Direct from Cuba-04 August 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit PL's Direct from Cuba - Saturday, August 4, 2001 . *Granma Denounces CANF's Public Relations Image Makeover *Lawyers of Miami 5 Deplore US Attorney's Denial of Diplo Visit *NY Caribbean Cultural Center to Make Documentary Filmed in Cuba *Foreign Investments in Venezuela on the Upswing *Veto to VAT Raise, Negotiation: Only Way Out for Guatemalan Govt *Chile's ex-DINA Chief Manuel Contreras Under House Arrest *US Continues Bombing on Vieques Despite Protests . *Granma Denounces CANF's Public Relations Image Makeover Havana, Aug 3 (PL)--The Cuban-American National Foundation's recent attempts to offer a more moderate image were described as a grotesque parody from the story of the wolf dressed as little grandma, Friday. Granma daily used these terms to refer to statements from a FNCA executive, Joe Garcia, who asserted that apologies from one of the murderers of former Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister, Orlando Letelier, were "an attempt to establish a new model of the Cuban exile." In statements Wednesday, Virgilio Paz, of Cuban origin and one of the authors of the 1976 assassination plot that killed Letelier and his associate, Ronnie Moffit, said that his participation in that bloody act was "a very serious mistake." After his release from jail, where he served only six years of his twelve-year sentence, he stated: "At that time, I was 23, young and full of ideas." The paper recalled that the Miami-based foundation financed legal assistance in Paz' case, and that Luis Posada Carriles, another of its notorious terrorists, sent a large letter to The Miami Herald, in which he also denied his criminal actions against the Island. Posada Carriles was arrested in Panama on November 17, 2000, for plotting the assassination of Cuban President Fidel Castro during the 10th Ibero-American Summit. Cuba seeks his extradition for this crime and for blowing a Cuban commercial plane with 73 passengers aboard in 1976. According to Granma, "the FNCA admission of its protection, ties and financing of unscrupulous criminals, such as murderer Virgilio Paz Romero, confirmed a secret that everybody has already been shouting: its terrorist-mafia character." Whom will they deceive? So much impudence and so many lies will not be easy to hide, not even when the wolf hides under a white sheet and from his death bed dimly howls in repentance, Granma concluded. ECQ/ . *Lawyers of Miami 5 Deplore US Attorney's Denial of Diplo Visit Washington, Aug 3 (PL)--The order from the US Attorney's Office to cancel a visit by Cuban diplomats to two of the five compatriots arrested in Miami for trying to stop terrorist acts in Cuba and the US is senseless, legal experts stated Friday. Antonio Guerrero's and Rene Gonzalez' lawyers, Jack Blumemfeld and Phil Horowitz, said that the fact their clients were born in the US is not a valid reason to impede their meeting with officials from Havana's Interests Section in Washington, which they demanded from local judicial authorities. Blumemfeld and Horowitz consider the prisoners' different treatment unjust; they who are defended by Cuban government as political prisoners subjected to a biased trial, largely connected to the Cuban-American National Foundation. According to Blumemfeld, Guerrero's attorney, his client's birth in US was an incident totally divorced from US Attorney Guy Lewis' exception. He said that Guerrero was a two-month old when he returned to Cuba along with his parents, after a Texas-Miami baseball season his father played, and added "he was raised on the Island, but US legal authorities always place obstacles." Lewis asserted, "such people, known as double nationals, are considered US citizens and do not have access to consular services from another nation." The prisoners' lawyers did not see any reason for Lewis's suspension of Cuban diplomats' visit in accordance with international laws. Gonzalez' lawyer, Horowitz, asked, "Who is the US to decide for him? The Cuban officials' meeting with their compatriots, isolated in Miami's Federal Detention Center since June 26 -- 18 days after being found guilty of "conspiracy," would be the first one since their arrest in 1998. The five Cuban patriots' trial lasted five months, and US legal authorities could not present evidence that justified their arrest, on charges that can result in long imprisonment, including life sentences. The three prisoners permitted a diplomatic visit will be transferred from isolation for the visit, whose date is so far unknown. ECQ/ . *NY Caribbean Cultural Center to Make Documentary Filmed in Cuba Havana, Aug 3 (PL)--The legacy of Cuban music for the Caribbean and African community