|
HUGO
CHAVEZ SAID THAT VENEZUELA WILL DEVELOP
NUCLEAR POWER WITH RUSSIA HELP
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--Hugo
Chávez said Sunday that Russia
will help Venezuela develop nuclear
energy -- a move likely to raise U.S.
concerns over increasingly close
cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.
Chávez said he accepted an offer from
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
for assistance in building a nuclear
reactor.
\\
''Russia is ready to support Venezuela
in the development of nuclear energy
with peaceful purposes and we already
have a commission working on it,''
Chávez said. ``We are interested in
developing nuclear energy.''
Putin offered Chávez assistance in developing nuclear energy
during a meeting in the Russian city of
Novo-Ogaryovo last week. The prime
minister did not specify what kind of
cooperation he could offer Venezuela,
but Russia is aggressively promoting
itself as a builder of nuclear power
plants in developing nations. Russia has
ramped up its cooperation with Venezuela
since last month's war with Georgia,
which badly damaged Moscow's already
strained ties with the West,
particularly the United States. |
|
COSTA
RICA PRESIDENT OSCAR ARIAS SAID THAT
VENEZUELAN COOPERATION PREVAILS OVER US
AID
SAN JOSE,
COSTA RICA--
Óscar Arias, the president of
Costa Rica, said on Monday that
Venezuelan cooperation to Latin America
is "four or five times" higher than the
United States' and defended his decision
to apply for membership in Venezuela's
Petrocaribe initiative.
\\
"Venezuela's generosity is a reality
because it offers to Latin America four
or five times more money than the aid
provided by the US," said Arias in an
interview published by Efe and held in
the program "Nuestra Voz" broadcasted by
radio station Radio Monumental.
"It is a fact and this is not a value judgment," said
Arias a day after the United States,
through its ambassador in San José,
Peter Cianchette, claimed to be
"surprised" by Arias' recent compliments
to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
Arias said that it is up to Chávez using
wrongly or not the Venezuelan resources.
"If he does not want to expend money in
his country and wants to help the Latin
American countries through Petrocaribe,
that is his own business." |
|
VENEZUELA'S INTERIOR MINISTER SAID THAT
DEA IS AN ACCOMPLICE OF DRUG TRAFFICKING
CARTELS
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--
According to Tarek El Aissami,
Venezuela's Minister of Interior and
Justice, the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) "is an accomplice
of and is engaged with the main
international drug cartels."
El Aissami compared the work of Venezuela's National
Anti-drug Office (ONA) with the
activities of the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) upon leaving a
meeting with transportation leaders.
"They (the DEA) know the names of the US
drug-traffickers but the US authorities
have not implemented any effective
measures against these mafias in their
territory." The minister explained that
Venezuela is making "huge" efforts to
arrest the leaders of drug cartels as
well as drugs distribution and use. El-Aissami
wondered why the United States had not
made similar efforts. |
|
HUGO
CHAVEZ STOPS IN CUBA, MEETS WITH FIDEL
CASTRO
HAVANA,
CUBA --Hugo
Chavez made his second whirlwind
visit to Cuba in less than a week and
met behind closed doors for two and a
half hours with ailing former leader
Fidel Castro, state media reported
Sunday. Chavez's stopover had not been
previously announced, but the Communist
Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde said he
landed in Havana Saturday evening and
left hours later. He was greeted at the
airport by 77-year-old Raul Castro, who
succeeded his brother as president in
February.
\\
Juventud Rebelde said Chavez discussed
his recent tour of China, Russia and
Europe with the Castro brothers, but did
not give specific details on what it
described as a "fraternal" encounter.
Chavez also stopped in Havana at the
start of the tour for a face-to-face
with Fidel Castro. Days later in Moscow,
he told the Cuban government news agency
Prensa Latina that Fidel was "stronger
and more impetuous than a Hurricane Ike"
- referring to the storm that killed
seven people and damaged hundreds of
thousands of homes in Cuba this month.
"We talked a lot and when I said goodbye, I was
surprised by his strength," Chavez was
quoted as saying in an article published
Sunday. Chavez is a close friend and
ally of the older Castro, and oil-rich
Venezuela sends nearly 100,000 barrels
of crude a day to Cuba at favorable
prices, helping to keep the island's
communist economy afloat. Holed up in an
undisclosed location, Fidel Castro is
suffering from an unknown illness but
continues to sign essays that appear
several times a week in state-controlled
newspapers. He has not been seen in
photographs or video images since June. |
|
CAR
BOMB EXPLOSION IN DAMASCO, SYRIA, KILLS
17
DAMASCO,
SYRIA--
The TV said a car packed with 440
pounds of explosives blew up on Mahlak
Street, located in a southern
neighborhood of the capital near the
junction to the city's international
airport. Anti-terror units were
investigating, it said.
\\
Such bombings are rare in Syria, but
over the last year, the country has
witnessed two major assassinations.
Several explosions blamed on Sunni
Muslim militants opposed to Syria's
secular government have also taken place
over the last few years. But Saturday's
bombing was by far the largest and
tested weaknesses of the government's
traditionally tight security grip.
It occurred at the intersection leading to Saydah
Zeinab, a holy shrine for Shiite Muslims
that is frequently visited by Iranian
and Iraqi pilgrims. Al-Jazeera TV
reported that car bomb exploded near a
Syrian intelligence post in the Sidi
Kadad area. Police sealed off the area,
blocking motorists and pedestrians from
approaching from where the blast
occurred around 8:45 a.m. |
|
VENEZUELAN AMBASSADOR DECLARED PERSONA
NON GRATA IN GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR'S
LARGEST CITY
QUITO,ECUADOR--
The municipality of Guayaquil,
Ecuador's largest city, and a bastion of
the opposition to the government of
Rafael Correa, decided on Friday to
declare Oscar Navas, the Venezuelan
Ambassador to Ecuador persona non grata,
due to his statements against the mayor
of Guayaquil, Jaime Nebot.
Navas refuted in recent days the remarks made by Nebot
related to the interference of Hugo
Chávez in the internal affairs of
Ecuador. "Nebot pretends to divert the
unstoppable march of the process of
profound changes led by Ecuadorian
President Rafael Correa, said Navas as
reported by DPA.
In turn, Nebot accused the ambassador of acting as "a
mere messenger of Chávez." The decision
of the municipality of Guayaquil
stresses that foreign officials can not
intervene in national interest affairs
and it is an action to defend the
national sovereignty." |
|
CANF
AGAINST NEW RESTRICTIONS TO U.S.
POST-STORM AID
MIAMI,
FLORIDA--The
Cuban American National Foundation,
which sent $250,000 in aid to people in
Cuba after hurricanes hit the island,
said Friday the federal government has
imposed strict restrictions on further
aid.
\\
A license granted Sept. 10 allowed up to
$250,000 to individuals or hard-hit
areas without restriction to family
connections. The group reached the
license's maximum within two days and
reapplied for another license. But the
license granted most recently does not
allow Cuban Americans to send aid to
specific persons such as relatives.
The new license stipulates that ''the person giving a
donation cannot determine who it goes to
specifically on the island because that
would be a remittance and the license is
not for remittances, it's for
humanitarian assistance,'' said Sandy
Acosta Cox, a foundation spokeswoman.
``It's very difficult to understand why,
in a moment of crisis, you can't help
your cousin or your aunt.'' ''We're in
the process of appealing it and seeing
if we can get the restrictions
removed,'' Acosta Cox said. |
|
RUSSIAN
PRIME MINISTER VLADIMIR PUTIN TO LEND
HIS FRIEND HUGO CHAVEZ USD 1 BILLION TO
BUY ARMS
MOSCOW, RUSSIA--A
USD 1-billion loan was granted by
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to
his Venezuelan friend Hugo Chavez
to buy Russian weapons, according to a
Kremlin statement issued on Thursday,
hours before a visit paid by Chávez.
\\
"Russia has made the decision to issue a
USD 1 billion credit line to Venezuela
for the realization of
military-technical cooperation
programs," said the Kremlin in a
statement using a diplomatic term that
Russian authorities employ to describe
defense sales. Venezuela has been
seeking the credit for months, according
to the Russian press.
Venezuela spent USD 4.4 billion on 12 contracts for
Russian weapons from 2006, the Kremlin
said. Venezuela bought fighter
aircrafts, tanks and assault rifles from
Russia and plans to purchase
anti-aircraft systems, armored vehicles
and combat aircrafts, as announced last
week by the head of Russian
Technologies, Serguei Shemezov, close to
former president and current primer
minister Vladimir Putin. |
|
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY TO DELIVER OIL
FROM STRATEGIC RESERVE TO
VENEZUELAN-OWNED CITGO
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The
US Department of Energy said that
it will deliver a cargo of 500,000
barrels of crude oil from the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve to Venezuelan-owned
Citgo Petroleum Corp's, a subsidiary of
state-run oil company Petróleos de
Venezuela (Pdvsa).
\\
The emergency oil will be delivered to
Citgo's refinery in Lake Charles,
Louisiana, through the Shell pipeline
system. The US Department of Energy also
said that they will deliver 150,000
barrels of crude oil from the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve to the refinery of
Alon USA in Krotz Springs, Louisiana, as
reported by Reuters.
Citgo had requested the US Department of Energy to
provide the Venezuelan state oil company
one million barrels of oil from the
strategic reserve. The oil was requested
by Citgo because of disruptions in
supply caused by Hurricanes Gustav and
Ike in Louisiana. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ calls for quicker
cooperation with russia due to the new
geopolitical status
MOSCOW,
RUSSIA--
Hugo Chávez urged Russia on
Friday to speed up cooperation in the
political, military and economic areas,
due to the new world geopolitical
dynamics as well as the financial
crisis. Chávez, who is visiting Russia
for the seventh time since 2001, and the
second time in less than three months,
made a rush visit to Orenburg.
\\
Few minutes after landing in the city
located south of the Urals, Russian
president Dmitry Medvedev welcomed his
Venezuelan counterpart at the seat of
the regional government, a building of
the Stalinist era in front of a huge
statue of Lenin, Efe reported. Medvedev
began the one-hour meeting with the
Venezuelan president with the words
"Dear Hugo." After the talks with the
Russian head of State, Chávez rushed to
the airport as he had a meeting in Paris
with French president Nicolás Sarkozy.
Venezuela's President met on Thursday in Moscow with
Russian Primer Minister Vladímir Putin,
and on Friday with Medvedev. Chávez
urged both leaders to forge closer
political, military and economic
cooperation. "The world is developing
fast." "We are facing a new geopolitical
dynamics and for that reason we are
moving faster," Chávez told Medvedev. |
|
UKRAINIAN SHIP SEIZED OFF SOMALIA BY
PIRATES HAD 33 RUSSIAN TANKS IN CARGO
KIEV, UKRAINE--UKRAINIAN
DEFENSE MINISTER
Yury Yekhanurov told reporters
that the cargo on the ship, the Faina,
also included "a substantial quantity of
ammunition and spare parts," according
to Larisa Mudrak, a spokeswoman for
President Viktor Yushchenko. It was not
immediately known where the tanks were
being shipped to, although the ITAR-Tass
news agency said they had been sold to
Kenya. Yekhanurov also said the tanks
had been sold "in accordance with
international law," according to Mudrak.
\\
Ukrainian officials and an anti-piracy
watchdog said earlier Friday that
pirates seized the Ukrainian vessel off
eastern Somalia on Thursday. Russia said
Friday it has sent a patrol ship to
Somalia, but a navy statement did not
specifically mention the seizure of the
Ukrainian ship. The navy commander
ordered a patrol ship from Russia's
Baltic Sea fleet to the area, navy
spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said in a
statement.
The hijacking
brings the number of attacks off Somalia
to 61 this year, and pirates are now
holding 14 ships and more than 300 crew
members, said Noel Choong, who heads the
International Maritime Bureau's piracy
reporting center based in Malaysia.
Russia has been seeking to revive its
navy in the wake of the Soviet collapse
and expand its global presence. A naval
squadron is on its way to Venezuela for
joint exercises. Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko, meanwhile, ordered
unspecified measures to secure the
release of the crew. Ukraine's Foreign
Ministry said it had no information on
the ship's cargo. |
|
HUGO CHAVEz: "we do not want or plan to
cut the oil supply to the united states"
\
BEIJING, CHINA--Hugo
Chávez said in the final day of
his fifth official visit to China,
marked by increased oil cooperation,
that he neither wants nor plans to halt
the oil supply to the United States,
Venzuela's main customer.
"We have not halted the oil supply to the United States, do
not want to do it and have no plans to
do it," said Chávez during a quick news
conference after his meeting with a
group of thirty Chinese entrepreneurs
and before heading for Russia, where he
will meet President Dimitri Medvédev and
with Prime Minister Vladímir Putin.
"The diplomatic crisis will not affect at all our
supply plans to any country in the
world. We have simply decided to
diversify our markets," said Chavez, in
the midst of one of the most serious
diplomatic crisis with the United
States. |
|
RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER VLADIMIR PUTIN
WILL HELP HUGO CHAVEZ TO DEVELOP A
NUCLEAR ENERGY PROGRAM
NOVO-OGARYOVO,
RUSSIA--
Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
said he was ready to consider helping
Venezuela
develop a nuclear energy program after
meeting the country's
President Hugo Chavez
on Thursday. The move toward closer
cooperation, particularly on the
military side between
Moscow
and
Caracas,
comes in the wake of the
Georgia
conflict that triggered widespread
western condemnation of Russia's
intervention.
\
The offer of support for Chavez,
an outspoken critic of
Washington,
comes days after Russia blocked a
meeting amongst foreign ministers of
major powers at the
United Nations
in
New York
to discuss sanctions against
Iran
over its nuclear plans. "We are all
ready to look at the possibility of
operating in the sphere of peaceful
atomic energy," said Putin at the start
of late night talks with Chavez at his
residence on the outskirts of Moscow.
