Radio Havana Cuba-28 June 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 28 June 2001 . *CUBA DENOUNCES ISOLATION OF 5 CUBANS CONVICTED IN MIAMI CONSPIRACY TRIAL *PARADOX OF WASHINGTON'S POLICY TOWARD CUBANS IN THE US *JACK LEMMON IS REMEMBERED AS A FRIEND OF CUBA *ISLAND'S ELECTED OFFICIALS REPORT BACK TO THEIR CONSTITUENTS *250,000 JOBS CREATED BY TOURISM OVER THE LAST DECADE *AUTHORITIES IN CHILE POISED TO SEND INTERROGATORY TO KISSINGER *COLOMBIA: FARC UNILATERALLY RELEASES 242 SOLDIERS AND POLICE *BRAZIL: 50,000 TAKE TO THE STREETS IN PROTEST OF GOVERNMENT POLICY . *CUBA DENOUNCES ISOLATION OF 5 CUBANS CONVICTED IN MIAMI CONSPIRACY TRIAL Havana, June 28 (RHC)--Cuba has denounced the cruel treatment of five Cubans falsely convicted in Miami of conspiring to spy against the U.S. government. An official, front-page note in today's edition of the Cuban news daily "Granma" informed the population that Joaquin Mendez, attorney for one of the 5, communicated to the family members of the Cuban patriots that for no apparent reason they have been confined to the isolation cells where they spent the first 17 months following their arrest. The official note states that this brutal conduct on the part of U.S. authorities might be associated with the visit to Miami of Attorney General John Ashcroft, who earlier this week had lunch with 7 prominent members of the terrorist mafia in Miami, and then dined with Jorge Mas Santos, leader of the ultra-right wing Cuban-American National Foundation. The government of Cuba stated that it will continue to increasingly expose the cynical conduct of the U.S. government and demand the release of those who heroically carried out their duty to protect the Cuban people from terrorism planned and organized in U.S. territory during the past 42 years with the direct participation, tolerance and complicity of U.S. authorities. The official communiqué also stated that the family members of the 5 Cuban patriots have been informed, and that the Cuban people will be kept up to date concerning any new information concerning their situation. Cuba has insisted that the only information gathered by the 5 Cubans pertained to terrorist plans against Cuba organized and financed in Miami, and that Cuba has no interest in or use for U.S. military secrets. [The text of the official note in english and spanish is in NY Tranfer's Caribbean newsfeed at: www.blythe.org/nytransfer-news/Caribbean/ ] *PARADOX OF WASHINGTON'S POLICY TOWARD CUBANS IN THE US Havana, 28th June (RHC)--Once Cubans make it to the United States they are restricted to one visit a year to Cuba and to sending no more than $1200 annually back to their families. These and other restrictions imposed on Cubans living in the U.S. do nothing but divide families, reports the Cuban American Alliance for Education Fund in Washington. The Fund's director, Delvis Fernandez Levy, said that although there are parents who, upon arrival in the U.S., abandon responsibility for their children back in Cuba, there are many others that are frustrated in their efforts to help them. Washington's policy relating to Cubans coming to the U.S. is a great paradox. On the one hand any Cuban that makes it to dry land in the U.S. is given automatic residency and helped to find work and housing -- unlike any other nationality. On the other, they are restricted in the aid they can render to their families back home -- unlike any other nationality. The Cuban American Alliance for Education Fund is a national non-profit organization that educates the public on Cuba-U.S. relations and seeks the elimination of restrictions on family visits to the island as well as the lifting of travel restrictions for anyone else wishing to go to Cuba. *JACK LEMMON REMEMBERED AS A FRIEND OF CUBA Havana, 28th June (RHC)--Cuba today is mourning the death of the U.S. actor Jack Lemmon. Lemmon, who died of cancer on June 27th at the age of 76, frequently showed himself a friend of the Cuban people, supporting the island's right to self-determination. Cuban film maker Juan Carlos Tabio said that he had learned a lot from what he called Lemmon's sane and very fresh sense of humor. His death, he added, was a great loss to the world cinema. In a eulogy published today, Prensa Latina news agency called Jack Lemmon one of the most "simpaticos" of his time. It recalled his highly praised role in the Costa-Gavras film "Missing," in which he played the father of a young man disappeared by the new Pinochet regime in Chile in 1973. His battle with the U.S. Embassy and the Pentagon officials who had skirted around the obviously brutal murder of his son and had given quiet support to the ruthless Pinochet, is especially significant today as the former dictator is prosecuted for crimes against humanity and his supporter, Henry Kissinger, is about to be questioned by the Chilean judge investigating the case. After the film was shown in Havana's Karl Marx Theater, Lemmon appeared on the stage afterward and received a standing ovation With scores of Chileans in exile among those present, many in the audience openly weeping. *ISLAND'S ELECTED OFFICIALS REPORT BACK TO THEIR CONSTITUENTS Havana, 28th June (RHC)--Cubans recently participated in an island-wide municipal delegate report-back to constituents. In one of the most important aspects of their jobs as representatives of the people, local elected officials are required to report on their activities to the people who elected them to office. Complaints, concerns and requests are supposed to be transmitted to the appropriate authorities in an orderly and timely manner by local delegates, who must also follow up on the response and take action if deemed necessary. If constituents feel that their elected official is not really defending their interests they can remove that person mid-term and elect someone else. The delegate's job is not one to envy. They have to fight a sometimes slow and bureaucratic