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Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 04:56:06 -0500
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Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-05 December 2001
Radio Havana Cuba-05 December 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 05 December 2001
.
*REPORT FROM THE SAO PAULO FORUM
*VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT THANKS CUBA FOR HEALTH CARE
*GUITAR FESTIVAL HONORING LEO BROWER BEGINS WEDNESDAY IN BRAZIL
*CUBAN GOVERNMENT MINISTER ATTENDS A.C.P. MEETING IN BRUSSELS
*CUBAN PARLIAMENT ANALYZES LEGISLATION ON TERRORISM
*UNIVERSITY OF HAVANA WELCOMES "SEMESTER AT SEA"
*SCATHING CRITICISM OF ISRAELI ABUSES FROM UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER
*UN MEDIATORS SAY DIFFICULTIES PLAGUE AFGHAN INTERIM AGREEMENT
*PENTAGON'S PRECISION BOMBING IN AFGHANISTAN CLAIMS LIVES OF 3 US SOLDIERS
*POVERTY IS BIGGER THREAT THAN TERRORISMM SAYS FORMER IMF CHIEF
Viewpoint:
*IN BONN, A SMALL BUT PRECARIOUS STEP TOWARDS PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN
,
*REPORT FROM THE SAO PAULO FORUM
Havana, December 5 (RHC)-- The 10th Sao Paulo Forum is being held
here in Havana with the participation of over 400 delegates from
Latin America and the Caribbean. A number of observer delegates from
the United States are on hand at the gathering and Radio Havana Cuba
spoke with one of the observers -- Alicia Jrapko, from New York.
"We know that this is a meeting of Latin American progressive
organizations and parties, but we are very happy to be part of this
and representing the United States. Today we have a plenary session
and I'm sure I'll learn a lot during these four days. My impression
is that it's really encouraging to see so many different forces
coming from Latin America to talk about common things that are
affecting all of us, including the people of the United States," said
Jrapko, an observer delegate from the Workers World Party.
*VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT THANKS CUBA FOR HEALTH CARE
Havana, December 5(RHC)--On Wednesday, the Venezuelan government
sent an acknowledgment to Cuban president, Fidel Castro a little more
than one year after the signing of a cooperation agreement between
both nations, in which Cuba provides health care for Venezuelans in
exchange for advantageous oil prices.
The acknowledgment was delivered to Cuba's secretary of state, Jos�
Millar Marruecos during a ceremony held in Havana's International
Health Center.
The Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba, Julio Montes recalled that the
agreement was signed by the presidents of Cuba and Venezuela on
October 30th, 2000 and one month later, some 30 patients from
Venezuela came to the island to receive health services.
Montes also pointed out that Cuba has offered hope and a future to
peoples in need around the world. Cuba has placed love and
hospitality beyond individualism and business, he said, and through
these principles it has built a nation of dignity.
The Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba referred to the precarious
situation that the Venezuelan people live in, noting that over 70
percent of the population lacks access to the health care system,
although the country contains 52,000 doctors and excellent technology
and resources.
On behalf of the Venezuelan president, the ambassador thanked Cuba
for the special attention and support given to 1,299 patients, of
which 1,010 have returned to their country. He added that this work
is an example of what can be done to achieve true Latin American
integration and to continue developing human commitment to improve
the quality of life of all Latin American people.
*GUITAR FESTIVAL HONORING LEO BROWER BEGINS WEDNESDAY IN BRAZIL
Rio de Janeiro, December 5 (RHC)--An International Guitar Festival
began today in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to pay homage to the Cuban
composer Leo Brower. The exhibition comprises six works by the
prominent composer and interpreter of acknowledged world prestige.
Brower, who previously announced his attendance to the event, cannot
travel to Rio de Janeiro as he is recovering from surgery in Havana.
The works include the movies "Last Supper," "Death of a Bureaucrat"
and "The Survivors," by Tomas Gutierrez Alea; as well as "Lucia," by
Humberto Solas.
The 2nd International Guitar Festival will take place in the Cecilia
Meireles Hall, one of the most beautiful and traditional theatres of
Rio de Janeiro.
