From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 22:12:45 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-21 June 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 21 June 2001
.
*HAVANA ANNOUNCES CAPTURE OF 3 CUBAN-AMERICAN TERRORISTS FROM MIAMI
*FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE PAYS FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO JAMAICA
*HIGH-LEVEL CUBAN ARMY DELEGATION VISITS VIETNAM
*PRESIDENT OF PALESTINE AUTHORITY THANKS CUBA FOR ITS SOLIDARITY
*TOP CUBAN MUSICIANS PARTICIPATE IN "BOLEROS DE ORO" FESTIVAL
*CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAMPAIGN IN VIEQUES INTERRUPTS US NAVY WEAPONS PRACTICE
*TRIAL BEGINS IN BRAZIL ON 9-YERA-OLD PRISON MASSACRE
*CYBERSPACE THE BATTLEFIELD FOR ANTI-GLOBALIZATION EFFORTS
Viewpoint:
*HYPOCRISY, DOUBLE STANDARDS DESTROY THE LIVES OF FIVE LOYAL CUBANS
*SPREAD OF AIDS A MAJOR THREAT TO CENTRAL AMERICA, CARIBBEAN
.
*HAVANA ANNOUNCES CAPTURE OF 3 CUBAN-AMERICAN TERRORISTS FROM MIAMI
[BHavana, June 21 (RHC)--Havana has announced the capture of three
Cuban-American terrorists from Miami in the framework of on-going terrorist
attacks against Cuba. In a televised roundtable discussion Wednesday
evening, with the participation of President Fidel Castro, a state security
official announced that on April 26 Ihosvanni Suris de la Torre, Santiago
Padron Quintero and Maximo Pradera Valdes, all from Miami, were sighted in a
speedboat off the northern coast of central Villa Clara Province.
State security official Manuel Hevia said that following a chase and an
exchange of gunfire, the three were arrested on a small key where they tried
to hide. Their speedboat with outboard motor was carrying weapons, including
AK-47 assault rifles, night-vision goggles and a sniper rifle with telescope
and silencer.
Hevia said the detained belong to the Miami-based terrorist organizations
F-4 and Alpha 66, which both have close ties to the ultra-rightwing
Cuban-American National Foundation. The three Cuban-American terrorists
identified those who in Miami who organized and financed the operation,
including Santiago Alvarez Marino.
The televised program aired excerpts of a May 3rd telephone conversation
between Alvarez Marino and one of the terrorists, Ihosvanni Suris de la
Torre. The terrorist, who had agreed with Cuban authorities to pretend that
he was on the loose, received instructions from Alvarez Marino.
Participants in the roundtable insisted that these are the types of
activities that five Cubans who infiltrated terrorist organizations in
Miami, and were later convicted of spying against the United States, were
trying to prevent. Cuban patriots Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando
Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Gerardo Hernandez face prison sentences of
between 10 years and life after being found guilty by a Miami court.
The roundtable moderator, journalist Randy Alonso, read parts of the message
from the five patriots published Wednesday in Cuban newspapers, in which
they recall that since 1959, close to 3500 Cubans have been killed in
terrorist attacks organized in the United States, with 2200 left
incapacitated from their wounds.
Cuban State Security official Manuel Hevia said that since 1990 alone, Cuban
authorities have either learned of or frustrated 16 assassination plots
against Fidel Castro, 8 assassination plots against other leaders of the
Cuban Revolution, and more than another 140 terrorist actions. Participants
in the televised discussion said that the on-going terrorist attacks are
irrefutable proof of Washington's tolerance of and complicity with these
criminal activities.
*FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE PAYS FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO JAMAICA
Kingston, June 21 (RHC)--Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has begun
his first official visit to Jamaica, aimed at confirming the excellent state
of relations between the two Caribbean countries. More than 250 Jamaicans
are currently studying in Cuba, in fields ranging from medicine to sports.
Some 25 Cuban doctors, nurses, teachers and specialists in diverse
industrial sectors have been working in Jamaica for more than three years.
Kingston has invariably supported Cuba's yearly condemnations of
Washington's blockade at the United Nations General Assembly, and has
refrained from joining the anti-Cuba crusade that the United States yearly
mounts at the UN Human Rights Commission.
