From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [CubaNews] CubaNews summary 10-26-2001 CubaNews summary 10-26-2001 ======================================== Washington's war on Afghanistan continues without end, affecting developments across the planet and is being monitored everywhere, including in Cuba. ======================================== 20 MORE CHARTER FLIGHTS TO CUBA 11/1/2001 With all the talk and action being taken in Congress about Cuba and terrorism, this news moves in quite the opposite (but positive!) direction. This appeared in today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper: October 25, 2001, 2:22 PM EDT HAVANA (AP) -- Continental Airlines is dedicating an aircraft that will provide 20 additional weekly charter flights to Cuba, the president of Continental Connection said on Thursday. The flights aboard the Boeing 737 are to begin Nov. 1. Most will originate from Miami, one of the U.S.-approved gateway cities, said Thomas L. Cooper, president of Continental Connection, operated by Gulfstream International Airlines Inc. ``Right now the market is pretty flat because of the terrorist attacks but we're expecting it will come back,'' Cooper said. ``The fact that we've dedicated this aircraft is proof we're confident.'' Only people with permission from the U.S. government can take the charter flights. American journalists, humanitarian workers, academic researchers and some Cuban-Americans are usually granted permission, which allows them passage on the charter flights. Those without permission can fly to another country like Mexico or Jamaica to reach Cuba, but risk the chance of a U.S. fine. ``Until Congress grants the airlines permission to fly directly, people have two choices _ take a charter if they have permission or fly through another country,'' said Tessie Aral, vice president of ABC Charters Inc., which also operates charter flights to Cuba. An estimated 120,000 passengers have used charter flights to get to Cuba this year, she said. A majority of the passengers who use the flights are Cuban Americans. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press http://www.sun-sentinel.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?sl ug=sfl%2D1025cubaflights This story is also at Miami Herald, BUT, three of the seven paragraphs from the Sun-Sentinel are missing from the Miami Herald's version of it: http://www.miami.com/herald/digdocs/036239.htm ===================================== TOURISM ON THE SKIDS FROM 9-11 FEARS The Miami Herald reports Cuban tourism down in the aftermath of 9-11. It naturally stresses the negative sides, but was compelled to admit that things could be substantial worse than this. When reading Miami Herald reports on Cuba it is necessary to keep in mind that the Herald has NO REPORTER BASED IN CUBA, so all of its reports are from second or third party sources. Thus, the reporter giving information she says is from the Tourism Minister, Ibrahim At times it seems imagination plays a role, too. For those on the island, the economic decline would most affect those with no access to U.S. dollars. Over the past five years, the exchange rate has remained relatively stable and Cubans have been able to trade pesos for dollars legally at govern- ment-operated currency houses. But this week the peso dropped from 23 to 26 to $1 and Cubans learned they could no longer buy dollars with their pesos at the exchange offices known by the acronym CADECA. At least 20 of 225 hotels on the island have closed, according to Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz. Also, he has announced, a third of the 36,000 hotel rooms are vacant. While the setback is painful, the economy is still far from having to contend with a crisis of the same magnitude as the one it faced following the collapse of the Soviet Union that brought an end to subsidized commodities. At the height of the era, known as the `special period,' the exchange rate was 60 pesos to $1. Nor is Cuba alone in facing economic decline. Elsewhere in the Caribbean, many islands also earn most of their foreign currency from tourism. http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/terrorism/digdocs/0 68891.htm ========================================= CHICAGO TRIBUNE OPPOSES BLOCKADE FROM A HOSTILE, RIGHTIST, STANDPOINT: "VLADIMIR TO FIDEL: DROP DEAD" This is the editorial position of the Chicago Tribune, expressed in a crude, crass, reactionary manner, utterly hostile toward the Cuban Revolution in every way, calling on Washington to reverse its blockade, reduce travel restrictions to what it calls "minimal", remove Cuba from Washington's list of states that it labels terrorist and opening up business options for companies from the US who are excluded from the Cuban market by US policy. The rhetoric which is used is grotesque, but the steps which it actually favors would move in the right