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Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 02:58:08 -0400
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Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-24 October 2001
Radio Havana Cuba-24 October 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 24 October 2001
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*FIDEL CASTRO: OUR SOCIALISM WILL BE MUCH MORE EQUITABLE AND JUST
*PRIME MINISTER OF DOMINICA WRAPS UP OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA
*PRESIDENT OF GUYANA DUE IN CUBA ON THURSDAY
*CUBAN ECONOMIST SAYS FTAA AIMED AT US ANNEXATION OF REGION'S ECONOMIES
*INDEPENDENT CONFIRMATION OF MANY CIVILIANS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
*UN DEPLORE USA'S DROPPING CLUSTER BOMBS OVER AFGHANISTAN
*MEDIA-MILITARY TENSIONS BEGIN TO SURFACE IN COVERAGE OF CONFLICT
*BRITISH DAILY CHALLENGES WASHINGTON TO PUT PRESSURE ON ISRAEL
*ASSASSINATION OF RENOWNED MEXICAN RIGHTS LAWYER CONDEMNED
*Viewpoint: WEAPONS FOR OBEDIENCE
.
*FIDEL CASTRO: OUR SOCIALISM WILL BE MUCH MORE EQUITABLE AND JUST
Holguin, October 24 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro inaugurated
another training school for social workers Tuesday evening in Holguin
-- the island's third such school. Addressing students and their
parents -- as well as construction workers who built the educational
facility in record time -- the Cuban leader said that social workers
have an extremely important mission: to make sure that Cuba's
socialism of the future is better than it is today.
Referring to the relatively new phenomenon of unemployment on the
island, the leader of the Cuban Revolution said that everyone who is
able to work should have a job. He stressed that there is no excuse
for unemployment in a socialist society, noting that the graduating
students will be trained to tackle these and other social problems.
The Cuban president noted that some 2000 students would attend the
new school to train social workers from the provinces of Holguin,
Camaguey, Las Tunas and Ciego de Avila. He praised the job done by
construction workers, who finished the project in less than six
months by working around-the-clock.
The new school complex -- which takes the name of Cuban revolutionary
leader Celia Sanchez Manduley -- consists of 67 buildings with
classrooms and educational facilities, six computer labs, closed
circuit television, dormitories, kitchen and dining rooms, sports and
recreation areas.
Before the inauguration ceremony began, Fidel Castro toured the new
training school for social workers in Holguin, pointing out the
architectural beauty of the complex. He noted that monuments, statues
and artistic works dot the campus -- giving the appearance of a huge
art gallery. Most of the works were donated by area artists.
The Cuban leader said that the training schools for social workers
are part of a new program of the Revolution in the areas of education
and culture. In addition to the school dedicated Tuesday evening in
Holguin -- another in Santa Clara and still another in Cojimar, just
outside Havana -- a fourth training school was dedicated Wednesday
evening in eastern Santiago de Cuba.
*PRIME MINISTER OF DOMINICA WRAPS UP OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA
Havana, October 24 (RHC)-- The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of
Dominica, Pierre Charles, wrapped up his first official visit to Cuba
on Wednesday -- stating that bilateral relations between the two
Caribbean islands have been strengthened.
Prime Minister Pierre Charles and his accompanying delegation -- made
up of government leaders and business representatives -- arrived in
Havana Saturday evening at the invitation of Cuban President Fidel
Castro. During their four-day stay, the official delegation from
Dominica analyzed the state of joint technical and economic
cooperation with Havana.
Speaking with reporters in the Cuban capital, the prime minister of
Dominica said that his people have always admired the courage and
strength of the Cuban people. Pierre Charles emphasized that his
country wants to continue developing economic relations with Havana
and that Dominica strongly promotes the full integration of the
Caribbean.
He said that tourism and the airline industry in the region have been
severely affected by the tragic events of last September 11th in the
United States, emphasizing his belief that the Caribbean's political
and economic integration will be a vital factor in recovering from
the serious setback.
On Tuesday, the visiting prime minister signed bilateral accords with
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. The agreements govern the
extension of tourist visas by citizens of both countries. In
addition, a letter of understanding was signed between businesses of
Cuba and Dominica, designed to promote bilateral trade and commerce.
*PRESIDENT OF GUYANA DUE IN CUBA ON THURSDAY
Havana, October 24 (RHC)-- The President of the Cooperative Republic
of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, will arrive in Havana on Thursday to begin
a three-day official visit to the island. The Guyanese president will
be accompanied by a delegation made up of several of his cabinet
members.
According to a brief announcement published in this morning's edition
of Granma, the upcoming visit "represents a new step in strengthening
the historic and traditional ties of friendship and cooperation that
exist between Guyana and Cuba".
*CUBAN ECONOMIST SAYS FTAA AIMED AT US ANNEXATION OF REGION'S ECONOMIES
Santo Domingo, October 24 (RHC)-- Leading Cuban economist Osvaldo
Martinez says the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas will lead
to Latin America's economic annexation to the United States. In
statements to journalist Luis Eduardo Lora from the Dominican
Republic, broadcast over local television, Martinez stated that while
it may seem an exaggeration to say this now, there is really no other
way to describe Washington's regional economic plan.
