from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: WW: Attempt to kill Cuban leader foiled. IAC Movement Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://wwpublish.com:8080/Lists/wwnews/List.html> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) Precedence: list X-Original-Message-ID: <021401c05687$38977e80$0a00a8c0@linux> From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [WW] Attempt to kill Cuban leader foiled Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2000Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Nov. 30, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- Panama ATTEMPT TO KILL CUBAN LEADER FOILED By Gloria La Riva Havana, Cuba Luis Posada Carriles, a notorious anti-Cuba fascist responsible for the bombing deaths of scores of people, was captured Nov. 17 along with three accomplices after infiltrating Panama in an attempt to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. The revolutionary government in Havana has called for Posada's extradition to face trial for his many crimes against Cuba. But the U.S. government is pressuring Panama not to do it. As the struggle unfolds, the Cuban people will undoubtedly mobilize until justice is served. Posada is a well-known CIA operative. He contracted two Venezuelan men to place a bomb on a Cubana Airlines plane departing from Barbados in 1976. The bomb destroyed the plane in flight, killing 73 people, including the Cuban national fencing team. Posada has also boasted about his role in the bombings of four Havana hotels in 1997--attacks that were financed by the Cuban American National Foundation and resulted in the death of an Italian tourist, Fabio di Celmo. CASTRO BLOWS LID OFF ASSASSINATION PLOT Castro, who had just arrived in Panama City's airport for the Tenth Ibero-American Summit on Adolescents and Children, made an immediate declaration to the press announcing Posada's presence in Panama. Castro revealed that Posada sneaked into Panama on Nov. 5 with false papers and an array of weapons and explosives. "I have the duty of informing you ... that terrorist elements, organized, financed and directed from the U.S. by the Cuban American National Foundation, which is an instrument of imperialism and the extreme right wing of that country, have been sent to Panama City for the purpose of physically eliminating me," said President Castro. He added, "I make this declaration upon arriving here ... to make it perfectly clear that no danger or threat can intimidate the presence of Cuba." When a journalist asked him how Cuban security forces found out about Posada's presence, he replied, "We have many friends everywhere." It is clear that Cuba's state security has not only friends, but a superb intelligence force that keeps a vigilant eye on right-wing terrorists intent on wreaking destruction on the socialist island and its leaders. These terrorists have been thwarted many times in the past. On Nov. 21, in the third roundtable devoted to the case on Cuban television, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque revealed the identities, addresses, occupations and other vital data on each of Posada's accomplices, including several who have so far eluded capture. He listed the cars they were driving in Panama, the routes they took and the weapons they possessed. Six of the eight are Cuban-born, he said. Four are now U.S. citizens living in the Miami area. About 20 pounds of C-4 explosives belonging to the terrorist gang were found in the house of Jose Hurtado, Posada's driver. Unofficial sources said they were supposed to be used at the University of Panama, where Castro spoke to thousands of students on the last night of his visit. Posada was taken into custody by Panamanian police within hours of President Castro's announcement. He was using a Salvadoran passport under the alias of Franco Rodriguez Mena. Cuba officially requested his extradition Nov. 21 to face trial for numerous crimes, including the 1976 Cubana airlines bombing. Posada was convicted in Venezuela for his role in the bombing. But he managed to "escape" from a prison there in 1985. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may also request Posada's extradition to face outstanding charges for that crime. CIA SHELTERED POSADA Until his arrest, Posada traveled throughout Central America almost at will, sowing terror. For example, he supplied arms to the Nicaraguan contras in their war against the Sandinista revolution. Posada was sheltered by the CIA as he did its dirty work. In 1997 Posada paid a young Salvadoran, Rene Cruz Leon, to plant bombs in Cuban hotels to intimidate foreigners from traveling to Cuba. Fabio di Celma, the Italian tourist, was killed in a bomb blast in the lobby of the Copacabana Hotel. In Cuba, news of Posada's arrest was met with great enthusiasm, but also mistrust about what the U.S. government might do to free him. There is a deep sense of anger that the U.S. government has not only harbored this terrorist but financed and supported him in its campaign of sabotage against Cuba. On the Cuban TV roundtable, host Rogelio Polanco noted: "It is unquestionable that the Panamanian government is being subjected to very strong pressure to free the terrorists. Our people are confident in the dignity of the people and government of Panama, who with the support of the