Radio Havana Cuba-22 February 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 22 Febuary 2002 . *PANAMA PAVES THE WAY FOR RELEASE OF TERRORIST LUIS POSADA CARRILES *FIDEL CASTRO ATTENDS SIGNING OF MATANZAS-PENNSYLVANIA SISTER CITY AGREEMENT *JAPANESE ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON TOKYO TO RESIST PRESSURE AGAINST CUBA IN GENEVA *100 YEARS OF SOLID RELATIONS BETWEEN CUBA AND MEXICO *US WANTS TO SEND MORE MILITARY AID FOR COLOMBIAN WAR AGAINST OPPOSITION *BUSH ADMINISTRATION VOWS TO LAUNCH COURT BATTLE TO BLOCK ENRON REVELATIONS *PENTAGON ADMITS TO MISTAKEN KILLING OF AFGHAN VILLAGERS BUT SAYS OPERATION WAS NO ERROR *ARGENTINE PRESIDENT RAISES HIS SALARY BUT WANTS OFFICIALS TO LOWER THEIRS *ISRAEL: SHARON'S ADDRESS TO NATION OFFERS NO NEW STRATEGY *SAUDI ARABIA'S HIGHEST RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY SLAMS ISRAEL BEFORE TWO MILLION HAJJ PILGRIMS *Viewpoint: COLOMBIA - A POWDER KEG READY TO EXPLODE . *PANAMA PAVES THE WAY FOR RELEASE OF TERRORIST LUIS POSADA CARRILES Havana, February 22 (RHC)--The government of Panama appears to be preparing the way for the release of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and three of his accomplices. During the nightly roundtable discussion -- broadcast live on Cuban radio and television Thursday evening -- it was revealed that the four terrorists will face reduced charges and could be released awaiting trial. According to reports from Panama City, the Attorney General's office has now ruled that there is not sufficient evidence to charge Posada Carriles and the others with planning the assassination of Cuban President Fidel Castro. The four were arrested in November 2000 and found with maps, weapons and C-4 plastic explosives. At the time, Fidel Castro was attending the Ibero-American Summit in Panama. Cuban security discovered the terrorist plot and alerted local authorities who arrested them. Despite volumes of evidence provided by Cuba, in addition to material evidence uncovered during local police investigations, Panamanian authorities appear to be content to charge Luis Posada Carriles and his accomplices with minor violations of national laws -- including false documents and illegal possession of explosives. Attorneys for the terrorists -- paid by the Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation -- say that their clients may soon be released pending trial, scheduled for April or May. Aside from plans to assassinate Fidel Castro in Panama, Luis Posada Carriles has been involved in numerous terrorist actions over the years. Among the most notorious: the October 1976 sabotage bombing of a Cubana commercial airliner that was blown up in mid-air -- killing all 73 passengers aboard. Posada Carriles has publicly bragged about being the mastermind of the sabotage action and was even convicted in Venezuela, where he based his operations. After serving several years in a Caracas prison, he escaped with the help of his friends in Miami. Venezuela has petitioned the Panamanian government for his extradition. Panelists on Thursday evening's roundtable discussion warned that if Luis Posada Carriles is released from prison in Panama pending trial, the chances he would stay around are slim to none. *FIDEL CASTRO ATTENDS SIGNING OF MATANZAS-PENNSYLVANIA SISTER CITY AGREEMENT Matanzas, February 22 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro attended the protocol signing of a sister city agreement between the province of Matanzas and the U.S. State of Pennsylvania. The official ceremony took place Thursday in the provincial capital of Matanzas. In brief remarks following the signing ceremony, the leader of the Cuban Revolution said the agreement was "a symbol of friendship" -- expressing his confidence that, one day, the peoples of Cuba and the United States would truly be brothers and sisters. Michael Diven, a State representative from Pennsylvania, was on hand for the protocol signing. Diven told reporters that he hoped the agreement joining his State with Matanzas Province would help create a bridge between the U.S. and Cuba. He said his constituents have a lot to learn from Cuba, emphasizing the island's achievements in education and health care. The Pennsylvania representative said that Cuba is, in many ways, a rich country that can provide an example to the rest of the world. The agreement between Pennsylvania and Matanzas came at the end of a meeting of the U.S.