>Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 19 June 2000 21:10 > > >*CUBAN TV ROUNTABLE SPOTLIGHTS MUMIA ABU JAMAL AND SHAKA SANKOFA > >*ROSENBERGS REMEMBERED BY CUBANS AND AMERICANS IN HABANA > >*INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR EXPOCARIBE 2000 UNDERWAY IN EASTERN > SANTIAGO DE CUBA > >*CUBA HOLDS THE HIGHEST LIFE EXPECTANCY RATE IN ALL OF LATIN AMERICA > >*ARAGON ORCHESTRA WARMS UP TO PERFORM AT NEW YORK'S CARNEGIE HALL > >*WHALES SPOTTED ON CUBA'S SOUTHERN COAST > >*Viewpoint: THE U.S. LEGAL SYSTEM--A TOOL TO OPPRESS AND KILL > > >*CUBAN TV ROUNTABLE SPOTLIGHTS MUMIA ABU JAMAL AND SHAKA SANKOFA > >Monday night's round table on Cuban TV extensively covered the case of >African American writer, journalist and activist Mumia Abu Jamal, who is >currently on death row in Pennsylvania in the US for a crime that most >informed people insist he did not commit. > >A delegation of US activists that included Mumia's attorney Leonard >Weinglass, long time African American activists Pam Africa and Lennox Hines, >and Gloria de la Riva, a California labour leader who was responsible for >mainstreaming the subject of Mumia to the Cuban people in a speech in Havana >on Mayday. US African American actor Danny Glover and the National >Co-ordinator for the Defence of Mumia, Jeff Mackler, were also interviewed >by phone. > >The case of Shaka Sankofa who is due to be executed this Thursday was also >discussed. The speakers all spoke on how oppression in the United States has >consistently taken a racist turn as proven by the excessive difference in >the percentage of blacks to whites on US death rows throughout the country. >Sankofa is African American. > >Citing statistics on rape Lennox Hines said that no white man has er been >put to death in the history of the US for the rape of a black woman. But in >excess of 400 black men had been executed for the rape of a white woman >in.Repeating the fact that the US incarcerates more of its citizens that any >other nation in the world, the speakers all agreed that the US system has >become one of extreme repression with a lock-em-up mentality. Over 50% of >black youth are unemployed, 5 million African Americans are homeless. Twenty >million are below the poverty line and of the two million prisoners in the >US half are black. Gloria de la Riva said that where she comes from in San >Francisco it is impossible for most people to rent let alone buy a house on >the income they earn. More and more people are forced into economic crime to >simply survive. Many of these end up in prison under the infamous >three-strikes-and-you're-out system of locking someone up for life if they >commit three felonies -- however minor or non-violent. > >African Americans are 13 times more likely to receive longer sentences than >white criminals convicted for the same drug related offence, said one of the >panelists. > >The roundtable ended with a recorded statement from Mumia Abu Jamal himself >addressing the Cuban audience in Spanish. He explained that he was a >political prisoner and that it was in effect a crime to be black in White >America. > > >*ROSENBERGS REMEMBERED BY CUBANS AND AMERICANS IN HABANA > >Forty seven years ago on this day June 19th 1953, Ethel and Julius >Rosenberg were executed in the United States for supposed treason at the >height of the anti-communist hysteria generated by then Senator Joseph >McCarthy.Cuba has the only memorial to the Jewish couple who were denied a >fair trial and put to death for what most analysts say were strictly >political reasons. The island's Jewish Community along with some 100 US >visitors and Cuban officials commemorated the Rosenbergs in a ceremony today >at the base of the memorial.A wreath was laid and children sang in Yiddish >in the pouring rain and US citizens who were active in the defence of the >Rosenbergs at the time recounted their memories of what they termed the >terrible oppression they all lived under for their social and political >beliefs. > > >*INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR EXPOCARIBE 2000 UNDERWAY IN EASTERN SANTIAGO DE CUBA > >Santiago de Cuba, June 19 (RHC)-- The 9th Edition of the International Trade >Fair Expo-Caribe 2000 is into its first day of sessions in the eastern city >of Santiago de Cuba with a conference on business opportunities on the >island.Representatives of over 900 Cuban and foreign companies will get a >first-hand look at foreign investment and the creation of joint ventures and >other types of economic associations.An exhibition of national and foreign >products will also take place during the fair and a round of business >negotiations is scheduled for Wednesday.Commercial exchanges with the island >continue on the rise, surpassing the figure of 5 billion dollars. The >island has concluded business negotiations with over 3000 firms from some >150 countries.In addition, over 400 economic associations with foreign >capital were created during the 1989-99 period, half of which were approved >after the Helms-Burton Law and there are currently 150 projects under >negotiation. > > >*CUBA HOLDS THE HIGHEST LIFE EXPECTANCY RATE IN ALL OF LATIN AMERICA > >Havana, June 19 (RHC)-- Cuba holds the highest life expectancy rate in all >in all of Latin America, according to a report by the World Health >Organization, released simultaneously in Geneva, Washington and London.The >report, by the WHO Health Policy Program Director, Dr. Christopher Murray, >also revealed that Cuba is in 24th place among 191 countries studied >regarding healthy life expectancy.According to the study, the life >expectancy of healthy life in Cuba is 68.4 years, very close to that of the >United States. Cuba is followed in Latin America by Uruguay, at 67 years; >Argentina and Costa Rica, both at 66.7 years and Brazil, whose healthy life >expectancy is a little over 59 years of age. > > >*ARAGON ORCHESTRA WARMS UP TO PERFORM AT NEW YORK'S CARNEGIE HALL > >Havana, June 19 (RHC)-- The renowned Cuban musical group Aragon will