Among those present will be the string section of the Cuba's National
Symphonic orchestra along with soloist Rey Guerra. In addition, there
will be a special performance of Brazilians Victor Pellegrini and
Jose Paulo Becker as well as the Brazilian Romanzal string quartet
led by Antonio Madureira, among others.
*CUBAN GOVERNMENT MINISTER ATTENDS A.C.P. MEETING IN BRUSSELS
Havana, December 5 (RHC)--Cuban Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas
is heading the Cuban delegation that will participate in the 74th
meeting of heads of state of the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific Group or
ACP to be held in Brussels, Belgium.
During the meeting, a report elaborated by the Council of Ministers
in its 73rd session will be discussed. The ACP heads of state will
evaluate the results of the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the
World Trade Organization recently held in Doha, Qatar, as well as
considering issues related to budget, work objectives for the year
2002 and aspects of the Cotonu agreement.
The Cuban Government Minister said that he expects to achieve a
better understanding and integration among all nations in order to
make the work more effective.
*CUBAN PARLIAMENT ANALYZES LEGISLATION ON TERRORISM
Havana, December 5 (RHC)--The Cuban parliament will study
legislation on terrorism during its next meeting, scheduled for
December 20th.
The Parliament's secretary, Ernesto Suarez, informed the news daily
Granma that deputies have now taken the bill to a final round of
discussion. He said that no legal wording directly related to
terrorism existed to date on the island.
Suarez added that certain positions of principle will be established
in the legislation, as well as definitions of terrorism and sanctions
against those who perpetrate terrorism.
On October 4, the National Assembly of the Cuban Parliament agreed to
abide by the 12 existing international agreements on terrorism in
response to a request by the UN Secretary General to the member
states. Cuba was the third country in the world to make such an
agreement.
During the meeting, legislation on agricultural cooperatives, the
budget and next year's economic plan will be also discussed.
*UNIVERSITY OF HAVANA WELCOMES "SEMESTER AT SEA"
Havana, December 5 (RHC)--Some 650 students from all over the United
States were warmly welcomed by the University of Havana and its
students, albeit in pouring rain, as they climbed the famous steps
leading up to the city's Alma Mater.
The students, who are on a special program called "Semester at Sea,"
docked in Havana Wednesday morning and were greeted by Hassan Perez,
president of the Cuban Students Federation.
The "Semester at Sea" program is operated by the University of
Pittsburgh in the U.S. and carries the students on board the cruise
ship the SS Universe Explorer to visit countries around the world.
This Fall Semester included stops in Japan, China, Vietnam,
Indonesia, India, the Seychelles, South Africa and Brazil before
Cuba, the last port of call.
The students were welcomed by Dr. Carrera, the university's oldest
professor, who is also one of its most eccentric. He studied in Ohio
where he picked up his English, which he used with great effect as he
identified practically every state from which the students had come
-- even Hawaii.
*SCATHING CRITICISM OF ISRAELI ABUSES FROM UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER
Geneva, December 5 (RHC)--United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights Mary Robinson issued a scathing criticism Wednesday of
Israel's selective assassinations of Palestinian activists and the
collective punishment against Palestinian civilians in occupied
territories. Speaking in Geneva before the member nations of the
Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in armed
conflicts, Robinson also said that the establishment of Jewish
settlements in occupied territories begets violence.
She denounced Israel's 34-year occupation of Palestine, charging that
the non-compliance of the country's successive governments with
international humanitarian laws have left the Palestinians
vulnerable, without protection and exposed to all types of abuse.
While also denouncing Palestinian suicide attacks against Israeli
civilians, the High Commissioner reiterated a call in favor of
deploying international observers in the occupied territories.
But despite the intense criticism of Israel during the gathering of
122 diplomats and 8 observers from 114 signatory nations of the
Fourth Geneva Convention, non-governmental organizations and the
Palestinian delegation slammed the final declaration which, they
said, adopted no concrete measures against Israel. The International
Human Rights Federation stated that the lack of such measures favors
Israel's impunity and encourages a continuation of abuse against the
Palestinian population.
