Radio Havana Cuba-18 February 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 18 Febuary 2002 . *US-CUBA SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION MEETS IN HAVANA *MEDICAL PERSONNEL RETURN TO CUBA FOLLOWING MISSION IN HAITI *BOOK FAIR WRAPS UP IN HAVANA AND TRAVELS TO THE PROVINCES *EXECUTIVES FROM MALAGA AND MATANZAS EXPLORE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES *DESPITE SCATHING CRITICISM, BUSH SAYS ALLIES "UNDERSTAND" IRAQ POLICY *ISRAELI ARMY RESERVISTS CALL FOR WITHDRAWAL FROM WEST BANK AND GAZA *US BOMBS KILLED AT LEAST 1,000 AFGHAN CIVILIANS: BOSTON GLOBE *BRITISH "PEACEKEEPERS" ACCUSED OF SHOOTING UNARMED AFGHAN CIVILIANS *FURIOUS ARGENTINES DESTROY TWO SPANISH BANKS, DEMAND RETURN OF SAVINGS *ENVIRONMENTALISTS SAY US IS DUMPING TOXIC 911 SCRAP ON FOREIGN COUNTRIES Viewpoint: *AS BUSH VISITS JAPAN, HIS ENRON TIES MAKE NEWS IN WASHINGTON . *US-CUBA SISTER CITY ASSOCIATION MEETS IN HAVANA Havana, February 18 (RHC)--The U.S.-Cuba Sister City Association (USCSCA) is holding a week-long meeting in the Cuban capital this week. The conference, "Building Bilateral Relations: A Continuous Conversation," got underway Monday morning at Havana's International Convention Center. Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon addressed the opening session of the meeting. After commenting on the increased success of the sister city program, Alarcon spoke about the problems faced by both peoples in their efforts to improve relations. Ricardo Alarcon said that the U.S. delegates will experience throughout Cuba the great concern that people have related to the injustice perpetrated on their five compatriots, serving long prison sentences in the U.S. for defending their country against the types of terrorist attacks that Washington is currently focused on. Yet, he said, how is it possible for the U.S. government to condemn terrorism while sponsoring it for so many years against Cuba? The Cuban Parliament president commented on the existence of people such as Orlando Bosch, who are well-known international terrorists, but are allowed to freely walk the streets of Miami when they have been responsible, not only for the deaths of Cubans, but also U.S. citizens. He cited Ronni Karpen Moffitt, who was killed when Cuban-American terrorists murdered the former Chilean ambassador to Washington, Orlando Letelier. Ricardo Alarcon shared the sentiment of those present when he said that if the Taliban regime was recognized by Washington as sponsoring terrorism, why was Afghanistan not placed on the U.S. list of states that promote terrorism? Would the United States, seeking to protect the security of its country after infiltrating terrorist organizations threatening the U.S., not be outraged if its personnel were arrested and condemned, as the five Cuban patriots have been. Alarcon said that Washington has signed anti-terrorist accords with the United Nations Security Council, but has applied those accords selectively -- especially where Cuba is concerned. In terms of immigration, Alarcon said that yet another contradiction in Washington's relations with Cuba is that its Interest Section in Havana consistently weeds out and denies visas to Cubans with criminal records, yet grants automatic residency to them when they arrive illegally on U.S. dry land. The president of the Cuban Parliament added that there could only be one reason for such contradictions: the destabilization of Cuban society. *MEDICAL PERSONNEL RETURN TO CUBA FOLLOWING MISSION IN HAITI Havana, February 18 (RHC)--After working for one year in Haiti, 73 Cuban doctors and medical personnel returned to Havana on Monday. According to the AIN news agency, the young doctors graduated from medical school in 1999 and spent their first year practicing medicine in the Sierra Maestra Mountains near Guantánamo. Their second year was spent in remote, rural areas of Haiti. The return flight from Port-au-Prince first stopped over at the Antonio Maceo International Airport in Santiago de Cuba, then continued on to the Cuban capital. *BOOK FAIR WRAPS UP IN HAVANA AND TRAVELS TO THE PROVINCES Havana, February 18 (RHC)--The 11th International Book Fair wrapped up in Havana on Sunday, following a successful ten-day run in the Cuban capital. More than 230,000 people attended this year's annual event at the San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress. On Monday, the Book Fair began traveling to other cities around the island. First stop: Pinar de Rio and the Isle of Youth. The International Book Fair will visit a total of 18 cities before it ends next month in Santiago de Cuba. By the end of the Fair, an estimated three million books will have been purchased by Cuban readers. *EXECUTIVES FROM MALAGA AND MATANZAS EXPLORE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES Matanzas, February 18 (RHC)--A business delegation from the Spanish