Radio Havana Cuba-23 April 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 23 April 2002 . *MEXICO REACTS TO FIDEL'S REVELATION OF DECEIT BY FOX GOVERNMENT *GENERAL DIRECTOR OF UN FAO ARRIVES IN HAVANA *HAITIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONTINUES WORKING VISIT TO CUBA *HISTORIANS FROM THREE CONTINENTS EXAMINE LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY *ARCHEOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS FOUND IN VILLA CLARA *AFTER THREE WEEKS OF VIOLENCE, SHARON SAYS DOORS ARE OPEN TO PEACE TALKS *FRENCH POLITICAL PARTIES ACROSS THE SPECTRUM CONDEMN LE PEN *NICARAGUA: ANOTHER FORMER COLLEAGUE OF ALEMAN ARRESTED FOR CORRUPTION *FURTHER PROOF REVEALED ON US INVOLVEMENT IN VENEZUELAN COUP *Viewpoint: A GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT? . *MEXICO REACTS TO FIDEL'S REVELATION OF DECEIT BY FOX GOVERNMENT Havana, April 23 (RHC)--Reaction has been swift to last night's televised revelation by President Fidel Castro of Mexican President Vicente Fox pressuring him not to stay long at last month's international Monterrey Conference on Development. The Cuban leader had left the conference after only attending the plenary session and making a short speech and a subsequent announcement indicating that his presence had caused problems and that he was departing forthwith for Cuba. In subsequent comments to the press, both President Fox and his foreign minister, Jorge Castañeda, denied that any pressure had been brought to bear on the Cuban leader to cut short his participation at the conference to accommodate US President George Bush. Yet last night's recording of a conversation Fidel Castro had with the Mexican president on the subject clearly indicated the contrary. The Mexican daily La Jornada headlined the issue with concern over a possible break in Cuba-Mexico relations. The newspaper said that this was clear evidence that Vicente Fox had "repeatedly lied to the public" about whether or not he had pressured the Cuban president to reduce his length of stay at the conference. The Cuban leader said last night that he regretted having to go as far as divulging the contents of his conversation with Fox but that this was the only way to expose the deceit that had culminated in a vote against Cuba by Mexico at the United Nation Human Rights Commission last week. The Mexican president had previously promised Cuba that no such vote would be made by his country but apparently succumbed to the influence of his anti-Cuba foreign minister, Jorge Castañeda. The Mexican daily, El Universal, opined that Cuba and Mexico should remain friends and not allow this instance to destroy such a long and fruitful relationship. It said that any damage would be to the detriment of the people of Mexico and not its leader or his party. Members of parliament from a number of different Mexican parties expressed concern today that their president had not acted in a manner expected of a nation's leader and that he was far too influenced by the opinions of Washington. Emilio Ulloa, of the Party of Democratic Revolution or PRD, said that Fox had carried on a duplicitous role in which he had lied on television when he announced in March that nothing had happened in relation to pressuring Fidel Castro. At that time Fox had called for proof, so -- said critics in Mexico -- the Cuban President had provided that proof and was now being criticized for doing so by the very same people who clamored for it earlier. Ulloa said that the telephone conversation clearly exposed Fox's dependency on the United States and demanded a full explanation of why he had pressured Fidel Castro to cut short his stay in Monterrey. Another PRD legislator, Martín Batres, said that the affair was shameful and showed that the government had become an instrument for Washington's petitions. The Mayor of Mexico City said today that Fox had a lot of explaining to do and that it would do his country no good to remain silent on the issue. Efrén Leyva, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI said that with his treatment of Cuba, Vicente Fox had clearly decided to change the solidarity that Mexico traditionally had with Latin America to ally itself with the United States. The Cuban leader appeared again on national television tonight to discuss the issues surrounding his revelations of Monday night. Speaking from the nation's nightly roundtable studio, Fidel Castro told listeners that he felt the person most responsible for the events that had affected Cuba-Mexico relations for the worst was the Mexican Foreign Minister, Jorge Castañeda. Commenting that President Vicente Fox was a decent person, the Cuban leader said that nonetheless Mexico depended on the United States and that Fox had succumbed to the negative influence of Castañeda and his owners in Washington. Answering criticism that he had released the text of a private conversation, the President said that it had been an official call between two heads of state that would one day be public information. It was not a personal call. He said that the conversation had been taped as a matter of course -- all governments do this for the record. This was the first time that Cuba had been forced to release such a tape under such circumstances, he added. *GENERAL DIRECTOR OF UN FAO ARRIVES IN HAVANA Havana, April 23 (RHC)--The General Director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jacques Diouf arrived in Havana Monday night. The head of the UN agency will take part in the 27th Regional Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization, currently underway in the Cuban capital. During his official visit to the island, the UN official will also meet with