Radio Havana Cuba-11 September, 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 11 September 2001 . *POLITICAL LEADERS WORLDWIDE CONDEMN ATTACKS AGAINST US *CUBA WILL CONTINUE INFILTRATING AGENTS INTO USA TO PREVENT TERRORISM *CUBA REACTS TO US ACCUSATION OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMANS *SALVADOR ALLENDE REMEMBERED IN CUBA 28 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH *US INTERESTS SECTION REMAINS OPEN IN HAVANA IN WAKE OF TERRORIST ATTACK *HEAD OF ANTI-CUBA MIAMI GROUP ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION IN SPAIN . *POLITICAL LEADERS WORLDWIDE CONDEMN ATTACKS AGAINST US Washington, September 11 (RHC)--Political leaders worldwide have reacted with shock, consternation and horror following what is being called the most devastating terrorist attack in US history, comparable only to the surprise Japanese bombardment of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Civilian airliners, apparently hijacked by suicide attackers, crashed into and destroyed the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center, while one other airplane crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth, reportedly aimed for Camp David, was forced down or crashed. A powerful car bomb exploded in front of the State Department, throwing Washington and New York into chaos. Authorities in New York said the number of victims was likely be horrendous. The United States is practically isolated from the rest of the world following the closure of all the country's airports and the cancelling of all flights to the US from abroad. US military forces have been placed on maximum alert. In Cuba, President Fidel Castro called the attack a human and political catastrophe. He said that the people of Cuba shared the pain of the losses incurred by the people of the US and that Cuba was at the disposition of the people of the US for whatever modest help the island could offer -- medical or humanitarian. The Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, strongly condemned terrorism in any form and against whomever it may be. He said that Cubans had a good understanding of terrorism having suffered four decades of it, and could relate to what their neighbors were going through. At the time of the attack, the Cuban authorities offered to allow any planes in the area to make unscheduled landings on Cuban territory should the need arise. *CUBA WILL CONTINUE INFILTRATING AGENTS INTO USA TO PREVENT TERRORISM Havana, September 11 (RHC)--Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has insisted that Cuba will continue infiltrating agents into the United States to prevent terrorist actions against the island. Perez Roque said that Cuba's only option is to continue seeking out information using its own methods, in response to questions from journalists regarding the arrest in late August of another two Cuban-Americans suspected of spying on behalf of Cuba. The Cuban Foreign Minister denied, however, that Cuba's agents are spying against the US government, reiterating that Cuba seeks information concerning the activities of Cuban-American exile groups responsible for terrorist attacks like the 1997 bomb explosion in a Havana hotel that claimed the life of an Italian tourist. He added that Cuba not only has no other option, but also has the right to seek out pertinent information due to the impunity enjoyed by exile groups, principally in Miami, engaging in terrorist activities. Perez Roque said the most recent arrests constitute a maneuver aimed at influencing the sentences to be dictated against five other Cubans wrongly convicted of spying against the US government. Federal authorities arrested in late August the Cuban-American couple George and Marisol Gari, who have resided in the United States for the past 10 years. Cuban authorities have repeatedly insisted that those arrested in the United States for attempting to prevent terrorist actions against Cuba are considered heroes and patriots here on the island. *CUBA REACTS TO US ACCUSATION OF TRAFFICKING IN HUMANS Havana, September 11 (RHC)--Cuba has strongly denied reports coming out of the United States media that the island is responsible for promoting or allowing illegal trafficking of human beings. In statements on Cuban TV Monday evening, Randy Alonso, the presenter of the nightly roundtable, commented that in fact the great majority of the traffickers originate in the US and quoted figures of those arrested to prove it. Since 1998, of the 111 people arrested by Cuban authorities for trafficking in humans, 3 were US citizens, 18 were permanent US residents and 87 temporary US residents. Most are serving sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years. Havana has requested that US authorities provide any proof they may have that traffickers are