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LATEST
NEWS OF APRIL 2009 |
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WHO RAISES INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC LEVEL FROM
4 TO 5
GENEVA,
SWITZERLAND--
The World Health Organization (WHO)
raised its pandemic alert to 5, its
second-highest level Wednesday,
indicating the outbreak of swine flu
that originated in Mexico is nearing
widespread human infection. "This change
to a higher phase of alert is a signal
to governments, to ministries of health
and other ministries, to the pharm
industry and the business community that
certain actions now should be taken with
increased urgency and at an accelerated
pace," Chan said.
The WHO and national governments have
confirmed 148 cases of swine flu in 11
countries. Most of those are in the
United States, where the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention has
confirmed 91 cases. The figures include
seven deaths in Mexico and one in the
United States. More than 2,700 other
patients worldwide are believed to be
suffering from the virus, known
scientifically as H1N1. The WHO's
"Phases of Pandemic Alert," which has
been in existence for five years,
characterizes phase 5 as a
human-to-human spread of the virus into
at least two countries in one WHO
region, which signals that a pandemic is
imminet.
The highest level, phase 6, is defined by
community-level outbreaks in at least
one other country in a different WHO
region, according to the agency. "The
question now is how severe will the
pandemic be, especially now at the
start," Chan said. "It is important for
us to take this very seriously and take
vigilance as the virus evolves." The
Pentagon is planning for a task force
that would help with transportation,
logistics and distributing medical
supplies in the event of a pandemic, a
spokesman said. The U.S. government is
distributing 25 percent of its stockpile
of antiviral medications Tamiflu and
Relenza to all states, Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano said
Wednesday. Health officials stress that
the medications are effective only if
taken in the early stages of the
infection. |
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FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER DOUBTS
CUBAN OPENING
BOGOTA,
COLOMBIA--Former
President Jimmy Carter INDICATED
he thinks Fidel Castro - and not brother
Raul, who succeeded Fidel as president
after he fell ill in 2006 - has the last
word on the communist island. "I think
Fidel is staying as aloof as he possibly
can," said the 84-year-old Carter, who
has long opposed the U.S. trade embargo
and last visited the island in 2002. But
Fidel also "reserves the right to come
forward on a particular occasion when he
feels his voice might be helpful in
clarifying an issue."
"And I don't think that Raul is likely
at all to depart in any substantive way
from the policies that he knows that
Fidel endorses." Fidel Castro said in a
newspaper column last week that
President Barack Obama "misinterpreted"
April 16 remarks by brother Raul in
which he said Cuba was willing to
discuss "everything, everything,
everything," with Washington, including
human rights and political prisoners. "I
don't think (Raul) was specifically
talking about abolishing Cuba's
restraints on assembling and freedom of
speech and changing the form of
government," Carter said. "He's not
talking about putting that on the
table."
Carter said he had not spoken to either Castro brother
or to Obama since what has been widely
seen as a thaw in relations. He said he
hopes Obama, who kicked off the exchange
by easing restrictions on travel and
money transfers to the island by
Cuban-Americans, will now be aggressive
in taking advantage of any opening. "I
would like to see the United States lift
all travel restrictions because that
only hurts the Cuban people," Carter
said. |
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HUGO CHAVEZ OPPONENTS WARNS OF POWER
GRAB
LOS
TEQUES, VENEZUELA--
Henrique Capriles
defeated an ally of President Hugo
Chávez last year to become governor of
Venezuela's second-most populous state,
but he says he would no longer be its
highest authority if ruling party
lawmakers get their way. Capriles said
in an interview Tuesday that a draft
bill pending in the National Assembly
would dramatically erode his authority
-- along with that of other elected
officials -- by subordinating state
governors to regional ''vice
presidents'' appointed by Chávez. The
president's party is expected to use its
overwhelming majority in the legislature
to approve the law in the coming weeks.
''The objective is that power in
Venezuela be only in the president's
hands,'' Capriles, the governor of
Miranda state, told The Associated
Press. ``I'm not going to toe the line
for a vice president. I was elected by
the people.'' Under the pending
legislation, Chávez would have the power
to group states together as
''geo-political regions,'' and later
appoint a federal official as the top
authority in the area, according to a
copy of the bill. Critics say Chávez is
leading a two-pronged offensive against
his opponents:
Since the Nov. 23 elections, the predominantly pro-Chávez
assembly has weakened Caracas'
opposition mayor, Antonio Ledezma, by
taking away city hall and eliminating
most of his responsibilities in
providing city services. Lawmakers also
brought seaports and airports under
federal control, taking away revenues
from tariffs previously collected by
state officials. ''It's another way of
weakening governors and mayors,
particularly those from the
opposition,'' Capriles said at his
offices in the state capital of Los
Teques, on the outskirts of Caracas.
Ruling party lawmaker Juan Montenegro
denied the legislation would subordinate
governors and mayors to the regional
officials appointed by Chávez, saying
``it's designed to improve coordination
between the government and the states.''
''It's not about confrontation,''
Montenegro said in a telephone
interview. |
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WHO RAISES PANDEMIC ALERT LEVEL; MORE
SWINE FLU CASES FEARED
GENEVA,
SWITZERLAND--
The World Health Organization
(WHO) on Monday raised its pandemic
alert level in response to the outbreak
of swine flu that originated in Mexico.
A man wearing a protective mask reads a
newspaper Sunday outside a hospital in
Mexico City. The move from level three
to level four on the WHO's six-level
threat scale means the world body has
determined the virus is capable of
significant human-to-human transmission
-- a major step toward a flu pandemic,
said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the agency's
assistant director-general.
A pandemic is not considered
"inevitable," Fukuda said. But U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano said the move "does indicate
that we have a serious outbreak of swine
flu on our hands." WHO confirmed 73
cases of swine flu Monday, but health
officials in Scotland, California and
Texas confirmed nine more, bringing the
worldwide total to 81. The total
includes 40 cases in the United States,
confirmed by the Centers for Disease
Control. Health officials in California
confirmed four additional cases and
three more in Texas, but those were not
immediately added to the CDC's total.
WHO confirmed 26 cases in Mexico, six in
Canada, and one in Spain.
The total was expected to rise as
more cases are confirmed, especially in
Mexico, where as many as 149 deaths are
thought to have been caused by the
virus, the country's health secretary
said. Dr. Richard Besser, acting
director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, said of the 40
U.S. cases, only one has been
hospitalized, and all have recovered.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said
Monday 28 cases have been confirmed at
St. Francis Preparatory School in
Queens. More than 100 students at the
school were out with flu-like symptoms
last week. Bloomberg and New York City
Health Commissioner Tom Frieden said all
of the students who were ill had mild
symptoms and none had been hospitalized.
The school is remaining closed through
Tuesday. |
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HUGO CHAVEZ ESTABLISHES FORMAL TIES WITH
PALESTINIANS
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Palestinian officials established
formal ties on Monday with Venezuela and
opened a diplomatic mission in the South
American country. Palestinian Foreign
Minister Riad al-Malki thanked President
Hugo Chavez's government for its support
during the recent Israeli military
offensive in the Gaza Strip, which
prompted the Venezuelan leader to break
off relations with Israel.
Venezuelan-Palestinian relations have
warmed as tensions have grown between
Chavez's government and Israel.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas
Maduro said the Palestinian cause is
"like our own," while al-Malki praised
Chavez as "the most popular leader in
the Arab world," in part for his staunch
support of Palestinians. The two
officials signed a document formally
establishing diplomatic relations, and a
Palestinian Embassy in Caracas was
inaugurated on Monday afternoon. Al-Malki
said it is one of various embassies and
representative offices throughout Latin
America in countries from Cuba to Chile.
Palestinian officials say there are 97
embassies and representative offices
worldwide.
Venezuela expelled Israeli diplomats
on Jan. 6 to protest the Gaza offensive,
and Israel later responded by kicking
out Venezuelan envoys. Chavez has
labeled Israeli leaders "genocidal."
Maduro accused Israel of persecuting
Palestinians, saying they "deserve to
live in justice, in peace, in freedom
and independence." Al-Malki said
Palestinian officials hope the new
embassy in Caracas will serve as a sort
of hub for diplomatic efforts across
South America. "We also hope to open
more Palestinian embassies all over the
continent because for us it's a great
priority... to focus on this continent
due to the political importance it has,"
the Palestinian official said. |
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HUGO CHAVEZ RECALLS HIS AMBASSADOR TO
PERU
LIMA,
PERU--The
Venezuelan government decided on
Monday night to immediately recall its
ambassador in Lima, Peru, in protest at
the political asylum granted by the
Peruvian government to Venezuelan
opposition leader Manuel Rosales. The
Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE)
issued an official statement, which
emphasizes that Venezuela requested
"through regular channels, an
international arrest warrant for
fugitive from Venezuelan justice Manuel
Rosales, accused of crimes related to
corruption and illicit enrichment. This
led to the immediate release of
Interpol's Red Notice."
According to the text, Peru
requested the Venezuelan authorities the
necessary documentation to detain Manuel
Rosales, "which was delivered on time
last Sunday April 26th." Venezuela's
Foreign Ministry considers, however,
that "the Government of Peru decided to
grant political asylum to Manuel
Rosales, in a decision that constitutes
a mockery of international law."
The document points out that the
government of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela has resolved, in protest, the
immediate return to Caracas of its
ambassador to Lima, (Armando Laguna
Laguna), the suspension of the
proceedings leading to the transfer of
the newly appointed ambassador (Arístides
Medina Rubio) to the government of Peru
and to initiate an evaluation phase of
its relationship with the Peruvian
Government. |
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U.S. PLANS INFORMAL MEETINGS WITH CUBA
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Seizing
the momentum from recent meetings with
Latin American leaders, the Obama
administration is quietly pushing
forward with efforts to reopen channels
of communication with Cuba, according to
White House and State Department
officials. The officials said informal
meetings were being planned between the
State Department and Cuban diplomats in
the United States to determine whether
the two governments could open formal
talks on a variety of issues, including
migration, drug trafficking and other
regional security matters.