in the US is picked up in a documnetary film which will have its 2002 world premiere in Havana, New York Caribbean Cultural Center official Marta Moreno reported Friday. Moreno, President of the Center which is dedicated to spread African topics in US, told Prensa Latina that the film "Cuando Los Espiritus Bailan Mambo" (When Spirits Dance the Mambo) talks about the impact that Cuban musicians cultivating rhythms coming from Africa, enriched in Cuba, left in the city of New York during the early decades of the 20th Century. "When the Cuban musicians came to New York in the 40's and 50's there was already an African tradition there, but Cuban musicians greatly influenced the development of those communities and African beliefs with their Yoruba and Arara chants, and they still do," Moreno explained. File images of renowned percussion performers like Chano Pozo, Mario Bauza and Mongo Santamaria mingle with comments by Cuban specialists in African religious cults and ethnologists in this documentary film of 90 minutes cosponsored by the Fernando Ortiz Foundation in Havana and the Cuban Music Institute. Moreno said that the documentary is in its final stage of filming and there are only some interviews to complete with Cuban experts such as writer Miguel Barnet, president of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation. TAC/ . *Foreign Investments in Venezuela on the Upswing Caracas, Aug 3 (PL)--foreign investment in Venezuela is on the rise, according to the Venezuelan Trade and Industry Chamber (Venanchamp). The information released by the organization contradicts statements by the opposition and communication media, which wanted to show that the government kept foreign investment operations out of the local economic panorama. During the first semester this year, foreign investment in Venezuela reached $527 million, stated the Chamber report, 66% from the Netherlands, followed by Chile and the US. Until July, Through July of this year, the telecommunications sector has attracted 72% of foreign investments, while the manufacturing industry has received 22%. Venanchamp's statement are in accord with statistics from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), which predicted a growth of 3.5% for the Venezuelan economy, which is too much over exceeding the 2% percent the organization predicted for the whole Latin America. The highest growth predicted by CEPAL is in Cuba, where the organization expects a 4.5% growth rate. TAC/ . *Veto to VAT Raise, Negotiation: Only Way Out for Guatemalan Govt Guatemala, Aug 3 (PL)--Cancellation of an increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT) and a national dialogue of negotiation are steps the Guatemalan government should take immediately, says Luis Chavez, from the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity Party (URNG). In statements to the press Chavez, who belongs to the Revolutionary Rescue trend of UNRG, said that the VAT raise would only send the country spiralling down into an unmanageable political state. In his opinion, the VAT raise only affects the poorest sectors of the population, so he thinks the struggle against such a measure is a fair one. He added, however, that it is necessary to control the fiscal deterioration and correct handling of funds, and said that economically powerful groups have manipulated the VAT raise topic inorder to reject the Fiscal Agreement completely. That document was adopted last May as a sort of national agreement with commitment from all the sectors involved in the country's economy. Chavez contends that the "only way out" for Alfonso Portillo's government is to initiate a great national dialogue promoted by all sectors, to avoid making the situation worse. On Wednesday, commercial and industrial activities were paralyzed in 98 percent of the country by a protest promoted by entrepreneurs against the VAT raise measure. The measure has also been rejected by the citikzenry and popular organizations, who also insist that those who have more should be the ones to pay more. TAC/ . *Chile's ex-DINA Chief Manuel Contreras Under House Arrest Santiago de Chile, Aug 3 (PL)-- The author of Chile's participation in Operation Condor, ex-general Manuel Contreras, is on his first day of hoise arrest, accused of violation of human rights during the dictatorship, far beyond his country's borders. Ex-chief of the former National Intelligency Direction (DINA) or Chilean Secret police during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, Contreras is under investigation by Argentine Judge Rodolfo Cordova, who is examining his involvement, and that of other high South American military officials, in Operation Condor. Contreras' order of arrest was ratified Thursday