Radio Havana Cuba-25 April 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 25 April 2002 . *MEXICO: CASTANEDA FINALLY ADMITS TO US PRESSURE ON MONTERREY *INCIDENT BETWEEN MEXICO AND CUBA BIG NEWS IN INTERNATIONAL PRESS *OPPOSITION IN URUGUAY TO SEVERING RELATIONS WITH CUBA *CHILE'S FOREIGN POLICY IS DIRECTED FROM WASHINGTON *CUBAN BOOKS FLOOD BOGOTÁ'S 25th INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR *US FUNNELED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TO CHAVES FOES: NY TIMES *SECOND DAY OF STREET PROTESTS IN FRANCE AGAINST LE PEN *GRIM EVIDENCE MOUNTS OF ISRAELI ATROCITIES IN JENIN *FOUR ISRAELI SOLDIERS ARRESTED FOR LOOTING AND VANDALISM IN WEST BANK *US LAWMAKERS FAIL TO TIE COLOMBIA'S CIVIL WAR TO "TERRORISM" Viewpoint: *CUBA STANDS UP FOR ITS RIGHTS; URUGUAY'S PRESIDENT SELLS HIS TO WASHINGTON . *MEXICO: CASTANEDA FINALLY ADMITS TO US PRESSURE ON MONTERREY Mexico City, April 25 (RHC) - Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda has finally admitted receiving pressure from Washington concerning Cuban President Fidel Castro's participation in an international summit in the Mexican city of Monterrey. Following weeks of denials, Castaneda admitted late Wednesday that US officials asked him to prevent any type of encounter between President Castro and President George W. Bush during the International Conference on Financing for Development. Just moments before the statement, the Mexican foreign minister had told the Multivision cable TV network that Washington hadn't issued any type of insinuation, suggestion, pressure or influence in an effort to prevent the Cuban leader's presence at the event or an encounter with Bush. Castaneda's about-face came as the Mexican Senate decided that the foreign minister is no longer a credible representative of the executive branch of government before the legislative branch. The Thursday edition of the local news daily La Jornada reported that Mexican senators, including members of the ruling National Action Party, cancelled their petition for an audience with Castaneda in an effort to receive a first hand account of the diplomatic spat with Cuba - affirming that the Mexican foreign minister has lied. *INCIDENT BETWEEN MEXICO AND CUBA BIG NEWS IN INTERNATIONAL PRESS Havana, April 25 (RHC)-- Recent statements by Mexican officials concerning whether or not pressure was brought to bear on Cuban President Fidel Castro to leave a UN-sponsored meeting in Monterrey last month are still making headlines around the world. Cuba's media -- both written press and electronic media -- have been giving extensive coverage to all sides of the issue. During Wednesday night's roundtable discussion -- broadcast live on Cuban radio and television -- the statements by Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda were taken apart and analyzed by a panel of journalists and experts in international affairs. The roundtable audience heard Mexico's foreign minister, in an interview with CNN, insinuate that Cuba had just requested new commercial credits from his country -- as he said, just one day after "offending" Mexico with revelations about the pressures on Fidel Castro to cut short his stay at the Monterrey summit. The moderator of the nightly program called on Francisco Soberon, President of the Central Bank of Cuba, to respond. Soberon said that Cuba has an established credit line from Mexico and is up-to-date on its payments. The president of Cuba's Central Bank noted that 192 million dollars has been paid on interest and that payment on the principal began last year. He emphasized that the Mexican foreign minister deliberately lied when he suggested that Cuba has requested more credit at this time -- further proof of Castañedas character. Panelists on last night's roundtable discussion noted that recent surveys show that the majority of Mexicans feel their president and foreign minister have been lying to them about Cuba. *OPPOSITION IN URUGUAY TO SEVERING RELATIONS WITH CUBA Montevideo, April 25 (RHC)-- A wave of opposition to the Uruguayan government's announcement that it was breaking diplomatic relations with Cuba is being felt in the South American nation. The Broad Front -- a left coalition represented in the country's parliament -- has requested that Foreign Minister Didier Opertti appear before lawmakers and explain the decision. The foreign minister is currently on an official visit to Europe and told reporters that he will answer questions of the legislators upon his return. Uruguay's main trade union organization -- the Plenario Intersindical de Trabajadores -- has announced that it is beginning a petition campaign to express its strong opposition to the decision by Montevideo to break diplomatic relations with Havana. During a public protest meeting at the University of Uruguay last night, representatives of the trade union organization said they would send copies of the signatures to Cuba next week, on the occasion of International Worker's Day, May 1st. A statement issued by the trade unionists emphasized that "fraternal relations with the Cuban people can never be broken." Other groups have expressed their opposition to severing relations with Havana, among them: the Uruguay-Cuba Casa de Amistad and the Coordinating Committee in Solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. *CHILE'S FOREIGN POLICY IS DIRECTED FROM WASHINGTON Santiago de Chile, April 25 (RHC)-- The Secretary General of the Chilean Communist Party, Gladys Marin, says that her country's foreign policy is directed from Washington. Speaking with reporters in Santiago de Chile, Marin called last week's vote in favor of an anti-Cuba resolution at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva "an attack against Cuba." In a strongly worded open letter to Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, the Communist leader firmly rejected the decision to join Washington's annual campaign against the island in Geneva. She said that Chile's vote "goes against