>Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 22:47:15 -0500 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Cuban Embassy in Madrid Turns In Two Basque Asylum Seekers > >Cuban Embassy in Madrid Turns In Two Basque Asylum Seekers > >Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Special Report: > >CUBAN AMBASSADOR IN MADRID TURNS IN 2 BASQUE ASYLUM SEEKERS > > >excerpted from Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 08 November 2000 > >CUBA ASKS SPAIN NOT TO MISTREAT BASQUES REFUSED ASYLUM BY CUBAN EMBASSY > >Havana, November 8 (RHC)-- Cuba's Foreign Ministry has called on the >government of Spain to respect the physical well being of two Basque >separatists who requested political asylum at Cuba's embassy in Madrid. A >Foreign Ministry note, published Wednesday in Granma newspaper, explained >that on Monday two women jumped over the fence of the Cuban embassy, stating >they were being persecuted. > >Cuban diplomatic officials explained that Cuba does not have asylum >agreements with any European nation, persuading the two women to desist >from their intention. They were later arrested by Spanish police who now >accuse them of planning terrorist attacks as members of the Basque >separatist group ETA. > >The Cuban Foreign Ministry note recalled that Cuba has respected the >physical well being and legal rights of Cuban citizens who have entered >Spain's embassy in Havana, oftentimes remaining on embassy grounds for weeks >at a time. > >(c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba > > >coverage from Granma Digital, English Edition > >November 8, 2000 > >"Ministry of Foreign Affairs Official Note" > >TWO PEOPLE ILLEGALLY ENTER CUBA'S EMBASSY IN MADRID > >THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba wishes to inform the >public that at around 9 p.m. on Monday, November 6, two females jumped over >the fence that surrounds the exterior of Cuba's embassy in Madrid. > >On detecting the presence of two unknown persons in strange circumstances on >the embassy grounds, the security guard on duty feared that they may have >entered to carry out some provocative or aggressive act and thus called the >police and informed them of the facts. > >Immediately afterwards, the two persons identified themselves as Nerea and >Ainara and announced that they wanted to enter the embassy because they were >being persecuted. The guard would not allow them to enter the embassy >building, since such an action would be illegal in our European embassies. > >The Cuban ambassador was advised of the facts at her residence and she >informed a ministerial advisor, who arrived at the embassy some minutes >later. He managed to persuade the two women to give up the attempt to enter >the building and explained that the embassy does not enjoy the prerogatives >to grant their request, since there are no asylum agreements in effect >between Cuba and any European country. They understood this and voluntarily >left the embassy grounds at 10:15 p.m. > >All of these events occurred in a period of one hour and fifteen minutes, >before the ambassador herself was able to arrive on the scene. > >The Cuban ambassador in Madrid, on being advised of what had taken place and >having consulted with a Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, decided >to communicate the facts by telephone to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign >Affairs. She also requested that the solution fully respect diplomatic norms >and the physical well-being of the two persons who had asked for asylum. > >The Cuban government learned of this situation several hours after it had >occurred and immediately gave instructions to the Cuban embassy in Madrid to >send a diplomatic note to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, >reiterating the request that the Spanish authorities guarantee the physical >well-being of the two asylum seekers and ensure the highest level of respect >for their rights. The note also requested information about their current >situation. This corresponds exactly with the way in which Cuba has acted >when citizens of our country have similarly entered the Spanish embassy in >Havana on various occasions and have stayed there for days and weeks. The >Cuban government has always given the people involved the guarantees >required by the Spanish government. > >Havana, November 7, 2000 > > * > >NY Transfer News Editor's Note: To our knowledge, no nation in the world >has such a thing as an "asylum agreement" with any other nation. The very >idea is utterly absurd. We wonder whether the Basque delegation to the World >Solidarity Conference will even attend the meeting, after this dismaying and >inexplicable event. Since the Cuban government usually has very good reasons >for its actions, we hope they will reveal what REALLY prompted this decision. > >More news about this event, from Spanish and US mainstream news sources, >follows. All information reported about the two ETA activists comes from >the Spanish counterinsurgency, in the person of the Spanish Interior >Minister, who publicly thanked Cuban personnel for informing the Spanish >Government about the asylum attempt. The Cuban Government has not denied his >assertion -- they confirm that the Ambassador telephoned the Spanish Foreign >Ministry and informed on the two Basques. One would hope that Foreign >Minister Peres Roque will recall this woman who works for his ministry, >immediately, to Havana. > >None of the articles speculate what the Ambassador's possible motive might >be for turning in the two Basque women, who were later arrested along with a >number of other Basque separatists, on the anniversary of the Russian >Revolution. All in all, a bizarre and extremely troubling episode. > -- NY Transfer > > * * * > >COVERAGE FROM THE US AND SPANISH MAINSTREAM PRESS > >EFE Story Filed: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 8:16 AM EST > >ALLEGED ETA TERRORISTS HELD AFTER CUBAN ASYLUM BID FAILS > >Madrid, Nov 07, 2000 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Spanish police confirmed Tuesday >they had arrested five alleged members of the Basque terror group ETA, when >two of the women in the group were refused asylum in the Cuban embassy after >they realized they were being shadowed by police. > >Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said he highly appreciated the response >of Cuban diplomats in Madrid alerting the police who on Monday arrested the >two young women believed to be the designated assassins for a forthcoming >ETA terror attack. > >The two suspects were identified as Ainara Esteranz Cruz, 24, and Nerea >Garro Perez, 25. Police seized weapons and forged identity documents. > >Two men and a woman considered the logistic and backup squad for the >two-woman hit team were arrested later. > >Police