Radio Havana Cuba-31 October 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 31 October 2001 [RHC's connectivity problems continue, but we managed to obtain their French, Spanish and English news for October 31. as of midnight, we are still attempting to get the Portuguese news.-- NY Transfer] . *MOZAMBICAN PRESIDENT JOAQUIM CHISSANO CONTINUES OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA *HAVANA'S TRADE FAIR DEMONSTRATES GROWING BUSINESS CONFIDENCE IN CUBA *"LA RUMBA SOY YO" WINS LATIN GRAMMY FOR BEST FOLKLORIC ALBUM *PRESIDENT OF PRINCIPALITY OF ASTURIAS ARRIVES IN HAVANA *U.S. BOMBS OVER AFGHANISTAN HIT HOSPITAL IN KANDAHAR, KILLING 15 *BROAD-BASED POST-TALIBAN AFGHAN GOVERNMENT UNLIKELY, SAYS UN OFFICIAL *"WASHINGTON POST" BLASTS U.S. GOVERNMENT SECRECY ON 1,000 DETAINEES *WHITE HOUSE ON THE DEFENSIVE OVER LATEST WARNING OF IMMINENT TERROR ATTACK *TALIBAN STILL DEFIANT AFTER FOUR WEEKS OF BOMBARDMENT Viewpoint: *ARGENTINA: UP AGAINST AN ECONOMIC WALL *AS WAR FALTERS, US ENACTS NEW REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION . *MOZAMBICAN PRESIDENT JOAQUIM CHISSANO CONTINUES OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA Havana, October 31 (RHC)-- Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano continues his official visit to the island, with tours of the Cuban capital, Old Havana and the province of Matanzas. On Tuesday, the African leader visited the Jose Marti Memorial, located in Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion. He later toured the Latin American School of Medicine and the International School of Sports and Physical Education. Speaking with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Mozambique's president affirmed that the world is at a dangerous crossroads. He said one of today's major concerns is poverty, but that wars and conflicts are getting all the attention. Joaquim Chissano said: "In our opinion, the fight against poverty and the search for solutions to the most urgent problems of humanity are the only way to resolve conflicts." The Mozambican president noted that the international situation is affecting the economies of many countries around the world, creating divisions and fueling hatred. "We must discover the fundamental, root causes of these conflicts and do whatever we can to eliminate them." He added that his country is deeply concerned about Washington's attacks on Afghanistan and the loss of innocent lives. On Wednesday, the African leader traveled to the province of Matanzas and toured Playa Giron, also known as the Bay of Pigs -- site of the 1961 CIA-sponsored invasion of the island. Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano will visit numerous places of social and economic interest during his stay in Cuba, which ends Saturday, November 3rd. *HAVANA'S TRADE FAIR DEMONSTRATES GROWING BUSINESS CONFIDENCE IN CUBA Havana, October 31 (RHC)-- Havana's 19th International Trade Fair is well underway at the EXPOCUBA exhibition center. More than 1800 companies from 60 countries are represented at this year's event. Cuba's Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez told reporters covering the international exhibit that the increased participation is evidence of growing business confidence in Cuba. While touring the Canadian pavilion at the Trade Fair, the island's foreign trade minister noted that commercial trade between Havana and Ottawa so far this year has risen by 18 percent with respect to the same period of time last year. Havana's International Trade Fair runs through Sunday, November 4th. *"LA RUMBA SOY YO" WINS LATIN GRAMMY FOR BEST FOLKLORIC ALBUM Los Angeles, October 31 (RHC)-- The long-awaited announcement of the winners of this year's Latin Grammy Awards brought good news to Bis Music in Havana. The Best Folkoric Album Award went to Cuban producer Cary Diez and arranger Joaquin Betancourt for their powerful, multi-artist compilation of authentic rumba called "La Rumba Soy Yo." Bis Music produced the award-winning album. The winners of the Second Annual Latin Grammy Awards -- an event that was moved from Miami to Los Angeles because of anti-Cuban protests in southern Florida, and then put on hold in the wake of the events of September 11th -- were finally announced Tuesday evening at a news conference in Los Angeles. Cuban nominees for the Grammys -- including salsa singer Issac Delgado and pianist Chucho Valdez -- traveled to the United States in early September for the awards ceremony. But the musicians returned to Havana following the abrupt cancellation of the event, which had been scheduled for the same night as the attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Before coming back home, the Cuban musicians donated blood at a local children's hospital in Los Angeles -- a donation for the victims of the tragic events of September 11th. *PRESIDENT OF PRINCIPALITY OF ASTURIAS ARRIVES IN HAVANA Havana, October 31 (RHC)-- The President of the Principality of Asturias, Vicente Alberto Alvarez Areces, arrived in Havana Wednesday evening. The official visit of the Asturian leader fulfills an invitation by Cuban President Fidel Castro. President Alvarez Areces is accompanied by a large delegation of government officials and business representatives from the Spanish autonomous community. This is the first visit of the Asturian president since taking office in July 1999. During their stay -- which runs through Sunday, November 4th -- the Asturian delegation will visit places of interest and plans to meet with members of the Asturian community in Cuba. *U.S. BOMBS OVER AFGHANISTAN HIT