the country's sovereignty and wounds national dignity," as well as "violates the duty to work for Latin American and Caribbean unity." The head of the Chilean Communist Party said that the anti-Cuba resolution, "written by the U.S. State Department, was clearly hypocritical, aggressive and interventionist." Gladys Marin emphasized that the yearly campaign by Washington at the UN Human Rights Commission "is nothing more than a maneuver to condemn Cuba, while dragging other Latin American nations into the campaign by using blackmail and pressure tactics." Calling on the Chilean government to firmly condemn Washington's blockade against the island, the Communist Party leader said that the government of Ricardo Lagos should work to further develop political, cultural and commercial relations with Cuba. *CUBAN BOOKS FLOOD BOGOTÁ'S 25th INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR Bogotá, April 25 (RHC)-- Cuba is well represented at the 25th International Book Fair in the Colombian capital. The book fair got underway yesterday in Bogotá and has become the country's biggest library. A 30-thousand-square-meter area has been divided into seven commercial pavilions with 100,000 titles from 350 publishing houses. Forty foreign guests and more than 250 authors and intellectuals from Colombia are expected to attend the fair. Among the personalities invited are Cuban writers Pablo Armando Fernandez and Arturo Arango; Jorge Volpi from Mexico; 2001 Seix-Barral-Prizewinner Mario Mendoza from Colombia; Blas Jimenez and Melida Garcia from the Dominican Republic; Lorna Goodisnon and Olive Senior from Jamaica; Alejandro Gandara from Spain; and Bolivian writer Edmundo Paz. During Bogotá's International Book Fair, the Colombian Ministry of Culture will pay homage to Nobel Literature Prizewinner Gabriel García Marquez on the occasion of his 75th birthday and the 35th anniversary of the publication of "One Hundred Years of Solitude." Since its creation in 1987, the International Book Fair of Bogotá has established itself as the one of the biggest literary events in Latin America, compared in magnitude to the book fairs in Guadalajara, Mexico and Buenos Aires, Argentina. *US FUNNELED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TO CHAVES FOES: NY TIMES Washington, Caracas, April 25 (RHC) -- Washington has channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to American and Venezuelan groups opposed to President Hugo Chavez, according to the Thursday edition of the New York Times. The news daily said the funding included the labor group whose protests led to the Venezuelan president's brief ouster in a right wing coup. The money was provided by the National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit agency created and financed by the US Congress, and - according to numerous investigative journalists and alternative media outlets - used by the CIA for covert operations. The endowment reportedly quadrupled its budget for Venezuela as the clash between Chavez and the opposition stepped up. The New York Times affirmed that the State Department's human rights bureau is examining whether one or more recipients of the money may have actively plotted against the Venezuelan president's constitutional government. Meanwhile, Venezuela's military intelligence has found an arsenal of weapons and other incriminating evidence in the home of a Venezuelan tycoon implicated in the attempted right wing coup. Local media outlets reported Thursday that the arsenal in the home of business leader Isaac Perez Recao included machine guns, silencers, gas masks and military uniforms. Perez Recao and his family are believed to have fled to the United States. Investigators found that the weapons were provided to the businessman by high-ranking members of the Venezuelan military also implicated in the coup. *SECOND DAY OF STREET PROTESTS IN FRANCE AGAINST LE PEN Paris, April 25 (RHC) -- Tens of thousands of French youths took to the streets of 20 cities in France to protest Thursday for the fourth consecutive day against ultra right wing leader and presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. The protests have prompted fears of violence on the streets of France. Sporadic violence has sharpened fears of unrest when the protests are expected to reach a massive climax on May 1st, Labor Day in Europe, and just four days before the presidential runoff vote. Le Pen's far right National Front party hopes to bring 100,000 supporters into the streets of Paris the same day. Despite the overwhelming presence of young people in the protests, surveys have nevertheless indicated that 20 percent of the 18 to 24 age group in France voted for Le Pen - though 40 percent of this age group didn't go to the polls. And the protests coincide with findings of a new report that reaction to the post-September 11 attacks in the US have created a climate of "explosive racism" across Europe. Entitled "Racism: the Hidden Cost of September 11," the report drawn up for Britain's Institute of Race Relations asserts that new anti-terrorism laws enacted in European countries "have bred a culture of suspicion in which anyone of Middle Eastern appearance is treated as an enemy alien." In addition, it stressed, "the far right and anti-immigrant parties have used September 11 for electoral gain - demonizing Islam and its cultural and religious practices." *GRIM EVIDENCE MOUNTS OF ISRAELI ATROCITIES IN JENIN Jenin, West Bank, April 25 (RHC) -- Israel's effort to defend its conduct in the Palestinian Jenin refugee camp is fast unraveling with revelations that nearly half the Palestinian dead identified so far were civilians, reported Thursday the British news daily The Independent. In its lead article, The Independent asserted that after five days of interviews with survivors of the Israeli assault - conducted alongside a Human Rights Watch investigator - detailed accounts have emerged of widespread atrocities committed by Israeli troops. As Israel threatens to bar entry