WW News Service Digest #363
1) Miami 5 Get Heavy Sentences
by wwnews
2) Bush Pushes War on Many Fronts
by wwnews
3) Argentine Workers Resort to General Strike
by wwnews
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 20. joulukuu 2001 08:29
Subject: [WW] Miami 5 Get Heavy Sentences
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
TRIED TO STOP ANTI-CUBA TERRORISM: MIAMI 5 GET HEAVY
SENTENCES
By Gloria La Riva
Miami
"If preventing the deaths of innocent human beings,
defending our two countries from terrorism, and preventing a
senseless invasion of Cuba are the reasons I am being
sentenced today, then I welcome that sentence ... this has
been a political trial and therefore we are political
prisoners."
Ramon Labanino's courageous words had no effect on the
judge. He received a life sentence here on Dec. 13. His
words reflect the heroic sentiments of five Cubans who are,
one by one, being condemned to harsh prison terms. After
being railroaded by the U.S. government on false charges of
espionage against the U.S., they were convicted in June.
On Dec. 12, Gerardo Hernandez was given the stiffest
sentence: two life terms and 80 months. The next day,
Labanino got life. Rene Gonzalez received 15 years. And on
Dec. 18, Fernando Gonzalez received 19 years in prison.
Antonio Guerrero is to be sentenced on Dec. 27. He also
faces a life sentence.
As each of the four sentenced so far stood before the court
to give their declarations, their courageous words have put
to shame the complicit role of the U.S. prosecutors, who
have openly sided with the terrorists throughout the case.
The five Cubans are being persecuted for defending their
country and their people from right-wing terrorist groups
based in Miami like Alpha 66 and "Brothers to the Rescue."
For a number of years the five men had infiltrated and
monitored the actions of anti-Cuba groups in this city to
prevent these sworn enemies of Cuba from committing crimes
of terror.
In September 1998, after a two-year secret FBI surveillance,
the five Cubans were rounded up and charged with espionage
against the United States and related charges. Hernandez was
convicted of an additional "conspiracy to commit murder" for
the shooting down by Cuba of two "Brothers to the Rescue"
planes on Feb. 24, 1996. The planes had ignored warnings and
penetrated Cuba's air space after flying from Florida.
Hernandez was not involved in Cuba's decision that day to
shoot down the planes of Jose Basulto's "Brothers to the
Rescue." But because he had warned Cuba of Basulto's intent
to fly over Cuba, the U.S. vindictively charged him with
"plotting to murder" the four pilots who died in the
shootdown.
Hernandez also had additional reason to notify Cuba of
Basulto's actions. Basulto had told one of the Cubans--not
knowing who they really were--that he planned in the future
to drop bombs in his possession out of the plane's windows
over Cuba.
This is perhaps one of the most telling and outrageous
incidents of the whole case. In the trial, Jose Basulto,
longtime CIA agent and convicted terrorist, was portrayed as
the victim by the government. And the Cubans who tried to
stop his deadly activities were the ones persecuted.
Chief U.S. federal prosecutors Carolyn Heck Miller and John
Kastrenakes, and federal judge Joan Lenard, reiterated that
shameful stance in sentencing.
In the pre-sentencing discussion, Gerardo Hernandez's
attorney, Paul McKenna, gave a strong argument for Cuba's
right to defend itself, portraying Hernandez's mission as
defending his people.
McKenna said, "On Nov. 27 [1996], months before the
shootdown, Gerardo stated that Basulto told him about plans
with secret weapons. He said the weapons could be used ...
to provoke actions against the government [of Cuba].
"Who is Basulto? He is a CIA agent, saboteur, he was in the
Bay of Pigs invasion, he is a known terrorist, a hotel
bomber, an out-of-control pilot ... calling for the
overthrow of the Cuban government on Radio Marti. He was
taunting the Cuban military, saying they have no response,
over Radio Marti. Why was Cuba not permitted to perceive
Basulto as a threat?"
U.S. prosecutor Heck Miller tried to excuse Basulto, saying,
"There was no physical violence, only a threat of violence"
from Basulto's flights. She then made the absurd argument
that three of the Cuban defendants "weren't even born before
the invasion involving the Bay of Pigs."