And the administration is also looking
for ways to open channels for more
cultural and academic exchanges between
Cuba and the United States, the
officials said. The next steps, said a
senior administration official, would be
meant to “test the waters,” to see
whether the United States and Cuba could
develop a “serious, civil, open
relationship.” fter saying the United
States was “ready to talk about a series
of issues,” the official added, “This
thing with Cuba is going to take a lot
of time, and it may not work.”
Officials who discussed the plans did so on the
condition of anonymity because they were
not authorized to speak publicly about
the efforts. The details and scope of
the administration’s outreach to Cuba
are still being worked out, they said.
But their comments indicated a departure
from the White House’s previous position
that it would not make further moves
toward engagement until the Castro
government reciprocated President
Obama’s lifting of restrictions on
Cuban-Americans who wished to travel to
Cuba or send money to relatives on the
island. A State Department official
said the United States would not delay
its own efforts while waiting for Havana
to make such moves. “I don’t think we
want to paint a big red line in the sand
to preclude any conversations,” the
official said. “We need to begin having
conversations.” |
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US AND CUBAN DIPLOMATS TO HOLD ANOTHER
MEETING IN WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON, D.C.--
A senior U.S. diplomat was expected to
meet Monday with Cuba's top Washington
representative, but a State
Department spokesman cautioned that the
session did not signal a renewed U.S.
push to improve relations. Spokesman
Robert A. Wood said Thomas A. Shannon
Jr., the assistant secretary of state
for Western Hemisphere Affairs, was
meeting in an undisclosed location with
the head of the Cuban interests section,
Jorge Bolanos.
It was second such meeting in a month.
Wood said the two men, who also met
April 13, would discuss a range of
issues related to President Barack
Obama's decision April 14 to lift a ban
on Americans visiting relatives in Cuba
and easing restrictions on money
transfers to relatives there. The
administration has said it wants Cuba to
reciprocate with moves such as releasing
political prisoners.
"We have concerns about Cuban policies. We'll be raising
them," Wood said, referring to Monday's
meeting. "I'm sure that there will be a
discussion of the president's steps that
he announced recently. But beyond that,
I don't have much of an agenda." Wood
said he did not know which side
requested the meeting. He said the
sessions have taken place periodically
when one side or the other has issues or
interests it wants to raise. Wood cast
the exchange as a routine matter rather
than an indication that the
administration is taking new steps to
expand communication with the Cuban
government. Similar talks were held
during the George W. Bush
administration, the spokesman said. |
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PERU GRANTS ASYLUM TO VENEZUELAN
OPPOSITION LEADER MANUEL ROSALES
LIMA, PERU--Peru
said Monday it has granted asylum to a
Venezuelan opposition leader MANUEL
ROSALES who faces corruption
allegations back home but claims to be a
victim of political persecution by
President Hugo Chavez. Foreign Minister
Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde announced
the decision before Congress, telling
reporters later that Rosales was given
asylum for "humanitarian reasons."
Lawyer Javier Valle-Riestra said Rosales
received word of the decision Monday
morning: "Naturally, he is very happy."
Shortly before the announcement,
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas
Maduro urged Peru to "comply with
international law, capture the criminal
Manuel Rosales and return him to
Venezuela to face trial for extremely
grave crimes." Venezuelan prosecutors
accuse Rosales of illegal enrichment
while he was governor of western Zulia
state, saying he failed to show a legal
source of about $68,000 in income
between 2000 and 2004.
Rosales, who lost a presidential race to Chavez in 2006,
stepped down as mayor of Maracaibo,
Venezuela's second-largest city, three
weeks ago and went into hiding. Rosales'
party said he was being harassed and
feared for his safety, and he entered
Peru as a tourist April 4 and requested
political asylum last week. Rosales says
he reported the disputed income in his
income tax returns. He calls the
accusation a "political lynching"
ordered by Chavez and says a fair trial
is impossible. |
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PRESIDENT OBAMA IS EXPLORING WAYS TO
WORK TOGETHER WITH HUGO CHAVEZ
WASHINGTON, D.C.--US
President Barack Obama is pondering
the "ways to work together" with
his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez,
after they agreed to bring bilateral
relations back to normal by reinstating
their ambassadors, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday, April
22.
"Chávez is the result of eight years of
isolation," by then President George W.
Bush, Clinton said, speaking of Obama's
predecessor. This is the most direct
complaint against the responsibility
that the former Republican
administration had in the international
strengthening of the populist South
American leader due to its way of
conducting its relations with Latin
America. US would like to get Venezuela
"far away from" Iran's influence The
handshake of US President Barack Obama
and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo
Chávez at the Summit of the Americas has
prompted the US Government to work on
getting the Venezuelan president "far
from" the influence of countries such as
Iran, said on Wednesday US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton.
"We will try to see if there is any chance to get President
Chávez far away from the influence" of
countries which are not friends with the
United States, said Clinton during a
hearing at the US House Committee on
Foreign Affairs, AFP released. "It is a
serious issue (…) if any country in our
hemisphere falls into the influence of
Iran or any other which is not friend
with our interests," said Clinton when
recalling that the United States buys
Venezuela a significant amount of crude
oil. |
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HILLARY CLINTON SAID US WOULD LIKE TO
GET HUGO CHAVEZ "FAR AWAY FROM" IRAN'S
INFLUENCE
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The
handshake of US President Barack Obama
and his Venezuelan counterpart
Hugo Chávez at the Summit of the
Americas has prompted the US Government
to work on getting the Venezuelan
president "far from" the influence of
countries such as Iran, said on
Wednesday US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
"We will try to see if there is any
chance to get President Chávez far away
from the influence" of countries which
are not friends with the United States,
said Clinton during a hearing at the US
House Committee on Foreign Affairs, AFP
released.
"It is a serious issue (…) if any country in our hemisphere
falls into the influence of Iran or any
other which is not friend with our
interests," said Clinton when recalling
that the United States buys Venezuela a
significant amount of crude oil. "Let
us see if we can start changing such
relationship. It may be or may be not
possible. The handshake was not the end
of anything, but the starting point to
ascertain whether this can be attained,"
added Clinton. |
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FORUM ON CHE GUEVARA JUST PART OF U.S.
BUENOS
AIRES, ARGENTINA--The
U.S. charm offensive in Latin America
took a small but provocative step
forward on Friday when the U.S. Embassy
in Buenos Aires sponsored two readings
of a new book that explains the enduring
iconic power of Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara.
U.S. taxpayers funded the discussion at
the Buenos Aires 35th International Book
Fair of the Argentine revolutionary who
dedicated his life to armed struggle
against capitalism and imperialism. For
one day at least, photos of Guevara
shared space with the Stars and Stripes.
Dozens attended, including local grade
school students.
Mara Tekach, the embassy spokeswoman,
said that the United States was simply
promoting free expression. Che's
Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image, by
journalist Michael Casey, is one of the
first books on a rarely discussed aspect
of Guevara -- his branding and why it
has endured for more than four decades.
The embassy's decision comes at a time
when President Barack Obama is trying to
refashion how Latin Americans perceive
the United States. Easing restrictions
on visits to Cuba and his handshake with
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at last
weekend's Summit of the Americas had
enormous symbolic value in the region.
Guevara was assassinated in Bolivia in 1967, but the quick
popularity of the photo allowed an image
of a healthy and vibrant Guevara to
enter the public consciousness before
news spread about his disastrous last
two years. Casey writes that
``capitalism has made Che what he is
today: a brand, used for both commercial
and political purposes.'' At the same
time, Casey argues that hard-line
conservatives in Washington and Miami,
many of whom were critical of Obama's
moves last week, have played a key role
in the growth of the Guevara brand over
the last eight years. They have played
the willing foil that leaders like
Chávez have skillfully exploited, he
said. |
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INTERPOL ISSUES NOTICE FOR ARREST OF
VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MANUEL
ROSALES
PARIS, FRANCE--Interpol
has issued a notice seeking the arrest
of a leading opponent of Hugo Chavez who
has requested political asylum in Peru,
a Venezuelan police chief said Thursday.
Federal police chief Wilmer Flores said
Interpol sent out a "red notice" for
Manuel Rosales, the former mayor of
Venezuela's second-largest city,
Maracaibo, who faces embezzlement
charges in his homeland. A red notice
means a suspect is wanted for possible
extradition. While it does not force
countries to arrest or extradite
suspects, people with red-notice status
appear on Interpol's equivalent of a
most-wanted list.
Rosales says the charges against him are trumped up and that
he is a victim of political persecution
for his opposition to Chavez's
government. Timoteo Zambrano, one of
Rosales' closest allies, told Colombia's
RCN television network from the Peruvian
capital of Lima that police there cannot
arrest Rosales while his asylum request
is under consideration. Venezuelan
Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro
disagrees. Maduro urged Peruvian
authorites on Thursday to detain
Rosales, and he said Chavez's government
is "evaluating" Peru's response after
the opposition leader publicly ridiculed
the socialist leader from Peru.
"We hope all the countries from the region comply with the
request for the capture of criminals
like Manuel Rosales," Maduro said.
