From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-05 Oct 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 05 October 2001
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*MASSIVE RALLY SET TO MEMORIALIZE VICTIMS OF CUBANA AIRLINES BOMBING
*CUBA AND JAPAN SIGN COOPERATION ACCORDS
*NEW CUBAN MEDICAL GRADUATES DEPART FOR REMOTE MOUNTAIN CLINICS
*AFGHANISTAN'S NORTHERN ALLIANCE A MAJOR PRODUCER OF OPIUM - UN DRUG EXPERT
*UNPRECEDENTED SPAT BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND ARIEL SHARON
*ARGENTINE UP AGAINST INCREASING CRITICISM AS ECONOMIC SLUMP WORSENS
*PEACE PROCESS DEADLOCKED, BOGOT� AGAIN ACCUSED OF DOING TOO LITTLE
*FAST TRACK VOTE IN U.S. CONGRESS POSTPONED ONCE AGAIN
*Viewpoint: ELEPHANTS DON'T FORGET
.
*MASSIVE RALLY SET TO MEMORIALIZE VICTIMS OF CUBANA AIRLINES BOMBING
Havana, October 5 (RHC)--Hundreds of thousands of people are expected
to attend a mass rally on Saturday morning in Havana's Revolution
Square to pay tribute to the victims of the sabotage bombing of a
Cubana airliner that took place near the coast of Barbados in 1976.
All 73 passengers and crewmembers were killed, including the island's
junior fencing team.
After 25 years, Cubans will be calling for the extradition of the two
terrorists who planned the bombing: Orlando Bosch, who is a free man
walking the streets of Miami, Florida and Luis Posada Carriles, who
is currently in a Panamanian jail awaiting trial for planning the
assassination of President Fidel Castro.
*CUBA AND JAPAN SIGN COOPERATION ACCORDS
Havana, October 5 (RHC)--Cuba and Japan moved towards establishing
closer relations on Friday with the signing of three cooperation
agreements.
Special Japanese government envoy and former prime minister, Ryutaro
Hashimoto, attended the signing of the documents by the two
countries' officials.
One of the accords provides for the installation by Japan of modern
sound equipment in Havana's ornate theater, the Gran Teatro. Another
agreement will send two ambulances for use in the eastern province of
Santiago de Cuba.
Electricity is the focus of the third agreement signed between Havana
and Tokyo on Friday. Under that cooperation accord, Japan will give
financial assistance to a program providing electricity to remote
rural communities on the Isle of Youth, off Cuba's southwestern
shore, where many Cubans of Japanese descent are living.
With these most recent agreements, Cuban and Japan now have signed 14
cooperation accords worth some $910,000.
Former Japanese prime minister Hashimoto reiterated his country's
gratitude for President Fidel Castro's mediation in the conflict over
the taking of hostages at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in
Lima, Peru in l997.
Hashimoto, who arrived in Havana on Thursday on a protocol visit that
concludes Saturday, met with the Cuban president and is expected to
meet with Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe
Perez Roque.
*NEW CUBAN MEDICAL GRADUATES DEPART FOR REMOTE MOUNTAIN CLINICS
Havana, October 5 (RHC)--Some 130 young medical graduates have
joined the family doctor program, working for a year in the remote
areas of Guantanamo, Cuba's eastern-most province.
Graduates from all medical areas -- the new generation of young Cuban
doctors -- will replace the 84 doctors currently working in
Guantanamo and will offer their services to the almost 80,000 people
living in nine out of the ten municipalities.
They were officially welcomed to the province by local Communist
Party leaders, Public Health Ministry officials and a group of local
artists.
The Director of Health Education in Cuba, Julio Portal Pineda,
pointed out that the recently-graduated Cuban doctors would also
receive special training to work in other Third World countries.
*AFGHANISTAN'S NORTHERN ALLIANCE A MAJOR PRODUCER OF OPIUM - UN DRUG EXPERT
Vienna, October 5 (RHC)--A United Nations drug expert has asserted
that Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, now Washington's ally against
the Taliban, has become that country's principle producer of opium.
Mohammad Amirjizi, advisor to the UN Drug Control and Crime
Prevention Office, stated Friday in Vienna that since the Taliban
imposed repressive measures against the production of illicit poppy
crops, leading to a 60 percent decrease in worldwide opium
production, the Northern Alliance became the country's major opium
producer with 150 tons this year.
Amirjizi said that in reality the Alliance has always produced an
annual 120 to 150 tons, but that due to Taliban elimination of large
quantities of the drug, that amount, though the same, has become
significant. Pointing to the impact of the Taliban regime's
prohibition of illicit drug crops, the UN expert noted that
Afghanistan produced 75 percent of world opium production in 1999, 70
percent in 2000, but will only produce 10 percent this year.
