From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 04:37:06 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-17 Sept 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 17 September 2001
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*PRIME MINISTER OF ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES IN CUBA
*RICRADO MAS CANOSA, CUBAN-AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE, ARRESTED IN NICARAGUA
*CUBA EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH PUERTO RICO
*CUBAN MUSICIANS RETURN FROM LOS ANGELES
*BLACK RADICAL CONGRESS DEPLORES ATTACKS, CONDEMNS IMPERIALISM
*REP BARBARA LEE: A LONE VOICE CALLING FOR US RESTRAINT
*IN PAKISTAN, CALLS FOR NO MILITARY COOPERATION WITH US
*PAKISTAN TRIES TO PERSUADE KABUL TO TURN OVER OSAMA BIN LADEN
*TALIBAN TROOPS ON PAKISTANI BORDER; AFGHANS FLEE TOWARD IRAN
*A CHILD'S RIGHT TO A LIFE OF QUALITY, NOT COMMODITY
.
*PRIME MINISTER OF ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES IN CUBA
Havana, September 17 (RHC)--The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, arrived in Havana on Sunday to begin an
official four-day visit to the island.
Gonsalves was welcomed at Jose Marti International Airport by Cuban
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. The prime minister of St.
Vincent and the Grenadines has visited Cuba on a number of occasions
in the past, but this is his first official visit since taking office
in March this year.
Speaking with reporters upon his arrival yesterday, the Caribbean
leader said he hopes his visit will advance bilateral relations
between Havana and Kingston. He noted that relations with Cuba have
political dimensions, with collaboration in several areas including
trade and investments, health, education, sports, agriculture and
industry.
The prime minister told reporters that he is interested in having 20
nurses work in the hospitals of his country and also needs five civil
engineers from Cuba to help build highways.
On Monday, Cuban President Fidel Castro officially welcomed Prime
Minister Gonsalves at the Palace of the Revolution. Following the
formal ceremony, the two Caribbean heads of state held official talks
and examined regional and international issues.
*RICRADO MAS CANOSA, CUBAN-AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE, ARRESTED IN NICARAGUA
Managua, September 17 (RHC)--Cuban-American millionaire Ricardo Mas
Canosa has been arrested in Nicaragua after publicly accusing
Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman of corruption. The brother of the
late leader of Miami's ultra-rightwing Cuban-American National
Foundation, Jorge Mas Canosa, was arrested on Aleman's orders as he
was about to board an airplane to Honduras.
Publicly calling Aleman a thief, Mas Canosa accused the Nicaraguan
President of embezzling two and a half million dollars that Mas
Canosa had donated to his 1996 election campaign. He had presented to
Nicaraguan courts documents from the Panamanian firm Robles &
Associates, Management Investigative Services Corporation, numerous
bank accounts and the names of persons used by Aleman to deposit the
money in his name.
According to Mas Canosa, the money was contributed in exchange for an
unkept promise to favor his family in the privatization of
Nicaragua's state telecommunications firm. The Mas Canosa family,
which built a legally questionable empire after arriving penniless in
Miami following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, had maintained
close ties with the Nicaraguan President until now.
Cuban authorities have linked Ricardo Mas Canosa to the 1976
terrorist bomb in a Cuban civilian airliner that killed all 73
passengers aboard after taking off from Barbados.
*CUBA EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH PUERTO RICO
Havana, September 17 (RHC)-- A series of events in solidarity with
Puerto Rico, held annually here in the Cuban capital, is currently
underway.
Organized by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples
(ICAP), events kicked off over the weekend with tours by Puerto Rican
visitors of various places of social and historic interest. A seminar
on Puerto Rican history was held Monday morning at the offices of the
Cuban Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples.
Heading the Puerto Rican delegation is Hector Nazario, Executive
Member of Puerto Rico's New Independence Movement. During a news
conference to open the seminar, Nazario explained the position of the
New Independence Movement regarding the recent tragic events in New
York and Washington.
"We condemn the attacks of last Tuesday. We condemn all terrorist
actions, in which most victims are civilians. I think that this was a
barbaric action where many victims were Puerto Ricans and other
Latinos."
Nazario warned, however, that "this can bring about serious
consequences for the world, since the reaction already announced by
the government of the United States entails the use of violence".
Nazario said that following last Tuesday's terrorist acts, political
and military circles in the United States have begun to argue that
the use of Vieques is absolutely crucial for U.S. security.
The leader of Puerto Rico's New Independence Movement noted that the
U.S. Navy has announced maneuvers for Vieques for next Sunday,
September 23 -- during which protesters will suspend civil
disobedience actions because, he said, organizers fear a direct,
violent action against protesters in light of recent events. But
Nazario stressed that civil disobedience protests will continue in
the future, until all U.S. military forces withdraw from Vieques.