McKenna responded, "According to the government's theory,
you have to wait for a disaster to happen. That's not the
reality, judge. ... Basulto flew recklessly into Cuban
territory. ...What else could Cuba do? What more could they
do? How many more diplomatic notes, notes to the FAA,
warnings? They get intelligence reports from Rene Gonzalez
that small planes can be loaded with weapons."
Judge Lenard overlooked overwhelming evidence--presented at
trial--of terrorist actions by Basulto and others. In
affirming a "conspiracy to commit murder" conviction against
Gerardo Hernandez, she found his warning to Cuba of possible
overflights by Basulto more "extreme and disproportionate"
than Basulto's proven history of terrorism and his threats
to drop bombs out of his planes in coming flights.
Before his sentencing, Gerardo Hernandez addressed the
court:
"Cuba did not provoke this incident. On the contrary, it
foresaw it, and tried to prevent it through every means
within its reach. The prosecution's main argument during the
trial was that this incident was a crime, because it
involved unarmed civilian aircraft.
"This nation recently found out, in an unfortunate and
brutal manner, just how much damage can be done to its
people by an unarmed civilian plane. Perhaps that is why its
top leaders have warned that any plane that strays
threateningly from its scheduled route should be shot down,
even if there are hundreds of passengers on board ...
"The prosecution stated in this courtroom, during the final
arguments, that Gerardo Hernandez has blood on his hands."
Referring to Jose Basulto, Hernandez continued: "I wonder
whose hands are really stained with blood, if it is me or
the individual who fired on a hotel full of people in
Havana, the same individual who appears in the evidence of
this case planning to smuggle antipersonnel weapons into
Cuba; the same person who openly and recklessly defied the
Cuban authorities, over and over and over again, violating
the laws of that country, the laws of this country, and the
most elemental rules of international aviation; the same
person who not only did not hesitate to lead these young men
to their deaths, but who also, in the moments of greatest
tension, when there was still time to go back on his plans,
did not do so, and instead left his laughter on tape for all
of history, while his comrades were dying.
"This person's hands truly are stained with blood, yet this
did not seem to matter to the gentlemen of the prosecution
when they shook those bloodied hands on numerous occasions,
even in this very courtroom. Nor did it matter to the
prosecutors or the top FBI authorities in Miami when they
shared the stage and the celebrations with this same person
during the press conference on the day the verdict was
announced. This is rather contradictory behavior for those
who claim to represent the law.
"Your Honor, the prosecution considers, and has requested,
that I should spend the rest of my life in prison. I trust
that if not at this level, then at some other level of the
system, reason and justice will prevail over political
prejudices and the desire for revenge, and it will be
understood that we have done no harm to this country that
deserves such a punishment.
"But if this were not the case, I would then take the
liberty of quoting one of this nation's greatest patriots,
Nathan Hale, when he said: 'My only regret is that I have
but one life to give for my country.'"
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 20. joulukuu 2001 08:29
Subject: [WW] Bush Pushes War on Many Fronts
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
CONVENTIONAL DEVASTATION AND NUCLEAR TERROR:
BUSH PUSHES WAR ON MANY FRONTS
By Fred Goldstein
The Bush administration is pushing out on all fronts in an
effort to develop a permanent state of belligerency and war.
Right now it is trying to prolong the war in Afghanistan, is
supporting Israel's war in Palestine, is planning to launch
wars in other areas of the world, and is trying to keep the
people of the U.S. in a perpetual state of fear, suspicion
and patriotic war fever.
This is what was behind the showing of the inflammatory tape
of Osama bin Laden for 24 straight hours by all the
television networks. This is what is behind the escalating
campaign against Muslim students, other Middle Eastern
immigrants and Muslim charities. And this is what is behind
the periodic announcements of "terror alerts" coming from
Washington.
On the battlefield in Afghanistan, the Pentagon is trying to
prolong the war and the killing as long as possible-to wreak
destruction and havoc and to condition the population at
home to a state of prolonged war.
As an example, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld went to
Afghanistan to review the troops, assess the situation and
dictate instructions to the new puppet leadership. During a
visit to an airfield, he met with Hamid Karzai, who is to be
installed as the provisional head of the new government, and
the incoming Secretary of Defense, Gen. Muhhamad Fahim.