Rosales held a news conference in Peru's
capital on Wednesday, roughly three
weeks after stepping down as mayor of
Maracaibo and going into hiding. During
the news conference, Rosales said he
decided to seek asylum in Peru because
he wouldn't receive a fair trial in
Venezuela Venezuelan officials deny the
charges are politically motivated. |
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IMF FORECAST SEVERE ECONOMIC CONTRACTION
IN VENEZUELA
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
has slashed dramatically its growth
forecast for the Andean countries in
2009, particularly for exporters of
primary products. The IMF also predicted
"a serious contraction in Venezuela,"
according to its latest report, released
on Wednesday. According to the IMF's
World Economic Outlook, all the
countries of the Andean Group will grow
in 2009 less than forecasted in its
previous study, six months ago. In some
cases, such as Ecuador and Venezuela,
the economy will contract this year.
The global recession will hit greater
the countries that depend on the exports
of raw materials due to the decline of
oil prices, the report says. This is the
case of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and,
above all, Venezuela, the IMF says. The
International Monetary Fund predicts
that "there will be a more serious
contraction in Venezuela." Venezuela,
together with Ecuador, also faces higher
costs to obtain financing in the
markets, says the IMF. According to the
report, other countries such as Colombia
and Peru "with better initial positions"
enjoy relatively lower costs and have
successfully issued foreign debt in
recent months.
The 2.4 percent growth in Venezuelan GDP in 2008 will not be
repeated in 2009, when the economy is
expected to shrink some 2.2 percent and
0.5 percent in 2010, the multilateral
agency said. Six months ago, the IMF
predicted that the Venezuelan economy
would grow 3.4 percent this fiscal year,
EFE reported. The IMF predicts that
Venezuela's inflation rate will reach
double-digit figures in 2009 (36.4
percent) and 2010 (43.5 percent), versus
30.4 percent in 2008. The Venezuelan
economy, according to the IMF, will
cease to have a current account surplus
and will have a 0.4 percent deficit in
2009. The report claims that there will
be a surplus again in 2010, at about 4.1
percent. |
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NORTH KOREA SAYS IT'S REPROCESSING
NUCLEAR FUEL RODS
SEOUL,
SOUTH KOREA
--North
Korea has begun reprocessing fuel
rods, its Foreign Ministry said
Saturday, according to state-run media.
"The reprocessing of spent fuel rods
from the pilot atomic power plant began
as declared in the Foreign Ministry
statement dated April 14," a ministry
spokesman said. "This will contribute to
bolstering the nuclear deterrence for
self-defense in every way to cope with
the increasing military threats from the
hostile forces." North Korea, angered by
the United Nations Security Council's
unanimous condemnation of a rocket
launch, has threatened to walk away from
the six-party talks aimed at disarming
the country of nuclear weapons. It has
said it will restore its disabled
nuclear reactor.
The six-party talks -- involving China, Japan, North
Korea, Russia, South Korea and the
United States -- have been aimed at
persuading North Korea to scrap its
nuclear program. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, during an unannounced
visit to Baghdad, Iraq, said the United
States and its partners are working to
resume the discussions. A U.N. panel
Friday targeted three North Korean
companies to have their assets frozen in
response to Pyongyang's April 5 rocket
launch.
The companies that made the list were Korea Mining
Development Trading Corporation (KOMID),
Korea Ryonbong General Corporation and
Tanchon Commercial Bank. U.N. member
nations that have dealings with those
companies must now freeze their assets.
A presidential statement from the
Security Council on April 13 authorized
the sanctions panel to update a 2006
resolution barring North Korea from
launching ballistic missiles after
Pyongyang launched what it said was a
communications satellite after weeks of
warnings from the West not to do so. |
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DEADLY NEW FLU BREAKS OUT IN MEXICO, US.
MEXICO CITY,, MEXICO--Mexico's
government said on Friday that at
least 16 people have died of the disease
in central Mexico and that it may also
have been responsible for 45 other
deaths. The World Health Organization
said genetic tests of the virus in 12 of
the Mexican victims had the same genetic
structure as a new strain of swine flu,
designated H1N1, seen in seven people in
California and Texas. Because there is
clearly human-to-human spread of the new
virus, raising fears of a major
outbreak, Mexico's government canceled
classes for millions of children in its
sprawling capital city and surrounding
areas.
"It is a virus that mutated from pigs and then at some
point was transmitted to humans," Health
Minister Jose Angel Cordova said. It
first looked mostly like a swine virus
but closer analysis showed it is a
never-before-seen mixture of swine,
human and avian viruses, according to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. Humans can occasionally
catch swine flu from pigs but rarely
have they been known to pass it on to
other people.
Seven people were infected with the new strain in
California and Texas, but all of them
have recovered. Mexico said it had close
to 1,000 suspected cases there. The
White House was closely following the
new cases in the United States and
Mexico, and President Barack Obama has
been informed, an administration
official said. The Mexican government
cautioned people not to shake hands or
kiss when greeting or to share food,
glasses or cutlery for fear of
infection. The outbreak jolted residents
of the Mexican capital, one of the
world's biggest cities and home to some
20 million people. |
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EXPERTS SAID NORTH KOREA HAS BECOME A
FULLY FLEDGED NUCLEAR POWER
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA--The
world’s intelligence agencies and
defense experts are quietly
acknowledging that North Korea has
become a fully fledged nuclear power
with the capacity to wipe out entire
cities in Japan and South Korea, the
Times of London reported. The new
reality has emerged in off-hand remarks
and in single sentences buried in
lengthy reports. Increasing numbers of
authoritative experts — from the head of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
to the U.S. Defense Secretary — are
admitting that North Korea has
miniaturized nuclear warheads to the
extent that they can be launched on
medium-range missiles, according to
intelligence briefings.
This puts it ahead of Iran in the race for nuclear
attack capability and seriously alters
the balance of power between North
Korea’s large but poorly equipped
military and the South Korean and U.S.
forces ranged against it. “North Korea
has nuclear weapons, which is a matter
of fact,” the head of the IAEA, Mohamed
ElBaradei, said this week. “I don’t like
to accept any country as a nuclear
weapon state we have to face reality.”
North Korea carried out an underground
nuclear test in 2006 but until recently
foreign governments believed that such
nuclear devices were useless as weapons
because they were too unwieldy to be
mounted on a missile.
With 13,000 artillery pieces buried close to the border
between the two Koreas, and chemical and
biological warheads, it was always
understood that the North could inflict
significant conventional damage on
Seoul, the South Korean capital.
Military planners had calculated,
however, that it could not strike
outside the peninsula. Now North Korea’s
supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, has the
potential to kill millions in Japan as
well as the South, and to lay waste U.S.
bases and airfields in both countries.
It will force military strategists to
rethink plans for war in Korea and
significantly increase the potential
costs of any intervention in a future
Korean war. The shift from acknowledging
North Korea’s nuclear weapons
development program to recognizing it as
a fully fledged nuclear power is highly
controversial. South Korea, in
particular, resists the reclassification
because it could give the North greater
leverage in negotiations. |
|
CUBA TO LIMIT FOREIGN COMPANIES' CASH
TRANSACTIONS
HAVANA,
CUBA
--Cuba's
central bank has said it will
limit cash withdrawals and deposits in
Cuban bank accounts held by foreign
companies and joint ventures. No
immediate explanation was given for the
central bank move, which was set out in
a letter sent to customers this week by
Banco Metropolitano, one of the
state-controlled banks on the
communist-ruled island that handles
corporate accounts. Accountholders were
informed that starting on May 7, cash
transactions by foreign companies and
associations would be restricted to
withdrawals to pay salary supplements to
Cuban employees.
Special authorization from bank
officials would be required for all
other future cash deposits and
withdrawals. A local economist, who
asked not to be named because of the
sensitivity of the subject, told Reuters
the moves were a "response to liquidity
problems in the economy." These problems
stemmed from a disastrous 2008 when
damage from three hurricanes caused
Cuba's trade deficit to widen and the
global financial crisis dried up credit.
As of May 7, Banco Metropolitano
said "cash deposits and withdrawals will
not be accepted in the current accounts
of foreign entities domiciled or not in
Cuba, of joint ventures or other forms
of international economic association."
It also sent foreign companies a form
through which to request authorization
to carry out future cash withdrawals and
deposits, asking them to detail the
amount of the planned monthly
transactions and the purpose. Based on
government figures, Cuba's trade deficit
was estimated to have totaled $11.8
billion last year, up from $6.9 billion
in 2007. Foreign businessmen have
reported some payments problems and
delays on the Cuban side, reflecting the
effects of the liquidity squeeze. The
central bank directive cited by the
Banco Metropolitano circular did not
refer to individual accounts held by
foreigners. |
|
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON
ASSURED THAT THE CASTRO REGIME "IS
ENDING"
WASHINGTON, D.C.--
Retired dictator Fidel Castro
slapped down his younger brother, Cuba's
President Raúl Castro, six days after he
suggested Cuba was ready to negotiate
fundamental differences with the U.S.
The brusque rebuke sent a clear,
two-part message to the U.S.: Despite
Raúl Castro having assumed Cuba's
presidency last year, it's the elder
Castro who continues to be in charge,
especially on relations with the U.S.
And the U.S. shouldn't expect Cuba to
reciprocate any conciliatory actions
taken by Washington.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, testifying before
the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
addressed Fidel Castro's response
saying, "I think that the president's
actions did draw a response from Raúl
Castro -- which was then contradicted
today by Fidel Castro," signaling that a
debate has started within Cuba. "I mean,
this is a regime that is ending." She
said the U.S. has "responded to Raúl
Castro's comments by saying that we
would consider a discussion that would
include human rights and political
prisoners." |
|
FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO
REBUKES RAUL ON U.S.
HAVANA, CUBA--Retired
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro
slapped down his younger brother, Cuba's
new dictator Raúl Castro, six days after
he suggested Cuba was ready to negotiate
fundamental differences with the U.S.
The brusque rebuke sent a clear,
two-part message to the U.S.: Despite
Raúl Castro having assumed Cuba's
presidency last year, it's the elder
Castro who continues to be in charge,
especially on relations with the U.S.