-Cuba Sister City Association, held earlier this week in the Cuban capital. The conference, "Building Bilateral Relations: A Continuous Conversation," was attended by nearly 140 activists from the United States. The organization's mission is to foster sister-city relations and understanding through mutually beneficial exchanges between individuals, community groups, organizations and institutions in Cuba and the United States. *JAPANESE ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON TOKYO TO RESIST PRESSURE AGAINST CUBA IN GENEVA Tokyo, February 22 (RHC)--Japanese organizations in solidarity with Cuba are calling on Tokyo to resist U.S. pressure during the upcoming session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The organizations point out that Washington aggressively promotes an annual resolution before the UN Commission, which will meet in Geneva in April, to condemn Cuba for alleged human rights violations. The Japan-Cuba Solidarity Committee sent an open letter to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, requesting that Tokyo refuse to go along with Washington this year -- noting that Japan traditionally votes the way the United States says. According to the open letter, by opposing Washington's anti-Cuba campaign in Geneva, Tokyo would voice its opposition to the U.S. economic blockade and other hostile policies toward the island. *100 YEARS OF SOLID RELATIONS BETWEEN CUBA AND MEXICO Mexico City, February 22 (RHC)--The 100th anniversary of uninterrupted, bilateral relations between Cuba and Mexico was celebrated in the Mexican capital with a variety of activities. An official ceremony was held at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City, with the participation of Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda; Cuba's Ambassador to Mexico Jorge Bolaños; the president of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Mexican House of Deputies, Gustavo Carvajal; and the leaders of parliamentary friendship groups: Alberto Anaya of Mexico and Eusebio Leal of Cuba. During a special Mass held at the cathedral, Catholic priests and bishops also commemorated 100 years of diplomatic relations between Havana and Mexico City. Luis Morales Reyes, president of the Mexican Episcopal Commission, called for "a new system of human relations, under the banner of equality, justice and freedom." Observers recalled that Mexican President Vicente Fox recently visited the Cuban capital, along with a large delegation of government officials and business representatives -- with the aim of further deepening relations between the two Latin American countries and their peoples. *US WANTS TO SEND MORE MILITARY AID FOR COLOMBIAN WAR AGAINST OPPOSITION Bogotá, February 22 (RHC)--With Colombia's civil war flaring up again, Washington is reportedly seeking ways to further help in the fight against leftist guerrillas. According to the Associated Press news agency, the Bush administration is first contemplating increased intelligence sharing and a speedup in the delivery of spare parts for US helicopters, though officials in Washington continue insisting that no combat role is envisioned for US forces in Colombia. Meanwhile, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces insurgency has blown up a power station, a telecommunications center and a gas pipeline in what is being called its first military response to the unprecedented counterinsurgency assault launched by government troops between late Wednesday and early Thursday. A huge explosion and fire left Medellin, Colombia's second most important city, without domestic gas, according to government military sources. In the southern Huila Department, the guerrillas blew up a power station, leaving some 20 municipalities there and in neighboring Caqueta Department without electricity. In the central Cundinamarca Department, less than 40 miles outside the capital, Bogotá, the destruction of a telecommunications center left some 18 municipalities without telephone service. Thirteen thousand government troops with air support have entered the former demilitarized zone, an area of pasture and rainforest the size of Switzerland, in what observers are calling the bloodiest escalation ever of Colombia's civil war. *BUSH ADMINISTRATION VOWS TO LAUNCH COURT BATTLE TO BLOCK ENRON REVELATIONS Washington, February 22 (RHC)--The George W. Bush administration has vowed to launch a court battle to block revelations of its ties to the Enron scandal. The General Accounting Office Friday was on the verge of filing a lawsuit against the White House to get access to Vice President Dick Cheney's papers about meetings with Enron and other energy companies. Bush has refused to hand over documents from the Cheney-based task force that formulated a national energy policy believed to have been heavily influenced by Enron, the largest single benefactor of the president's political career. Such a lawsuit would be the GAO's first against part of the federal government to get documents it wants. The government oversight agency has forced a showdown with the executive branch in disputes over gathering information just four other times in the past 21 years. In two of those instances, the administration supplied the information. In the other two, the administration filed certification letters saying turning over the information could "substantially impair" government operations. The White House has reportedly indicated that if it failed in its defense against the GAO lawsuit, it would seek to have the statute empowering the GAO declared unconstitutional - which observers say that, if successful, would sharply curtail the legislative branch's oversight of the executive branch. Observers also say that the