*CUBAN MUSICIANS RETURN FROM LOS ANGELES
Havana, September 17 (RHC)--Cuban musicians and recording artists
nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards have returned to Havana from
Los Angeles. The group arrived in the Cuban capital early Sunday
morning.
The Latin Grammy Awards ceremony, originally scheduled to take place
in Los Angeles last Tuesday, was indefinitely postponed following the
terrorist actions in New York and Washington.
Speaking with reporters gathered at Jose Marti International Airport,
world-renowned salsa singer Isaac Delgado stated that the entire
delegation responded to last week's tragic events in the United
States in the way that Cubans have always responded: with warmth and
solidarity. He said that the musicians unanimously decided to donate
their blood for the victims of last Tuesday's terrorist acts in New
York City and Washington, DC.
Country music singer Celina Gonzalez, who is still confined to a
wheelchair after suffering a heart attack last year, told reporters
that the Cuban delegation was well-received during their stay in Los
Angeles. She said that from the time they arrived in the United
States, "the American people received us with open arms" -- yet
another example of why it is necessary to draw a clear line of
distinction between the people and the government of the United
States.
Jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, keyboard player Andres Allen and
Afro-Cuban composer Lazaro Ross also returned to the island on Sunday
morning's flight. Omara Portuondo, best known for her membership in
the Buena Vista Social Club, went on to Tokyo and will perform a
series of concerts in Japan and other Asian countries.
*BLACK RADICAL CONGRESS DEPLORES ATTACKS, CONDEMNS IMPERIALISM
New York, September 17 (RHC)--The US's Black Radical Congress has
deplored and condemned last week's terrorist attacks, while at the
same time noting Washington's disregard for the lives and property of
others around the globe. It is without question, stated the
organization, that US imperialism has brought genocidal levels of
death and destruction to people around the world, especially
non-white peoples.
Mentioning the continual blockade and air bombardments of Iraq,
Washington's uncritical support of Israel's oppression of the
Palestinians and the blockade against Cuba, the Black Radical
Congress stated, nevertheless, that even with a firm understanding of
the causes of the desperation, fury, and hatred of US imperialism,
turning to terrorism to fight global oppression and exploitation is
not an acceptable strategy and only legitimizes heightened levels of
repression against all progressive forces.
The calls from those in power for war and vengeance without a precise
target, said the organization, are nothing more than self-serving
jingoism striking out blindly. The Black Radical Congress stated that
given the US's track record, this could include indiscriminate
bombings or missile attacks, such as the attack against the Sudanese
pharmaceutical laboratory two years ago which was later found not to
have been connected with any sort of terrorist activity.
Black America must not condone or be indifferent to the horrendous
loss of human life resulting from this tragedy, the group said, nor
must Black America allow these horrific acts to be used as an excuse
to further repress Arab-Americans, Muslims, or those perceived to be
opponents of capitalist globalization.
As a people who have survived 400 years of genocidal oppression in US
territory, the statement went on, Black America is all too familiar
with the human suffering cause by both terrorism and racial hatred --
from the amputations, beatings and rapes of chattel slavery, to the
New York City Draft Riots of 1863, the post-Reconstruction terrorism
of the Ku Klux Klan, the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921, the illegal
government-sponsored Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO)
directed against the Black Movement of the 1960s, to the
state-sanctioned police murder and brutality of today.
African-Americans, stated the Black Radical Congress, have a lot of
experience with the horrors of terrorism in the United States, as it
has too frequently been directed against them.
*REP BARBARA LEE: A LONE VOICE CALLING FOR US RESTRAINT
Washington, September 17 (RHC)--The lone voice in the US Congress
calling for restraint, Representative Barbara Lee of California has
asserted that the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks must be
brought to justice, but that she has yet to see any hard evidence. In
statements to the press over the weekend, the committed pacifist said
the day may come soon when she will support a war against the
terrorist who struck New York and Washington and any nation that
supported them -- but, she added, not yet.
Explaining why hers was the sole vote in either the House or Senate
opposing a resolution authorizing military action, Congresswoman Lee
said that she agonized over the 420-to-1 vote, but that as long as
evidence is not forthcoming Congress must show restraint. She said
she decided only a few hours before the vote on Friday, when she
attended a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington for
the victims and listened closely to one of the prayers.
Lee stated that one of the clergy members said that as we act, we
should not become the evil that we deplore, and at that moment she
knew what she had to do. The California Democrat's commitment to
non-violence has often left her a lonely voice on the House floor.