And the U.S. shouldn't expect Cuba to
reciprocate any conciliatory actions
taken by Washington.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
testifying before the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, addressed Fidel
Castro's response saying, "I think that
the president's actions did draw a
response from Raúl Castro -- which was
then contradicted today by Fidel
Castro," signaling that a debate has
started within Cuba. "I mean, this is a
regime that is ending." She said the
U.S. has "responded to Raúl Castro's
comments by saying that we would
consider a discussion that would include
human rights and political prisoners."
The elder Castro's rebuke to President
Barack Obama and to his younger brother
came in one of his periodic trademarked
commentaries published in Cuba's
official newspaper, Granma. "Without a
doubt, the President wrongly interpreted
Raúl's statement," wrote the elder
Castro, 82, referring to Mr. Obama's
positive reaction to a speech given by
younger brother Raúl, 77, in Venezuela
before the Americas summit of
hemispheric nations. The speech -- in
which Raúl Castro said Cuba was ready to
discuss "human rights, freedom of
expression, political prisoners:
everything, everything, everything" --
set off speculation the two countries
could quickly settle their differences.
Since 1962, the U.S. has maintained a
trade embargo. This month, Mr. Obama
lifted restrictions on travel and
remittances sent by Cuban-Americans to
relatives on the island. |
|
CUBAN DICTATOR RAUL CASTRO WILLING TO
DISCUSS 'EVERYTHING' WITH U.S.
HAVANA,
CUBA
--Cuban
DICTATOR Raul Castro said a few
days ago that his government is willing
to discuss "everything" with Washington,
including human rights, political
prisoners and freedom of the press.
Castro said Havana has "sent word to the
U.S. government in private and in
public" that it is open to talking about
anything, as long as it's "on equal
terms." His comments came last Thursday
during a speech to leaders at a summit
hosted by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Castro spoke hours after President
Barack Obama said he wants Havana to
make the next move to improve U.S.-Cuba
relations.
Castro was in Venezuela, where President
Hugo Chavez and other close allies were
planning to show a united front in their
first encounter with Obama on Friday at
the Summit of the Americas. Chavez
called the U.S. position a "show of
disrespect." "If that's the way it is,
what more can we expect from the rest?
Nothing," Chavez said. "I hope we're
wrong, but they'll be the ones who will
have to show us — not with tales and
speeches."
A similar message was sent by U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton in Haiti earlier
Thursday. "We stand ready to discuss
with Cuba additional steps that could be
taken," she said. "But we do expect Cuba
to reciprocate." "We would like to see
Cuba open up its society, release
political prisoners, open up to outside
opinions and media, have the kind of
society that we all know that would
improve the opportunities for the Cuban
people and for their nation," she said. |
|
FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO SAID
THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA MISREADS HIS
BROTHER'S OFFER
HAVANA, CUBA--
President Obama misinterpreted Cuban
President Raúl Castro's offer to
start talks with the United States,
Castro's brother Fidel said Wednesday,
appearing to dismiss the U.S. leader's
call for Cuba to release political
prisoners. In an essay published in
state-run newspapers Wednesday, the
ailing revolutionary leader said the
people Washington calls political
prisoners are "in the service of a
foreign power that threatens and
blockades our homeland." Fidel Castro's
comments come after signs of a thaw in
the decades-old impasse between the
United States and the communist-ruled
island to its south.
Obama lifted all restrictions on visits
and money transfers between American
citizens and relatives in Cuba this
month, while Raúl Castro said Cuba is
prepared to talk with the United States
about "everything -- human rights,
freedom of the press, political
prisoners." Speaking at a conference of
inter-American and Caribbean leaders
Sunday, Obama said the Cuban leader's
declaration was "a sign of progress."
He added that the Cuban government
could send a much clearer, more positive
signal by releasing political prisoners
or reducing fees charged on remittances
Americans send to relatives in the
country. But Fidel Castro wrote
Wednesday, "There is no doubt that the
president misinterpreted Raúl's
statements."
"When the president of Cuba said he was ready to
discuss any topic with the U.S.
president, he meant he was not afraid of
addressing any issue," Castro wrote.
"That shows his courage and confidence
on the principles of the revolution." He
said Cuba would be willing to release
prisoners held since a 2003 crackdown on
dissidents if the United States would
release five Cubans convicted of spying
in 2001. And he criticized Obama for not
doing more to lift the U.S. embargo on
Cuba, imposed in 1962. "Should we wait
for so many years before his blockade is
lifted?" Castro asked. "He did not
invent it, but he embraced it just as
much as the previous 10 U.S. presidents
did." |
|
VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MANUEL
ROSALES CLAIMS TO BE VICTIM OF HUGO
CHAVEZ'S PERSECUTION
LIMA, PERU--Opposition
leader Manuel Rosales said on
Wednesday in an on-live message aired
from Lima, the capital city of Peru,
that he is the victim of persecution
ordered by Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez and of "an array of false
accusations." Rosales, who applied on
Tuesday for asylum in Peru upon the
grounds of political persecution, said
that his rights have been abused in
Venezuela, and the value of Constitution
and national laws has been disrespected.
Nowadays, he said, as vehemently as
ever, he will keep on fighting to "free
the country from hatred and
manipulation" imposed by the head of
government.
The mayor of Maracaibo, the capital city
of western Zulia state, denied unjust
enrichment during his incumbency as
Zulia state governor, and said that the
charges against him were "planted" with
forged documents. He accused President
Chávez of having started "Mission
Imprison Rosales," for his inability to
electorally defeat him in Zulia state.
Rosales recalled the court proceeding
against him since 2004. He said that
that year, when running for Zulia state
governor, the Attorney General Office
and the Comptroller General's Office
started to file claims against him.
However, the investigation ended with no
evidence to substantiate the charges.
However, when running for Maracaibo mayor, the Comptroller
General's Office intended to bar him
from elected public office. To that end,
they "dug out" the case file that had
been considered res judicata. "Election
came and Chávez, obsessed with taking
hold of Zulia, which is part of what he
is charging me, announced the Mission
Imprison Manuel Rosales (…) There,
witch-hunt started." The leader of
opposition Un Nuevo Tiempo challenged
Chávez to produce evidence of any of the
claims filed, "instead of forged papers
or planted things." |
|
DANIEL ORTEGA MEET WITH FIDEL CASTRO
AFTER THE SUMMIT
HAVANA, CUBA
--Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega has briefed
FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR Fidel Castro
on last weekend's Summit of the Americas
_ a gathering that the former Cuban
president earlier ridiculed in an essay.
Cuba state television offered no details
about the Tuesday meeting between the
two longtime friends and political
allies. Ortega had met with Castro
before the regional meeting, which Cuba
was not invited to attend.
President Barack Obama told the
gathering that U.S. policy toward Cuba
needs to be revised but said the embargo
against the island will not be lifted
until the communist government makes
progress on human rights issues.
In an essay published Tuesday in state media, Castro mocked
what he called the "euphoria" of some
participants at the summit and
criticized the Organization of American
States, a regional grouping that helped
organize the gathering. |
|
VENEZUELA'S OPPOSITION CALLS FOR A
DEMONSTRATION ON MAY 1, IN DEFENSE OF
SOCIAL RIGHTS
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Under the slogan "Together for the
Homeland," seven opposition leaders,
elected on November 23, 2008, committed
before the country, on their own behalf
and on behalf of their political
parties, to bring unity in defense of
democracy and against the "totalitarian
project" of Hugo Chávez. The leaders
said they want to instill unity with
"profound moral, ethical and political
meaning." They vowed to convene all
sectors to defend social rights "with
common purposes" and a "clear strategy."
"We are beginning this fight and are
aware that we are entering a new
political era," according to the
manifesto read by Caracas Metropolitan
Mayor Antonio Ledezma (Alianza Bravo
Pueblo, ABP). In the document, the
dissenters outlined eight goals to be
accomplished immediately, including a
street demonstration to be held on
Friday, May 1, to "advocate the rights
of workers and people; reject political
persecution and defend the
Constitution." "After February 15, (the
day when Venezuelans voted a referendum
to scrap term limits of elected
officials) the government has relaunched
an authoritarian offensive. Hence, this
is the most crucial moment of this
10-year battle we are fighting to defend
democracy," the statement says.
The event, held in the headquarters of the Venezuelan
Engineers Professional Association, was
attended by Ledezma; Mayor of Sucre
Municipality Carlos Ocariz, Mayor of
Chacao Municipality Emilio Graterón,
Mayor of Baruta Municipality Gerardo
Blyde, Mayor of El Hatillo Municipality
Miriam Do Nascimento and the governors
of the Zulia state, Pablo Pérez and
Miranda state, Henrique Capriles
Radonski, as well as leaders of the
parties of the alliance: UNT, AD,
Primero Justicia, Copei, MAS, Proyecto
Venezuela, ABP, Visión Emergente and
Bandera Roja, among others. Leaders of
Podemos played an important role in the
event held on Sunday. |
|
|
PERUVIAN FOREIGN MINISTER CONFIRMS
VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MANUEL
ROSALES IS IN LIMA
LIMA, PERU--Manuel
Rosales, a major opposition
leader and incumbent Mayor of Maracaibo,
Venezuela's second largest city, located
northwest Venezuela, is in Lima, capital
of Peru, seeking political asylum,
diplomatic sources told Peruvian
newspaper El Comercio.
Rosales arrived in Peru Sunday and is
seeking asylum, El Comercio reported
citing diplomatic sources. In October
on the campaign trail for regional
elections, Chavez - a vocal leader of
the left - accused Rosales of plotting
to assassinate him and threatened to
have him jailed.
