Radio Havana Cuba-12 March 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 12 March 2002 . *CUBA DENOUNCES MANEUVERS TO FREE TERRORIST LUIS POSADA CARRILES *OTTO REICH SWORN IN AS HEAD OF LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS AT US STATE DEPT *CUBA PLANS TO INCREASE ACTIVITY IN INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE MARKET *ISRAEL LAUNCHES LARGEST MILITARY CAMPAIGN SINCE 1982 INVASION OF LEBANON *NGOs PESSIMISTIC OVER OUTCOME OF MONTERREY DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE *BRAZIL'S PRESIDENT LASHES OUT AT IMF *ECUADORAN INDIGENOUS FIGHT BIG OIL IN NEW YORK COURT *"COLONIAL" COVERAGE OF ZIMBABWE ELECTIONS RAISES EYEBROWS AT BBC *BRITISH LABOR MPs INCREASE PRESSURE AGAINST MILITARY STRIKE ON IRAQ *Viewpoint: BRAZIL DEMANDS THE IMF TREAT LATIN AMERICA WITH RESPECT . *CUBA DENOUNCES MANEUVERS TO FREE TERRORIST LUIS POSADA CARRILES Havana, March 12 (RHC)--The Cuban Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Tuesday, denouncing new maneuvers to free terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and three of his accomplices from jail in Panama. The four terrorists were arrested in November 2000 when they were planning to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama City. According to the Foreign Ministry statement, one new maneuver has been an official request by El Salvador for the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles. The note points out that Posada Carriles lived in San Salvador for years and carried out his terrorist plans from the Salvadoran capital with the complicity of top officials of that country. The Cuban Foreign Ministry also notes that Posada Carriles and the other three terrorists are surprisingly said to be suffering from numerous "ailments" -- requiring that they be taken back and forth to area hospitals. The statement warns that the terrorists could be setting the conditions to be "rescued" by their right-wing friends from Miami, while en route to a clinic for treatment. Posada Carriles, states the diplomatic note, has prior experience in these matters -- escaping from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 with a little help from his friends. One such friend of Luis Posada Carriles, Nelsy Ignacio Castro Matos, travels frequently from Miami to Panama to visit him and the others in jail. The Cuban Foreign Ministry statement reports that Matos is a member of a number of terrorist organizations and has been directly involved in sabotage actions against Cuba. He and other friends in Miami -- along with the Cuban-American National Foundation -- are financing the legal battle, providing funds to pay their attorneys in Panama and perhaps bribe prison officials to help them get out a bit quicker. The Foreign Ministry note states that the Cuban people will continue to monitor the situation and will continue to demand that justice be done. *OTTO REICH SWORN IN AS HEAD OF LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS AT US STATE DEPT Washington, March 12 (RHC)--Two months after U.S. President George W. Bush used his special powers to name him to the post, Otto Reich was sworn in on Monday as head of the Latin American Desk at the State Department. The post had been officially vacant since the president took office in January last year. Bush nominated the controversial, right wing Cuban-American last Spring, but the Senate Foreign Relations Committee never gave Otto Reich a confirmation hearing. Senator Christopher Dodd, president of the congressional committee, questioned the nomination of Reich -- who had been charged with illegal activities during the Reagan administration -- and said he would never allow a confirmation hearing for Bush's designated State Department official. Otto Reich directed the Office of Public Diplomacy in the Reagan White House from 1983 to 1986 -- charged with illegally promoting the contras in Nicaragua and carrying out activities against the Sandinistas. Faced with Senate refusal to confirm his nominee, the U.S. president chose to take advantage of a loophole and name Otto Reich to the State Department post without congressional approval. Such special presidential appointments -- made when the Congress is in recess -- only allow the designated official to serve for one year. Commenting on the appointment and Monday's swearing-in ceremony at the State Department, the terrorist, Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation said that Washington's foreign policy with regard to Latin America is now "in good hands." *CUBA PLANS TO INCREASE ACTIVITY IN INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE MARKET Havana, March 12 (RHC)--Cuba is planning to use its human and scientific potential to economically benefit from the international software market. The island's Deputy Minister for Computer Science and Communications, Boris Moreno, said in Havana Monday night that for the 34 