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From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 22:54:49 -0400 (EDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-16 August 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 16 August 2001
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*US OFFENSIVE TO ENFORCE CUBA TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS SAID TO BE FUTILE
*FARCICAL MIAMI "ETHICS" CONFERENCE, ATTENDED BY WORLD'S UNETHICAL
*CUBA'S 7th RAP AND HIP-HOP FESTIVAL OPENS
*BARACOA, CUBA'S OLDEST CITY, CELEBRATES 490th BIRTHDAY
*ARREST OF MOROCCAN RECALLS LIFE OF SOCIALIST LEADER MEHDI BEN BARKA
*ANOTHER CUBAN-AMERICAN TERRORIST RELEASED FROM DETENTION IN FLORIDA
*ARGENTINA: ACTIVISTS CONDEMN GOVERNMENT'S REFUSAL TO EXTRADITE TORTURER
*ARGENTINE COURT PURSUES MORE AGENTS OF DICTATORSHIP
*HONDURAN GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF NEGLIGENCE IN MURDERS OF STREET CHILDREN
*Viewpoint: MORE TERRORISTS WANDERING THE STREETS OF MIAMI
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*US OFFENSIVE TO ENFORCE CUBA TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS SAID TO BE FUTILE
Havana, August 16 (RHC)--The Cuban news daily "Granma" has characterized
Washington's new offensive to enforce its Cuba travel restrictions a
"futile" effort. An article in today's edition noted that despite the
threats of reprisals from successive US administrations, an estimated
200,000 Americans travelled to the island last year, many through third
countries.
On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department announced that it has sent 443
letters to US citizens suspected of violating those restrictions -- a first
step towards possibly slapping them with fines of up to $55,000. Legal
sources say that the average fine actually assessed is around $7,500.
Treasury Department spokesperson Tasia Scolinos stated that the rise in the
number of warning letters follows President George Bush's July 13th
executive order to get tough on enforcing the travel restrictions. Scolinos
pointed out that the restrictions are not new, and that further restrictions
have not been added.
"Granma" noted that this new offensive comes as the House of Representatives
has passed on to the consideration of the Senate a measure to suppress
Treasury Department funds used to pursue those who violate the travel
restrictions.
In this light, wrote the Cuban news daily, Bush's offensive can be
interpreted as another campaign to appease the ultra-rightwing sectors in
Florida's Cuban-American community that helped Bush get to the White House
via elections in that state that were plagued with irregularities.
*FARCICAL MIAMI "ETHICS" CONFERENCE, ATTENDED BY WORLD'S UNETHICAL
Havana, August 16 (RHC)--In what political observers are describing as
bordering on farce, a Miami conference on ethics in government has attracted
some of what they are saying are the most unethical people in politics.
Invited by the conference organizer, Judicial Watch, are right-wing
anti-Cuba U.S. congressional representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart; the equally
anti-Cuba head of Brothers to the Rescue, Jos� Basulto; Florida Republican
Governor Jeb Bush; and former Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher.
Judicial Watch also invited judges, diplomats and religious leaders from the
U.S., Latin America and Europe. The organization's executive director, Larry
Klayman, says that the individuals invited would be sharing their
experiences and "personal vision" for a democratic world without government
corruption.
Critics have accused the conservative Judicial Watch for simply organizing a
gathering for people of like political ideology to rub shoulders and talk
power politics. And in Cuba, people were astounded that any meeting of
individuals who have been involved in crimes against the island could
possibly have the word "ethics" attached.
*CUBA'S 7th RAP AND HIP-HOP FESTIVAL OPENS
Havana, August 16 (RHC)--The 7th Hip-Hop/Rap Festival has begun in the
Havana suburb of Alamar with an inaugural concert Thursday evening. The
festival, which will last until August 19, has been organized by Cuban
rappers themselves along with institutional help for the first time this
year, according to Ariel Fernandez, the event coordinator. The Hermanos Saiz
Association, which represents young artists and musicians in Cuba, is
sponsoring the festival this year under the auspices of the Cuban Music
Institute, the Ministry of Culture, and other cultural organizations.
Fernandez said that official recognition has given a tremendous boost to the
festival and to the young people who identify with the hip-hop movement.
The event will be celebrated in both Alamar and Havana itself, with the
participation of groups from the capital and other provinces, in adidtion to
international artists.