Cuba's Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas, Agriculture Minister Alfredo Jordan, and other high-ranking representatives from the Cuban government. Dr. Jacques Diouf is from Senegal and a graduate in Agricultural Engineering. He became the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in 1994 and was re-elected in 1999 for another six-year period. Prior to becoming the general director of the FAO, Dr. Diouf was the ambassador of Senegal's Permanent Mission before the United Nations and has also served in other important positions. During the FAO Regional Conference in Havana -- which runs through Friday, the 26th -- ministers of agriculture will review the regional activities of the UN agency over the past two years, with a special emphasis on the trends and challenges in agriculture, forests and fishing, as well as issues related to food security. Participants will also discuss regional preparations for the World Food Summit, which will take place from June 10th through the 13th in Rome, Italy. *HAITIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONTINUES WORKING VISIT TO CUBA Havana, April 23 (RHC)--Haitian Foreign Minister Antonio Joseph Philippe continued his working visit to Cuba on Tuesday, touring Havana's International School of Sports and Physical Education, as well as areas of Old Havana. Speaking with reporters in the Cuban capital, the Haitian foreign minister said that Havana and Port au Prince are working to strengthen bilateral relations, especially in the areas of trade, sports, fishing and education. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has called cooperation between the two Caribbean island nations "an example for countries of the Third World." He said that more than 600 Cubans are offering their services in Haiti, among them 500 doctors and health care workers. Cuba's foreign minister also noted that more than 500 young people from Haiti are studying in Cuban schools -- 300 of whom are studying to become doctors before returning to Haiti. The Haitian foreign minister will visit Cuba through Friday, the 26th. *HISTORIANS FROM THREE CONTINENTS EXAMINE LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY Havana, April 23 (RHC)--Some 150 historians from 13 countries are taking part in the 5th International Workshop on Latin American and Caribbean History. The event was inaugurated on Monday by the president of the National Association of Cuban Historians, Raul Izquierdo, and is being sponsored by the Cuban History Institute. After welcoming the participants at the event, Izquierdo, who is the author of several important historical works, outlined interesting aspects of the history of nations. He also referred to the many events in Cuban history that took place during the month of April, such as those related to Jose Marti and the Cuban Revolution's victory at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. During the meeting, participants are discussing their projects and the results of arduous field work in many regions that include Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, the United States and Mexico. The President of the Latin American and Caribbean Association of Historians, Aristide Medina Rubio, and the outstanding Spanish historian Francisco Chacon Jimenez are also attending the event. *ARCHEOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS FOUND IN VILLA CLARA Santa Clara, April 23 (RHC)--Stone tools dating from the Early European Paleolithic period have been found in Villa Clara, central Cuba. An amateur archeological group, led by Raul Villavicencio, archeologist and historian from Santa Clara's Museum of History, found the materials in the coastal area of Sagua la Grande. Ramiro Ramírez García, dean of the Felix Varela Pedagogical Institute, told reporters that archeologists from the Academy of Sciences are currently studying the pieces. The find will apparently change the opinions about the original period of human settlement in Cuba, and even in the Americas. Evidence collected some years ago in the northern region of Mayari and Levisa in Holguin, located in eastern Cuba, proved that human settlements began in Cuba about 10,000 years ago. Ramírez García explained that the new discovery is made up of big axes of monolithic siliceous stone, chopping tools and large arrows and spearheads. Some of the objects were buried by the coast and others were found near the surface, not far from Quemado de Guines and La Sierrita. *AFTER THREE WEEKS OF VIOLENCE, SHARON SAYS DOORS ARE OPEN TO PEACE TALKS Jerusalem, April 23 (RHC)--Following huge demonstrations in Washington and San Francisco over the weekend protesting Israel's three-week violent incursion into Palestinian territory, the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that the doors were now open to peace negotiations. The Israeli leader, who has come under massive international criticism for his blitzkrieg tactics that have resulted in major human rights violations, put forward a three-part plan after halting the invasion on Sunday. First, he said, there would have to be a complete cessation of violence and guaranteed security for Israel. Second, a cease-fire would be signed. Third, a final settlement would be reached. However, the chief of Palestinian security, Jibril Rajoub, said that so much Palestinian blood had been spilled that it was almost impossible to guarantee any kind of security for Israel in the Occupied Territories. Rajoub is responsible for, among other duties, coordinating with Tel Aviv to prevent suicide bombers from attacking Israel. His comments were seen as an indication of how difficult it would be to bring both sides back to the Oslo Peace Accords. Sharon has refused to