Radio Havana Cuba. July 8, 1999 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taken from Radio Havana Cuba's news service for Thursday, July 8, 1999. Today's stories: 1.- EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT U.S. CIA AGENTS DIRECTLY PARTICIPATED IN COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY GROUPS IN CUBA 2.- GENERAL SECRETARY OF VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST PARTY RECEIVES CUBA'S HIGHEST CIVILIAN DISTINCTION: THE JOSE MARTI ORDER 3.- SECOND MEETING OF IBEROAMERICAN COORDINATORS UNDERWAY 4.- NAMIBIA'S SWAPO GENERAL SECRETARY VISITS THE ISLAND 5.- CUBA'S AVIATION SERVICE IMPROVES AS TOURISM INCREASES 6.- RUSSIAN TOURISTS TO CUBA EXPECTED TO INCREASE THIS YEAR EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT U.S. CIA AGENTS DIRECTLY PARTICIPATED IN COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY GROUPS IN CUBA Havana, July 8(RHC)-- The on-going trial proceedings against the U.S. government for 40 years of aggressions against Cuba have revealed that CIA agents directly participated in the counterrevolutionary bandit groups that terrorized the island's civilian population during the 1960's. Retired Colonel Nieves Castillo Vazquez told judicial authorities how, as a First Lieutenant in charge of a Struggle Against Bandits unit in Pinar Del Rio, he captured CIA agents Austin Young and Peter John Lambton -- along with their Thompson 45-caliber submachine guns. Austin had already been arrested in Cuba in 1959 while attempting to spirit out of the island infamous torturers and assassins of the Batista dictatorship. He was deported to the United States, but returned the same year to lead a bandit group. Testimony also continued concerning the numerous aspects of the "Covert Action Program Against the Castro Regime" and "Operation Mongoose" -- plans to destroy the Cuban Revolution adopted in 1960 by the administration of then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Among them is the operation known at "Patty Candela," which included assassination plots against leaders of the Revolution and the simulation of an attack against the Guantanamo Naval Base to provide a pretext for U.S. intervention in Cuba. One of the international observers participating in the trial proceedings is U.S. attorney William Schaap, a member of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights and director of the progressive news quarterly "Covert Action." In an interview granted to the Cuban newspaper Granma, Schapp stated that attorneys for the plaintiffs suing the U.S. government "are carrying out their work in a very professional manner, presenting hard evidence and not just generalizations -- with eyewitnesses for each aspect and action of Washington's aggressions against Cuba." Schaap said it was important to individualize the tragedies and human damage suffered by the victims. "In this way," he said, "people can understand that each victim had or has a family, parents, children, a home, a job." The Granma newspaper asked the U.S. lawyer and progressive activist whether or not people in the United States are aware of Havana's legal action against Washington. He said there is some information in the progressive media, but doubted that the mainstream media would provide any coverage. He stated the mainstream media "has only tried to make fun of Cuba's 181 billion dollar suit against the U.S. government." Schaap said Americans are victims of their own government's propaganda and "generally don't know what Washington's war against Cuba has meant in terms of human suffering" and the money and material that the U.S. government provided to bandits and assassins. Another observer at the trial is Australian David Deutschmann, director of the publishing house Ocean Press. Deutschmann told local journalists that his company -- which has already published some 50 titles concerning Cuba -- is also going to publish, in English, the entire legal process against the U.S. government and send copies to universities, legal experts and academics. GENERAL SECRETARY OF VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST PARTY RECEIVES CUBA'S HIGHEST CIVILIAN DISTINCTION: THE JOSE MARTI ORDER Havana, July 8(RHC)-- An official welcoming ceremony was given to the General Secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, Le Kha Phieu, at Havana's Palace of the Revolution. Afterwards, the Vietnamese leader met with Cuban government officials at the Council of State. Le Kha Phieu, who arrived in Havana on Wednesday, received the Jose Marti Order -- the Caribbean island's highest civilian distinction, awarded to national and foreign personalities with outstanding merits. The General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party will visit Cuba until next Wednesday, the 14th. It is hoped that his visit will help strengthen the already close ties between Cuba and Vietnam. During his stay, the Vietnamese official will tour places of interest related to the economic, social, and tourism sectors in the provinces of Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara and Matanzas. SECOND MEETING OF IBEROAMERICAN COORDINATORS UNDERWAY Havana, July 8(RHC)-- The Second Meeting of Iberoamerican Coordinators got underway on Thursday at Havana's International Convention Center with the participation of representatives from 19 of the 21 Latin American countries, as well as Spain and Portugal. During the two-day meeting, the participants will discuss the documents that the Iberoamerican heads of state and government are scheduled to sign during the upcoming Iberoamerican Summit in Havana. The Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Pedro Nunez Mosquera, welcomed the delegates to the meeting, pointing out the importance of their work to coordinate next November's 9th Iberoamerican Summit. NAMIBIA'S SWAPO GENERAL SECRETARY VISITS THE ISLAND Havana, July 8(RHC)-- Cuban Political Bureau member Jose Ramon Balaguer received the General Secretary of Namibia's South West Africa's People Organization, SWAPO, Hifique Pune Pohamba, who is heading a working delegation with the aim of broadening bilateral relations with Cuba. During an activity in Havana, the Namibian official expressed his appreciation for the Cuban people's solidarity with Namibia's struggle for independence. The SWAPO leader visited Cuba's Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, where ICAP President Sergio Corrieri met with the African delegation. CUBA'S AVIATION SERVICE IMPROVES AS TOURISM INCREASES Havana, July 8(RHC)-- The President of Cuba's Civil Aeronautics Institute, Rogelio Acevedo, revealed that half of the island's Russian-built aircraft have been replaced over the past ten years. In an interview with the Cuban magazine Sol y Son, the Cuban official said that the remainder of the planes are considered safe and will continue to fly. He added that it has been difficult to modernize the island's civilian aviation due to Washington's nearly 40 year-old blockade against the island. The president of Cuba's Civil Aeronautics Institute pointed out that with the continued increase of tourism on the island, Cuba has been developing and improving its air fleet. He said that by the year 2000, two million tourists are expected to visit Cuba, announcing that plans are underway to build a hotel at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport, aimed at offering services to passengers as well as crew members. RUSSIAN TOURISTS TO CUBA EXPECTED TO INCREASE THIS YEAR St. Petersburg, July 8(RHC)-- The representative for Cuba's Tourism Ministry in Eastern Europe, Eutelio Alfaro, said that some 20 Russian firms are interested in the island's tourism sector. During a presentation in St. Petersburg, the Cuban official stated that Air France and KLM Airlines offer flights from Havana to St. Petersburg with stopovers in France and Holland. The Cuban official said that despite the Russian economic crisis, the number of travelers from that country so far this year has remained the same as during 1998. Up until May of this year, nearly 4800 Russian tourists have traveled to Cuba and experts expect that number to reach 12,000 by the end of this year. [c] 1999, Radio Habana Cuba All rights reserved Articles cannot be reproduced, reprinted or published in any system without the consent of RHC. 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