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Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 15:43:27 -0500
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Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-07 January 2002
Radio Havana Cuba-07 January 2002
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 07 January 2002
.
*VISITING CRITIC OF US BLOCKADE OPTIMISTIC ON NORMALIZED RELATIONS
*PANAMA: COURT REJECTS DOMESTIC GROUP'S CHARGES AGAINST POSADA CARRILES GANG
*SOCIAL SECURITY: GUARANTEED BY THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
*NORDIC BRIGADE RETURNS HOME AFTER VOLUNTARY WORK IN CUBA
*CUBA'S COFFEE HARVEST: SO FAR, SO GOOD
*ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT BRACES ITSELF AS DEVALUATION GOES INTO EFFECT
*NEW STUDY WARNS OF BIODIVERSITY CRISIS IN NORTH AMERICA
*PAKISTAN: BLAIR PRESSURES MUSHARRAF TO CRACK DOWN ON ISLAMIC MILITANTS
*US MILITARY WANTS STINK BOMBS FOR CROWD-CONTROL
*GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS, JOURNALISTS ON TRIAL IN U.S. FOR STAR WARS PROTEST
*Viewpoint: THE MIDDLE EAST GENOCIDE CONTINUES
.
*VISITING CRITIC OF US BLOCKADE OPTIMISTIC ON NORMALIZED RELATIONS
Havana, January 7 (RHC)--In Havana, the visiting president of the
Cuba Policy Foundation, Sally Grooms Cowal, has expressed optimism
about several types of legislation on the floor of the US Congress
aimed at normalizing US-Cuba relations. In an exclusive interview with
RHC, the outspoken opponent of Washington's blockade of Cuba and
former US ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago said the purpose of her
delegation's visit to Cuba is to exchange views on that legislation.
"I would say that we take away an impression from both sides, at least
from the point of view of the US Congress and from the point of view
of the Cuban government, that there is a great interest in making
progress toward a more normal relationship as fast as possible. That
would include trade, dialogue and diplomatic relations," she
said.
Grooms Cowal explained the purpose of her organization, the Cuba
Policy Foundation, is to document how the Congress and the US public
feel about Washington's Cuba policy, "by commissioning studies and
polls showing how the American people feel about things, actually
documenting what American states would sell, what American farmers
would sell to Cuba. I think it's natural that the two countries would
have a very good trading relationship."
Grooms Cowal noted that Cuba offers much that the American market
would like to buy, and that "would certainly include
services. It would include not just the traditional products, like
sugar, but also things that are a product of the wonderful
educational system here. The fact that you have highly developed human
capital, people who are trained in computers. The world is one place,"
she said.
*PANAMA: COURT REJECTS DOMESTIC GROUP'S CHARGES AGAINST POSADA CARRILES GANG
Panama City, January 7 (RHC)--A Panamanian court has thrown out
charges filed by local groups against four terrorists being held for
plotting the assassination of Cuban President Fidel Castro.
According to the daily El Universal, student and community
organizations charged that the group -- led by Luis Posada Carriles --
planned to blow up an auditorium at the University of Panama, where
the Cuban leader was scheduled to speak during his visit for an
Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government a little over a
year ago.
The groups accused Posada Carriles, Guillermo Novo, Gasper Jiménez and
Pedro Remon of "intent to commit mass murder." In a petition filed
before the court in August, they argued that if the 40 kilos of C-4
plastic explosives had been detonated as the terrorists planned, at
least 2000 people in the auditorium would have been killed and
hundreds of others injured.
The four terrorists have been held in a Panamanian jail since November
2000, when they were arrested and charged with possession of
explosives and planning the assassination of Fidel Castro.
Venezuela recently sent a formal request for the extradition of Luis
Posada Carriles, who escaped in 1985 from jail in Caracas, where he
was serving time for his participation in the sabotage bombing of a
Cubana airliner. The terrorist act against a civilian airliner,
carried out in October 1976, killed all 73 persons aboard.
