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FOUR Cuban dissidents arrested in July had threatened foreign businessmen with reprisals if they invested in Cuba, it was revealed by the Cuban authorities in August.
They had also strong links with terrorist groups inside the United States and had received help from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, according to a note from the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
As CubaSi went to press the four, Vladimiro Roca, Martha Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne and Rene Gomez Manzano, were still awaiting trial, but in answer to protests from EU and other governments, the Foreign Ministry released details of the charges against them.
The note, which went entirely unreported in the British Press, said they had been engaged in "intense activity aimed at subverting the legal and constitutional order of the Republic of Cuba."
It added that the authorities had proof that the dissidents had been seeking to disrupt local government elections scheduled for Oct. 19. Since May, the dissidents, calling themselves the "Internal Dissidence Working Group," had held at least two public news conferences and in one they had called for a boycott of the upcoming one-party elections.
The Foreign Ministry note said the detained men had also released "false and inexact data" about the Cuban economy. Their intention was to "negatively influence internal and international public opinion and especially existing and potential partners and investors," the note added.
The dissidents were also accused of "threatening foreign businessmen who negotiate with Cuba, even raising the possibility of reprisals," the Foreign Ministry note said.
During one of their news conferences, the dissidents had shown reporters a letter from them to foreign businessmen warning them of the consequences of investing in Cuba under the current one-party Communist government.
"In all these activities, they have had logistical support from officials of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana,"
It did not specifically link the detained dissidents to the explosions in Havana hotels.
But the note ended: "The Cuban authorities have sufficient proof of the involvement of these citizens with leaders of terrorist groups based in the territory of the United States."
Cuban authorities have made clear that they believe right- wing anti-Communist Cuban exiles in Miami are behind the recent bomb blasts, which Cuban officials say appear aimed at damaging the island's growing tourist industry.
The case is particularly sensitive because one of the group, Vladimiro Roca, is a son of the late Cuban Communist leader Blas Roca. A spokesperson for the Cuban government told CubaSi: "Because of his background, he thought he was somehow immune from prosecution. But he has now gone too far."
He added that there would be a trial "as soon as all the evidence has been collected". The trial would be public.