Tuesday December 4, 2001 3:58 PM ET

U.S. Says No to Cuba on Information

By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Cuba has proposed sharing information with the United States on terrorism but U.S. officials are showing no interest, partly because of Cuba's forceful opposition to the American air war in Afghanistan.

During U.S.-Cuban migration talks Monday in Havana, the Cuban side called for a ``terrorism information exchange,'' but the U.S. delegation said it was an inappropriate forum for a discussion of the issue, a State Department official said.

The official noted that the administration had indicated to Cuba earlier that it did see the communist neighbor as a potential partner in the anti-terrorism struggle.

President Fidel Castro has expressed horror at the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but he adamantly opposes the U.S.-led military campaign against Taliban rule in Afghanistan and the al-Qaida terrorist group.

On Nov. 13, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said in a speech at the U.N. General Assembly that ``it would seem that this war has targeted children, the civilian population and the International Red Cross hospitals and facilities as enemies.''

The second ranking U.S. official at the United Nations, James B. Cunningham, described Perez Roque's observation as ``hideous.'' The administration has acknowledged that civilian deaths have occurred as a result of the air campaign but said that maximum efforts have been made to avoid such casualties.

In his speech, Perez Roque reaffirmed his government's long-standing position that the island has been a victim of American-inspired terrorism for 40 years.

``In Cuba there are still relatives of the nearly 3,500 Cubans killed as a result of aggressions and terrorist acts,'' he said. ``Justice is still demanded by over 2,000 Cubans rendered disabled by aggressions and terrorist acts.''

Not long after Sept. 11, the United States invited all Latin American nations, Cuba included, to assist the anti-terror coalition. Cuba provided documents to the State Department, which officials dismissed as worthless. Cuban officials were told that the Bush administration was not interested in receiving additional documents.

Cuba apparently decided to revisit the terrorism issue at the migration talks because it is the only forum in which the United States and Cuba hold bilateral talks. The two sides meet every six months or so.

Monday's talks focused on ways to combat the smuggling of Cubans to U.S. shores by criminal groups.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the U.S. delegation voiced concern about the ``prohibitively high fees'' some Cuban migrants are charged. Others face outright denial of exit visas even though they have received U.S. visas, he said.

In Havana, Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, who headed the Cuban delegation, restated his government's concern about a U.S. law that he said encourages risky and illegal migration to the United States.

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