Radio Havana Cuba-27 March 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 27 March 2002 . *WHITE HOUSE LIED ABOUT "NO PRESSURE" ON MEXICO, SAYS CUBA *FIDEL CASTRO SEES OFF BOTSWANAN PRESIDENT AFTER OFFICIAL VISIT *CHILEAN STUDENTS CALL ON THEIR GOVERNMENT TO REFUSE TO CONDEMN CUBA *ARGENTINE JURISTS DEPLORE GOVERNMENT DECISION TO VOTE AGAINST CUBA IN GENEVA *CUBA CONTINUES TO AID VICTIMS OF CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR ACCIDENT *MID-EAST: SHARON DERAILS IMPORTANT ARAB SUMMIT BEFORE IT BEGINS *NEW BUSH-BASHING BOOK BECOMES NATIONWIDE BEST-SELLER *NICARAGUAN PROSECUTOR TO BRING CORRUPTION CHARGES AGAINST FORMER PRESIDENT *NOBEL LAUREATE JOSE SARAMAGO COMPARIS OF ISRAELI REPRESSION OF PALESTINIANS TO NAZI PRACTICES DURING HOLOCAUST *CANADA HAS HARSH WORDS FOR WASHINGTON'S SOFTWOOD PROTECTIONISM *Viewpoint: DOLLARS HAVE NO COUNTRY, ONLY INTERESTS . *WHITE HOUSE LIED ABOUT "NO PRESSURE" ON MEXICO, SAYS CUBA Havana, Mexico City, March 27(RHC)-- Cuba has accused the White House of lying about Havana's denunciation of US pressure on Mexico to exclude President Fidel Castro from the recent International Conference on Funding for Development. Cuba's foreign ministry slammed White House spokesman Ari Fleischer's affirmation that no one could ever believe anything that Fidel Castro says, noting that if the Bush administration did not apply pressure, then US national security advisor Condolezza Rice is the liar. Just days before the conference in Monterrey, Mexico, stated the Cuban foreign ministry, Rice publicly and categorically said that Bush and Castro's paths would not cross at the gathering. In that case, stated the press release, the liars are either Rice or President Bush. In related news, the controversy stemming from President Castro's abrupt departure from the United Nations-sponsored conference has sparked growing criticism inside Mexico of that country's foreign policy. Party of the Democratic Revolution leader Cuauhtemoc Cardenas charged that in the 16 months of his mandate, President Vicente Fox has shown no foreign policy independence, while Institutional Revolutionary Party Senator Oscar Camacho stated that it seems that Fox and Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda are unnecessarily placing Mexico in a compromising situation. Cardenas referred to a recent article written by Castaneda in which he asserts that Mexico's geographic location and close ties to the United States does not allow the country to establish equally strong ties with other nations or regions. At the same time, the prominent Mexican news daily La Jornada Wednesday published an editorial calling on the nation to rebel against a foreign policy of submission to Washington. *FIDEL CASTRO SEES OFF BOTSWANAN PRESIDENT AFTER OFFICIAL VISIT Havana, March 27(RHC)-- Cuban president Fidel Castro bid farewell today to Botswana's president Festus G. Mogae, who concluded an official visit to the island. The two presidents arrived at Havana's Jose Marti Airport together along with other high-ranking Cuban officials including Foreign Investment Minister, Marta Lomas and deputy Foreign Minister, Jose Guerra Menchero. The African head of state departed just before 9:00am after completing an official visit aimed at strengthening relations between the two nations that were first established in l977. During his time in Cuba, President Mogae held talks with Fidel Castro on bilateral cooperation and the international and regional political situation. The Botswana delegation also visited various sites of social and economic interest including Cuba's number one tour resort, Varadero Beach, some 160 kilometers east of Havana. The African visitors toured the Latin American Medical School on the outskirts of Havana, the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center, the International School of Physical Education and Sports and the capital's colonial "Old Havana" section. Mogae paid tribute to Cuban National Hero, Jose Marti, placing a floral wreath at the base of the huge monument dedicated to Marti in Revolution Square and he visited the museum there on the life and work of Marti. According to official reports the contacts between the two leaders and their high-ranking delegations expanded bilateral cooperation in the areas of education, sports and public health. Of special interest to Botswana's president was the acquisition of several vaccines produced by the island. This was the second time a head of state from the sub Saharan African nation has officially visited Cuba. *CHILEAN STUDENTS CALL ON THEIR GOVERNMENT TO REFUSE TO CONDEMN CUBA Santiago de Chile, March 27(RHC)-- The Chilean Students Confederation has