WASHINGTON -- Cuban rights activist Leonel Morejon Almagro has once again petitioned the Havana government to allow his shattered opposition group to meet.

Just a couple of weeks after emerging from Ariza prison in Cienfuegos province, Morejon, a founder of Concilio Cubano, and 20 others wrote to Cuban President Fidel Castro on June 10.

The letter recalled that the dissident group's December 1995 request to meet had been met first by official silence, then by ``barbarous repression throughout the country against dissidents and opposition figures, which included imprisonment, arrests, harassment, raids and threats by repressive government forces.''

``We find ourselves with the civic duty to once again request from you and the governing body permission to celebrate the aforementioned event, which will include all Cubans . . . those who live inside the country and those living abroad,'' the letter said.

Shortly after Morejon delivered the letter to the Council of State, he was assaulted, apparently by government agents, according to a State Department official and a Cuban American lawmaker, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

Diaz-Balart said he spoke with the 33-year-old lawyer by telephone shortly after he delivered the letter. ``Morejon is a dynamic leader and very brave,'' Diaz-Balart said.

Intensified repression

Michael Ranneberger, the State Department's director of Cuban affairs, said Morejon's determination demonstrates that Cuban dissidents have not been completely stymied by government repression, which intensified in February of last year, when Morejon was arrested and Cuban fighter jets shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes.

Ranneberger, who returned this month from a 10-day trip to the island, said the Cuban government's ``callous disregard for human rights'' remains unchecked, although Havana is now opting for tactics of intimidation and brief arrests over more draconian lock-ups. The State Department is investigating the circumstances of Morejon's assault, he said.

The U.S. mission in Havana has had a new human rights officer in place for one month, Ranneberger said. The Castro government last year expelled the previous officer, Robin Meyer, after accusing her of fomenting opposition.

New rights officer

At a congressional briefing on human rights in Cuba Tuesday, Ranneberger said the new officer meets daily with dissidents and files a daily report to the mission chief, Michael Kozak. ``Our ties with Cuban dissidents remain intact,'' he said.

In related remarks, Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat said Tuesday that European diplomats have stepped up their pressure on Castro to improve human rights and are reaching out to island dissidents as never before.

That outreach, Eizenstat asserted, is in part a byproduct of U.S. legislation aimed at pressuring Europe to stop investing in confiscated Cuban properties. Hoping to avoid sanctions under the Helms-Burton bill, the European Union took steps to condition any aid to Cuba on improved human rights and agreed to establish a set of ``disciplines'' for investors.

``I think what's happened over the last year . . . is that Fidel Castro, not the United States, is increasingly isolated in the hemisphere,'' Eizenstat said.

Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald