Radio Havana Cuba-06 December 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 06 December 2001 . *LATIN AMERICA WILL DEFEAT EVERY US ATTEMPT TO RULE THE REGION, SAYS FIDEL *DELEGATION FROM THE NORWEGIAN FOREIGN RELATIONS MINISTRY CONCLUDES VISIT *CUBA AND VIETNAM SIGN AVIATION COOPERATION AGREEMENT *CONCERT IN HAVANA TO HONOR JOHN LENNON ON THE 21ST ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH *POWERFUL AFGHAN WARLORD BOYCOTTS BONN AGREEMENT *PALESTINIAN POLICE AND ISLAMIC MILITANTS FACE OFF FOR THE FIRST TIME *ASHCROFT FACES CONGRESS AMID GROWING CONCERN OVER REPRESSIVE MEASURES *US LABOR UNIONS, CONSUMER GROUPS LAUNCH ANTI-FREE TRADE CAMPAIGN *IMF THROWS BUCKET OF COLD WATER OVER ARGENTINA'S AILING ECONOMY Viewpoint: *WASHINGTON INCREASINGLY ISOLATES ITSELF AS WORLD TRADES WITH CUBA . LATIN AMERICA WILL DEFEAT EVERY US ATTEMPT TO RULE THE REGION, SAYS FIDEL Havana, December 6 (RHC)-Latin America will defeat every U.S. attempt to rule over the entire region, said Cuban President Fidel Castro to participants in the 10th Sao Paulo Forum, which continues its sessions here in Havana. The United States cannot govern us or the world, said the Cuban leader in reference to constant attempts by Washington to impose its supremacy over the rest of the hemisphere, the latest strategy to that end being the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas project - the FTAA. Referring to the U.S. military presence in the Puerto Rican island municipality of Vieques, the Cuban president stressed that the United States government seeks to rule over Latin America and the Caribbean as if the entire region were simply a U.S. overseas dominion. Fidel referred to the heroic struggle being waged by the Puerto Rican people to expel U.S. occupation forces. Among delegates to the 10th Sao Paulo Forum is the president of the New Independence Movement of Puerto Rico, Julio Muriente, who presented the Cuban leader with a bottle full of sand from Vieques. *DELEGATION FROM THE NORWEGIAN FOREIGN RELATIONS MINISTRY CONCLUDES VISIT Havana, December 6 (RHC)-The General Secretary of the Norwegian Foreign Relations Ministry, Biarne Lindstrom, termed as highly successful his official visit to Cuba, which concluded Wednesday evening. Before leaving Havana, the Norwegian official stressed that relations with the Caribbean island become stronger every day, particularly in the areas of culture and the economy. During his stay, the Norwegian diplomat and his delegation met with high-ranking Cuban officials, including the Minister of Planning and the Economy, José Luis Rodríguez, and his counterparts in the island's foreign ministry, and visited places of economic and social interest in the Cuban capital. The visit of the general secretary of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry coincided with the opening of the Royal Embassy of Norway in Cuba, which as the European official said responds to growing bilateral ties between the two nations. *CUBA AND VIETNAM SIGN AVIATION COOPERATION AGREEMENT Havana, December 6 (RHC)-Cuba's national airline Cubana de Aviación S.A. and Vietnam Airlines have signed a special tariff agreement that will benefit civil aviation. The agreement was penned by the Executive Vice President of Cubana, Eugenio Portales, and the visiting President of Vietnam Airlines, Nguyen Xuan Hien. The accord facilitates the exchange of passengers between the two nations with special low tariffs, as well as the use of services provided by the two aviation firms. The executive vice president of the Vietnamese company said negotiations are underway to open a joint Vietnam-Cuba airline service. *CONCERT IN HAVANA TO HONOR JOHN LENNON ON THE 21ST ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH Havana, December 6 (RHC)- The National Havana Fine Arts Museum will be the site this coming weekend of a concert in homage to John Lennon and the Beatles. The concert called "Give Peace a Change" is sponsored by the Havana Pablo de la Torriente Brau Culture Center. The activity will have the participation of outstanding personalities from the world of arts on the island, including troubadours Vicente and Santiago Feliu. Other activities include a colloquium dedicated to the "fab four" from Liverpool, a fine arts exhibition entitled "Homage to Lennon in Havana", a visual arts exhibition named after the classic song "All You Need is Love", the exhibition of two documentary films, and the launching of a book at the José Martí National Library entitled "War will End if You Wish It". *POWERFUL AFGHAN WARLORD BOYCOTTS BONN AGREEMENT Kabul, Islamabad, December 6 (RHC) -- A powerful Afghan warlord has decided to boycott the new transition government agreed on Wednesday at talks in Bonn, Germany. Uzbek General Rashid Dostum, at the head of the most important group of Northern Alliance combatants, said he will not go to Kabul to salute the new government because his Junbish-I-Milli faction is not equitably represented. He said his Uzbek faction demanded the foreign ministry post but only received that of agriculture, mining and industry, which he called a humiliation. The Northern Alliance leader warned that he would not allow the new interim administration into the northern region controlled by his forces, which is home to Afghanistan's oil and gas deposits. Dostum, whose conquest of Mazar-I-Sharif in early November led to the fall of Kabul, has a reputation of changing sides and breaking alliances - having fought on the side of and against Soviet troops in the 1980s, and then often changing sides in the civil war following the Soviet withdrawal. Meanwhile, a Pashtun spiritual leader has also called the new interim government unbalanced and unjust. At a press conference in Pakistan, Sayed Ahmad Gailani said that those who played the most important roles in the holy war against Soviet troops are not represented in the 30-member transition government. And news reports are indicating that further problems are just on the horizon. Reporting from Kabul for the British news daily "The Independent", correspondent Patrick Cockburn wrote Thursday that Abdul Ahmed, a warlord whose fiefdom is just outside Kabul, is among those who will decide the fate of the power-sharing government for Afghanistan agreed in Bonn - noting that so far he is not impressed. *PALESTINIAN POLICE AND ISLAMIC MILITANTS FACE OFF FOR THE FIRST TIME Washington, December 6 (RHC) -- As US Attorney General John Ashcroft geared up to face Thursday's grinding in Congress over civil rights issues, civil libertarians Wednesday filed the first lawsuit challenging some 1,000 virtually secret arrests carried out since the September 11 terror attacks. The American Civil Liberties Union and 17 other civil rights and human rights groups filed a suit in federal court accusing the Justice Department of violating the Constitution and federal law by withholding basic information concerning the detainees. Ashcroft and other officials have released only fragments of information on the arrests, and will not reveal names or locations of detainees. The suit charged that this secrecy is unprecedented and deprives the public of information it is lawfully entitled to receive. It demanded immediate release of government documents that civil rights groups requested in October. Meanwhile, civil rights groups and some legislators were expressing increasing concern over the entire package of anti-terrorism measures as the Attorney General prepared for his congressional grinding on Thursday. This week John Sellers, director of the San Francisco-based Ruckus Society, said new laws giving police expanded search and surveillance powers were written with nonviolent domestic dissidents in mind, charging that the legislation will be wielded as a very blunt weapon against a lot of very important movements for justice in the US that happen to disagree with the status quo. James Dempsey, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the measures have been on the government's wish list for a long time and used September 11 to get it through. The Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy, said in anticipation of the Ashcroft hearing that any of the choices Americans will face after September 11 will test both the nation's ideals and its resolve to defend them, adding that the Constitution was not written primarily for the US's convenience, but for its liberty. *ASHCROFT FACES CONGRESS AMID GROWING CONCERN OVER REPRESSIVE MEASURES Washington, December 6 (RHC) -- As US Attorney General John Ashcroft geared up to face Thursday's grinding in Congress over civil rights issues, civil libertarians Wednesday filed the first lawsuit challenging some 1,000 virtually secret arrests carried out since the September 11 terror attacks. The American Civil Liberties Union and 17 other civil rights and human rights groups filed a suit in federal court accusing the Justice Department of violating the Constitution and federal law by withholding basic information concerning the detainees. Ashcroft and other officials have released only fragments of information on the arrests, and will not reveal names or locations of detainees. The suit charged that this secrecy is unprecedented and deprives the public of information it is lawfully entitled to receive. It demanded immediate release of government documents that civil rights groups requested in October. Meanwhile, civil rights groups and some legislators were expressing increasing concern over the entire package of anti-terrorism measures as the Attorney General prepared for his congressional grinding on Thursday. This week John Sellers, director of the San Francisco-based Ruckus Society, said new laws giving police expanded search and surveillance powers were written with nonviolent domestic dissidents in mind, charging that the legislation will be wielded as a very blunt weapon against a lot of very important movements for justice in the US that happen to disagree with the status quo. James Dempsey, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the measures have been on the government's wish list for a long time and used September 11 to get it through. The Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy, said in anticipation of the Ashcroft hearing that any of the choices Americans will face after September 11 will test both the nation's ideals and its resolve to defend them, adding that the Constitution was not written primarily for the US's convenience, but for its liberty. *US LABOR UNIONS, CONSUMER GROUPS LAUNCH ANTI-FREE TRADE CAMPAIGN Washington, December 6 (RHC) -- US labor unions and consumer defense organizations have launched an anti-free trade campaign, coinciding