companies devoted to computer program production in Cuba, penetrating the booming international software market was top priority. Boris Moreno said Cuban software companies have developed numerous programs with significant applications in areas like education, healthcare, sports and instructional games. The challenge, he said, was to position those products in the international software market, which last year brought in an estimated 400 billion dollars. The Cuban deputy minister for Computer Science and Communications said Cuba has enough highly qualified personnel to interact in that market. He noted that there has been an increase in the enrollment of computer-related careers in the ten Cuban universities that teach them and said that by the year 2003, an additional 20,000 students will be training in mid-level computer technology institutes across the island. *ISRAEL LAUNCHES LARGEST MILITARY CAMPAIGN SINCE 1982 INVASION OF LEBANON Ramallah, New York, London, Paris, March 12 (RHC)--Israeli occupation troops Tuesday raided refugee camps and took control of the West Bank city of Ramallah, in Tel Aviv's largest military campaign against the Palestinians since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Close to 40 Palestinians were killed in the raids, as hundreds of militants exchanged gunfire with Israeli forces. Civilians fleeing in Gaza City, some in their pajamas and carrying babies, charged that Israeli helicopters fired on them as they were leaving. The new unprecedented intensification of Israel's assaults in occupied territory comes amid a growing chorus of denunciations of Israeli abuse. Amnesty International and MADRE, a New York-based women's human rights group, have asserted that breaches in humanitarian law by an armed group - in reference to Palestinian suicide attacks against civilians - can never justify governmental breaches of fundamental principles of human rights and humanitarian law. Israel's top military brass has also been forced to stop its soldiers from tattooing with numbers the arms of Palestinian prisoners much like the Jews were tattooed in nazi concentration camps. Following outcry in the media and from one member of the Israeli Parliament who survived a nazi concentration camp, the head of Israel's Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Shaul Mofaz, also announced that an investigation would be opened. Meanwhile, European nations are stepping up criticism of Israel's actions in occupied Palestinian territories. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Tuesday warned Tel Aviv that the pain of the Palestinian people would not bring peace, while France's foreign ministry denounced as "incomprehensible" the continuation of Israeli military operations. Paris also denounced Israeli attacks against humanitarian vehicles attempting to rescue wounded Palestinian civilians. *NGOs PESSIMISTIC OVER OUTCOME OF MONTERREY DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE Monterrey, Mexico, March 12 (RHC)--More than 3,000 members of non-governmental organizations Tuesday opened a gathering in Monterrey, Mexico, leading up to what is being called the most important international conference in the past 20 years. The International Conference on Funding Development -- dubbed "investing in people always brings reward" -- next Monday will begin deliberations on how to save millions of human beings from poverty and misery. But the NGOs are already criticizing the rough draft of the conference's final document, which, they say, doesn't question the current model of development and maintains free trade and free investment as the driving forces of development. Alejandro Villamar, of the Mexican Anti-Free Trade Action Network, said neither does the rough draft adopt specific commitments, compliance timetables, broader participation of civil society or include the respect of not only political, but economic, social, labor, environmental and cultural rights in international negotiations. Thirty years ago industrialized nations promised to earmark 0.7 percent of their gross domestic products to funding development in poor nations, but three decades later they haven't reached even half of that amount -- while some rich countries, including the United States -- don't even want to talk about a precise timetable for reaching that original goal. The United Nations estimates that it need 50 billion additional dollars to comply with the Millennium Summit's goal of a 50 percent reduction in world poverty by the year 2015. *BRAZIL'S PRESIDENT LASHES OUT AT IMF Fortaleza, Brazil, March 12 (RHC)--Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso launched a scathing attack Monday against the International Monetary Fund. In what is being called an unusual public posture by a regional leader, at the Inter-American Development Bank's 43rd Annual Assembly in Fortaleza, Brazil, Cardoso slammed the IMF for treating Latin American