RHC Weekend-07 July 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - Late Night News Update - 07 July 2001 . *FIDEL ANNOUNCES JULY 26 EVENTS AT SATURDAY'S DEMONSTRATION *POPE JOHN PAUL II CONDEMNS US BLOCKADE ON CUBA *US CARAVANISTAS VISIT VILLA CLARA PROVINCE *BELIZE OFFICIAL VISITS EXHIBITION OF BELIZEAN ART IN HAVANA *FACED WITH ISRAELI STALL, ARAFAT CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ON SHARON *PERU'S CONGRESS TO CHARGE FUJIMORI WITH CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS . *FIDEL ANNOUNCES JULY 26 EVENTS AT SATURDAY'S DEMONSTRATION Havana, July 7 (RHC)--Cuban president Fidel Castro presided over an open tribunal held at the Havana municipality of Bejucal on Saturday, to demand the release of five Cubans imprisoned in the United States under false charges of espionage. Some 20,000 people gathered at the tribunal to hear the Cuban leader say that nobody can hide the truth or ultimately prevent justice from prevailing. No force in the world can crush our resistance or take away our independence, he added. In reference to recent concerns over his health, Fidel Castro also said that the Revolution is not and never will be the work of one person. It is, he said, the work of generations both past and present -- the fruit of the heroism of an indomitable people. The Cuban president took the occasion to announce that the province of Havana had been awarded the annual honor of organizing the national celebrations of the 26th July, which commemorates the attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba and the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. *POPE JOHN PAUL II CONDEMNS US BLOCKADE ON CUBA Vatican City, 7th July (RHC)--Pope John Paul II has again denounced the US economic blockade on Cuba in a speech to Cuban bishops visiting the Vatican. The pontiff recalled his highly successful visit to Cuba in 1998 in which he called for the world to reach out to Cuba and for Cuba to reach out to the world. Many things have been accomplished since that visit, said the Pope, and much more needs to be done. He expressed concern for the fact that in his opinion there aren't enough Catholic priests and nuns in Cuba. Pope John Paul II criticized as "unethical and unjust" what he called Washington's "restrictive economic measures" imposed on Cuba, and praised the island's bishops for their efforts to revive Catholicism on the island. *US CARAVANISTAS VISIT VILLA CLARA PROVINCE Havana, July 7 (RHC)--Members of the 12th Pastors for Peace Friendship Caravan toured several places of economical, social, and historical interest in central Villa Clara province, as part of their visit program. The Ernesto Che Guevara Memorial, the School of Art Instructors and several Committees for the Defense of the Revolution were some of the places visited by the caravanistas in Villa Clara. They also met with local officials and with members of the Escambray theater group. The 12th US/Cuba Friendship Caravan is composed of 87 US citizens from 16 states, as well as brigadistas from another 7 nations. This time their humanitarian aid consisted of 80 tons of health and education items. Part of the items collected by the caravanistas was confiscated by US Federal authorities in Maine on the Canadian border. Pastors for Peace has developed a campaign to demand the release of those items. The US/Cuba friendshipment caravans are the result of a project fostered by Reverend Lucius Walker, president of the Inter-Religious Foundation for Community Organization, as a way to break Washington's blockade of Cuba. The caravan arrived in Havana on Tuesday, and will remain on the island until July 11. *BELIZE OFFICIAL VISITS EXHIBITION OF BELIZEAN ART IN HAVANA Havana, July 7 (RHC)--An exhibition called "Zero: New Belizean Art" was inaugurated at Havana's Casa de las Americas cultural institution on Friday. Present at the opening ceremony were Belizean Deputy Prime Minister John Briceño and Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón. Pieces by six young artists from Belize are now on display at the institution's Latin American Gallery. The work's wide range is one of the aspects of fragmentation that the artists all said was their style. The exhibition, which is another example of the friendship ties existing between Belize and Cuba, is part of a program organized for Briceño and his official delegation. *FACED WITH ISRAELI STALL, ARAFAT CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ON SHARON Jerusalem, July 7 (RHC)--In the face of Israel's refusal to further negotiate peace, the president of the Palestine National Authority, Yasser Arafat, has called on seven world leaders to pressure Israel to renew the peace process. With Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon continuing to demand what he terms as "absolute calm" before he will join Palestinians for talks, Palestine Authority Planning and International Cooperation Minister, Nabil Shaat, charged on Saturday that Sharon is not interested in returning to the negotiating table. The talks broke down seven months ago. In a letter, Arafat called on world leaders including U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Vladimir Putin, to put pressure on Israel to apply the recommendations of the Mitchell Commission to re-establish negotiations. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell is said to support the Israeli position that the Mitchell Report cannot yet be applied. According to Radio Israel, citing diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, Powell spoke on Friday night by telephone with Ariel Sharon and agreed with the Israeli prime minister that the Palestinians had not yet ended what Israel calls "violence against Israelis." And in related news, Syria's president, Bashar al Assad, has accused Israeli prime minister Sharon of preparing a war in the Middle East, which would involve the entire region. In statements in Berlin to the German magazine "Der Spiegel," Assad affirmed that his country will continue insisting on a strategy of peace, but he added that Syrians would not hesitate if they were obliged to go to war. *PERU'S CONGRESS TO CHARGE FUJIMORI WITH CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS Lima, July 7 (RHC)--A Peruvian congressional committee investigating the l992 coup perpetrated by then president Alberto Fujimori, has agreed to charge the former president and various of his ministers with the crime of aggravated insurrection against the state. Commission head, Manuel Masias, said in Lima that there is proof that Fujimori led the coup against the Congress, the judiciary and other autonomous organizations, with the support of the armed forces. Also discovered was evidence of the participation in the crime of the former Foreign Minister, the Defence Minister and the Minister of the Interior. The congressional commission implicated as well then chief of the Peruvian Armed Forces, Nicolas Hermosa Rios, and former presidential advisor, Valdimiro Montesinos. The heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the National Police and the National Intelligence Service were also involved according to the investigation. If found guilty, Fujimori and his fellow conspirators could be sentenced to between ten and twenty years in prison. Fujimori also faces a variety of other charges committed during his term as president. The former president, who was removed from office last November on charges of corruption, attempted to justify his coup by claiming it was the only way to reconstruct the country. Fujimori is currently in Japan where he fled shortly before he was officially removed from the presidency. He holds Japanese citizenship. (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-22549 2001-Jul-08 02:26:07