HOSPITAL IN KANDAHAR, KILLING 15 Kabul, October 31 (RHC)-- U.S. bombs over the southern Afghan city of Kandahar reportedly hit a hospital and a home, claiming the lives of 15 civilians. The attack on Kandahar began several hours after a group of 29 Pakistani and western journalists arrived in the city on the first Taliban-conducted tour there since air raids began four three weeks ago. The journalists were taken to a hospital of the Afghan Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, where Doctor Obeidallah Hadid said 15 people had been killed and 25 severely injured. Reporters could not see the bodies, but saw some of the injured. They were also able to see extensive damage to the clinic and to the bombarded home. In western Herat province, there were reports that residents in Jabraheel - the site of several UN refugee camps - have found small explosives the Taliban say were dropped two nights ago when the U.S.-led coalition used cluster bombs. One person reportedly died after picking up a small bomb, though this could not be independently confirmed. Meanwhile, amid daily reports of civilian victims - many independently confirmed - the executive director of the CNN TV network, Walter Issacson, has called on reporters to not concentrate solely on producing images of the devastation and destruction in Afghanistan. According to "The Washington Post", Issacson called for more balance, terming as perverse too much coverage of the victims and devastation. *BROAD-BASED POST-TALIBAN AFGHAN GOVERNMENT UNLIKELY, SAYS UN OFFICIAL Islamabad, October 31 (RHC)-- The United Nations special representative for Afghanistan has affirmed that there are many Afghan exile leaders but little unity. Following two days of talks with exile groups in Pakistan, UN official Lajdar Ibrahimi stated that he still has no guarantee that an eventual fall of the Taliban regime won't lead to another civil war in Afghanistan. Ibrahimi's consultations coincide with a series of visits by western diplomats to Afghanistan's neighboring countries in an effort to hammer out a political accord in a post-Taliban Afghanistan that would be acceptable to all parties, but the UN official said there is little perspective for such an eventuality. Ibrahimi added that the UN objective of promoting a broad-based government in Afghanistan comes up against the country's extreme poverty, the latent distrust among its ethnic groups, its culture of violence and the abundance of weapons. He said a significant sector of Muyahidin leaders have a long history of political betrayal and the establishment of alliances of convenience based on personal interests. *"WASHINGTON POST" BLASTS U.S. GOVERNMENT SECRECY ON 1,000 DETAINEES Washington, October 31 (RHC)-- "The Washington Post" has blasted the U.S. government's refusal to release information regarding the more than 1000 persons detained in its investigation of the September 11 terrorist attacks. In its lead editorial Wednesday, the news daily affirmed that it shouldn't be necessary for civil liberties and other groups to resort to filing a request for the data under the Freedom of Information Act. The editorial noted that the Justice Department not only refuses to provide the answers, but also doesn't give a serious explanation of why it won't provide them. Admitting that authorities have an enormously difficult task in the prosecution of any surviving conspirators and the prevention of a recurrence of the attacks, the Post editorial asserted that at the same time - lest it abandon some of the very principles it is fighting - the government must act within traditional constitutional bounds. Recalling that Attorney General John Ashcroft has denied that the arrests have exceeded those bounds, the editorial affirmed that if the government's response has been as benign as claimed, why not release the data and put the questions that have come to arise at rest. Meanwhile, the AP news agency in New York Wednesday reported another denunciation of abuse against those arrested. Saudi Arabian Yazeed al-Salmi, a former room mate of one of the hijackers, told AP after his release that he and others were treated worse than animals, isolated, blindfolded, stripped, beaten and prevented from sleeping. *WHITE HOUSE ON THE DEFENSIVE OVER LATEST WARNING OF IMMINENT TERROR ATTACK Washington, October 31 (RHC)-- Numerous media outlets are reporting that White House officials found themselves on the defensive Tuesday after Americans reacted more with bemusement than alarm to the administration's warning to be on alert because of a new "credible but non-specific" threat of a terrorist attack. In TV appearances and then at a press conference, Washington's Director of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, gave what the British news daily "The Guardian" called a "spluttering" defense of the decision to go public on the subject at all, admitting that it had been a marginal one. Ridge also gathered with congressional leaders expressing concern over the public alert, some of whom where saying that there was also concern that too many warnings could lead the population to not take them seriously. Illinois democratic Senator Richard Durbin expressed doubts over the practical aim of warnings that only generate more fear. *TALIBAN STILL DEFIANT AFTER FOUR WEEKS OF BOMBARDMENT Kabul, October 31 (RHC)-- After four weeks of air raids the Taliban regime continues expressing defiance, asserting that it won't be easily defeated. Taliban Education Minister Amir Jan Muttaqi, also spokesperson for supreme leader mullah Mohammed Omar, Wednesday told the