Radio Havana Cuba-23 October 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 23 October 2001 [CORRECTION: Some e-mailed copies of yesterday's (Oct 22) RHC report were misheaded Oct 21, although all the news was properly datelined, and the correct headers appear in the reports on our websites websites at http://www.radiohc.org and http://www.blythe.org. We apologize for the error -- NY Transfer News] . *CARIBBEAN NATIONS SHARE CUBA'S POSITION AGAINST TERRORISM AND AGAINST WAR, SAYS PRIME MINISTER OF DOMINICA *CENTER FOR TRANSLATION & INTERPRETATION (ESTI) CELEBRATES 28th ANNIVERSARY *CHINESE PARLIAMENTARY LEADER TO VISIT CUBA *HAVANA'S INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR GEARS UP *JOURNALIST ROBERT FISK ASKS HOW MANY MORE INNOCENT PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO DIE IN ILL-NAMED "WAR ON TERRORISM" *TENSIONS ON THE RISE IN COLOMBIA AS REBEL-GOVERNMENT PROCESS ON ITS DEATHBED *ARIEL SHARON DEFIES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WITH ATTACKS AGAINST AUTONOMOUS PALESTINIAN ZONES *PAKISTANI POLICE ADOPT DRASTIC MEASURES TO PREVENT ANTI-US PROTEST *VIETNAMESE WAR VETS SAY US ARMY HAS LEARNED LITTLE FROM ITS LAST DEFEAT *EGYPTIAN NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHES CHILLING PHOTO OF TWO AFGHAN CHILDREN KILLED BY US BOMBS Viewpoint: *INVENTORS OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE NOW EXPERIENCE ITS HORRIFYING EFFECTS . *CARIBBEAN NATIONS SHARE CUBA'S POSITION AGAINST TERRORISM AND AGAINST WAR, SAYS PRIME MINISTER OF DOMINICA Havana, October 23 (RHC)-- The Caribbean shares Cuba's position against terrorism and against war, according to the visiting Prime Minister of Dominica, Pierre Charles. Pierre Charles, who arrived in Havana on Saturday for an official visit, expressed his nation's willingness to contribute to the international fight against terrorism under the leadership of the United Nations. On Tuesday, Pierre Charles presided over the signing of a bilateral agreement related to the granting of visas. The Caribbean dignitary also placed a floral wreath at the Jose Marti Monument, located in Havana's Revolution Square. Cuba and the Commonwealth of Dominica have long maintained cooperation relations. Cuba has trained 70 specialists from the small, Eastern-Caribbean Island. More than 280 others are currently studying university careers here in Cuba in different sectors and there are also Cuban doctors offering their services in health institutions in the Commonwealth of Dominica. *CENTER FOR TRANSLATION & INTERPRETATION (ESTI) CELEBRATES 28th ANNIVERSARY Havana, October 23 (RHC)-- Today marks the 28th anniversary of the Cuban Center for Translation and Interpretation -- known by its Spanish acronym of ESTI. The Center, established on October 23, 1973, translates documents and speeches into 17 different languages. According to Laurie Northstrum, one of 46 people who work in the English-language Department of ESTI, perhaps the most widely-used language internationally is English. "For the last few years and especially with this whole process of what is called "the Battle of Ideas" -- which began with the Elian case and has continued on -- it has been considered very important that Cuba's message reaches the world, and that it reaches the world in as many languages as possible. So, what happens is that as soon as an editorial is printed, a speech is made or a declaration is issued, it is immediately translated into seven core languages that we have here at ESTI". *CHINESE PARLIAMENTARY LEADER TO VISIT CUBA Havana, October 23 (RHC)-- The President of the Permanent Committee of the Chinese Parliament, Li Peng, will visit Cuba next month as part of an international tour that also includes Argentina, Uruguay, Algeria and Tunisia. Li Peng, who is a member of the Permanent Committee of the Chinese Communist Party's Political Bureau, has presided over the Chinese Parliament, also known as the People's National Assembly, since March 1998. During his stay in Cuba, the Chinese legislator will meet with his Cuban counterpart, Ricardo Alarcon, and other political leaders with whom he will review the current state of bilateral relations, as well as discuss other issues of common interest. *HAVANA'S INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR GEARS UP Havana, October 23 (RHC)-- With less than one week away from the opening of Havana's 19th International Fair, FIHAV 2001, 1200 companies from 60 countries have already confirmed their participation. The Havana International Fair is considered to be among the most important trade events in all of Latin America. Also within the framework of the fair, the Cuban Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas, and Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez, will offer lectures and presentations on Cuba's potential for business, as well as current legislation that regulates joint ventures on the island. *JOURNALIST ROBERT FISK ASKS HOW MANY MORE INNOCENT PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO DIE IN ILL-NAMED "WAR ON TERRORISM" London, October 23 (RHC) -- Journalist Robert Fisk has asserted that as the Afghan refugees turn up in their thousands at the Pakistani border, it is palpably evident that they are fleeing not the Taliban, but US bombs and missiles. Writing in the Tuesday edition of the British news daily "The