Israel and the United States, also signatory nations of the
Convention, boycotted the gathering -- which was also strongly
criticized. Human rights organizations, including Amnesty
International, the International Commission of Jurists and the
Palestinian Human Rights Center, were not permitted to participate in
the meeting, but held their own parallel gathering. They issued their
own final declaration calling for economic and diplomatic sanctions
against Israel, and the establishment of a War Crimes Tribunal to
prosecute those responsible for crimes in occupied Palestinian
territory.
*UN MEDIATORS SAY DIFFICULTIES PLAGUE AFGHAN INTERIM AGREEMENT
Bonn, Kabul, December 5 (RHC)--Moderate Afghan leader of the Pashtun
ethnic group, Hamed Karzai, will be the prime minister of a 6-month
interim government, according to an agreement signed Wednesday in
Bonn, Germany, between representatives of the Northern Alliance and
Afghan exile groups. But the special United Nations representative in
Afghanistan, and mediator in the transition talks, Lakhard Brahimi,
has admitted that the transition process will be difficult and full
of obstacles.
Karzai will be at the head of a government controlled by the Northern
Alliance whose leader, Burhanuddin Rabbani, tried to sabotage the
transition accord up until the last moment. Of the 30 interim
government posts, 11 will be occupied by Pashtuns -- Afghanistan's
majority -- 8 by Tajiks, 5 by Hazaras and 3 by Uzbeks, while the
remaining will go to ethnic groups not represented at the Bonn talks.
The Northern Alliance, however, retains the largest quota of power,
having acquired all the ministries it requested -- including the key
ministries of foreign affairs, the interior and defense. And while
delegates in Bonn agreed to withdraw their military units from Kabul
and other regions to make way for deployment of a UN peace-keeping
force, the Northern Alliance is already objecting.
Following announcement of the agreement, Northern Alliance Defense
Minister General Mohamad Qasim Fahim stated in Kabul that any
international force will have to be comprised of few soldiers and its
presence must be limited to the protection of government buildings.
Fahim also said his organization has rejected a request from Great
Britain to increase the number of its soldiers deployed in Kabul.
Meanwhile, UN officials and humanitarian agencies are wondering how
Afghanistan can be pacified without a significant international
peace-keeping force when rival warlords and bandits have made large
parts of the country so lawless that desperately needed aid can't
reach its destination. The possibly catastrophic combination of food
shortages and lack of security is reportedly most severe in northern
Afghanistan, where three factions of the Northern Alliance are
jockeying for power.
Deputy UN coordinator for Afghanistan, Antonio Donini, has affirmed
that unless the security situation improves in the north, potentially
large numbers of people will be dying of hunger. In recent days, the
UN ordered its field security officer, which was conducting an
assessment in Mazar-I-Sharif, to leave the city amid rumors that a
simmering rivalry within the Northern Alliance could erupt at any
time in the city and the surrounding area.
Rivalries in the area mostly involve the Jamiat-I-Islami faction that
dominates the alliance, Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum --
who for years treated the region as a personal fiefdom -- and the
Hazara ethnic group formed in the Hezb-I-Wahdat organization. The
Hazaras have reportedly complained that they weren't properly
represented in the Bonn talks, but have said they will give the peace
process a chance.
*PENTAGON'S PRECISION BOMBING IN AFGHANISTAN CLAIMS LIVES OF 3 US SOLDIERS
Kabul, December 5 (RHC)--Though the Pentagon has insisted on the
precision of its bombardment of Afghanistan -- denying numerous
reports of errors that have cost lives -- Wednesday it admitted that
three American soldiers were killed and twenty wounded when a B-52
bomber missed its target. Five Afghan opposition fighters also died
in the incident north of the last Taliban stronghold of Kandahar,
while there are reports that the errant bomb also slightly wounded
anti-Taliban Pashtun commander Hamed Karzai, just chosen as the
country's interim prime minister.
The self-inflicted bombing accident is the second known since five US
soldiers were seriously wounded when a US bomb went astray during the
Taliban prisoner uprising and subsequent massacre in Mazar-I-Sharif.
Meanwhile, however, thousands of Afghans are abandoning their homes
in the east of the country to escape US air strikes on civilian
villages that have killed hundreds of people.