The first thing Rosales did in Lima was
refraining from jeopardizing any
Venezuelans who may have helped him
escape the "persecution of Hugo Chávez's
government." Rosales has reportedly
contacted other Venezuelans who have
been granted asylum in Peru, the
newspaper said.
Rosales reportedly started to contact government officials
and Peruvian legislators, as well as of
political leaders, business associations
and trade unions. He is allegedly
contacting foreign diplomatic
representations in Lima, since the
possibility that asylum is granted by a
third country has not been ruled out.
El Comercio said that the sources
consulted in the Executive and
Legislative branches of power would not
deny or confirm that Rosales had
formally requested asylum. |
|
US WORKS ON HUGO CHAVEZ'S "POSITIVE
IDEA"
WASHINGTON, D.C. --The
United States Government is
working on the "positive idea" of Hugo
Chávez to reinstate the ambassadors of
both countries, who have been far from
their missions since last September,
said on Monday the US Department of
State Spokesman Robert Wood.
"We think that dialogue is important.
And we will see how things are doing
with respect to President Chávez's
suggestion to exchange ambassadors. We
deem it a positive idea. And we will
work from that," said Wood during a
press conference. Chávez voiced during
the Summit of the Americas held last
week his willingness to appoint a new
ambassador to the Venezuelan embassy in
Washington. The current Venezuelan
ambassador at the Organization of
American States (OAS), Roy Chaderton,
would be the new chief of mission.
Wood noted last weekend that the issue of the ambassadors'
return was discussed by Chávez and US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and
added that the US Government will work
on the commission of a US representative
on duty in Venezuela. Chávez expelled
last September the US ambassador in
solidarity with his Bolivian counterpart
Evo Morales, who took a similar measure
as he accused the US ambassador to
Bolivia of being a plotter. |
|
BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES LINKS US
EMBASSY TO ALLEGED PLOT TO OVERTHROW HIM
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA--
Bolivian police foiled an alleged
plot to assassinate President Evo
Morales, killing three men in a
30-minute gunbattle with a mysterious
group that included suspects from
Hungary, Ireland and possibly Croatia,
government officials said Thursday. Hmm
I'd love to believe the Bolivian police
here, but like. come on? Now airsoft's a
form of terrorist training.
After the shootout, police found
documents "about preparations for an
assassination, an attempt on the lives
of the president and the vice
president", Mr Garcia said. The
Department of Foreign Affairs says the
Irish embassy in Argentina is in contact
with authorities in Bolivia.
Derek Lambe, a second secretary from the Irish Embassy in
Argentina, and Ireland's honorary consul
in Bolivia Peter O'Toole will also
impress upon Bolivian justice ministry
officials the need for the full facts of
the case to be established. The
firefight with police also killed
Magyarosi Arpak, a Romanian sniper, and
Michel Martin Dwyer, an Irish expert in
martial arts and weapons, the police
commander said. |
|
EU DELEGATES WALKOUT DURING IRANIAN
PRESIDENT ADDRESS AT U.N. ANTI-RACISM
CONFERENCE
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND--
The opening of a United Nations
conference in Switzerland on anti-racism
was marred by chaotic scenes
Monday as protests and a walkout by
delegates disrupted a controversial
address by Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. Swiss President Hans-Rudolf
Merz, left, greets Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following his
arrival in Switzerland.
The presence of the Iranian leader at
the conference had already prompted
Israel to withdraw its ambassador from
Switzerland, while several countries
including the United States are also
boycotting the gathering. Dozens of
delegates walked out of the chamber as
Ahmadinejad accused Israel and the West
of making "an entire nation homeless
under the pretext of Jewish suffering
... in order to establish a totally
racist government."
He said Zionism, the Jewish national movement, "personifies
racism," and accused Zionists of
wielding economic and political
resources to silence opponents. He also
blasted the United States-led invasion
of Afghanistan. Protesters in brightly
colored wigs interrupted Ahmadinejad as
he began to speak, shouting: "You're a
racist!" in accented English. Earlier,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman called Ambassador Ilan Elgar
home to protest a meeting between the
Swiss president and Ahmadinejad,
Israel's foreign ministry said in a
statement. "The meeting of a president
of a democratic country with a notorious
Holocaust denier such as the Iranian
president, who has openly declared his
intention of wiping Israel off the map,
is not in keeping with the values
represented by Switzerland," the
ministry said. |
|
VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER MANUEL
ROSALES SEEKING ASYLUM
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--A
leading opponent of President Hugo
Chavez has decided to seek
political asylum abroad instead of
facing a corruption charge that he calls
a setup aimed at ruining him
politically, an ally said Monday.
Opposition leader Manuel Rosales, who
went into hiding three weeks ago,
decided not to appear in court Monday
because the case against him is being
used for "political persecution," said
Omar Barboza, who heads Rosales' party.
"He won't appear before a court that's
been turned into a political tool,"
Barboza told reporters. Prosecutors want
to try Rosales — who ran unsuccessfully
against Chavez in the 2006 presidential
election — for alleged illegal
enrichment between 2000 and 2004 when he
was governor of western Zulia state.
They have called for his arrest, but a court has yet to rule
on whether he should be detained while
awaiting trial. Rosales has denied the
charges, calling them a "political
lynching." He went into hiding at the
end of March, and his whereabouts are
unknown. Barboza said Rosales plans to
address the country in two days. He did
not say what sort of a message it would
be. Barboza said the opposition leader
should not become a "trophy" for Chavez
to use to try to intimidate his
opponents. He said Rosales will seek
asylum in a "friendly country." |
|
PRESIDENT OBAMA DEMANDS "CHANGE" FROM
CUBA, TOO
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD--
U.S. President Barack Obama is
interested in a new relationship with
Cuba, but demands "change" from Cuba,
too, a senior U.S. official said. "The
president reiterated his interest in a
new relationship with Cuba, but making
clear that he's made his first step in
terms of significant promotion of a new
policy in terms of the lifting of
restrictions on remittances and travel
of Cuban Americans," the unnamed
official told press after Obama's
meeting with Caribbean leaders Friday
night, according to a press release from
the White House Saturday.
"And that now what we need to see is
change coming from the other side," he
said. Obama and the Caribbean leader
also exchanged views on economic crisis,
public security and climate change,
according to the official.
The Cuba issue is not on the
official agenda of the Apr. 17-19 Fifth
Summit of the Americas which brings
together Obama and 33 other regional
leaders in this Caribbean island state,
but the president, who is making his
first visit to Latin America, was under
mounting pressure from participating
nations to improve relations with Cuba.
In Obama's speech at the summit's
opening ceremony Friday night, he vowed
to seek "a new beginning with Cuba." The
remarks are part of a series of exchange
of signs of reconciliation between the
United States and Cuba recently.
|
|
HUGO CHAVEZ OFFERS A CYNICAL GIFT TO
PRESIDENT OBAMA
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD--Hinting
that relations between the two countries
could finally be warming, Hugo Chávez
said Saturday he may welcome back the
U.S. ambassador who was kicked out of
Caracas seven months ago. But the
Venezuelan leader topped off his warm
handshake, kind words and
uncharacteristically short speech during
a group meeting with President Barack
Obama with a back-handed gift: Uruguayan
journalist Eduardo Galeano's 1971 book
Open Veins of Latin America, about the
history of U.S. meddling in the region.
Its subtitle: Five Centuries of the
Pillage of a Continent. The inching
toward rapprochement occurred on the
first full day of the Fifth Summit of
the Americas. Thirty-four of the
hemisphere's leaders are gathered here
to discuss everything from Cuba to the
global financial crisis and climate
change. Chávez met with Obama during a
meeting of South American leaders and
spoke only briefly. He had an impromptu
meeting afterward with U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, where he
suggested that he could take the first
step toward ending a monthslong
diplomatic tiff with Washington. After
he threw out the U.S. ambassador, the
United States expelled Venezuela's
ambassador in Washington.
''President Chávez has been trying
to reach out to President Obama over the
last day,'' said Deputy National
Security Advisor Denis McDonough. ``But
I know that President Obama recognizes
that a smile and a handshake are not
enough to indicate a new relationship.
There will be bigger indications on
whether Venezuela wants a new
relationship.'' McDonough was referring
to a widely circulated photograph taken
by a Venezuelan presidential
photographer, showing the two leaders
sharing a casual raised handshake. The
government quickly released the photo of
Obama's hand warmly on Chávez's
shoulder, characterizing the Friday
night moment as ``historic.'' |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ RESTORES VENEZUELA'S
AMBASSADOR IN WASHINGTON
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD--Hugo
Chavez said Saturday that he is
restoring Venezuela's ambassador in
Washington, voicing hopes for a "new
era" in relations after barely getting
to know U.S. President Barack Obama at a
regional summit. Venezuela's socialist
leader told reporters at the Summit of
the Americas that he will propose Roy
Chaderton, his current ambassador to The
Organization of American States, as its
new representative in a move toward
improving strained ties with Washington.
The announcement crowns a week in which
Obama rejected two centuries of U.S.
"heavy-handedness" toward Latin America
and raised the highest hopes ever for a
rapprochement with Cuba, with which it
severed ties 48 years ago. Venezuela
under Chavez has become a close ally of
Cuba.
Chavez expelled the U.S. ambassador to
Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, in September
in solidarity with leftist Bolivian
President Evo Morales, who ordered out
the top U.S. diplomat in his country for
allegedly helping the opposition incite
violence. Washington reciprocated by
kicking out both nations' ambassadors.
Chavez's decision on U.S. relations came
after a day of exchanges with Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton and other
diplomats at a hemispheric summit in the
twin-island Caribbean republic of
Trinidad and Tobago.