In 1998, hers was one of only five votes against renewed bombing
against Iraq after its refusal to allow further weapons inspections
by the United Nations. In 1999, she was the only person in Congress
who voted against a resolution authorizing the Clinton
administration's plans to bomb Yugoslavia over the conflict in
Kosovo.
*IN PAKISTAN, CALLS FOR NO MILITARY COOPERATION WITH US
Islamabad, September 17 (RHC)--More than 40 political parties in
Pakistan have urged the military government of Pervez Musharraf not
to cooperate with Washington in what they called unjustified attacks
against countries or individuals.
A multi-party conference organized Sunday by the Jamaat-e-Islami
organization passed a resolution calling on President George Bush to
refrain from hastily launching such an attack without substantial
evidence, stating that such a move could spark an increase in
terrorism.
*PAKISTAN TRIES TO PERSUADE KABUL TO TURN OVER OSAMA BIN LADEN
Islamabad, September 17 (RHC)--Authorities in Pakistan Monday began
talks with leaders of Afghanistan's Taliban regime in an effort to
persuade Kabul to turn over Osama Bin Laden, Washington's prime
suspect in last week's terrorist attacks. The Pakistani delegation is
headed by army General Mehmood Ahmed, the chief of the country's
secret service, who reportedly helped the Taliban gain control of 90%
of Afghanistan.
According to the TV network CNN, Pakistan has given Afghanistan three
days to turn over Bin Laden, though observers are note that it's not
clear if the ultimatum had been set by Islamabad or by Washington.
Pakistani news dailies Monday reported that the country's emissaries
are attempting to persuade the Taliban not to risk the lives of 25
million people for that of one person.
Pakistan has assured the US government that it will cooperate with
all United Nations resolutions against terrorism, but has refrained
from publicly granting Washington use of its land or air space in an
eventual attack against Afghanistan.
Thus far, the Taliban regime has been adamant in refusing to
extradite Bin Laden, insisting that no evidence of his participation
in the terrorist attacks has been presented. Leaders in Kabul have
also called on the country to prepare for a jihad, or holy struggle,
against the United States if they are attacked.
*TALIBAN TROOPS ON PAKISTANI BORDER; AFGHANS FLEE TOWARD IRAN
Islamabad, Kabul, Tehran, September 17 (RHC) -- Meanwhile, the
Pakistani army has affirmed that the Taliban movement has deployed
between 20,000 and 25,000 troops along a key sector of the
1400 kilometer-long border with Pakistan. Over the weekend, the
Taliban warned that they would attack Pakistan if the country
provides aid to Washington in any eventual attack against
Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has closed its air space to international flights. At the
same time a wave of Afghans are heading toward the country's border
with Iran. But Iranian authorities have announced the closing of its
900 kilometer-long border with Afghanistan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Jarrazi has telephoned United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan to coordinate measures to be adopted if
the flow of Afghan refugees gets out of hand, warning that a
humanitarian catastrophe could occur if Washington attacks
Afghanistan. Iran has already given refuge to more than two million
Afghans fleeing the Taliban regime's repression.
*A CHILD'S RIGHT TO A LIFE OF QUALITY, NOT COMMODITY
The United Nations has suspended a special session dedicated to
childhood as a result of the terrorist attacks on New York and
Washington. Nevertheless, the UN Children's Fund UNICEF has issued a
report on the state of children on our planet.
The document is notable in that it describes just how precarious life
is for 70% of the children of the Third World, with starvation,
disease and war being the main threats to their existence.
Another four million infants die unnecessarily on our planet every
year. In Latin America alone, 40 children out of every 1000 do not
live to the age of five.
Poverty is the main culprit. Four out of every ten children in the
Third World are born into extreme poverty. Those who manage to
survive into adulthood are often affected by bad health for the rest
of their lives, rarely living a full, productive existence. Human
rights groups and children's organizations across the world
frequently remind governments how important the first three years of
a child's life is for healthy mental and physical development.
Without doubt, United Nations sessions help -- at the very least to
sensitize nations to the problem. And money that is forthcoming to
fund agencies that combat the effects of poverty also helps. However,
these are stop-gap measures. The real problems that cause such
horrendous misery among our children are not addressed by
governments: civil war, consumerism, uncontrolled globalization,
racism and profiteering. None of these leave space for the human
beings of the Third World to develop and prosper -- only the few of
the First World who make their millions from such misery.
Children are the lifeblood of our societies. They are our future. We
live in a world that cares more for the building of one mansion than
the construction of 1,000 homes for the poor. What future do we and
our children have in a world with such twisted priorities, where the
life of a child has become merely another commodity on the huge
global market?
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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