Radio Havana Cuba-18 March 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 18 March 2002 . *CUBA CHALLENGES US GOVERNMENT TO COOPERATE WITH ISLAND IN WAR ON DRUGS *CUBA DENOUNCES PLAN TO "LIBERATE" JAILED TERRORISTS IN PANAMA *PERUVIAN CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES CALL ON THEIR GOVERNMENT NOT TO JOIN ANTI-CUBA CAMPAIGN AT UPCOMING UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION *TOURISM IS CULTURE AND PEACE: CUBAN VICE PRESIDENT CARLOS LAGE *CUBA EXPORTS HIGH-QUALITY MEDICAL EQUIPMENT *PESSIMISM OVERSHADOWS OPENING OF MONTERREY CONFERENCE ON DEVELOPMENT *PALESTINIANS OUTRAGED OVER CHENEY'S REFUSAL TO MEET WITH ARAFAT *BRITISH MILITARY WARNS BLAIR ABOUT ATTACKING IRAQ *US MANEUVERED OUSTING OF UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: RIGHT GROUPS *ARGENTINA: IMF PRESCRIBES MORE ECONOMIC SHOCK THERAPY Viewpoint: *GUATEMALA - ROUGH WEEK AHEAD FOR GOVERNMENT FACING ANTI-CORRUPTION PROTESTS . *CUBA CHALLENGES US GOVERNMENT TO COOPERATE WITH ISLAND IN WAR ON DRUGS Havana, March 18 (RHC)--Cuba has challenged the US government to cooperate with the island in the war on drugs. The challenge came in a statement by Cuba's foreign affairs ministry concerning the recent arrest in Havana of a notorious Colombian narco kingpin, Rafael Miguel Bustamante Bolanos, detained last March 6th after having entered Cuba with a false name and passport. Published on the front page of the official Cuban newspaper Granma, the foreign ministry statement noted that the arrest was possible due to Cuba's cooperation with several anti-drug agencies here in the region. Bustamante Bolanos, affirms the note, is reported to have escaped from a Colombian prison and is sought by US authorities after having escaped from a prison in the US state of Alabama. The Cuban foreign ministry recalled that last January 12th, Cuban authorities handed over to US authorities fugitive American citizen and drug trafficker Jesse James Bell in a gesture of Cuba's willingness to cooperate in this area. Cuban authorities arrested Bell in October of last year for possession of false documents, after which US authorities requested he be turned over to them despite the lack of a cooperation agreement between the two countries. The Cuban foreign ministry recalled that last December, during the most recent round of US-Cuba migratory talks, Havana presented the US delegation three cooperation proposals in the areas of immigration, drug trafficking and terrorism. US officials rejected the proposals with the argument that they were not on the agenda of that particular gathering, suggesting that Cuba use diplomatic channels to present them to Washington. The foreign ministry statement said Cuba followed that advice and presented the proposals to the US Interests Section in Havana and the US State Department. The statement concluded with a call on Washington to demonstrate its willingness to seriously, without double standards, confront one of the major scourges of humanity. *CUBA DENOUNCES PLAN TO "LIBERATE" JAILED TERRORISTS IN PANAMA Panama City, March 18 (RHC)--Cuba's Ambassador to Panama, Carlos Zamora, has denounced a plan to break four terrorists, including Luis Posada Carilles, out of prison. The four were arrested in November 2000, charged with planning to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama City. The Panamanian government announced last month that there was "insufficient evidence" to try Posada Carilles and the others on plotting to kill the Cuban leader -- reducing the criminal charges they will face and hinting that they could be released pending trial. According to the Cuban diplomat in Panama, a terrorist cell led by Santiago Alvarez Madrina and coordinated out of Miami plans to break the terrorists out of their prison cells in Panama City. The Cuban ambassador said that Alvarez Madrina is also responsible for numerous terrorist actions against tourist sites in Cuba, including an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the world famous Tropicana nightclub in Havana. *PERUVIAN CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES CALL ON THEIR GOVERNMENT NOT TO JOIN ANTI-CUBA CAMPAIGN AT UPCOMING UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION Lima, March 18 (RHC)--More than 50 members of the Peruvian Congress have called on their government not to give in to pressures by the United States at the upcoming UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. In an open letter to Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, the congressional representatives asked that Lima not sign on to Washington's annual resolution condemning Havana for alleged human rights violations. Javier Diez Canseco, vice president of the Peruvian Congress, told reporters that among the 50 members signing the letter to President Toledo are a number of top lawmakers and several presidents of congressional commissions. In related news, the U.S. newspaper The Washington Times has reported that during his upcoming visit to Peru -- scheduled for Saturday, March 23rd -- President George W. Bush will lobby to get Lima's vote in favor of the U.S. resolution against Cuba. *TOURISM IS CULTURE AND PEACE: CUBAN VICE PRESIDENT CARLOS LAGE Berlin, March 18 (RHC)--Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, currently on a working-visit to Germany, stated that "tourism is culture and peace." Speaking to reporters at the 26th Annual International Tourism Fair in Berlin, the Cuban vice president noted that both culture and peace are vital because "culture is the true force of nations and peace is the future of humanity." Over the weekend in Berlin, Carlos Lage met with German Minister of the Economy Werner Muller and other high-ranking officials. Following their meeting, the German economy minister had words of praise for Cuba's efforts to promote -- in his words -- "high quality and sustainable tourism." The Berlin International Tourism Fair offers more than 10,000 exhibits by 181 countries. *CUBA EXPORTS HIGH-QUALITY MEDICAL EQUIPMENT Havana, March 18 (RHC)--The Cuban company Combiomed, which last year sold over 1000 electrocardiograph