perform >on Tuesday in New York's Carnegie Hall.The group's director, violinist >Rafael Lay Bravo, said the performance "will be an honor" and will expose >the group to a new audience and markets.With 60 years of experience, Aragon >is internationally- recognized with its Cuban rhythms, among them the >danzon, cha-cha-cha and songs like El Bodeguero and Queen Isabel. > > >*WHALES SPOTTED ON CUBA'S SOUTHERN COAST > >Cienfuegos, June 19 (RHC)-- The existence of a group of whales off the >coasts of southern Cienfuegos province is unprecedented, according to local >experts.In statements to Prensa Latina News Agency, Hector Ledesma, the >director of the Environmental Office in Cienfuegos, said that it is unusual >to find whales in the warm waters of the Caribbean.The existence of 12 >whales was discovered by a group of French vacationers while they were >scuba-diving, one mile away from the Guajimico tourist villa, located >between the cities of Cienfuegos and Trinidad.The tourists and Cuban experts >that saw the whales said that the mammals were longer than their 12-meter >boat.Marine biologist Maria Araujo from the Environment Office believes that >the probable causes of the whales in the region are the state of health of >the leader of the group, some tremor or climatic changes.Although the >photographs taken by the vacationers do not allow for an accurate >identification of the whales, specialists from the National Aquarium said >they could probably be hump-back whales.Experts say these whales could be >related to a group of 22 whales that were saved earlier this month off the >Mexican coast of Yucatan. > > >*Viewpoint: THE U.S. LEGAL SYSTEM--A TOOL TO OPPRESS AND KILL > >The United States of America -- the country that holds itself up as "the >great defender of human rights" -- has the largest per capita prison >population in the world. U.S. jails and prisons are filled with the >country's poor and ethnic minorities. Meanwhile, outside the prison walls, >people of color and the poor are trapped in deteriorating public housing >projects, drop out of school at alarming rates, lose their lives to drugs, >gangs and violence.Studies abound in this 'great' country where human rights >are so cherished, showing that the U.S. prison system is nothing more than a >system used to punish those whose only crime is being Black, Latino or poor. >The so-called 'legal system' in the United States is designed to keep those >without economic resources 'in their place' - in other words - keeping them >locked up or, in some cases, simply putting them to death.Many innocent >people, condemned to death for crimes they did not commit, are regularly >gassed, electrocuted or injected with poison. > >The statistics are overwhelming... so much so that there is a growing >movement inside the U.S. to completely reexamine the capital punishment >system. In the U.S. state of Illinois, Governor George Ryan -- a long time >supporter of the death penalty -- was forced to impose a moratorium on >executions in his state last January. His move came after the freeing of 13 >wrongfully condemned inmates in Illinois over the past several years and a >recent investigative report in the Chicago Tribune newspaper, exposing >inequities in the state's capital punishment system. > >According to the Quixote Center, a non-governmental organization based in >Maryland and a leader in the anti-death penalty movement, a number of >elected-officials are beginning to question the legal process that leads to >the execution of innocent people. At least 20 local governing bodies in >eight death penalty states have passed resolutions calling for moratoriums. > >Despite the increasing debate, the pace of executions around the country has >not slowed. In Texas -- where the son of former president George Bush is >the state's governor and also has plans to reside in the White House -- 134 >prisoners have been put to death since the younger Bush took office five >years ago. In fact, just last week - on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday - >three Texas death row inmates were injected with lethal solutions. > >And this Thursday, June 22nd, another innocent man is scheduled to 'meet his >maker." Shaka Sankofa, also known as Gary Graham, is an African-American >prisoner who has been on death row in Texas for 19 years, since 1981. >Convicted of murder at the age of 17, Shaka has always insisted that he is >innocent and the victim of a racist system. There are growing calls >throughout the United States for a new trial for Shaka Sankofa. > >Shaka was convicted on the questionable testimony of a single eyewitness who >claims to have seen him from 40 feet away. The testimony of six other >witnesses, who place Shaka at another place, was not even admitted as >evidence. They insist that Shaka was not at the scene of the murder and >demand that their testimony be used in a new trial. > >During his brief trial nearly 20 years ago, his court-appointed lawyers, who >had never tried a capital case, conducted no investigation of the evidence >and even failed to cross-examine prosecution witnesses on crucial issues. >Four alibi witnesses, who have all passed polygraph tests, affirm that Shaka >was with them the night that the murder took place. Moreover, the police >department's own ballistic tests determined that Shaka's gun, which >allegedly linked him to the crime, was not used in the murder.Not a single >shred of physical evidence has linked Shaka to the crime for which he has >spent the last 19 years on death row. > >And with days left before his scheduled execution on Thursday, it appears >that despite his innocence, Shaka Sankofi will be put to death in Texas with >a lethal injection.But in the United States of America - that "great >defender of human rights" - justice is unimportant. Like so many others >before him, another innocent man has already been convicted of being Black >and poor. > >(c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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