The
United States
and the
European Union
are both reliant on oil and gas imports
from Venezuela and Russia. Moscow has
also been trying to export both nuclear
energy technology and arms. Chavez
called Putin "friend Vladimir" and the
two men shook hands warmly and shared a
joke. Chavez hopes plans to deepen
military ties with Russia during his
two-day visit. The visit of the
outspoken South American leader comes a
week after Russian strategic nuclear
bombers flew to Venezuela. "I cannot
fail to thank you for the warm welcome
extended to the crews of our strategic
bombers who spent several days in
Venezuela," Putin said. |
|
THE
CHINESE GOVERNMENT DENIES NEGOTIATING
MILITARY COOPERATION WITH HUGO CHAVEZ
PEKIN,
CHINA--
The Chinese government denied on
Thursday, the last day of the visit of
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to
Beijing, any negotiation on a military
cooperation treaty with Venezuela, as
announced by the Venezuelan head of
state.
\\
"I am not sure what kind of cooperation
(President Chávez) mentioned. From the
Chinese side, I can confirm once again
that during this visit by President
Chávez, the two sides did not talk about
cooperation in military areas," said the
Chinese Foreign Mnistry spokesman, Liu
Jianchao, in a news conference when
asked about the sale of military
aircrafts to Venezuela.
Liu, who on Wednesday was present at several meetings held by
Chávez, highlighted the economic,
political and cultural agreements signed
with Venezuela, but insisted: "I have
not heard that the two countries have
exchanged ideas on military
cooperation." |
|
NORTH KOREA REMOVES SEALS FROM NUKE
PLANT, BARS INSPECTORS
VIENNA, AUSTRIA--The
Chief inspector for the IAEA in North
Korea announced Wednesday that it
has removed the inspection seals and all
surveillance equipment from the nuclear
reprocessing facility at Yongbyon. The
U.N. inspectors have now been ordered to
leave. U.S. officials and IAEA
representatives confirm that
reprocessing at the facility could begin
in just a week.
\
In a statement from its Director
General, the IAEA said: “There are no
more IAEA seals and surveillance
equipment in place at the reprocessing
facility. The Democratice People’s
Republic of Korea has also informed the
IAEA inspectors that they plan to
introduce nuclear material to the
reprocessing plant in one week´s
time.They further stated that from here
on the IAEA inspectors will have no
further access to the reprocessing
plant.”
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said the moves
would: “only deepen its isolation.” he
then insisted the Six-Party talks with
the North Koreans to disarm are not
dead. Everyone knows what the path ahead
is. The path ahead is for there to be
agreement on a verification protocol so
that we can continue along the path of
the denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula. And the North Koreans know
that, and so we’ll continue working with
our partners on what steps we might need
to take.” |
|
IN FAREWELL ADDRESS, PRESIDENT BUSH SAYS
UN NEEDED MORE THAN EVER
UNITED
NATIONS, NEW YORK--
In his final address to the UN General
Assembly, U.S. President George W. Bush
on Tuesday spoke of the
importance of multinational diplomacy.
"As the 21st century unfolds, some may
be tempted to assume the threat has
receded," he said. "This would be
comforting, but it would be wrong."
\\ He urged the international community to stand firm against
the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and
Iran and he scolded Russia for invading
neighbouring Georgia. Despite past
disagreements over the U.S.-led war in
Iraq, members of the UN must unite to
help the struggling democracy succeed,
he said. The United Nations and other
multilateral organizations should focus
less on bureaucracy and more on results,
he said.
Also speaking at the UN on Tuesday, French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said Russia's war with Georgia
was an unacceptable means of settling
disputes and warned Moscow it could not
compromise independent states'
territorial integrity. "Europe is also
telling Russia … it cannot compromise on
the principle of states' sovereignty and
independence, their territorial
integrity, or respect for international
law," Sarkozy said. "Europe's message to
all states is that it cannot accept the
use of force to settle a dispute." |
|
CUBAN MIGRANT DIES AFTER ALLEGED
SMUGGLING OPERATION FAILS
MIAMI,
FLORIDA --A
Cuban migrant died Wednesday
morning after Customs and Border
Protection agents spotted a vessel he
was traveling on and gave chase. The man
has not been identified, pending next of
kin notification. He is 35 years old,
according to Miami-Dade police. About 11
p.m. Tuesday, a U.S. Customs and Border
Protection aircraft spotted three
go-fast boats with their lights out
about 45 miles southeast of Key Largo.
\ Three Coast Guard cutters were called and a 45-minute chase
involving the cutters ensued. On one of
the boats were 33 migrants and two
smuggling suspects. On the other boats
were five other smuggling suspects.
Officials said the migrant group was
stopped with no use of force; however,
one migrant had severe head injuries.
''We do not know how he got those
wounds,'' said Petty Officer Nick Ameen,
a Coast Guard spokesman. After
authorities stopped the vessels, Coast
Guard officers rendered aid to the
injured man.
Officials would not say why the man was not transported to
any of the hospitals located much
farther south, such as Homestead
Hospital, 35 miles southwest of
Opa-locka, or Baptist Hospital, 17 miles
southwest of the airport. Coast Guard
Lt. Matt Moorlag said he would not
second-guess the pilots' reasons for
choosing to land farther north. ''Those
boats were grossly overloaded,'' said
Moorlag, who added that the 25-foot-long
boat the migrants were on had three
engines. Moorlag said 65 Cuban migrants
have died at sea since December 2007. |
|
SANDINISTA PERSECUTION OF CIVILIANS
GRANADA, NICARAGUA--Nicaragua's
civil unrest took another
dangerous turn over the weekend when
hundreds of masked supporters of the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN),
armed with machetes, sticks and mortars,
closed off all entrances to the northern
city of León to prevent an announced
march against the government of
President Daniel Ortega. While police
stood watching, the masked “Orteguistas”
– pro-Ortega – squads stopped traffic to
search vehicles for anti-government
protesters, who were prevented from
entering the city.
\ The Orteguistas, most wearing FSLN hats and T-shirts and
chanting revolutionary slogans, threw
metal jacks under the tires of stopped
vehicles suspected of carrying
anti-government protestors. The jacks
were meant to puncture the suspected
protestors' tires if they didn't turn
back toward Managua. The tense situation
grew inevitably violent when several
left-wing political leaders from the
Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) – a
group of Sandinista dissidents whom
Ortega has labeled “traitors” and
“sellouts” – approached the entrance to
the city.
Several of the MRS leaders had requested police protection in
anticipation of violence. Yet even the
police presence wasn't enough to stop
the Orteguistas from burning the vehicle
of MRS president Enrique Sáenz, the
previous candidate for mayor of Managua
until the Sandinista-controlled Supreme
Electoral Council (CSE) withdrew the MRS'
legal status in July. When anti-riot
police were eventually called in, the
Orteguistas – allegedly members of the
controversial Councils of Citizen Power
(CPCs), led by the Sandinistas' mayoral
candidate for León – attacked the police
line with sticks and rocks, requiring
the police to respond with tear gas to
disperse the rioters. In all, five
people were injured but no one was
killed. |
|
AHMADINEJAD SAYS 'AMERICAN EMPIRE'
NEARING COLLAPSE
UNITED
NATIONS, NEW YOR--
Iran's president accused "a few
bullying powers" of trying to thwart his
country's peaceful nuclear program and
declared in a speech Tuesday before the
U.N. General Assembly that "the American
empire" is nearing collapse. Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sharply
attacked the United States and NATO,
accusing them of acting as aggressors in
Iraq and Afghanistan, and of starting
those wars "in order to win votes in
elections."
\\
"American empire in the world is
reaching the end of its road, and its
next rulers must limit their
interference to their own borders,"
Ahmadinejad said. He reiterated Iran's
insistence that its nuclear program is
purely peaceful, not aimed at producing
nuclear weapons as the U.S. and some
European countries suspect. "A few
bullying powers have sought to put
hurdles in the way of the peaceful
nuclear activities of the Iranian nation
by exerting political and economic
pressures against Iran and also through
threatening and pressuring the IAEA,"
the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
The U.S. and its allies allege Iran wants to develop its
uranium enrichment program to make
nuclear weapons, while Tehran insists it
is designed to produce electricity for
civilian use. Iran already is under
three sets of sanctions by the U.N.
Security Council for refusing to suspend
uranium enrichment. Washington and its
Western allies are pushing for quick
passage of a fourth set of sanctions to
underline the international community's
resolve. During interviews ahead of his
speech Tuesday, Ahmadinejad blamed U.S.
military interventions around the world
in part for the collapse of global
financial markets. He said the campaign
against his country's nuclear program
was solely due to the Bush
administration "and a couple of their
European friends." |
|
ANTONINI CONFIRMS ATTEMPT AT BRINGING IN
ARGENTINA ADDITIONAL USD 4.2 MILLION
MIAMI,
FLORIDA --Following
the resumption of the Miami's trial in
the suitcase scandal, Venezuelan
businessman Guido Antonini Wilson
declared that there was indeed
additional USD 4.200,000 targeted at
Argentina.
\\
During his testimony, he mentioned Diego
Uzcátegui, the former chair of state-run
oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa)
in Argentina. Antonini Wilson said that
shortly after being caught with the
suitcase filled with USD 800,000 in
cash, Uzcátegui asked him about the
additional amount of USD 4.200,000.
Therefore, it was confirmed that the
plane carried more money than the cash
seized in the Argentinean airport.
Antonini Wilson also stated that Argentinean businessman
Claudio Uberti invited him to talk about
the plans to lay a gas pipeline from
Venezuela to Argetina. Antonini Wilson,
a US-Venezuelan citizen living in Miami,
arrived in Buenos Aires on August 4,
2007, with the controversial suitcase in
his hands. However, it seems that the
cash did not belong to him but to Pdvsa,
as evicenced in the ongoing trial in
Miami. In his first appearance at the
lawsuit on Tuesday, Antonini Wilson gave
testimony at the Miami courthouse. |
|
HUGO
CHAVEZ IN CHINA, FIRST LEG OF
INTERNATIONAL TOUR
PEKIN, CHINA--Hugo
Chavez said his country is no
longer the backyard of the U.S. and that
he finds it more important to visit
Beijing than New York, as he arrived
Tuesday in China's capital on the first
leg of an international tour. The
outspoken U.S. critic hopes to boost
ties with China's communist leadership
through increased oil sales, partly to
reduce dependency on the United States,
which still buys about half of
Venezuela's oil despite years of
tensions.
\\
"China is showing the world and has
shown the world that it isn't necessary
to harm anyone to be a great power,"
Chavez told reporters upon his arrival
in Beijing. "They're soldiers of peace."
Asked about his absence from talks this
week on the sidelines of the United
Nations in New York, Chavez said: "It's
much more important to be in Beijing
than in New York." Chavez's visit comes
amid stepped-up confrontation with the
U.S., including Russia's dispatch Monday
of a naval squadron to hold joint
maneuvers with Venezuela's navy.
The deployment of Russian military power to the Western
Hemisphere is unprecedented since the
Cold War and follows a weeklong visit to
Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic
bombers. "The only thing we demand from
the next government of the United States
is that it respect our nation, that's
all, Chavez said. "We're no longer the
backyard of the United States." The
leader - who once called U.S. President
George W. Bush the devil - said he
wouldn't respond to recent criticism of
him by the presidential candidates in
the U.S. |
|
A RUSSIAN NAVY SQUADRON SET OFF FOR
VENEZUELA ON MONDAY
MOSCOW,
RUSSIA--A
Russian navy squadron set off for
Venezuela on Monday, an official said,
in a deployment of Russian military
power to the Western Hemisphere
unprecedented since the Cold War. The
nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser,
pictured in 2004, and three other ships
are off to Venezuela.
The Kremlin has moved to intensify
contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other
Latin American nations amid increasingly
strained relations with Washington after
last month's war between Russia and
Georgia.
\\
During the Cold War, Latin America
became an ideological battleground
between the Soviet Union and the United
States. Russian navy spokesman Igor
Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter
the Great cruiser accompanied by three
other ships sailed from the Northern
Fleet's base of Severomorsk on Monday.
The ships will cover about 15,000
nautical miles to conduct joint
maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he
told The Associated Press.
Dygalo refused to comment on Monday's report in the daily
Izvestia claiming that the ships were to
make a stopover in the Syrian port of
Tartus on their way to Venezuela.
Russian officials said the Soviet-era
base there was being renovated to serve
as a foothold for a permanent Russian
navy presence in the Mediterranean. The
intensifying contacts with Venezuela
appear to be a response to the U.S.
dispatch of warships to deliver aid to
Georgia, which angered the Kremlin. |
|
CHILE
TO SEND DIPLOMATIC NOTE TO VENEZUELA FOR
HRW DIRECTOR'S EXPULSION
\\
SANTIAGO DE
CHILE, CHILE --Chile
will send a diplomatic note to
Venezuela for the expulsion on Thursday
of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Americas
director, Chilean national José Miguel
Vivanco, confirmed on Monday Chilean
Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Alberto
van Klaveren.
"We had said that we were going to use the diplomatic
channels. Therefore we decided to send a
note expressing our opinion on what has
happened," Van Klaveren told a group of
journalists, AFP reported.
The Chilean officer did not specify when the note would be
sent to Caracas. He only said that it
would be "in a timely moment." The
Foreign Vice-Minister also said that the
defenders of human rights "are fully
entitled to act" in every part of the
world. |
|
OAS
SECRETARY GENERAL, JOSE MIGUEL INSULZA,
AT ODDS WITH HIS FRIEND HUGO CHAVEZ FOR
THE EXPULSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS
SANTIAGO DE CHILE, CHILE--Secretary
General of the Organization of American
States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza,
said that he was not pleased
"personally" by the expulsion of
America's director for US-based human
rights monitor, Human Rights Watch, José
Miguel Vivanco.
\\
"Venezuela has a sovereign government,
and I can not get involved in internal
affairs of the country. But, personally,
I did not like the decision", said the
Secretary-General from La Paz, where he
was participating in the negotiations to
overcome the crisis in Bolivia. Insulza,
a Chilean national like Vivanco, added
that "one can agree or disagree with the
statements of a person, but you do not
need to expel him or her for that
reason," said Insulza.
esides, the Venezuelan government described as "foolish
remarks" the statement of Chilean
Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Alberto
Van Klaveren, who said: "we regret the
expulsion of a citizen, a fighter for
human rights." In Klaveren's opinion,
"it was a disproportionate reaction" and
added that his government would ask for
an explanation from Caracas. |
|
evo morales supporters will not stop
their march to storm the easter city of
santa cruz
LA
PAZ, BOLIVIA--An
air of anxiety clutches Bolivia this
weekend amid high-stakes talks
designed to end bloodshed and keep the
country whole. Bolivian President Evo
Morales says opposition leaders are
trying to overthrow the government. The
central government of leftist President
Evo Morales, Bolivia's first leader from
an Indian majority centered in the
western highlands, is conducting talks
with governors of largely white
provinces in the east who want autonomy.