*SOCIAL SECURITY: GUARANTEED BY THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
Havana, January 7 (RHC)--With a budget of nearly two billion pesos
for the year 2002, social security is once again guaranteed by the
Cuban Revolution.
Pensions, sick pay and death benefits -- which are taken for granted
by many Cubans -- are fully covered under the new budget announced by
the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. More than one million
pensioners will receive their monthly benefits, in addition to nearly
80,000 retirees who will join their ranks this year.
The State's 2002 budget for social security has been increased by 342
million pesos over last year's expenditures. And the Ministry of Labor
and Social Security says that no matter how difficult the economic
situation may be, Cuba gives top priority to the welfare of its
people.
Observers noted that in other parts of the world, whenever there are
financial cutbacks, the first budgets to be slashed are for social
programs. In some countries, social security has even been privatized
-- making the protection provided by many governments to millions of
its citizens almost a luxury.
In Cuba, social security -- along with health care and education -- is
guaranteed to all.
*NORDIC BRIGADE RETURNS HOME AFTER VOLUNTARY WORK IN CUBA
Havana, January 7 (RHC)--The 37th Contingent of the Nordic Brigade
left Havana over the weekend after a three-week stay on the island.
The work brigade -- made up of 100 solidarity activists from Sweden,
Norway, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain and Belgium -- carried out
agricultural tasks just outside of Havana. The Nordic Brigade stayed
at the Julio Antonio Mella Camp, located near the municipality of
Caimito.
During their stay, the brigadistas visited places of historical and
political interest in the provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio.
At a farewell reception, spokespersons from the Cuban Institute of
Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) expressed their appreciation for
the work done by the brigadistas in Cuba, as well as their expressions
of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.
*CUBA'S COFFEE HARVEST: SO FAR, SO GOOD
Bayamo, January 7 (RHC)--Two months before the end of Cuba's coffee
harvest, workers in the eastern province of Granma have already
surpassed last year's figures and expect to meet their production
goals within the next few days.
Experts say that the current coffee harvest is very efficient, noting
that local residents and high school students have helped pick coffee
this year.
Workers in Granma have also been re-sowing one third of the area's
coffee plantations with new plants in order to increase productivity.
The Sierra Maestra and the Nipe-Sagua-Baracoa Mountain Ranges in
eastern Cuba supply 80 percent of the island's coffee crop. Coffee is
the island's third-largest agricultural foreign currency earner,
following sugarcane and tobacco.
*ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT BRACES ITSELF AS DEVALUATION GOES INTO EFFECT
Buenos Aires, January 7 (RHC)--The government of Argentina continues
to brace and hope for the best as the country's currency devaluation
Monday went into full effect. For the past several days the country
has seen a rise in inflation and consumer prices, while Argentines
are hoarding goods and buying US dollars on the black market.
But the full effects of President Eduardo Duhalde's devaluation won't
be felt until Wednesday, when currency-exchange operations are set to
resume for the first time since they were halted three weeks ago. In
an effort to avoid protests that toppled four presidents in two
weeks, Duhalde has implemented a series of state regulations that
will soften the impact of what is essentially a nationwide salary
cutback.
In a country where 80 percent of loans are in dollars but salaries are
in pesos, the government plans to force banks to transform dollar
debts into peso debts, respecting the former one-to-one exchange rate.
Authorities have also prohibited public services firms from raising
their rates, angering the foreign investors who own those firms.
In what is being called an unprecedented attitude in Latin America
during the past decade, the Argentine government refused to negotiate
with foreign firms, simply calling on them to show solidarity with the
poor. Harsh cuts in public expenditure, however, and the fact that
people will still be prevented from drawing more than 250 pesos a week
in cash from their accounts have led to some skepticism.
The bank withdrawal limits infuriated Argentina's middle class. But,
since the official currency devaluation announcement on Sunday, there
have not been any massive empty pot-banging protests in middle class
neighborhoods. Nevertheless, Argentina's Equis consulting firm
predicted that over the next few months inflation will push another
1.7 million people below the poverty line.