leaders as if they were illiterate, and for basing some of its policies in the region on lies. He said the credit institution forces on its clients agreements that it knows cannot be complied with. The criticism was an expression of Brazil's impatience with the IMF's slow pace in granting aid to Argentina's ailing economy. The Brazilian president said Argentina has on several occasions already held negotiations with the IMF based on lies, and recognizing that they were lies, but forced to accept them due to a desperate situation. Observers are noting that Brazil itself signed a deal with the IMF in 1998 that didn't prevent a devaluation of its national currency several weeks later amid an intense speculative attack. Cardoso also blasted the differences in the credit institution's treatment of European countries, which, he said, established limits on how much a given European nation can become indebted and does not prevent European countries from financing their development. He said Brazilian and other leaders have on several occasions asked these questions of the IMF, but that the responses they received were as if they were illiterate. Cardoso said they are not, pointing out that, for example, Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo -- a participant in the conference who also criticized the lending institution -- is an economist, while he is a sociologist. *ECUADORAN INDIGENOUS FIGHT BIG OIL IN NEW YORK COURT New York, March 12 (RHC)--Ecuadoran indigenous leaders have arrived in the United States to fight for a lawsuit against the oil company Chevron-Texaco, accused of deliberately contaminating vast tracts of their land in the Amazon. Nine years after the case was brought to the United States, the lawsuit could set a precedent for faraway communities fighting in the courts against multinational companies on their home ground. The tribal leaders appeared Monday before a federal appeals court in New York that will determine whether their case can proceed in the United States. The three-judge appellate panel is expected to rule as early as within the week. Plaintiffs are seeking compensation for the thousands of people reportedly injured by the pollution, and a court order requiring the company to pay for a cleanup - which Ecuadoran authorities say could cost more than one billion dollars. When the case was filed, Ecuador's embassy in the United States opposed litigation, but public pressure in Ecuador prompted the government to reverse its position and support the case. The lawsuit states that Texaco engaged in "negligent, reckless, deliberate, and outrageous acts" in the Amazon by installing defective drilling technology that led to the spillage of millions of gallons of toxic wastewater over a 20-year period. Rather than pump the harmful water back into the ground - which was the industry standard according to the lawsuit - the company dumped it into hundreds of unlined pits that generated widespread contamination. Lawyers for the tribal leaders estimated that Texaco saved three to four dollars per barrel by dumping wastewater into the ground rather than safely pumping it beneath the earth's surface, as it does in the United States. Trying to get the case heard in the United States has been an uphill battle. Since 1993, Texaco has repeatedly tried to get the case dismissed and the lawsuit has bounced to and from federal court and the federal court of appeals ever since. Federal Judge Jed S. Rakoff has dismissed the case twice, arguing that it should be heard in Ecuador. The appeals court reinstated the case in 1998, only to be dismissed two years later by Rakoff. It remained to be seen whether the three-judge appeals court would reinstate the case again. *"COLONIAL" COVERAGE OF ZIMBABWE ELECTIONS RAISES EYEBROWS AT BBC London, Washington, March 12 (RHC)--Senior figures at the BBC World Service have expressed concern to the domestic news division that coverage of the Zimbabwe elections has been driven by a "colonial" agenda, according to the Tuesday edition of the British news daily The Guardian. Senior BBC executives have reportedly expressed to Adrian van Klaveren, the head of BBC newsgathering, and to Steve Mitchell, the head of radio news, concerns that the colonial agenda could possibly damage the corporation's reputation for impartiality. The Guardian reported that there has been concern about the frequent BBC claim that it is banned from Zimbabwe when the corporation's African World Service reporters are working legitimately there, and about a conscious attempt to "illegitimize" the Robert Mugabe administration with the use of terms such as "regime" and adjectives such as tough, fierce and brutal. Publication of the story coincided with a Washington Post article noting that Western criticism of the situation in Zimbabwe is not shared by the African country's neighbors. While noting that vote counting began Tuesday for Zimbabwe's