Rumsfeld told them that even though the Afghan local forces
considered the war over, the U.S. was going to continue its
military operations in the country.
RUMSFELD DECIDES WHEN WAR IS OVER
Warlord commanders in the Tora Bora region said they had
taken control of the area and, according to the New York
Times of Dec. 17, commanders Muhhamed Zaman and Hazirat Ali,
tribal leaders in the region, both declared that the
military conflict was over.
"There is no need for American bombing," commander Zaman
said. "Our men have control over the situation." Commander
Ali, speaking of the fortified caves in which bin Laden
might be hiding, said, "There is no cave that is not under
the control of the mujahadeen."
On the next day, according to the Times of Dec. 18, "the
Pentagon delivered its answer. ... American AC-130 gunships
continued to prowl over the mountain area. Then a thunderous
explosion lit up the sky. The American bombing had resumed
and was continuing on the other side of the mountain today."
"They have got their own program," declared Ali. "Last night
they even bombed us."
Washington's determination to keep the war going as long as
possible and to bring as much killing and destruction as
possible was further demonstrated earlier in the week. "The
anti-Taliban, anti-Qaeda commanders were furious and
dejected," reported the Times of Dec. 13, " believing that
they had negotiated a cease-fire and surrender agreement in
good faith, only to see it derailed by American bombing and
strafing by AC-130 gunships through the night and a heavy
barrage early in the morning, just before the surrender was
supposed to take place."
The agreement was to allow the Al Qaeda fighters to
surrender and for Arab, Pakistani and other foreign fighters
to be turned over to the United Nations. But Rumsfeld was
not having any of that. The Pentagon vetoed the agreement
with bullets and the killing continued.
THE BUSH DOCTRINE: MILITARY DEVASTATION
This military policy was dictated by the political strategy
of the so-called Bush Doctrine of perpetual war for decades
to come, first enunciated to a joint session of Congress on
Sept. 14. Bush made a follow-up elaboration of this new,
ultra-militaristic doctrine in a speech at the Citadel
military college in Charleston, S.C., on Dec. 12.
Pumped up by the victory in Afghanistan, he denounced those
who thought that after the destruction of the Soviet Union
"our military would be used overseas, not to win wars, but
mainly to police and pacify; to control crowds and contain
ethnic conflict. They were wrong."
He drove home the lesson that the Pentagon and the ruling
class wanted everyone to learn from the war in Afghanistan.
"Our military has a new essential mission: For states that
support terror, it's not enough that the consequences be
costly; they must be devastating."
The New York Times, reporting on the speech, said that "Mr.
Bush cited the American military campaign in Afghanistan as
a model for future wars, and said the United States needs to
further develop unmanned planes, like the Predator, and
precision-guided bombs."
With intentional racist insensitivity, Bush referred to the
war in Afghanistan and the new use of high technology by
Special Forces operations as "strikes from horseback in the
first cavalry charge of the 21st century." Speaking at this
Southern military academy in the land where slavery was
defended and the Native people were conquered by the
cavalry, the symbolism was hard to miss.
It is fitting that Bush has now chosen the Citadel to make
two major policy speeches. Charleston is the birthplace of
the Confederacy-the site of Fort Sumter.
U.S. NUCLEAR TERROR AND CANCELLATION OF ABM TREATY
In the same speech Bush signaled his intention to withdraw
from the ABM Treaty of 1972, which he did officially a few
days later. It shows the dimension of the global military
threat that the Rumsfeld wing of the Pentagon had been
working on before Sept. 11. Breaking the treaty will free up
the U.S. government to begin the construction of anti-
missile silos in Greeley, Alaska, as early as June of next
year.
There was much ado in the ruling class opposition about how
this would damage relations with Russia. It is a
characteristic of this administration's fiercely militarist
wing, headed by Rumsfeld and his deputy secretary Paul
Wolfowitz and supported by a host of strategists for the
military-industrial complex, that they advocate
subordinating diplomacy wherever it interferes with military
expansion or plans for aggression. These are the so-called
unilateralists.
