Chronicle on Cuba - May 2004

Terrorism

May 5: The Cuban magazine Bohemia denounced the existence of more than a hundred anti-Cuban terrorist groups in the United States. The 23-page report includes the highly incriminating evidence of the presence of Orlando Bosch, a terrorist of Cuban origin who organized the in-flight explosion of a Cubana Airlines flight in 1976, at an act presided over by President George W. Bush on October 10, 2002. The publication also denounces that one of the recurrent ideas of these groups is the assassination of Fidel Castro, like the plot planned in Panama during the Ibero American Summit in November 2000. (Prensa Latina, 5/5/04)

May 11: Speaker of the Cuban National Peoples Power Assembly (Congress), Ricardo Alarcon, affirmed that the administration of George W. Bush is responsible for some of the worst acts of terrorism committed on this continent and in the world. Alarcon made the accusation at the midnight closure of a public audience gathered to learn details of the case of the five Cubans condemned in the United States to tough sentences ranging from 15 years to double life imprisonment. (Prensa Latina, 11/5/04)

May 18: Secretary of State Colin Powell has determined and certified to the US Congress that five countries -- Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea and Syria -- have not been cooperating fully with United States antiterrorism efforts, the Department of State said. [Five Countries Certified as not Cooperating with US] (USInfo, 18/5/04)