Radio Havana Cuba-04 December 2000 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 04 December 2000 . *POSADA CARRILES WILL NOT FACE DEATH PENALTY IN CUBA *CUBAN PRESIDENT VISITS LATIN AMERICAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE *NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND WRAPS UP FIFTH CONGRESS *FRENCH SENATOR VISITS CUBA *CUBAN PARLIAMENT SESSION OPENS THIS MONTH *HAVANA'S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OPENS TUESDAY *CUBA-VIETNAM RELATIONS, 40 YEARS ON *HAVANA CLUB GRAND PRIX UNDERWAY *Viewpoint: CUBA HAS EVERY RIGHT TO EXTRADITE TERRORISTS IN PANAMA . *POSADA CARRILES WILL NOT FACE DEATH PENALTY IN CUBA Havana, December 4 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro has stated that Luis Posada Carriles - the terrorist responsible for the sabotage of a Cuban airliner and the bombing of hotels in Havana - will not be sentenced to death if brought to Cuba for trial. Posada Carriles is currently being held in Panama following his arrest for plotting to kill the Cuban leader during a recent Ibero-American summit of heads of state and government. Fidel Castro said that Posada Carriles would be give no more than a 20 year sentence for his crimes, which resulted in the deaths of 73 people aboard the airliner in 1976 and an Italian tourist in the Copacabana Hotel in Havana in 1997. Cuba has presented Panamanian authorities with an extradition request and feels that its case demands serious consideration. The promise to not apply the death penalty was in response to concerns that this would be a reason not to go ahead with the extradition to Cuba. The Cuban president said that the object of bringing Posada Carriles to Cuba for trial was one of justice and not revenge. Cuba has also offered to hold the trial with international judges on the bench. Fidel Castro stated that Luis Posada Carriles is of Cuban origin and should be judged in Cuba - the country where most of his crimes have been carried out. The U.S. government has been applying considerable pressure on Panama in an effort to avoid the extradition of Posada Carriles and his three accomplices. Many observers feel that this is because Posada Carriles knows too many secrets, having worked for a number of years for the Central Intelligence Agency. *CUBAN PRESIDENT VISITS LATIN AMERICAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Havana, December 4 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro visited the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana on Sunday to attend celebrations of the National Day of Latin American Medicine. The event was the last in a series held since November 27th. On this day, Cuban doctors paid tribute to eight students of medicine who were executed by the Spanish government 129 years ago. The Latin American School of Medicine is the only one of its kind in the world. More than 3500 young students from some 20 countries are enrolled. The school provides its students with a scientific foundation as well as with a humane and ethical outlook for their profession. *NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND WRAPS UP FIFTH CONGRESS Havana, December 4 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro sent a message to the 200 delegates participating at the 5th Congress of the National Association of the Blind (ANCI), which concluded Sunday in Havana. In his message, Fidel highlighted the participation of blind and visually handicapped people in the struggle for the return of Élan Gonzalez to Cuba and for an end anti-Cuban policies and laws in the United States. The final session of the Congress approved a message congratulating all Cuban disabled on the International Day of Handicapped People. *FRENCH SENATOR VISITS CUBA Havana, December 4 (RHC)-- The president of the French Senate, Cristian Pencil, arrived Monday in Havana for a five-day official visit aimed at signing a protocol of parliamentary cooperation between the two nations. According to official sources, Pencil and his delegation will interview Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage and Ricardo Alarcon, President of Cuba's parliament as well as other government officials. The delegation, over which Poncelt presides, will also visit places of interest in provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio and will exchange views and experiences with a delegation from the French Businessmen's Association in Cuba and the French ambassador to Cuba. *CUBAN PARLIAMENT SESSION OPENS THIS MONTH Havana, December 4 (RHC)-- As President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, summoned delegates to attend the Sixth Session of the 5th Legislature -- which opens on December 21st at the Convention Center in Havana. Before the event, Cuban delegates will meet to discuss issues of national concern. They will also exchange views with ministers and state officials and will approve reports on economic and social issues. On December 19th and 20th, Cuba's Central Bank, the Institute of City Planning and the Ministry of Infomatics and Communications will give reports to the Cuban Parliament. On December 21st, delegates will debate the bill on economic and social measures to be implemented in the year 2001, as well as the State's budget. *HAVANA'S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OPENS TUESDAY Havana, December 4 (RHC)-- With the showing of more than 300 