the name of the victims . . . of Fidel Castro.''

Most of the 18,000 on the list are Cubans, but there are also several people from North America and Spain.

The suit was also announced in Washington at a press conference by Jorge Mas, vice chairman of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation. The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba is allied with CANF.

With Rep. Peter Deutsch, a Broward Democrat at his side, Mas said: ``With the globalization of how we are treating dictators, there should be no differentiation between dictators of the right and the left. Those who care about human rights know that they should be treated equally.''

The Spanish court is likely to name a judge to review the case by this weekend, said Javier Barrilero, another lawyer for the foundation.

In Havana, Cuban Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez said he would not respond ``to such ridiculous humbug.''

Also named in the suit are Castro's brother Raul, Cuban Tourism Minister and former army commander Osmani Cienfuegos and Carlos Amat, Cuba's ambassador in Geneva.

Frank Davies of The Herald's Washington bureau contributed to this report.