province of Malaga met over the weekend with their counterparts from the central Cuban province of Matanzas. During the conference, the first of its type ever held in Matanzas, both sides expressed their interest in developing joint productions in areas like furniture, paint and varnish, graphic arts and the textile industry. The visiting delegation is headed by Rafael García Padilla, First Vice President of Malaga's Chamber of Commerce. The Spanish business executive stressed their interest in also strengthening links with the Cuban counterparts in the area of computer science, where Malaga registers important advances, particularly in setting up business ventures via the Internet. This first encounter between business executives from Malaga and Matanzas was organized by the provincial office in Matanzas of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce. Since their arrival on the island last Monday, the Spanish visitors have met with authorities in Matanzas. Last week, the delegation participated in the Third Bilateral Meeting with their counterparts from the westernmost Cuban province of Pinar del Rio. In their talks with authorities in Matanzas, the businesspeople also discussed the possibility of establishing associations between cities from the Spanish province of Malaga and the Cuban province of Matanzas. *DESPITE SCATHING CRITICISM, BUSH SAYS ALLIES "UNDERSTAND" IRAQ POLICY Tokyo, February 18 (RHC)--Despite scathing criticism, U.S. President George W. Bush has claimed that Washington's allies "understand" his administration's policy regarding Iraq. The statement came during Bush's visit to Japan. And according to the Sunday edition of "The New York Times," as a new and glaring rift emerges between the White House and America's allies over how to pursue the next phase of the war on terrorism, Bush and his top aides seem to be egging on those sharp differences. The news daily reported that in private, according to the president's friends and closest aides, Bush fumes about what he calls "weak-kneed European elites" and "scared Arab leaders" who in his view lack the courage to stand up to states that may one day provide terrorists with nuclear or biological weapons. Noting that as Bush departed for Asia saying that the goal of his trip was to strengthen his so-called antiterrorism coalition, "The New York Times" pointed out that even before his plane departed, the South Korean press was filled with denunciations of his inclusion of North Korea as part of the "axis of evil," protesting that the U.S. president was undercutting years of diplomacy. It also noted that when America's allies have begged to differ in recent days, they have found themselves engaged in open, public bickering with even the most diplomatic members of Bush's war cabinet -- citing the scathing criticism of Washington's foreign policy issued recently by French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, the European Union's Foreign Minister Christopher Patten, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Russian President Vladimir Putin. *ISRAELI ARMY RESERVISTS CALL FOR WITHDRAWAL FROM WEST BANK AND GAZA Tel Aviv, February 18 (RHC)--A group representing top-level Israeli reserve officers and intelligence officials is calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from almost all of the Gaza Strip and much of the West Bank. Calling itself the Council for Peace and Security, the group also wants a resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians and the immediate establishment of a Palestinian state - whether violence continues from the Palestinian side or not. The rebellion in the ranks of Israeli army reservists is being called the first real crack in Israel's united stand against the 16-month Palestinian uprising, or Intifada. Some 200 reserve soldiers and officers have signed a petition refusing to serve in the West Bank and Gaza. They say they've received orders and instructions that had nothing to do with the security of the state and whose sole purpose is the perpetuation of Israeli domination of the Palestinian people. They are reportedly hoping to add hundreds more signatures to what Israeli media outlets are calling a growing protest movement. Peace activists believe the reservists have begun to protest now because they have come up for the second round of service in the occupied territories, where there seems to be no perspective for an end to the ever-spiraling violence. They speak of soldiers shooting and abusing Palestinian civilians, of army lies and cover-ups. Observers are noting that the reservists cannot be dismissed as left wing radicals, that most are officers from combat units who have served on the front line, and their refusal is couched in patriotic terms. The protest movement comes as the Israeli newspaper "Ma'ariv" reported over the weekend that some 49 percent of Israelis believe