peoples of Latin America and the world will be capable of resisting such pressure and to act with justice." Di Celmo's father pleaded for Panamanian authorities not to free Posada Carriles. At the end of the first roundtable on Nov. 18, moving scenes of testimony by family members of Posada's other victims were shown. One young man, whose father piloted the Cubana airplane in 1976, said: "I will never forget my father's last words. The horror will live with me the rest of my life." This latest assassination attempt on Fidel Castro is part of U.S. imperialism's constant war of aggression against Cuba. Because support for Cuba is growing around the world, U.S. imperialism may resort to more covert tactics to try to destroy the revolution. Against these attacks, Cuba's strength lies in its ability to rally the masses in a united defense. As in the struggle for Eli�n Gonzalez, the support of workers and oppressed people in the United States will be key in this battle. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ********* JC- older matters before Cuban holiday ********* from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: WW: IAC speaks to Anti-Globalization Movement Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://wwpublish.com:8080/Lists/wwnews/List.html> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) Precedence: list From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 23:03:44 -0400 Subject: [WW] IAC Speaks to Anti-Globalization Movement X-Original-Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Oct. 19, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER SPEAKS TO THE ANTI-GLOBALIZATION MOVEMENT: WHAT YOUR SHOULD KNOW ABOUT EVENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA [The International Action Center released the following statement Oct. 11.] The corporate-backed politicians all agree. The torching of Yugoslavia's parliament and the overthrow of President Slobodan Milosevic was a "triumph for democracy." That's what Bill Clinton says. So do George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mad eleine Albright, Al Gore and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. CNN, NBC, CBS and Time magazine say so too. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? In Seattle, Washington, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, protesters were gassed, beaten, shot with rubber bullets and held for days in overcrowded cells. The media called us "rioters" and "vandals" and told us to go home and "seek change through the ballot box." But in Yugoslavia the CIA and State Department urged the "opposition" to boycott the second round of elections, march in the streets and attack government offices. It is supposed to be a crime for any U.S. political candidate to accept donations from abroad. But Washington gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Vojislav Kostunica's "Democratic Opposition of Serbia" before the Sept. 24 elections. FROM BOMBERS TO 'DEMOCRATS' Last year the United States and other NATO powers rained bombs and missiles on Yugoslavia for 78 days. They destroyed homes, schools and hospitals. They killed and maimed thousands, including hundreds of children. The U.S. media and politicians justified these war crimes with a lie campaign demonizing all Serbs. Now the politicians and generals who ordered the bombing and the media who justified it claim to be champions of the rights of the Serbian people. There is no inconsistency here. All over the world Washington's attitude is guided by concern for corporate interests. U.S. policy toward Yugoslavia is war by other means. MILOSEVIC SAID NO TO IMF Slobodan Milosevic may not be a revolutionary in the mold of Fidel Castro or Che Guevara. But in the eyes of Washington he committed the same sin as the protesters in Seattle and Prague: He said no to the New World Order and the International Monetary Fund. Under the leadership of his Serbian Socialist Party, the United Left and the Montenegrin People's Socialist Party, Yugoslavia refused to join NATO or accept IMF-dictated "economic restructuring." It resisted privatization and the "free flow of capital" demanded by Wall Street. For that reason--and that alone--Yugoslavia was the target of eight years of war and economic sanctions by the U.S. and NATO and a nonstop campaign of lies by the biggest propaganda machine in history--the U.S. corporate news media. KOSTUNICA SAID YES On Sept. 27, unknown to most of their followers, leaders of the U.S.-funded "Democratic Opposition" met with representatives of the IMF and the World Bank in Sofia, Bulgaria. They agreed that if they came to power they would hike prices, privatize industry, lay off workers and dismantle Yugoslavia's free health-care system. That's right: Yugoslavia has free health care--and the IMF wants to destroy it! These are the same measures that have devastated Bulgaria, Romania, the former Soviet republics and countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. That was the price of Washington's support. A CLASSIC CIA OPERATION Kostunica and his CIA advisers arrogantly rejected a second round of elections. They feared that even if they won--a big "if"--the elected Socialist parliamentary majority would block the IMF's program. Kostunica and the CIA wanted to take power by force in order to intimidate or disband