direction. ---------------------------------------------- >From the Chicago Tribune Vladimir to Fidel: Drop dead October 26, 2001 Russia's decision, announced last week, to shut down a huge spying station it built 38 years ago near Havana, confirms what practically everyone in the world has already recognized: The Cold War is over and so are Cuba's and Fidel Castro's days of prancing on the world stage, pretending to be major political actors or even annoying sideshows. Everyone recognizes that except Washington, where the impoverished Caribbean island remains a chronic obsession consuming the minds, time and budgets of dozens of American policy-makers. Indeed, Otto Reich, the Bush administration's nominee to head the State Department's Western Hemisphere section, is among those afflicted with an incurable Cuba fixation. Instead, President Bush ought to take a cue from his Russian colleague, particularly in this new and frightening age of international terrorism. Cuba no longer matters in a strategic sense, and it's time to abandon the failed Cold War policies of economic embargoes and perpetual confrontation with its senescent dictator. News about the Russian decision could not have come at a worse time for Cuba, or delivered in a more abrupt manner. Over the past several years, Russia has abandoned several big-ticket projects, including a half-finished nuclear power plant. Russia paid $200 million a year in rent for the spy station, and Cuba's rattletrap economy needs all the dollars it can get from wherever. It was also a unilateral decision--the news came through an envoy to Castro, who was left sputtering helplessly. The Russians were not reticent about the reasons for closing a spy station in Cuba and another one in Vietnam. Money is short. There are more worthwhile projects to spend it on. As one official tartly explained, the $200 million a year Russia spent on the Cuban spy station could buy 20 military spy satellites. Moreover, as Putin repositions Russia in the world, the relationship with the U.S. is far more valuable than propping up the Castro regime. Indeed, Congress had demanded the Russians dismantle the offending spy station. Putin gladly delivered. The next move is up to the U.S. As some in Washington have suggested, Cuba ought to be dropped from the countries that sponsor terrorism. That's an old chestnut now of highly dubious validity. Beyond that, the U.S. should lift the economic and travel restrictions on Cuba--for our benefit if nothing else. Midwestern farmers need new markets and trade, and so do other U.S. exporters. Anyone in the U.S.--including Cuban-Americans--also ought to be free to travel to the island with minimal restrictions. Most of all, the U.S. needs to focus its economic, diplomatic and military fire on real terrorist threats. Cuba's sad, 42-year regime poses no real threat to the U.S.--or anyone else for that matter--except to the people on the island who are forced to live under it. Copyright © 2001, Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0110260018oct 26.story ======================================== CUBA STILL SMARTING OVER RUSSIAN PULLOUT: Reuters' nasty correspondent in Havana puts his spin on the Cuban government's efforts to explain the political and economic impact of the pullout on the island nation. http://news.lycos.com/news/story.asp?section=World&storyId=2 70215&topic=Cuba =========================================== CUBAN BALLET NOW TOURING UNITED STATES: Photograph and short story available at Granma site: http://www.granma.cu/seccionfotos/059-ballet-i.html ========================================== ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL IN OLD HAVANA Photograph and story on this architectural treasure: http://www.granma.cu/seccionfotos/060-catedral-i.html ======================================== CUBAN WINE FESTIVAL OPENS IN HAVANA: PRESTIGIOUS wine cellars and commercial outlets for wines and spirits available on the Cuban market, exhibited their products at the country's 2nd Wine Festival. Many beautifully designed stands offered tastings of the wide array of options that Cuba has to offer today for those who enjoy a good wine. http://www.granma.cu/ingles/octu4/43vinos-i.html ======================================= NEW CUBAN PASSPORT INAUGURATED: New Cuban Passport is being Introduced Havana, October 25 (AIN) In its first phase of application the new passport being introduced in Cuba, after the application of measures that increase its quality and make it more durable. The legal document now has four colors, security marks and its follies are glued and sowed at the factory of higher security, it was known at the Third Conference of Social Sciences of the Interior Ministry being held in this capital. Irving Diaz and Sibeles Perez, specialists of the Center for Investigation and Technical Development of the Interior Ministry said the process is being