Radio Havana Cuba-28 September 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 28 September 2001 . *CDRs CELEBRATE THEIR ANNIVERSARY WITH NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS *CUBA PREPARES THE WAY FOR HIGHER QUALITY EDUCATION *ECONOMISTS AT FTAA MEETING IN NICARAGUA PUT SPOTLIGHT ON CUBA *CUBA AND CHINA MAINTAIN 38 COOPERATION PROJECTS *CUBA INCREASES THE USE OF ATMs *US REP. CYNTHIA McKINNEY JOINS THE SKEPTICS, DEMANDS EVIDENCE *ON FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF INTIFADA, ISRAELIS KILL 5, WOUND 125+ *ITALIAN PM BERLUSCONI FORCED TO APOLOGIZE FOR RACIST STATEMENTS *AID AGENCIES WARN OF PENDING HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE IN AFGHANISTAN *Viewpoint: JUSTICE OR VENGEANCE? . *CDRs CELEBRATE THEIR ANNIVERSARY WITH NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS Havana, September 28 (RHC)--Today, September 28th, marks the 41st anniversary of the creation of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). The decision to form neighborhood vigilance committees was announced by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, on September 28, 1960. Having just returned from the United Nations, Fidel was addressing a rally at the Plaza de la Revolucion when several bombs exploded nearby. Reassuring the crowd that the young revolutionary process would be defended, the Cuban leader said block committees would be formed in every corner of the island. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution not only guard against criminal and counterrevolutionary activities -- similar to neighborhood watch groups -- but also organize clean-up campaigns, recycling programs, blood donation drives and many other activities. This past year, Cuba has set a world record in blood donations, with 575,034 donations -- an average of one blood donor for every 19 Cubans. Health officials point out that Cuba has thus fulfilled the goal for all nations set by the World Health Organization -- that there should be one donor for every 20 citizens. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution also recently carried out a massive recycling campaign -- collecting more than 13 types of recyclable materials. Local CDR organizers emphasized the importance of reusable materials, especially in poor Third World countries with few resources. *CUBA PREPARES THE WAY FOR HIGHER QUALITY EDUCATION Cienfuegos, September 28 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro spoke during the inauguration ceremony of a new teacher's training school Thursday evening in Cienfuegos. The leader of the Cuban Revolution said the aim of improving the quality of educational institutions on the island is in full swing. In addition to the teacher's training school, a school to train arts instructors was also inaugurated in Cienfuegos. Fidel Castro said that workers restored an old building constructed in 1927, noting that the training school for arts instructors was enlarged to accommodate 600 students. The Cuban leader added that an amphitheater has been built, along with facilities for sports activities, a computer lab, a library and 27 classrooms. Cuban President Fidel Castro told the audience of students and professors Thursday evening that the new schools in Cienfuegos and other parts of the country will help guarantee the cultural and educational development of the country's youth. He said there were 15 such schools across the island with a total enrollment of 7921 students. The leader of the Cuban Revolution said that the country was well on the road to guaranteeing higher quality education for its entire people. *ECONOMISTS AT FTAA MEETING IN NICARAGUA PUT SPOTLIGHT ON CUBA Managua, September 28 (RHC)--Economists taking part in a meeting on the Free Trade Area of the Americas -- underway in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital -- say that Havana should be included in the discussions because Cuba is part of the Americas. Mentor Villagomez, Ecuadorian Under Secretary of the Economy, told reporters that nations of the hemisphere must take a political position and bring Cuba aboard in the debate on regional trade and economy. Villagomez, who is also the president of the Trade Negotiations Committee of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, noted that the United States excluded Cuba from the first Summit of the Americas, held in Miami six years ago. But he pointed out that over the past several years, a number of Latin American leaders have been calling for Cuba's participation in the debate. Several economic analysts attending the meeting in Managua emphasized that the Free Trade Area of the Americas is actually an economic attack by Washington against the sovereignty of Latin America and the Caribbean. *CUBA AND CHINA MAINTAIN 38 COOPERATION PROJECTS Beijing, September 28 (RHC)--Cuba and China are currently developing 38 bilateral cooperation projects, according to the Cuban Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment, Rosa Elena Simeon. The Cuban official, who is on a working visit to Beijing, the Chinese capital, said that both nations are jointly cooperating in the fields of technology and sciences, medicine and agriculture. Rosa Elena Simeon arrived in China this week at the invitation of that country's Minister of Science and Technology. During her stay in Beijing, she will visit places of economic and social interest. *CUBA INCREASES THE USE OF ATMs Havana, September 28 (RHC)--Cuba continues to increase the use of automatic teller machines with another 27 ATMs that will join a total of 101 in the country. In statements to reporters in Havana, the President of Cuba's Central Bank, Francisco Soberon, said the new equipment would offer service in highly-populated urban areas. That is why, he pointed out, all ATMs are currently located in Havana, Varadero, central Villa Clara province, Santiago de Cuba and Moa, as well as the Isle of Youth. Soberon said that some 20,000 ATM