that the country's national leadership has lost control of the security situation - that selective assassinations, tank invasions of the West Bank and Gaza and the bombing of Palestinian security installations by F-16 warplanes have only led to stepped up Palestinian rebellion. But the Intifada has also led to a radicalization of the right in Israel, with 35 percent of the population supporting the wholesale expulsion of Palestinians and a re-invasion and re-occupation of the entirety of Palestinian territories. *US BOMBS KILLED AT LEAST 1,000 AFGHAN CIVILIANS: BOSTON GLOBE Boston, February 18 (RHC)--The U.S. news daily "The Boston Globe" has affirmed that bad intelligence, errant bombs and the changing nature of the war in Afghanistan have led to the deaths of a thousand or more civilians in U.S. attacks since October. A Globe examination of 14 sites bombed by U.S. warplanes -- in residential neighborhoods in Herat and Kandahar, as well as isolated, abandoned villages such as Chukar Kariz -- found that civilian deaths in some attacks exceeded Taliban and Al Qaida deaths. A large number of deaths, reported the newspaper, can be attributed to the selection of targets in civilian areas, citing the bombardment of the home of an associate of Osama Bin Laden that killed an estimated 70 villagers, many children among them. Over the past several weeks, the Pentagon has faced a barrage of questions from the media as well as some Afghan officials about the military decisions that resulted in civilian casualties. But General Tommy R. Franks, the commander of the war in Afghanistan, has continued defending what he calls "the most accurate war ever fought" in U.S. history, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld steadfastly maintains that the war cost relatively few civilian lives. The estimate of at least 1,000 civilian deaths in Afghanistan -- and perhaps many more, according to "The Boston Globe" -- is drawn from accounts of villagers and local commanders, as well as visual evidence, at the 14 sites visited, and tallies by nongovernmental groups. The 14 sites represent only a small fraction of the total sites targeted by the 18,000 bombs, missiles and ordnance fired by U.S. forces since October. After initially ignoring or glossing over reports of civilian casualties, the U.S. mainstream media are now amply reporting numerous cases. *BRITISH "PEACEKEEPERS" ACCUSED OF SHOOTING UNARMED AFGHAN CIVILIANS Kabul, February 18 (RHC)--The reputation of Britain's peacekeeping force in Afghanistan is under threat following charges that a group of Afghans rushing a pregnant relative to a hospital were shot at in an unprovoked attack by British troops, leaving one person killed and four wounded. 25-year-old Mohammad Ishaq described how he and his family defied a curfew to drive to a Kabul hospital in the early hours of Saturday after his wife went into labor with their first child. They had reportedly just gotten into a car when they were engulfed by gunfire, apparently from British troops concealed in the darkness at the top of an observation tower several hundred meters away. Ishaq said there was no warning and they didn't even know there were soldiers there. His 20-year-old brother was killed by a bullet wound to the head, while his wife suffered shrapnel wounds to her neck and knee and had to stagger home to give birth to her child. Six British soldiers have been removed from their observation post near where the incident occurred. A spokesman for the British-led international assistance force stationed in Kabul insisted that his paratroopers had returned fire. But neighbors and the family that came under fire called the claim ridiculous. It would also be the first time the peacekeepers came under fire since arriving in Afghanistan two months ago. According to observers, if confirmed the incident could prove extremely damaging to the peacekeepers' reputation among ordinary Afghans. *FURIOUS ARGENTINES DESTROY TWO SPANISH BANKS, DEMAND RETURN OF SAVINGS Buenos Aires, February 18 (RHC)--Furious Argentines Monday destroyed two Spanish banks in the capital's financial center demanding the return of their savings. Called the most violent of a series of recent protests, demonstrators rolled up the iron curtains installed in front of the institutions and forced their way inside to destroy their installations. Hundreds of frozen bank account owners gather to protest every week at the Boston bank, whose architectural charm has been lost due to the spray-painted messages smearing the building calling the country's finance and political leaders thieves and degenerates. The protesters also surrounded several armored vehicles used to transport money, punching holes in their tires and breaking their headlights and taillights. According to observers, though the demonstrations began with only pot-banging protests the demonstrators are perfecting