Rappers from Venezuela, Spain, Germany, the United States and Canada, will
be performing in the various programmed concerts. Film screenings,
conferences, poetry presentations, and other activities are also part of the
event.
*BARACOA, CUBA'S OLDEST CITY, CELEBRATES 490th BIRTHDAY
Baracoa, August 16 (RHC)--The Cuban city of Baracoa is celebrating its
490th birthday in the company of Vice-President Carlos Lage. The island's
oldest city, founded in 1511 by Spanish colonizers, is located on the
eastern side of the island.
One of the most beautiful cities in Cuba, Baracoa was responsible for
recruiting fights for the country's independence wars and was one of the
first communities to join the cause of Fidel Castro's July 26th Movement
which was victorious in 1959.
On his visit to Baracoa, Carlos Lage visited a blood bank, an art gallery, a
new maternity home, a hotel and restaurant that cater to tourists, as well
as recently renovated and improved buildings housing local families.
*ARREST OF MOROCCAN RECALLS LIFE OF SOCIALIST LEADER MEHDI BEN BARKA
Havana, August 16 (RHC)--The arrest in Rabat of former Moroccan secret
service agent, Ahmed Bujari, has had a dramatic effect in the north African
nation.
Bujari has caused a sensation in Morocco and France recently by exposing
details of the 1965 kidnapping, torture and assassination of leftist leader
Mehdi Ben Barka. The former secret service employee has revealed that he was
part of the team that organized the clandestine repatriation of Ben Barka's
body, which was disintegrated in an acid bath to erase all evidence of his
death.
Ahmed Bujari reported that Mehdi Ben Barka was tortured and killed in Paris
by then Interior Minister, Mohamed Oufkir and his assistant, Ahmed Dlimi.
In comments to Radio Havana Cuba, the Secretary General of the Havana-based
Organization of Solidarity with the People's of Africa, Asia and Latin
America (OSPAAAL), Juan Carretero Ib��ez, recalled the work that Ben Barka
had performed in preparing for the first Tricontinental Conference that was
to lead to the founding of OSPAAAL. He said Ben Barka was a brave man who
led the National Union of Popular Forces from exile in Paris, France.
Moroccan authorities say they are holding Bujari for writing checks to the
tune of $19,000 that were not covered by sufficient funds.
*ANOTHER CUBAN-AMERICAN TERRORIST RELEASED FROM DETENTION IN FLORIDA
Tampa, August 16 (RHC)--Florida media are commenting on this week's release
of the convicted assassin of Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier,
killed in a 1976 car bomb attack in Washington, DC.
On Tuesday, Cuban-American terrorist Jose Dionisio Suarez Esquivel was
released from prison after serving 7 years of a 12-year sentence for the
Letelier murder. On Wednesday, the "Tampa Bay Tribune" reported that, in the
office of his attorney Ralph Fernandez, Suarez Esquivelsaid he was sorry,
especially for "the girl" -- a reference to Letelier's 25-year old American
associate at Washington's Institute for Policy Studies, Ronni Moffit, who
was also killed by the bomb.
The newspaper noted that Suarez Esquivel's attorney interrupted to say that
his client admits no guilt for the crime, that he was saying sorry in a
humanitarian way. Suarez Esquivel promptly stated "I never killed nobody,"
despite having pled guilty to obtain a reduced 12-year sentence.
Human rights activists consider him a material witness against former
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, but Suarez Esquivel said he would never
testify against Pinochet because the former dictator saved Chile from what
he called "terrible communism." The Pinochet Project at the Institute for
Policy Studies had hoped that Suarez Esquivel would provide information
about Pinochet's role in the Letelier assassination.
The family members of the victim, meanwhile, have expressed dismay. Murray
Karpen, Moffit's father, said it appears that life is cheap, questioning the
release from jail of someone who committed pre-meditated murder.
In a telephone interview from Chile, the late Chilean foreign minister's
widow, Isabel Letelier, said her husband was killed in a cold-blooded
assassination and those who did it are free -- a reference to two others
released from prison: Cuban-American terrorist Virgilio Paz Romero and the
American CIA asset, Michael Townley.
*ARGENTINA: ACTIVISTS CONDEMN GOVERNMENT'S REFUSAL TO EXTRADITE TORTURER
Buenos Aires, August 16 (RHC)--Human rights groups in Argentina are calling
the government's refusal to extradite a torturer and assassin a victory for
impunity.