Other observers have noted that leaders of Afghanistan's Northern
Alliance have committed human rights abuses as horrendous as those
committed by the Taliban. Writing last October 3rd for the London
news daily "Independent," U.S. journalist Robert Fisk asserted that
Washington is hiring one gang of terrorists to rid itself of another
gang of terrorists - insisting that U.S. officials know full well the
bloody, rapacious track record of what he called the "killers" in the
Alliance.
Fisk called the Northern Alliance a confederacy of warlords, rapists
and torturers. He said the men of Abdul Rashid Dustum -- who the
journalist called one of the most powerful Alliance gangsters --
looted and raped their way through the suburbs of Kabul in the
1990's, choosing girls for forced marriages, murdering their families
and taking women as sex slaves as they fled from the Taliban
offensive.
*UNPRECEDENTED SPAT BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND ARIEL SHARON
Tel Aviv, Washington, October 5 (RHC)--In an unprecedented spat
between Washington and Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Thursday launched a public message to the United States in
particular, and Western nations in general, that the White House has
termed as unacceptable. Sharon warned the U.S. and the West
concerning an anti-terrorist coalition with Arab nations that would
be detrimental to Israel's interests.
The warning was made with a fury that reportedly surprised the
Israeli press and political circles in Tel Aviv. Sharon demanded that
the West refrain from committing the terrible error of 1938, when
European democracies sacrificed Czechoslovakia in exchange for a
provisional agreement with Adolph Hitler.
According to Israeli media outlets, Sharon in this way compared
President George W. Bush with then-British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain, who returned from the 1938 Munich Conference announcing
that he had preserved peace. Observers are noting that the Israeli
government has reacted with concern and suspicion to Bush's statement
last Tuesday in favor of a Palestinian state -- the first time the
U.S. president has made such an announcement.
According to an Israeli official quoted by the AFP news agency while
requesting anonymity, Sharon is hoping to mobilize the U.S. Jewish
community by mentioning Chamberlain and in that way launching a
threat of a new holocaust. This source stated that it's also an
expression of Israel's anger over Washington's refusal to include the
organizations Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbola on its list of
terrorists.
Israeli opposition leader Yossi Sarid denounced the comparison to
Czechoslovakia, insisting that Israel can defend itself, no one can
sacrifice the country and Sharon should apologize to Washington. The
independent news daily "Maariv" wrote that Sharon lost his wits and
declared a political war against the United States by accusing
Washington of trying to stab Israel in the back. The "Yediot
Aharonot" news daily affirmed that the Israeli Prime Minister's
statements were unfortunate, historically false and politically
damaging.
In other news from Israel, since Sharon assumed office Tel Aviv has
begun construction of 25 new Jewish settlements in occupied
Palestinian territory in the West Bank, according to the Israeli
pacifist organization Peace Now. The organization said the
constructions are new and not merely expansions of existing
settlements, though they're being built near old settlements so as to
appear as their outlying neighborhoods.
The continued building and expansion of Jewish settlements in
occupied territory has been repeatedly condemned by the international
community and is seen as one of the major stumbling blocks to peace
in the region.
*ARGENTINE UP AGAINST INCREASING CRITICISM AS ECONOMIC SLUMP WORSENS
Buenos Aires, October 5 (RHC)--Argentine President Fernando de la
Rua is coming up against increasing criticism as the economy
continues registering record slump indexes despite International
Monetary Fund bailouts and domestic economic shock packages. Not only
opposition leaders, but also the head of de la Rua's political party
-- the Radical Civic Union -- is also turning his back on the
President.
Former president and Radical Civic Union leader Raul Alfonsin said
the country's economic model is in check, insisting that that model
has to be changed because Argentina cannot continue going from
recession to structural adjustments, and then back to recession and
more adjustments. Opposition leader Eduardo Duhalde stated that with
this, in his words, perverse model not even a magician can get the
country back on track.
In the past few days, stocks and bonds have been taking nosedives,
while Argentina's risk-country factor is daily registering record
highs. The Governor of Santa Cruz Province, Nestor Kirchner, stated
that Argentina's biggest risk is the de la Rua administration. But
despite the criticism and a less than 16 percent approval rate, the
Argentinean President Thursday reiterated his defense of last July's
7th economic shock package in 20 months of his presidency.
Alfonsin asserted that another adjustment package dropped on the
shoulders of public employees, retired workers and pensioners will
not be tolerated. Another old de la Rua ally, Chaco Province Governor
Angel Rozas, stated that if there isn't a drastic change of course
Argentina is heading for bankruptcy and a national disaster -- though
labor leaders say the disaster has already set in.