called on the government of President Ricardo Lagos to refuse to vote against Cuba in the United Nations Human Rights Commission. A statement reaffirming its solidarity with the island was approved by 20 university student federations across Chile and presented to Cuba's ambassador in Santiago, Alfonso Fraga Perez. The message expresses "the most absolute rejection of the statements by the new US ambassador, William Brownfield, on the topic, and calls the statements "an arrogant interference in Chile's internal affairs." And the student organizations call on their government to reject pressures exerted by Washington. In his first press conference after assuming his position on March 14, US ambassador Brownfield acknowledged on Tuesday that his first mission in the Chilean capital will be to see that the Chilean administration does not abstain from voting against Cuba in the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Just hours before the press conference, the US diplomat had met with Chilean foreign minister Soledad Alvear, where he reiterated Washington's desire that Chile condemn Cuba in the United Nations. *ARGENTINE JURISTS DEPLORE GOVERNMENT DECISION TO VOTE AGAINST CUBA IN GENEVA Buenos Aires, March 27(RHC)-- The Argentine Judicial Federation announced today its rejection of the government's decision to vote against Cuba in the United Nations Human Rights Commission. The position was unanimously adopted in a meeting of the organization's leadership. The statement is contained in a letter presented to Cuba's ambassador in Argentina, Alejandro Gonzalez. The labor union, which groups all the country's legal workers, criticized the administration of President Eduardo Duhalde for giving in to pressures exerted by the United States to vote against Cuba in the United Nations. The statement directed to the Cuban ambassador, notes that the majority of the Argentine people do not support the government's decision, and it reiterates its solidarity and admiration for the people of Cuba. The Argentine Judicial Federation statement reads in part: Under no circumstances should we condone this gross interference of out authorities in the life of a people who for more than 40 years have publicly expressed their fierce determination to refrain from kowtowing to any superpower." *CUBA CONTINUES TO AID VICTIMS OF CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR ACCIDENT Havana, March 27(RHC)-- Some 20 thousand children and adult victims of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident, have received medical attention in Cuba over the last 12 years. The Cuban newspaper, Granma, today announced that that number includes 16,549 children and young people and three thousand 49 men and women from the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Currently, the seaside resort medical center of Tarara, located some 15 kilometers east of Havana, maintains an average of between 200 and 250 children and adult patients throughout the year. Since the beginning of Cuba's Comprehensive Health Program in March l990, the Center has treated more than 700 patients suffering from cancer, 14 were operated on for congenital heart ailments, and two kidney transplants and six medulla transplants have been performed. The Tarara Center, where medical assistance is offered to the Chernobyl victims free-of-charge, also provides nursing care, dental work and psychology and comprehensive rehabilitation services. Granma newspaper adds that thousands of those affected by the l986 nuclear accident in the Ukraine were immunized against hepatitis B, meningitis and other diseases with Cuban vaccines. In l998 a sanatorium was opened in the Ukrainian province of Crimea, where Cuban medical specialists are working, and have so far treated more than seven thousand children. *MID-EAST: SHARON DERAILS IMPORTANT ARAB SUMMIT BEFORE IT BEGINS Tel Aviv, Beirut, Ramallah, March 27(RHC)-- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's refusal to allow Palestine National Authority President Yasser Arafat to attend an important Arab Summit derailed the gathering before it began. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdala II boycotted the summit in protest, leaving the gathering with the absence of three key figures in the region. Sharon refused to allow Arafat, under virtual house arrest in Ramallah since December, to attend the summit unless he bowed to Israel's unilateral conditions for a ceasefire. The Palestinian leader refused. The Israeli prime minister's refusal coincided with his affirmation, published in prominent local news dailies, that he regretted having promised Washington that he would not kill or physically harm Arafat. The absences are being called a setback for the Bush administration, which had gently pressed Sharon to allow Arafat to attend in the hopes that Arab leaders would accept a Saudi Arabia peace proposal. But due to the Israeli prime minister's conditions and statement about regretting not being able to kill Arafat, Arab leaders are instead reacting with anger. The Egyptian president accused Sharon of blackmailing and humiliating the Palestinian people. At the same time, Lebanon - site of the summit - unexpectedly and inexplicably blocked a speech by Arafat that was to have been beamed to Arab leaders by satellite, prompting the entire Palestinian delegation to definitively abandon the gathering. In solidarity with the Palestinians, the United Arab Emirates reduced the level of its delegation. *NEW BUSH-BASHING BOOK BECOMES NATIONWIDE BEST-SELLER London, March 27(RHC)-- A new book that bashes and berates US President George W. Bush has become the best-selling book in the country, reported Wednesday the British news daily The Guardian. Written by journalist and activist Michael Moore, the book Stupid White Men accuses Bush of being the "thief-in-chief, a trespasser on federal land, a squatter at the Oval Office" and calls for the marines to be sent in to evict him, while calling the United States a country that "goes out of its way to remain ignorant and stupid." Published earlier this month, this week it hit the number one spot in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and on Amazon. It's now gone into print for the ninth time. Moore made the 1989 award-winning documentary Roger and Me, about his pursuit of the then-chairman of General Motors to question him about his decision to close down a factory that put thousands out of work. Analysts and literary critics are expressing their surprise over the book's popularity at a time when Bush is said to have one of the highest ratings of any president. Stupid White Men calls for the United Nations to overthrow the "Bush family junta" and describes the president as the "Idiot-in-Chief." Moore recently asserted that "people have had it with keeping silent for the past six months." He said they resent having felt that they would be considered unpatriotic if they question the government or dissent. *NICARAGUAN PROSECUTOR TO BRING CORRUPTION CHARGES AGAINST FORMER PRESIDENT Managua, March 27(RHC)-- A prosecutor in Nicaragua has announced plans to file charges of corruption against former President Arnoldo Aleman, accused of stealing 1.3 million dollars in public funds. Special Prosecutor Alberto Novoa Tuesday told local media outlets that he will file the charges next week against Aleman, his ex-spokeswoman Martha McCoy and eight other former government officials. As the current president of Nicaragua's Congress, Aleman enjoys immunity from prosecution, but Novoa said he would ask legislators to strip that immunity. Nicaraguan lawmakers recently announced that they have clinched enough votes to do so. The case centers around an irregular contract involving the country's state-owned Channel 6 TV station. Diverse surveys have revealed that Aleman was considered one of the most corrupt Latin American presidents during his mandate. Human rights organizations, labor activists and Nicaraguan media outlets repeatedly accused him of corrupt activities that involved the use of state funds and resources to buy large tracts of land and provide them with infrastructure. One of the ranches included a private helicopter with its heliport. According to the Nicaraguan newspaper El Nuevo Diario, Aleman's fortune is now to the tune of some 250 million dollars. *NOBEL LAUREATE JOSE SARAMAGO COMPARIS OF ISRAELI REPRESSION OF PALESTINIANS TO NAZI PRACTICES DURING HOLOCAUST Ramallah, March 27(RHC)-- Despite outcry in Israel, Portuguese Nobel Literature laureate Jose Saramago has refused to retract on his comparison of Israeli repression in occupied territories with Nazi practices during the Holocaust. With a delegation in Ramallah of the International Writers Parliament, Saramago called Israeli repression of the Palestinian people "the most perverse form of apartheid." He pointed to the injustice inherent in the fact that 100,000 Palestinians have to live crowded into three square kilometers in Gaza while Jewish settlements in occupied territories are ample, well-lit and comfortable. The renowned author affirmed that no one has an idea of what's really occurring in Palestine, pointing to the extensive areas, communities and cultivated land flattened by Israeli bulldozers. Saramago said it all has the appearance of the Nazi's Auschwitz concentration camp. In response to a journalist who pointed out