machines and equipment for monitoring patients, has been awarded the 2001 National Exporters Prize in the category for small businesses with exports as high as one million dollars. Combiomed sells equipment developed by the Central Institute of Digital Research (ICID), associated with the Ministry for Computer Science and Communication. Sales Manager Sergio López told reporters that Mexico and Venezuela were the main buyers last year, although exports had also reached Spain and South Korea. Combiomed's export products are utilized in the nation's public health service. López indicated that the company has more than 4000 pieces of equipment, including some that are not for sale. He said they are high-quality products because they utilize the know-how that every Cuban company develops in its personnel and current technological investment. Combiomed products are registered on the island and all the countries where they are sold. The Cuban company also won the National Export Prize in 1999. The Ministry of Foreign Trade has awarded this distinction for the last three years to those companies with outstanding sales abroad, product and services diversification, quality and competitive prices. *PESSIMISM OVERSHADOWS OPENING OF MONTERREY CONFERENCE ON DEVELOPMENT Monterrey, Mexico, March 18 (RHC) -- Pessimism has overshadowed Monday's opening of the International Conference on Funding for Development in Monterrey, Mexico. Just hours before it began, British Development Secretary Clare Short stated that if participants don't come up with more money to fight poverty, "things will turn sour and nasty." Though the final declaration's rough draft pledges to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote sustainable development, critics are asserting that the conference's achievements are unlikely to match its rhetoric. The British nongovernmental organization Oxfam has released a study - entitled "Last Chance in Monterrey" - estimating that an extra 100 billion dollars a year will be needed to address world poverty, and that this goal will be missed by a wide margin. The Oxfam report said the figure is large but affordable, as analysts note that the US government's 2 trillion dollar-plus proposed military budget would be sufficient to reach the United Nations' ambitious development goals for the year 2015. Stephen Brown, an official with the UN Development Program, recalled that not only has aid gone down in recent years, but the share going to Europe has gone from 0 to 10 percent. He said, as a result, the target countries faced double losses because when resources are scarce geo-political considerations become predominant. Anti-globalization activists in Monterrey termed as cosmetic and inadequate the European Union's agreement to increase development aid from 0.33 to 0.39 percent, and US President George W. Bush's decision to unpocket another 5 billion dollars over the next few years. *PALESTINIANS OUTRAGED OVER CHENEY'S REFUSAL TO MEET WITH ARAFAT Ramallah, March 18 (RHC) -- Palestinians Monday expressed indignation over US Vice President Richard Cheney's refusal to meet with Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat. Cheney merely left his agenda open for a possible encounter with a Palestinian delegation, but Palestinian officials say they won't request an interview if the vice president doesn't meet with Arafat. Palestinian Information Minister Abed Rabbo said this is the first time that a high-ranking official has come to the region to talk about the Middle East peace process without meeting one of the parties involved. Chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said that whoever wants to speak with the Palestinian people must do so through their leader. For the past 14 months the George W. Bush administration has refused to receive or gather with Arafat. Cheney also reverted to Washington's policy of calling on Arafat to renounce violence without calling on Israel to do so. Leading up to the visit, the White House and the State Department had changed Washington's tone by calling on both sides to do more to contribute to peace. Meanwhile, during his Middle East tour the US vice president has had to face a unanimous rejection in the Arab world of the use of force against Iraq - including in Kuwait, the country Iraq invaded, sparking the Persian Gulf War. All Arab leaders told Cheney that Washington should instead be seeking a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Saudi Arabia, one of the US's closest Arab allies, warned Cheney that it would not permit the use of its territory in an attack against Baghdad. Cheney is nevertheless refusing to acknowledge that his Mideast tour has been a failure. *BRITISH MILITARY WARNS BLAIR ABOUT ATTACKING IRAQ London, March 18 (RHC) -- British military leaders have issued what is being called a stark warning to Prime Minister Tony Blair regarding an attack against Iraq. The Sunday edition of the British news daily The Guardian reported that London's top military brass said any war against Iraq is doomed to fail and would lead to the loss of lives for little political gain, adding that servicemen in the conflict would face being bogged down in a perilous open-ended commitment. Senior armed forces figures, according to The Guardian, are warning Blair that without Saudi cooperation it would be difficult to launch a sustained attack by American and British forces, and that without a leader-in-waiting to take over from Saddam Hussein there is little chance of any successful move to overthrow him - noting that opposition forces in Iraq are not nearly as strong as they were in Afghanistan. The British prime minister has also come up against stiff opposition to attack Iraq within his own Labor Party. *US MANEUVERED OUSTING OF UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: RIGHT GROUPS Geneva, March 18 (RHC) -- Human rights groups are accusing Washington of forcing United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson to relinquish her post. Despite being supported by numerous nations, Robinson announced Monday in Geneva that she is stepping down as she opened the 58th UN