by Chile's Supreme Court, which fixed a time limit of 2 months to the Argentine justice system for extradition steps. Condor was the key name with which dictators from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia coordinated during the 70's and 80's to find and exterminate political opponents in the region; national boundaries were ignored in the operation. Among the people responsible for crimes during that period are Augusto Pinochet (Chile, 1973-1990), Jorge Rafael Videla (Argentina, 1973-1983) and Alfredo Stroessner (Paraguay, 1954-1989) and other high military chiefs. Contreras served a prison term of 7 years for his involvement in the September, 1976 assassination of Chile's ex-Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier, in Washington, DC. Contreras' case was complicated when judge Juan Guzman Tapia requested his preventive detention on January 29 because of the Caravan of Death Case, in which he appeared as one of the authors of 75 murders and kidnappings. The Caravan of Death was a military mission touring the country from north to south a few days after Pinochet's coup d' etat in September, 1973, leaving many people dead and disappeared, opposition members among them. Contreras, who had asked for his parole, is now under house arrest in his residence near Santiago, awaiting a possible extradition request from Argentina because of the charges he faces there. Argentinean magistrate Cordova decreed preventive detention for ex-dictator Videla on July 10 and is preparing extradition requests for Contreras and Pinochet, as well as four Uruguayan ex-soldiers who collaborated in the secret detention centers in that nation. Cordova also requested investigation of Paraguay's e-dictator Stroessner, who has been granted political asylum in Brazil, US ex-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for their known links with South American dictators at that time. TAC/ . *US Continues Bombing on Vieques Despite Protests Washington, Aug 3 (PL)--The US Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico announced continued bombing for a second day on Friday, despite the inhabitants' protests there, which threaten to spread civil disobedience to the rest of Puerto Rico. From 08:00 local time (12H00 GMT) Friday, the firing zone chosen by US soldiers was ready for military exercises from sea and land, which lasted all day long the day before. At least seven Vieques protesters remained on the site Friday morning, intending to block the military exercise despite the failure on Thursday of a group of civilians acting as "human shields" to halt the exercises. Nevertheless, according to reports from the protesters, the wargames were interrupted when some demonstrators engaged in disruptive tactics such as detonating fireworks. The group called the Workers Socialist Movement (MST) formed by doctors, lawyers, teachers and even a sportsman, was the main protagonist in this protest, to be continued for the second day onFriday. The Pro Rescue and Development of Vieques Committee (CPRDV), another of the coordinating protest groups, engaged in other disobedience actions in US military installations Thursday night. Two groups of CPRDV militants managed to facilitate the escape of 5 other members who got into the firing areas and were chased by US soldiers. The US Navy has conducted military exercises on Vieques, an island located 11 km southeast of Puerto Rico, for 60 years now. Three-quarters of the island is occupied by US military installations. Aiming to block the exercises, the Puerto Rican community organization said some 23 demonstrators -- among them 7 professionals and some ex-presidents of the Puerto Rico Lawyers College, would attempt to enter the firing range and act as human shields. Some changes in strategy are being considered, community leaders say. Ismael Guadalupe, a CPRDV leader, Eduardo Villanueva, an ex-president of the Lawyers College, and Luis Angel Torres, from MST coincided that agree that extending the protests to the whole of Puerto Rico may now be a timely idea. Two years of struggle against US military occupation in Vieques have resulted in more than 1000 people being arrested, among them a number of public officials, politicians, and international personalities. Civil disobedience in this Puerto Rican territory has succeeded, observers say, in disrupting US naval exercises and has turned the issue into an international protest. In a recent referendum on the issue, 68.2 percent of the population voted for the immediate withdrawal of the US Navy from island, in an 80% voter turnout, which is considered very significant by political analysts. (c) 2001 Prensa Latina, NY Transfer News. 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