Independent", Fisk said the Taliban is not ethnically cleansing its own Pashtun population, and the refugees fleeing the bombs are terrified of the US's "war on terror" - calling them victims as innocent as those who were slaughtered in the World Trade Center on 11 September. Asking where do we stop, the article affirmed that as the casualties mount with ever more frightful stories of civilians buried under ruins and children torn to pieces by the bombs, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will not be able to ridicule those deaths much longer - as he did when television crews were able to find 18 fresh graves in the devastated village of Khorum outside Jalalabad just over a week ago. Fisk wrote that once the winter storms breeze down the mountain gorges of Afghanistan, a tragedy is likely to commence, one which no spin doctor or propaganda expert will be able to divert. He said the figure of 6,000 killed in the World Trade Center remains as awesome as it did in the days that followed, but what happens when the deaths in Afghanistan begin to approach the same figure, or double that figure, or reach 24,000. This particular war is, wrote Robert Fisk, as Mr. Bush said, going to be "unlike any other" - but not quite the way he thinks. He concluded that it's not going to lead to justice or freedom, rather, it's likely to culminate in deaths that will diminish in magnitude even the crime against humanity on 11 September. *TENSIONS ON THE RISE IN COLOMBIA AS REBEL-GOVERNMENT PROCESS ON ITS DEATHBED Bogotá, October 23 (RHC) -- Rising tensions between the Colombian government and leftist rebels are threatening to totally derail the peace process at any moment. Colombia's Attorney General's office has issued arrest warrants against the 7 principle leaders of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces for the kidnapping and alleged murder of a former culture minister late last month. At the same time, the rebel organization has again conditioned its presence at peace talks to the government's resolve in fighting right-wing paramilitaries. Just days ago, guerrilla leaders said they would not participate in further peace talks as long as the Colombian military continues penetrating and over flying the demilitarized zone in the south that has been the site of rebel-government negotiations - a demand that authorities rejected. The leader of President Andres Pastrana's Conservative Party, Carlos Holguin, Tuesday called on Colombians to prepare themselves for an imminent suspension of the rebel-government peace process and an intensification of political violence. Observers believe that a rupture in the peace process will lead to total war in Colombia - particularly in light of legislative elections in March, presidential elections in May and the US's war against terrorism, which, according to some, could also eventually target Colombian guerrillas. In the face of this possibility, some Colombian news dailies and commentators and political and humanitarian leaders are calling for United Nations mediation to promote an urgent gathering between Pastrana and rebel leader Manuel Marulanda. *ARIEL SHARON DEFIES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WITH ATTACKS AGAINST AUTONOMOUS PALESTINIAN ZONES Tel Aviv, October 23 (RHC) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is defying the United States and practically the rest of the international community, insisting that he will continue what is being called the largest military offensive against autonomous Palestinian territories in the West Bank. With Washington now anxious to end the violence in occupied territories, tensions increased when Palestinians accused Israel of Monday evening's car bomb assassination of a Palestinian activist in Nablus. The US government initially reacted to the military offensive - launched following the assassination of an ultra right-wing member of Sharon's cabinet - expressing hopes that the operation wouldn't last long. But Monday, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker called on one of Washington's closest allies to immediately cease the military incursions. But Sharon invoked what he called Israel's right to self-defense, while Transportation Minister Efraim Sneh said Israel doesn't take orders from anyone. *PAKISTANI POLICE ADOPT DRASTIC MEASURES TO PREVENT ANTI-US PROTEST Islamabad, October 23 (RHC) -- Police in Pakistan erected sandbag barricades in the city of Jacobabad as Islamic militants threatened to overrun the local airbase used by US warplanes bombarding Afghanistan. More than one hundred protesters were arrested, after authorities detained over the weekend hundreds of Islamic militants in an effort to prevent an anti-US demonstration in the city. Authorities had also prevented the leader of the country's largest Islamic organization, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, from traveling to the site of the protest. The headquarters of the organization, the Jamaat-e-Islami Party, had already been surrounded in Karachi, capital of Sindh Province. Police had also blocked and patrolled all accesses to the city, arresting Islamic militants arriving to participate in the protest. Pakistan's military regime offered Washington at least three airports to launch attacks against Afghanistan, angering the country's religious organizations. Violent protests last