Radio Havana Cuba-21 August 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 21 August 2001 . *ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR MIAMI: NO LATIN GRAMMYS THIS YEAR *VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT CUBA *PRESIDENT OF THE PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL PAYS HOMAGE TO JOSE MARTI *ARGENTINE SOLIDARITY GROUPS CREATE COORDINATING COUNCIL *RELIGIOUS PEOPLE IN NICARAGUA DEMAND RELEASE OF MIAMI 5 *ANTI-GLOBALIZATION GROUPS SUE WASHINGTON DC FOR BLOCKING RIGHT TO PROTEST *HUGO CHAVEZ CRITICIZES REGIONAL SUMMITS, INTEGRATION MODEL *FAMINE-STRICKEN NICARAGUANS TO MARCH ON MANAGUA *NORTH CAROLINA'S ONSLOW COUNTY REFUSES TO BECOME ANOTHER VIEQUES *Viewpoint: ARMS AND THE MAN: BUSH STYLE GLOBALIZATION . *ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR MIAMI: NO LATIN GRAMMYS THIS YEAR Miami, August 21 (RHC)--The decision of organizers of the Latin Grammy music awards to pull out of Miami has been called another black eye for a city oftentimes accused of intransigence. When local authorities in Miami agreed to allow anti-Cuba protesters to get closer to the event's venue than had originally been agreed to, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced Monday that the show will be in Los Angeles. Organizers rejected Miami for the first Latin Grammy show last year over the same concerns. According to observers, loss of the site has left the divided Cuban-American community in Miami more divided than ever. Some exiles who had planned to protest the possible presence of Cuban musicians said they were being unfairly blamed for the pullout. But other exiles said the planned protests were misguided and cost the Cuban community a spotlight to show its tolerance. Local media outlets in the city today quoted José Medina, a production manager at Sony, who said Miami didn't deserve the Latin Grammys. Medina said he didn't think an awards show that's about creativity and freedom of speech should be in a city that doesn't know the meaning of freedom of speech. He said the protesters had a right to protest, but that to put them right in front of the arena venue is just asking for trouble. The media has also quoted others who feared the event's exit from Miami would further injure the exile image, still licking the wounds it took during the community's battle to keep kidnapped Elián González from being returned to Cuba. Noting that Miami is not just Cuban, Elena Freyre, who often criticizes exile hard-liners, asked how does the city explain this to the rest of the community. She said there are Colombians, Venezuelans, Chileans - that it is a Latin event, not a Cuban event. While hotel and club owners reacted with disbelief over loss of the multi-million dollar opportunity, one prominent business leader said the real impact isn't financial. Ramiro Ortiz, chairman of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, called it a lost opportunity where Miami could have stood tall and told the rest of the world that the city is respectful of its diverse community. *VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT CUBA Havana, August 21 (RHC)--Venezuela's Foreign Minister Luis Alfonso Dávila will arrive in Havana on Thursday for an official visit at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Felipe Perez Roque. During his stay on the island, which lasts until Saturday, August 25th, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Luis Alfonso Dávila is to meet with other high-ranking Cuban officials, among them Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and the Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Marta Lomas. Maria Cristina Barroso, head of the advance group of the Venezuelan delegation said that the upcoming visit of the top Venezuelan diplomat has a significant importance for it will serve to further strengthen the already excellent relations between Cuba and Venezuela. While on the island, the Venezuelan visitors will also visit sites of economic, social and cultural interest, including the International Health Center "Las Praderas". *PRESIDENT OF THE PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL PAYS HOMAGE TO JOSE MARTI Havana, August 21 (RHC)--On Tuesday, the visiting President of the Legislative Council of the Palestinian National Authority, Ahmed Qurej, placed a floral wreath before the monument built to Cuban National Hero Jose Marti at Havana's Revolution Square. The Palestinian leader also met with Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Guerra Menchero. During his stay in Cuba, which runs through next Monday, August 27th, the distinguished visitor is scheduled to meet with authorities in Cuba's Institute of Friendship with the Peoples ICAP, as well as with other high-ranking officials, among them Cuban Communist Party's Political Bureau Member Jose Ramon Balaguer, Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and the Vice President of the Cuban Parliament Jaime Crombet. Cuba has always defended the Palestinian people's right to create an independent state. *ARGENTINE SOLIDARITY GROUPS CREATE COORDINATING COUNCIL Buenos Aires, August 21 (RHC)--Various solidarity groups in Argentina in the eastern part of Buenos Aires, the capital, have created a coordinating council to improve their solidarity work with Cuba.The agreement was reached during