Prominent Cuban
dies trying to flee

Thousands of Cubans have risked their lives to reach Florida

A well-known Cuban doctor, in his sixth attempt to flee the communist country, was among 31 who drowned when a boat capsized 60 miles off the island's coast.

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The official Cuban newspaper Granma mentioned the death of Pablo Ruiz Porra, 56, but did not say the police had prevented him on five previous occasions from going to the United States, reported Guillermo of Cubanac?n Press.

Only three survived the attempted escape Aug. 16. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro blamed the United States, charging its policy of granting asylum to Cubans who reach land encourages such attempts.

The reporter Fari?as, who said as a young medical graduate he once worked alongside Porra, recalled that the renowned doctor wanted to join his wife in Lincoln, Neb.

"The slaves of the Castro empire are us, the doctors," Porra once said, according to Fari?as.

The United States had granted Porra a visa to emigrate, but the Cuban government would not give him an exit visa.

Porra – an eye, nose and throat specialist – and was on the staff of the Arnaldo Mili?n Castro Hospital in Santa Clara, but his services often were requested in other parts of Cuba.

Cuba has offered to send more than 1,500 doctors to the United States to aid the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, but the State Department has suggested they would not be needed.

The U.S. has labeled Cuba one of the world's few remaining "outposts of tyranny" and maintains a four-decade-long trade embargo during which there have been no diplomatic relations.

Castro rejected the charge that his offer was purely political.

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"Perhaps those who do not know the honor and solidarity spirit of our people think this is a bluff or a ridiculous exaggeration," he said. "But our country never plays with such serious matters."