September 16, 1997
By Angus MacSwan
MIAMI, Sept 15 (Reuter) - The U.S. citizen under threat of execution on terrorism charges in Cuba was visiting the communist-ruled island on a charity mission, his lawyer said on Monday.
Attorney Ellis Rubin said he would urge the U.S. government to intercede on behalf of Walter Van der Veer, who has been held in custody since his arrest in August, 1996.
Diplomatic sources in Havana said Cuban prosecutors were seeking the death penalty for Van der Veer, who is accused of working for a Miami-based ``terrorist'' group.
At the time of his arrest, associates described Van der Veer, 51 as both an anti-Castro commando and a humanitarian worker. But his trip to Cuba had no military aims, they said.
Rubin reiterated on Monday that Van der Veer was on a charity mission to Cuba on behalf of the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables, Fla.
The lawyer said his only contact with Van der Veer since his arrest had been through third parties and he had no information about his condition. Van der Veer's Cuban-born wife Nancy also has not spoken to her husband but ``he had been expecting this announcement,'' Rubin added.
Rubin said he was not allowed to go to Cuba to represent Van der Veer so he would appeal to President Bill Clinton and the State Department to monitor the situation.
``It's all up to the State Department and the president. I just hope they can persuade Mr. Castro not to execute him.''
Father Xavier Morras, pastor of the Church of the Little Flower, said Van der Veer acted as usher at the church. He remembered him as a friendly and helpful man.
He said Van der Veer had approached him about a trip to Cuba and he had given him a box of educational materials to take for children there. They also had lost contact with him.
``We have been praying for him. That is all we can do,'' Father Morras said.
At a news conference called by Rubin soon after the arrest, the chief of a Miami-based paramilitary exile group called Commandos L said Van de Veer was a captain in the organization.
Tony Bryant, a former Black Panther militant who turned anticommunist after spending 12 years in a Cuban jail, said Van der Veer had made several trips to Cuba. But he was not on a military mission and had entered Cuban legally on the trip when he was arrested, Bryant said.
Commandos L has carried out operations in the past against Cuba, including a failed coastal raid in 1991 in which three guerrillas were captured, one of whom was later executed. But it has been quiet for the past several years.
The most powerful of the Miami-based exile organizations said it knew nothing about Van der Veer's case.
Ninoska Perez, spokeswoman for the Cuban American National Foundation, said it was an attempt by the Castro government to divert attention from the country's internal problems.
Rubin also said the timing was significant. ``Castro's government is on the rocks and he doesn't want any more disturbances,'' he said.
Cuban authorities have described Van der Veer as ``a highly dangerous mercenary'' and ``an agent of a terrorist organization in Miami.'' They say he was planning actions aimed at ``subverting internal order and the stability of our country.''
A March TV report said he was financed and directed by a Miami-based Cuban exile group which it identified as the ``Cuban Liberation Front.''
17:31 09-15-97