a solidarity meeting in the city of General Rodriguez. The aim, they said, is to improve their work strategies in the solidarity with Cuba movement. A final declaration issued at the end of the activity highlights the fight against the U.S. blockade of Cuba and the pressure on the Argentinean government to change its position at the United Nations Human Rights Commission as main aspects of the solidarity work. During the activity, the solidarity activists also demanded the release of five Cuban nationals who were convicted in Miami on false charges of threatening U.S. national security. The solidarity with Cuba groups also committed themselves to exposing the truth about the new form of domination Washington is trying to impose over Latin America and the Caribbean, the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas or FTAA. *RELIGIOUS PEOPLE IN NICARAGUA DEMAND RELEASE OF MIAMI 5 Havana, August 21 (RHC)--Parishioners of La Merced Catholic Church in Managua, Nicaragua, have demanded the release of the five U.S.-held Cuban political prisoners. During a solidarity with Cuba activity, where photos of the five Cuban nationals were exhibited, Venezuelan priest Antonio Castro said the five men are suffering an unjust conviction imposed by the U.S. government, in its attempt to always put force above reason. The Venezuelan priest characterized the unjust conviction and the imprisonment of the five Cubans in Miami as an open aggression against the Cuban people. On hand for the solidarity event were members of the National Committee of Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba in Managua, Nicaraguan legislators, diplomats and Cuban residents in the Central American nation. *ANTI-GLOBALIZATION GROUPS SUE WASHINGTON DC FOR BLOCKING RIGHT TO PROTEST Washington, August 21 (RHC)--Faithful to a recent announcement, anti-globalization groups in Washington, DC have filed a lawsuit against the city's plans to isolate them from an upcoming gathering of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. One of the groups, the International Action Center, termed as unconstitutional police plans to create an exclusion zone some 20 square blocks around the site of next month's meeting. Plaintiffs argued before a local district court that the police have no right to convert the center of the US capital into the private property of international financial institutions. International Action Center co-director Larry Holmes said his organization has also accused the city's police of launching a slander campaign against anti-globalization activists in an effort to demonize their image and generate hysteria against those planning to protest. Washington DC police are planning to install a ten-foot high, 3-kilometer long metal fence around an extensive area that includes the White House and the headquarters of the financial institutions. Police now say that some 100 thousand protesters could converge on the city next September 29th and 30th. Fearing protests similar to those recently in Genoa, Italy during the Group of 8 industrialized countries gathering, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank last week announced that they were cutting short their summit by 3 days. They had originally planned to meet until October 3rd. In related news, the Mayor's office in Washington DC has announced that it will call on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to pay at least part of the cost of security operations during the September gathering. In an operation called exaggerated by the conservative "The Washington Times", authorities in the US capital will spend more than 30 million dollars to keep protesters away. The two lending institutions, however, have always insisted that security is the responsibility of the city or country hosting any of their events, and the White House has indicated that neither will it contribute. A Washington Times editorial called the ten-foot high metal fence, which alone will cost close to 2 million dollars, the American version of the Berlin Wall in the land of the free and the home of the brave. *HUGO CHAVEZ CRITICIZES REGIONAL SUMMITS, INTEGRATION MODEL Santiago de Chile, August 21 (RHC)--Visiting in Chile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has criticized the mediocrity of regional summits, the current model of regional integration and the current system of representative democracy. Speaking at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago de Chile, Chavez said that gatherings like last. weekend's Rio Group Summit are superficial in their analyses of world problems. He said heads of state go from one summit to the next, while the region's peoples go from one bottomless pit to the next. The Venezuelan President said they sign beautiful declarations in interminable documents, but that compliance with these statements isn't guaranteed. In terms of regional integration, Chavez said the process has to be rethought out. He said a political commitment to integration should march ahead of the process, but that it has mistakenly been placed behind. Chavez again came out in favor of participatory democracy as opposed to representative democracy. He said the bulk of the peoples' representatives are getting rich in a socio-economic model in which inequalities are on the rise. The Venezuelan President came out in favor of