week in Jacobabad left one person killed and more than 20 injured. *VIETNAMESE WAR VETS SAY US ARMY HAS LEARNED LITTLE FROM ITS LAST DEFEAT Hanoi, October 23 (RHC) -- Vietnamese war veterans have asserted that US military leaders haven't learned any lessons from the 58,000 soldiers they lost in Vietnam. Seventy-four year-old retired Colonel Vu Le Thi said Washington will have to change its strategy and tactics if the US army doesn't want to slowly cave in as it did in Vietnam. Now 72, retired Lieutenant Colonel Pham The Hao, - who fought for 15 years against American troops - noted that although Afghanistan is different from Vietnam, incessant bombardments and even the use of chemical weapons never dislodged the guerrillas and militia from their tunnel hideouts in the Vietnamese jungle. Though US soldiers are better equipped today, he said, they aren't accustomed to carrying out land operations in regions with harsh landscapes and climate. Hao said the US army didn't even manage to stop North Vietnamese military operations along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. He said he fought against the Americans in South Vietnam, and that it wasn't difficult routing US soldiers from the zones where their bombardments had little effect. *EGYPTIAN NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHES CHILLING PHOTO OF TWO AFGHAN CHILDREN KILLED BY US BOMBS Cairo, October 23 (RHC) -- An Egyptian news weekly has published a chilling photo of two Afghan children killed by US warplanes, which observers say will fuel the flames of anti-American sentiments in Islamic countries. The nationalist Egyptian publication "Al Usbua" has distributed the photo throughout the world. While state-owned media outlets in Arab countries are more cautious about what they print, the images of the wounded in hospitals in Kabul published by independent Arab news sources are increasingly infuriating Muslim populations. With protests on the rise in countries like Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait's foreign ministry has insisted that US warplanes are not taking off from that country. The Islamic faction in Kuwait's Parliament has nevertheless condemned the military strikes against Afghanistan. Islamic legislator in Kuwait, Chaled el Audwa, called the war senseless, affirming that electricity plants and aqueducts are under attack - forcing Afghanistan's impoverished population to drink contaminated water. Viewpoint: *INVENTORS OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE NOW EXPERIENCE ITS HORRIFYING EFFECTS Anthrax, or Carbuncle, is a little-known disease in the developed world but endemic in the poor nations, particularly in Latin America, Asia and Africa, where many contract the infection through contact with warm-blooded animals including sheep, goats, pigs and llamas. Though many people of the South have come into contact with the Anthrax bacterium, its use as a weapon presupposes a technology and financial backing which could only come from the industrialized world. At the moment, all eyes are focused on certain nations for geopolitical reasons, such as Iraq for example. But we must not forget that the United States, Great Britain and the former Soviet Union were the nations that experimented with using anthrax as a weapon of war. And of those three nations, the title of "father" of biological warfare belongs to the United States -- a nation that has used such techniques in various parts of the world. Who can ever forget the devastation of "Agent Orange" which was sprayed over massive areas of Vietnam, the effects of which are still being felt by current generations. If we agree with the former UN envoy Richard Butler, who supervised disarmament in Iraq, that if a person or group sends Anthrax spores by mail for the purpose of fomenting fear and causing the deaths of multitudes of people, they are committing an act of terrorism, we must ask what about those who dropped tons of deadly chemicals on defenseless villages in Southeast Asia? What about those who used depleted uranium as a conventional weapon, disregarding the effects it had on its own troops and those of its allies in the war against Yugoslavia? It is a criminal act to spawn terror by sending contaminated mail, whether the victim is a senator or a postal worker, just as it was a criminal act to introduce dengue fever in Cuba, knowing that it would kill many people. And what about diseases which, rather than affecting human beings, destroy the environment or food production which people rely on for their very lives? What about swine fever, blue mold or the most recent biological attack against Cuba, the Thrips Palmi plague, dropped over Cuba during one of its worst economic and food crises ever? Though the "father" of biological warfare is well known, no one in Cuba is happy to see the suffering and fear of the U.S. people, or to witness innocent people dying. For those who are responsible for terrorist acts committed against a tiny country whose only crime is trying to be what it wants for the last 40 years, we simply want to recall a popular refrain in Cuba: "What you don't wish for yourself, don't wish for anyone" -- or in other words: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Wonder if they have heard of that one in Washington. (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-8573 2001-Oct-24 03:24:11