Radio Havana Cuba-23 November 2000 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 23 November 2000 . *CUBA WILL RESOLVE CASE OF US CHILD THROUGH LEGAL CHANNELS *FATHER OF TERRORIST ATTACK VICTIM DEMANDS JUSTICE *SALVADORAN DEPUTY SAYS LUIS POSADA CARRILES AN EXPERT IN SABOTAGE *VIETNAMESE MEDIA ECHOS CUBA'S EXTRADITION REQUEST IN POSADA CASE *CONGRESS ON BIO-ENERGETICS AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE GETS UNDERWAY *PEDIATRICIANS FROM US AND CUBA MEET IN HAVANA *ROUNDTABLE SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2000 *Viewpoint: WHERE WAS CONDEMNATION AT SUMMIT OF TERRORISM AGAINST CUBA? . *CUBA WILL RESOLVE CASE OF US CHILD THROUGH LEGAL CHANNELS Havana, November 23 (RHC)-- Cuba has expressed its willingness to open all necessary legal channels to resolve the case of an American child brought to Cuba illegally. An official note in Cuba's Granma newspaper today pointed to reports in U.S. media outlets of a denunciation made by U.S. citizen John Colombini, who charged that his son was spirited out of the United States and taken to Cuba by the child's Cuban mother without his consent. Cuban authorities have confirmed the arrival in Pinar del Rio Province last November 12th of two men and a woman, accompanied by two minors - one of whom is the child in dispute, Jonathon Loren Colombini. Agustin Lemus Arzola and his wife Arletis Blanco Perez, both natives of Cuba and residents in Florida, said they had arrived illegally in a speed boat with their daughter and the wife's son, along with 21-year-old Yuriel Leon Lemus, also Cuban-born. The 29-year-old mother presented Cuban authorities with legal papers regarding her divorce from her son's father and stating that the father's custody of the child had been withdrawn due to his problems with alcoholism. Her husband told Cuban authorities that the decision to travel to Cuba came following death threats against his wife by the owner of a firm where she works, named Juan Emilio Suarez. The child's mother said Suarez found her recording conversations at a meeting discussing the sale of oil to a vessel belonging to the Miami-based counterrevolutionary organization Democracy Movement, adding that the money obtained would be used to buy weapons in Nicaragua for terrorist activities in Cuba and to finance the Miami-based terrorist organization Alpha 66. The child's mother stated that a recent audit of the firm found that 150,000 dollars was missing, and that she tried to record the conversation because she thought she would be investigated. According to the Miami Herald, the child's mother fled to Cuba because she was accused of stealing the money. Cuban authorities said that Cuban citizens Lemus Arzola and Leon Lemus are currently detained, while Arletis Blanco and her two children are residing with family members in Pinar Del Rio. Cuban authorities also reiterated their willingness to open all the necessary legal channels to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and with absolute impartiality and a spirit of justice. *FATHER OF TERRORIST ATTACK VICTIM DEMANDS JUSTICE Havana, November 23 (RHC)-- Justino Di Celmo, the father of Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo -- killed three years ago in a terrorist attack against tourist facilities and hotels here in the Cuban capital -- said that all he demands is that those responsible face a just, impartial trial. Di Celmo gave a news conference on Wednesday at the Copacabana Hotel, the spot where his 32-year-old son was murdered on September 4th, 1997. Cuban authorities arrested Salvadoran mercenary Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon, who confessed to having planted the bomb. During the trial that followed, sufficient evidence was presented to prove that the mastermind of the wave of bombings was well-known international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. It was also proven that Posada Carriles was in the pay of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation. The aim of these terrorist attacks was to spread terror among foreign visitors and damage the tourist sector -- the driving force of the Cuban economy. Posada Carriles and several accomplices were arrested last Friday in Panama, after Cuba denounced a terrorist plot to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during his participation in the 10th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government. Panamanian authorities found 20 kilos of C-4 plastic explosives and a detailed diagram of the University of Panama campus in the residence of one of Carriles' accomplices. During the news conference, the father of the murdered Italian tourist called on Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso to hold the captured terrorists in jail until they are brought to justice for their crimes. *SALVADORAN DEPUTY SAYS LUIS POSADA CARRILES AN EXPERT IN SABOTAGE Havana, November 23 (RHC)-- Salvadoran representative of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, Shafik Handal, has denounced Luis Posada Carriles as an expert in sabotage. He also affirmed that he was trained by the CIA to carry out terrorist attacks against Cuba. In an interview given to Salvadoran TV Channel 33 -- which was re-broadcast on Cuban television Wednesday evening, Handal affirmed that Carriles was part of the operation involved in the Iran-Contra Scandal. Luis Posada Carriles was also an aide to Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte and Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo. The Salvadoran member of parliament strongly criticized his country's authorities for not having conducted a thorough investigation into the presence in El Salvador of such a well-known terrorist and his criminal activities. He stated that Carriles, using El Salvador as his center of operations, recruited Salvadorans and other Central American mercenaries to execute his terrorist plans. Handal said that the position of Salvadoran President Francisco Flores during the recently held 10th Ibero-American Summit was intolerable. During the meeting, Flores referred to the war in El Salvador during the 1980s, blaming Cuba for the conflict. Schafik Handal said that Flores had knowledge about that crucial page in the history of his country, since it was a war of the Salvadoran people against the prevailing economic and social system of injustice. He added that the war was to put an end to the continued violations of human rights in the Central American nation, where human beings were hunted like animals and murdered for their political beliefs. Regarding international solidarity with the Salvadoran insurgency during the war, the FMLN official said that it wasn't just Cuba, but other countries that were involved as well, including several non-governmental U.S.-based organizations. Deputy Shafik Handal said that the U.S. administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush were heavily involved in the conflict -- on the side of the military dictatorships. He said it is common knowledge that both U.S. administrations provided the Salvadoran repressive regime with money, arms and military experts. *VIETNAMESE MEDIA ECHOS CUBA'S EXTRADITION REQUEST IN POSADA CASE Hanoi, November 23 (RHC)-- Thursday's edition of Vietnam's daily Nhan Dan published a detailed article on Cuba's extradition request against Luis Posada Carriles and his accomplices. The newspaper reproduced the extradition request presented by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque to the government of Panama, where those involved in the assassination attempt on the life of the Cuban leader were arrested last Friday. The article also referred to other failed terrorist attempts on the life of Fidel Castro, which were unscrupulously planned by Carriles. Many of the assassination plots were organized to take place during international trips by the Cuban leader. The Vietnamese daily Nhan Dan also offered its readers detailed information on the terrorist activities of Posada Carriles, who was the mastermind of the bombing attack against a Cubana Airlines flight in 1976, killing all 73 people on board. The Cuban extradition request, currently under consideration by Panamanian authorities, was also the headline story in other Vietnamese newspapers, including the daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan. *CONGRESS ON BIO-ENERGETICS AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE GETS UNDERWAY Havana, November 23 (RHC)-- The First Congress of the Cuban Society of Bio-Energetics and Alternative Medicine opened its doors Wednesday at Havana's ORTOP Convention Center. Chiropractic, acupuncture, chaconne and other methods of alternative medicine for alleviating diseases and pain are some of the themes at this congress on alternative medicines, which is being attended by over 300 delegates from 10 countries. After two days of pre-congress courses offered by Cuban and foreign experts, delegates are participating in conferences and roundtables, dealing with a variety of themes regarding alternative and bio-energetic medicine; all of them with a special emphasis on the need for human beings to be in balance with the universe. *PEDIATRICIANS FROM US AND CUBA MEET IN HAVANA Havana, November 23 (RHC)-- Pediatricians from the United States and Cuba will meet from November 26th through the 28th at several hospitals in the Cuban capital. Steve Berman, President of the American Pediatrics Society, told reporters here in Havana that the aim of the encounter is to learn about Cuba's experience on health disciplines such as attention to the newborn and pediatric intensive care. This is the first time that experts from the American Pediatrics Society, with some 75,000 members, will meet with their Cuban counterparts. During their stay in Cuba, the U.S. experts will visit places of interest, including the Latin American School of Medicine, located on the outskirts of Havana. *ROUNDTABLE SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2000 International terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was arrested last week in Panama after Cuban authorities revealed he was in that Central American country in order to assassinate President Fidel Castro who was attending the 10th Ibero-American Summit. During the roundtable discussion, the panel of Cuban experts painstakingly went over Posada Carriles' activities during the l990's. It soon became clear that the international criminal had not been picked up earlier due to the lack of desire to do so on the part of Washington and El Salvador -- where Posada Carriles has been living. Cuba had passed on detailed information to the appropriate authorities as to where Posada Carriles was operating. Experts also revealed the ties Posada Carriles maintains with the ultra-right wing Cuban-American National Foundation, based in Miami. The evidence also supported Cuba's claims that Havana is not looking for vengeance, but rather desires justice. If Cuba wanted vengeance, would have been easy to eliminate Posada Carriles by simply training a rifle sight on the terrorist rather than the telegraphic lens with which Cuban officials had filmed his every move in Panama and El Salvador. Wednesday evening's roundtable discussion included an update on the case, quoting the international press. The Panamanian newspaper "El Universal" reported that Posada Carriles and his accomplices were being processed by Panamanian authorities, which are considering the petition for extradition filed by Cuba. Salvador Interior Minister Mario Acosta now says that the terrorist could be extradited to El Salvador, if it is proven that he used a false Salvadoran passport to enter Panama. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Safety and Justice claims that El Salvador never received information requesting the capture of Posada. Other press outlets speculate about the reactions sparked by the terrorists' arrest in Panama after Cuba charged that they were plotting an assassination attempt against Cuban President Fidel Castro during the 10th Ibero-American Summit. Some press agencies claim Panamanian authorities want to send Posada Carriles to Cuba, while others claim that they want to free him. Panamanian lawmaker Hector Aleman believes that the magnitude of the assassination plot demonstrates that the terrorists were not acting alone. "Those individuals operate in Latin America, with their base in Miami. They are financed in some way and are connected to U.S. intelligence organizations, especially the CIA. I believe that everyone in our country is hoping that these people will be made an example of and we are watching very closely what the government is doing regarding Cuba's extradition request and other such possible such requests from other countries," he said. Cuban journalist Reynaldo Taladrid listed the times that the Cuban government informed U.S. authorities of the anti-Cuba activities of Posada Carriles and other terrorists. He also revealed that in l997, former U.S. Democratic Senator Gary Hart received in Havana from Cuban president Fidel Castro himself, a document that describes a series of terrorist actions committed from l992 to that time -- with the idea that Hart would turn the information over to U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was a personal friend of Hart's. Cuba used a variety of ways to keep the U.S. government informed of the movements of the infamous terrorist. On June 16th and 17th in l998, a meeting took place in Havana between Cuban Interior Ministry officials and a U.S. delegation made up of three FBI agents, two criminal experts and a U.S. federal official --all specialists in terrorism -- and two officials from the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Reynaldo Taladrid said, "During the meeting, Cuban officials gave them a detailed analysis of information on terrorist plans and activities aimed against Cuba which originated in the United States, giving a detailed, chronological account beginning in l990, including clandestine activities and attempts to infiltrate weapons and people into Cuba, pirate attacks against economic objectives on our coasts and the placing of explosive devices in heavily populated areas in our capital and in other provinces. They also turned over to the Americans four folders containing 220 pages of information, five video cassettes and eight audio cassettes, also containing important information." Having run down most of the terrorist acts to the U.S. delegation, they explained the inter-connection between organizations and people residing in Miami and New Jersey, under the sponsorship of the Cuban-American National Foundation which, given its greater economic and logistic possibilities, was frequently creating phantom organizations both inside and outside of the United States, as a way of covering up its role in terrorist actions. The Cuban delegation provided ample evidence of those ties and maneuvers. The Cubans provided the U.S. specialists with information on the plans that Posada Carriles organized, which were facilitated by the Cuban-American National Foundation, to assassinate Fidel Castro in Chile, on Venezuela's Margarita Island and in the Dominican Republic. They also provided the American anti-terrorist experts with a video containing images of Posada's daily activities in El Salvador along with other evidence and information. Reynaldo Taladrid continued, "No responsible government would minimize the importance of the information that our authorities have systematically turned over on the activities organized and financed by the anti-Cuba mafia and in particular, the Cuban-American National Foundation, which place in danger so many innocent people in the entire hemisphere and in the United States itself. The abominable plan of Luis Posada Carriles during the Panama Summit was only stopped by the denunciation of our president, and would not have occurred at all if the U.S. government would live up to its responsibilities." These have been excerpts from Wednesday's televised Round Table which revealed new information on the case of Cuban-born terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is currently under arrest in Panama and waiting for a ruling on an official extradition request made by Cuba. Viewpoint: *WHERE WAS CONDEMNATION AT SUMMIT OF TERRORISM AGAINST CUBA? Since l959, when Cuba became a truly independent and sovereign nation, the island has been the object of innumerable acts of terrorism planned and directed from abroad under the auspices of nine successive U.S. governments. These types of actions, which include economic sabotage to attempts to kill Cuban leaders, have been internationally condemned, but not with the same spirit of indignation as when the terrorist acts are carried out by victims of oppression around the world. For example, the Israelis accuse the Palestinians of practicing terrorism, but they forget the cases of massacres in the occupied territories, under Zionist control, like those of Shabra and Shatila. In Africa, there is much talk of terrorism committed by warring tribes and ethnic groups, but one never hears of the innumerable acts of terrorism, mass murders and the violation of the human rights of Africans, committed first by European colonists and later by agents paid by those same interests in order to divide the popular African forces. In Latin America, the bloody face of terrorism was seen in the crimes committed by military regimes in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay -- just to mention a few. Tens of thousands of innocent people of all ages were killed or forcibly disappeared; detained without charges, placed in secret jails, tortured and murdered. All of that happened with little outcry from most of the international organizations. The infamous "Operation Condor" -- which savagely internationalized political repression -- was an unforgettable example. Wasn't it terrorism to brutally murder Chilean Carlos Prats and his wife by detonating explosives planted under their care in the streets of Buenos Aires? Or that of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier -- who was blown up in the U.S. Capital along with his American assistant. Were these crimes denounced publicly? NO. What was done was to protect international terrorists and continue protecting the interests of those ultimately responsible. That is what should have been roundly condemned as a question of honor during the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama. Cuba condemns terrorism and has never hidden it, but we demand justice. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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