*NEW STUDY WARNS OF BIODIVERSITY CRISIS IN NORTH AMERICA
Montreal, January 7 (RHC)--Runaway consumption and the wasteful use
of natural resources is sparking a biodiversity crisis in North
America that is going to hurt human beings, placing in danger the
environment's capacity to sustain future generations, according to an
environmental agency set up under the North American Free Trade
Agreement, NAFTA.
An in-depth study by the Montreal-based North American Commission for
Environmental Cooperation has found that at least 235 of the region's
animal species, such as the monarch butterfly and northern codfish,
are threatened by pollution, human encroachment on their natural
habitats and aggressive harvesting practices.
The disappearance of species harms evolution and depletes the natural
environment humans depend on to survive, leaving North Americans with
the paradox that many activities on which the economy is based
impoverish the environment on which human well-being ultimately
depends.
The commission found that half of North America's most biodiverse
eco-regions are severely degraded, taking note, for example, of the
catching of fish that are needed to rebuild depleted species. Janine
Ferretti, the commission's executive director, said the report should
raise alarm bells on a number of fronts, including the effect of
modern transportation systems on the environment, the overuse of water
resources and the rising threat of drought, among other problems.
Ferretti highlighted the need for a major transformation in the model
of progress. She said the continued growth of consumption must be
transformed into a culture of material sufficiency and values of
quality, but acknowledged that such a transformation will not be
easy to achieve.
*PAKISTAN: BLAIR PRESSURES MUSHARRAF TO CRACK DOWN ON ISLAMIC MILITANTS
Islamabad, January 7 (RHC)--Pakistani military leader Pervez
Musharraf Monday came under pressure from British Prime Minister Tony
Blair to crack down on Islamic militants. Following a fruitless
encounter between the leaders of India and Pakistan at a regional
summit in Kathmandu, Blair all but endorsed New Delhi's terms for
talks when he met with the Pakistani leader.
India continues to insist that talks are impossible until Pakistan
ends support for cross-border terrorism - a reference to the Islamic
military groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir who have enjoyed
covert support from successive Pakistani governments. And though
Pakistan has arrested a total of 300 militants following Sunday's
round up of another 42, India remains unimpressed.
The United States, meanwhile, has acted as if the Islamic extremist
groups accused of carrying out last month's assault on India's
Parliament are stateless terrorists who threaten the stability of
India and Pakistan. The "New York Times" called this strategy a
convenient fiction.
Times columnist David E. Sanger noted that President George W. Bush
has made no public mention of the fact that the terrorist groups he
says must be crushed have often acted as a surrogate for Pakistan's
intelligence services. India reacted with outrage at Bush's
characterization of the two main terrorist groups operating in Kashmir
as "stateless."
New Delhi also noted that despite repeated acts of terrorism in the
last few years, the Army of the Pure and the Army of Muhammad were
never placed on the State Department's list of terrorist groups. The
US administration belatedly remedied that on December 27, more than
two weeks after the attack on the Indian Parliament.
*US MILITARY WANTS STINK BOMBS FOR CROWD-CONTROL
Washington, January 7 (RHC)--At the request of the US military, a
group of scientists are experimenting with the worst smells imaginable
to develop an odor bomb so foul it could clear crowds. The news was
confirmed in interviews published Monday in diverse media outlets with
Pamela Dalton, a researcher at the Philadelphia-based Monell Chemical
Senses Center.
The center's work on putrid odors was also reported in the January 7
issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the
American Chemical Society. Researchers have reportedly looked for
odors that produced a negative reaction in all cultures, such as human
waste, rotting animal flesh and garbage. Dalton cautioned, however,
that the military could be a long way from developing such an
offensive weapon, and that scientist are still trying to work out some
bugs.
She wondered how can the odors be contained until they are ready to be
used, recalling that when a stinky spray was provided to fighters in
the French Resistance during World War II, the device backfired and
the left the odor-wielding soldiers as smelly as their victims.
