Radio Havana Cuba-12 September 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 12 September 2001 . *CUBA REACTS WITH HORROR AND SYMPATHY TO ATTACKS ON US *MEXICAN POLITICIANS PRAISE CUBA'S SOLIDARITY WITH US PEOPLE *PRESIDENT OF MALI ARRIVES IN CUBA FOR OFFICIAL VISIT *US PACIFISTS CALL ON WASHINGTON TO STOP ATTACKING CIVILIANS *PALESTINIANS SAY ISRAEL IS USING TERRORIST TO JUSTIFY INCREASED REPRESSION *ATTACK ON NY, WASHINGTON SPARKS RENEWED CRITICISM OF STAR WARS *CHILE REMEMBERS ALLENDE AND US TERRORISM DURING PINOCHET REGIME . *CUBA REACTS WITH HORROR AND SYMPATHY TO ATTACKS ON US Havana, September 12 (RHC)--In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks against the United States, the Cuban press has dedicated important space to condemning the events of Tuesday in which the death toll is expected to reach many thousands. After repeating the words of President Fidel Castro -- in which he condemned the attacks outright and offered medical and other humanitarian aid -- newspapers, radio and TV programs said how much the people of Cuba felt the pain and sadness of their neighbors in the north. Granma newspaper devoted three of its eight pages to the events as did Juventud Rebelde, terming the attacks a tragedy for the world and repeating the words of Fidel Castro calling for an international fight against terrorism which he referred to as "a plague." The Cuban leader said that in his opinion the most important duty any US leader had today was to fight terrorism but that in the emotions and stress of the next few days he hoped Washington acts with equanimity in finding the perpetrators of the catastrophe and put aside blinding hatred in applying any sanctions. The Cuban president's position was supported by the people in the street that everywhere on the island declared their horror for what had happened, many of them having relatives that live in New York. *MEXICAN POLITICIANS PRAISE CUBA'S SOLIDARITY WITH US PEOPLE Mexico City, September 12 (RHC)--In Mexico, politicians from across the political spectrum have congratulated Cuba for its magnanimity in offering both moral and material support to the United States government in its time of need -- in spite of the 40 years of economic, political and military attacks it has perpetrated against the island. The president the Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD, Hatuey Decamps, paid tribute to Cuba's solidarity, while Sergio Acosta of the same party said that he found Havana's offer to be modest and unassuming. He praised Cuba's immediate offer, Tuesday, to allow any commercial aircraft unable to land in the US to land on Cuban territory. Tarcisio Navarrete from the National Action Party said that the Cuban reaction was an example of how other people's misery and suffering can overcome political differences. He commended the island for offering to send blood and plasma to both New York and Washington. It was noted that the Cuban government has never sown seeds of hatred toward the people of the US in its ideological battle against its powerful northern neighbor. *PRESIDENT OF MALI ARRIVES IN CUBA FOR OFFICIAL VISIT Havana, September 12 (RHC)--The President of the African nation of Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, began an official visit to Cuba today with a meeting with Cuban President Fidel Castro. The president of Mali, who was welcomed at Havana's airport Tuesday by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, is accompanied by a delegation, which includes his Foreign Minister, Modibo Sidibe. They will be visiting areas of interest in economic, scientific and historical categories on the island through the 15th September. Mali, which has the same size population as Cuba, is only able to cultivate 26.3% of its territory due to drought. The infant mortality rate is high at 150 per 1000 live births and average life expectancy is 46 years. Improved relations with Cuba are expected to involve medical assistance to the African nation and well as agricultural technology exchange. *US PACIFISTS CALL ON WASHINGTON TO STOP ATTACKING CIVILIANS New York, September 12 (RHC)--While expressing compassion and condolences for the victims of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, and condemning the actions without reserve, the New York-based pacifist organization War Resisters League has urged President Bush to also not continue to target civilians. This, said the organization, would mean an end to the sanctions against Iraq that have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The statement by the War Resisters League said it would mean not only a condemnation of terrorism by Palestinians, but also the policy of assassination against the Palestinian leadership by Israel, the ruthless repression of the Palestinian population and the continuing occupation by Israel of the West Bank and Gaza. The organization said the policies of the United States have resulted in millions of deaths, from the historic tragedy of the Indochina war to the funding of death squads in Central America. The War Resisters League recalled that Washington's early support of armed resistance