recognize Palestinian Authority president, Yasser Arafat, thus making any kind of negotiation at leadership level impossible. The Israeli Prime Minister has gone so far as to state publicly that he regretted not having had Arafat killed in the early 1980s when he was Defense Minister. The 1982 massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Chatilla in Lebanon have been blamed on him. Yasser Arafat is still blockaded in his headquarters in Ramallah where one of the conditions leveled by Israel for lifting the siege is for the Palestinians to hand over five men named as those who assassinated Israel's ultra-rightwing Tourism Minister earlier this year. However, Arafat has announced that no talks will begin until Israel pulls its troops back to their positions prior to the offensive. Tel Aviv is also demanding that those Palestinian fighters who are trapped in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem be either exiled or tried. Israel has declared the area around Bethlehem a military zone and confiscated the press passes of any journalists seeking to enter. This has caused concern about the fate of the approximately 200 Palestinian men holed up in the church. The press was denied access to the Jenin refugee camp while the Israeli Defense Force carried out a massacre, say international human rights workers now on the scene. The stench of death is everywhere, said the workers, with many hundreds of bodies rotting beneath the ruins of their houses. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has formed a panel to inquire into the massacre that occurred in the Jenin refugee camp. Meanwhile in the US, more than 4,000 members of the Jewish lobbying group AIPAC that supports Ariel Sharon's position gathered together for a dinner which half the US Senate and a third of the House attended. Former right-wing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the speakers. The presence of so many US politicians at the dinner confirmed the dangerous support that comes from the US for Sharon's policies, said critics. *FRENCH POLITICAL PARTIES ACROSS THE SPECTRUM CONDEMN LE PEN Paris, April 23 (RHC)--In the wake of his success in the first round of the French presidential election in which he moved with incumbent Jacques Chirac to the second and final round, the leader of the extreme right wing National Front Party, Jean-Marie le Pen, is being attacked from all sides of the political spectrum. In a country that is reeling, dazed, from Le Pen's success -- although he carries zero chance of wining the second round -- spokespeople from almost every political party are urging the people of France to send a strong message to the far right by delivering Le Pen a crushing defeat in the second round in 12 days. A destructive split within the French Left was blamed for the humiliating defeat of the Socialist Party on Sunday. The low turn-out also indicated how tired the voters have become of mainstream French politics. At least 10,000 people gathered at the Place de la République in Paris last night to protest Le Pen's policies. One of the biggest issues as the second round approaches will be whether or not there will be the usual televised debate between both candidates. Sure of a win, Chirac is refusing to debate Le Pen, saying that it will only give him a platform on which to spread his racist and nationalist ideas. However, observers point out that Chirac would also be exposed to the accusations of impropriety and corruption that have recently surfaced. Many are also saying that if democracy is to work then Le Pen should be given the same consideration as any other candidate in debating his opponent. Meanwhile, the leader of the French ruling Socialist Party and current Prime Minister of his country, Lionel Jospin, announced that he would retire from politics after the second round. Every party except that of the extreme left are advising their members to vote for Jacques Chirac to send a message to Le Pen and others like him. The Communist party leader, Marie-George Buffet, said the his party was recommending a vote for Chirac to ensure that the Le Pen gets as few votes as possible. Green Party candidate Noel Mamère said his party would be voting for Chirac in the second round because, although this choice is "unimaginable," he said, "we have a responsibility to society." In England, the New Labour Party was taking time out to review its own position relative to voters as it holds a similar center-left position and politics as the French Socialist Party. The final results over the weekend, with most of the votes counted, were 19.6% for Chirac, 16.9% for Le Pen, and 16% for Jospin. Chirac's lead was the lowest an incumbent had ever gained in any election to date. *NICARAGUA: ANOTHER FORMER COLLEAGUE OF ALEMAN ARRESTED FOR CORRUPTION Managua, April 23 (RHC)--In Nicaragua, another personal friend of former President Arnoldo Alemán has been arrested for corruption. Byron Jerez, the former General Director of Revenue under Alemán, was in jail awaiting arraignment in a fraud of such amplitude that it could lead to many others in a chain of government corruption. At the time of his arrest, Jerez was carrying a large sum of money with which he was reportedly leaving the country. The United States Embassy in Managua had recently revoked Jerez's visa to the US because of his involvement in money laundering. Given his position and his very close relationship with the former president, it is expected that Jerez will lead investigators to other important figures in the previous administration of Alemán. Prosecutors already have information on connections that Jerez had with foreign companies doing business in Nicaragua including some selling