Western news correspondents working out of the regional capital,
Jalalabad, are reporting that for the fourth consecutive night,
American warplanes targeting Al-Qaida fighters in the White Mountains
also bombed nearby villages -- though the exact civilian death toll
is unknown. Numerous refugees arriving in Jalalabad are providing
eyewitness accounts of the destruction of hamlets and the strewn
bodies of civilians and animals, though the Pentagon continues
insisting that it is only targeting legitimate military targets
associated with Al-Qaida and the Taliban.
*POVERTY IS BIGGER THREAT THAN TERRORISMM SAYS FORMER IMF CHIEF
Fribourgh, Switzerland, December 5 (RHC)--Former International
Monetary Fund general director Michel Camdessus has asserted that
poverty is a bigger threat than terrorism. At a conference delivered
Tuesday evening in Fribourgh, Switzerland, one of the most criticized
architects of the current economic world order came out in favor of
putting what he called a "human face" to the process of
globalization.
Also the former governor of the Bank of France, Camdessus said
globalization requires responsibility and solidarity, affirming that
the IMF and World Bank are not longer capable of confronting today's
challenges -- including the environment, migration and the problems
linked to transnational economic control. Going even further, he
stated that the Group of 7 industrialized nations lacks any
legitimacy except, perhaps, in the international monetary arena.
The former head of the IMF said the G-7 does nothing by occasionally
inviting to its forums a Third World head of state, coming out in
favor of what he called a legitimate structure along the lines of an
Economic Security Council as proposed by former European Commission
president Jacques Delors. Camdessus nevertheless expressed optimism,
pointing to the demand for change expressed in public opinion and
asserting that during the past 50 years the international community
has learned something. But, he said, the historic opportunity for
change can only occur when we struggle against war -- which he called
"the mother of all misery."
Viewpoint:
*IN BONN, A SMALL BUT PRECARIOUS STEP TOWARDS PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN
Finally, after several days of discussions, representatives from
four Afghan organizations managed to come to an agreement on the
makeup of an interim government to take control of Afghanistan on
December 22. The "Bonn Accord" was immediately hailed by U.S.
authorities, which makes the rest of the world nervous, because
experience has shown that when Washington is pleased people are
suffering.
And that's the way it is. To begin with, the interim government will
be led by openly pro-U.S. ethnic leader, Pashtun Hamid Karzai, who is
best known for his participation in the fight against the Soviet army
and who failed to attend the Bonn conference because he was in
Afghanistan participating in the battle to take Kandahar.
Under the agreement reached, the UN Security Council will be asked to
consider sending an international force to Kabul to guarantee the
safety of at least the capital. Close to Kabul, bands of roving
bandits are wantonly stealing and killing, making it impossible for
humanitarian agencies to get desperately needed food to the people.
In the past, however, sending international troops to provide
security, or to fulfill humanitarian tasks, has failed to yield the
desired results. It is interesting to note the willingness of various
European countries to send in troops to secure a destroyed city after
two months of intense bombardment, while they turn a deaf ear to
calls to do the same in the Mid East, where Israeli troops are
mercilessly attacking Palestinian civilians.
But returning to the topic of Afghanistan, the United States, despite
its congratulations on the results of the Bonn conference, still has
its share of headaches. One of them is that the bodies of U.S.
victims of the war against Afghanistan are beginning arrive home.
This is despite the efforts made to keep American troops away from
the hot spots, since it is the anti-Taliban militiamen who are on the
front lines fighting, while U.S. soldiers only appear in places that
have already been taken. The other matter Washington must deal with
is the first Taliban prisoner of the war who is a U.S. citizen.
He cannot be tried in a military court, because those tribunes only
have jurisdiction over foreigners. The case must now go to a federal
court where the prisoner will presumably explain why he was fighting
against the United States. And if that were not enough, on Wednesday
morning U.S. planes mistakenly attacked their own troops, killing two
men and injuring some 20.
Finally, two months after the U.S. began its war of vengeance against
the Afghan people, a few small, precarious steps have been taken
towards an unlikely peace in central Asia -- a region where the
majority of people are confronted daily with death and suffering, and
where it appears that the U.S. military has decided that, no matter
what, the show must go on.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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