Another problem in delivering the odor bomb that was not mentioned,
however, is that of how, in a crowd-control situation, to prevent the
noxious smell from spreading beyond the intended target.
*GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS, JOURNALISTS ON TRIAL IN U.S. FOR STAR WARS PROTEST
Los Angeles, January 7 (RHC)--Fifteen Greenpeace activists and two
journalists are set to stand trial Tuesday over a Star Wars protest at
a US air force base in California last summer. The accused face
serious felony charges, but it's rumored that federal authorities are
offering lesser misdemeanor charges in exchange for guilty pleas.
The activists -- from the US, Britain, Australia, Canada, Germany,
India, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain -- were arrested
at Vandenberg air force base on July 14, the day that a test of the
Star Wars missile defense program was taking place, and were taken to
court in shackles.
Their trial had been due to open on November 20 last year, but Judge
Margaret Morrow agreed to an application by defense lawyers for a
delay after they had argued that the political climate in the US
following the September 11 terror attacks would make it difficult for
the 17 to receive a fair trial.
The case has involved Greenpeace in heavy legal costs, but the
organization has reaffirmed the right of people to object to Star Wars
and vows to continue its campaign.
*Viewpoint: THE MIDDLE EAST GENOCIDE CONTINUES
Huge losses in human life and economic stability characterized the
Middle East over 2001. The spiral of violence that once again took the
lives of so many appears to have dimmed the prospects for peace in a
region that has seen only war for decades.
Since the provocation of today's Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon,
in September of 2000, in which he and a large contingent of soldiers
violated the holy Muslim site of Al Aqsa in Jerusalem, a new Intifada
has been in effect. The Intifada is not a holy war, as portrayed by
many, but a stand for the sovereignty of the people of Palestine in
the face of oppression and death. Sharon's right wing government which
took power in the wake of the violence its leader caused, has
unleashed further horrors in the region killing by year's end some 750
Palestinians - many of them children. Economic losses for Palestinians
are estimated at $3.2 billion.
According to the United Nations, based on World Bank figures, the
number of Palestinians that live beneath the poverty line has risen to
a full 46 percent of the population - like the killings, double that
of the previous Intifada.
The level of unemployment has also doubled to 25 percent of the
workforce in Gaza and the West Bank, due to a rigid blockade imposed
on the territories by Israeli troops preventing Palestinian workers
from going to their jobs in Israel.
Adding to the mayhem, Sharon has openly and proudly advocated the
selective assassination of Palestinian leaders, drawing condemnation
from across the globe and sucking the region into the morass of
vengeance killings. In response to Israeli killings, actions
perpetrated by extreme elements of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas -
neither of which operate under the Palestinian National Authority led
by Yasser Arafat - have been a pretext for Sharon to devastate areas
of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank including Arafat's Gaza
headquarters. The Palestinian leader is currently under effective
house arrest at his headquarters in the West Bank blockaded by the
Israeli army under the orders of Sharon who will not meet with him.
In its destruction of Palestinian lives and property, Tel Aviv has
been able to use the highest technology of killing supplied by the
United States, which gives more money and goods to Israel than to any
other nation on the planet. F-16 fighter aircraft, Apache helicopters,
biological and chemical weapons - you name it, they've been used
against the people of Palestine.
The United States, except for the odd comment of concern in an
appearance of hardening its will against Tel Aviv, fully supports -
both militarily and politically - the actions that Israel continues to
take against the people of Palestine. It continues to block
resolutions against Israel in the United Nations Security Council - in
spite of the fact that almost the whole world condemns Sharon - who
like many Israeli leaders has a bloody terrorist background.
As the new year begins it is a terrible continuing irony that the
country with which the word "genocide" is correlated - many of whose
inhabitants strongly protest the actions of their government against
Palestine - is engaged in its own genocide in a racist and brutal war
of attrition.
(c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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