White House's willingness to escalate a battle over interpretations of a congressional statute into a constitutional test of the power of the presidency indicates its willingness to sustain a legal battle that could last months if not years. But the fight, according to legal experts divided on each side's merits, could present a political problem by keeping the administration's ties to the energy industry, particularly Enron, in the news at a moment when the public is showing increased interest in the scandal surrounding the firm's collapse. *PENTAGON ADMITS TO MISTAKEN KILLING OF AFGHAN VILLAGERS BUT SAYS OPERATION WAS NO ERROR Washington, February 22 (RHC)--For the first time, the Pentagon has acknowledged that US forces mistakenly killed 16 Afghan villagers last month, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied the operation had been an error. Saying that American troops attacked what they believed was an Al Qaida or Taliban encampment, Rumsfeld defiantly rejected published accounts provided by several Afghan civilians taken captive in the attack that they had been badly beaten and kicked by American soldiers. He also claimed that the Special Forces troops only shot at the Afghans after coming under fire and that they had acted appropriately based on the best information they had. In the "mistaken" deaths that nevertheless did not constitute an error, Rumsfeld also said the raid came after several weeks of observation and intelligence gathering - leading some observers wondering exactly what was observed and what intelligence was collected over such a long period of time. Meanwhile, humanitarian workers in Afghanistan have warned that while Afghans wait for western aid to materialize, a humanitarian disaster is brewing. As devastating hunger and worsening ethnic tensions force thousands to flee their homes in areas around the northern city Mazar-I-Sharif, Doctors Without Borders has affirmed that only a fraction of the food needed and promised for the "hunger belt" in northern Afghanistan is reaching those in need - and that even when food does arrive it is not being moved to the most remote areas. Doctors Without Borders spokesman Christopher Stokes said his organization is getting increasingly frustrated with the promises of the international community. *ARGENTINE PRESIDENT RAISES HIS SALARY BUT WANTS OFFICIALS TO LOWER THEIRS Buenos Aires, February 22 (RHC)--Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde has come under fire for giving himself a salary raise when he's called on other public officials to accept salary cuts or to work for free. Duhalde's decree to raise his salary by 15 percent took effect last Wednesday when it was published in the Official Bulletin, but it was only revealed on Friday by the local news daily "La Nacion." And during a radio interview, he shrugged off the subject, saying he's worried about other more serious problems. At the same time, the Argentine president admitted that the government will not be able to pay all the salaries of public employees, leading labor leaders to predict another social explosion. Duhalde said the country's coffers are empty. General Labor Confederation leader Rodolfo Daer, who until now hadn't criticized the Duhalde administration, blasted the president's affirmation, insisting that an export tax could generate the necessary funds. Daer pointed out that the export sector has most benefited from the devaluation of the peso. Meanwhile, Argentina's Bankers' Association published an add Friday in the country's major news dailies calling for "calm and responsibility" in the face of growing and violent protests against the freeze on bank accounts. The metal barricades that have been placed around banks in Buenos Aires makes the capital's financial center look like a city at war. *ISRAEL: SHARON'S ADDRESS TO NATION OFFERS NO NEW STRATEGY Tel Aviv, February 22 (RHC)--Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's address to the nation late Thursday is being called the least inspiring of messages to a public exhausted by a 17-month uprising and badly shaken by a series of military fiascos. News commentators around the world seem to agree that Sharon's pep talk to the nation, in which he pleaded for patience, offered no new strategies for quelling the Intifada - beyond a vague promise to build buffer zones between Israel and Palestine. And he did not spell out what he meant by a security zone. Instead, the prime minister was on the defensive, lashing out at his critics and increasingly restive public accusing him of lacking any type of plan. He warned that expressions of disobedience, in reference to the public refusal of 270 army reservists to serve in Palestinian territories, will - in his words - "encourage terrorist organizations." And while acknowledging that many Israelis yearn for a strategy to end the fighting, he instead predicted ultimate victory. But Sharon failed to sway television commentators or his rightwing and leftwing opponents, who said he had betrayed Israel by failing to offer an alternative vision. Yossi Sarid, leader of