Radio Havana Cuba-01 March 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 01 March 2002 . *CRIMINALS EVICTED FROM MEXICO'S EMBASSY IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL *EMBASSY CRASHERS FIT PROFILE OF THOSE USED BY MIAMI MAFIA, US GOVT *RIGHT-WING US POLITICIAN WANTED MEXICO TO GRANT CRIMINALS POLITICAL ASYLUM *CUBAN POST OFFICES OFFER INTERNET AND E-MAIL SERVICES TO THE PUBLIC *NEAR MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN ONE-THIRD OF COLOMBIA AS WAR INTENSIFIES *ISRAELI TROOPS ESCALATE THEIR MOST DEADLY AND CRITICIZED ASSAULT *OUTRAGE IN NEW YORK AS CONVICTIONS OF POLICE TORTURERS REVERSED *ENRON GAVE TOP EXECUTIVES $320 MILLION IN BONUSES LAST YEAR *NIXON REALLY DID WANT TO DROP A NUKE ON VIETNAM, TAPES SHOW *SOARING CANCER DEATHS ON VIEQUES TIED TO US MILITARY EXERCISES *Viewpoint: EVIL INTENTIONS . *CRIMINALS EVICTED FROM MEXICO'S EMBASSY IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL Havana, March 1 (RHC)--The illegal occupation of Mexico's Embassy in the Cuban capital was resolved peacefully early Friday morning. Following the eviction of those who forcibly entered the embassy late Wednesday night, the Cuban government issued a brief official statement, which we offer in its entirety: "Throughout the day yesterday, the Deputy Foreign Minister, sent to Havana by President Fox, and other officials from the Mexican Embassy, repeatedly asked those who forced their way into the diplomatic headquarters to leave -- given that they had no real reason or right to remain there. "In response to their refusal to accept the authority and sovereign prerogative of Mexico and leave voluntarily, the Mexican government, through its ambassador, requested that Cuban authorities evict the individuals from their embassy. "The request was formally made in writing and the Mexican government expressed its wishes that the eviction be carried out without inflicting any physical injuries and using a minimal amount of force. "Friday morning at 4:30 a.m., unarmed Special Police preceded to evict the individuals occupying the embassy. It was implemented according to plan, conforming to the Mexican government's wishes, and not even the slightest incident occurred." March 1, 2002 / 4:45 a.m. *EMBASSY CRASHERS FIT PROFILE OF THOSE USED BY MIAMI MAFIA, US GOVT Havana, March 1 (RHC)--Investigations into the identities of those who forcibly entered the Mexican Embassy late Wednesday night and were subsequently removed early Friday morning show that they perfectly fit the description of those used by Washington and Miami's mafia. Of the 21 people who violently broke into the embassy, 13 had criminal records. According to reports, those who responded to the invitation to attack the Mexican embassy -- repeatedly broadcast on Radio Marti, an official radio station of the U.S. government -- were criminal and anti-social elements who had been convicted of serious crimes. Among the long list of convictions: armed robbery, carrying a concealed weapon, drug trafficking and possession, assault and battery. The Cuban daily Granma published an article in this morning's edition of the newspaper, listing the names and criminal records of those who occupied the Mexican embassy. The article states it is clear that none of those supposedly seeking political asylum were motivated by ideas or objectives of a political character. Granma said that the 21 people who forced their way into the embassy -- as well as more than 150 others who tried but were arrested -- are part of the anti-social element that still exists in Cuban society. The newspaper notes that until the island's educational, cultural and social programs are able to eradicate it entirely, that criminal element will serve as cannon fodder for Washington's vain and useless efforts to destroy the Cuban Revolution. *RIGHT-WING US POLITICIAN WANTED MEXICO TO GRANT CRIMINALS POLITICAL ASYLUM Washington, March 1 (RHC)--Before the illegal occupants were evicted from the Mexican Embassy, U.S. Democratic Representative Bob Menéndez had called on the Mexican government to grant the criminals political asylum. Menéndez, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee, sent an urgent message to Mexican President Vicente Fox, urging him to put himself on the side of "human rights" and "freedom of expression" -- granting asylum to "these desperate Cubans." Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill shortly before the Mexican government requested that Cuba evict the criminals, the representative from New Jersey said he had contacted U.S. President George W. Bush to personally call his Mexican counterpart and request that Fox -- in his words -- "welcome our Cuban brothers." Following Friday morning's eviction of his "brothers," the office of Representative Bob Menéndez in Washington had no comment. *CUBAN POST OFFICES OFFER INTERNET AND E-MAIL SERVICES TO THE PUBLIC Havana, March 1 (RHC)--Another Cuban post office has opened its doors to e-mail service for the general public. Along with about a dozen other locations, the San Lazaro and Infanta post office, just two blocks away from Radio Havana Cuba, is now providing e-mail and access to specialized and professional Web pages for $4.50 for three hours access. Sources with the post office told Radio Havana Cuba that the service is available for 12 hours daily, although other post offices offer 24-hour service. They explained that the $4.50 card could be used in increments of minutes, and that the services are open to all Cubans. A postal official said that the service is available to the public and those who want to communicate with friends and family by e-mail in any part of the world. He added that operators are available to help train people to use the service. Noting that while the post office doesn't yet have access to the Internet, the postal official said that those who have Yahoo, Hotmail or other Web-based accounts would soon enjoy full access. He said that information taken from the Internet and placed on a national Intranet service enables professionals to access the latest news and information in their fields, for example, medicine and engineering. Other locations across the city provide open access to the Internet for anyone, Cuban or foreigner alike. The Bosque Hotel is one such location, which charges in one-dollar increments, making it very affordable to Cubans. Critics of Cuba abroad constantly accuse Havana of depriving its people of access to e-mail and the Internet -- a problem that Cuba asserts is mostly economic and relates to lack of infrastructure and connectivity. *NEAR MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN ONE-THIRD OF COLOMBIA AS WAR INTENSIFIES Bogotá, March 1 (RHC)--Amid the fiercest fighting ever in Colombia's 36-year civil war, the Colombian government has declared one-third of the country a war zone and placed the area under military rule. With the rebels blowing up power stations, destroying bridges and cutting off telephone lines, the newly declared war zone includes an area just 50 miles from the capital, Bogotá, as well as the area in southern Colombia the size of Switzerland that served as a demilitarized zone before rebel-government peace talks fell through. The Colombian military will now have special powers to search people and restrict their movements, impose curfews and set up roadblocks, according to a presidential decree that falls just short of martial law. Since the rebels began attacking the country's infrastructure, they have blown up close to 100 electrical transmission towers, causing power outages in the states of Caqueta, Cauca, Caldas, Boyaca, Casanare, Guajira, Meta and the oil-producing Arauca. Heavy fighting has been reported in La Uribe, one of the five municipalities that formed the demilitarized zone and long considered a rebel stronghold. But according to some observers, one week after the government broke off peace talks and launched a military offensive in the rebels' former safe haven, evidence of military success was scant. Late Thursday, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces issued a statement calling on Colombians to boycott the upcoming March 10 legislative elections and the May 26 presidential elections, arguing that none of the candidates are interested in peace or resolving the country's social problems. *ISRAELI TROOPS ESCALATE THEIR MOST DEADLY AND CRITICIZED ASSAULT Nablus, West Bank, March 1 (RHC)--Israeli troops have intensified the most violent, deadly and criticized assault in occupied Palestinian territories in the 17 months of the Intifada. Israeli soldiers have pushed deeper into two Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank, with at least 20 Palestinians killed -- including a 7-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl who died as a result of indiscriminate Israeli machine-gun fire -- with several hundred Palestinians wounded. The incursions marked the first time that Israel has stormed refugee camps since fighting erupted over a year and a half ago. Israeli troops are reported to be firing in all directions and at everybody moving. As the Palestinian leadership and religious leaders called on residents to confront the troops, hundreds of armed Palestinians were shooting at Israeli tanks and throwing homemade grenades. Retaliation also took the form of mortar attacks against a Jewish settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem that wounded three Israelis. Palestinian officials have accused Israel of trying to sabotage a new Saudi peace initiative, and are warning of a possible massacre similar to those that occurred in 1982 in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The entire international community is calling on Israel to withdraw immediately from the camps or show restraint and refrain from targeting civilians, but the call is falling on deaf ears in Tel Aviv. Palestinian legislative council member Hussam Khader said "a carnage is happening in full daylight," adding that the United States, the international community, human rights organizations, the European Union and the entire world should be ashamed. *OUTRAGE IN NEW YORK AS CONVICTIONS OF POLICE TORTURERS