system to obtain results for the people they represent who sometimes feel their delegates have not gone all-out for them. This year's main concerns focused around water supply, public lighting, the state of the nation's roads, the availability of medicines and the quality of the bread supplied by state bakeries. *250,000 JOBS CREATED BY TOURISM OVER THE LAST DECADE Havana, 28th June (RHC)--Cuba's most important industry, tourism, is responsible for providing a quarter of a million jobs in the last decade, reports Granma news daily today. With the increased number of completed hotels and their supporting services, plus the improvement of tourism facilities across the island, Cuban workers are gaining access to more and more jobs that grant them higher incomes due to their access to dollars. A more efficient system of support services now guarantees that additional money stays on the island. In the early nineties barely 12 cents of every dollar spent on the island remained in public coffers. Now the return is 61 cents and climbing. Local industries are now competing very favorably against foreign imports and Cuban beer, soft drinks, fruit juices, furniture, air-conditioners, elevators and the like can be seen everywhere. Last year an automobile factory in Guanajay outside Havana began building luxury tourist coaches that will compete with the mostly Brazilian models now used by tourists on the island. *AUTHORITIES IN CHILE POISED TO SEND INTERROGATORY TO KISSINGER Santiago de Chile, June 28 (RHC)--Chilean Judge Juan Guzman is preparing a questionnaire for former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger concerning a case of human rights abuse during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, according to the local news daily "La Nacion." The paper reported today that Guzman, investigating numerous charges against Pinochet for crimes against humanity, has almost completed a document with 30 questions related to the arrest and detention in Chile of U.S. journalist Charles Horman just days after the 1973 military takeover. Recently declassified CIA documents revealed that dictatorship officials executed Horman in the principal concentration camp in the Chilean capital set up after the coup because the journalist had discovered the participation of U.S. citizens in the planning and implementation of the military uprising against constitutionally-elected Chilean President Salvador Allende. As a result of that revelation, Joyce Horman -- the victim's widow -- has been demanding a new investigation in Washington. Judge Guzman will also send interrogatories to former U.S. ambassador in Chile, Nathaniel Davis, and to the U.S. embassy's vice consul, James Anderson. They, along with Kissinger, are believed to have been informed of Horman's arrest and to have approved of his execution. A court in France has also been attempting to question Kissinger concerning the forced disappearance of five French citizens by the Pinochet dictatorship. *COLOMBIA: FARC UNILATERALLY RELEASES 242 SOLDIERS AND POLICE La Macarena, Colombia, June 28 (RHC)--Leftist rebels in Colombia have unilaterally released another 242 soldiers and police held as prisoners of war. Some of the POWs were captured as long as three and a half years ago. Next weekend, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces insurgency plans to release another 60 soldiers and police, bringing to 302 the number of POWs who will regain their freedom as a result of what the rebels are calling a humanitarian gesture. Most of the soldiers and police were captured in 1998 in major rebel assaults against military bases in southern and southwestern Colombia, interpreted as demonstrations of their growing fire power. With the planned release next weekend, a total of 357 POWs will have been turned over to government authorities following the recent exchange of 55 soldiers and police for 14 guerrillas who had been imprisoned. During today's release, the rebel organization took advantage of the opportunity to display its military might, with more than one thousand uniformed, heavily armed guerrillas accompanying the POWs. The Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces is believed to have some 17,000 combatants. *BRAZIL: 50,000 TAKE TO THE STREETS IN PROTEST OF GOVERNMENT POLICY Brasilia, June 28 (RHC)--Close to 50,000 labor, student, social and opposition groups in Brazil Wednesday converged on the capital, Brasilia, to protest against the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Activists arrived in buses from across the country to demand an investigation of government corruption and denounce social and economic policies that have led to Brazil's energy crisis and electricity rationing. Violent clashes between demonstrators and some 4500 police -- many mounted on horses -- left several people injured. Cardoso has managed to prevent a congressional investigation of numerous charges of corruption, from embezzling public funds to buying votes during the 1998 presidential election. And while the government attributes the energy crisis to scant rain during the past five years, numerous experts have charged that authorities have not invested in electricity-generating projects. The Brazilian Workers Party recently accused the government of failing to invest in electricity generation in order to comply with a fiscal surplus agreed to with the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a $41.5 billion dollar bail-out loan. Workers Party leader Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva said the protest reflects the growing discontent with Cardoso's policies. The Brazilian president's popularity ratings have plummeted in recent months. And Lula, former steel worker and three-time presidential candidate, is the favorite to win in the presidential election in 2002, according to numerous surveys. (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-4167 2001-Jun-30 03:31:44