medicines to the State. Jerez is also involved in the disappearance of $500,000 in State funds, of which $200,000 subsequently reappeared in banks in the United States in the name of foreign company under his control. *FURTHER PROOF REVEALED ON US INVOLVEMENT IN VENEZUELAN COUP Caracas, April 23 (RHC)--Venezuelan members of parliament have accused the United States of actively preparing and participating in the April 11 coup that attempted to topple President Hugo Chavez. Juan Barreto, Pedro Carreño and Jorge Rondón presented the press with recordings made during the coup of security police naming some of those involved. Rondón also confirmed that one of those arrested who had fired upon demonstrators -- the excuse used to carry out the coup -- is of US nationality. Two high US officials were seen at strategic locales during the attempted coup and the US embassy in Caracas has been exposed by the weekly news magazine, Newsweek, as having ample prior knowledge of what was being planned, as it was in contact with military leaders involved in the coup two weeks before its execution. *Viewpoint: A GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT? When Vicente Fox was elected President of Mexico, there was a slight feeling of trepidation here in Cuba. In his previous life, Fox was the president of the multinational US Coca-Cola Company in Mexico and is obviously a very successful businessman. How would he make out as a President of a country that has such strong fraternal links with Cuba? The general consensus was that he would respect the extremely solid and amicable longstanding relations between both countries that have spanned more than a hundred years. The solidarity between the Cuban and the Mexican peoples has also been amply demonstrated over the long years of struggle for both Mexican and Cuban independence from US imperialism. In other words, in spite of President Fox's alliance with the United States, Cuba could expect him to behave as a gentleman when it came to dealing with Cuba. Unfortunately, recent events have shown another side to Mexican politics. The tension that is now clouding Cuba-Mexico relations has been gathering momentum since Mexico's foreign minister, Jorge Castañeda, unveiled his alliance with Washington's policy on Cuba and the anti-Cuba right-wing movement in Miami. The tension has now come to a head, culminating in the public presentation by Fidel Castro, at a press conference in Havana yesterday, of his telephone conversation with President Vicente Fox prior to his visit to the United Nations Summit in Monterrey, Mexico. President Castro began his press conference yesterday by saying that he was reluctant to expose the evidence of what unfolded in Monterrey, which forced him to leave the same day he addressed the Summit. At the time he could not disclose the evidence without implications for the Mexican Head of State. Obviously the Cuban President felt that he had no other option other than to expose the machinations of Castañeda and his influence on the Mexican President. Fidel Castro pointed out that Castañeda in Washington had hatched the recent conspiracy against Cuba in Geneva. He went on to say that "Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda volunteered to give a Latin American face to the new and treacherous maneuver. A cynical, rigged and misleading proposal had to be promoted by Latin American delegations in the Human Rights Commission. That is what he did for the year 2001, thus creating several incidents with Cuba, which were severely criticized by political figures and members of the Mexican House of Deputies and the Senate. "On April 20, 2001, one day after the resolution against Cuba was voted, in which Mexico abstained, our country's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Felipe Perez Roque, stated that Castañeda had done everything possible to change Mexico's position and have Cuba condemned. All throughout that year and into the next, Mr. Castañeda schemed and conspired to that end," Fidel said. President Fox, in spite of the fact that he visited Cuba shortly after his election and had seemingly cordial relations with President Castro (a visit later described by the Cuban President as being full of calculation and duplicity) has shown himself to be open to the manipulations of his foreign minister and Washington's policies against Cuba. In the recently publicized telephone conversation with the Cuban President, he maintained a facade of politeness while actively discouraging his visit, inviting him to lunch while attempting to censor his speech, requesting that the Cuban President not say anything offensive about the United States -- a country that maintains a four-decade-old economic war against Cuba. He then went on to instruct Mexico's representatives in Geneva to vote against Cuba, having previously promised he would do no such thing. President Fox did not honor the Cuban President's request to allow the President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, to represent him at all meetings and events for Heads of State, after Fidel's departure from Monterrey. Are these the actions of a gentleman? President Fidel Castro has decided to make public the truth -- and only the truth -- about what happened in Monterrey. He made public his conversation with President Fox with regret. but with the very obvious need to expose Castañeda for what he is: a tool in Washington's obsession about Cuba and her Revolution. Is Cuba's leader any less of a gentleman for exposing the truth in the midst of all the lies? (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 ================================================================= nytcari-04.24.02-04:01:48-12338