Amid one of the most intense anti-U.S. propaganda campaigns in memory, dissidents in Cuba plan a string of church ceremonies to commemorate the deaths one year ago of four Miami aviators.
Cuba ratcheted up tensions Wednesday by complaining about ``threatening'' U.S. military maneuvers in the Caribbean and western Atlantic, code named Blue Advance 97 and involving some 30 ships and 100 aircraft.
U.S. Southern Command spokesmen in Panama said the exercise was ``essentially a table-top computer simulation,'' using few ships and troops, to test Southcom's ability to take over control of Caribbean operations on June 1. The Caribbean is now controlled by the Virginia-based Atlantic Command.
The church ceremonies marking the Feb. 24, 1996, downing of two Brothers to the Rescue planes were to be announced at a news conference Wednesday at 2 p.m. by dissident Lazaro Cabrera. But Cabrera could not be found at the time, and other dissidents made the announcement at Cabrera's Havana home.
They said ceremonies will be held in 10 Havana churches Monday afternoon, but offered no further details. It was not immediately clear whether church officials had approved the plans.
Church leaders condemned the Brothers' shoot-downs a year ago but have studiously avoided becoming involved with most anti-government protests and dissident activities in Cuba.
The shoot-down's anniversary comes at a time when Cuban newspapers, radio and television are staging what Havana residents call one of the harshest anti-American campaigns since the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1962.
Television is repeatedly broadcasting historic footage of the invaders' defeat, as well as current film of military, police and militia units swearing loyalty to the government of President Fidel Castro. Shown over and over is a brief clip of Castro at a recent speech vowing, ``No, Mr. Clinton, there will never be a transition in Cuba.''
Cuban journalists say the brouhaha is part of a government campaign to educate Cubans on ``the traps and evils'' of a Clinton administration offer last mongh of up to $8 billion for a post-Castro reconstruction.
Revolutionaries are not bought, blared a headline in the Communist Party's official Granma newspaper. Added a commentator on Radio Rebelde: ``We know the lying Americans do not intend to spend that money.''
But the propaganda campaign also has raised eyebrows among Cubans who say they can't figure out why Castro is creating such a fuss about the Clinton offer, part of a plan mandated by the Helms-Burton Act.
``People can't understand why they are exaggerating the importance of this document so much,'' said one man in Havana. ``Some people say that Cuban foreign policy is one of reaction. But right now many people would like to read that document.''
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald