Radio Havana Cuba-03 August, 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 03 August 2001 . *CUBAN PARLIAMENT ISSUES DETAILED STATEMENT ON FIVE CUBAN PRISONERS IN MIAMI *SIX MIGRANTS CONFIRMED DEAD IN CAPSIZING; US TO PROSECUTE SMUGGLERS *NEW JOBS IMPROVE UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES IN GRANA PROVINCE *PERU: MONTESINOS CASE FINGERS THE CIA *NICARAGUA: 11 CHILDREN NOW DEAD OF STARVATION IN DEVASTATING FAMINE *IN ITALY, FIRST HEADS ROLL IN POLICE BRUTALITY SCANDAL *Viewpoint: LIES, SLANDER AND FABRICATIONS . *CUBAN PARLIAMENT ISSUES DETAILED STATEMENT ON FIVE CUBAN PRISONERS IN MIAMI Havana, August 3 (RHC)--At Friday's session of the Cuban Parliament an official statement was approved regarding the five Cubans convicted in Miami of "conspiracy to spy" against the US government. Cuban President Fidel Castro and Defense Minister Raul Castro were present during the opening of the National Parliament's ordinary session. The statement calls the incarceration of the patriots a repugnant expression of a new stage of anti-Cuba aggression. The documents calls the five Cuban nationals political prisoners, and notes that they have already endured more than 34 months of unjustified incarceration in a South Florida penitentiary -- a period of nearly three years -- suffering constant humiliation, gross and systematic violations of their human rights and long arbitrary periods of solitary confinement. They are being punished, says the statement, because Cuba's enemies see in them an outstanding combination of virtues, dignity and courage, adding that they are victims of an infamous and enormous injustice that marks the beginning, under the current administration, of a new and even more cruel and shameless stage in the long and dirty war that the United States has been carrying out against the Cuban people. They have been condemned for alleged espionage conspiracy under completely false charges and unfair pressure applied to the jury, the statement continues. and The National Assembly document contends it is impossible to receive a fair trial in any case related to Cuba in Miami, where self-professed terrorists walk the streets and publicly boast about their violent activities while the authorities do absolutely nothing to prevent or condemn these actions. The statement asserts that Cuba has never made any attempts against the national security of the United States, but that Cuba proclaim its irreversible right and sacred obligation to defend itself from the terrorist and criminal actions that are planned, arranged, announced and launched with impunity from US territory. To expose these actions is a noble, heroic and worthy mission, says the document, adding that it saves Cuban and American lives and is in keeping with the vital interests of both peoples. The statement notes that throughout its history the Cuban Revolution has been the target of a systematic policy of aggression -- a real war, in which terrorism, sabotage and murder have been used. This war is now more than 42 years old, says the document, adding that the aggressor has been and continues to be the government of the United States. No one should ignore this fact, which can be easily confirmed by declassified US official documents, the statement declares. The Assembly's official statement demands an end to the official connivance of Washington with terrorists, adding that as a first, indispensable step, it is necessary to demand the liberation of the five Cuban nationals incarcerated in Miami. Rene Gonzalez, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Gerardo Hernandez are political prisoners, exemplary patriots and selfless and admirable men who have caused no harm to anyone and who have sacrificed their lives to save their people; they must be set free, says the document. The Assembly's documents says that Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation that has an inalienable right to live in peace and to be respected like every other nation. The official Cuban statement ends by emphasizing that the people of Cuba and the United States can and should live in peace. *SIX MIGRANTS CONFIRMED DEAD IN CAPSIZING; US TO PROSECUTE SMUGGLERS Havana, August 3 (RHC)--The US Coast Guard has called off the search for a woman and three children missing and now presumed dead in the capsizing of a speedboat illegally transporting Cubans to Florida early this week. The death toll now stands at 6 in the worst incident of its kind in two years. US authorities have determined that two of the 22 survivors are smugglers and decided to allow the remaining Cubans into the US to serve as witnesses against the two. The smugglers could face life imprisonment and even the death penalty if they are found to be fully responsible for the loss of life. In statements to the press, US Immigration spokesperson Bill Strassberger said that his office fully intended to aggressively prosecute the smugglers who overfilled their speedboat and risked travelling through rough seas in weather that had been forecast 48 hours in advance. The commander of the Key West US Coast Guard, Joseph Nimmich, said that the smugglers had ignored the storm warnings that led to the tragedy. One of the missing children was a three-year-old whose mother was among the survivors. US and Cuban Coast Guard authorities have determined that smuggling rings are increasingly used to transport Cubans to the US. The gains are huge -- as much as a quarter of a million dollars for one boatload -- and therefore many risks are taken. The Cubans, who are seeking to improve their economic situation caused in large part by Washington's blockade of Cuba, are enticed by the much-criticized 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which grants residency to any Cuban who makes it to US dry land. In statements to the press, Luis Fernández, spokesperson for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, said that the day the US rescinds the Cuban Adjustment Act, people will stop taking the risks. The Act has created a market for exploitation, he said, and many of those smuggling humans are also smuggling drugs. Although Cuba severely punishes those caught trafficking in human beings -- currently some 80 mostly Cuban Americans are serving jail sentences of up to 30 years on the island -- US immigration rights activists say that Washington has been slow to follow suit. Over the past three years, the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami has achieved convictions of 19 smugglers with another three cases pending. Aloyma Sanchez, a spokesperson for the US Attorney's office, said that they will not tolerate trafficking in human cargo. US law imposes a maximum penalty in such cases of ten years in prison if there is no loss of life. *NEW JOBS IMPROVE UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES IN GRANA PROVINCE Bayamo, August 3 (RHC)--In Granma province, 10,656 new jobs -- 81% of them permanent -- have been created during the first six months of 2001, according to Arsenio Castillo, the provincial employment coordinator. Granma province, with