From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 09:20:56 -0500
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Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-06 December 2001
Radio Havana Cuba-06 December 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 06 December 2001
.
*LATIN AMERICA WILL DEFEAT EVERY US ATTEMPT TO RULE THE REGION, SAYS FIDEL
*DELEGATION FROM THE NORWEGIAN FOREIGN RELATIONS MINISTRY CONCLUDES VISIT
*CUBA AND VIETNAM SIGN AVIATION COOPERATION AGREEMENT
*CONCERT IN HAVANA TO HONOR JOHN LENNON ON THE 21ST ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH
*POWERFUL AFGHAN WARLORD BOYCOTTS BONN AGREEMENT
*PALESTINIAN POLICE AND ISLAMIC MILITANTS FACE OFF FOR THE FIRST TIME
*ASHCROFT FACES CONGRESS AMID GROWING CONCERN OVER REPRESSIVE MEASURES
*US LABOR UNIONS, CONSUMER GROUPS LAUNCH ANTI-FREE TRADE CAMPAIGN
*IMF THROWS BUCKET OF COLD WATER OVER ARGENTINA'S AILING ECONOMY
Viewpoint:
*WASHINGTON INCREASINGLY ISOLATES ITSELF AS WORLD TRADES WITH CUBA
.
LATIN AMERICA WILL DEFEAT EVERY US ATTEMPT TO RULE THE REGION, SAYS FIDEL
Havana, December 6 (RHC)-Latin America will defeat every U.S. attempt
to rule over the entire region, said Cuban President Fidel Castro to
participants in the 10th Sao Paulo Forum, which continues its sessions
here in Havana.
The United States cannot govern us or the world, said the Cuban leader
in reference to constant attempts by Washington to impose its
supremacy over the rest of the hemisphere, the latest strategy to that
end being the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas project - the
FTAA.
Referring to the U.S. military presence in the Puerto Rican island
municipality of Vieques, the Cuban president stressed that the United
States government seeks to rule over Latin America and the Caribbean
as if the entire region were simply a U.S. overseas dominion. Fidel
referred to the heroic struggle being waged by the Puerto Rican people
to expel U.S. occupation forces.
Among delegates to the 10th Sao Paulo Forum is the president of the
New Independence Movement of Puerto Rico, Julio Muriente, who
presented the Cuban leader with a bottle full of sand from Vieques.
*DELEGATION FROM THE NORWEGIAN FOREIGN RELATIONS MINISTRY CONCLUDES VISIT
Havana, December 6 (RHC)-The General Secretary of the Norwegian
Foreign Relations Ministry, Biarne Lindstrom, termed as highly
successful his official visit to Cuba, which concluded Wednesday
evening.
Before leaving Havana, the Norwegian official stressed that relations
with the Caribbean island become stronger every day, particularly in
the areas of culture and the economy.
During his stay, the Norwegian diplomat and his delegation met with
high-ranking Cuban officials, including the Minister of Planning and
the Economy, Jos� Luis Rodr�guez, and his counterparts in the island's
foreign ministry, and visited places of economic and social interest
in the Cuban capital.
The visit of the general secretary of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry
coincided with the opening of the Royal Embassy of Norway in Cuba,
which as the European official said responds to growing bilateral ties
between the two nations.
*CUBA AND VIETNAM SIGN AVIATION COOPERATION AGREEMENT
Havana, December 6 (RHC)-Cuba's national airline Cubana de Aviaci�n
S.A. and Vietnam Airlines have signed a special tariff agreement that
will benefit civil aviation.
The agreement was penned by the Executive Vice President of Cubana,
Eugenio Portales, and the visiting President of Vietnam Airlines,
Nguyen Xuan Hien.
The accord facilitates the exchange of passengers between the two
nations with special low tariffs, as well as the use of services
provided by the two aviation firms.
The executive vice president of the Vietnamese company said
negotiations are underway to open a joint Vietnam-Cuba airline
service.
*CONCERT IN HAVANA TO HONOR JOHN LENNON ON THE 21ST ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH
Havana, December 6 (RHC)- The National Havana Fine Arts Museum will be
the site this coming weekend of a concert in homage to John Lennon and
the Beatles.
The concert called "Give Peace a Change" is sponsored by the Havana
Pablo de la Torriente Brau Culture Center. The activity will have the
participation of outstanding personalities from the world of arts on
the island, including troubadours Vicente and Santiago Feliu.
Other activities include a colloquium dedicated to the "fab four" from
Liverpool, a fine arts exhibition entitled "Homage to Lennon in
Havana", a visual arts exhibition named after the classic song "All
You Need is Love", the exhibition of two documentary films, and the
launching of a book at the Jos� Mart� National Library entitled "War
will End if You Wish It".