carried out to broaden the technological facilities of the factory where these improvements are being applied and which is also charged with the impression of money paper. http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/english/oct25mpassport.htm ================================== FURTHER LIMITS ON IMMIGRATION PROPOSED From: Karen Wald [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Walter Lippmann [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 9:54 PM Subject: ACT NOW: Feinstein's bill would block Cuban students Please note that Senator Feinstein is presenting a bill to bar students from seven countries "that sponsor terrorism" from studying in the United States. Cuba is specifically listed as one of the countries from which no students could be admitted. It is not clear if Cuban nationals studying in the US right now would be expelled. I have not been able to find this bill up on the Thomas/Library of Congress system yet. I know a number of students from Cuba who have come up here to study theology at local seminaries. Presumeably this would apply to them also. We need to move fast on this. Emile Schepers SUGGESTIONS, anyone, in addition to everyone quickly calling and mailing Feinstein???? HERE IS THE REUTERS STORY ON THIS BILL: http://news.lycos.com/news/forms/printstory.asp?section=Brea king&storyId=269543&topic=Cuba ====================================== CONGRESS STALLS BILL LIFTING TRAVEL BAN Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that crafted the Senate bill, had pressed to include the House's Cuba language in the final plan worked out with the Senate. But he acknowledged it was difficult to challenge the White House on the issue with tensions after the mass killings of civilians on Sept. 11 and the current outbreak of anthrax. But Dorgan said with the terrorism threat, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control should not be diverted by "tracking retired little old ladies in tennis shoes bicycling through Cuba." With expectations there are enough votes in the Democratic-led Senate to lift the Cuba travel restrictions, lawmakers are likely to press the issue again next year. http://news.lycos.com/news/forms/printstory.asp?section=Poli tics&storyId=269518&topic=Cuba ====================================== ROUGH GUIDE TO CUBAN MUSIC by Ben Varkentine PopMatters Music and Film Critic [note from Walter: the reviewer here doesn't mention a nice pocket-sized book companion to the discs which can be purchased separately and seems an excellent complement to the CDs] e-mail this article I wanted to hear this record because Kirsty MacColl, one of my favorite singers, spent a lot of time in Cuba in the last years of her life and her final album was very influenced by Cuban music. If it's good enough for Kirsty, it's good enough for me. I also like a lot of the Latin-influenced jazz I've heard, such as some of the work of Vince Guaraldi. I tell you this to identify where I'm coming from in my appraisal of this collection: I'm the interested newcomer from afar, having his first prolonged exposure to the music of Cuba but having heard a bit filtered through western sensibilities. I enter into this with open ears and open mind, but I'm not in an expert enough position to be able to say whether the picture painted of The Cuban Music Story is accurate. What I am in a position to say is that this makes a very pleasant alternative to the mind-numbing sameness and averageness of too much of the music I've been listening to and reviewing lately. And because Cuban music has been filtering into the rest of the world for the past 80 years or so, it doesn't sound that alien. More like part of a long conversation of which you've previously only heard snatches and to which you now have a chance to really listen. And what will you hear? My favorites after two or three hearings include Bebo Valdés's "To Mario Bauza", one of the jazziest of the cuts included. According to the informative and useful liner notes, the pianist was in his mid-'70s at the time. ¡Cubanismo!'s "Aprovecha", with its popping percussion and toney trumpet, is also good, as is the "electro-Latino" of Azúcar Letal's "Somos Lo Máximo", a hip-hop inflected track that reminds us the road of influences goes both ways and it goes up to the present. The album closer, "Laura", played by PeruchÍn, feels nostalgic and new at once, which is a marvelous thing to be able to say about a cover of a standard. And speaking of standards, my favorite track on the CD, the one that makes it indispensable, is Cuarteto Patria & Manu Dibango's "Quizás Quizás", better known to western ears, probably, as "Perhaps Perhaps". Eliades Ochoa, leader of the group Patria, duets on guitar with Dibango on saxophone and the results are so sexy and romantic it made me think about dancing with Sonia Braga. Who I grant you is Brazilian rather than Cuban, but if you