Human Rights Commission gathering. Though the world body official has declined to say why she will not stay on, organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are asserting that Robinson earned Washington's wrath by condemning the US's treatment of Afghan prisoners on the Guantanamo naval base and for promoting last year's International Conference Against Racism - which Washington's delegation abandoned due to criticism of Israel. Robinson reportedly had the support of western Europe and developing countries, and is said to have had broad support among Arab nations for her condemnation of Israel's human rights abuses in occupied Palestinian territories. According to diverse news agencies, diplomatic circles at the United Nations are asserting that the US government pressured secretary general Kofi Annan to not approve the last 3 years of Robinson's second mandate. Observers are noting that the US has been able to apply pressure even without holding a seat at the UN Human Rights Commission, after Washington's candidate was eliminated last year in a secret vote that many called a response to the US's arrogance and unilateralism. Spain and Italy, however, have given Washington another chance to become a member by withdrawing their candidates - which only leaves 4 aspirants for 4 seats at the commission. *ARGENTINA: IMF PRESCRIBES MORE ECONOMIC SHOCK THERAPY Buenos Aires, March 18 (RHC)--The International Monetary Fund has given Argentina a two-week deadline to implement economic shock policies if the nation is to be eligible for further financial assistance, according to the local news daily Clarín. Among the requisites are the creation of new taxes, a 60 percent public spending reduction in the provinces and the elimination of economic subversion legislation that allows Argentine courts to investigate banks. Argentina hopes to sign in April a new agreement with the IMF that would also pave the way for agreements with other lending institutions. Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde stated last week that his country will sink further into turmoil without IMF assistance, while at the same time acknowledging that his administration will not be able to comply with all the lending institution's demands. The Clarin report coincided with the suicide of an elderly Argentine who was unable to buy medicine for his terminal illness due to restrictions on withdrawing money from bank accounts, and with an empty pot banging protest inside the country's Supreme Court. The 85-year-old suicide victim was unable to withdraw some 17,000 dollars in savings, while Argentines entered the Supreme Court hiding pots and horns under their clothes to view a public hearing in a dispute between a province and a local bank holding provincial funds that can't be withdrawn. Economy Minister Jorge Remes Lenicov, present at the hearing, and several justices, reportedly had to lock themselves in one of the building's offices when the protest began. Viewpoint: *GUATEMALA - ROUGH WEEK AHEAD FOR GOVERNMENT FACING ANTI-CORRUPTION PROTESTS This week will be a difficult one for the Guatemalan government. Tens of thousands of Guatemalans are expected take to the streets protesting against administrative corruption and a climate of growing insecurity. Discontent soared last weekend after the assassination of opposition politician, Jorge Rosales, leader of the political group Patriotic Party. The organization has been at the head of a drive calling for the government to step down after revelations of the supposed participation of the president and vice president in illegal activities. What happened was that suddenly last week both Guatemala and Panama made public the existence of bank accounts in Panama, supposedly belonging to top Guatemalan government leaders. This being confirmed, the government has no alternative but to resign, as provided for the constitution which spells out the legal procedure for replacing the president with an acting president who would remain in office until December of 2003. Not that the charges themselves are so shocking since the nearly two years that Alfonso Portillo has held the presidency, have been filled with scandals, which have sparked coup rumors, which, though mostly untrue, are disturbing to the people nonetheless. It is interesting to note that at the time the Guatemalan government is at its most shaky is precisely the moment when the United States is pushing hardest to convince the country to play the role of Judas in the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva by presenting Washington's yearly resolution condemning Cuba. Backed into a corner by the upcoming week of protests, set to culminate on Wednesday with a huge national march to demand his resignation, Portillo is between a rock and a hard place with the State Department set on creating a puppet government that represents its spurious interests in its anti-Cuba maneuvers. It's not known if the Guatemalan president will trade his conscience for the chance finish out the two years that are left in his term, but if he does so, he will certainly earn the contempt of his own people, who have benefited from the generosity of the Cuban Revolution. It is doubtful that the more than two million Guatemalans who have been treated in the past few years free-of-charge by Cuban medical personnel, or the thousands of family members of students who are attending the Latin American School of Medicine, or the hundreds of athletes who have received high level training by Cuban trainers, would be pleased by such a servile act. Whichever way they turn, the situation is bleak for the Central American country's officials, trapped in a vicious cycle of inefficiency, administrative corruption and violence. Added to that dismal scenario is the increasing pressure exerted by Washington for Guatemala to bite the hand that feeds it. There is little opportunity left to play a decorous role. The only way now is to make a last attempt at dignity and try and salvage what is left from the implacable judgment of history. (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-15258 2002-Mar-19 00:09:50