A State Department official said
Chavez approached Clinton during the
summit sessions Saturday, and the two
discussed returning ambassadors to their
respective posts in Caracas and
Washington. Clinton "welcomes this
development, and the State Department
will now work to further that shared
goal," said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the discussions. Chavez
had stormy relations with the previous
U.S. administration and once likened
President George W. Bush to the devil.
But he has warmed to the new American
president at this weekend's summit,
though Obama has been critical of him
for his alleged harboring of and
offering finance to Colombian rebels. |
|
president barack obama invites cuba to
build a new relation
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD--
Trading their warmest words in a
half-century, the United States
and Cuba built momentum toward renewed
ties on Friday, with President Barack
Obama declaring he "seeks a new
beginning" — including direct talks —
with the island's communist regime. As
leaders of the Americas gathered for a
summit in this Caribbean nation, the
head of the Organization of American
States even said he'll ask his group to
invite Cuba back after 47 years.
In remarks kicking off the weekend
gathering of nations — of which Cuba was
the only country in the region not
represented — Obama repeated the kind of
remarks toward the Castro regime that
marked his campaign for the presidency.
"The United States seeks a new beginning
with Cuba," he said at the Summit of the
Americas opening ceremony. "I know there
is a longer journey that must be
traveled to overcome decades of
mistrust, but there are critical steps
we can take toward a new day." Analysts
cautioned that the week's developments
were encouraging but do not necessarily
mean normalized relations are around the
corner.
However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs made clear
that while Castro's new openness to
change was welcome, the U.S. wasn't
abandoning its demand for Cuba to start
making concrete moves toward freedom.
"They're certainly free to release
political prisoners," he said aboard Air
Force One as Obama flew into Trinidad.
"They're certainly free to stop skimming
money off the top of remittance payments
as they come back to the Cuban island.
They're free to institute a greater
freedom of the press" And Castro didn't
retreat from his criticism of U.S.
policy, recalling Thursday that the
United States has long tried to topple
the government that he and his brother
Fidel have presided over for 50 years.
"That's the sad reality," he said.
|
|
HUGO CHAVEZ TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: "I WANT
TO BE YOUR FRIEND"
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD--The
Fifth Summit of the Americas
started on April 17 in Port of Spain,
the capital city of Trinidad and Tobago,
with 34 leaders of the hemisphere,
including US President Barack Obama, who
is meeting his Latin American
counterparts for the first time.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and
Obama shook hands a few minutes before
the inaugural session of the Fifth
Summit of the Americas, and the South
American ruler seized the opportunity to
tell his US counterpart: "I want to be
your friend."
The Venezuelan government called the handshake "historic." In
a press release published in Caracas,
the Venezuelan government said that
"both leaders gave their hands in a
historic greeting, after several years
of tensions" between Venezuela and the
George W. Bush administration. ''With
this same hand, I greeted Bush eight
years ago,'' Chávez said. "I want to be
your friend," AP quoted. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ AND HIS CRONIES OF ALBA
REJECT THE AMERICAS SUMMIT FINAL
DECLARATION
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD--The
member countries of the Bolivarian
Alternative for the Peoples of Our
Americas (ALBA) ended on Friday their
summit in the city of Cumaná, Sucre
state, east Venezuela, with a document
describing as "unacceptable" the draft
final declaration of the Fifth Summit of
the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago
because it does not provide answers to
the global financial crisis and
"unfairly excludes Cuba."
Therefore, the ALBA countries demanded a
"thorough debate" in Trinidad and
Tobago, according to ALBA declaration
read by President Hugo Chávez, who
convened and hosted the ALBA meeting.
"The member countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the
Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) believe
that there is no consensus to adopt this
draft declaration," read the document.
Reference was made to the draft
declaration of the Summit of the
Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. |
|
RAUL CASTRO SAID HE IS WILLING AND EAGER
TO TALK TO U.S.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Cuban
dictator Raúl Castro
said yesterday that his government is
willing and eager to discuss any issue
with Washington, as along as it's a
conversation between equals and
Washington respects "the Cuban people's
right to self-determination.'' ''We have
sent word to the U.S. government in
private and in public that we are
willing to discuss everything -- human
rights, freedom of the press, political
prisoners, everything,'' Castro told
leaders at a summit in Venezuela.
Earlier this week, President Obama lifted restrictions on
visits and money sent to Cuba by
Americans with families there -- steps
he called ''extraordinarily
significant'' for those families, and a
show of good faith by the U.S.
government that it wants to recast the
relationship.
But he reiterated
that the United States won't
unilaterally end its trade embargo
against Cuba, even though the policy is
widely seen as a failure that has
complicated U.S. relations throughout
Latin America and the Caribbean. Obama
said a relationship frozen for 50 years
''won't thaw overnight,'' and that Cuba
can show it wants to move forward by
lifting its own restrictions on Cubans'
ability to travel and to voice their
opinions. He spoke at a news conference
after meeting with Mexican President
Felipe Calderón, who called the U.S.
embargo a failed strategy.
Asked what the United States should do on Cuba to
improve its image across Latin America,
Calderón said ``we do not believe that
the embargo or the isolation of Cuba is
a good measure for things to change.''
But Obama says Cuba needs to reciprocate
to his overtures with actions “grounded
in respect for human rights.'' Castro,
who took over the presidency last year
from his older brother Fidel, did not
mention Obama's comments specifically --
and stopped short of promising any
action. ''We're willing to sit down to
talk as it should be done, whenever,''
said Castro, who also condemned decades
of efforts by Washington to undermine
the Cuban government. Castro called for
the release of five Cubans imprisoned in
the United States after being convicted
of espionage, and denounced U.S. funding
for opponents of his government. |
|
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA WAITS FOR CUBA
SIGNALS TO MOVE FORWARD
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD--President
Barack Obama
opened the door on Thursday to more
changes in U.S.-Cuba policy, but based
them on Cuban reciprocation that
analysts said may be difficult to get.
He said that after lifting restrictions
on Cuban American travel to the
communist-led island this week, he was
looking for "some signal that there are
going to be changes in how Cuba
operates" with regard to such things as
political prisoners and freedom of
speech. While he stopped in Mexico on
his way to the Summit of the Americas
starting on Friday in Trinidad and
Tobago, Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton told reporters in Haiti that "we
stand ready to discuss with Cuba
additional steps that could be taken."
"We would like to
see Cuba open up its society, release
political prisoners, open up to outside
opinion and media and have the kind of
society that we all know would improve
the opportunities for the Cuban people
and for their nation," she said. There
was no immediate response from Cuba,
where leaders have spoken well of Obama
and expressed openness to dialogue, but
eschewed the idea of U.S.-mandated
preconditions on what they consider
domestic issues.
Cuba has over 200 political prisoners, whom it considers
mercenaries for the United States. Cuba
dictator Raul Castro has said any U.S.
talks must be held "without even the
slightest shadow over our sovereignty."
"We are not in any hurry, we are not
desperate," he said in a January
interview on Cuban television. "We will
not talk with the stick and the carrot.
That time is over." What that means,
said Washington attorney Robert Muse, a
specialist in Cuban issues, is that
"they will never accept conditionality —
the idea that if you do this, you'll get
some ill-defined benefit down the road."
"You can put the ball in their court,
but the Cubans will never swing at it.
They just won't play," he said. |
|
|
HUGO CHAVEZ OPENED ALBA SUMMIT WITH
HARSH CRITICISM AGAINST OAS
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Hugo
Chávez
on Thursday opened Seventh Summit of the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples
of Our Americas (ALBA) by lambasting the
Summit of the Americas that will begin
Friday in Trinidad and Tobago and
claiming that Cuba is more democratic
than the United States. "I do believe
that the Summit (of the Americas) that
is taking place tomorrow (Friday) should
be the last summit under the present
format," said Chávez when opening the
presidential meeting of ALBA, in Cumaná,
east Venezuela.
Chávez wondered
what are the Americas encompassed in the
Port-of-Spain meeting, and stated that
"the summit of our peoples" is "this
one," meaning the ALBA summit. "This is
the summit of the unity of our peoples,
which is supposed to be our major
commitment," said Chávez. ALBA is an
initiative of the Venezuelan ruler to
counter the US-sponsored Free Trade Area
of the Americas (FTAA). ALBA comprises
Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua,
Dominica and Honduras.
Once again, Chávez slashed out at the final declaration of
the Summit of the Americas. He quoted a
part of the document as saying that the
declaration will be initialed by
countries where rulers are elected
freely and democratically, and wondered
"Where is there more democracy, is it in
Cuba or is it in the United States?" "I
have no doubts that in Cuba there is
more democracy than in the United
States. I have no doubts at all!" said
Chávez, who was sitting by his Cuban
counterpart Raúl Castro. Attending the
meeting in Cumaná, some 250 miles east
Caracas, are also the presidents of
Bolivia, Evo Morales; Honduras, Manuel
Zelaya; Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega; y the
Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt
Skerrit. The guest presidents attending
the summit are Paraguay's Fernando Lugo,
the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, and the
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Fander
Falconí. |
|
cuban dictator fidel castro accuses
GREAT britain prime minister gordon
brown of being racist against president
obama
HAVANA,
CUBA--The
former Cuban DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO said
Mr Brown had acted in a racist manner
during the recent G20 summit in London.
Castro, 82, made the slur in an article
in on the website of Granma, the
official newspaper of the Cuban
Communist Party, on Tuesday. He wrote:
'During the London summit, on April 4,
presided by Gordon Brown as host of the
event, according to totally credible
sources, the Prime Minister of Great
Britain behaved visibly with contempt
towards the participants from the Third
World.
'He treated Obama himself with prejudice because
of his condition as a black man.' Castro
made no further explanation of his
attack on Mr Brown. The leader of the
1959 Cuban revolution resigned from his
position as president in February 2008
and has not been seen in public since
2006.