to a UN fact-finding team unless it can determine some of the members and define its terms of reference, the British news daily reported finding that nearly half of the 50 dead identified so far were civilians, including women, the elderly and children. They include a nurse in uniform who was shot in the heart as she tried to help a wounded civilian, a 14-year-old boy killed when he tried to buy groceries when a curfew was lifted, and a man in a wheelchair who was shot and then crushed under a tank as he tried to wheel himself up a street. There are reportedly a significant number of Jenin residents still missing who could be dead, arrested or in hiding. *FOUR ISRAELI SOLDIERS ARRESTED FOR LOOTING AND VANDALISM IN WEST BANK Ramallah, West Bank, April 25 (RHC) -- In related news, the Israeli army announced Thursday that four soldiers have been arrested in its investigation of Palestinian charges of looting and vandalism during the three-week incursion in the West Bank. The extent of the damage, however, indicates that many more soldiers were involved. The US news daily USA Today affirmed Thursday that in addition to destroying civilian property, Israeli troops demolished, damaged or seized much of what Yasser Arafat's Palestinian National Authority needs to function as a government - from water mains to computer servers to student transcripts - adding that the World Bank estimates the damage to be between 200 and 300 millions of dollars. Palestinians have told reporters of how Israelis destroyed innocuous items like a slide projector at the education ministry, put soil into the gas tanks of trucks at another ministry, defecated in some offices, smashed toilets, destroyed carpeting, trampled the artwork that hung on walls, broke children's' toys and stole money and jewelry in homes. *US LAWMAKERS FAIL TO TIE COLOMBIA'S CIVIL WAR TO "TERRORISM" Washington, Bogotá, April 25 (RHC) - US lawmakers seeking to boost military aid for the Colombian government's battle against leftist rebels have at least temporarily failed to tie the civil war in Colombia to the war on terrorism. The House Foreign Relations Committee announced Thursday that revision of a draft bill to lift restrictions on aid to Colombia has been indefinitely withdrawn from the agenda due to a lack of consensus. In the latest bid to lift the restrictions, the Republican-controlled committee claimed Wednesday that the Irish Republican Army has "well-established" ties with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces insurgency, which includes teaching the rebels the tactics of "urban terrorism." The allegation was based on the arrest in Colombia last August of three Irish nationals who Colombian authorities claim were connected with the IRA and were training the rebels in the use of explosives. But officials from both the State Department and the Drug Enforcement Agency admitted that they had no direct proof. Republican lawmakers have proposed giving Colombia an extra 538 million dollars in aid next year, but without the current restrictions that the money be used only to fight drug trafficking. Lifting those restrictions has sparked controversy in Congress, not only regarding a possible greater US involvement in Colombia's civil war, but also in relation to what some perceive as a lack of results in the war on drugs in spite of the hundreds of millions earmarked for Colombia, as well as a lack of a clear vision regarding US foreign policy with respect to the Andean nation. Viewpoint: *CUBA STANDS UP FOR ITS RIGHTS; URUGUAY'S PRESIDENT SELLS HIS TO WASHINGTON Significant segments of the population of Uruguay are in complete disagreement with their president for breaking off diplomatic relations with Cuba this week. The historical connection between both countries goes back much further than the last 16 years since Montevideo reestablished relations with the island in 1986. Cuba's national hero, José Martí, represented Uruguay as its consul in New York 111 years ago. From 1887 to 1892 he represented Montevideo in a program of integration recognizing even then the dangers posed by the expansionist dominance of Washington. Martí realized that if he continued in his function as consul for Uruguay, Argentina and Peru he would have little time left to devote to his homeland Cuba and its struggle with Spanish dominance as well as possibly causing embarrassment for the countries he served. He didn't hesitate in making the decision to resign from his lucrative post to promote the cause of his nation and to ultimately die in its defense three years later. More than a century later, the Cuban government was also faced with such a decision based on principle: ignore the aggressive and unjustified action of Uruguay's President Jorge Batlle in promoting Washington's motion condemning Cuba in Geneva this year, or fight against the campaign of disinformation and defamation against the island. As with Martí, Havana's decision was a simple one. Batlle fell in with the Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda in prostrating himself to Washington's annual Geneva obsession in with finding sponsors for its campaign against Cuba. The Czech Republic had filled this role for the past three years but the Bush administration wanted a new face and found it in Batlle with Castañeda's help. Castañeda has since been obliged by Mexican legislators to admit that, indeed, he had been pressured by Washington in matters relating to Cuba. His days as foreign minister are probably numbered as a result for he sold his country's sovereignty down the road as a result. As with Martí in 1892, Cuba made the decision to speak up and Batlle's response has been to cut diplomatic relations to save face and further please the ever-vindictive disposition of the United States of America. Cuba stood up for its rights - Batlle has sold his own country's rights and sovereignty to Washington. (c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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