operating out of Cuba and Havana will immediately take measures to arrest the individuals involved. However, said Alonso, Washington tolerates much of what goes on from the state of Florida and the speedboats that constantly run between Cuba and the US grow in number. The profits are enormous -- at $5,000 to $8,000 per head -- for a boat loaded with some 40 people. Most of the money comes from relatives in Florida, paid in cash to representatives of those operating the speedboats. This trade in human beings began in earnest after the signing of the 1994 and 1995 migratory accords between Cuba and the United States which stated that any Cubans intercepted at sea would be repatriated. This effectively put an end to slow, homemade craft and opened the way for the speedboat hustlers. The Cuban Adjustment Law of 1966 allows any Cuban reaching dry land to remain in the US. This has made the rapid launch method very popular with those who seek to leave the island for economic reasons and who have family to pay for the trip. The United States runs an annual lottery of 20,000 resident permits, but the complicated approval process and the continual denial of visas often force those who want to go to the US to use an illegal route. The charge that Cuba is responsible for the human traffic is absurd, say authorities in Havana. They point to the fact that the US promotes illegal immigration by the stupidity of its laws and that Cuba has by far and away the better record of capture and incarceration of those responsible for the traffic. *SALVADOR ALLENDE REMEMBERED IN CUBA 28 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH Havana, September 11 (RHC)--The Salvador Allende School for primary school teachers, founded in Havana in 1974, today honored the memory of Chilean President Salvador Allende, who died 28 years ago in a coup staged by General Augusto Pinochet with CIA backing. The school, which trains 3,500 teachers, has recently been restored and was reinaugurated today on the anniversary of Allende's death. Wreaths were also laid at the statue of Allende that can be found in the Vedado section of the city along the Avenida de los Presidentes. A major city artery is also named after the Chilean socialist. Salvador Allende was democratically elected president of Chile in 1970 and was forcibly removed in a coup staged by Pinochet with US backing three years later. He died in the fighting defending the presidential residence in Santiago de Chile, La Moneda Palace. A subsequent purge of his supporters resulted in the deaths of thousands -- many of them tortured beforehand. Pinochet is currently under investigation having been charged with overseeing the so-called Caravan of Death in which a squad of his troops toured prisons in Chile summarily executing political prisoners. Salvador Allende was well liked by Cuban President Fidel Castro and his death defending the freedom of his people was received with consternation in Cuba. *US INTERESTS SECTION REMAINS OPEN IN HAVANA IN WAKE OF TERRORIST ATTACK Havana, September 11 (RHC)--In the wake of the terrorist acts mounted Tuesday against the United States, the Havana US Interests Section was one of the few Washington diplomatic offices across the world to remain open. Cubans waiting to enter the Interests Section were not subjected to any more delay than usual and no extra security was in evidence. Roads around the Interests Section remained open and the only concern was shown by Cubans for the innocent people killed in New York and elsewhere in the worst attack against the US since Pearl Harbor in 1941. Foreign diplomats doing service in Havana have often said how much safer Cuba is than almost anywhere else in the world both on an official as well as a personal basis. *HEAD OF ANTI-CUBA MIAMI GROUP ACCUSED OF CORRUPTION IN SPAIN Madrid, September 11 (RHC)--Political opposition and labor organizations in Spain have demanded government participation in a court case in Miami in which Jorge Mas Santos is accused of corruption. The leader of Miami's ultra-right wing Cuban-American National Foundation has been accused in a federal court of financially gutting the Spanish firm Sintel, which he bought in 1996. Spain's United Left coalition, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, and the labor organizations Workers Commissions and General Workers Union recalled that not only some 2,000 Sintel workers were affected, but so, too, was the Spanish government, which has had to play a bail-out role in the bankruptcy. Mas Santos is accused of pocketing seven million dollars and leaving the firm's workers without paychecks or jobs. The Spanish government was forced to assume the cost of back pay and severance pay to the tune of 160 million dollars. (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-2907 2001-Sep-11 23:08:30