Cuban President Fidel Castro's third and last visit to Jamaica, in 1998, was
to participate in funeral ceremonies for the late Jamaican Prime Minister
Michael Manley, with whom he had maintained friendly relations since the
early 1970s. Like Cuba, Manley's People's National Party was subjected to a
CIA-sponsored destabilization and terrorist campaign.
*HIGH-LEVEL CUBAN ARMY DELEGATION VISITS VIETNAM
Hanoi, June 21 (RHC)--A high-ranking Cuban army official is heading a
military delegation to Vietnam. Deputy Defense Minister and army chief of
staff General Alvaro Lopez Miera met on Thursday with Vietnamese prime
minister Phan Van Khai, who said that the purpose of the two nation's armies
is to defend national sovereignty and independence.
General Lopez Miera briefed the prime minister on the Cuban delegation's
visit to military installations in the southern part of Vietnam, including
the famous complex of tunnels in Cu Chi, where the group visited a monument
honoring the 40,000 Vietnamese who died there defending the area against
U.S. attacks.
The Cuban military leader conveyed greetings to the prime minister on behalf
of Cuban defense minister Raul Castro, and explained how the Cuban army is
participating in the island's economic recovery.
The Vietnamese leader praised the high level of relations between his
country and Cuba and recalled the assistance Cuba gave Vietnam in times of
war. He especially noted Fidel Castro's presence in the liberated zones of
Quang Tri at the height of the war, when the Cuban leader visited Vietnam
for the first time in l973.
*PRESIDENT OF PALESTINE AUTHORITY THANKS CUBA FOR ITS SOLIDARITY
Havana, June 21 (RHC)--Palestinian president Yasser Arafat has sent a
message thanking the island for its solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In letter sent to Cuban president Fidel Castro, Arafat said that both he and
the people he represents are grateful to Cuba for its courageous position of
protesting Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, their land,
and Christian and Islamic holy shrines.
Last week, Cuban president Fidel Castro attended a ceremony of solidarity
with the Palestinian people as part of a U.N. meeting in Havana on the
rights of Palestinians. During the ceremony, a participant placed the
distinctive black and white Palestinian scarf over President Castro's
shoulders.
*TOP CUBAN MUSICIANS PARTICIPATE IN "BOLEROS DE ORO" FESTIVAL
Havana, June 21 (RHC)--Top Cuban musicians Omara Portuondo, Jose Luis Cortes
of NG la Banda, and Puerto Rican Andy Montenez officially opened the 25th
International Boleros de Oro, or "Golden Boleros" Festival on Wednesday
night in Havana's National Theater. The Bolero, a romantic ballad, is an
extremely popular genre in Latin America and this year's Boleros de Oro
festival is dedicated to the sister island of Puerto Rico.
The festival also features numerous performers from Puerto Rico including
singers Choco Orta and Antonio Cavan Vale, El Topo and Alex D'Castro.
The crowd went wild when the musicians crooned well-known tunes like "Besame
Mucho." "20 Anos," "La Gloria Eres Tu" and many others. Throughout the
festival, the capital's most popular venues are featuring the Bolero de Oro
festival. The bolero is loved for its romantic music and its poetic lyrics,
which run the gamut from brilliant to kitsch.
*CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE CAMPAIGN IN VIEQUES OBSTRUCTS US NAVY WEAPONS PRACTICE
San Juan, June 21 (RHC)--Another seven protesters participating in a civil
disobedience campaign in Vieques were arrested Wednesday evening, bringing
to 47 the number of activists arrested thus far. Observers are noting that
the civil disobedience campaign has produced results, forcing the U.S. Navy
to delay target practice on one occasion and to virtually suspend the
military exercises on another.
On Tuesday, aerial bombardments programmed to begin in the morning did not
commence until the late evening hours. The Navy argued that the delay was
due to bad weather and scant visibility. But meteorological experts in
Puerto Rico eventually realized that the bad weather registered on their
radar was due to what's called a "chaff" cloud -- a filament of glass fiber
and aluminum or lead used by the U.S. armed forces to create a false
objective or target on enemy radar.