\\
Julian Torrico, a peasant leader, said
he and other Morales supporters will
storm the eastern city of Santa Cruz if
the talks, which started Thursday, do
not yield progress. "We will go into
Santa Cruz and respond with force
because they have (marginalized) us and
massacred us, so we will massacre them
and we will take their land away from
them," he said. Watch protesters march
in Santa Cruz ť
"The fight here is between poor and rich. The
government of Evo Morales took power by
a majority and now these opposition
governors don't want to let him govern,"
Torrico said. Anyelo Cespedes, president
of the Santa Cruz Youth Union, which
opposes Morales, said they don't want a
dictatorship or a communist regime. The
central government and eastern governors
are discussing topics that include the
distribution of natural-gas revenues,
autonomy for several eastern provinces
and the president's plan for a new
constitution. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ SAYS LATIN AMERICA NEEDS
RUSSIA TO REDUCE US INFLUENCE
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Hugo Chavez said in an interview
broadcast Sunday that Latin America
needs strong friendship with Russia to
help reduce U.S. influence and keep
peace in the region. The interview aired
as a Russian Navy squadron prepared to
sail to Venezuela. Venezuela recently
hosted a pair of Russian strategic
bombers and is preparing to conduct a
joint naval exercise with Russia.
Russian media say Chavez plans to visit
Moscow Friday, his second trip in just
over two months.
\\
“Not only Venezuela, but Latin America
as a whole, needs friends like Russia
now as we are shedding this (U.S.)
domination,” Chavez told Russia’s Vesti
24 television. “We need Russia for
economic and social development, for
all-around support, for the life of the
peoples of our continent, for peace.”
During the Cold War, Latin America
became an ideological battleground
between the Soviet Union and the United
States.
The Kremlin has moved to intensify contacts with
Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American
nations amid increasingly strained
relations with Washington after last
month’s war between Russia and Georgia.
The weeklong deployment of a pair of
Tu-160 strategic bombers to Venezuela —
and the plan to send a navy squadron
there — mark a projection of Russian
military power to the Western Hemisphere
unprecedented since the Cold War. |
|
RUSSIA
SENDING NUCLEAR-POWER PETER THE GREAT
MISSILE CRUISER TO LATIN AMERICA
MOSCOW, RUSSIA--
The nuclear-powered Peter the Great
missile cruiser, accompanied by
three other ships of Russia’s Northern
Fleet, was preparing to sail from its
base on a cruise that will include a
joint exercise with the Venezuelan Navy,
Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said on Vesti
24 television. The RIA Novosti news
agency quoted the Northern Fleet command
as saying the ships will likely leave
early Monday.
Russian officials had said earlier that
the squadron was to head to Venezuela in
November. They would not explain the
change. Russia’s intensifying military
contact with Venezuela appears to be a
response to the U.S. dispatch to Georgia
of warships carrying aid after its war
with Russia. Russian officials harshly
criticized the U.S. deployment to
Georgia’s Black Sea coast.
President Dmitry Medvedev warned this month that Russia
could follow its dispatch of bombers to
Venezuela by deploying forces to other
friendly nations. Under Chavez,
Venezuela has cultivated close ties with
Moscow and placed big orders for Russian
jets, helicopters and other weapons.
Chavez has repeatedly warned that the
U.S. poses a threat to Venezuela. |
|
PRESIDENT BUSH INSISTS THAT TRADE DEAL
WITH COLOMBIA IS IN US INTEREST
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--President
Bush and Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe renewed their push on
Saturday for Congress to approve a
free-trade deal before lawmakers leave
town to campaign for re-election. "It's
in our economic interest that we
continue to open up markets in our
neighborhood, particularly with a nation
that is growing like yours," Bush told
Uribe in the Rose Garden. "And yet we
can't get a vote out of Congress. I've
been asking the Democrat leadership in
Congress for a vote, and they've
consistently blocked the vote."
\\
Congressional Democrats say they are
delaying votes on trade deals involving
Colombia, Panama and South Korea until
the Bush administration resolves
questions about the impact on U.S. jobs
and other issues. But time is running
out on the legislative calendar. The
Colombian pact was negotiated in late
2006. Bush urged lawmakers to reconsider
their opposition, but seemed resigned
that it might not happen on his watch.
Bush called Uribe an "honest man" who
has responded to U.S. concerns about
crime in Colombia and has been
successful in reducing homicides,
kidnappings and terrorist attacks.
"What happens in Colombia can affect life here in the United
States," Bush said. "You've got a strong
supporter here. And after I leave
office, it's going to be very important
for the next president and the next
Congress to stand squarely by your
side." Uribe said a free-trade agreement
would help increase U.S. investment in
Colombia and provide jobs for people as
an alternative to engaging in terrorism,
illegal drug-trafficking and violence. |
|
SUICIDE BOMB GUTS PAKISTAN MARRIOTT
HOTEL; 60 DEAD
ISLAMABAD,
PAKISTAN--
A suicide bomber detonated a dump
truck packed with a ton of explosives
outside the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's
capital Saturday, setting off a fiery
blast that shattered the hotel, killed
at least 60 people and wounded hundreds,
officials and witnesses said. The
targeting of the American hotel chain
was one of the largest terrorist attacks
ever in Pakistan and came at a time of
growing anger in Pakistan over a wave of
cross-border strikes on militant bases
by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. At least
one American was killed.
\\
The five-story Marriott had been a
favorite place for foreigners as well as
Pakistani politicians and business
people to stay and socialize in
Islamabad despite repeated militant
attacks on the hotel. The bomb went off
close to 8 p.m., when four restaurants
inside would have been packed with
diners at the hour that Muslims break
their daily fast during the holy month
of Ramadan.
It left a vast crater some 30 feet deep in front of the
building, where rescuers ferried a
stream of bloodied bodies. The fire was
still burning more than six hours after
the blast and had gutted most of the
hotel, sending up a thick pall of smoke
over the area. The death toll was likely
to rise once the fire was extinguished
and rescuers could thoroughly search the
devastated building. The blast
reverberated throughout Islamabad and
shattered windows hundreds of yards
away. |
|
MANUEL
MARULANDA "TIROFIJO" WAS BURIED IN
VENEZUELA, SAYS FARC DEFECTOR
\
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--A
deserter from the Colombian
Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) said
that the historic leader of the group,
known by his alias of Manuel Marulanda
Vélez or "Tirofijo," was taken to
Venezuela after dying of a heart attack
last March, several news media reported.
According to the Colombian radio network Caracol, aka "Yeiner,"
who deserted this week, disclosed the
information to the authorities of the
Pitalito town, Department of Huila, in
the southwest of Colombia, DPA reported.
"Yeiner" said that he was part of the
security guards of the highest leader of
the FARC, who died on March 26, at the
age of 77. The armed group confirmed his
death in May. According to the former
guerrilla, "Tirofijo" - whose real name
was Pedro Antonio Marín - was moved to
Venezuela shortly after dying in a
jungle in the Department of Guaviare,
south of Colombia. |
|
secretary condoleezza rice criticizes
russia's policies and invasion of
georgia
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--In
scathing criticism of Moscow, U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
warned Russia Thursday that its policies
have put it on a path to isolation and
irrelevance.
Rice called on the
West to stand up to Russian aggression
following its invasion of Georgia last
month. The
State Department
released excerpts of the speech to be
delivered Thursday.
"The attack on
Georgia has crystillized the course that
Russia's
leaders are taking— and brought us to a
critical moment for Russia and the
world," she said.
\\
The speech for a German Marshall Fund
event reflected an escalation of
rhetoric in a relationship that has
deteriorated markedly since last month's
war and Moscow's recognition of two
breakaway regions of Georgia. Rice
mocked Russia for its international
isolation and attempt to project its
influence into America's backyard by
cultivating foes like Cuba and
Venezuela.
Rice noted sarcastically that Nicaragua
and the Palestinian terror group
Hamas
are the only other entities that have so
far recognized the independence of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"A pat on the back from Daniel Ortega and Hamas is hardly a
diplomatic triumph," Rice said,
referring to the president of Nicaragua,
a long-time foe of the United States.
She also mocked Russia's recent military
exercizes with another U.S. foe,
Venezuela, suggesting that despite its
crushing victory over Georgia, Russia's
armed forces have still not recovered
from their decline as the Soviet Union
collapsed. "We are confident that our
ties with our neighbors, who long for
better education, better
health care,
better jobs, and better housing, will in
no way be diminished by a few, aging
Blackjack bombers, visiting one of Latin
America's few autocracies" she said. |
|
russian fleet on its way to venezuela
\\
MOSCOW,
RUSSIA--
Russia will temporarily deploy in
Venezuela anti-submarine aircraft, said
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman
Andrei Nesterenko.
The announcement came against a backdrop of tensions over the
presence of North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) warships near the
Russian coast of the Black Sea, affected
by the conflict between Russia and
Georgia, AFP reported.
"Before the end of the year, as part of a long-distance
expedition, we are planning a visit to
Venezuela by a Russian navy flotilla
(...) and the temporary basing of
anti-submarine aircraft of the Russian
Navy at an airport in Venezuela," said
Nesterenko. |
|
A
RUSSIAN CONFLICT SAILS IN THE CARIBBEAN
SEA
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--A
Russian fleet present in Venezuela,
at a time when the Eurasian nation and
the United States are involved in a
climate of confrontation due to the
crisis in Georgia, threatens to bring
the conflict to the Venezuelan
territory, according to analysts.
\\
Julio César Pineda, a foreign affairs
analyst, explains that there is a tacit
balance whereby the super powers have
their areas of influence. Pineda says
that "the facilitation of Venezuelan
territory for a potential transit of a
Russian fleet or joint military
exercises, and more seriously, the
possibility of deploying nuclear
submarines, could alarm considerably the
European Union and the United States."
Furthermore, Thomas Gomart, of the
Paris-based French Institute for
International Relations (IFRI) said:
"(Russia's decision to send warships to
Venezuela) will be regarded as a move to
increase tensions, and this is a
worrying issue".
The announcement of the Caribbean manoeuvres, in the
midst of the Caucasus crisis, "seems to
represent a two-way strategy from
Moscow: an overt challenge to the US
hegemony and a gesture of support to the
policies on nationalization of the
energy business which have had
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez as one
of its main representatives," the expert
said. |
|
JOHN MCCAIN RULES OUT NEGOTIATIONS WITH
HUGO CHAVEZ
\ WASHINGTON,
D.C.--The
Republican candidate for president of
the United States, John McCain,
ruled out talks with the Venezuelan
President, Hugo Chávez, a fierce critic
of the US. McCain reiterated his
support to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
between the US and Colombia. The
candidate considered that those trade
agreements are "good for the economy and
good for democracy."
According to McCain, "Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales's situation
is quite similar." In his opinion, "they
are the same." "Venezuela is a good
argument, if we want to achieve our
energy independence," said McCain. But
he warned "I will not talk with
President Hugo Chávez as the (Democrat)
Senator Barack Obama has said he would
with no preconditions." .
McCain said: "I will do everything in my power to support
democracy, freedom and human rights in
Venezuela". He noted that "as we all
know, Chávez is moving into an
autocracy. He is depriving people of
their democratic rights." |
|
HRW: CHAVEZ'S GOVERNMENT HAS WEAKENED
DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA--
During the presentation of his report "A
Decade Under Chávez: Political
Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for
Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela" the
international organization Human Rights
Watch (HRW) denounced that the
Administration of President Hugo Chávez,
during his 10 years of government, has
weakened democratic institutions and
human rights guarantees in Venezuela.
HRW said that Chávez's government has systematically
pursued discriminatory policies that
have undercut journalists' freedom of
expression, workers' freedom of
association, and civil society's ability
to promote human rights.
The main goal of the HRW's 300-page report is to assess the
impact of the Chávez's government on
democratic institutions that are
essential for ensuring respect for human
rights and the rule of law, said José
Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director at
Human Right Watch. |
|
SOUTH
AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS BLAME HUGO CHAVEZ
FOR INTERVENTIONISM IN THE REGION
LA PAZ,
BOLIVIA--The
Bolivian Armed Forces, an Ecuadorian
mayor, and an opposition leader in
Paraguay complained separately
about meddling of Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez in the internal affairs of
their countries. The Bolivian army
expressed their "outrage" for the
repeated and "unfortunate" criticisms of
President Chávez, and asked the Bolivian
Foreign Affair Ministry to notify
through the corresponding diplomatic
channels the military discomfort, the
Bolivian press said.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Guayaquil, Jaime Nebot, asked
publicly Chávez "to mind your own
internal business, in Venezuela." Nebot
accused Chávez of interference in
Ecuadorian matters after the Venezuelan
head of state said that the economic and
political leaders of Guayaquil are
looking to repeat Bolivian "separatism".
"How dare you! Who do you think you are?
Mind your own internal business in
Venezuela!, said the most visible leader
of the opposition who advocates an
autonomic model for the most populated
Ecuadorian city.
Finally in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, former
military commander and opposition leader
Lino Oviedo asked Chávez not to
intervene in the Paraguayan domestic
affairs. "What President Chávez says has
no validity. We are accustomed to his
statements that offend the leaders of
the hemisphere," the former leader of an
attempted military coup said. On
Tuesday, Chávez accused Oviedo of
plotting against the government of
Paraguayan President, Fernando Lugo. |
|
BOLIVIAN ARMY UPSET BY HUGO CHAVEZ'S
MEDDLING IN ITS NATION'S INTERNAL
AFFAIRS
LA
PAZ, BOLIVIA--The
Bolivian Armed Forces have asked
President Evo Morales to notify through
the corresponding diplomatic channels
their discomfort by the statements of
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez about
an eventual Venezuelan military
intervention in Bolivia. In a letter
addressed to David Choquehuanca,
Bolivia's Minister of Foreign Affairs,
disclosed on Wednesday, the head of the
Armed Forces, General Luis Trigo,
expressed his "strong and categorical
rejection against foreign intervention
in domestic affairs of any kind and
wherever it comes from.
