Radio Havana Cuba-20 May 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 20 May 2002 . *ACTIVISTS IN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN DEMONSTRATE SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA *MANY IN US CONGRESS READY TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH CUBA *VISITING CUBAN-AMERICANS HONOR NATIONAL HERO JOSE MARTI *COLOMBIA: PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ENDS WITH ALVARO URIBE FAR IN THE LEAD *EAST TIMOR TAKES ITS PLACE AMONG THE COMMUNITY OF INDEPENDENT NATIONS *CUBA INTERESTED ESTABLISHING OFFICIAL RELATIONS *BUSH EXPECTED TO RECEIVE COLD RECEPTION IN EUROPE *PARTISAN BATTLE LOOMING OVER WHAT BUSH KNEW AND WHEN BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11 *POINTING TO ENRON, US LAWMAKER WARNS MEXICO NOT TO PRIVATIZE ENERGY SECTOR *ISRAEL TO CONSTRUCT 1,000 MORE SETTLER HOMES IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE *Viewpoint: THE REPUBLIC THAT NEVER WAS . *ACTIVISTS IN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN DEMONSTRATE SOLIDARITY WITH CUBA Lisbon/Madrid, May 20 (RHC)-- With strong expressions of support and solidarity with Cuba, hundreds of women gathered in the Portuguese city of Évora to welcome a visiting delegation from the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC). The rally was called by a number of non-governmental organizations, including the Democratic Union of Women and the local chapter of the Portugal-Cuba Friendship Association. A formal ceremony to welcome the Cuban delegation was held at the Municipal Theater. The head of the Federation of Cuban Women's delegation to Portugal and a member of the FMC National Secretariat, Magalys Arocha, spoke to those gathered about the current situation in Cuba and the participation of women in society. Meanwhile, over the weekend in Madrid, the Spanish capital, solidarity activists gathered at a huge rally to welcome Cuba's Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque. The two high-ranking leaders of the Cuban Revolution were part of the island's delegation to the recently concluded Second Summit of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean -- held in Madrid last week. Cuban President Fidel Castro sent a message to the solidarity rally, which was read to the crowd by Vice President Carlos Lage. In his message, Fidel Castro denounced the latest slander campaign launched by Washington against Cuba -- including false accusations that Havana is developing biological weapons -- which he said is aimed at creating conditions for new U.S. actions against the island. *MANY IN US CONGRESS READY TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH CUBA Guanajuato, May 20 (RHC)-- Many congressional representatives on Capitol Hill are ready to improve relations with Cuba, according to Representative Bob Filner. The Democratic representative from the State of California spoke with Prensa Latina News Agency following the 41st Mexico-U.S. Inter-Parliamentary Meeting. Representative Filner stated that the main obstacles to better relations with Havana are U.S. President George W. Bush and right-wing Cuban-Americans in Miami. "The U.S. Congress and the people of the United States are ready for change. Only Bush and some Cuban-Americans in Miami are not," Filner told Prensa Latina in Mexico. Expressing his hopes that Washington's blockade against the island would be lifted and that U.S. citizens would be free to travel to Cuba, the congressional representative from California said he and others on Capitol Hill would continue to work for better relations between Washington and Havana. *VISITING CUBAN-AMERICANS HONOR NATIONAL HERO JOSE MARTI Havana, May 20 (RHC)-- A group of Cuban-Americans who reside in southern Florida and are visiting the island paid tribute over the weekend in Havana to José Martí. A delegation of more than 100 Cuban-Americans placed two floral wreaths at the monument to José Martí in Central Park yesterday. Sunday marked the 107th anniversary of the death in combat of Cuba's National Hero. José Martí was killed on May 19, 1895 -- fighting for the island's independence from Spanish colonial rule. Members of the Miami-based "José Martí Association" and "Martiana Alliance" gathered at the park in downtown Havana yesterday afternoon, despite a steady rain. During the brief ceremony, the director of the Havana Center for Studies on José Martí, Rolando González, said that the Cuban independence fighter is one of today's leading reference points that a better world is possible. *COLOMBIA: PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN ENDS WITH ALVARO URIBE FAR IN THE LEAD Bogotá, May 20 (RHC) -- Public campaigning in Colombia's presidential race officially ended Sunday, with two new polls confirming a huge lead by pro-war candidate Alvaro Uribe. The get-tough-on-leftist-guerrillas candidate was reportedly within a hair of the majority he would need to win the May 26 vote outright and avoid a runoff, which would be a first in Colombian history - though the surveys predicted that he would comfortably win a runoff next month if necessary. One survey firm gave Uribe 49.3 percent of the vote against 23 percent for his main challenger, former Interior Minister Horacio Serpa. The other gave him 48 percent compared to Serpa's 31 percent. Uribe's critics are warning that he would unleash even wider violence in Colombia's 38-year civil war. He has announced plans to double defense spending to beef up the military, give the army a freer hand - sparking fears of even more human rights abuse - and recruit a million civilians as army informants to force leftist guerrillas to the negotiating table. Supported by rightwing paramilitaries, Colombian human rights