The material is reportedly harmful to health and the environment. A "chaff"
cloud can cover extensive areas. And on several occasions on Wednesday the
target practice had to be temporarily suspended due to the presence of civil
disobedience activists on the target range.
*TRIAL BEGINS IN BRAZIL ON 9-YERA-OLD PRISON MASSACRE
Brasilia, June 21 (RHC)--Nine years after the massacre of 111 inmates in a
Brazilian prison, the military police officer accused of ordering the
slaughter has been placed on trial. Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraes Wednesday
entered a courtroom surrounded by police in riot gear deployed to contain
numerous protesting human rights activists, in a trial that observers say
will put Brazil's judicial system to test.
Guimaraes has insisted that the inmates were well-armed and on drugs. But
prosecuting attorneys and a former inmate who survived by hiding under the
bodies of dead prisoners charge that the colonel and the police acted with
cruelty and without pity. Of the 120 police officers originally charged,
none were arrested.
A total of 105 policemen will have to face trial following proceedings
against Guimaraes. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission has already
condemned Brazil for the 1992 massacre at Sao Paulo's Carandiru
Penitenciary.
The Brazilian justice system is also being targetted by human rights
activistis for the 1996 massacre of 19 Landless Movement activists, in which
149 military police are accused. A trial in 1999 against the three police
commanders in that operation was annulled due to irregularities that led to
a not guilty verdict. A new trial was postponed on several occasions; it was
finally rescheduled for last June 18th, but was again postponed with no new
date set.
*CYBERSPACE THE BATTLEFIELD FOR ANTI-GLOBALIZATION EFFORTS
Washington, June 21 (RHC)--Cyberspace may become the new battlefield for the
anti-globalization war against multilateral lending institutions. In an
effort to avoid the recurring image of thousands of activists engaged in
pitched battles with police at its doors, the World Bank is for the first
time planning to conduct one of its conferences on the Internet. Several
hundred World Bank officials and academics had originally planned to hold
the gathering in Barcelona, where they were to discuss globalization,
poverty and wealth.
Anti-globalization activists, however, have not been deterred. They've
threatened to hack into the conference and launch a "cyber sit-in", warning
the World Bank that it can run but it can't hide.
For the moment, virtual conferences won't be possible for large meetings
like joint World Bank-International Monetary Fund assemblies, a gathering of
more than 10,000 persons. But these institutions have temporarily found a
solution by taking the assembly out of Washington. The next, scheduled for
2003, will be held in Dubai, capital of the United Arab Emirates -- an
absolute monarchy with Islamic law.
This decision was preceded by the World Trade Organization's announcement
that its next assembly will be held in Qatar in early November.
.
Viewpoint:
*HYPOCRISY, DOUBLE STANDARDS DESTROY THE LIVES OF FIVE LOYAL CUBANS
The five Cubans who are currently awaiting sentencing following their trial
in Miami for alleged spying are considered by Cuba to be patriots of the
highest order. Their trial was used as a grandstand for further US attacks
against the island and these men are victims of the rabid hatred against
Cuba and its leaders that pervades Florida and Washington. They clearly
never had a chance of a fair trial.
These men were defending their country against the constant terrorist
attacks that have been carried out against the people of Cuba for four
decades. The list is long and painful and, sadly, unknown by most people in
the US, even though many of these events have been entered into the United
States congressional record.
Who, outside of Cuba, knows of the numerous light aircraft dropping homemade
bombs on sugar plantations and refineries in 1960 in an attempt to disrupt
the island's most important industry? The family members of one of the US
pilots, Robert Ellis Frost, are some of the few who know: he was killed on
February 18th while bombing a sugar mill in Matanzas.
Who, outside Cuba, knows of the sabotage explosion of the ship Le Coubre in
Havana's harbor, with the loss of over 100 lives? The families of the
Belgian
sailors killed no doubt remember, but who else outside the island?
Who, outside Cuba, knows of the April 13, 1961 fatal blowing up of a
department store in downtown Havana? Former CIA operative Phil Agee knows:
He revealed that the dynamite was hidden by the CIA in children's dolls sold
in the store.