\\ The Venezuelan President has said time after time that if
Morales is overthrown or assassinated in
the wave of the protests and clashes
that affect the Bolivian territory, he
would support any armed movement to
defend the elected President. General
Trigo, who had already criticized public
Chávez’s “intervention” in the internal
affairs of Bolivia, formalized with this
letter to the Foreign Minister his
request “to take the relevant diplomatic
measures to express the Bolivian
military indignation.”
According to Trigo, Chávez’s statements “deeply affect the
dignity and integrity” of the military
institution. “The president of Venezuela
is making repeated statements against
the command of the Bolivian armed
forces, attacking the monolithic unity
and cohesion of our institution and
doubting about the institutional role
that we fulfill as a stronghold of
democracy” said the letter signed by
Gen. Trigo. |
|
ANTONINI WILSON IS WILLING TO DISCLOSE
ALL RELEVANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE
BRIEFCASE SANDAL
MIAMI,FLORIDA--Whereas
Guido Antonini Wilson
feels pressured and waits his turn to
testify before the Florida court, his
attorney Theresa van Vleit, said that
after the trial, the "suitcase man"
would defend himself before public
opinion and possibly before the
Argentine judicial authorities.
"When the time comes, Antonini will
defend and will clean his name in
Argentina," Van Vleit told Argentinean
newspaper Clarín. The attorney said that
Antonini is not allowed to make any
statements for now. "Neither the witness
nor his lawyers can make statements
regarding this case until the trial has
ended," Van Vleit said. "But Antonini
will do it when the time comes."
In fact, she did not rule out, that
Antonini testifies voluntarily. The
lawyer said that after the trial is
completed, the prosecution's "star
witness" will be able to talk to
reporters. According to the Buenos Aires
newspaper, Argentinean authorities
requested the extradition, "but in
reality they do not want Antonini to be
extradited for obvious
|
|
THE US
WILL NOT TARNISH VENEZUELAN PROGRESS,
VOWS HUGO CHAVEZ'S INTERIOR MINISTER
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--Minister
of the Interior and Justice Tarek El
Aisammi said on Wednesday that
the United States will not succeed in
"tarnishing and discrediting" the
progress and scope of the Venezuelan
government in fighting drug trafficking,
He stressed that Venezuela is ready to
combat this crime but not by an
"immoral imposition." The Venezuelan
minister rebutted the comments made on
Thursday by US President George W.
Bush, who said that Venezuela has failed
to meet their obligations to fight
against drug trafficking.
"A country (such as the US) that has such levels of
decay and moral and institutional
deterioration does not worry us at all.
They have asserted that our government
has failed in the anti-drug war. On the
contrary, they were the ones who failed.
They are the ones who need international
support. The US has been accused all
over the world by all the countries
participating in different treaties and
cooperation agreements. The US
government is the one that is sabotaging
and using the monitoring and control
mechanisms for purposes other than
detecting drug trafficking networks,"
said the minister.
Meanwhile, Colonel Néstor Reverol, the director of the
National Anti-Drug Office (ONA), said
that the fact that the United States has
placed again Venezuela on the "drugs
blacklist" "clearly violates" the
Charter of the United Nations and
represents an attempt of "coercion" to
try to obtain Venezuela's subordination. |
|
EVO
MORALES STRUGGLES TO CONTROL BOLIVIA
AMID VIOLENCE
LA
PAZ, BOLIVIA--President
Evo Morales struggled to assert
control over a badly fractured Bolivia
on Sunday as protesters set fire to a
town hall and blockaded highways in
opposition-controlled provinces,
provoking gasoline and food shortages.
At least 30 people have been killed in
the poor Andean nation this week,
Interior Minister Alfredo Rada said. All
the deaths occurred in Pando province,
where Morales declared martial law on
Friday, dispatching troops and accusing
government foes of killing his
supporters.
The governor of natural gas-rich Tarija, representing
the four eastern provinces that are in
rebellion, said before entering talks in
the capital Sunday with Vice President
Alvaro Garcia that his half of the
country was paralyzed by 35 highway
blockades. "Also paralyzed are borders
with Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay,"
said Gov. Mario Cossio, who expressed
hope of laying the groundwork for a
truce.
Opposition activists were reported lifting some blockades,
while Morales backers were demanding
that separatists first quit government
offices they seized last week.
Government troops continued to arrive in
Pando and patrol the streets of its
capital, Cobija, and the government
sought the arrest of provincial Gov.
Leopoldo Fernandez in what Morales has
called an ambush of government
supporters with the help of Peruvian and
Brazilian "assassins." |
|
TRIAL FOR SUITCASE SCANDAL IS A "TRASH
OPERATION," SAYS HUGO CHAVEZ
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Hugo
Chávez said again that an ongoing
trial in Miami in connection with a
suitcase stuffed with USD 800,000 that
was sent from Caracas to Buenos Aires is
a "trash operation." The head of state
explained that he did not talk about it
with his Argentinean counterpart
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner during a
recent summit in Chile.
 "The suitcase issue is not a big issue for us. It forms part,
as we have said, of a trash operation"
undertaken by the US government, Chávez
told reporters. "I wonder why the US
government does not extradite the
criminal; that Venezuelan-US businessman
protected there and charged in Argentina
with money laundering," Chávez commented
in reference to Guido Antonini Wilson,
one of the leading characters in the
Miami´s lawsuit.
On August 4th, 2007, in Buenos Aires, Antonini was
caught in possession of a suitcase
containing USD 800,000 in cash.
According to the evidence produced at
the courthouse, the money coming from
state-run oil holding Petróleos de
Venezuela was set to finance Kirchner's
presidential campaign. |
|
BOMB
KILLS AT LEAST 35, IRAQIS SAY
BAGHDAD,
IRAQ--A
suicide bomber blew herself up
Monday among police officers who were
celebrating the release of a comrade
from U.S. custody, killing at least 22
people, Iraqi officials said. Separate
bombings in Iraq killed 13 other people.
The suicide attack happened in Diyala,
a province northeast of Baghdad where
Sunni insurgents have carried out
persistent attacks despite security
gains elsewhere in the country. The
female bomber targeted the home of a
police commissioner who had been
detained by American troops for
allegedly cooperating with the Mahdi
Army, a Shiite militia.
Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim al-Rubaie, the military commander in
Diyala, said most of the 22 fatalities
were police and that 33 people were
wounded in the evening attack in Balad
Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad. Two
police captains and three lieutenant
colonels were among the dead, said a
police officer who requested anonymity
because he was not authorized to release
the information. The U.S. military
confirmed that the bomber was a woman
but gave a lower casualty toll, saying
17 Iraqis were killed, including the
city's deputy chief of police, and eight
other people were wounded.
Al-Rubaie said the attacker was a woman. Insurgents are
increasingly turning to women for
suicide attacks because they can conceal
explosives more easily under long
garments and evade searches by male
security guards, and possibly because
the male pool of suicide recruits is
smaller than in the early days of the
war. |
|
FOR THE SECOND TIME, CUBA REJECTS U.S.
AID, ASKS EMBARGO RULES BE LIFTED
HAVANA,
CUBA--Cuba
has rejected a $5 million offer
for relief assistance from Washington,
saying it cannot accept help from a
country with an economic embargo against
it, and instead renewed its request to
allow the communist country to make
purchases with credit. In a statement
made public Monday, the Cuban government
asked Washington for a six-month
reprieve on embargo rules that prohibit
the communist country from making
purchases from American companies,
saying devastation from Hurricanes
Gustav and Ike make it critical.
Washington and Havana have been embroiled in a
diplomatic dispute over hurricane aid
since Hurricane Gustav smashed into
western Cuba on Aug. 30. Washington
offered $100,000 and a humanitarian
assessment team, and the Cuban Foreign
Ministry answered by saying what it
needed was purchasing credits. Last week
Gutiérrez said the Cuban government is
behind on payments to many of its
creditors, and suggested that the
request for credits was a pretext. ''Do
they really want us to extend their
credits?'' he said.
On Saturday, U.S. diplomats met in Washington with Cuban
counterparts, and upped the offer to $5
million. ''We regret that they have not
accepted this offer,'' State Department
spokeswoman Heide Bronke said. ``We are
considering Cuba's request to purchase
other reconstruction materials on case
by case consistent with U.S. law.''
United States law allows Cuba to make
cash agricultural purchases, but does
not allow Cuba to buy with credit.
Cuba's request for a six-month reprieve
would likely require an act of Congress. |
|
REGIONAL SUMMIT SEEKS SOLUTION TO
BOLIVIA CRISIS
SANTIAGO DE CHILE, CHILE--South
American presidents gathering in
Chile on Monday will try to find a
peaceful solution to a political crisis
in Bolivia that has seen more than a
dozen people killed in clashes between
supporters and foes of President Evo
Morales. Chilean President Michelle
Bachelet, who is temporary president of
the 12-member Union of South American
Nations, called the summit after
speaking by phone with Morales late
Friday.
"We can't remain impassive in the face of a situation that
worries us all," Bachelet said Saturday
as she announced the meeting.
Two-week-long protests against Morales'
plans to rewrite Bolivia's constitution
and redirect gas revenues have turned
increasingly violent. The government
says at least 30 people died in Pando,
one of several opposition-ruled
provinces that are rebelling against the
president, forcing Morales to declare a
state of siege there. Pando officials
put the number of deaths at 15.
All the presidents of the continent's major nations were to
travel to the summit except Peru's Alan
Garcia, who was sending his foreign
minister and who issued a statement
supporting Morales' elected government.
Also attending will be Secretary-General
Jose Miguel Insulza of the Organization
of American States. President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva of continental
power Brazil, which relies on Bolivian
imports for half its natural gas, could
prove the key mediator. He said Saturday
that the summit can be effective only if
proposals from both the Bolivian
government and the opposition are
represented. "If the two sides haven't
asked us to meet and we make a decision
that neither side will respect, the
meeting will end up being useless,"
Silva said. |
|
THERE WERE ADDITIONAL USD 4.2 MILLION IN
ANTONINI'S AIRCRAFT
MIAMI,
FLORIDA--USD
800,000 carried by Guido Alejandro
Antonini Wilson and seized on August 4,
2007, at Jorge Newbery Airport in
Buenos Aires, were a fraction of the
money aboard an aircraft chartered by
Argentinean state oil company Enarsa.
According to Argentinean newspaper La
Nación, there were additional USD 4.2
million on board the chartered aircraft
from Venezuela. The newspaper claims to
have gotten the information from two
independent sources, one of them from
Caracas, Venezuela, which "have a
leading role in the case filed in a
federal court in Miami."
Sources assume that, like the USD 800,000 seized on August
2007, the USD 4.2 million were also
earmarked to finance the presidential
campaign that led to the election of
Cristina Fernández de Kichner as
President of Argentina. The newspaper
reported on Sunday that "the first
person concerned by the fate of the
money was Diego Uzcátegui, then
president of the subsidiary of
Venezuelan state oil company Petróleos
de Venezuela (Pdvsa) in Argentina and
Uruguay. According to the sources,
Uzcátegui would have asked his
interlocutors when he arrived in Buenos
Aires, a few hours after the seizure:
"What about the USD 4.2 million? Where
is the money?"
The newspaper added that somewhere in the audio
transcripts taped by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) officials, with
the cooperation of Antonini, the word
"suitcases" is mentioned in plural. The
suitcase trial is being heard in a Miami
court against four alleged Venezuelan
covert agents in the United States who
were supposedly trying to silence
Antonini in order to hide the source and
destination of USD 800,000 Antonini
tried to smuggle into Argentina.
Assistant US Attorney Thomas J.
Mulvihill had already mentioned during
an early hearing that "additional funds"
would have left from Venezuela for the
presidential campaign of Fernández de
Kirchner. At that time, the prosecutor
did not clarify whether those funds came
in that flight or earlier. |
|
AT LEAST 30 DEAD IN BOLIVIA FIGHTING
PANDO,
BOLIVIA--At
least 30 people have been killed
in fighting between Bolivian government
forces and supporters of an autonomy
movement in the east of the country,
according to the nation's interior
ministry. The fighting is centered in
the eastern province, or department, of
Pando, where the government declared
martial law on Friday. The order came as
a C-130 plane carrying federal troops
landed in the town of Cobija in Pando,
at a civilian airport that had been
controlled for the past week by
pro-autonomy forces.
The rift within Bolivia centers around the four eastern
departments of Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni
and Tarija, where natural gas deposits
have made them richer than the rest of
the nation. President Evo Morales, the
nation's first Indian president, has
promised to redistribute wealth from the
eastern departments to the highlands,
which sparked the autonomy movement.
Morales has accused the United States of fomenting the
unrest, an assertion the U.S. State
Department has rejected as "baseless."
Some of Latin America's leaders have
supported Morales, with Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez expelling U.S.
Ambassador Philip Goldberg from Caracas
in solidarity with Bolivia and recalling
his own from Washington. Bolivia also
expelled U.S. ambassadors. There were
varying reports about the number of
deaths from the fighting. Some local
officials were saying Saturday that more
than 20 had been killed. |
|
DEADLY
CLASHES STRIKE BOLIVIA'S SOUTHEASTERN
PROVINCE
SANTA CRUZ,
BOLIVIA--
In the southeastern province of Tarija,
near the border with Argentina, 88
people were wounded in clashes between
opponents and followers of Evo Morales,
Tarija government officials said
Thursday. Also in Tarija, where most of
the country's natural gas comes from,
autonomy supporters blew up a pipeline,
resulting in $8 million in losses of
exports to Argentina and Brazil, the
officials said. It will take 15 to 20
days to fix the pipeline, they said.
But that may not be the only pipeline interruption.
Pro-autonomy groups seized control of a
pipeline valve in the nearby town of
Yacuiba, also in Tarija. Local
authorities and the leader of the
national opposition, Jorge Quiroga,
accused the federal government of
organizing armed bands of militias to
take control of Cobija, the capital of
Pando.