The multilateralist "coalition builders," represented in the
administration by Secretary of State Colin Powell, tried
mightily to work out a negotiated arrangement with Russian
President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Powell was in Moscow
trying to work it out when, according to the New York Times
of Dec. 12, "Mr. Bush concluded ... that Secretary Powell's
last effort would likely fail." Bush had already told Putin
by telephone that he was pulling out.
Setting up an ABM system is a highly aggressive act. It
means the establishment of a first-strike force, since an
opponent is prevented from retaliating to an attack. Thus a
country like the People's Republic of China, which has only
20 or so missiles capable of reaching the U.S., would have
no deterrent to prevent a military attack by the U.S. in the
event that the Pentagon is able to perfect a workable ABM
system.
During the era of the USSR, both Moscow and Washington
signed the ABM Treaty precisely to eliminate first-strike
capability on the other side. Setting up an effective
missile "defense" system, however, lays the basis for
further Pentagon nuclear terrorism.
The decision was regarded as "a major policy defeat for
Secretary Powell" and "a major victory for Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, fresh from the success of the military
campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda," according to the
Times.
BUSH AND SHARON: PALESTINE IS PHASE TWO
The war momentum has swept the Bush administration to new
levels of aggression. The war against the Palestinians is in
reality Phase Two. Washington quickly incorporated the
massive offensive by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
into its so-called "war on terrorism."
Sharon, a war criminal of major proportions who is currently
being tried in Belgium for crimes committed during the siege
of Beirut in 1982, is trying to destroy the Palestinian
Authority, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, the Islamic Jihad, Fatah and all other
instruments of resistance to the Israeli occupation.
U.S. Apache helicopters, U.S. F-16s, U.S. missiles, U.S.
bullets and billions of dollars of U.S. military aid are
waging this war. It could not continue without full support
from the Bush administration.
Powell had dispatched a negotiating team headed by retired
Gen. Anthony Zinni, former head of the Central Command, to
try to placate moderate Arab regimes and the European
imperialist allies and give the impression that the U.S.
wanted to calm the situation in Palestine.
The Sharon regime sabotaged the mission in advance by
assassinating a major Hamas military commander, then opening
up a major attack after the inevitable retaliation by Hamas.
The Zinni mission was converted into a pressure group to
squeeze Yasir Arafat to open up civil war against the
resistance movement. Zinni finally had to be recalled.
PLANNING THE NEXT WAR WELL UNDERWAY
As the war in Afghanistan is winding down and the war in
Palestine is heating up, the Bush administration is already
trying to plan its next war. The New York Times of Dec. 17
wrote that it will be "making some difficult choices in the
next few weeks... . Is it taking the war to Iraq ... to
Somalia, or perhaps Indonesia and the Philippines? Or
alternatively, will events pick Phase Two for him, perhaps
in Pakistan or the Middle East.
"For weeks now it has been clear that the White House, the
State Department and the Pentagon are not waiting to see Mr.
bin Laden in handcuffs ... before preparing the next phase
of the war."
The greatest pressure in the government is to overthrow
Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The struggle inside the
administration has progressed from whether to do it to how
to do it. The difficulty in plunging into the heart of the
Middle East in a wild act of unprovoked aggression is giving
major sections of the ruling class pause for thought.
It was one thing for the Pentagon to overthrow the
unpopular, austere, medieval, counter-revolutionary Taliban
government, which had no military to speak of. It is another
thing to challenge the hundreds of millions of Arab people
who have seen the genocidal destruction of villages and
civilians in Afghanistan and who have been watching the
Israelis kill Palestinian men, women and children with U.S.
weapons and U.S. military support for the last 14 months of
the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
At the present there is an active effort to find some way to
overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The
Pentagon is exploring the possibility of encircling the
regime and initiating a proxy war involving the Turkish
government, a section of the Kurds in northern Iraq and the
Shiites in the south.
Whether such a course is practical and whether it will
satisfy the ultra-militarists is doubtful. But in any case,
one thing is for sure, the hatred for U.S. imperialism among
the masses of the Middle East is growing with each new act
of aggression.
Poverty and unemployment in the Middle East are growing. The
governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria are all
holding their breath at the moment, as mass discontent grows
daily. A new act of U.S. military aggression could truly set
off a conflagration that could not be put out.