*POWERFUL AFGHAN WARLORD BOYCOTTS BONN AGREEMENT
Kabul, Islamabad, December 6 (RHC) -- A powerful Afghan warlord has
decided to boycott the new transition government agreed on Wednesday
at talks in Bonn, Germany. Uzbek General Rashid Dostum, at the head of
the most important group of Northern Alliance combatants, said he will
not go to Kabul to salute the new government because his
Junbish-I-Milli faction is not equitably represented.
He said his Uzbek faction demanded the foreign ministry post but only
received that of agriculture, mining and industry, which he called a
humiliation. The Northern Alliance leader warned that he would not
allow the new interim administration into the northern region
controlled by his forces, which is home to Afghanistan's oil and gas
deposits.
Dostum, whose conquest of Mazar-I-Sharif in early November led to the
fall of Kabul, has a reputation of changing sides and breaking
alliances - having fought on the side of and against Soviet troops in
the 1980s, and then often changing sides in the civil war following
the Soviet withdrawal. Meanwhile, a Pashtun spiritual leader has also
called the new interim government unbalanced and unjust.
At a press conference in Pakistan, Sayed Ahmad Gailani said that those
who played the most important roles in the holy war against Soviet
troops are not represented in the 30-member transition government. And
news reports are indicating that further problems are just on the
horizon.
Reporting from Kabul for the British news daily "The Independent",
correspondent Patrick Cockburn wrote Thursday that Abdul Ahmed, a
warlord whose fiefdom is just outside Kabul, is among those who will
decide the fate of the power-sharing government for Afghanistan agreed
in Bonn - noting that so far he is not impressed.
*PALESTINIAN POLICE AND ISLAMIC MILITANTS FACE OFF FOR THE FIRST TIME
Washington, December 6 (RHC) -- As US Attorney General John Ashcroft
geared up to face Thursday's grinding in Congress over civil rights
issues, civil libertarians Wednesday filed the first lawsuit
challenging some 1,000 virtually secret arrests carried out since the
September 11 terror attacks. The American Civil Liberties Union and 17
other civil rights and human rights groups filed a suit in federal
court accusing the Justice Department of violating the Constitution
and federal law by withholding basic information concerning the
detainees.
Ashcroft and other officials have released only fragments of
information on the arrests, and will not reveal names or locations of
detainees. The suit charged that this secrecy is unprecedented and
deprives the public of information it is lawfully entitled to receive.
It demanded immediate release of government documents that civil
rights groups requested in October.
Meanwhile, civil rights groups and some legislators were expressing
increasing concern over the entire package of anti-terrorism measures
as the Attorney General prepared for his congressional grinding on
Thursday. This week John Sellers, director of the San Francisco-based
Ruckus Society, said new laws giving police expanded search and
surveillance powers were written with nonviolent domestic dissidents
in mind, charging that the legislation will be wielded as a very blunt
weapon against a lot of very important movements for justice in the US
that happen to disagree with the status quo.
James Dempsey, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and
Technology, said the measures have been on the government's wish list
for a long time and used September 11 to get it through. The
Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick
Leahy, said in anticipation of the Ashcroft hearing that any of the
choices Americans will face after September 11 will test both the
nation's ideals and its resolve to defend them, adding that the
Constitution was not written primarily for the US's convenience, but
for its liberty.
*ASHCROFT FACES CONGRESS AMID GROWING CONCERN OVER REPRESSIVE MEASURES
Washington, December 6 (RHC) -- As US Attorney General John Ashcroft
geared up to face Thursday's grinding in Congress over civil rights
issues, civil libertarians Wednesday filed the first lawsuit
challenging some 1,000 virtually secret arrests carried out since the
September 11 terror attacks. The American Civil Liberties Union and 17
other civil rights and human rights groups filed a suit in federal
court accusing the Justice Department of violating the Constitution
and federal law by withholding basic information concerning the
detainees.
Ashcroft and other officials have released only fragments of
information on the arrests, and will not reveal names or locations of
detainees. The suit charged that this secrecy is unprecedented and
deprives the public of information it is lawfully entitled to receive.
It demanded immediate release of government documents that civil
rights groups requested in October.
Meanwhile, civil rights groups and some legislators were expressing
increasing concern over the entire package of anti-terrorism measures
as the Attorney General prepared for his congressional grinding on
Thursday. This week John Sellers, director of the San Francisco-based
Ruckus Society, said new laws giving police expanded search and
surveillance powers were written with nonviolent domestic dissidents
in mind, charging that the legislation will be wielded as a very blunt
weapon against a lot of very important movements for justice in the US
that happen to disagree with the status quo.