Pro-autonomy groups remained in control Thursday of Santa
Cruz, where work had stopped at all
central government offices. Meanwhile,
American Airlines has suspended its
twice-weekly flights to Santa Cruz's
civilian airport. A low-profile federal
military presence was guarding strategic
installations, including a refinery and
a small military airfield. Local
television showed pictures of people
breaking into stores, though many stores
remained open. But government supporters
in the eastern provinces appear poised
to strike back. Peasants who make up the
base of President Evo Morales' party
have threatened during the past two days
to encircle Santa Cruz. |
|
EVO MORALES ORDERED THE ARREST OF THE
GOVERNOR OF PANDO PROVINCE
LA PAZ,
BOLIVIA.--President
EVO Morales accused the region's
governor of hiring foreign hitmen to
attack his peasant supporters. The
governor, Leopoldo Fernandez, who
rejects the claims, is reported to have
fled to neighbouring Brazil.
The crisis has arisen over radical plans by the President Evo
Morales to re-distribute the country's
wealth. The government has been trying
to re-establish control in much of the
east of the country after several days
of violence which has seen opposition
groups ransacking government offices and
taking control of regional airports.
The government declared a state of emergency in Pando
the worst hit region and troops have
retaken control of the local airport.
Sporadic clashes have continued between
pro and anti government groups
throughout much of the east of Bolivia. |
|
CUBA DELAYS MILITARY EXERCISE AFTER
HURRICANES
HAVANA,
CUBA--Cuba
announced Saturday that it is
postponing a military exercise so
soldiers can focus on helping the
country recover and rebuild from the
devastation of Hurricanes Gustav and
Ike. An ''informative note'' in the
Communist Party newspaper Granma said
President Raúl Castro had decided to put
off ''Bastion 2008,'' an exercise
scheduled to begin in November. It
provided no further details about the
exercise.
A four-star army general, Castro served as defense minister
for decades before succeeding his
ailing, 82-year-old elder brother Fidel
as president in February. In a national
address in July, he put Washington on
notice that Cuba would focus on
modernizing and better training and
equipping its military. But two big
storms have forced a change in plans.
Hurricane Gustav slammed into western Cuba on Aug. 30,
damaging homes and crippling industry,
food production and infrastructure in
Pinar del Rio province and Isla de la
Juventud, an island south of mainland
Cuba. Barely a week later, Ike hit
eastern Cuba, killing seven people and
forcing nearly a fourth of the nation's
population to evacuate their homes. |
|
CUBA
SAYS IT DOES NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES TO
DEAL WITH THE HURRICANE CRISIS
HAVANA, CUBA--The
Cuban government was scrambling
Friday to salvage battered crops, and
many towns across the island remain
inaccessible due to flooding brought on
by swollen rivers and overflowing
reservoirs in the wake of hurricanes Ike
and Gustav. Authorities also continued
their frantic efforts to assess total
damage and direct aid to the neediest
areas after admitting that the country's
reserves will not be enough to deal with
the devastation. The death toll is now
at least seven.
Víctor Ramírez, President of Cuba's National Housing
Institute, warned in the TV program Mesa
Redonda that ``we must be prudent in the
distribution of materials. The hurricane
season is not over yet. We can't let our
guard down.'' In Holguín Province in
eastern Cuba, about 50,000 acres of
crops, mostly plantains, were first
battered by hurricane winds and then
washed over by continuing torrential
rains. Workers rushed to salvage the
crops, Cuban TV reported Friday.
Hurricane Ike also flattened 385,000 acres of sugar cane, out
of a total of 1.7 million planted across
the island. All grove crops in the Isle
of Youth, off Cuba's southwest coast,
were In Pinar del Río province in
western Cuba, the river Cuyaguateje has
overflowed its banks and left entire
communities, such as the town of Guane,
underwater and inaccessible by road. It
also washed out crops and tobacco
warehouses. Flooding also persists in
the province of Yara, with the rivers
Yara and Río Cauto overflowing its banks
due to the rains. |
|
BOLIVIAN ARMY REJECTS HUGO CHAVEZ'S
iNTERVENTION
LA PAZ,
BOLIVIA.--general
Luis Trigo, the Bolivian Armed
Forces Commander in Chief warned on
Friday the Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez and the international community
that the armed forces of Bolivia reject
"any foreign intervention of any kind,
wherever they be from."
Bolivia's armed forces "will not allow any foreign soldier or
armed force to set foot on our soil,"
Trigo added during a press conference,
where he read out a statement together
with other military leaders, EFE
reported.
Chávez has said on Thursday that
putschists would be given the green
light to any armed movement in Bolivia,
if his counterpart the President Evo
Morales "was toppled" or "assassinated." |
|
USING VULGAR LANGUAGE, HUGO CHAVEZ
EXPELS U.S. AMBASSADOR AND CALLS HIS
AMBASSADOR FROM WASHINGTON
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--Hugo
Chavez ordered the U.S.
ambassador to leave Venezuela within 72
hours on Thursday, accusing the diplomat
of conspiring against his government and
saying he would also withdraw his own
envoy from Washington immediately.
Chavez made the move in solidarity with Bolivia after
his Andean ally expelled the U.S.
diplomat there, accusing him of aiding
violent protests. He said a new American
ambassador will not be welcome in
Caracas "until there's a U.S. government
that respects the people of Latin
America," suggesting that diplomatic
relations will be scaled back until
President Bush leaves the White House.
"They're trying to do here what they were doing in
Bolivia," Chavez said, accusing
Washington of trying to oust him.
"That's enough ... from you, Yankees,"
Chavez said, using an expletive. Waving
his fists in the air, he added: "I hold
the government of the United States
responsible for being behind all the
conspiracies against our nations!"
Holding up a watch to check the time,
Chavez declared: "From this moment, the
Yankee ambassador in Caracas has 72
hours to leave Venezuela!" He told his
foreign minister to recall Venezuela's
ambassador to Washington, Bernardo
Alvarez, "before they kick him out of
there." |
|
US
ESCALATES FEUD; CALLS BOLIVIA, VENEZUELA
"DESPERATE"
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The
decisions by Hugo Chavez and his
Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales,
to expel the US ambassadors were
desperate moves to counter growing
internal opposition to their leadership,
the US State Department said Friday in a
sharp escalation of the diplomatic feud.
'This reflects the weakness and
desperation of these leaders as they
face internal challenges and an
inability to communicate effectively
internationally in order to build
international support,' State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack said.
McCormack said the United States has responded by ordering
the Venezuelan and Bolivian ambassadors
in Washington to leave, and rejected the
accusations against the US envoys. 'The
charges leveled against our fine
ambassadors by the leaders of Bolivia
and Venezuela are false and the leaders
of those countries know it,' McCormack
said.
Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department on Friday froze
any assets in the United States
belonging to two high-ranking Venezuelan
intelligence officials and a third
former official on suspicion of arming
FARC rebels in neighbouring Colombia.
'Today's designation exposes two senior
Venezuelan government officials and one
former official who armed, abetted, and
funded the FARC, even as it terrorized
and kidnapped innocents,' said Adam J
Szubin, director of the Office of
Foreign Assets Control. The latest
diplomatic turmoil began when Morales on
Wednesday expelled ambassador Philip
Goldberg. Chavez followed by requesting
that the US ambassador in Caracas,
Patrick Duddy, leave in what he called a
show of solidarity with this leftist
ally in the poor Andean nation.
|
|
THE UNITED STATES IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON
THREE VENEZUELAN OFFICIALS INVOLVED WITH
THE FARC
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The
United States imposed sanctions
on three Venezuelan officials, Hugo
Armando Carvajal Barrios, Henry Rangel
Silva and former Interior Minister Ramon
Rodriguez Chacin, escalating a
diplomatic crisis between leftist Latin
American leaders and Washington that
raises the specter of an oil supply
cutoff. The sanctions and Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez's threat to stop
crude sales to the United States plunged
ties between the superpower and one of
its top energy suppliers to the lowest
point in years. Chavez, who calls Cuba's
Fidel Castro a mentor and sees Russia as
a counterbalance to U.S. power, had
warned on Thursday that world crude
prices would immediately double to above
$200 a barrel if he cuts oil to the
United States.
The clash was part of a long-brewing conflict between
the United States and Latin America's
bloc of left-wing leaders antagonistic
to traditional U.S. dominance in the
region. Tensions were already high after
Chavez allowed two Russian long-range
bombers to land in Venezuela and took
Moscow's side in disputes over Georgia
and U.S. plans for a missile shield in
eastern Europe.
This week's crisis began when Bolivia expelled its U.S.
ambassador, accusing him of fueling
protests against leftist President Evo
Morales, a close ally of Chavez. In an
expletive-laden tirade against
"Yankees," Chavez ejected the U.S.
ambassador to Venezuela on Thursday and
Honduras weighed in on Friday, blocking
a U.S. envoy from immediately taking up
his post as ambassador.
|
|
CUBA REJECTS A SECOND U.S. OFFER TO SEND
HUMANITARIAN AID
HAVANA,
CUBA--AGAIN,
Cuba has turned down U.S. storm relief
ASSISTANCE, but is asking for trade
restrictions to be lifted so it can buy
American materials to assist in its
recovery from Hurricane Ike, officials
said Thursday. "Cuba hasn't asked the
United States government to give it
anything," the Foreign Ministry said in
the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
"Simply that it lets us buy." The
Foreign Ministry said it has twice
turned down a U.S. government offer to
send a disaster assessment team,
insisting that Cuban experts are capable
of assessing Ike's damage to the island.
Cuba says it wants some U.S. trade restrictions lifted
instead, so it can buy American roofing
and other construction materials to
repair homes and the island's electrical
grid. It also wants to buy food on
credit - U.S. law already permits Cuba
to buy U.S. food, but only with cash.
Hurricanes Ike and Gustav damaged
320,000 Cuban homes, civil defense
officials reported Thursday. The Cuban
government has not released an overall
damage estimate, but the tally could
surpass $2 billion. The government
estimates the average cost of
constructing a new home in Cuba to be
US$8,000. The storms also damaged
agriculture and electrical grids.
Offers of U.S. aid to Cuba are complicated by the
countries' half-century standoff,
including a broad U.S. trade embargo.
After Ike, the United States offered to
give Cuba US$100,000 in emergency aid
and send a disaster team from a
non-governmental organization to assess
damage. Cuba expressed no interest,
insisting that the U.S. could best help
by allowing Cuba to buy American
materials to undertake its own recovery.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
on Sunday rejected the idea of lifting
any aspect of the embargo.
|
|
HUGO
CHAVEZ ANNOUNCED THE ARREST OF VENEZUELA
ARMED FORCES OFFICERS FOR PLOTTING TO
KILL HIM
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--Hugo
Chávez has ordered an
investigation into a purported plot to
assassinate him and topple his
government. Chávez said late Wednesday
that his government eavesdropped on a
group of conspirators who considered
blowing up the presidential jet or
bombing the presidential palace. Chávez
ordered his defense minister to
investigate the alleged conspiracy
involving a vice admiral from his inner
circle and other former military
officers. Among the officers allegedly
involved in the plot are: Vice Admiral
Carlos Millan, general Eduardo Báez
Torrealva, former aviation logistical
commander, and other National Guard and
the air force.
''Evidently, there's a conspiracy,'' Chávez said on
state television, according to a
government statement. ``We've been
following this for some time.'' Chávez
ally Mario Silva, who hosts a program on
state television, played a recording
late Wednesday of a purported phone
conversation in which alleged
conspirators discussed plans to
overthrow Chávez.
In the recording aired, a voice identified as an
ex-officer said ''we're going to take''
the presidential palace. Chávez survived
a 2002 failed coup and often has accused
opponents of trying to oust him again.
The former paratroop commander said the
conspirators have been ``looking for
ground-to-air missiles . . . to try to
blow up the presidential plane . . . or
bomb the [presidential] palace with a
plane.'' Chávez called his opponents
''little Yankees'' and said they are
following orders from Washington. He has
repeatedly accused President Bush's
administration of backing coup plots.
American officials deny it. |
|
U.S. OFFICIAL SAID EVO MORALES'S
DECISION TO EXPEL U.S. ENVOY WILL
"SERIOUSLY DAMAGE" RELATIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C.--
Bolivian President Evo Morales's
decision to expel the U.S.
ambassador on accusations that he
conspired against the government will
cause ``serious damage'' to relations
between the two countries, Assistant
Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said.
``We consider it a grave mistake on the
part of President Morales,'' said
Shannon, the top diplomat for Latin
America. Morales, who declared the
ambassador ``persona non grata'' after a
natural gas pipeline to Brazil was
attacked yesterday, is signaling an
intent ``to walk away from a
relationship the U.S. has tried to
nurture,'' Shannon said.
Morales accused U.S. envoy Philip Goldberg of
supporting opposition groups and said he
was no longer welcome in Bolivia while
Goldberg was in a meeting with Bolivian
Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca. The
two were discussing Bolivia's request
that U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration personnel leave the
Chapare region, where much of Bolivia's
illegal coca crop is grown, Shannon
said. A deterioration of ties with South
America's poorest country may weaken
U.S. support for renewing trade
preferences for Bolivian imports.
A pipeline in the southern state of Tarija that carries
natural gas to Brazil was attacked and
cut. Gas shipments to Brazil will be
reduced by 10 percent, or 3 million
cubic meters a day, until repairs are
made, the government said. `The most
effective way to bring this country to
its knees is to shut the pipelines,''
said Carlos Alberto Lopez, a former
deputy minister of energy, in a phone
interview from La Paz. Venezuelan
Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro
expressed his support for Morales's
decision in a statement last night.
|
|
HUGO CHAVEZ CONFIRMED THAT TWO RUSSIAN
STRATEGIC BOMBERS LANDED IN VENEZUELA
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--HUGO
CHAVEZ CONFIRMED THAT TWO RUSSIAN
STRATEGIC BOMBERS LANDED IN VENEZUELA on
Wednesday as part of military maneuvers.
In Moscow, while announcing the
unprecendented deployment to the
territory of a new ally at a time of
increasingly tense relations with the
U.S. Russia's Defense Ministry said the
two Tu-160 bombers flew to Venezuela on
a training mission.He said in a
statement carried by the Russian news
wires that the planes will conduct
training flights over neutral waters
over the next few days before heading
back to Russia. Russian military said
that NATO fighters flew alongside the
two bombers during the flight.