that there were no gas chambers in occupied territory, the Nobel prize winner said you don't need gas chambers to kill. He spoke of how Israeli soldiers broke the hands and arms of rock-throwing Palestinian youths, affirming that the World War II Jewish population would probably be ashamed of what Israelis are doing in Palestine. *CANADA HAS HARSH WORDS FOR WASHINGTON'S SOFTWOOD PROTECTIONISM Victoria, British Columbia, March 27(RHC)-- In another trade dispute initiated by the United States - this time with Canada -- Canadian officials had harsh words for Washington. British Columbia Forests Minister Mike de Jong called the United States a "hostile foreign power" that is attacking forest-dependent communities and families, in reference to Washington's impending tariffs on softwood lumber that have already led to mill closures in that Canadian Province. British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell said de Jon was expressing the frustration felt by all Canadians over the breakdown of softwood lumber negotiations last week. Campbell said his province held off a major campaign to take the softwood fight to the American people because of the September 11 terrorist attacks, noting that the very families whose jobs are in jeopardy today are the families who were holding bake sales to send contributions to the families of the World Trade Center victims. The premier was careful to distinguish between American consumers, who he said would also suffer because of the decision, and what he called "lumber barons" seeking protection. Campbell promised a campaign to reach those consumers, who will now have to pay more for housing. De Jong stated that "at the very time the US president was in Monterrey, Mexico, defending not just the principles of free trade generally, but North American free trade, his political henchmen back in Washington were - in his words "sticking it to British Columbia and sticking it to Canada." *Viewpoint: DOLLARS HAVE NO COUNTRY, ONLY INTERESTS Argentines trapped by financial constraints, poverty, unemployment and hopeless in the face of the heightened global crisis gripping the nation, were hit with the news today that their countrymen have stashed fortunes abroad to the tune of 106 billion dollars! This while Argentina's President, Eduardo Duhalde and his team desperately await International Monetary Fund financial assistance that doesn't arrive. El Clarin newspaper reported today that Argentine funds sent abroad by their owners represent 76 percent of the country's foreign debt as of last December and have surpassed the nation's Gross Domestic Product. With this latest announcement, half of the Argentine population, plunged into poverty as a result of free market neoliberal economic policies, is learning another important lesson of modern economics designed by U.S. financial engineers. The cruel belt tightening adjustment and austerity measures counseled by IMF authorities are only directed at the lower and middle sectors of society, while those above have the total freedom to export their capital with or without the approval of the government of the moment. In December and January of last year, while Argentina was sinking, the middle class was practically disappearing into the precipice of poverty and the Central Bank's international reserves dwindled, Argentina sent some 13 billion dollars to other financial systems- a record for the country. Such a torrential flow of capital has only occurred once before during the so-called "tequila effect," which shook the region's economies and could only be controlled with an abundant transfusion of funds from the United States to Mexico. There are various ways in which patriotic Argentine impresarios and financiers have their money invested abroad. There are savings accounts in foreign banks, stocks and bonds purchased with funds transferred from Argentina, houses and other property, investments in companies, money hidden away in safe deposit boxes and as the newspaper states, stashed "under the mattresses." Meanwhile, Duhalde and his government team have demonstrated that they are willing to sell their own souls for an economic assistance packet, when repatriation of just a third the capital that has been sent out of Argentina could save the country from its most debilitating crisis ever. If half were returned the nation's economy could be reactivated and the specter of super inflation avoided. But this will never happen. And in this there is another sad lesson to be learned, not just by Argentines but by everyone: in the end, dollars have no nationality, only interests. (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-22043 2002-Mar-30 12:10:09