James Dempsey, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and
Technology, said the measures have been on the government's wish list
for a long time and used September 11 to get it through. The
Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick
Leahy, said in anticipation of the Ashcroft hearing that any of the
choices Americans will face after September 11 will test both the
nation's ideals and its resolve to defend them, adding that the
Constitution was not written primarily for the US's convenience, but
for its liberty.
*US LABOR UNIONS, CONSUMER GROUPS LAUNCH ANTI-FREE TRADE CAMPAIGN
Washington, December 6 (RHC) -- US labor unions and consumer defense
organizations have launched an anti-free trade campaign, coinciding
with debates in Congress on granting or rejecting "fast track" trade
negotiation powers to President George W. Bush. In a full page
fold-out in "The Washington Post," the United Auto Workers Union -
with 1.3 million affiliates - warned that fast track will only worsen
the job losses that significantly increased following the September 11
terrorist attacks.
Public Citizen, the largest US consumer defense group, placed a
similar add affirming that fast track will only further enhance
corporate power. Republican free trade supporters have admitted that
they may not have the sufficient amount of votes to approve fast track
in the House of Representatives, despite an aggressive publicity
campaign - particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Bush administration tried to use the negative economic
repercussions of the attacks to convince public opinion that fast
track is vital for economic recovery. And just yesterday Republicans
announced a package of more than 20 billion dollars to help people who
have lost their jobs because of the recession or the September 11
attacks, in a move to convince more Democrats to join the fast track
bandwagon.
Fast track gives the president the power to negotiate free trade deals
without having to submit them to congressional amendments, which is
why the mostly Democratic opponents are insisting that the legislation
contain mechanisms of forced compliance with environmental and labor
rights clauses. If the legislation passes in the House, it probably
won't go to the Senate until next year.
*IMF THROWS BUCKET OF COLD WATER OVER ARGENTINA'S AILING ECONOMY
Buenos Aires, December 6 (RHC) -- In another blow to the Argentinean
government's efforts to restore investor confidence in its ailing
economy, the International Monetary Fund Wednesday said that for the
moment it would not unpocket a loan to the country due this month.
Argentinean authorities said they desperately needed the 1.3 billion
dollar loan installment to avoid a default in 900 million dollars in
federal and government debt, which would be the largest default by a
country in history.
The IMF is saying that Argentina has not done enough on deficit
reduction and other economic shock reforms. Observers believe that the
IMF's attitude will also block the release of funds to Argentina by
the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank and the government
of Spain - all contributing to the 40 billion dollar bail-out loan
granted to the country early this year.
Experts are predicting that Argentina will now definitely have to
devaluate its currency, which has sparked panic among citizens fearing
substantial losses of their savings in bank accounts. Argentina's more
than 3-year recession worsened in recent days, with runs on banks,
capital flight and subsequent restrictions on the amount of money that
can be withdrawn from savings accounts.
Viewpoint:
*WASHINGTON INCREASINGLY ISOLATES ITSELF AS WORLD TRADES WITH CUBA
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet
Union, there was no shortage of prophets of doom predicting that Cuba
would go the same way, especially in Miami, where many Cuban
Americans were drooling at the prospect of its imminent fall. In their
opinion, it would only be a matter of time.
Overnight Cuba lost access to the majority of its markets and whatever
credit options that existed. The Gross Domestic Product fell by a
phenomenal 35%. It seemed impossible to recover from such a blow.
The rest of the story is known. The Miami prophets were wrong and
their suitcases remained unpacked. They had missed the essential crux
of the matter: the Cuban social project is authentic and supported by
the island's population.
A decade later, Cuba maintains diplomatic relations with more than 170
countries, a fact that is kept quiet by the Western mass communication
media who report the so-called truth to the world. Cuba, the only
socialist nation in the Western Hemisphere, enjoys economic and
commercial exchanges with 125 countries from all corners of the globe.
In all these cases, these links have as a common denominator the
untouchable principle of Cuba's foreign policy: mutual respect and the
complete rejection of any kind of precondition.
On this basis, political dialogue between Cuba and the European Union
officially reopened on the 1st and 2nd of December, here in Havana.
According to the parties involved, these talks will create a more
favorable framework for economic and commercial exchange, the
fostering of investment and tourism and the developing of cultural
links.
These conversations are a direct result of a process initiated by the
president of the European Council of Ministers, Belgian Louis Michel,
when he visited Havana last August. Michel then predicted that a
climate of mutual respect, understanding and friendship can be created
and consolidated between Cuba and the European Union. This dialogue
opens new mutually beneficial opportunities for both sides.
Furthermore, it proves that the economic and financial blockade of the
US against Cuba is not only anachronistic and rejected worldwide (for
ten consecutive years it has been condemned by the General Assembly of
the United Nations) but is also ineffective and destructive.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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