Also Wednesday, NATO said it ended a
routine exercise by four naval ships in
the Black Sea. Russia had denounced the
exercise as part of a Western military
buildup sparked by the Georgia conflict.
The alliance said the four ships - U.S.
frigate USS Taylor and three similar
vessels from Spain, Germany and Poland -
were moving back to the Mediterranean
Sea after the 18-day mission.
In Moscow, Defense Ministry spokesman
Alexander Drobyshevsky refused to say
how long the Venezuela deployment will
last or say whether the planes carried
any weapons. The military said NATO
fighters escorted the two Russian
bombers on their way to Venezuela. The
apparently retaliatory move follows the
U.S. deployment of warships to deliver
aid to the former Soviet nation of
Georgia, barely a month after Russian
armor and aircraft crushed the Georgian
military in a five-day war. The
deployment of planes will be certain to
anger Washington. Relations between the
U.S. and Russia have been badly strained
by the short war last month between
Russia and U.S.-allied Georgia. |
|
u.s. to
provide $1 billion for georgia
reconstruction
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--The United
States will provide $1 billion in
recovery aid to Georgia, President Bush
announced today. Russia invaded the
Caucasus republic in August and still
has troops in the country in violation
of a cease-fire agreement reached Aug.
13. Through Operation Assured Delivery,
the U.S. military has delivered more
than 2 million pounds of humanitarian
supplies to the former Soviet republic.
Bush said the new funds will help meet
Georgia’s humanitarian needs and support
its economic recovery. “More than half
of these funds will be made available in
the near term and will support
reconstruction efforts in Georgia,
assist the government of Georgia in
leading the nation’s recovery and meet
ongoing humanitarian needs, including
the resettlement of displaced families,”
Bush said in a written statement
released by the White House. The rest of
the money, along with funds from the
European Union, will help Georgia
rebuild critical infrastructure and help
local communities and businesses get
back on their feet.
“My administration looks forward to
working with Congress on elements of
this package,” Bush said. The Navy’s USS
McFaul and Coast Guard Cutter Dallas
delivered 231,000 pounds of humanitarian
supplies including baby food, bottled
water and personal hygiene kits to the
Georgian port of Batumi. The Navy’s USS
Mount Whitney will deliver more
humanitarian supplies when it docks in
Georgia in the next few days. Since the
conflict began, the United States has
sent nearly $30 million in humanitarian
assistance to Georgia, Bush said. |
|
RUSSIA PROPOSES UN ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST
GEORGIA
UNITED
NATIONS, NEW YORK --Russia introduced to the UN Security
Council on Tuesday a draft resolution
that calls for an arms embargo against
Georgia. "Georgia has been arming very
aggressively in the past few years,"
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
told reporters.
"The military budget of the country has
grown over the past six years by 50
times ... and we believe that it was put
to very bad use as they attacked South
Ossetia," Churkin said. "It should be in
the interest of the members of the
Security Council to introduce such an
arms embargo against Georgia," he noted.
The Russian proposal came after its
conflict with Georgia on Aug. 8.
Following a five-day war with Georgia
during which Russia sent in troops to
South Ossetia to reclaim control over
the region run by Russian peacekeeping
force, Russia recognized South Ossetia
and another Georgian breakaway region of
Abkhazia as independent states on Aug.
26.
Russia also said it will formally
establish diplomatic ties with the two
breakaway regions of Georgia on Tuesday.
The Russia recognition has not been
echoed broadly in the international
community but triggered strong
objections from the West that is backing
Georgia. |
|
RUSSIANS TURN BACK HUMANITARIAN AID
CONVOYS INSIDE GEORGIA TERRITORY
KARALETI,
GEORGIA--Russian
soldiers
prevented international aid convoys from
visiting Georgian villages on Monday in
a blunt demonstration of power in a
tense zone around the breakaway province
of South Ossetia. The ambassadors of
Sweden, Latvia and Estonia said they
also had been barred from visiting
villages beyond Russian checkpoints.
Monday's show of authority came as
French President Nicolas Sarkozy tried
in Moscow to persuade Russia to honor
its pledge to pull its troops back to
the positions they held before the
fighting broke out Aug. 7.
A convoy of four vehicles from U.N.
aid agencies waited for about an hour at
the checkpoint in Karaleti, but was
turned away after a brief discussion
with a Russian general who arrived to
negotiate. The three aid agency SUVs and
a World Food Program truck loaded with
wheat flour, pasta, sugar and other
staples were headed to Georgian villages
around South Ossetia.
"We tried to do a preliminary
humanitarian assessment mission. It
didn't work out today as we would have
hoped, and we will make every effort to
continue to conduct such missions in the
future," David Carden, who was leading
the interagency mission by the World
Food Program, UNICEF and the U.N.
refugee agency, told The Associated
Press. The Russian general left
immediately after the exchange, and a
serviceman at the checkpoint said he was
not authorized to comment on the reason
for the refusal. Russian servicemen said
the general was Maj. Gen. Marat
Kulakhmetov, head of the Russian
peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia. |
|
OPEC
OIL MINISTERS TO MEET TUESDAY TO DECIDE
WHETHER TO REDUCE PRODUCTION
VIENNA, AUSTRIA--Iran's
oil minister, Gholam
Hossein Nozari, said Monday that
there is too much crude on the market,
adding that OPEC is reviewing whether
supply exceeds demand before deciding
whether to cut back production.
Investors are waiting to see if OPEC
decides to restrict oil output at its
meeting this week. Oil prices have
fallen nearly 30 percent from their
highs of almost $150 a barrel, prompting
general concern among OPEC's 13 members,
but Iran, the group's No. 2 producer,
has been the most vocal proponent of
tightening the oil spigots.
Nozari spoke on the eve of a meeting of OPEC oil
ministers who will decide whether to
reduce production or keep it steady. "We
believe the market is oversupplied," the
Iranian oil minister told reporters,
adding the ministers planned to make a
decision on what to do about production
after their review Tuesday. No one is
predicting much of a cutback -- if any
at all. Still, such a move would not
even have been thought of with oil
prices setting record after record back
in July. Since crude surged to a record
$147.27 a barrel on July 11, it has
tumbled by over $40, or more than 27
percent. Back then, OPEC's main concern
was pushing back against arguments from
the U.S. and other key consumers that an
output increase was needed to end
rocketing prices.
Oil ministers insisted there was adequate supply to meet
demand, and blamed speculators and a
weak U.S. dollar for crude's stellar
rise. But now, the greenback has
strengthened, world demand has decreased
due to creaky economies, traders'
appetites for commodities have cooled --
and suddenly the market appears to have
turned bearish. Light, sweet crude for
October delivery fell $1.66 to settle at
$106.23 a barrel Friday on the New York
Mercantile Exchange -- its lowest close
since early April. |
|
NORTH KOREAN LEADER, KIM JONG II,
MISSING FROM 60TH ANNIVERSARY PARADE
SEOUL,
SOUTH KOREA--There
was no sign of Kim Jong Il at a
closely watched parade Tuesday marking
the 60th anniversary of North Korea's
founding, and U.S. officials said the
dictator — who has not appeared publicly
for a month — may have suffered a
stroke. North Korea's state media was
silent about his absence.
In Washington, a U.S. intelligence official said there is
reason to believe Kim was gravely ill
after he failed to show up at the
celebration, citing the possibility Kim
has suffered a stroke. That official and
another U.S. source spoke on condition
of anonymity to describe sensitive
intelligence gathering.
U.S. officials were closely watching Tuesday's military
parade for indications about the
leader's health. Japan's Kyodo news
agency reported that Kim did not attend
and North Korea's state news agency has
made no mention of Kim appearing in
public Tuesday. Kim's last appearance
reported by North Korean media came on
Aug. 14. South Korean media have
reported in recent days that the
66-year-old may ill and receiving
medical treatment, citing government
|
|
IKE, A
CATEGORY 2 HURRICANE, MOVES BACK OVER
WATER SOUTH OF CUBA
HAVANA,
CUBA--Hurricane
Ike tore across Cuba with 100-mph
winds Monday, sending 50-foot waves
crashing over buildings and forcing the
evacuation of 900,000 people. Ike's eye
is expected to move back over Cuba on
Tuesday, then move into the Gulf of
Mexico and grow again in intensity. The
storm weakened slightly after first
reaching Cuba late Sunday as a Category
3 hurricane. At 2 p.m. ET, the eye of
Ike was 80 miles (130 kilometers)
west-southwest of Camaguey, Cuba, moving
to the west at 14 mph (22 kph) and
expected to head over or near central
Cuba, the hurricane center said. Watch
Ike slam Cuba ť
Waves as high as 50 feet crashed ashore at Baracoa, Cuba,
southeast of where Ike made landfall
Sunday night. At least 1,000 homes were
damaged or destroyed as the sea surge
moved into the city, witnesses said. In
Varadero, a hugely popular tourist
resort on the country's northern central
coast, 9,000 tourists were evacuated
ahead of Ike's arrival.
Officials predicted the storm -- coming nine days after
Hurricane Gustav -- could have a
devastating effect on the small
country's economy. Nickel mines and
sugar plantations as well as the tourist
trade will suffer from the heavy rains
and wind. At 11 a.m., the government of
Cuba issued a hurricane warning for the
western provinces of La Habana, Ciudad
de Habana, Pinar del Rio and the Isle of
Youth. Hurricane warnings remain in
effect for the provinces of Guantanamo,
Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Las Tunas and
Granma, Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Villa
Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Cienfuegos and
Matanzas. A hurricane watch and tropical
storm warning are in effect for the
western Cuban provinces of La Habana,
Ciudad de La Habana, Pinar del Rio and
the Isle of Youth. |
|
RUSSIA
TO SEND NAVAL SHIPS, PLANES TO VENEZUELA
FOR JOINT EXERCISE
MOSCOW,
RUSSIA-- --
Russia said Monday it will send a
naval squadron and anti-submarine patrol
planes to Venezuela this year for a
joint military exercise in the
Caribbean, a deployment that comes amid
increasingly tense relations with the
United States. Russia's Foreign Ministry
spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said the
exercise was planned before Russia's war
last month with Georgia "and it's
unrelated to the current political
situation and the developments in the
Caucasus." "If this exercise takes
place, it won't be directed against
interests of any third party,"
Nesterenko said at a briefing.
The announcement was made just a week after Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin warned that Russia would
mount an unspecified response to recent
U.S. aid shipments to Georgia.
Nesterenko said the Peter the Great
missile cruiser and three other Russian
navy ships would visit Venezuela before
the year's end, and would be joined by a
unit of long-range anti-submarine patrol
aircraft. He did not say how many planes
would be sent, but said they would be
"temporarily based at one of Venezuela's
air bases."
Hugo Chavez had announced the maneuvers in his Sunday
television and radio program, saying the
Russian vessels would call on Venezuelan
ports in late November or December.
Chavez, who has cultivated close ties
with Moscow and placed big orders for
Russian jets, helicopters and other
weapons, has repeatedly warned that the
U.S. Navy poses a threat to Venezuela.
Diplomatic relations between Caracas and
Washington have been tense for years.
U.S. officials have warned that Chavez
poses a threat to democracy, while
Chavez has emerged as Latin America's
most outspoken critic of U.S. foreign
policy. The socialist leader ridiculed
any U.S. concerns over the joint
exercise with the Russian forces,
saying, "Go ahead and squeal, Yankees." |
|
RODRIGUEZ CHACIN, A CLOSE FRIEND AND
CONFIDANT OF HUGO CHAVEZ, LEAVES THE
MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR AND JUSTICE
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, the Minister of
Interior and Justice, a close friend and
confidant of Hugo Chavez, announced on
Monday that he has resigned on "strictly
personal" grounds. The new interim
Minister of Interior and Justice will be
the now Deputy Minister for Public
Safety, Tarek El Aissami.
"For strictly personal grounds, I have decided to leave
my job. President Hugo Chávez, our
Commander-in-Chief has decided that the
new interim Minister will be my
colleague and comrade, Tarek El Aissami".
He explained that, in the coming hours, his resignation
will be published in the Official
Gazette and, until then, he will be in
charge of the office. His post will be
assumed by El Aissami until President
Chávez ratifies him in the post or
decide to appoint someone else. In a
press conference, Rodríguez Chacín
reiterated his commitment to the
"Revolution." At the same time, he
considered himself as a "loyal and
disciplined servant." |
|
CUBA
EVACUATES HALF-MILLION PEOPLE AHEAD OF
IKE'S ARRIVAL
HAVANA,
CUBA--Hurricane
Ike took aim at Cuba today after
leaving 20 people dead in Haiti, where
the death toll from a succession of
powerful storms in the past few weeks
now tops 600. Ike was downgraded today
from a Category Four hurricane to a
still potentially devastating Category
Three, as Cuba evacuated hundreds of
thousands in a frantic bid to evade the
storm's fury.
Officials in Haiti, meanwhile, continued
aid operations in the flood-stricken
town of Gonaives, which has borne the
brunt of recent flooding and seen untold
misery and destruction. With winds
decreasing slightly to 195kmh, the storm
is forecast to roar ashore in eastern
Cuba tonight as a Category Three “major
hurricane'' on the five-level Saffir-Simpson
scale.
More than 600,000 people in Cuba began evacuations
today ahead of the Ike's arrival,
including 9210 foreign tourists who were
moved out of Varadero, a tourism mecca
about 120km east of Havana. Cuban Vice
President Jose Ramon Machado, meeting
with authorities in Holguin, urged
people to ``carry out the evacuation in
an orderly and speedy fashion'' and to
take steps to ``avoid the loss of
life''. Ike is expected to eventually
careen past Florida into the Gulf of
Mexico and sweep toward Louisiana and
the storm-battered city of New Orleans
as early as Tuesday. |
|
STORMS
GUSTAV AND IKE LEFT ALMOST 500 DEAD IN
HAITI
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI-- --
United Nations peacekeeping troops
began handing out food and water to
famished Haitians on Friday after the
first shipload of aid sailed into a
crumbling port on the outskirts of this
flooded city, where tens of thousands
are stranded in the wake of Tropical
Storm Hanna.