activists are concerned about Uribe's plans to allow the military to perform functions like arrests, raids and interrogations that are usually the jurisdiction of prosecutors. Colombian Commission of Jurists director Gustavo Gallon said that such a decision not only goes against the constitution and international human rights agreements, but also against Colombia's experience in these matters. Many observers also believe that by opening a new phase in the civil war Uribe will invite a deeper role for the United States, noting that Uribe would take office at a time when Washington is already contemplating a broader role in the war. *EAST TIMOR TAKES ITS PLACE AMONG THE COMMUNITY OF INDEPENDENT NATIONS; CUBA INTERESTED ESTABLISHING OFFICIAL RELATIONS Dili, East Timor, May 20 (RHC) -- The small island territory of East Timor took its place among the community of independent nations on Monday, in celebrations that are being called a triumph, at last, over its long history of brutal oppression by foreign occupiers. Shortly after the raising of the nation's flag, 55-year-old poet and former guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao was sworn in as East Timor's first head of state. Having served more than six years in jail and house arrest, he was elected president in a United Nations-supervised vote last month. Tens of thousands of people, smiled, cheered and hugged each other in an outpouring of emotion at the celebration, which ended four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, 24 years of Indonesian occupation and 2 and a half years of interim rule by the UN. East Timor, however, is not only the world's newest nation, but also one of the poorest. Close to 40 percent of the country's 800,000 people are illiterate, and unemployment is estimated at 70 percent. During Sunday's eight-hour independence celebrations, huge TV screens occasionally showed grisly scenes of emaciated bodies and torture victims as a reminder of the country's bloody independence struggle. In Havana, Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Relations issued a statement on Monday, expressing interest in establishing official relations with newly-independent East Timor. The Cuban Foreign Ministry statement congratulates the people of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, "which today joins the ranks of independent and sovereign nations." According to the official statement, Havana hopes to develop relations with East Timor "in order to decisively contribute to the consolidation and broadening of friendship between our peoples and governments." *BUSH EXPECTED TO RECEIVE COLD RECEPTION IN EUROPE May 20 (RHC) -- On the eve of US President George W. Bush's tour of Europe, news commentators are predicting a fairly cold reception among old allies hostile to his unilateralism and protectionism. Bush starts his six-day trip to Germany, Russia, France and Italy Wednesday in Berlin, which has launched an unprecedented mobilization of 10,000 police to contain tens of thousands of demonstrators expected to protest against a possible US attack on Iraq and its policies on trade, the environment and the Middle East. Analysts say the street protests will mirror criticism by European leaders of Bush's description this year of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil," noting that French leaders called the US stance simplistic and Germany has warned Washington not to treat its European allies as satellites. Members of Germany's junior government partners, the Greens, have said they will join in demonstrations that could embarrass Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder - particularly if they escalate into violence. A survey published in the German news magazine Der Spiegel shows that Bush is more unpopular in Germany, which has a strong peace lobby, than in the other countries he's visiting. The US president has angered Europe by walking out on the Kyoto climate accord to cut greenhouse emissions, renouncing any obligation to cooperate with the new International Criminal Court and sparking fears of a trade war by imposing tariffs on steel imports. *PARTISAN BATTLE LOOMING OVER WHAT BUSH KNEW AND WHEN BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11 Washington, May 20 (RHC) -- Revelations of the George W. Bush administration's pre-September 11 knowledge of a possible spectacular terrorist attack took on the characteristics of a partisan war over the weekend. The National Republican Congressional Committee, in memos e-mailed to political supporters and journalists, accused Democrats of "an outrageous political attack on the commander-in-chief during wartime" and threatened to make an issue of votes that Democratic leaders cast against defense and intelligence funding increases. The Democrats were using a phrase famously used during hearings that led to the resignation of the late President Richard Nixon - "what did he know and when did he know it?" - infuriating Republicans who accused Democrats of "recycling Watergate clichés" to undermine Bush. But according to the US's The Nation news magazine, if the Democrats attempt to use revelations about the run-up to September 11 simply to score political points they will ultimately be foiled. The Nation's John Nichols wrote that partisan wrangling will favor the Bush team, which wants Americans to think criticism of the president is nothing more than politics. *POINTING TO ENRON, US LAWMAKER WARNS MEXICO NOT TO PRIVATIZE ENERGY SECTOR Guanajuato, Mexico, May 20 (RHC) -- A US legislator has warned Mexico about privatizing its electricity industry, telling Mexican lawmakers that energy transnationals operate like cartels and enjoy absolute impunity. The warning came in the Mexican