REVERSED New York, March 1 (RHC)--US civil rights activists and New York's Haitian community are stunned by the overturning of convictions against three police officers accused of involvement in the torture of a Haitian immigrant. In what has been called one of the nation's most shocking police brutality scandals, a 3-judge panel of a New York federal appeals court ruled unanimously that one of the officers was not defended adequately, that there was insufficient evidence against the three to sustain the obstruction-of-justice convictions, and that the jury was tainted by news reports. The three officers were accused of aiding and/or covering up another officer who raped Haitian immigrant Abner Louima with the handle of a toilet plunger. The ruling did not affect the guilty plea of the main attacker, 37-year-old Justin Volpe, who admitted he sodomized the handcuffed Louima and is now serving a 30-year prison sentence. Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton called the decision "a shocking display of how the judicial system continues to fail to protect citizens from police abuse." Sharpton said he would hold a demonstration on Saturday at his headquarters in Harlem, with more to follow. Callers reportedly jammed the lines of New York's Radio Soleil D'Haiti late Thursday to express shock that the convictions had been overturned. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights said the response to the ruling will depend largely on the diplomatic skills of the mayor and police commissioner -- though some are already predicting violent street protests in the coming days, affirming that the ruling reopens some very painful wounds. *ENRON GAVE TOP EXECUTIVES $320 MILLION IN BONUSES LAST YEAR Washington, March 1 (RHC)--The bankrupt, scandal-ridden Enron firm rewarded its top executives with huge bonuses, in a new revelation that is expected to fuel public anger and confirm impressions of uncontrolled corporate greed. The bonuses, to the tune of 320 million dollars last year, are under scrutiny by federal investigators who say that though the practice is common in corporate America, the validity of the bonuses may be questionable since they were based on inaccurate statements of Enron's financial status. Experts also say the massive bonuses may have been an incentive for the firm's irregular, and possibly illegal, financial transactions. In other Enron revelations, suspicion that many of the corporations invited to the White House to help draw up the nation's energy program were heavy Bush campaign contributors has been confirmed. News dailies are reporting that according to interviews, election records and correspondence, eighteen of the energy industry's top 25 financial contributors to the Republican Party advised Vice President Richard Cheney's national energy task force last year. Eric Schaeffer, who resigned two days ago as the regulatory enforcement official of the Environmental Protection Agency due to what he called lax enforcement of clear air laws, termed as "natural" the alliance between corporate energy executives and the Bush administration - in reference to the millions that Bush and Cheney have made in the oil business. *NIXON REALLY DID WANT TO DROP A NUKE ON VIETNAM, TAPES SHOW [NY TRANSFER NEWS EDITOR'S NOTE: For years, the official story has been that Richard Nixon and his evil sidekick Henry Kissinger used what was called "the madman theory" to threaten Vietnam. Kissinger allegedly used the threat, "pretending" that Nixon was "a madman, out of control" and that Kissinger was gravely worried, if the Vietnamese did not surrender, that Nixon might really use nuclear weapons. Thirty years later, to no one's surprise except the very naive or the very hypocritical -- such as a Thai general who feigns shock -- it is revealed that the racist madman really was one. Ho-hum. Film at eleven.--NYT] Washington, March 1 (RHC)--The release of secret tapes recorded in the White House has revealed that former President Richard Nixon wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on Vietnam and decimate the country. The taped comment brought revulsion from many in Vietnam and the rest of Asia. Vietnam's foreign ministry stated that this new evidence shows the formidable cruelty against the Vietnamese people of some hawkish forces within the Nixon administration. Makoto Saito, professor emeritus of American history and government at Tokyo University, said Japan would have been outraged and may have reviewed permission for US forces to use Okinawa as a staging ground. A general from Thailand who fought alongside Americans in Vietnam said he was shocked by Nixon's apparent inability to think of the consequences. New Zealand's arms control minister Matt Robson said he felt "quite sick" about Nixon's comments, adding that it "shows that the decision-makers were not only callous, but racist as well." The 1,000 tapes also give new insight into the disgraced president's attempts to cover up the Watergate scandal. Nixon is heard discussing using the Central Intelligence Agency to try to thwart the FBI's