Nurmous organizations and activists stronged condemned the Argentine foreign
ministry's official denial of a request from Italy and France to extradite
former navy captain Alfredo Astiz -- who is considered a symbol of
dictatorship's repression.
Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas division of Human Rights
Watch, stated that the Argentine government does not have the right to deny
another country jurisdiction in the case, when local authorities have
refused to bring him to trial for the forced disappearances of three
Italians, two French nuns and a Swedish citizen.
Argentine human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Perez
Esquivel characterized the government's argument of territoriality as
"hypocritcal," when the government is selling off the country to foreign
transnationals. Members of Argentina's Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo accused
the government of protecting an assassin.
Nevertheless, an Argentine federal court is reportedly investigating Astiz
for kidnapping and altering the identities of babies born to women in secret
detention and torture centers. The disappearance of children is not
protected by the 1980s amnesty laws that benefited thousands of agents of
the military dictatorship, including leaders of the regime. Several of those
leaders, including former dictators Jorge Videla and Emilio Massera, are
currently under house arrest in similar cases.
*ARGENTINE COURT PURSUES MORE AGENTS OF DICTATORSHIP
Buenos Aires, August 16 (RHC) -- In other Argentine news, a federal judge
has ordered the arrest of five prominent members of the former dictatorship
who are accused of appropriating the money and property of three business
executives they forcibly disappeared.
Among the five accused is Emilio Massera, and high-ranking officials in the
Navy's former Mechanics School, the most important secret detention center
during the military regime. Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio has ruled that
this particular crime is not covered by the 1980s amnesty laws.
It has long been known that agents of the Argentine dictatorship took
advantage of the climate of terror in the country to arrest small
businesspeople who were not involved in political activism so that they
would sign over their money and goods under threats of torture and death. A
judge and a civilian legal expert are also under suspicion in the case.
*HONDURAN GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF NEGLIGENCE IN MURDERS OF STREET CHILDREN
Tegucigalpa, August 16 (RHC) -- A special United Nations representative has
accused the Honduran government of criminal negligence in the summary
executions of street children.
After concluding a 2-week visit to Honduras, Asma Jahangir, special UN
representative for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said
there are reports of 66 minors assassinated by police or "social clean up"
deathsquads in the first 6 months of this year alone. Local human rights
activists assert, however, that the number of victims is considerably
higher.
Jahangir stated that though she had no evidence that the summary executions
are part of government policy, she was deeply concerned over the fragility
of institutions designed to protect people, particularly the judiciary. In
reference to the cases of journalists from at least two electronic media
outlets who incite authorities to kill street children and members of young
street gangs, Jahangir said this was the most depressing part of her visit
to Honduras.
The UN representative also said she understood the difficult challenges
facing the government in protecting its citizens from the atrocities of
street gangs, but said authorities must impose moderation in the use of
force and firearms by police.
*Viewpoint: MORE TERRORISTS WANDERING THE STREETS OF MIAMI
Twenty-five years after the Washington car-bomb assassination of former
Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier and his associate Ronni Moffit,
two of those responsible for the killings are back on the street without
having completed their full sentences.
Cuban Americans Jos� Su�rez Esquivel and Virgilio Paz Romero received
absurdly short prison terms for their part in the 1976 assassination, which
was carried out under the orders of two of Chilean President Augusto
Pinochet's generals, Manuel Contreras and Pedro Espinoza, in conjunction
with his secret service, the ruthless DINA and with, as always, a CIA
backdrop.
Due to their additional terrorist activities against Cuba, the Miami-based
Cuban American National Foundation -- along with a little help from their
friends at Langley -- helped Su�rez Esquivel and Paz Romero escape justice
for a full 15 years before they were apprehended.
The release of these two dangerous men, after serving barely seven years for
their despicable crime, is not good news for Cuba, or indeed the United
States. They are hired killers with a special disregard for anyone who
supports the Cuban Revolution. They will almost certainly become involved
with extreme right-wing elements in Florida again, and can be expected to
help mastermind further terrorist activities against Cuba and those who
support Cuba. They join the ranks of individuals such as Orlando Bosch,
freely marketing their evil for money and power.
With such people allowed to walk the streets of Miami, it is small wonder
that Cuba attempts to protect itself by seeking to discover the next plan of
attack against the island by paramilitary groups operating unfettered by US
authorities under rabidly vicious names like Alpha 66, Omega 7 and Commandos
F4.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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