Receding floodwaters revealed more
bodies, bringing fears that the death
toll of 163 will rise even higher. A
news report that hundreds of bodies have
been found in Gonaďves was incorrect,
according to peacekeepers, regional
officials and Marie-Alta Jean Baptiste,
director of Haiti’s civil protection
department. On Friday the focus was not
on counting bodies, but on caring for
survivors. The rusty container ship
Trois Rivieres, chartered by the United
Nations World Food Program, arrived.
Guarded by Argentine peacekeepers, the
ship docked at a remote private port
away from the city because the main port
was too small.
Within hours aid workers began distributing the high-energy
biscuits and water to emergency shelters
where 40,000 people were marooned and
increasingly desperate. About 1,000
hungry and thirsty men and women, some
cradling youngsters, pushed and shoved
as Haitian civil protection authorities
in orange T-shirts tried to get them in
line. Peacekeeping troops stood by, with
weapons at the ready. More than 10,000
people have left Gonaďves on foot,
swimming and wading and heading for the
next town about 45 miles to the south,
said Daniel Rouzier, Haiti chairman of
Food for the Poor. |
|
DICK
CHENEY CRITICIZES RUSSIA, CALLS ITS
ACTIONS AN "AFFRONT TO CIVILIZED
STANDARDS"
CERNOBBIO, ITALY--Vice
President Dick Cheney said
Saturday that Russia's actions in the
conflict with Georgia are an "affront to
civilized standards" and "completely
unacceptable." Using some of the
strongest language to date by the U.S.
administration, Cheney challenged Russia
to engage in the world as a
"responsible, modern power." He said
NATO enlargement would continue as the
allies see fit, despite Russia's
opposition to the possible inclusion of
its former satellite states.
Cheney was speaking at a conference of
global business and political leaders in
northern Italy. As he walked into the
room accompanied by his wife, Cheney was
welcomed by a round of applause by the
conference guests. He said Russia's
action in its military invasion in
Georgia were "flatly contrary to some of
our most deeply held beliefs."
"Russia's actions are an affront to civilized standards
and are completely unacceptable," the
vice president told the conference.
"Russia has offered no satisfactory
justification for the invasion, nor
could it do so." Cheney was at the
conference on Lake Como as part of a
European tour. He visited oil-rich
Azerbaijan and then Georgia, where
Russia has recognized the independence
of two breakaway Georgian regions: South
Ossetia and Abkhazia. Washington also
offered Georgia a US$1 billion aid
package to help it recover from the
short but damaging war with Russia over
the separatist regions. |
|
DICK
CHENEY SAYS U.S. HAS ABIDING INTEREST IN
GEORGIA'S REGIONAL STABILITY
BAKU,
AZERBAIJANG--In
remarks made after meeting the president
of Azerbaijan, DICK Cheney said
the U.S. had an abiding interest in the
region's stability. During the trip,
which also takes in Ukraine and Georgia,
high on the agenda will be the conflict
between Georgia and Russia, and Moscow's
subsequent recognition of two breakaway
Georgian provinces as independent.
Cheney
said Wednesday, "One of the basic
foundations of security and peace is
respect for national borders, a
principle that is endangered today.
"Although we decided on this visit
months ago, we met this evening in the
shadow of the recent Russian invasion of
Georgia, an act that has been clearly
condemned by the international
community. "President Bush has sent me
here with a clear and simple message to
the people of Azerbaijan and the entire
region: The United States has deep and
abiding interests in your well-being and
security."
Cheney's trip began as U.S. government sources
confirmed the Bush administration plans
for a $1 billion aid package for
Georgia. Azerbaijan,which borders
Georgia and Iran and sits along the
Caspian Sea, is an oil- and gas-rich
nation and a key U.S. ally in the
region. Watch: Cheney meets with
President Ilham Aliev. Cheney held
meetings Wednesday afternoon with
Azerbaijan representatives of BP and
Chevron before meeting President Ilham
Aliyev. After Azerbaijan, Cheney plans
to visit Georgia, where he is expected
to meet President Mikheil Saakashvili
and discuss the conflict with Russia.
Cheney will also assess the U.S. and
international relief operations after
the fighting. Cheney will be the
highest-level U.S. official to visit
Georgia since the crisis between Georgia
and Russia began. |
|
DICK
CHENEY SAID THAT U.S. BACKS UKRAINE BID
FOR NATO MEMBERSHIP
KIEV, UKRAINE --
The United States has backed
Ukraine's bid for NATO membership a day
after similarly supporting Georgia, in a
move which may further stoke tensions
with Russia. U.S. Vice-President Dick
Cheney met with Ukraine's pro-Western
president Victor Yushchenko in the
capital of Kiev on Friday, the third
stop of a tour that has already taken
him to two other former Soviet republics
-- Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The meeting came on the same day as the
United States' top warship arrived in
the Georgian port of Poti to deliver
humanitarian supplies, fueling Russia's
fears that its superpower rival is
making its presence felt in the Baltic
region. Russia is unhappy that its
former states are seeking to join the
26-nation NATO defense alliance, and
last month's conflict with Georgia over
two disputed territories was seen by
many as an attempt to assert its power.
Cheney repeated the statement he made a day
earlier that Russia's military actions
in Georgia last month cast "grave
doubts" on Moscow's intentions and
reliability as an international partner.
The vice-president commended
Yushchenko's trip to Georgia soon after
the conflict broke out in early August
and delivered a message to Ukraine from
President Bush. "Ukrainians have a right
to choose whether they wish to join
NATO. And NATO has a right to invite
Ukraine to join the alliance when we
believe that you are ready and that the
time is right. No outside country gets a
veto." |
|
RUSSIA
CONCERNED BY NATO WARSHIPS PASSAGE
THROUGH TURKEY STRAIT
MOSCOW,
RUSSIA--NATO
WARSHIPS which passed through Istanbul's
Bosporus Strait Thursday, entered the
Black Sea for long-planned exercises and
routine visits to ports in Romania and
Bulgaria, the alliance said. A U.S. Navy
warship entered Turkey's Dardanel Strait
on Friday taking relief supplies to
Georgia. Three warships - from Spain,
Germany and Poland - sailed into the
Black Sea on Thursday.
The move is not linked to the tensions
over Russia's invasion of Georgia, which
lies on the eastern shore of the Black
Sea, about 900 kilometers (550 miles)
from the Romanian coast, said officials
at NATO's military command in southern
Belgium. However, the move risks
increasing tensions with Russia which
has deployed ships from its Black Sea
fleet to the Georgian coast. The NATO
flotilla includes Spain’s SPS Adm. Juan
de Bourbon, Germanys FGS Luebeck and the
Polish ship ORP General K Pulaski.
The destroyer McFall entered Friday Turkey's Dardanel
Strait, Dogan News Agency reported.
NATO-member Turkey earlier authorized
the three U.S. ships to sail through the
Turkish straits into the Black Sea. The
destroyer McFall would be followed by
the coast guard cutter Dallas and the
command ship USS Mount Whitney. Pentagon
said Russia has been informed about the
passages. "The Russians have been
informed along the way about our
activities and our intentions," Pentagon
spokesman Bryan Whitman said. |
|
WASHINGTON OFFERS $100,000 IN EMERGENCY
AID TO HURRICANE-BLASTED CUBA
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--
The United States has offered
Cuba $100,000 in emergency aid for the
victims of Hurricane Gustav and is
willing to send far more if a
U.S.-approved disaster assessment team
is allowed to tour the hardest-hit
areas. All aid would be provided
through international relief
organizations, with none going directly
to the communist government, said
Gregory Adams, a spokesman for the U.S.
Interests Section in the Cuban capital.
''We're awaiting a response from the
Cuban government, whether they say yea
or nay,'' Adams said. ``It's not a shift
in U.S. policy, it's a response to a
humanitarian emergency.''
The Cuban government has not commented
on the offer from its traditional foe.
Gustav damaged 100,000 homes, so the
initial U.S. offer works out to only
about $1 per home in need of repair. But
Cuba's government is facing sky-high
expectations from those who lost
everything in the storm. Yanet Pérez,
for one, is convinced the government
will build her a new home.
Thousands who moved into temporary housing after Hurricane
Michelle in 2001 still live in the
decrepit apartments without proper water
and sewage, and many are skeptical about
quick recovery from Gustav as well.
Russian planes carried tents, floor
tiles, pipes and food to Havana on
Thursday, and several Latin American
countries have pledged to send aid. But
Fidel Castro wrote this week that
repairs could cost billions -- on an
island where the average state salary is
only about $20 per month. |
|
PRESIDENT BUSH CONSIDERING 8,000 TROOP
CUTS IN IRAQ
WASHINGTON, D.C.--
The top U.S. general in Iraq is
recommending nearly 8,000 troop cuts in
Iraq because of the improving situation
there, a source close to the process has
told CNN. President Bush is considering
Gen. David Petraeus' recommendation,
which the official said is for a
reduction of "well over 7,500
personnel," with the number including
combat and support troops.
Some units would leave Iraq over the
next five months as they complete their
missions. But the first possible
significant reduction -- an army brigade
combat team -- would leave without
replacement early next year, said the
official, and that would free a brigade
to be rotated to Afghanistan instead of
Iraq.
Petraeus
gave his recommendation to Defense
Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs
Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who have
passed it and other recommendations
along to the president.
A reduction in U.S. troops in
Iraq
would free up personnel for deployment
to Afghanistan, a move urged by many
commanders. The Taliban has stepped up
its fight in that country, posing a
challenge for the 33,000 U.S. troops
deployed there. The president is
expected to make an announcement on
troop levels next week, the same time
Gates and Mullen are to testify before
the House Armed Services Committee about
Iraq and Afghanistan. There are 146,000
U.S. troops in Iraq. |
|
DICK
CHENEY SAYS U.S. STANDS BY GEORGIA,
CONDEMS RUSSIA
TBILISI,
RUSSIA.--
DICK
Cheney, one of Moscow's harshest
critics, is the highest ranking U.S.
official to visit Georgia since Tbilisi
tried to retake the breakaway region of
South Ossetia by force in early August
and was overwhelmed by the Russian
military. "After your nation won its
freedom in the Rose Revolution, America
came to the aid of this courageous young
democracy," Cheney told reporters,
referring to the peaceful revolution in
2003 which brought Georgia's pro-western
President Mikheil Saakashvili to power.
"We are doing so again as you work to overcome an invasion of
your sovereign territory and an
illegitimate, unilateral attempt to
change your country's borders by force
that has been universally condemned by
the free world," Cheney said, standing
next to Saakashvili in Tbilisi.
"Russia's actions have cast grave doubt
on Russia's intentions and on its
reliability as an international partner
-- not just in Georgia but across this
region and, indeed, throughout the
international system."
Cheney is on a tour of U.S. allies in the region that
started in Azerbaijan and is due to
continue on to Ukraine -- like Georgia
an ex-Soviet country seeking NATO
membership -- later on Thursday, before
ending in Italy. His visit is certain to
rile the Kremlin which has accused
Washington of fuelling tensions by
emboldening Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated
lawyer with close ties to the
administration of President George W.
Bush. Both Azerbaijan and Georgia are
links in the chain of a Western-backed
energy corridor bypassing Russia which
the West fears could be in jeopardy
following the Kremlin's military thrust
into Georgia. |
|
CUBAN
DISSIDENTS ASK FOR LOOSER U.S. EMBARGO
AFTER STORM
HAVANA, CUBA--
Two prominent Cuban dissidents
have asked U.S. President George W. Bush
to temporarily loosen restrictions on
travel and sending money to the
communist-run island to help tens of
thousands left homeless by Hurricane
Gustav. Marta Beatriz Roque and
Vladimiro Roca signed a Spanish-language
letter to Bush which they delivered to
the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on
Wednesday. Officials at the mission,
which Washington maintains here instead
of an embassy, said they passed it along
to the White House.
The letter, sent by fax to foreign reporters on Thursday,
asks Bush to lift restrictions on travel
and money transfers to Cuba by Cuban
exiles in the United States "for at
least two months." "You know as well as
we do that any family member abroad
would like to have physical contact with
those who are going through a difficult
situation," they wrote. Gustav slammed
into western Cuba with 140 mph (220 kph)
winds on Saturday, ripping roofs off
homes, leveling buildings, tossing
trees, cars and power lines and
crumpling electric towers.
About 100,000 homes nationwide were damaged, thousands beyond
repair, and Fidel Castro suggested
recovery could cost billions of dollars.
"Knowing how intransigent the Cuban
government is about accepting help from
your country ... we ask that you permit
American non-governmental organizations
to help the region so as to soothe the
suffering of its inhabitants," the
dissidents wrote. Past hurricanes have
served to soften the U.S. embargo, if
indirectly. |
|
COCAINE TRAFFIC IN VENEZUELA IN 2007
DOUBLED COMPARED TO 2004
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--ACCORDING
TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
116 metric tons of cocaine has been
smuggled through Venezuela in
January-June 2008. In contrast, US
authorities estimate that 57 MT were
smuggled in 2004; 136 MT in 2005; 170 MT
in 2006 and 256 MT last year. The drug
trafficking data were gathered in the
International Narcotics Control Strategy
Report 2008, prepared by the Bureau for
International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs, from the US State
Department. The document was obtained by
El Universal and comprises some of the
figures that US Drug Czar John Walters
wanted to show to Venezuelan
authorities, who have refused to meet
with him.
According to the figures provided by the US government,
which were obtained from the
Consolidated Counterdrug Database (CCDB),
cocaine smuggling through Venezuelan
territory has increased almost fourfold
over the past five years. As for the
type of transport used to take cocaine
out the Venezuelan territory, the report
states that records show that air
transport of cocaine has increased 16
times in the past five years, while the
drug flow by maritime routes has
increased twice in the same period.
The US authorities keep comprehensive data of the
aircraft suspected of carrying drugs in
the region. According to reports,
"Colombia has regained control of its
airspace." This has led to "a transfer
to Venezuela of the transit routes
related to the flow of drugs." According
to US records, there has been a tenfold
increase in non-commercial flights
carrying cocaine from Venezuela. The
main destination of the 220 flights that
allegedly transported cocaine in 2007
was the Dominican Republic (117),
followed by Mexico (26) and Haiti (17).
