"As we continue our war in Iraq, we have to remember that close by there is another dictator who is as much a threat to freedom as Hussein," said Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman. "Fidel Castro has operated one of the most violent and corrupt regimes in world history and he must be stopped."

Judicial Watch has already targeted Castro with specific legal actions intended to bring him to justice. Just recently, on February 26, a trial got underway to determine the damages owed by Castro to Judicial Watch client Jose Basulto, the founder of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Mr. Basulto is the lone survivor of a 1996 Cuban military attack against his Brothers to the Rescue planes while on a humanitarian mission to save refugees desperately fleeing Cuba via poorly constructed rafts. On September 3, 1996 Fidel Castro accepted responsibility for the attack, telling CBS News anchorman Dan Rather, "In fact they had the authority to do it, and I assume the responsibility."

The families of three of the slain Brothers to the Rescue pilots won a $38 million award in 1997. According to a report in the Associated Press, the funds were taken from frozen U.S. bank accounts belonging to Cuban telephone companies. Judicial Watch expects to earn a large judgment to be collected from frozen Cuban assets and from the accounts of companies doing business with Castro. Monies collected will be donated to groups that are helping to foster democracy in Cuba and to bring Castro to justice.

On October 3, 2001, Judicial Watch traveled to Brussels, Belgium on behalf of Basulto and other Castro victims to formally charge the Communist dictator with "murder, torture, and violation of human rights." Under a new Belgian "war crimes" law established in 1999, if convicted, Castro could spend the rest of his life in prison.

"No American administration has had the guts to take Castro out," said Judicial Watch Chairman Larry Klayman. "Judicial Watch understands the threat he poses to freedom and to our national security and will not give up until he is justly punished for his crimes."