in Afghanistan resulted in the victory of the Islamic extremist Taliban and the creation of Osama Bin Laden, now considered by the US the world's number one terrorist. The statement calls on Washington to seek an end to the militarism that has characterized the nation for decades and to seek a world in which security is gained through disarmament, international cooperation and social justice. *PALESTINIANS SAY ISRAEL IS USING TERRORIST TO JUSTIFY INCREASED REPRESSION Gaza, September 12 (RHC)--The Palestinian National Authority has accused Israel of using the terrorist attacks against the United States to justify its repression of the Palestinian people. While the Palestinian leadership and numerous Palestinian organizations and individuals have expressed sincere condolences for the American victims of the attacks, Israeli media outlets are highlighting the images of some Palestinians who celebrated the tragedy. According to the Israeli news daily "Haaretz," members of the Israeli military purposely filmed the scenes of celebration to distribute to local media outlets. The action coincided with the largest Israeli military incursion into Palestinian territories since the Intifada began a year ago. Israeli tanks and attack helicopters penetrated several areas in one city and three towns in Gaza and the West Bank, killing 12 Palestinians -- among them a girl aged 11 -- and wounding more than 100. Meanwhile, newspapers throughout the Arab world are condemning the terrorist attack, though some are attributing the tragedy to Washington's unconditionally pro-Israeli Middle East policy. *ATTACK ON NY, WASHINGTON SPARKS RENEWED CRITICISM OF STAR WARS Washington, Spain, September 12 (RHC)--The terrorist attacks against the United States are beginning to spark renewed criticism of President George Bush's Star Wars project. Aldo Vacs, Political Science Professor at New York's Skidmore College, has criticized the Bush administration's insistence on prioritising a space-based strategic missile defense system based on the assumption that a terrorist attack against the US would be launched from a rogue country. He noted that numerous experts and members of Congress have repeatedly insisted that the greatest terrorist threat is from those inside the country capable of placing a bomb near a nuclear facility or hijacking a plane. Diverse media outlets are also questioning Star Wars. Spain's "El Pais" news daily wrote that the manner in which the attacks were planned and carried out demonstrates the absurdity and uselessness of Bush's anti-missile shield. The Spanish news daily asserted that good intelligence, based on an indispensable international cooperation, is worth more than any number of nuclear shields. *CHILE REMEMBERS ALLENDE AND US TERRORISM DURING PINOCHET REGIME Santiago de Chile, September 12 (RHC)--Tuesday's terrorist attacks in the United States eclipsed activities in Chile on the 28th anniversary of the Pinochet coup, but participants in the solemn commemoration recalled Washington's role in the establishment of a terrorist regime in that nation. During the activities in memory of the dictatorship's victims, Chilean human rights activists expressed their condolences for the victims of the terrorist attacks, while pointing to the increasingly abundant evidence of the US government's direct involvement in the bloody, 1973 overthrow of constitutionally-elected Chilean President Salvador Allende. Nevertheless, Allende's widow, Hortensia Bussi, noted that there is still a great deal of information about the coup and the Pinochet regime that hasn't surfaced. Mireya Garcia, vice president of the Group of Family Members of the Detained and Disappeared, also expressed her solidarity with the American people, though adding that neither can there be justification for the assassins of the Palestinian and Chilean peoples. Chilean justice is attempting to question former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger concerning human rights abuse in Chile, while family members of an assassinated Chilean army commander loyal to President Allende have filed a lawsuit against Kissinger in a US federal court, accusing him of conspiracy in the assassination plot. In related news, violence broke out following the solemn commemoration when residents of poor neighborhoods in Santiago de Chile and other Chilean cities threw up barricades and engaged in pitched battles with police to protest the September 11th, 1973 military takeover. One person was killed, several wounded and 257 arrested during the disturbances. Two police officers were wounded by gunfire. During the so-called Day of National Unity on September 3rd -- a date established to replace the dictatorship's traditional September 11th holiday -- 2 people were also killed, though disturbances were not as intense as last year. Peaceful commemorations Tuesday evening included the lighting of hundreds of candles in front of the National Stadium that served as a mass detention and torture center in the days and weeks following the coup. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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