Osvaldo Martinez, who serves as the President of the Economic
Commission of the Cuban Parliament, said that the Free Trade Area of
the Americas "is not a simple free trade agreement, but the total
economic subordination of countries to the United States." He
stressed that the plan is to integrate poor, regional economies with
that of the wealthiest nation on earth -- the end result being
unequal trade and commercial relations.
The Cuban economist affirmed that the proposed economic alliance is
only designed to exploit Latin America's workers for the benefit of
the United States. And he said that the so-called Free Trade Area of
the Americas will mean the end of all efforts for regional
integration and autonomy -- with Latin America converted into an
economic extention of the United States.
Osvaldo Martinez also rejected theories that the economic recession
affecting the United States and, consequently, the rest of the world
is the result of the tragic events of last September 11th -- noting
that many capitalist financial experts agreed that the U.S. economy
was in big trouble long before then.
*INDEPENDENT CONFIRMATION OF MANY CIVILIANS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN
Riyadh, Islamabad, October 24 (RHC) -- The independent Saudi Arabian
TV network Al Jazira has confirmed the bombardment of an Afghan
village that reportedly left 93 civilians killed, accompanying its
report with images of the victims. The attack took place in Chakoor
Kariz, some 60 kilometers northeast of Kandahar, the Taliban regime's
spiritual center.
The report coincides with Taliban versions, which had originally
placed the number of civilian victims at 52. The same Taliban sources
said residential areas in the capital, Kabul, were again hit by bombs
and missiles in what they called the worst bombardment of the capital
thus far.
Meanwhile the United Nations announced Wednesday in the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad, that US bombs and missiles also hit this week a
residential area near a military camp in the western city of Heart
and a mosque inside the military complex. The announcements come on
the heels of the Pentagon's admittance that US military aircraft
committed errors last weekend, bombing a residential area in Kabul
and a home for the elderly in Heart.
Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke, however, late Tuesday said
that thus far the mistakes have been - in her words - extremely
limited. Clarke did not indicate the possible number of civilian
victims during the two mistaken bombardments. The Taliban affirm that
some one thousand civilians have been killed thus far.
*UN DEPLORE USA'S DROPPING CLUSTER BOMBS OVER AFGHANISTAN
Islamabad, October 24 (RHC) -- In related news, the world body
charged today that US warplanes are dropping cluster bombs over
Afghanistan. In Islamabad, UN representative Richard Daniel Kelly
said cluster bombs were dropped Monday and Tuesday evening on the
Sajer Qala village, 5 kilometers from Kandahar, killing 9 civilians.
Kelly, director of the UN's land mine eradication program in
Afghanistan, said the village and surrounding are now full of small
bombs that haven't exploded - posing further threats to inhabitants.
Each cluster bomb contains 202 small bombs the size of a soft drink
can, with parachutes that can cover an are of between 200 and 500
meters. Kelly said the small bombs are yellow, the same color of the
wrappings of the food rations that the US military has also been
dropping over the country.
*MEDIA-MILITARY TENSIONS BEGIN TO SURFACE IN COVERAGE OF CONFLICT
Washington, Los Angeles, October 24 (RHC) -- Tensions are beginning
to surface between US media outlets and the military establishment.
"The Washington Post" Tuesday responded to threatening words from
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who Monday said he hoped the
soldiers who participated in an October 19th military operation
inside Afghanistan don't find out who it is that leaked its details.
The operation was reported by the Post and TV networks. At the same
press conference, Rumsfeld expressed doubts over the necessity of
holding daily encounters with the press. In its response, the
influential news daily stated that it has a well-defined policy of
not publishing information that could endanger the lives of American
soldiers.
Previously, "The Washington Post" wrote that in comparison to recent
wars, the Rumsfeld Pentagon has imposed more strict controls on the
access of journalists to military operations and superior officers.
Meanwhile, "Los Angeles Times" columnist John Balzar Wednesday
affirmed that the Vietnam war wasn't lost because of the press, but
rather because the generals couldn't bear the truth, politicians
couldn't tell the truth, and after 10 agonizing years the nation lost
faith in its leaders.
Balzar wrote in the news daily's editorial pages that American
journalists, when riding along with troops, are not going to give
away any operational matters that will put US forces at risk. For the
government to suggest otherwise, he continued, is simply untrue, and
for the public to believe it proves only how easily people are swayed
by wartime propaganda.
Balzar agreed that the military needs stealth, cover of darkness and
room to maneuver, but does not need to do its work unobserved and
unaccountable - adding that people who want the cloak of secrecy
are too often the people who need it. Pointing to the Pentagon's
anti-press thinking since the Vietnam War, he termed as shameful the
government's fight on the battlefield of public relations to prevent
the country from understanding the battlefield of combat.