not only allowing the people to speak, but also allowing them to make decisions. As an example, he said, Cuba's participation in all regional forums should be decided based on the results of a continental referendum. *FAMINE-STRICKEN NICARAGUANS TO MARCH ON MANAGUA Managua, August 21 (RHC)--Thousands of famine-stricken Nicaraguans will march on the capital, Managua, next Thursday to demand government assistance. The announcement came from Sandinista Congressman Nelson Artola, who chairs the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission. Artola said the Matagalpa Coffee Growers Association and the mayors of that province's municipalities most affected by the drought and coffee crisis are organizing the protest. The announcement coincides with on-going criticism of Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman's refusal to recognize the real dimension of hunger in the country, resulting from drought in the Pacific region, flooding in the Caribbean region and the financial collapse of Nicaraguan coffee growers. Like other political and grassroots leaders, Nicaraguan governmental Human Rights Commissioner Benjamin Perez Monday called on Aleman to declare a state of emergency that would allow for a rapid earmarking of emergency funds and that would pave the way for international aid. The Nicaraguan Parliament will gather Wednesday following a much criticized 53-day vacation. But the Parliament's first secretary, ruling party member Pedro Joaquin Rios, said there will be no debate on a budget reform to face the crisis. *NORTH CAROLINA'S ONSLOW COUNTY REFUSES TO BECOME ANOTHER VIEQUES Raleigh, August 21 (RHC)--Onslow County, in the US state of North Carolina, has announced that it does not want to become another Vieques. Local authorities unanimously agreed late Monday to call on President George W. Bush to remove the nearby Camp Lejeune military base from the list of alternatives to the US Navy's target practice range in Vieques. Camp Lejeune is at the top of the list of sites prepared by military experts in lieu of the US Navy's obligation to withdraw from Vieques in the year 2003. Onslow County authorities stated that the noise and damage caused by the military exercises at Camp Lejeune, notably inferior to that caused by the target practice in Vieques, has already tensed relations between local civilians and the military. Observers are commenting that Vieques is causing the White House a bigger headache than expected. Alongside the stiff opposition to the Navy's continued presence in Vieques - resulting in the arrest of numerous respected civil rights and political leaders both in Puerto Rico and the United States - the Pentagon is also coming up against opposition from American residents of the proposed alternate sites. *Viewpoint: ARMS AND THE MAN: BUSH STYLE GLOBALIZATION Hunger, grinding poverty, plagues that exterminate huge swaths of cropland, epidemics that threaten to wipe out entire countries and endless civil wars that brutalize whole societies. Sounds like an account of the dark ages of medieval Europe, but is in fact the reality of our world today. It appears that humankind has learned little over the centuries. We can reach and even colonize the Moon, but we cannot feed our own populations or stop killing each other. Every minute sees further advances in the concentration of the planet's resources into the hands of an ever shrinking few. Some 20 or 30 corporations have globalized our world with ruthless aplomb, using remarkable advances in science to consolidate their power. The new world order of George Bush senior is carried to even greater extremes by his son, George W. Bush, who represents the principle shareholders of these corporate giants. This world order is perpetrated, as in history, with arms. But there is a difference from the medieval era. The richest nations on earth gain power by selling arms as well as maintaining them. The United States, the richest and therefore the most powerful of them all, is the leading purveyor of arms to the Third World, the leading buyer. Last year saw a worldwide sales of arms reach almost $36 billion, of which, according to The New York Times, Washington accounted for more than half at $19 billion. Of this $19 billion, the underdeveloped world represented 68% of the clientele, and the figure is rising. Egged on by the $1.6 billion pumped into Bogotá's coffers by the US Colombia Plan, other South American nations have rushed to gain an equal armament footing on what has become a regional arms race as a result of what is seen as Washington's militarization of Colombia. As most of the arms that Chile, Argentina and Brazil buy come from the US, the $1.6 billion supposed "drug interdiction funds" was a good investment in promoting further arms purchases throughout the region. Thus, huge sums of money that could be spent to alleviate the suffering of the poor and disenfranchised of the Third World, go toward the enrichment and expanded power of the US. This is the globailzation that attracts George W. Bush. Not the globalization of medical care or food distribution or technical advances, but rather a globalization that profits a wealthy First World few at the cost of countless lives of Third World poor. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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