films, the 22nd International Film Festival of the New Latin American Film begins Tuesday in the Cuban capital. Mexico competes with the films "Amores Perros" (Bitchy Love) by Alejandro Gonzalez Ibarritu and "Piedra Verde" (Green Stone) a film by Arturo Ripstein. The Peruvian film industry presents "Tinta Roja" (Red Ink), made by the well-known director Francisco Lombardi, to whom the film festival will pay tribute this year with the exhibition of his best movies. Venezuela brings Diego Risquez' s "Manuela Saenz," starring Cuban actress Beatriz Valdez as well as Gustaavo Balzza's film "Caracas, amor a muerte" or (Caracas, Love to Death). Cuba, the host country, competes this time with two comedies: "Hacerse el sueco" or (Play Dead), a Daniel Torres picture "Lista de espera" (Waiting List), made by well-known Cuban filmmaker Juan Carlos Tabio. *CUBA-VIETNAM RELATIONS, 40 YEARS ON Hanoi, December 4 (RHC)-- On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between Cuba and Vietnam today, Nguyen Phu Trong, a member of the political bureau of Vietnam's Communist Party, stated that it was important for Vietnam to maintain good relations with the island. Cuba's ambassador to Vietnam, Fredesman Turro, held a reception to celebrate the anniversary as well as the 44th anniversary of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. *HAVANA CLUB GRAND PRIX UNDERWAY Havana, December 4 (RHC)-- Havana Club International Grand Prix on Cocktail Making, the largest professional contest of its kind in Cuba, began Monday in Havana with the participation of more than 200 guests from 30 countries. Among participants there are the winners of other national contests, journalists, clients and management representatives from bartender's organizations throughout the world as well as from the International Association of Bartenders. A skill exhibition of bartenders will be taking place for the first time at the "La Giraldilla" tourist center here in Havana. The cocktail-making competition will be held at the Arcos de Cristal Hall of the Tropicana Night Club, while the gala meal will take place at Cuba's world famous Hotel Nacional. The event is being hosted by the joint venture Cuba Corporation Ron S.A. and the French Pernods Group. Both are interested in the international commercial promotion of Cuban rum. *Viewpoint: CUBA HAS EVERY RIGHT TO EXTRADITE TERRORISTS IN PANAMA Over the past 40 years, Cuba has been the victim of horrendous acts of terrorism, which have killed or maimed thousands of Cuban citizens. None of these crimes were actually planned in Cuba, nor were they the product of an internal rebellion. Sabotage and terrorism practiced against Cuba has always been conceived, planned and prepared from abroad, and mostly sponsored by the United States government. Now Washington is attempting to compare acts of aggression against Cuba with acts of rebellion that occur in other countries. This is unfair. Many of the crimes that have been committed against Cuba were committed by terrorists recruited and paid by the United States - one of the worst being the l976 bombing in mid-air of a Cuban passenger plane which had just taken off from Barbados. All 73 people on board died in the explosion, including the island's entire youth fencing team, which was returning after a victory in Venezuela. The terrorists who planted the explosives on the plane were hired by known Cuban-born terrorists Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, who were arrested in Barbados and sent to Venezuela for a trial that lasted several years and absolved Orlando Bosch from guilt. The other defendant, Luis Posada Carriles, escaped from a Venezuelan prison after serving 9 years with 16 more to go with the help of the C.I.A. and with Cuban American National Foundation money. Posada Carriles was soon to be seen at Ilopango Air Force Base in El Salvador where he was involved with the Oliver North Iran/Contra drugs and arms scandal. Bosch, who was found guilty of other terrorist actions, such as the firing of a bazooka at a Polish ship, is now a free man walking the streets of Miami. Luis Posada Carriles is under arrest in Panama accused by Cuba of planning an assassination attempt against Cuban president, Fidel Castro, during the recent Ibero-American Summit. On the first day of that Summit, Cuban intelligence revealed the presence of terrorist Posada Carriles in Panama City along with a group of accomplices and in possession of powerful explosives. The Cuban government and people, including family members of victims of the sabotage of the Cuban airliner in Barbados, have repeatedly stated that they do not seek revenge, but rather justice in their petition to extradite Luis Posada Carriles to stand trial in Cuba for his crimes, to ensure that such unspeakable crimes do not go unpunished. Most of the victims of these terrorist actions were children and youth whose only crime had been to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as Luis Posada Carriles himself matter-of-factly put it. This type of thinking underscores the dehumanization of those who dedicate themselves to such action, wherever they may be and whoever they may be. Cuba believes that they must be given exemplary punishment and demands its right to judge and sentence such criminals in the name of humanity. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= rhc-eng-30452 2000-Dec-05 04:51:24