Associated Press news agency that Afghanistan's lack of sophistication is precisely why it can't be easily defeated. He said the country has no sophisticated computer, communications and aviation systems - that it lacks an infrastructure whose destruction would plunge the nation into chaos. Viewpoint: *ARGENTINA: UP AGAINST AN ECONOMIC WALL The feeble attempts by Argentine president Fernando de la Rua to appear optimistic by assuring the people that there will be no devaluation of the national currency nor will the government end its foreign debt payments, is nothing more than a last ditch effort to try and stop his popularity from plummeting. Just a few hours after this week's free fall of the Argentine markets and the country's soaring risk index, the Argentine president insists on ignoring the unmistakable demands for change reflected in the elections held earlier this month. Members of the ruling government Alliance suffered a crushing defeat and not only did the Peronists emerge victorious, but voters made it clear that they wanted De la Rua to make major changes in his economic program. Even though the president has done everything in his power to soothe the public by promising not to apply new economic measures, the delay in that announcement and the drop in international confidence regarding Argentina's ability to pay its debts, has sent markets into a nose dive and pushed up the country's risk factors to an all time high bestowing on the South American nation the dubious honor of ranking among the world's least desirable countries for investment. Also contributing to the sharp drop in the Buenos Aries markets are serious problems in coming to an agreement with the country's governors who are demanding more than a billion dollars monthly to pay off budget deficits. In the midst of their manifest inability to end the crisis, Argentine officials insist on keeping in place a zero-deficit plan, which contemplates the lowering of salaries and pensions by up to 13 percent in a desperate attempt to balance the national budget. Tens of thousands of unemployed, that block the country's highways, strikers and other sectors are demanding the elimination of the plan. The head of the Argentine cabinet, Cristian Colombo, issued a pathetic call to political and social sectors and the business community to come to some sort of national understanding to try and save the sinking economy, but his plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears. But how can a consensus be reached in a country that has had eight economic adjustment packages foisted on it the last few years alone, by three economic ministers appointed one after the other since December l999? After 41 months of recession, Argentina's future looks dim. Now, not even support from the International Monetary can be held out as the "solution". Not after the long series of previous loans have only served to put off the inevitable total bankruptcy of the national economy. *AS WAR FALTERS, US ENACTS NEW REPRESSIVE LEGISLATION Three weeks of intense bombing of Afghanistan has failed to produce the announced collapse of the government. Nor has the anti-Taliban alliance been able to reclaim a square meter of territory. Meanwhile, international rejection of the war has begun to open the eyes of many. The United States and Great Britain can only show the dubious results of their massive bombardments, plagued by mistakes which have troubled many people. As time goes on it will be difficult to maintain Muslim support especially if the attacks continue during Ramadan which signals the most sacred month for believers of that religion. But as the military adventure, the first of the Third Millennium, begins to spring leaks on various fronts, the United States has passed a worrisome new anti-terrorist law. On Friday President George W. Bush signed legislation that has greatly troubled humanitarian and civil rights organizations. Under this new draconian law, intelligence agencies are authorized to carry out secret operations listening, watching and reading the communications of anyone they suspect could be planning terrorist acts. This will mean the loss of privacy in one fell swoop. Now telephone conversations can be listened in on without a warrant, microphones can be planted in homes and automobiles, in offices or in all three places . People's most intimate activities can be spied upon and the courts will be unable to interfere. But that is just the beginning. Now the CIA finally has something it has been desiring for decades: it can now legally mount covert and open actions inside the United States. Not that anyone believes it wasn't already done, but it was done clandestinely and exposure could bring legal action against the spy agency. Among the many troubling issues is that those who exercise their constitutional right to assemble, that is, participants or promoters of protest demonstrations, could for political reasons, be interpreted as pro -"terrorist". Finally, if you have the bad luck of being an undocumented immigrant in the United States, now you can be detained without a legal order and be held to obtain information seven full days before being turned over to a court of law. This law has brought new fears to the common people in the United States, not from far away foreign enemies, but from the very institutions that are designed to protect them and insure their security. More and more the United States is looking like the police states it so loudly deplores. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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