investigation of the case. *SOARING CANCER DEATHS ON VIEQUES TIED TO US MILITARY EXERCISES Vieques, Puerto Rico, March 1 (RHC)--Puerto Rican activists struggling against US military presence and target practice in the island municipality Vieques, have reported the death from cancer of 4 people last weekend. The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques said the victims were residents of the Monte Santo and Lujan sectors - areas that receive winds directly from the US Navy's bombing zone in the northeast of the island. Several scientific studies have shown how military toxics produced during sixty years of bombing affects the population through breezes and the food chain. The Vieques community is reportedly alarmed by four deaths from cancer in just one weekend, following another similar death the previous week. Doctor River Castano, epidemiologist and member of the Committee, said a cancer alert should be declared in Vieques -- which registers a much higher rate of the disease than in the rest of Puerto Rico. *Viewpoint: EVIL INTENTIONS "Extra!" -- the newsletter put out by the U.S.-based media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting -- is dedicated to taking a piece of information and demonstrating how it is distorted by the press. A sensational example, which could well front-page its next edition, began on February 27. Events that occurred at the Mexican Embassy in Havana, which were headlined around the world, are a perfect example of the dirty dealings and manipulation that can affect information. According to the Spanish news agency EFE, on the night of Tuesday, February 27, while inaugurating the Mexican Cultural Institute in Miami, Mexican Foreign Minister, Jorge Castaneda, said, "This Cultural Institute belongs to all Mexicans, to all Latin Americans and naturally, to all Cuban-Americans." ANSA news agency of Italy noted that Castaneda also said, "The doors of the Mexican Embassy in Havana are open to all Cuban citizens, as is Mexico." Immediately, the official U.S. government radio station, Radio Marti, transmitted and re-transmitted eight times, from 7:31 in the morning on February 27, the following announcement: "Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda reiterated in Miami that the doors of his country's embassy in Havana are open to all Cuban citizens and he added that the same was true for Mexico." Washington's official anti-Cuba radio station also reported that the Mexican foreign minister had reiterated the position he had expressed after his return to Mexico from visiting Cuba that "Mexico's relations with the Cuban Revolution have ceased to exist, and have begun with the Republic of Cuba." The events that followed are now well known. The foreign minister himself on Thursday denied the lies and stated that his country would not participate in the dirty game of those whose goal is to cause chaos in Cuba. Castaneda told local radio stations that "The doors of the center are open to Miami's entire Latin American community." He also said that "Mexico is open to Cuban human rights and democracy activists. Many of them have gone to Mexico in the past." And the Mexican foreign minister noted that "radical elements undoubtedly wanted to use, to twist my statements about the Mexican Cultural Institute in Miami and about Mexico's political tradition in order to launch, what we could call a small provocation." "Is there any change in Mexican migration policy?" He said, "No, there is not." "Is there any change in asylum policy?" "No, there is not," emphasized Castaneda. "We also know that there are radical elements in Miami who are upset over President Vicente Fox's visit to Cuba, his meeting with President Castro and the improvement in relations, which I called normalization," said the Mexican foreign minister. Early Friday morning, upon the written request of Mexican authorities, unarmed Cuban police entered the Mexican Embassy in Havana and evicted the 21 Cubans who had forcibly and violently entered the embassy on Wednesday night and who had refused repeated requests by Mexican officials to leave the compound voluntarily. Mexican authorities repeated throughout the day on Thursday that the Cubans had no basis upon which to request asylum. It is important to recall that Mexico is the only Latin American country that never broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba and that has always voiced its opposition to the economic blockade imposed by the United States against the island for more than four decades. It is also fair to note that those who masterminded the provocation were hoping not only to cause problems between Mexico and Cuba, but also to justify a vote against Cuba at the upcoming UN Human Rights Commission sessions in April. As Ignacio Ramonet, the director of the French periodical "Le Monde Diplomatique" proposes, the world needs an "ecology of information" to decontaminate it of "lies, rumors and silences." And we would add "evil intentions" to that list as well. (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-1391 2002-Mar-02 03:56:16