the parliament and crush the Serbian Socialist Party and its allies. They wanted to send a message to anyone in East Europe who would resist Washington and Wall Street. In 1993 the White House encouraged Boris Yeltsin to send tanks to shell Russia's parliament when it refused to accept IMF "shock therapy." Hundreds were massacred. Clinton called that a "triumph for democracy" too. The Pentagon, State Department and CIA have decades of experience overthrowing independent governments. They've done it in Iran (1953), Guate mala (1954), Congo (1961), Guyana (1962), Indonesia (1965), Ghana (1966), Chile (1973), Argentina (1976), Romania (1989), Bulgaria (1990) and Albania (1991). In Indonesia a CIA-backed junta executed nearly 1 million people in the name of "democracy." The New York Times called that slaughter a "gleam of light in Asia." The formula is generally the same. Cause tremendous hardship for the people of the target country. Create a pro-U.S. "opposition" and pump it full of dollars. Promise that if Washington gets its way, people may again live a "normal" life. It's a lie! The IMF and World Bank are agencies of destruction. They aim to destroy all avenues of economic life that are not controlled by Wall Street. When they take over a country life always gets worse. Workers in Bulgaria now live on 56 cents a day. FIGHT THE POWER The media call the coup in Yugoslavia an "endgame." But it is unlikely that the U.S.-backed regime can implement its program without force. The new movement against corporate globalization must stand with all those around the world who are fighting injustice-- from Colombia to Zimbabwe to Palestine. That includes those in Yugoslavia and across East Europe who are resisting the tyranny of NATO and the IMF. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ********** from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: WW: Palestinians stand up Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://wwpublish.com:8080/Lists/wwnews/List.html> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) Precedence: list From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 23:03:42 -0400 Subject: [WW] Palestianians Stand Up X-Original-Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Oct. 19, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- ISRAELI ARMY THREATENS WIDER WAR AS PALESTINIANS STAND UP/ U.S. BACK REPRESSION BY APARTHEID REGIME By Richard Becker The new Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, continues, backed by millions marching in the streets throughout the Arab world. At the same time, the Israeli army, backed by the United States, continues its deadly repression. Since Sept. 29 at least 90 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,500 seriously wounded. On Oct. 9, the Middle East appeared to be on the brink of war. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's ultimatum to Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat--to end the Intifada or face "the full force" of an Israeli army attack in the West Bank and Gaza--was set to expire. That day the front page of the New York Times revealed that the Israeli military command "was weighing a major strike against Lebanon and Syria." Such a momentous decision could lead to the overturning of the established order in this strategically key region. Therefore, it could not be made by Israel alone. Top U.S. officials intervened, forcing Barak to back off--at least for the moment. As we go to press Oct. 11, a furious round of diplomatic moves is underway. In addition to U.S. representatives, a familiar cast of diplomatic players has appeared on the scene, including United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. In the past, both diplomats have advanced U.S. interests in the region. The U.S. ruling class fears that while the Israelis might achieve a short-term military victory, the long-term consequences could be catastrophic for its interests in Middle East. One very real scenario could be the collapse of the genocidal sanctions against Iraq. As anger against the United States and Israel has risen, so has the number of Middle East governments defying Washington by flying planes to Baghdad loaded with humanitarian relief. Even the most compliant regimes, like those in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan, have been compelled to create at least the impression of distance from Washington's anti- Palestinian policy. DECADES OF SUFFERINGPROPEL OUTRAGE Behind the immediate mass outrage in the area lie decades of suffering and humiliation at the hands of imperialism. Israel is almost universally seen in the Middle East as a settler, garrison state, established--at the Palestinians' expense--to safeguard the interests of the Western imperialists. In this oil-rich region, the masses live in poverty while a thin layer at the top lives in luxury. These rulers serve as the junior partners of Washington, London and Paris. The inherent instability of the situation is well understood by the strategists of the U.S. national security apparatus. They also know that nothing is more destabilizing than war. At the same time, the United States and Israel are proposing no viable solutions to the crisis. So the danger of a new and wider Middle East war remains very real. The Israelis, who have military superiority thanks