the leftwing Meretz party, said that in an address to the nation the leader has to give answers to people who are very worried. Sharon delivered his speech amid the most ferocious and sustained attacks on Palestinian targets since the Intifada began. A total of at least 38 Palestinians and 11 Israelis have been killed since Monday morning. *SAUDI ARABIA'S HIGHEST RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY SLAMS ISRAEL BEFORE TWO MILLION HAJJ PILGRIMS Riyadh, February 22 (RHC)--Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has publicly denounced Israel before two million pilgrims gathered on Mount Arafat, near Mecca. The grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh condemned Israel's killing of unarmed Palestinians and defended Islam as incompatible with terrorism. He condemned Israel's policies as "injustice, aggression and terrorism." Before the start of the pilgrimage, Saudi authorities said they would not tolerate any political speeches or anti-American demonstrations, though a group of Iranian pilgrims also held a rally condemning Israel and the United States. In Iran, on the occasion of the pilgrimage, or Hajj, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei criticized the United States, say the US was using the issue of fighting terrorism as a pretext for "hegemonistic plans to dominate and control the wealth and vital resources of other nations." Thousands of Saudi police lined the route to Mount Arafat and helicopters hovered overhead as a seas of pilgrims made the short journey earlier from the nearby valley of Mina to the site where the Prophet Mohammed delivered his final sermon 14 centuries ago. *Viewpoint: COLOMBIA - A POWDER KEG READY TO EXPLODE After the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., the United States redoubled pressures on nations in which groups it termed "terrorist," were operating, urging them to take military steps to weaken or put those groups out of action. The White House made sure that the message reached Colombia. This week's collapse of the peace dialogue has lent credence to repeated US recommendations to Bogotá that the government use force against the guerilla movements. In the last few months, Washington insisted that Colombia continue fumigating with the toxic chemicals it is supplying, in order to eradicate coca plantations that Colombian campesinos cultivate as their only way to eke out a living. But some experts maintain that the herbicides, in addition to eroding the soil, are being used more as a military counterinsurgency strategy than a supposedly viable solution to the problem of drug trafficking. It is not by chance that the spraying is going on in departments near the area of Caguan , when there are regions towards the center and northern part of the county that contain the same number of coca plantations. The only difference is that paramilitary groups operate there. And members of the Colombian United Self-Defense Unit paramilitary group also rejoiced over the President Andres Pastrana's decision to end the peace process with the insurgents. And the reaction of the irregular rightwing forces is understandable. >From now on, they will have to worry much less about army attacks as they pursue their goal of eliminating the insurgent presence in the so-called demilitarized zone. That was the more than 42 thousand square kilometer area that served as the center of the failed negotiations between the government and the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces. The more than 150 thousand inhabitants of that area, for three years experienced the advances and failures of the talks in relative calm, something unprecedented in such a violent country. With this turn of events, the escalation of the war has already begun and the army and various politicians are certain to demand more equipment, weapons and ammunition. The requests are sure to come pouring in even though the United States has earmarked a billion dollars in mostly military aid, as part of its Plan Colombia. The Colombian army has confirmed that it will use U.S. military aid for its fight against the rebels, a decision which was backed in Washington when George W. Bush called on the Congress to allocate extra assistance to Colombia for the fiscal year 2003. Unfortunately, over the course of three years of a rocky peace dialogue in Colombia, the military and some politicians have led many to believe that it is possible to rid the country of the guerilla movement with weapons. Those sectors, to which we must add the United States, have taken over the political arena from those in the government who maintained that the way to peace was through talks with the guerillas, that is until the process collapsed this week. The consequences are already being felt. In addition to stepped up war, troops in neighboring Ecuador and Panama have been placed on the alert, an unmistakable sign that the Colombian conflict could explode across borders into an uncontrollable regional conflict. (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-18650 2002-Feb-23 07:15:57