an unemployment rate of 10.7%, has the highest jobless rate on the island. The cities of Manzanillo and Bayamo have the highest unemployment rates in the province; rhe national average is 5.4%. In a concerted effort by government agencies to train youth, some 69% of the posts were given to people under 30. Most of the new jobs are in agriculture and the sugar industry. The province is seeking to increase the figure to a total of 29,296 jobs by the end of the year, many of them in in urban and rural vegetable gardens. Of those young people unemployed Most of the unemployed did not complete their high school degrees for one reason or another, and 13,599 have been able to register for higher education courses to qualify in a variety of professions. *PERU: MONTESINOS CASE FINGERS THE CIA Miami, August 3 (RHC)--The Vladimiro Montesinos corruption case in Peru continues to produce embarrassing revelations about the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. According to the Friday edition of The Miami Herald, the CIA paid Montesinos $1 million a year over a ten-year period, despite being aware of his collusion with drug traffickers. The Herald reported on a US intelligence document dated July 27, 1991, which reveals that Peruvian army General Luis Palomino complained to the US embassy in Lima that Montesinos was blocking US-Peruvian efforts in the war on drugs. A US Drug Enforcement Administration document dated August 27, 1996 reports that Montesinos and armed forces chief General Nicolas Hermoza Rios -- also currently incarcerated in Peru -- were receiving payments in exchange for military protection of narco kingpins. Some of the $10 million might be in Montesinos' bank accounts in Miami, New York and other US cities which the Herald says contain an estimated $270 million. *NICARAGUA: 11 CHILDREN NOW DEAD OF STARVATION IN DEVASTATING FAMINE Managua, August 3 (RHC)--A Nicaraguan government office in the department of Madriz has reported that 11 Nicaraguan children have now starved to death, despite President Arnoldo Aleman's refusal to admit that famine is affecting half a million people. The report comes amid threats from more than 20,000 families in Matagalpa to march on the capital of Managua to demand food and jobs. Matagalpa is one of the regions where drought has destroyed coffee plantations and left coffee pickers without work, shelter or food. While drought is afflicting in the western and central regions of Nicaragua, heavy rains and flooding have struck areas of the Atlantic coast in the east. Political analysts in Nicaragua are predicting a social explosion over the government's lack of attention to the suffering caused by natural disasters throughout Central America. In El Salvador, the National Farm Workers Association has blasted President Francisco Flores' refusal to declare a food emergency in the country's eastern regions, where drought has destroyed all the bean and corn crops. The United Nations World Food Program stated Thursday in Rome that the drought in Central America is affecting 1.4 million people, half of whom are at serious risk of starvation. Beans and corn constitute the basic diet for Central Americans. The drought in El Salvador is affecting regions that still haven't recovered from devastating earthquakes earlier this year, or from Hurricane Mitch in 1998. *IN ITALY, FIRST HEADS ROLL IN POLICE BRUTALITY SCANDAL Rome, August 3 (RHC)--Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola has fired three high-ranking members of the police force in what is being called the first purge following widespread charges of police brutality against anti-globalization demonstrators during the G-8 Summit in Genoa. Scajola removed the general assistant police director, the chief of Italy's anti-terrorist force and the prefect of Genoa. But the opposition has accused the conservative government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of using scapegoats to avoid responsibility. Leftist House Deputy Franco Giordano insisted that the government should also fire the interior minister and Police Chief Gianni De Gennaro. Giordana says that the police violence was aimed criminalizing the entire anti-globalization movement. This week, Scajola avoided a motion of censure in the Senate, where there is an overwhelming conservative majority. Meanwhile, the presidents of the lower House and the Senate today named members to the parliamentary commissions that will investigate the violence present their findings next September 26th. The parliamentary investigation coincides with a judicial investigation of police officers who are being questioned by Genoa district attorneys. Three days of clashes in Genoa left one demonstrator killed, more than 400 people injured and nearly 300 arrested. Many of those arrested have described physical and psychological mistreatment during their detention. *Viewpoint: LIES, SLANDER AND FABRICATIONS After an on-site evaluation, the World Food Program has warned that more than a million people are in danger of starving in Central America because of the drought that is hitting the region. It is being called the worst natural disaster since Hurricane Mitch ripped through Central America leaving death and destruction in its wake, in 1998. Estimated crop losses due to the drought range Lack of rain has reduced cultivation by 40 to 50% of bean and rice crops, the basic components of the regional diet. Faced with this critical situation, the UN's World Food Program has begun to supply food. The program's director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Francisco Roque, warns that "at this time we are only able to care for half of the most vulnerable population." According to the World Food Progam, the most affected countries are Honduras and Nicaragua, and to a lesser degree, El Salvador and Guatemala. In Honduras, the WFP has handed out food for 91,000 people since July 23, while in Nicaragua, 1,200 tons of food have been distributed. Paradoxically, Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman, has perversely declared that "there is no hunger" in his country and that the tragedy is a just a story made up by the Sandinistas. Aleman claims the FSLN wants to force the government to raise rice and bean prices, in a bid for voter popularity. In a press conference in Managua, the president stated, Tthere is no hunger throughout the country because there have been no price hikes for beans, corn or rice." But the media reporting that in the 40 municipalities located in the so-called "dry zone" of the north and northeast, between 50% and 100% cent of the corn and bean crops have been lost. In his eagerness to deny the obvious, Aleman lost his composure with the press and in a moment of rage, grabbed the hand of a El Nuevo Diario reporter and violently shook it. This is nothing new. The Nicaraguan president often defends his sullied administration by calling charges of corruption, influence peddling and nepotism "lies, slander and fabrications." (c) 2001 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-27634 2001-Aug-04 01:18:31