From these countries, the drug is
shipped to the United Stated or Europe. |
|
MEMBERS
OF CONGRESS REQUEST THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
TO PROVIDE DIRECT ASSISTANCE TO THE
VICTIMS OF HURRICANE GUSTAV IN CUBA
<<<< U.S. law does not
need to be changed in order to help the
victims of the hurricane
>>>>
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--
Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ),
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
and Bill
Nelson (D-FL) and Congressmen Lincoln
Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Albio Sires (D-NJ),
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Mario
Diaz-Balart (R-FL) today asked
the U.S. Government to provide direct
assistance to the victims of Hurricane
Gustav in Cuba. The Members of Congress
have requested that the U.S.:
1) Make available a Disaster Assistance Response Team
(DART) to travel to Cuba to assess the
damage and determine the appropriate
aid; 2) Make available U.S. assistance
to provide on the ground aid to the
victims of Gustav through the United
States Interests Section in Havana (USINT);
3) Encourage other countries with posts
in Cuba to establish humanitarian
assistance programs to directly aid the
victims; 4) Should the Cuban regime
allow the International Red Cross to
enter Cuba to carry out its mission,
issue a license under OFAC to the
International Red Cross in order for it
to establish a humanitarian assistance
fund to provide direct assistance to
hurricane victims and establish a
process by which individuals can make
donations to provide direct aid to the
victims; and 5) Encourage
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in
the U.S. to send assistance directly to
the victims of Gustav in Cuba, and
Cuban-Americans wishing to donate to
hurricane victims on the island to do so
through reputable, licensed NGOs with a
history of direct assistance to the
Cuban people.
The international community should join the U.S.
in demanding that the Cuban regime
immediately:
1) Allow the International
Red Cross to enter the island to conduct
damage assessments and provide
humanitarian assistance; 2) Allow a US
DART team to enter the island to conduct
damage assessments and provide
assistance directly to the Cuban people;
and 3) Allow USINT officials to travel
to Pinar del Rio and other affected
areas outside of Havana with direct
humanitarian aid from the U.S. to the
Cuban people. |
|
CUBANS
RETURN TO THEIR DESTROYED HOMES AFTER
THE POWERFUL hurricane GUSTAV LEAVES
PINAR
DEL RIO, CUBA--
Cubans returned from shelters to
find flooded homes and washed-out roads
Sunday, but no deaths were reported
after a monstrous Hurricane Gustav
roared across the island and into the
oil-rich Gulf of Mexico. Gustav hit the
Isla de la Juventud south of the Cuban
mainland just short of a top-scale
Category 5 hurricane with screaming 140
mph (220 kph) winds that toppled
telephone poles and fruit trees,
shattered windows and leveled some
homes.
Authorities evacuated 250,000 residents nationwide. In
Pinar del Rio, the western
tobacco-producing region, highways were
blocked by fallen trees and downed power
lines, and all public transportation
ground to a halt. Officials measured
gusts of 212 mph (340 kph) in the
western town of Paso Real del San Diego
— a new national record for maximum wind
speed in a country often hit by major
hurricanes, said Miguel Angel Hernandez
of the Cuban Institute of Meteorology.
A Cuban television reporter on the Isla de la Juventud said
the storm had felt like "the blast wave
from a bomb." "Buildings without
windows, without doors," he said. "Few
trees remain standing." Cuban Civil
defense chief Ana Isa Delgado said there
were "many people injured" on the Isla
de la Juventud, an island of 87,000
people whose name means Isle of Youth.
Nearly all of its roads were washed out,
and some regions were heavily flooded.
In the fishing town of Batabano, 30
miles (50 kilometers) south of Havana,
evacuees with children and dogs in tow
returned to their pastel-colored, wooden
homes to find many surrounded by
knee-deep water. |
|
HUGO
CHAVEZ
BRANDS VISIT OF US DRUG CZAR AS
"USELESS"
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
on behalf of the government of President
Hugo Chávez, released a statement on
Sunday to reject "the recurring hostile
statements" by United States officials.
Venezuela also accused John P. Walters,
the Director of the US National Drug
Control Policy, of aiming "to impose as
mandatory" his visit to Venezuela.
Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported
on August 26 that the Venezuelan
government denied Walters a visa request
to visit Venezuela and sent him a letter
claiming that Chávez's government would
let him know when it was ready to
welcome him. Then, they would process
the visa application.
Chávez suspended Venezuela's cooperation agreements with the
DEA in August 2005 and accused the US
agency of "supporting drug trafficking."
However, in July 2008, during a short
meeting with US ambassador Patrick Duddy,
in the Palace of Miraflores, the seat of
the Venezuelan government, Chávez
ratified his willingness to resume
anti-drug cooperation with Washington.
US authorities were willing to
reestablish cooperation links. However,
in the Foreign Ministry statement, the
Venezuelan government reaffirmed its
accusations against the Drug Enforcement
Agency .
Last week, John Walters said to Reuters that the government
of President Chávez has not done enough
to stop Venezuela from being overrun by
drug cartels. Walters said that drug
gangs now move about 250 tons of cocaine
a year through Venezuela, almost a
five-fold increase in the last four
years, mainly for shipping to the
growing European market. "You do not see
anyone arrested, you do not see an
active effort against corruption," the
US official said. Walters added that
Washington had detailed reports about
drug trafficking routes and plans.
"Venezuela has an air force; it has a
radar; it has trained military (...) It
can stop drug smuggling on air flights.
That's what they need to do." |
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the
brazilian president removes the HEAD of
the nation's INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
BRAZILIA, BRAZIL--Brazil's
president on Monday suspended the
head of the nation's intelligence
service amid a scandal over wiretaps on
the phones of top officials, including
the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
A statement from President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva's office said Paulo
Lacerda was temporarily removed from his
post while an investigation takes place.
The scandal broke this weekend after the Brazilian news
magazine Veja reported the head of
Brazil's Supreme Court, members of
Congress and officials close to Silva -
including his chief of staff and at
least one Cabinet official - all had
their phones bugged by the intelligence
agency. The fast-developing scandal is
the latest to hit Silva's six-year-old
administration, which began with bold
promises to clean up government.
Earlier Monday, Silva met with Chief Justice Gilmar
Mendes for more than two hours to
discuss the reports of wiretapping. Veja
published transcripts of what it said
was a conversation between Mendes and
opposition Sen. Demostenes Torres.
According to the magazine, Torres was
asking Mendes for help in overturning a
lower-court decision to keep a witness
from appearing before his Senate
committee investigating pedophilia.
Opposition leaders called for a
congressional investigation, and some
even said Silva could be impeached. They
said even if the president knew nothing
about the wiretapping, the incident
indicates that the intelligence agency
does not obey his command. |
|
GUIDO ANTONINI WILSON AND FRANKLIN DURAN
TO MEET IN A MIAMI COURTHOUSE
MIAMI,
FLORIDA--A
trial involving three Venezuelans and a
Uruguayan accused in a Miami
federal court of conspiring to act as
covert agents of the Venezuelan
government in US territory is set to
begin on Tuesday.
US District Judge Joan Lenard will lead the process against
the four persons that have been accused
of participating in a plot to prevent
Venezuelan-American businessman Guido
Antonini Wilson from disclosing the
origin and destination of USD 800,000
that Antonini tried to smuggle in
Argentina in a suitcase on March 4.
Franklin Durán, a Venezuelan citizen and
former partner of Antonini, will be the
only defendant. Public prosecutor Thomas
Mulvihill has charged him of colluding
with the other three persons to force
Antonini to cover the origin of the USD
800,000.
The same charges will be brought against Venezuelan
citizens José Cánchica Gómez, Carlos
Kauffmann and Moisés Maionica, and the
Uruguayan Rodolfo Wanseele Paciello.
However, apart from Cánchica Gómez,
which is at large, Durán was the only
one who pleaded not guilty. |
|
Hurricane Gustav ruins Los Palacios, a
small town in Pinar del Río, the
residents call it now “The Ruins”
PINAR
DEL RIO, CUBA--
THE
residents of Los Palacios, a
small town of the municipality by the
same name, that was directly in the path
of Hurricane Gustav, have already
rebaptized their town: They now call it
now “The Ruins.” Los Palacios old houses
collapsed. Cars went flying. Power and
phone lines throughout the city tumbled.
Critical tobacco installations suffered
serious damages in a region known for
some of the world's most famous cigars.
''The devil came through here,'' said
Juan Carlos Rodríguez, who works for the
municipal school management office and
spent the night guarding the building.
“It swept it completely.'' Gustav made
landfall Saturday evening as a Category
4 hurricane with up to 212 mph gusts,
Cuban meteorologists said, sweeping by
in just four hours and leaving a path of
devastation. I Authorities said many
people were injured in the Isle of Youth
just south of mainland Cuba, but little
information trickled in from that
region, which lost telephone service.
Rodríguez estimates that 90 percent of the homes in Los
Palacios were affected, as well as some
50 percent of the electrical
infrastructure. Candelaria, a
municipality in eastern Pinar del Río,
also saw extensive damage, the
government said. The town of Paso Real
in Los Palacios suffered ''totally
devastated,'' Juventud Rebelde reported.
''This is very sad. It's unbearable to
watch,'' a woman said, as she burst into
tears and walked away without giving her
name. |
|
HUGO CHÁVEZ CALLS "LUDICROUS" COLLECTION
OF SIGNATURES APROPOS DECREE-LAWS
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--"Ludicrous!"
Hugo Chávez spared no adjectives
to describe the collection of signatures
on the initiative of the opposition
against the inclusion of the contents of
the failed constitutional reform in
presidential directives enacted via
enabling law.
"What I fancy is to request another enabling law, to
hammer into them additional 26 laws,"
boasted Chávez during the 319th edition
of his TV and radio show "Aló,
Presidente," aired from Santa Rosa,
western Barinas state.
"It is just plain stupid. The Organization of American
States (OAS) has nothing to do with it.
This mirrors a US-supportive,
unpatriotic way of thinking. What does
the OAS has to do with some laws issued
in a sovereign manner? Enabling laws are
to the people's benefit." |
|
CHINA TO SELL ARMS TO HUGO CHAVEZ
BEIJING,
CHINA--Venezuela
will buy training planes and fighters
from China, and at the same time it has
offered its territory to the Russian
government for its aircrafts can stop
over and its ships have a port of call,
said President Hugo Chávez, who did not
elaborate on the characteristics of the
weaponry he will negotiate in two weeks
with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Although President Chávez insisted that he has ruled
out the possibility that the Russian
government would deploy a military base
in Venezuela, as some foreign news
agencies reported after his meeting with
representatives of Russian President
Dmitri Medvedev, Chávez clarified that
if the Russian fleet "is navigating
through the Atlantic and asks us to
visit Venezuela, they will be welcome.
We have no problem. And it seems that
they want to come."
Chávez explained that if "long range Russian airplanes need
to land in any Venezuelan airport, they
will also be welcomed (...) Today,
Russia is a strategic ally of Venezuela
and the world must be aware of it." |
|
CUBA:
gustav the worst storm in 50 years;
BUT not worst than the castro brothers
HAVANA,
CUBA--Hurricane
Gustav blasted across Cuba's Isle
of Youth and toward the mainland with
150-mph (240-kph) winds and lashing
rains on Saturday as forecasters said it
could grow into a catastrophic Category
5 storm on its way to the oil fields of
the Gulf of Mexico. Some residents of
picturesque Los Palacios, in the
province of Pinar del Río, have already
rebaptized their town: They now call it
The Ruins.
In the storm Cuban authorities are
saying caused the worst damage in 50
years and registered unprecedented wind
speeds, Los Palacios, the main town of
the municipality by the same name, has
the dubious distinction of being the
first that lay directly in the path of
Hurricane Gustav. The highway to Pinar
del Río offers some inkling of the
devastation to come. Tree branches
partially block the road and the
electric towers by the side of the road
lie on the ground in a twisted mass like
a row of fallen dominoes as far as the
eye can see. The force of the wind has
decimated entire fields of banana trees.
But destruction in Los Palacios, a few miles ahead,
reaches absolute levels. Debris is
scattered everywhere on the wet streets,
in many cases blocking the roads -- tree
branches, downed power lines, tiles,
masonry from ornamental columns, pieces
of wood, doors, blue telephone booths,
and corrugated metal sheets that once
served as roofs. Oddly, a community
garden stands unharmed, its vegetable
rows lined up in perfect order. Dogs and
chicken roam the streets.
|
|
former
Argentinean generals sentenced to life
BUENOS
AIRES, ARGENTINA--
Two former generals accused of
murdering a senator during Argentina's
military dictatorship were sentenced to
life in prison Thursday. Antonio Bussi
and Luciano Menendez were found guilty
of kidnapping and murdering Sen.
Guillermo Vargas Aignasse, who was last
seen in public March 24, 1976, the day
of a military coup.
The men, both in their 80s, showed no
remorse during the trial, which took
place in the interior city of San Miguel
de Tucuman. They argued that they were
simply defending Argentina from a
guerrilla movement. "I consider myself
politically persecuted by the defeats of
yesterday in the just and necessary
war," Bussi said. He insisted that
Vargas Aignasse was kidnapped and
assassinated by the guerrllia
organization Monteros, which he had
denounced.
"It was war, the most total of all wars, the
revolutionary war," said Menendez, who
was Bussi's immediate boss. "They
weren't just trying to take a piece of
territory from us, it was the soul of
our pueblo." The court left for later
the decision about where the condemned
men will complete their sentences. For
now, Bussi will continue under house
arrest, a decision that provoked dozens
of demonstrators outside the courthouse
to pelt police clad in riot gear with
rocks. |
|
venezuelan opposition front to ask oas
to review hugo chavez's decree laws
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--Gustavo
Briceńo, a lawyer specialized in
administrative law and representative of
the Venezuela's Front of Professional
Associations, expects that a milestone
of one million signatures is enough to
call the attention of the Organization
of American States (OAS) about the
decree-laws enacted by President Hugo
Chávez.
"While this number (one million signatures) in not required
under any law, we consider that it is
meaningful enough to call the attention
of the OAS General Secretariat, so that
the body convenes the Ministers of
Foreign Affairs of the member countries
to deal with the issue of the
constitutional character of the newly
enacted laws in Venezuela," Briceńo
said.
The front's major goal is to meet with OAS Secretary
General José Miguel Insulza to show him
the new decree-laws, so that the
regional body to take the relevant steps
as established within OAS legal
framework. |
|