think I'm going to pick nits when it comes to thinking about hearing Braga whisper "I love you" as we dance, her lips pressed against my ear . . . I'm sorry, I seem to have wandered. That's what this music can do for you. And besides, Brazilian, Cuban . . . American. The same things move us, do they not? Which is what compilations like this are reminding us anyway. FULL STORY AVAILABLE: http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/various/various-roug hguidetocuba.html ========================================== LETTER ON NICARAGUA ELECTIONS Fighting terrorism John Lundin hollywood (Florida) October 26, 2001 How can our government lead a moral fight against global terrorism while Bush's Latin American policy advisers encourage former members of Nicaragua's Somoza dictatorship to commit violent acts of terrorism to disrupt the upcoming Nov. 4 democratic elections? Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and Oliver North made the same mistake when they illegally financed the failed Nicaraguan Contra war by selling arms to Iran, a country that sponsors terrorism. As we mourn the thousands of innocent Americans who died in the name of democracy, when will the right-wing conservatives in our country learn that every person on this planet deserves the right to vote in free and democratic elections? Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel ########################################## AFGHANISTAN WAR AND ITS CONTINUING IMPACT ########################################## BLACK FIREFIGHTERS REINSTATED IN FLORIDA: MIAMI -- (AP) -- Three Miami-Dade County firefighters, suspended with pay after allegedly refusing to ride in fire trucks adorned with the American flag, have been reinstated after a departmental investigation cleared them of substantial wrongdoing. Firefighters Terry Williams, James Moore and William Clark never refused to ride the fire trucks after the vehicles were adorned with flags following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and never disobeyed orders, a departmental report released Thursday said. They had been placed on administrative leave last month pending the investigation's completion. FULL TEXT HERE: http://www.miami.com/herald/digdocs/093259.htm ====================================== KNEE-JERK FEAR THREATENS AMERICA Leonard Pitts, Jr., a feature columnist in the Miami Herald spoke out strongly and eloquently today (excerpts here): ``Let's send them back to the Middle East.'' It's an argument that's gained a certain seductiveness since the day we saw skyscrapers stabbed by airplanes. Now, there's this anthrax scare, which may or may not have a foreign connection. Enough, the argument goes. Let's send them back home. We'll never know how many barroom philosophers have made that argument recently. But until last week, I had not heard it made by the presumably sober and thoughtful. That changed when Mona Charen, a nationally syndicated, politically conservative columnist, wrote a piece in which she argued that, while we mustn't ``persecute, insult or harass Arabs and Muslims within our borders,'' we should kick them out. Every tourist, every student. American citizens of Middle Eastern ancestry would be exempt from expulsion, but Charen thinks we should watch them closely just the same. Charen also favors ``ethnic profiling'' in which every ``Middle Eastern-looking'' truck driver in the country would be pulled over and questioned to make sure he wasn't carrying hazardous materials as part of some terrorist plot. It's an idea so absurd in its xenophobia you can hardly take it seriously. Then you realize it's so absurd you can't afford not to. Mona Charen says we can't be too politically correct to defend America. I say that if she has her way, there won't be much ``America'' left to defend. Leonard Pitts Jr.'s column runs in Living & Arts every Thursday and Saturday. Call him toll-free at 888-251-4407. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.miami.com/herald/content/features/digdocs/111952. htm ========================================== PRESSURE MOUNTED AGAINST BERKELEY Economic and political pressure is being exerted against Berkeley, the only city in the United States so far to have publicly called for an early end to the war on Afghanistan. This war is different from previous wars in which the US has been involved because, in this case, it was preceded by a monstrous assault against the people of this country, at the WTO and Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Thus, some who had opposed the Vietnam War are supporting this war, at least in these first weeks. Contracts large and small are being withdrawn. Angry and hateful mail is being received at city offices. The Los Angeles Times story on these events tries to convey the idea that the city's action is out of step with an increasingly conservatized populace. This seem significantly