Despite growing international pressure to ease up on opponents, Cuban security forces detained activists and barred a U.S. envoy from the courthouse where four dissidents went on trial for sedition. A verdict was expected within days after the one-day trial of the three men and one woman ended Monday evening. The ruling could hold international repercussions for Cuba, which is trying to break out of its political and economic isolation and assume a higher profile on the world stage.
Family members say the four rejected government offers to go into exile rather than face trial.
They are also accused of encouraging Cubans not to vote in that year's elections, holding two news conferences with foreign media, exhorting foreign businessmen not to invest in Cuba and asking Cuban exiles to encourage their kin on the island to undertake acts of civil disobedience. Communist officials insist there are no political prisoners in this island nation of 11 million people, only those jailed for common crimes. They reject the characterization of the four as prisoners of conscience. The case has drawn expressions of concern from the United States, Europe and the Vatican. When Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in January 1998, he called for fundamental freedoms and respect for human rights.