*BRITISH DAILY CHALLENGES WASHINGTON TO PUT PRESSURE ON ISRAEL
London, October 24 (RHC) -- An editorial in the Wednesday edition of
the British news daily "The Guardian" asserted that Washington needs
to adopt against Israel the same thunderous and threatening language
applied to the war in Afghanistan. The news daily's Polly Toynbee
challenged the US government to "spell it out - no more money, no
more support, no sympathy for future attacks until Israel withdraws
and starts at once on building the promised independent Palestinian
state".
Arguing that the Afghanistan problem may not be resolved unless
Palestine gets justice, Toynbee said a presidential megaphone is need
so that the entire world hears the announcement of the end to western
nations' double standards in the treatment of Palestinians. Israel is
no longer the lone victim of Islamic terrorism, affirmed the article,
noting that, once secure as the west's best friend, overnight
Israel's failure to make peace has turned into a lethal liability.
Toynbee also pointed to the biased media coverage of death in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, affirming that Palestinian deaths are
rarely made so graphic or memorable in western media as the slaughter
of Israeli teenagers in a disco or two 14-year-old Israeli boys
bludgeoned to death in a cave. The editorial noted that obituaries of
murdered Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi described a real
person - obnoxious, rabid, but a rounded man with a history, a
hinterland, a family.
In comparison, it continued, obituaries of Abu Ali Mustafa, the
63-year-old head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
blown apart at his desk - and for whom Zeevi was shot in revenge -
mainly concerned the politics of his movement and what his death
might presage, with no humanizing idiosyncrasies.
*ASSASSINATION OF RENOWNED MEXICAN RIGHTS LAWYER CONDEMNED
New York, Paris, October 24 (RHC) -- The recent assassination of a
prominent Mexican attorney and human rights activist is sparking
international condemnation. United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights Mary Robinson Tuesday called on Mexican authorities to
thoroughly investigate last Friday's assassination of Digna Ochoa,
gunned down in her office in Mexico City.
Robinson met with Ochoa during her first official visit to Mexico in
November, 1999. The UN official said the victim's sense of dedication
and perseverance amid adversity inspired human rights activists
worldwide. The government of France Wednesday condemned the
assassination, while 1998 Nobel Literature laureate - Portuguese Jose
Saramago - Wednesday asserted that the crime threatens what he called
Mexico's incipient democracy.
In statements to the Mexican news daily "La Jornada", Saramago said
impunity in this case would constitute a new era of corruption in
Mexico. Observers are calling the assassination a setback for Mexican
President Vicente Fox, who promised to use human rights as the
flagship of Mexican democracy. Ochoa had received death threats since
1996, was kidnapped on two occasions and once had to flee the country
as she defended the causes of campesino activists, imprisoned
Zapatista rebels and university students accused of leftist
subversion.
*Viewpoint: WEAPONS FOR OBEDIENCE
The United States is looking for ways to compensate the countries
that have decided to docilely incorporate themselves into the
so-called " international anti-terrorist coalition" that it heads.
One of the ways Washington is paying back its loyal "friends" is
through arms sales which had been halted to some governments due to
human rights considerations. US non- governmental organizations have
pointed out that among the beneficiaries of these weapons sales are
India and Pakistan, but the list could grow as more nations declare
their support for Washington's war against Afghanistan.
Remember that the United States imposed sanctions on India and
Pakistan in l998 for carrying out nuclear tests that year. What's
more, Washington appears to be willing to work out a deal with Sudan,
despite the fact that up until this point it had been considered a
prime target for attack. The United Nations Security Council recently
annulled sanctions it had imposed against Sudan, and Washington did
not use its veto power to object to that decision.
Evidently, the George W. Bush administration was deeply moved by
Sudan's promise to cooperate in the latest international campaign,
which the White House claims, is against terrorism. Though in this
case the sale of weapons has not yet been mentioned, at the very
least the Khartoum government has already received its prize with the
US's failure to oppose the lifting of United Nations sanctions.
Uzbekistan, whose government has been accused of violating human
rights, is also looking for an increase in military assistance from
Washington in exchange for its collaboration in the the war against
Afghanistan, though so far it has already received some 1.7 billion
dollars from its American friends. Oman obtained 1.1 billion dollars
in weapons from the United States just a few days ago and has now
become one of the first successes of Washington's new policy of
unrestricted military assistance in exchange for climbing on board
its war coalition.
Oman, Pakistan and Uzbekistan all are allowing the United States to
use their air bases or over fly their territories in the military
campaign against Afghanistan Turkey and Saudi Arabia have signed on.
The United States is now Ryad's main arms supplier and it is
projected that by the end of this year US weapons sales to Saudi
Arabia will exceed two billion dollars. Turkey has purchased some 375
million dollars worth of arms from the United States this year.
It's true that current legislation in the United States provides for
emergency situations which allow the president to offer military aid
to its allies in times of crisis. But the sudden decision to deliver
arms shipments of this magnitude to nations which just a short time
ago were the focus of sharp US criticism lays bare the opportunism of
Washington's foreign policy. In addition to the death and destruction
being rained down on Afghanistan by US and British war planes, now
Washington must also take responsibility for a deadly arms race in
Central Asia and the Middle East.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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