exaggerated, though there are, of course elements of truth to their sociological analysis. Some 3000 people publicly rallied to support Congress- woman Barbara Lee, the only one to stand up and vote against giving Washington a blank check for the war. Here's a bit of background, but you should read through the entire LA Times article as there's much more in it than we have space for here. For example: "I never expected to be so misconstrued," said Councilwoman Dona Spring, who sponsored the pacifist call that she thought On Sept. 25, the council voted unanimously to commend Rep. Barbara Lee, whose district includes Berkeley. Lee, who has received death threats but also been lauded by thousands at peace rallies, cast the lone vote in Congress against authorizing broad use of force in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Polls have shown the American public to be overwhelmingly in favor of military intervention, but Spring said she sensed the usual loyal opposition coalescing in Berkeley. "There were three peace rallies the weekend before I introduced the item," she said. "And the roots of the peace movement go very deep in the Bay Area." The resolution that finally came to the council condemned the Sept. 11 attacks, expressed concern for both military personnel and "the innocent people in Afghanistan," asked for a national campaign to reduce oil dependency in the U.S. and inserted "as soon as possible" into the request for an end to the bombing. "It was pretty mild," Spring said. "I mean, who doesn't want the bombing to stop 'as soon as possible'?" But Dean notes that the local mail has run 3 to 1 against Spring and the council. She has asked three of the measure's backers to call for a formal reconsideration. "Unfortunately," she said, "I don't think that's going to go anywhere." READ THE FULL DETAILED STORY: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000085192oct26.story BERKELEY'S WEBSITE EXPLANATION OF ACTIONS: http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/news/10oct01/102301resolution.h tml ========================================== AFGHANISTAN WAR NEWS: BEST RADIO SOURCE Five days a week, Democracy NOW in Exile is the best possible source. Each day, Amy Goodman and the DN staff provide outstanding radio coverage which can be accessed beginning 9:00 AM (Eastern Time) on such urls as www.wbix.org - www.kfcf.org - www.kpfa.org The daily cast is later posted in archive form and you can access it anytime at www.webactive.com Through this site you can also scroll back and listen to any of the previous programs, including speeches by people like Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky and many others. ======================================= US SENATE GREATLY EXPANDS GOV'T POWER: WASHINGTON -- With the threat of anthrax lingering over them, senators on Thursday overwhelmingly approved legislation giving federal law enforcement broader powers to wiretap phones, track Internet traffic and examine private financial and educational records in the hunt for terrorists. The 98-1 vote, cast 45 days after the suicide attacks on the Pentagon and New York's World Trade Center, cleared the way for President Bush to sign the measure into law today in an East Room ceremony. The House approved the measure Wednesday by a broad margin. The only opponent was Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., who tried but failed to amend the legislation earlier this month. In a letter to senators this week, the American Civil Liberties Union called for the bill's defeat, arguing that it gave unwarranted power to the executive branch. The terrorist attacks gave lawmakers new impetus: The bill's official name was the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism -- USA-PATRIOT Act. http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/terrorism/digdocs/0 12318.htm ======================================= CUBAN COVERAGE OF AFGHAN WAR INCLUDES: http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/english/oct25mwar.htm ======================================== RECEIVE "THE BOONDOCKS" BY E-MAIL Don't miss a single panel of Aaron McGruder's strip (motto: "Inciting angry Black children since 1998"): which confronts racism and the war drive in great commentaries at turns darkly sardonic and lightly whimsical and also subscribe to you can receive it if the stripe isn't in your local print publication. Go to this URL: http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/ and check the home page for "The Boondocks": http://www.boondocks.net/main.html darkly sardonic and TO RECEIVE MORE INFORMATION LIKE THIS SUBSCRIBE TO CUBANEWS LIST CLICK HERE: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/Gi0tnD/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/xYTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this CubaNews group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