And above all, if the capitalist economic crisis in the U.S.
continues to deepen, the masses of workers who are losing
their jobs, going on short hours, losing benefits, and being
driven into poverty may decide that the war they really want
to fight is the war for social and economic justice at home--
not a war to conquer the Middle East or southern Asia for
the benefit of the super-rich who are behind the layoffs and
are raking in all the aid Congress can muster.
What the militarists never count on is that mass resistance,
at home and abroad, can bring all their grandiose plans of
world conquest to naught.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (wwnews)
Date: torstai 20. joulukuu 2001 08:29
Subject: [WW] Argentine Workers Resort to General Strike
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
CAPITALIST ECONOMY IN FREEFALL: ARGENTINE WORKERS
RESORT TO GENERAL STRIKE
By Andy McInerney
Hundreds of thousands of workers paralyzed South America's
second-largest economy on Dec. 13. Argentina's three largest
union federations called the general strike to protest the
government's anti-worker economic policies in the midst of
economic collapse.
"Look what these economic measures have done!" one protester
said to the Dec. 13 Associated Press as he camped out in
front of the home of hated Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo.
He was pointing to a group of children huddled under a
banner eating a watery corn gruel.
Argentina has been in a depression for four years.
Economists predict that production will decline further next
year, by anywhere from 4 to 8 percent. The working class has
been devastated: the government admits to an unemployment
rate of 18 percent; unions claim it is closer to 50 percent.
Now the middle class is also being leveled. Bank withdrawals
have been limited to $1,000 a month to prevent runs on
deposits.
This crisis has been exacerbated by economic austerity
measures imposed by President Fernando de la R�a's
government. The International Monetary Fund has been
demanding these measures as a condition for loan
disbursements.
The Dec. 14 Knight Ridder news service said the IMF demanded
"deep, irreversible budget cuts by Argentina as a condition
of new loans." The IMF withheld over $1 billion in early
December to pressure the Argentine government.
The Dec. 13 general strike was the seventh since de la R�a
took power two years ago. This one was notable for its wide
support beyond the traditional base of organized labor.
Public sector workers formed the core of the strike, with
transport workers bringing buses and trains to a halt and
hospital workers providing only emergency services. But
retirees and pensioners also turned out in large numbers,
spurred by a government announcement that their December
monthly check of $150 would be delayed.
Piqueteros, organized groups of unemployed workers, took
part in demonstrations around the country.
Thousands of people rallied in the capital city of Buenos
Aires. In the southern city of Neuquen, hundreds of workers
clashed with riot police. In Cordoba in the north,
demonstrators hurled rocks at banks and pro-government
newspaper offices.
The day after the strike, the AP reported that supermarkets
were looted in two cities.
For the first time, the protests attracted elements of the
middle class that are being devastated by the economic
crisis. "There is going to be a social explosion here," one
small business owner told Knight Ridder. "We are at our
limit."
Leftist parties and groups have proposed a range of measures
to challenge the government economic program. Some are
promoting a referendum, planned for Dec. 14 to 17, to build
support for unemployment insurance. Referendum organizers
hope to bring the results to Congress.
Six parties and popular organizations signed a joint
statement on Dec. 11 calling for a "workers' and people's
alternative." The statement calls for, among other things,
an end to debt repayments and nationalization of the banks.
Meanwhile, the Argentine ruling-class political parties are
trying to close ranks against the workers. In the midst of
the general strike, de la Rua met with former president and
leader of the Peronist Justicialist Party Carlos Menem to
adopt a common economic program.
For the Argentine ruling class and its backers on Wall
Street, the problem is to find a formula to continue to
extract superprofits from the working class amid the general
economic collapse. For the working class, and especially
those who aspire to lead it politically, the problem is one
of exposing the systemic nature of the crisis.
A general strike shows that modern society is totally
dependent on the working class. The bosses are helpless when
the workers withhold their labor. Without workers, the
nation shuts down. But to resolve the crisis, the workers
have to take the reins of political power by establishing a
government based on the popular organizations of the masses.
Only then can they break through the logjam of the profit
system so that all can begin to work again--but this time to
satisfy human need, not capitalist greed.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
