Radio Havana Cuba-06 July 2001 (Late Edition) Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - Late Night News Update - 06 July 2001 . *PASTORS FOR PEACE TO IMPORT CUBAN PRODUCTS IN "REVERSE CHALLENGE" TO BLOCKADE *OSPAAAL CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO RELEASE THE MIAMI 5 *WTO RULES IN FAVOR OF PERNOD-RICARD AGAINST BACARDI GROUP *LEONARD BERNSTEIN MAKES IT TO CUBA *11TH SESSION OF SPANISH-CUBAN MANAGEMENT COOPERATION COMMITTEE MEETS *FRENCH JUDGES INTERROGATE CHILE'S DINA CHIEF MANUEL CONTRERAS *FTAA PROPOSALS MADE PUBLIC IN FACE OF CONTINUED OPPOSITION *ENVIRONMENTALISTS ON ALERT AGAINST NAVY USING SOUTH TEXAS AS BOMBING RANGE Viewpoint: *EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA - A RELATIONSHIP OF CONVENIENCE . *PASTORS FOR PEACE TO IMPORT CUBAN PRODUCTS IN "REVERSE CHALLENGE" TO BLOCKADE Havana, July 6 (RHC)--In Havana, the Reverend Lucius Walker of Pastors For Peace spoke with RHC about his organization's "reverse challenge" against Washington's blockade of Cuba. The 12th Pastors For Peace Friendshipment Caravan arrived in the Cuban capital on Wednesday with tons of humanitarian aid for the island, including medical equipment and school supplies. The "reverse challenge" represents the first time that the U.S. solidarity organization takes a Cuban product back to the U.S. when they wrap up their stay here. They plan to take to several U.S. cities Cuba's organic rat poison, known as BIORAT. RHC asked Reverend Walker which how the plan will violate the U.S. blockade. "We are challenging the same laws that we do with all the Caravans," Walker said. "It's the law that prevents friendship relationships between the people of Cuba and the people of the United States. It's the laws that prevent the free flow of ideas and love and friendship. For us, Biorat is not a drug. It should not be illegal to carry it, and even if it is considered by the U.S. to be illegal, we will really win the day because the item will then be a part of the public discourse of the United States, further breaking through the information blockade -- the propaganda the U.S. forces on its own people. So I think that it is an opportunity to educate and to expose the inconsistency and the narrowness of the U.S. position." Walker said that in Manhattan, for example, there are ten rats for every human inhabitant. The Friendshipment Caravan will be in Cuba until July 11. *OSPAAAL CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO RELEASE THE MIAMI 5 Havana, July 6 (RHC)--The Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL) has called on progressive forces from around the world to join an international campaign for the release and return to the island of five Cuban nationals, unjustly convicted in the U.S. In a communiqué issued by OSPAAAL on Thursday, the Havana-based NGO termed the trial against the five Cubans in Miami "fake, politically motivated and highly manipulated." OSPAAAL noted that these men's only crime -- if it could be called that -- was risking their own lives to defend their country. OSPAAAL's announcement asserts that the five men were convicted on false charges of supposedly endangering U.S. national security, when they were actually trying to expose terrorist plans against Cuba organized and financed from U.S. soil, and to prevent the deaths of innocent Cuban and U.S. citizens who could be killed as a consequence of such terrorist activities. The document highlights Cuba's legitimate right to defend its sovereignty and its territorial integrity from the constant aggression and hostility of ten successive U.S. administrations. The OSPAAAL communiqué ends by saying that the five Cubans -- Rene González Sehwerert, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodríguez, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo and Fernando González Llort -- have now joined the long list of U.S. political prisoners who are suffering the brutal repression of a system that violates their human rights. *WTO RULES IN FAVOR OF PERNOD-RICARD AGAINST BACARDI GROUP Brussels, July 6 (RHC)--The World Trade Organization issued a ruling today supporting the French company Pernod-Ricard in its case against the Bacardí group for illicit seizure of the Cuban "Havana Club" rum trademark. According to a spokesperson of the European Commission, the WTO decision gives the French company the green light to file a lawsuit against the Bacardí group before U.S. courts on charges of trademark infringement. The decision of European authorities in the case responds to a legal complaint involving the Cuban-French Havana Club Holding company and the U.S. firm Bacardí. The dispute, which ended in open conflict between the European Union and Washington, was subsequently brought before the World Trade Organization. Cuba considers Bacardí's use of the trademark to be a case of patent theft. The crux of the matter is who owns the trademark of the world-famous rum that produced in Cuba. Bacardí operates from the Bahamas yet sells rum under the Havana Club trademark as if it were Cuban rum. The company has been annually losing business in Europe as more and more people switch to the legitimate Havana Club distributed by Pernod-Ricard. The 15-member nations of the European Union support the WTO ruling. *TWO FOUND GUILTY OF SMUGGLING MIGRANTS SENTENCED IN HAVANA Havana, July 6 (RHC)--A Cuban court has sentenced a man found guilty of smuggling human beings for profit, in the process causing the death of two people, to life imprisonment. Sebino Serrano Lopez was convicted of packing 87 people onto his speedboat with the intention of transporting them to Florida. The overloaded boat capsized off the Cuban coast resulting in the drowning deaths of an adult and a child of six. A second smuggler aboard the boat was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Cuba considers the trafficking of human beings to be a very serious crime and anyone found guilty is sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison. If loss of life is involved, the sentence is life imprisonment. Although Cuba and the United States have migratory agreements signed in 1994 and 1995 which stipulate that Cubans found at sea are to be returned to Cuban shores, the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act gives any Cuban citizen that reaches dry land the right to permanent residence in the US. Havana has long denounced the Act as being responsible for luring countless Cubans to their deaths, and accuses Washington of tolerating the evil of human smuggling brought about by the legislation. Although the rightwing anti-Cuba community in Miami attempts to make political hay from those Cubans illegally leaving the island, it is acknowledged by both US and Cuban officials that almost all of those departing illegally are economic migrants, and not driven to leave the island for any political reason. *LEONARD BERNSTEIN MAKES IT TO CUBA Havana, July 6 (RHC)--The music of Leonard Bernstein will be featured in two concerts for children at the Amadeo Roldán Theater here in Havana this weekend. Jamie and Nina Bernstein, the late composer's daughters, are in Havana to coordinate a musical program entitled "The Bernstein Beat: What Makes Music Dance?" Their father presented a series of concerts for young people with the New York Philharmonic before he died in 1990 and, according to Jamie, he was very influenced by Cuban music. Jamie, who speaks Spanish, will narrate the program on Friday and Saturday nights. The music will be performed by the National Orchestra and will include excerpts from Bernstein compositions for "West Side Story," "On the Town" and "Candide." *11TH SESSION OF SPANISH-CUBAN MANAGEMENT COOPERATION COMMITTEE MEETS Havana, July 6 (RHC)--The 11th Session of the Spanish-Cuban Management Cooperation Committee entered its second day of debates here in Havana. Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez is heading the island's delegation to the important meeting. Spain is Cuba's main investment partner. Since its creation 16 years ago, the ommittee has periodically reviewed the state of Spanish-Cuban exchange, worked to clear obstacles in the way of bilateral trade and promoted joint projects on the basis of mutual benefit. On Thursday, Cuban officials gave the Spanish delegation, headed by the President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce's Council Jose Fernandez Norniella, detailed information on the current development of several Cuban economic sectors, including transportation and the sugar industry. The Spanish business executives, for their part, informed their Cuban counterparts on the trade and business opportunities offered by the Spanish market. *FRENCH JUDGES INTERROGATE CHILE'S DINA CHIEF MANUEL CONTRERAS Santiago de Chile, July 6 (RHC)--General Manuel Contreras, head of Chile's dreaded secret police, the DINA, during the Pinochet dictatorship, has responded to an interrogatory from the same French judge who is tryng to question former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Judge Roger Le Loire sent Contreras 12 questions concerning the forced disappearances of five French citizens in Chile. Contreras responded only by refusing to recognize French jurisdiction in the case. Le Loire also wants to question another 47 retired Chilean military officers and civilians, including several retired generals. Contreras is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence for the 1976 murder in Washington DC of exiled Chilean Foreign Minister, Orlando Letelier. He has also received two arrest orders in an investigation of the 1974 murder of a Chilean socialist leader, and has been named by an Argentine court investigating Operation Condor -- the repressive network set up by South America's military dictatorships in the 1970s. Meanwhile the Associated Press has broken the virtual US media silence on the Kissinger story. The media watchdog group FAIR has blasted the major U.S. networks for refusing to raise questions on the issue during several recent lengthy interviews with Kissinger. In a story datelined Santiago on July 5, AP stated in its lead that "The judge who indicted General Augusto Pinochet wants to question former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about the assassination of an American filmmaker in Chile during the former dictator's rule..." The filmmaker is Charles Horman, murdered in Chile while gathering information on the CIA's role in the bloody coup when Kissinger was Secretary of State. *FTAA PROPOSALS MADE PUBLIC IN FACE OF CONTINUED OPPOSITION Washington, July 6 (RHC)--Negotiators of the controversial Free Trade Area of the Americas have decided to publish the text of their proposals, but criticism has not subsided. In the face of widespread denunciations of the secret and anti-democratic nature of free trade talks, the FTAA Secretariat decided last Tuesday to post on the Internet the nearly 500-page rough draft that negotiators have so far composed. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Robert Zoellick and Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew called publication of the document an "unprecedented effort towards transparency," making international trade and its social and economic benefits comprehensible for the public. But Brent Blackwelder, president of the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, said the published text demonstrates that agreements reached thus far run contrary to the environment and to democracy. Blackwelder said the rough draft of the accords suggest that multinational investors will have the right to bring lawsuits against governments and challenge environmental regulations before secret and irresponsible international courts. Lori Wallach, of the group Public Citizen, expressed doubt that the published rough draft constitutes the complete text of negotiations. *ENVIRONMENTALISTS ON ALERT AGAINST NAVY USING SOUTH TEXAS AS BOMBING RANGE Washington, July 6 (RHC)--U.S. environmental organizations have issued warnings about possible plans by the US Navy to transfer its target practice range in Vieques to southern Texas. A Navy spokesman and Texas democratic legislator Solomon Ortiz have confirmed that Kennedy County, near the Gulf of Mexico, is being analyzed as a possible replacement for the Vieques target range. A local businessman there has reportedly offered to sell the Navy 20,000 thousand acres. On Thursday, the Sierra Club and the Military Toxics Project held gatherings in Austin to inform the population. Local Sierra Club director Fred Richardson said the proposed move should be seen as a possible threat. Texas politicians believe the Navy's potential presence in the County could have economic benefits. But Steve Taylor, of the Military Toxics Project, pointed out that in Vieques, the Navy has hired only 30 of the munipalicity's 9,400 residents, while unemployment on Vieques has reached 30%. Taylor's organization is campaigning for legislation that would require the U.S. Armed Forces to comply with the same environmental laws that apply to citizens and private enterprise. According to the Military Toxics Project, the U.S. military has contaminated 27,000 areas in 8,500 military properties throughout the country. . Viewpoint: *EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA - A RELATIONSHIP OF CONVENIENCE Many Latin American and Caribbean politicians and economists agree that relations with the European Union hold great strategic importance for both sides. From the European economic point of view, Latin America and the Caribbean represent vast trade and investment opportunities in a region that has been difficult to penetrate. It also offers a chance to reduce dependence on the United States. The decision to hold yearly Ibero-American Summits confirms the desire to institutionalize a dialogue among sovereign nations, without the presence of Washington. However, a study published by the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Commission, known as CEPAL, notes that the region still does not constitute a priority for direct investment by European Union nations, although there has been a definite increase in trade, led by Spain. So far, member nations of the Southern Common Market, known as MERCOSUR, have captured most of the European capital entering the region. Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia have seen the lion's share of Europe's business in the area of transportation, energy and telecommunications, as well as financial services. The commercial exchange, however, is without a doubt unequal, especially because of limitations imposed by the common agricultural policy maintained by the EU. The composition of trade, in fact, is typical of North-South relations generally: European exports are practically all manufactured products, while those from Latin America are mostly unprocessed or semi-processed raw materials which, naturally, fetch very low prices. If Europe is to continue diversifying, it is essential that it strengthen its presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. For the countries south of the Rio Grande, this would mean the possibility of working with a strong partner beyond the continent, an alternative those nations have not yet had the opportunity to develop. One thing is certain: the future of these potential commercial and economic ties will depend to a great extent on the political will of the governments on both sides of the Atlantic. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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