to massive U.S. assistance, would like to shoot their way out of the crisis. It is certainly possible that U.S. decision- makers could still reach the same conclusion. ISRAELI FASCIST PROVOKES UPRISING The latest uprising began on Sept. 28, when the notorious war criminal Gen. Ariel Sharon and his entourage invaded the Haram al- Sharif, site of the Al-Aksa and Dome of the Rock mosques. The site is revered by Muslims worldwide and administered by Islamic and Palestinian authorities. Sharon presided over the massacres of more than 2,000 Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982. He is known as a virulent anti-Arab racist. His "visit" was intended to affirm Israeli control of Haram al- Sharif. It was a gross insult and provocation to the Palestinians, who fought back, despite the fact that Sharon was accompanied by over 1,000 Israeli troops. The next day, 2,000 Israeli soldiers surrounded people coming to the mosques for Friday prayers. Intense fighting broke out and rapidly spread throughout the West Bank, Gaza and inside the 1948 borders of Israel, where more than 1 million Palestinians--called "Israeli Arabs" by the media here--live. Some Palestinian Authority police joined in the fighting, siding with the people, after the Israeli Army began to fire indiscriminately into crowds armed only with stones. In addition to the nearly 90 Palestinians killed, hundreds more have suffered disabling injuries. On the Israeli side, four have died. Despite this enormous disparity, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke abstained on a Security Council vote condemning the Israeli brutality. Holbrooke said the resolution was "one-sided" and that "Israelis are dying, too." The resolution passed 14-0 with the U.S. abstaining. Washington didn't veto the resolution out of fear that it could provoke widespread anti-U.S. revolts in the Middle East and beyond. But the abstention makes clear that the United States is far from being the "honest broker" it pretends to be. Despite the lethal repression, the new Intifada has spread to virtually every city and town in the West Bank and Gaza. RACIST MOBS BACKED BY ISRAELI GOV'T Inside the 1948 Israeli borders, an unprecedented, widespread rebellion broke out. Palestinians inside Israel are concentrated in the northern part of the country, with the largest concentration living in Nazareth. While the "Israeli Arabs" are citizens, they face heavy discrimination in jobs, housing, social services and every other respect. Their communities receive few development funds from the central government. Sitting above Arab Nazareth is the well-to-do Israeli town of Nazareth Illit. On Oct. 9, thousands of Israelis came down the hill to attack the Arab residents, shops, mosques and churches in Nazareth. The Nazareth authorities called for help. According to press accounts, when the Israeli police showed up, a number of Palestinians were backed into alleys. They fought desperately with stones to hold off their attackers. The Israeli police pulled back the racist mob, then opened fire on the trapped Palestinians. Two were killed and several wounded. Similar attacks were reported in many cities, including Haifa, Bat Yam and Tiberias. The same day in Tel Aviv, more than 500 Israelis chanting "Death to the Arabs" set fire to a restaurant because they thought there were Palestinian workers in the kitchen. These attacks bear an indisputable similarity to the anti- Semitic pogroms that targeted oppressed Jewish people in pre- 1917 Russia, Poland and other European countries. In the West Bank, fascist settlers protected by the military launched many attacks. They besieged small villages, smashed cars with Palestinian license plates and attempted to burn down mosques and churches. U.S. MEDIA DRAW EQUAL SIGN The U.S. corporate media have attempted to draw a false equal sign between the Palestinian uprising and the Klan- like Israeli mob attacks. But there is no similarity between the two. The Palestinians are waging a just struggle against a brutal and illegal occupation. Even under bourgeois international law, they have the right to fight to liberate themselves from occupation by whatever means they choose. The Israeli fascists and their followers, on the other hand, are using mob violence and terror to crush any challenge to their racist apartheid-style state. In this respect, their attacks are reminiscent of white racist assaults on African American communities in the United States after World War I. Those assaults were meant to crush the mood of Black assertiveness that arose out of the war. The Palestinians' long, determined and heroic struggle richly deserves the support of all those who fight for economic and social justice. Against incredible odds, the Palestinians have stood against the militarized Israeli state and U.S. imperialism's plans for domination in the Middle East. The latest developments make crystal clear that there will be no peace until there is real justice for the Palestinian people-- including a truly independent state with its capital in Jerusalem and the right of the 5 million Palestinian refugees to come home. And there will be no peace in the Middle East as a whole until the United States gets out. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)" JC _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
