A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

GUANTANAMO: U.S. says 6 ex-Gitmo prisoners 'rejoined fight' in Afghanistan

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Former Guantanamo detainees have organized a jailbreak in Afghanistan, kidnapped Chinese engineers and taken leadership positions with the Taliban, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

The former detainees were released from the prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba between 2002-2004 by claiming to be innocent or low-level figures, the military said in a statement, responding to questions about ex-prisoners who have allegedly resumed fighting.

The Pentagon gave brief descriptions of six detainees, including two it said were killed in fighting in Afghanistan, which the U.S. invaded to oust the Taliban regime following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The statement suggested that the six were released from Guantanamo by mistake.

"These former detainees successfully lied to U.S. officials, sometimes for over three years," said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

Last week, a Pentagon official, Joseph Benkert, testified to Congress that about 30 former detainees have rejoined the fight against the United States. Other U.S. officials have made similar claims about prisoners at Guantanamo, where the military now holds about 380 men mostly on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

Guantanamo critics have been skeptical of the claims, saying it is part of a U.S. campaign to justify the detention of hundreds of men without charges at the remote base.

ST. LUCIA: Island's premier hospitalized for series of mini-strokes, top official says

CASTRIES, St. Lucia (AP) _ Prime Minister John Compton suffered a series of small strokes that caused "some physical impairment" and he is being treated at a U.S. hospital, the acting premier of the Caribbean island said Tuesday.

The 82-year-old Compton, a three-time prime minister of St. Lucia who is one of the world's older leaders, was in stable condition at an unspecified New York hospital where he has been receiving care for more than two weeks, acting Prime Minister Stephenson King said in a televised address.

"He suffered some physical impairment and that will require him to undergo rehabilitative physiotherapy," King said, adding that Compton was speaking and in good spirits.

He said he could not estimate when Compton would return.

The St. Lucian press has criticized the lack of news on the elderly leader's health and some have speculated that he suffered a stroke or heart attack. But King's speech was the first official confirmation of Compton's condition.

King, the island's health minister, told reporters last week that Compton had been undergoing medical tests for an undisclosed medical condition. He said that tests had been delayed, forcing Compton to extend his stay abroad.

On Tuesday, King did not specify when Compton suffered the first of the strokes.

Mini-strokes, or transient ischemic attacks, are caused by a blood clot that forms anywhere in the body and lodges in a vessel in the head, depriving part of the brain of blood and oxygen.

HAITI: Ex-strongman tells NY judge he'd go back to Haiti to face justice

NEW YORK (AP) _ After living in exile in the United States for more than a decade, a once-feared leader of a right-wing paramilitary group in Haiti announced on Tuesday that he's willing to go back to the Caribbean nation, where he faces charges of murder and torture.

"I have no fear to be deported to Haiti," Emmanuel "Toto" Constant said in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, where he had been scheduled for sentencing in a mortgage fraud case.

State and federal lawyers urged Justice Abraham Gerges to sentence Constant to time served _ 10 months of a proposed 1-to-3-year sentence _ to speed his deportation. The Haitian government has "clearly demonstrated" it can fairly prosecute the former strongman, said Ajay Bhatt, an attorney with the Department of Homeland Security.

But the judge postponed the sentencing after the Center for Constitutional Rights claimed the country remained too unstable to keep Constant from evading justice. The civil rights group also argued that, given Constant's troubled history in Haiti, the sentence agreed to as part of a plea deal was too lenient.

The judge suggested he might kill the deal, forcing Constant to withdraw a guilty plea and go to trial on charges he defrauded lenders out of more than US$1.7 million (euro1.3 million). If convicted, Constant would face five to 15 years in prison.

CUBA: Cuban tribunal symbolically declares Posada, U.S. government guilty of terrorism

HAVANA (AP) _ Cuban law students concluded a two-day mock trial declaring anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles and the U.S. government guilty of decades of terrorism against the government of Fidel Castro.

Delivered at a courtroom set up outside the U.S. Interests Section, Tuesday's verdict was a foregone conclusion. No sentence was issued.

Communist Cuba characterizes Posada as "the executioner" and the "best known terrorist in the hemisphere" _ phrases repeated in the 10-page judgment against him. It has long accused the Cuba-born Posada of masterminding the 1976 bombing of a jetliner that killed 73 people and a string of 1997 Havana hotel bombings that killed an Italian tourist _ charges he denies.

The Communist Party's youth wing organized the event, hoping to pressure the United States to bring more serious charges against the 79-year-old who has spent a lifetime trying to undermine Fidel Castro.

Authorities here were enraged last week when a U.S. federal judge threw out an immigration indictment against Posada, freeing him from house arrest.

"This tribunal declares the accused, Luis Faustino Clemente Posada Carriles, and the government of the United States of America, guilty of all of the terrorist acts expressed herein," said the tribunal's black-robed president, Iala Rodriguez. To the side of the bench was an empty seat, presumably for Posada.

Hundreds of students and several dozen people who testified over two days occupied rows of plastic chairs outside the American mission as ocean winds howled through the plaza.

BERMUDA: Jury clears Scotsman of vehicular homicide in death of woman

HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) _ A Bermuda court on Tuesday cleared a Scotsman of vehicular homicide in the death of a 24-year-old bartender.

A 12-member jury found Donald Iain MacDonald, 29, not guilty of killing Hungarian national Anett Farkas on Sept. 5, 2005, by driving dangerously on his motorcycle.

MacDonald, who was working as a waiter in the central parish of Southampton, told the jury that it was not his fault he collided with another motorcycle, driven by a 16-year-old boy and carrying Farkas.

"He just came out of nowhere," MacDonald said. "One second he wasn't there and the next minute he crashed into me."

MacDonald and the teenage driver suffered minor injuries in the crash.

ST. LUCIA: American Airlines to begin direct flights from New York to island

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ American Airlines announced it will begin direct flights from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to St. Lucia as it increases service in the Caribbean.

The flights to the Caribbean island northwest of Barbados will be offered three times a week starting Nov. 15, the U.S. carrier said Tuesday. The route will be flown with Boeing 757 aircraft.

American is the largest U.S. airline flying from New York to the Caribbean, and it said the new flights will be the only nonstop service currently scheduled between New York and St. Lucia.

Earlier this year, American announced it would begin nonstop service from JFK to St. Kitts and Nevis starting in November.

CRICKET: Top players criticize World Cup, administrators in survey

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) _ A survey of 45 of the world's top cricketers say most players were not impressed by this year's World Cup in the Caribbean and have little faith in the International Cricket Council's ability to govern the game.

The survey, conducted by the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, found 56 percent of players were both not satisfied by the ICC's ability to deliver World Cup events and lacked confidence in the ICC governing cricket.

Significant numbers also said they had not been educated properly on matters such as corruption, doping and racism.

FICA said the players' responses toward the ICC's governing the game were "disturbing" and should be of "great concern" to the controlling body.

"The ICC came across as out of touch with the rest of the cricketing world," it said. "The players' growing opinion is that decisions are increasingly being made through self-interest and/or party alliances rather than what is best for the game."

The survey found 89 percent of players rated the recent World Cup in the Caribbean as either average, below average or poor.

Only 3 percent said the tournament was excellent, while 8 percent rated it as good.

The World Cup was criticized for being too long, having too many lopsided matches, having a long and meaningless Super Eights stage and putting fans offside through a lack of atmosphere and steep ticket prices.