city of Guanajuato over the weekend from Congressman Bob Filner of California - a state that was virtually looted by the scandal-ridden Enron energy firm - during a Mexico-US Interparliamentary Meeting. Filner said that a vital service cannot be turned over to monopoly control, affirming that California committed that error and is not paying a high price. The US lawmaker said energy transnationals act like criminal organizations and enjoy absolute impunity despite the economic and environmental damage they inflict. Filner charged that the Sempra transnational, which is building two electricity-generating plants without proper environmental controls in the northern city of Mexicali, caused blackouts in California, rate hikes of up to 1,500 percent and ripped off the state for 50 million dollars. He said there's a project to build 6 other similar plants on the Mexico-US border. Mexican President Vicente Fox recently came out in favor of privatizing the country's energy sector, abandoning a campaign promise and sparking heated debate in a country that takes pride in having nationalized the sector in the 1930s. With critics pointing out that such a move would be in violation of the Mexican constitution, Fox said over the weekend that the country's constitution is outdated. *ISRAEL TO CONSTRUCT 1,000 MORE SETTLER HOMES IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE Tel Aviv, May 20 (RHC) -- Israel's housing ministry has announced plans to build another 1,000 homes in Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territories. The announcement comes on the heels of a study released by the Israeli human rights organization Betselem affirming that 41.9 percent of the West Bank is controlled by Israel through Jewish settlements, farm land and military bases. The situation in the Gaza Strip is reportedly similar, with 4,000 settlers in 17 rural settlements controlling 36 percent of the land in a zone populated by 1.4 million Palestinians. Most of the 1,000 new homes will be located in Jerusalem, which has been interpreted as an effort to strengthen the city's ring of Jewish settlements to prevent the possible granting of part of the city for the capital of an eventual independent Palestinian state. The Mitchell report elaborated last year by an international commission to investigate the causes of the Intifada concluded that an immediate and complete halt in the construction of Jewish settlements is one of the first measures that would pave the way for an end to the violence in the region and a renewal of dialogue. *Viewpoint: THE REPUBLIC THAT NEVER WAS Cuba's bid for independence from Spain was in its final stages. After two decades of ferocious fighting the patriotic forces had practically defeated the powerful Spanish army, when US economic interests pressured Washington into intervening in the conflict. Under the McKinley administration, elected for the first time in l896 and reelected four years later, the United States was going through one of its most significant periods. On the one hand it was emerging as a world power and on the other it was consolidating giant corporations and financial institutions as depositories of power. And it was precisely because the giant to the north controlled the island's three key industries: sugar, tobacco and iron, that the Revolution of 1895's call for independence and full sovereignty, represented a real tragedy for the United States. It meant such significant losses to its interests that the United States went to war against Spain, snatching away Cuba's hard-won victory. Fate would have it that in l901 McKinley was shot dead by the son of a Polish immigrant; a tragedy that thrust the US presidency onto Teddy Roosevelt, a man who represented the most extreme imperialist interests and who thought the foreign policy of his unfortunate predecessor too soft. He immediately set to work to consolidate the power of industrial and financial capital. It was in this context that the United States for economic reasons decided on May 20 of l902 to trample over the victory of the Cuban liberation army and Revolutionary Party by imposing a republic that never was. A republic born of the Platt Amendment, which give the United States the right to intervene in Cuba whenever it saw fit. The guaranteed acquiescence of later governments would allow the United States to finally eliminate the offensive amendment and still achieve something that is the dream of all giant powers. Washington would continue to enjoy all the benefits of the colony without the obligations and without having to spending money on an army forced upon the people against their will. That is the true essence of what was founded on that May 20, a hundred years ago. It was a new form of colonial domination called by the fictitious name of "republic." But it was a republic that never was, or could ever be. But what they didn't consider and what they couldn't avoid, was that the seeds of those historic battles for freedom would remain latent until finding fertile ground years later when the struggle for true independence was renewed. It was the course of events that began on October 10, l898 and culminated on January 1, l959 that created the true Republic of Cuba. A history forged not by foreign hands, but rather by its own people, who learned to overcome many obstacles along the way like the false liberty of l902. Everything that Cubans learned during those years and all they have achieved in the more than four decades of authentic republic, guarantee that liberty, sovereignty and independence will continue to flourish in Cuba because like the giant Ceiba tree, it roots are deeply embedded in 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-12969 2002-May-22 22:36:25