When Castro resigned because of ill health Mr Brown´s
spokesman described it as 'an
opportunity' to make more progress
towards democracy. The Prime Minister´s
spokesman said he hoped it would lead
'to more respect for human rights and
the release of political prisoners'. His
attack on Mr Brown appeared towards the
end of a regular column he writes under
the heading "Reflections of comrade
Fidel." The article, his fourth in 24
hours, was signed Fidel Castro Ruiz. It
was also published on the website of
Radio Havana Cuba, the country's
official government-run station. In
previous pieces he described President
Obama´s decision to allow
Cuban-Americans to visit relatives on
the island and send them money as
'positive' but 'minimal'. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ, DANIEL ORTEGA WILL BLOCK
FINAL DECLARATION OF THE SUMMIT OF THE
AMERICAS
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO--The
final declaration of the presidents and
heads of state attending the Summit of
the Americas in Trinidad this
week is still unfinished, thus
threatening to lock again the summit.
Ever since it was held for the first
time 15 years ago in Miami, the final
declaration has been the major stumbling
block for the meeting.
Venezuela and Nicaragua, among other countries, have
questioned Articles 53 and 57 of the
66-article draft declaration the 34
presidents and heads of state are
expected to sign next April 19 in
Trinidad at the end of the Fifth Summit
of the Americas. Such articles refer to
human rights and democracy, as well as
the need to "advocate, foster and
protect" the independence and mechanisms
of the Inter American system that are
necessary to preserve human rights and
democracy.
The governments of Caracas and Managua wanted the final
declaration to mention human rights and
democracy, but they disagreed with the
proposal made by the host country in
connection with the role of the
Organization of American States (OAS).
Further, they have failed to harmonize a
final text after months of meetings,
sources close to the negotiations said.
Hugo Chávez has been a fierce critic
of the declarations of these summits
ever since he attended the Quebec Summit
in 2001. |
|
FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO
BLASTS THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN
STATES
HAVANA, CUBA--Former
Cuban DICTATOR Fidel Castro said
on Tuesday Cuba had no desire to rejoin
the Organisation of American States, as
called for by some of his allies, and
did not even want to "hear the vile name
of that institution." Castro, in his
third column published on Tuesday, said
the OAS "has a history that collects all
the trash of 60 years of betrayal of the
people of
Latin America."
He said the organisation had been
involved in "aggressive actions" that
resulted in the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of people. Cuba was suspended
from the 35-member OAS in 1962 because
the communist system created by Castro
after he took power in a 1959 revolution
was judged to be "incompatible" with the
organization's principles. Castro has
criticized the group for years, calling
it the "Ministry of Colonies" of the
United States. Before the OAS' Summit of
the Americas set to begin on Friday in
Trinidad and Tobago, several
Latin American
countries have said Cuba should be
reinstated in the organisation, which
promotes regional cooperation and
democracy. Brazilian Foreign Minister
Celso Amorim told reporters in Rio de
Janeiro on Monday that Cuba's absence
from the OAS "is an anomaly that needs
to be corrected."
OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza told
Brazilian newspaper O Globo that Cuba
must show its commitment to democracy to
be readmitted. "We need to know if Cuba
is interested in returning to
multilateral organizations or if it is
thinking only about the end of the
embargo and
economic
growth," he told the newspaper,
referring to the U.S. trade embargo
imposed on Cuba since 1962. "It even
offends us to suppose that we are
desiring of entering the OAS. That train
passed a while back, and Insulza still
doesn't know it," Castro said. |
|
|
HUGO CHAVEZ EXPECTS EXTRADITION OF LUIS
POSADA CARRILES TO VENEZUELA
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--The
US Attorney General expanded the
charges last week against Posada
Carriles for alleged perjury and
obstruction to legal procedures after
lying about his alleged involvement in
bombings in Cuba in 1997. José
Pertierra, a Cuban-American attorney
representing Venezuela in the
extradition request for Luis Posada
Carriles, a former member of the CIA who
is living in the United States, said on
Wednesday that he is "hopeful" that the
government of Barack Obama extradites
Posada Carriles or prosecutes him for
terrorism.
Pertierra said in statements to the TV
program Mesa Redonda (Roundtable) of the
Cuban television that the case has taken
"a dramatic turn," after the US Attorney
General expanded the charges last week
against Posada Carriles for alleged
perjury and obstruction to legal
procedures after lying about his alleged
involvement in bombings in Cuba in 1997,
Efe reported.
With these charges, the US government linked for the first
time the anti-Castro Cuban exile to the
bombings of tourist attractions in
Havana, where the Italian tourist Favio
Di Celmo was killed. "This is a
first step of the government of the
United States to take seriously the case
of Posada Carriles," said Pertierra, who
is part of Venezuela's legal team.
Venezuela has asked since 2005 the
extradition of the Cuban defendant to
prosecute him for terrorism. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ APPOINTS A WOMAN, JACQUELINE
FARIAS, AS HEAD OF THE NEWLY CREATED
CAPITAL DISTRICT
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Jacqueline
Faría, vice president of the
ruling United Socialist Party of
Venezuela (PSUV) for the states of Zulia
and Falcón, look surprised when
President Hugo Chávez appointed her as
the new head of government in
Venezuela's capital during a joint press
conference of the Presidents of
Venezuela and Colombia, Hugo Chávez and
Álvaro Uribe. This new position was
created under the Law on the Capital
District, enacted on Tuesday in the
Official Gazette.
The newly appointed top official would
not comment about her plans as the new
top authority of the Capital District,
although Chávez praised her saying that
she will promote the "Socialist Caracas"
project. "We are building factories,
houses, that's what we are doing,
although there are some people who say
otherwise," Chávez said. Faría was
the director of Caracas water utility
Hidrocapital, where she boosted a
project of technical table rounds for
water, sewerage and drainage services in
the program of Urban Improvement in
Caracas low-income areas.
She was a member of the Liaison Committee between US Verizon
and the Venezuelan government during the
nationalization of telecoms firm Cantv.
Following the nationalization, she was
appointed as the CEO of Cantv's cell
phone company Movilnet. |
|
UNITED NATIONS CONDEMNS NORTH KOREAN
ROCKET LAUNCH
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK--The U.N. Security Council
on Monday
adopted a declaration condemning North
Korea for launching a rocket earlier
this month. A satellite company says
this image was taken shortly after North
Korea launched the rocket. The 15-member
council voted unanimously for a
statement by the president of the
Security Council which also demands that
North Korea make no more launches.
The Security Council has been discussing
the matter since North Korea's April 5
launch of what it said was a
communications satellite. The United
States has said that the satellite did
not reach orbit. U.S. Ambassador Susan
Rice said the United States is pleased
with the language in the statement,
which was a compromise reached when the
five permanent members of the Security
Council and Japan could not come to
agreement on a resolution with new
sanctions. "The United States is happy
with the statement," Rice said, adding
that the nation "views presidential
statements as binding."
The statement says the rocket launch was
"in contravention" to a 2006 Security
Council resolution that demanded that
North Korea not launch any ballistic
missiles. It also calls for North Korea
and other nations to "comply fully" with
their obligations under that resolution,
including certain sanctions. The
resolution allows for an "adjustment" of
sanctions, and Monday's statement sets
up a committee to make recommendations
on such an adjustment by April 24. |
|
NUCLEAR WATCHDOG ASKED TO LEAVE NORTH
KOREA
SEOUL,
SOUTH KOREA--"The Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) has today informed IAEA
inspectors in the Yongbyon facility that
it is immediately ceasing all
cooperation with the IAEA. It has
requested the removal of all containment
and surveillance equipment, following
which, IAEA inspectors will no longer be
provided access to the facility," said a
statement on the nuclear agency's Web
site.
It added: "The inspectors have also been
asked to leave the DPRK at the earliest
possible time. The DPRK also informed
the IAEA that it has decided to
reactivate all facilities and go ahead
with the reprocessing of spent fuel."
North Korea's foreign ministry said
earlier the country will quit talks
aimed at disarming the country of
nuclear weapons and strengthen nuclear
capabilities, state-run media reported
Tuesday. The statement, issued via North
Korean state-run media KCNA, listed
reasons that the country will pull out
of the so-called six-party talks.
"Now that the six-party talks have
turned into a platform for infringing
upon the sovereignty of the DPRK and
seeking to force the DPRK to disarm
itself and bring down the system in it,
the DPRK will never participate in the
talks any longer, nor will it be bound
to any agreement of the six-party
talks," KCNA said. The statement also
defended North Korea's recent launch of
a rocket and blasted a U.N. Security
Council declaration that condemned the
launch. White House spokesman Robert
Gibbs called North Korea's "announced
threat to withdraw from the six-party
talks and restart its nuclear program
... a serious step in the wrong
direction." |
|
JUDGE RULES FLORIDA LAW ON CUBA TRAVEL
IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
MIAMI,
FLORIDA--A federal judge Tuesday morning
overturned a 2008 state law that
increased registration fees and
requirements for travel agencies
specializing in trips to Cuba. U.S.
District Court Judge Alan S. Gold's
decision comes just a day after the Obama administration announced lifting
several travel restrictions to Cuba --
allowing Cuban exiles to visit the
Island more than once a year, pushing
for use of cellphones on the island and
easing requirements for remittences to
relatives.
In question was the 2008 Sellers of
Travel Act approved by the state
Legislature and signed into law by Gov.
Charlie Crist. The act required travel
agencies in Florida selling trips to
Cuba to post up to a $250,000 bond and
pay up to $25,000 in registration fees.
Local travel agencies decried the
measure as unfair because their
financial requirements were nearly 10
times the amount of agencies not selling
trips to Cuba or any of the countries
listed as terrorist nations by the U.S.
State Department.