Who knows of the speedboats taking day excursions from Florida to machinegun
Cubans walking along the promenades of coastal towns?
Who knows of the introduction of swine fever to the island, resulting in the
death of half a million pigs -- a mainstay of the Cuban diet?
And, far worse, who outside Cuba knows of the deliberate infestation of
dengue fever into Cuba in 1981, causing the deaths of 113 people including
81 children? Eduardo Arocena of the terrorist group Omega 7 knew: He
testified in 1984 that he had carried "some germs" to Cuba in 1980. It was
later confirmed by declassified US files that the CIA had, indeed,
introduced the deadly virus onto the island.
The 1976 bombing of a Cubana flight with the loss of all 73 on board was
masterminded by international terrorists Orlando Bosh and Luis Posada
Carriles, the latter last openly admitting and boasting about this and his
involvement in the 1997 Havana hotel bombings that killed an Italian tourist
and maimed many other innocent bystanders. Bosch -- a known CIA agent who
was
convicted of making a bazooka attack on a Polish ship in Miami and sending
death threats to the leaders of France, Italy and Spain because of their
trade with Cuba -- now freely walks the streets of Miami, protected by the
CIA, Governor Jeb Bush and the likes of rightwing Cuban Americans such as
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Posada Carriles was recently arrested in
Panama in connection with a plot to assassinate President Fidel Castro.
And yet Cuba does not have the right to defend itself. It cannot seek
information on terrorist organizations that are constantly plotting their
next attack against its people.
Contrary to the acts of the five brave men who rot in a Florida jail are the
acts of people such as Bosch and Posada Carriles. The men arrested by US
authorities off Puerto Rico for plotting in 1997 to kill the Cuban president
on Margarita Island at the Ibero-American Summit were acquitted at their
trial -- in spite of the fact that they were armed with a high-powered rifle
and other weapons and admitted to their purpose.
Just last month, three other heavily armed Cuban-Americans arrested in Cuba
turned out to be members of the terrorist group from Miami called Alpha 66.
What was their purpose on the island?
The malicious injustice perpetrated against these five men in Miami only
further damages Washington's image abroad and exposes the hypocrisy and
double-standard that drives US lawmakers whenever they deal with issues
relating to Cuba.
*SPREAD OF AIDS A MAJOR THREAT TO CENTRAL AMERICA, CARIBBEAN
Two million people in Central America and the Caribbean are condemned to
death. They are waiting for the end while living with their families, in
their neighborhoods, or in the streets of their countries.
You know them, you may have heard anecdotes about them, but perhaps you
didn't know that most of them -- nearly all of them -- could live a quality
life of many more years than they do after they are diagnosed with the
HIV/AIDS virus. That is if they have the money to buy the necessary
medication.
However, most who are unfortunate enough to contract AIDS don't even have
the money to treat the opportunistic diseases that attack them, let alone to
buy the anti-viral drug therapy that could extend their lives.
Of the 199,000 infected with HIV/AIDS in Central America, only 3,000 receive
medical attention and in the Caribbean, which has 1.8 million people living
with HIV/AIDS, the situation is much the same.
The anti-viral therapies are made of combinations of 36 different medicines,
which can be taken in up to 60 doses daily at an annual cost of between
$7,000 and $12,000 per patient, a price far beyond the means of the majority
of individuals in this region and of many in the United States.
That is why the first conference on access to those medicines was held this
week in Antigua, Guatemala, in order to find solutions to this human
catastrophy, which has political, social and economic implications as well.
However, it is not about looking for international charity, nor waiting for
a gracious gesture of generosity from institutions or celebrities.The only
way to deal with this disaster is for all of society to assume
responsibility. And when we speak of society we are including the
government, political and religious institutions, organizations and
indiviuals, including you and me.
It is necessary to mount a huge education campaign to keep HIV-AIDS from
spreading. Then, resources to treat those already infected must be organized
so that all receive proper attention free of charge. In addition, we must
understand that the HIV virus can infect anyone, even though some sectors
are more at risk than others.
That is why, to paraphrase the English poet John Donne, when someone you
know
dies of AIDS, ask not for whom the bell tolls -- it tolls for us all.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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