*PEACE PROCESS DEADLOCKED, BOGOT� AGAIN ACCUSED OF DOING TOO LITTLE
Bogot�, October 5 (RHC)--As Colombia's rebel-government peace
process flounders, Human Rights Watch has asserted that President
Andres Pastrana has only made superficial efforts to do away with
ties between the armed forces and right-wing paramilitary death
squads. The organization released a report in Bogot�, the Colombian
capital, with detailed accusations of the ties between three army
brigades and the right-wing Colombian Self-Defense Units in the
southern Putumayo Department - the principal region targeted by the
U.S.-sponsored anti-drug offensive.
While recognizing that the Pastrana administration has forcibly
retired several army generals suspected of having ties with the death
squads, and that the persecution and arrest of paramilitaries has
increased recently, Human Rights Watch affirmed that the gap between
words and action is still wide. The report carries the title "The
Sixth Division," insinuating that though the Colombian army only has
five divisions, it really has six with the Colombian Self-Defense
Units.
Though the Colombian government has yet to respond, Bogot� has
traditionally downplayed numerous similar denunciations, calling them
partial and inexact. Meanwhile, Colombian rebel leaders continued
Friday for the third consecutive day talks with High Commissioner for
Peace Camilo Gomez in an effort to once again rescue the peace
process from its deathbed. Criticism of the peace process has been
growing within political and business circles that see little
progress in the past three years of rebel-government talks and reject
continuation of the vast demilitarized zone controlled by the
insurgency since November 1998.
*FAST TRACK VOTE IN U.S. CONGRESS POSTPONED ONCE AGAIN
Washington, October 5 (RHC)--The White House and U.S. business
interests have failed in another effort to pave the way for approval
of fast track trade negotiation powers for President George W. Bush.
The House Ways and Means Committee Friday postponed until next week a
vote on the measure amid on-going disputes concerning the protection
of labor rights and the environment.
Grassroots and human rights organizations opposed to fast track have
been warning that the Bush administration will try to take advantage
of the wave of patriotism and bipartisan sentiments in Congress to
obtain approval of the measure. But the leading Democrats in the
House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel and Sander Levin
maintain opposition.
House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt Thursday blasted any effort to
hurriedly vote the fast track measure, asserting that neither should
it be a priority following the September 11th attacks in New York and
Washington D.C. Fast track would allow Bush to present to Congress
for approval or rejection, but not revision, of free trade deals he's
negotiated.
*Viewpoint: ELEPHANTS DON'T FORGET
The mainstream media in both the United States and Great Britain
have been firmly behind their governments in preparing their
populations for war. Jingoism, xenophobia and chauvinism are the
order of the day and anyone openly critical of these preparations has
found themselves in an abused minority. Ask those US journalists
fired for criticizing their President the day after the attacks on
New York and Washington DC.
In England, Margaret Thatcher has further fanned the wave of racism
against anyone Muslim, looking Arab or perceived to be so, by making
an off-the-cuff remark that she did not think Muslim "priests" had
condemned the September 11th terrorism strongly enough. Aside from
being untrue, the comment takes all Muslims to task because of what
appears to be Muslim involvement in the attacks. Were all Christians
treated this way after the Oklahoma bombing by the good and very
white Christian, Timothy McVeigh?
The rash of abuse and physical attacks against Muslims and Sikhs
(because they look like Arabs due to the turbans they wear) in both
the United States and Great Britain has prompted George W Bush and
Tony Blair to censure the racism and visit one or two mosques before
getting back down to the business of their crusade against Osama bin
Laden. They have made no effort to address the more profound issues
or attempt to tackle the deeply seated racial stereotypes.
In George Orwell's poignant short story "Killing an Elephant," he
describes how taking his elephant gun as protection against an
elephant on heat forced him to kill the calmed beast. Although the
elephant no longer posed a threat he had to kill it to save face
before the hundreds of people who had come to watch.
Although Osama bin Laden clearly continues to pose a threat to us
all, the gathering of forces of war has historically compelled their
use. Bush and Blair have backed themselves into a corner and are now
expected to sound the trumpets and send in the troops, which -
judging from previous such military interventions over the last
decade - means many civilian deaths, or, as we are expected to
stomach it, collateral damage. Israeli prime Minister Ariel Sharon -
who many regard as a terrorist by any definition of the word - has
threatened that he will not stand by if the US and England do another
Neville Chamberlain and "sacrifice" his country to maintain peace.
The Daily Mirror newspaper from England opines - incredibly - that
"before poverty, drought, disease and starvation can be defeated
there is a more immediate foe - terrorism." This is in complete
reversal to the most simple, common sense position that most
level-headed people on this planet believe: that to eradicate
terrorism one must first address the very things that promote it:
poverty, drought, disease and starvation. Add to that social justice
and promotion of peace and we have some semblance of a plan for
saving our planet.
The problem will be to persuade the world's most powerful leaders to
resist temptation and put down their elephant guns.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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