raidded three apartments the unit used as safe houses, two in Madrid >and one other in the nearby town of Azuqueca de Henares, in Guadalajara >province. > >Mayor Oreja said that the hit team had been under constant surveillance >since they arrived in Madrid approximately a week ago but added that he did >not know for certain if its members were involved in the most recent bomb >attack in the Spanish capital. > >On October 30, a huge car bomb explosion killed Supreme Court justice Jose >Francisco Querol, his bodyguard and driver, and critically wounded the >driver of a passing bus, but police said they doubted any of the people just >arrested were directly invovled. > >More likely, they said, the new team was sent in a replacement for Querol's >killers, who were probably heading to France where they would lie low for a >while before being ordered back to Spain to commit new attacks. > >The arrests came as Spain is pulling out all the stops to halt a new terror >offensive by the group which has killed some 830 people since it took up >arms in 1968, with 19 of the victims so far this year. > >Six people were murdered in October alone as part of ETA's campaign for the >independence of Spain's three Basque provinces, plus the annexation of >neighboring Navarra and parts of France. EFE > >nl/bl/bj > >Copyright (c) 2000. Agencia EFE, S.A. > > > >REUTERS Story Filed: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 9:57 AM EST > >SPANISH POLICE ARREST ETA SUSPECTS > >MADRID (Reuters) - Police arrested six people Tuesday on suspicion they >belonged to or had links to a unit of the Basque separatist group ETA that >was planning attacks in the capital. > >The arrests were part of a fight back by Spanish authorities against ETA's >bloodiest offensive in recent years, launched since a cease-fire ended late >last year. > >`What has been broken up is a group that without a doubt was going to act in >Madrid in the coming days or coming weeks,'' Interior Minister Jaime Mayor >Oreja told a news conference. > >Mayor Oreja, Spain's chief of internal security, said two of the suspected >ETA members were women, who were detained outside the Cuban Embassy in >Madrid where they had asked in vain for political asylum. > >Two of the suspects were thought to be acquaintances of the group. > >Previously officials had said five people were under arrest. > >Police seized two pistols and false passports when they searched four >apartments in and around Madrid. The operation was continuing with further >searches of homes expected. > >Officials said they did not believe the suspects were responsible for a >powerful car bomb explosion on October 30 that killed three people and >injured more than 60, the bloodiest attack blamed on ETA this year. > >`We're not ready to say the Madrid Commando has been broken up,'' Mayor >Oreja said, adding the group may have been sent to relieve an existing >`Madrid Commando,'' or to complement it. > >ETA has claimed or been blamed for 19 killings since it ended its >cease-fire, resuming a three-decade campaign of violence for an independent >Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France. > >Despite a series of arrests of ETA suspects and collaborators in Spain and >France in recent weeks, Mayor Oreja said the police battle was far from >over. > >`We are going to contain this happiness and satisfaction (over the arrests) >because the ETA offensive will continue and we are still going to live >through very hard and difficult moments,'' the minister said. > >French police arrested nearly 20 alleged members of the group earlier this >year, including a man believed to be ETA's top military commander. But ETA's >attacks have continued on an almost weekly basis since then. > >(c) 2000 Reuters > > > >AP Story Filed: Tuesday, November 07, 2000 4:06 PM EST > >Spain Hits Basque Commando Group > >MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Police broke up a Basque separatist commando group in >Madrid that may have been just days away from staging an attack, the >government said Tuesday. > >Police on Monday arrested two women and two men believed to belong to the >armed Basque separatist group ETA and found four apartments allegedly used >as safe houses. The women were arrested as they left the Cuban Embassy. > >Two other people accompanying the four suspects were also detained, although >it was not immediately known if they belong to ETA, which has been fighting >for Basque independence for more than 30 years. > >As part of the operation, police raided an apartment late Tuesday in the >northeastern city of Barcelona and arrested two women, one French and the >other Argentine, who both had recently lived with one of the Madrid suspects >and whose links with the armed group were being investigated, a spokesman of >the Interior Ministry said. > >The suspected ETA members arrived in the Spanish capital on Oct. 31, a day >after a car bomb explosion in Madrid killed a Supreme Court judge, his >driver and his bodyguard, Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja said. > >The suspects did not take part in that bombing but were studying targets for >a new attack and were probably days or weeks away from acting, he said. >Police who arrested them seized two pistols and three sets of false identity >papers. > >Mayor Oreja said the dragnet was triggered when the two women suspects >realized that they were under police surveillance and went to the Cuban >Embassy to seek political asylum. > >`At some point they believed police were closing in on them, and that made >them think that asking for political asylum in the Cuban Embassy was their >only way out,'' Mayor Oreja said. > >He said embassy officials called Spanish authorities while the women were >inside. After their request was rejected, the women were arrested as they >left the embassy. > >The recent Madrid car bomb attack raised to 19 the number of deaths blamed >on ETA since it ended a 14-month-old cease-fire in December last year. > >ETA, whose name is a Basque language acronym for Basque Homeland and >Freedom, has killed some 800 people since 1968 when it began its campaign >for an independent Basque homeland in an area straddling northern Spain and >southwest France. > >Copyright � 2000 Associated Press Information Services, all rights reserved. > > >================================================================= > NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems > Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us > 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 > http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >================================================================= > >nytrad-11.08.00-22:46:53-27355 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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