transactions are reported daily. He noted that the service particularly benefits retired pensioners plus certain economic sectors such as tourism, since visitors may use a number of ATMs which give access to different international cards -- as long as they are not drawn on U.S. banks... a consequence of Washington's blockade against the island. *US REP. CYNTHIA McKINNEY JOINS THE SKEPTICS, DEMANDS EVIDENCE Washington, September 28 (RHC)--African-American Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has joined her colleague Barbara Lee in demanding evidence linking Osama Bin Laden to the September 11th terrorist attacks. The Democratic Representative from the state of Georgia has asserted that before the use of force occurs, the American people must also see this proof. The Ranking Member of the International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee, and also member of the House Armed Service Committee, stated that the US has lost thousands of people already, and that as the Bush administration begins its preparations for war every American and the families of US soldiers and victims of the hijackings deserve to know that justice for those responsible, not just convenient scapegoating, is what motivates Washington's actions. Regarding the anti-terrorism measures the Bush administration is trying to push through Congress, McKinney said many of those proposals are the very same types of state powers that Washington routinely criticizes other nations for possessing in the State Department's annual report on international human rights: prolonged and arbitrary detention, denial of access to legal counsel and limited judicial review of government decision making, just, she added, to name but a few. The legislator said she is greatly concerned that the US is about to engage in an extremely hazardous military campaign of unknown duration, with unrealistic objectives and perhaps even ultimately harmful and long-term consequences for the nation. McKinney said that before granting more powers and massive resources to law enforcement, the military and intelligence communities in Washington should be examining why the threat of these and other attacks was not detected given the abundant information on Bin Laden's terrorist network - much of which, she added, surfaced 7 months ago during the trial of suspects charged with the US embassy bombings in Africa. She said, however, that what frustrates her most is that no one in a position of leadership in the United States has yet sought seriously to ask why the nation has been attacked in this way, why have US cities, embassies and military forces been systematically targeted by terrorist organizations. Congresswoman McKinney said: "Finally, I pray that common sense and reason will prevail." Meanwhile, other doubts have surfaced in the US Congress following approval a blank check for Bush. Representative Barney Frank, a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, wants to ensure that if the government gets the new surveillance powers proposed there are also new remedies against government activities like the lengthy wiretapping of the late Reverend Martin Luther King by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under Director J. Edgar Hoover. Representative Bob Barr, a conservative Republican from Georgia, said some of the previsions in the proposal need careful scrutiny, while liberal Democrat from California, Maxine Waters, said it's necessary to draw the line when it comes to civil liberties. Waters said she feared the definition of terrorism in the bill is too wide, adding that it's very unusual to find herself in agreement with Mr. Barr. *ON FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF INTIFADA, ISRAELIS KILL 5, WOUND 125+ Ramallah, September 28 (RHC)--On the first anniversary of the Intifada in occupied Palestinian territories, Israeli troops killed 5 Palestinians and wounded at least 125, several of them seriously. A ten year old child is among the fatal victims. With the latest victims, the number of Palestinians killed in the past year now stands at 639, with 169 Israelis killed. Some 23 thousand Palestinians, one percent of the population, have been wounded over the past 12 months. The number of fatal Palestinian victims is double the number killed during the four years of the first Intifada between 1987 and 1991. Since the third month of the current Intifada, 50 percent of the Palestinians who lost their lives were not involved in clashes with Israeli security forces, while 56 were victims of Tel Aviv's selective assassinations. A Deutsch Press news correspondent in Tel Aviv wrote Friday that when right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon entered Jerusalem's Al Aqsa shrine on September 28th of last year - escorted by hundreds of Israeli police - it was difficult to imagine what his stubborn visit to a Muslim holy place was going to provoke. Besides the human casualties, Israeli tanks have destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of buildings and homes. Sirens blasted for 3 minutes in Palestinian territories while thousands took to the streets to commemorate the first anniversary. Close to 10 thousand marched in Ramallah alone. *ITALIAN PM BERLUSCONI FORCED TO APOLOGIZE FOR RACIST STATEMENTS Rome, September 28 (RHC)--Amid on-going international uproar, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has apologized for his racist statements about Islamic culture. Speaking before the country's Senate, Berlusconi said he was sorry for having hurt the sensitivity of his Arab and Muslim friends, though asserting that his words were taken out of context and misunderstood. Previously, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Kamal Jarrazi, had stated that Berlusconi's affirmation that western culture has superior values in comparison to Islamic culture is irresponsible and motivated by his ignorance. The government of Egypt Friday insisted that Italy needs to urgently clarify what it called the conservative Prime Minister's "strange statements," and to specify whether those statements are the Italian government's official point of view. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin joined the chorus of condemnation, while the president of France's National Assembly, Raymond Forni, decided to suspend an encounter with his Italian counterpart, Senator Marcello Pera, to protest the statements. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder termed as absurd comparisons between cultures. Numerous news dailies in the Arab world are calling Berlusconi the "new Mussolini," terming as unbelievably barbaric the Italian Prime Minister's racist statements. *AID AGENCIES WARN OF PENDING HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE IN AFGHANISTAN Geneva, September 28 (RHC)--International humanitarian agencies continue warning of the pending humanitarian catastrophe if Afghanistan is attacked and aid doesn't arrive soon. In Geneva, United Nations regional coordinator Michael Sacket Friday said the humanitarian situation in the country was already terrible, but that if aid doesn't arrive before the beginning of rain and snow in mid-November, the situation will be horrible. Sacket said Afghanistan had already suffered 20 years of war and 3 years of drought before the terrorist attacks against the United States, noting that 5 and a half million Afghans, of a total population of 25 million, were already completely dependent on external aid. He said now another 2 million find themselves in that situation since international organizations abandoned the country. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees believes that as many as one and a half million Afghans are fleeing the country, mainly towards Pakistan. Pakistan has closed its border with Afghanistan, but it's estimated that between 10 and 20 thousand people have been able to cross that 2 thousand 200 kilometer border in mountain areas impossible to control. The government of Pakistan has warned that the number of Afghan refugees in the country could reach 4 million. *Viewpoint: JUSTICE OR VENGEANCE? The propaganda offensive unleashed by the US government and media to whip up support for Washington's war preparations seems unrelenting, though now and then a voice of reason breaks through. In the midst of their justifiable pain and anger, the families of some of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11 have felt it necessary to sound a warning in the face of the colossal war machine that has been put into motion by the United States. For example, Phyllis Rodriguez, whose son Craig, died in the New York Trade Center, has warned that a vengeance attack against those responsible will just bring death and suffering to the children of others. The parents of another person killed in the Pentagon have pleaded with the US president not to carry out such military action in a letter entitled "Not in Our Son's Name." The words of Ms. Rodriguez, who understands only too well the consequences of such violence, should be heeded by those who are counseling the White House to mobilize its troops, because to respond with hatred and bullets is to employ the same methods as the terrorists. "My son's death," said the grieving mother, "will not be vindicated in that way." Unfortunately, so far the calls for calm and for true justice to be taken against the terrorists through adherence to international law, have fallen on deaf ears . The Pentagon and its ally, Great Britain, have deployed tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of warplanes and fleets of battleships and aircraft carriers to countries bordering Afghanistan, in addition to those already stationed in the Persian Gulf and Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean. US government representatives demand support from distant capitals in what they are describing as "an international crusade against terrorism," despite an appalling lack of information on just who was in fact responsible for the crimes of September 11. While those who support war add more fuel to the flames, they reveal their indifference to the fact that the first victims of a military reprisal against Afghanistan would be more than a million refugees and would bring starvation to millions more who are already living on the edge because of Afghanistan's extreme poverty worsened by succeeding devastating droughts. Many outside the United States - as well as growing numbers within the country itself - see that truth. This weekend demonstrations against US war plans have been called in San Francisco and Washington. Such anti-war protests have already been held around the world as for example in Greece where on Thursday thousands of people filled the streets of Athens in protest against the US's announced reprisals, and Naples, Italy, where 20,000 marched. Surveys show that more than 80% of Latin Americans, while condemning the attacks, are against waging war, and even the British, who lost hundreds of their citizens in the World Trade Center, register more than 60% against the kind of military response planned by George W. Bush. It has become clear that peoples around the world are already suffering as a result of the terrorist attacks. Hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs in the subsequent down-turn of the airline industry, and tourism across the globe has dramatically slowed causing layoffs everywhere. The effect on the world's economy has been devastating for all but the US defense contractors whose share values have risen by an average of 12% on world stock exchanges. Vengeance will do nothing to end terrorism. The rule of international law must be invoked and those responsible for the unjustifiable actions of September 11 must be found and punished under that law. To do anything less would make us accomplices to further terrorism. (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-8034 2001-Sep-30 19:52:26