elections - and asserting that the contest was bitter as critics accuse Mugabe of violence and cheating to stay in power - the US news daily admitted that in their struggles against colonialism, many southern African nations drew strength from Mugage's triumph over white rule when their own freedom seemed remote. South African President Thabo Mbeki last week angrily denounced the efforts of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Australian counterpart to prod the Commonwealth into suspending Zimbabwe from the organization, while only a few members of the Southern African Development Community have criticized Mugabe. In a rare piece recently published on Zimbabwe, The Los Angeles Times reported that not a few Zimbabweans support the Mugabe government for having empowered blacks and given them land confiscated from traditional, white large landowners. *BRITISH LABOR MPs INCREASE PRESSURE AGAINST MILITARY STRIKE ON IRAQ London, March 12 (RHC)--Members of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party Monday seized the opportunity of his crucial meeting with US Vice President Richard Cheney to turn up the pressure against the prospect of military strikes on Iraq. Labor MP Alice Mahon lashed out at the UK prime minister, saying he should stop being the "little lapdog of America." Mahon's parliamentary motion expressing "deep unease" at Britain's potential involvement in military action against Iraq has now attracted the signatures of more than 70 MPs, including several former Labor ministers. She said Britain should not go down a road "that could lead to a third world war." British MP Tam Dalyell insisted that if there is to be action it should be through the United Nations and not unilaterally by the United States, noting that Iraq's neighbors are pleading against a bombing campaign. Before any attack, he added, there should be proof that there is to be an Iraqi attack on the continental US. Labor's David Chaytor said he believed it is untenable for the British government to be Washington's only supporter in this matter. *Viewpoint: BRAZIL DEMANDS THE IMF TREAT LATIN AMERICA WITH RESPECT "We are not illiterate," exclaimed Brazil's president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, to the heads of the International Monetary Fund. The Brazilian president was speaking during the inauguration of the annual meeting of Inter American Development Bank executives. The terse statement contains the discontent accumulated over decades of neo-liberal economic adjustment measures, which have impoverished the majority of Latin Americans. In his speech as host of the event in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, Cardoso explained how bookkeeping tricks never used in Europe, are applied in Latin American countries making it harder for them to advance independently. The arrogance and the lack of seriousness of IMF officials and dependence on the United Nations, which takes orders from Washington, makes it difficult to question the situation. When complaints are made, financial institution officials act like they are dealing with retarded children or ignorant adults, which is what provoked the bitter remark by the Brazilian president. It seems that they want Latin Americans to ignore the tragedies that neo-liberalism and structural adjustment have unleashed and the fact that the only ones "adjusted" are the poor, small local business owners and the now extinct, middle classes. Perhaps they don't realize that Latin Americans are fully aware that the regional apostles of neo-liberalism, like Fernando Collor de Mello, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Carlos Menem and Alberto Fujimori all ended up in serious trouble with the law in their countries and some have even been fugitives from justice. But in order to understand how financial engineering designed in Washington really works, it is necessary to take a good look at the recent U.S. measure imposing extra tariffs of up to 30 per cent, for three years on steel imports. How can you ask the developing countries to open up their markets while at the same time closing your own, Fernando Henrique Cardoso demanded of U.S. officials. But it seems his complaints fell on deaf ears since recent history demonstrates that protectionism is never discarded by the rich nations when they feel their interests are threatened. So, everything reaffirms the old saying that in business the golden rule is that he who has the gold, rules. Everything else is simply bookkeeping tricks or answers meant for illiterates. Hopefully, the outcry sparked by Brazil's president over Latin American poverty, will not just remain a lone voice in the desert, but rather will strengthen the International Conference on Funding Development soon to be held in Monterrey, Mexico, where it must be clear just who finances whom. (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-11107 2002-Mar-13 14:57:36