Reporters sans frontières
www.rsf.org

Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today on learning that independent journalist Oscar Mario González Pérez of the Grupo de Trabajo Decoro news agency, who was arrested on 22 July in Havana, is to be prosecuted under Law 88 protecting Cuba's "national independence and economy" and faces up to 20 years in prison in a sham trial.

"The announcement of a trial is the same as the announcement of a conviction in Cuba," the press freedom organisation said. "González is going to join the long list of 21 journalists who have been imprisoned since March 2003 for trying to practice their trade freely and for not sharing the government's views."

HAVANA, (AFP) - Tensions have escalated between Cuba's government and dissidents, but both sides bitterly rejected Washington's appointment this week of a "transition coordinator" to speed President Fidel Castro's downfall.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday named Caleb McCarry the US "Cuba transition coordinator" to "accelerate the demise of Castro's tyranny" on the Caribbean island the Communist guerrilla leader has run since 1959.

"Surely he will receive a juicy salary in his new job, but Caleb McCarry -- I assure you -- will retire without setting foot in Cuba," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said in Panama.

Cuban opposition leaders were at least as forceful in their reaction.

"Any transition in Cuba is for Cubans to define, lead, organize and coordinate," said Oswaldo Paya, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and promoter of a petition seeking democracy in Cuba.