their methods and gathering in front of banks with tools that allow them to penetrate the iron walls built to protect the buildings. Since last January, the iron walls around the banks give Buenos Aires the appearance of a city at war. Argentines also daily make long lines in front of court houses to legally challenge the decision to freeze their bank accounts and convert their dollar savings into devaluated pesos. A parliamentary commission investigating massive capital flight, meanwhile, has reportedly found that $13.776 billion left the country between December and January. Six foreign banks and one national bank are reportedly being targeted in the investigation. *ENVIRONMENTALISTS SAY US IS DUMPING TOXIC 911 SCRAP ON FOREIGN COUNTRIES New Delhi, February 18 (RHC)--Environmental and labor activists have accused the United States of dumping toxic and hazardous material in India, which recently received a shipload of steel scrap from the destroyed World Trade Center. They have launched an aggressive campaign calling for a halt to further movements of the scrap contaminated by other debris from the twin towers such as cancer-causing asbestos, dioxins, mercury and lead. The city of New York has decided to sell 175,000 tons of the scrap, with some of it going to US cities and some of it sold to companies in India, China and South Korea, where it will be turned into everything from appliances and bridges to car parts and even new skyscrapers. Anantha Padmanabhan, executive director of Greenpeace India, said there is every possibility that high levels of toxins are in the debris that would pose serious health and environmental risks to uninformed recycling workers in India. Indian authorities reportedly conducted no tests on the cargo when it arrived because it was legally imported as general steel scrap. Greenpeace said a third shipment is bound for the eastern city of Calcutta later this month. Viewpoint: *AS BUSH VISITS JAPAN, HIS ENRON TIES MAKE NEWS IN WASHINGTON George W. Bush continues irritating his allies with his aggressive posturing and his ridiculous "axis of evil" theory which he reaffirmed during his recent visit to Japan, where one of his verbal blunders caused the world's stock markets to shudder. Bush, while speaking in Japan, confused the word "devaluation" with "deflation," setting off a stampede of people rushing to sell their yen believing that the Japanese currency was to be floated against the dollar. It took a communiqué from the White House to settle things down. But what is each day becoming more difficult for the president is the scandal surrounding the collapse of the giant Enron Energy Company. The scandal's tentacles are reaching deeply into the White House despite the loud protests and vain attempts by Bush and his cronies to distance themselves from the rage of former employees and investors who lost everything in the company's fall. For example, Bush and his supporters have claimed that the president and former Enron CEO, Kenneth Lay, weren't friends. But investigations undertaken by ten congressional commissions have discovered more than 350 pages of notes exchanged between Lay and Bush from l995 to 2000. People are wondering why, if they weren't friends, they wrote to each other so much. But one thing is clear: During Bush's electoral campaign for governor of Texas and his race for the White House, Enron was a more than generous donor, though it must be said that some money also ended up in Democratic coffers. But now it has now come out that then advisor to the Bush campaign and the current president of the Republican Party, Ralph Reed, sent a seven-page memo to Enron executives just two weeks before the elections. In the message, Reed proposes a $350,000 donation in return for energy deregulation once Bush is securely ensconced as president of the country. Another equally infuriating revelation was that Enron executives had time to sell off their stock options after receiving information that the company was in trouble. They did this even as they urged their employees to buy more of what they then knew to be worthless Enron stocks. It is obvious that from those events we could construct a capitalist code of ethics and behavior to better understand the actions of the leaders of liberty, democracy and the free market. Perhaps Bush's nervousness during his statements in Tokyo had to do with the events at home, which are certainly more disturbing than the irritation of his allies over his unilateral militaristic rhetoric. Of course from Bush's point of view, the public airing of his dirty business dealings is much more damaging to his image than the anger over the deplorable spectacle of U.S. and British aircraft bombing a poor and defenseless people in central Asia in a blatant act of vengeance and arrogance. (c) 2002 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-28091 2002-Feb-19 00:08:42