with debates in Congress on granting or rejecting "fast track" trade negotiation powers to President George W. Bush. In a full page fold-out in "The Washington Post," the United Auto Workers Union - with 1.3 million affiliates - warned that fast track will only worsen the job losses that significantly increased following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Public Citizen, the largest US consumer defense group, placed a similar add affirming that fast track will only further enhance corporate power. Republican free trade supporters have admitted that they may not have the sufficient amount of votes to approve fast track in the House of Representatives, despite an aggressive publicity campaign - particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Bush administration tried to use the negative economic repercussions of the attacks to convince public opinion that fast track is vital for economic recovery. And just yesterday Republicans announced a package of more than 20 billion dollars to help people who have lost their jobs because of the recession or the September 11 attacks, in a move to convince more Democrats to join the fast track bandwagon. Fast track gives the president the power to negotiate free trade deals without having to submit them to congressional amendments, which is why the mostly Democratic opponents are insisting that the legislation contain mechanisms of forced compliance with environmental and labor rights clauses. If the legislation passes in the House, it probably won't go to the Senate until next year. *IMF THROWS BUCKET OF COLD WATER OVER ARGENTINA'S AILING ECONOMY Buenos Aires, December 6 (RHC) -- In another blow to the Argentinean government's efforts to restore investor confidence in its ailing economy, the International Monetary Fund Wednesday said that for the moment it would not unpocket a loan to the country due this month. Argentinean authorities said they desperately needed the 1.3 billion dollar loan installment to avoid a default in 900 million dollars in federal and government debt, which would be the largest default by a country in history. The IMF is saying that Argentina has not done enough on deficit reduction and other economic shock reforms. Observers believe that the IMF's attitude will also block the release of funds to Argentina by the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank and the government of Spain - all contributing to the 40 billion dollar bail-out loan granted to the country early this year. Experts are predicting that Argentina will now definitely have to devaluate its currency, which has sparked panic among citizens fearing substantial losses of their savings in bank accounts. Argentina's more than 3-year recession worsened in recent days, with runs on banks, capital flight and subsequent restrictions on the amount of money that can be withdrawn from savings accounts. Viewpoint: *WASHINGTON INCREASINGLY ISOLATES ITSELF AS WORLD TRADES WITH CUBA After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was no shortage of prophets of doom predicting that Cuba would go the same way, especially in Miami, where many Cuban Americans were drooling at the prospect of its imminent fall. In their opinion, it would only be a matter of time. Overnight Cuba lost access to the majority of its markets and whatever credit options that existed. The Gross Domestic Product fell by a phenomenal 35%. It seemed impossible to recover from such a blow. The rest of the story is known. The Miami prophets were wrong and their suitcases remained unpacked. They had missed the essential crux of the matter: the Cuban social project is authentic and supported by the island's population. A decade later, Cuba maintains diplomatic relations with more than 170 countries, a fact that is kept quiet by the Western mass communication media who report the so-called truth to the world. Cuba, the only socialist nation in the Western Hemisphere, enjoys economic and commercial exchanges with 125 countries from all corners of the globe. In all these cases, these links have as a common denominator the untouchable principle of Cuba's foreign policy: mutual respect and the complete rejection of any kind of precondition. On this basis, political dialogue between Cuba and the European Union officially reopened on the 1st and 2nd of December, here in Havana. According to the parties involved, these talks will create a more favorable framework for economic and commercial exchange, the fostering of investment and tourism and the developing of cultural links. These conversations are a direct result of a process initiated by the president of the European Council of Ministers, Belgian Louis Michel, when he visited Havana last August. Michel then predicted that a climate of mutual respect, understanding and friendship can be created and consolidated between Cuba and the European Union. This dialogue opens new mutually beneficial opportunities for both sides. Furthermore, it proves that the economic and financial blockade of the US against Cuba is not only anachronistic and rejected worldwide (for ten consecutive years it has been condemned by the General Assembly of the United Nations) but is also ineffective and destructive. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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