Tuesday's decision was celebrated by the
13 local travel agencies that tried to
stop the measure from going into effect
by filing a federal law suit against the
state in July. ''We felt all along that
justice would prevail and that the judge
would see how irrational and unjust this
law was,'' said Armando Garcia, owner of
Marazul Charters Travel. Despite Gold's
decision, Rep. David Rivera, a Miami
Republican who sponsored the law, said
any decision could potentially be
appealed. ''I don't see this ending
here,'' Rivera said after a Friday
afternoon court hearing on the issue. |
|
|
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA LIFTED CUBA
TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
WASHINGTON, D.C.--President
BARACK Obama announced today that
he is lifting travel restrictions that
block Cuban Americans from traveling to
Cuba and will relax the rules governing
what items can be sent to the island, a
senior White House official said. The
decision does not lift the trade embargo
on communist Cuba but eases the
prohibitions that have restricted Cuban
Americans from visiting their relatives
and has limited what they can send back
home.
As a candidate, Obama promised to seek
closer relations with Cuba, and courted
Cuban voters in the key state of
Florida. As president, he has signaled
that he intends to move toward a greater
openness. A White House aide said the
president believes that democratic
change will come to the Cuban nation
more quickly if the United States
reaches out to the people of Cuba and
their relatives in the United States.
But the move is highly controversial, especially among
those who supported former president
George W. Bush's hardline policy, which
viewed the restrictions as a way of
spurring political change. Obama's
administration takes a somewhat
different view, but has resisted a
wholesale elimination of the trade
embargo and travel ban, which has been
pushed for by some in Congress. The
announcement came as the president
prepares to leave Thursday for the
Summit of the America's in Trinidad, and
a stop in Mexico. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ TARGETS OPPONENTS AND
DISSENTERS
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--Following
Hugo Chávez's victory in the referendum
held on February 15, which
established the indefinite reelection of
all elected officials, the opponents and
critics of the Venezuelan government
have witnessed an escalation of actions
against them. After the regional
elections held last November 23, the
authorities began to curb the power of
governors and mayors opposed to Chávez.
The main tool of the government's
strategy has been the reform of the
Organic Law on Decentralization, which
paved the way for the central government
to regain control of ports, airports and
highways. In the last few days, some
opposition elected officials have faced
legal actions that were suspended or
even new charges.
For instance, Henrique Capriles Radonski,
the governor of central Miranda State,
not only has been prosecuted for the
Cuban Embassy's case, but he is facing
another complaint for being allegedly
involved in administrative
irregularities during his first weeks in
the governor's office. The governors of
central Carabobo state and northwestern
Táchira state have also been accused by
the National Assembly, which decided on
March 19 to investigate both leaders. As
a result, three of the five opposition
governors are the target of
investigations.
Further, Manuel Rosales, the mayor of Maracaibo, capital of
northwestern Zulia state, is facing
embezzlement charges. The investigation
has made giant strides in the past three
months. Last October, President Chávez
promised to do his best to Rosales
behind bars. Ever since then, the former
governor of Zulia state has been
indicted and charged, and next April 20
the relevant court is to decide whether
he will be arrested or not. Former
allies of Chávez have also faced legal
actions. So far, the most striking of
all these case is that of Raúl Isaías
Baduel, former Defense Minister, who was
arrested last April 3, as part of an
investigation for alleged administrative
irregularities during his tenure as
minister. |
|
COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT ALVARO URIBE AND
HUGO CHAVEZ MEET IN CARACAS TO REVIEW
AGREEMENTS
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--The
President of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe,
will meet with Hugo Chávez, from
Venezuela, and Luiz Inácio Lula da
Silva, from Brazil, in a visit to both
countries that will begin on Tuesday,
government sources confirmed on Sunday
in Bogotá. The top item in Uribe's
agenda in Caracas and Rio de Janeiro
will be the economic affairs. During his
brief tour, the Colombian ruler will
attend the Latin American version of the
World Economic Forum, which will take
place in Brazil, EFE reported.
The Presidential Office in Colombia
(Casa de Narińo) reported that Uribe
will travel to Caracas on Tuesday for a
follow-up meeting with Chávez. The
Venezuelan President met with Uribe in
January in the city of Cartagena de
Indias, located on the Colombian
Caribbean. Uribe and Chávez then agreed
to create a binational financial fund
for the private sector amounting to at
least USD 200 million. Both leaders
decided to consolidate a trade agreement
that fills the gap left by Venezuela
-Colombia's major trade partner- upon
its departure from the Andean Community
of Nations (CAN). However, trade
between the two countries has been
affected by the restrictions that
Venezuela has imposed on Colombian car
exports, which fell 33 percent in 2008
compared to 2007, and on the poultry
sector.
The office of the Colombian President said that Uribe
will travel to Rio de Janeiro on
Tuesday. He will speak on Wednesday at
the opening session of the (World
Economic) Forum, which will bring
together about 500 political leaders and
economic experts from the region.
Colombia's president interview with Lula
da Silva is scheduled for Wednesday 15.
He will "participate the same day in the
working session and in the final session
of the Forum." According to Colombian
newspaper El Tiempo, Colombia will
propose in the negotiations with Brazil
the establishment of mechanisms to
reduce the dependence on the US dollar
in commercial transactions, with a goal
to conduct trade operations in the
currencies of the relevant countries.
|
|
U.S. NAVY SEALS RESCUED THE AMERICAN
CAPTAIN HELD HOSTAGE BY SOMALI PIRATES
NAIROBI, KENYA--The
American captain of a cargo ship held
hostage by pirates jumped
overboard from the lifeboat where he was
being held, and U.S. Navy SEALs shot and
killed three of his four captors,
according to a senior U.S. official with
knowledge of the situation. Capt.
Richard Phillips was helped out of the
water off the Somali coast and is
uninjured and in good condition, the
official said. He was taken aboard the
USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship.
At the time of the shootings, the fourth
pirate was aboard the Bainbridge
negotiating with officials, the source
said. That pirate was taken into
custody. Maersk Line Limited, owner of
the cargo ship that Phillips captained,
issued a statement saying it was
informed at 1:30 p.m. by the U.S.
government that he had been rescued.
John Reinhart, president and CEO, called
Phillips' wife, Andrea, to tell her the
good news. Crew members from the ship,
the Maersk Alabama, were "jubilant" when
they received word, the statement says.
"We are all absolutely thrilled to learn that Richard
is safe and will be re-united with his
family," Reinhart said. "Maersk Line
Limited is deeply grateful to the Navy,
the FBI and so many others for their
tireless efforts to secure Richard's
freedom." "We look forward to welcoming
him home in the coming days," Reinhart
added. Earlier Sunday, Maersk said the
U.S. Navy had informed the company that
it had sighted Phillips in the lifeboat
where the pirates were holding him.
|
|
BRAZIL PREDICTS RAPPROCHEMENT BETWEEN
HUGO CHAVEZ AND PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
RIO
DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL--Brazilian
Foreign Minister Celso Amorim on
Thursday predicted a rapprochement
between Venezuela and the United States
and added that the Summit of the
Americas, to be held next week in
Trinidad and Tobago.
The
Summit of the Americas will provide the
first opportunity for a dialogue between
Hugo Chávez and President
Obama.
Amorim said that Brazil can help in this rapprochement, but
explained that, if these two countries
are to establish a dialogue, they must
build confidence and forget past
problems, reported Efe. "It is
necessary that they build confidence, so
that scars of the past stop being an
obstacle for future relations. I think a
better relation is near," the Brazilian
minister said in Rio de Janeiro. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ PONDERS OVER USE OF JAPANESE
YEN IN VENEZUELAN INTERNATIONAL RESERVES
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA--Hugo
Chávez said that Venezuela will
consider the possibility of including
the Japanese yen in Venezuela's
international reserves.
At the end of a working meeting with the
Japanese Primer Minister, Taro Aso, the
Venezuelan ruler said that the Japanese
currency could be included in the
international reserves because Venezuela
has established a close relationship
with the government of the Asian
country, state-run news agency ABN
said. "Japan uses the yen in all its
transactions and there are other
countries that have their reserves in
yen. Venezuelan could also take into
account these facts to establish its
international reserves, since the yen is
one of the newest and strongest
currencies in the world," Chávez said.
In this connection, Chávez said that the purpose of the
measure would putting an end to the
"dictatorship" of the dollar in most
commercial transactions. The Venezuelan
president highlighted the need to create
an international currency different from
the currencies used by the countries to
carry out their operations.
|
|
HUGO CHAVEZ ARRIVES IN CUBA TO PREPARE
ALBA SUMMIT
HAVANA, CUBA--
Hugo Chávez Friday, April 10
arrived in Havana to prepare, together
with Raúl Castro and his ailing brother
Fidel, the upcoming summit of the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
(ALBA), to be held in Caracas next week,
reported a Cuban radio station.
Chávez arrived by surprise in the island early on Friday from
China, one of the countries he visited
over the last week as part of an
international tour that took him to
Japan as well, said Cuban state radio
station Radio Rebelde.
"The purpose of the visit to Cuba is to prepare, together
with Fidel and Raúl, the summit of ALBA,
which will take place on April 16 in
Caracas," said the Venezuelan ruler.
The ALBA meeting will be held in Caracas
ahead of the Fifth Summit of the
Americas, which will take place in
Trinidad and Tobago and will be attended
by US President Barack Obama. |
|
BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES VOWS TO
CONTINUE HIS HUNGER STRIKE
LA
PAZ, BOLIVIA--
Bolivian President Evo Morales vowed
Friday to continue his hunger strike,
initiated Thursday at the presidential
palace, until the opposition-led Senate
sets a date for general elections that
are expected to give him another
five-year term. Evo Morales on hunger
strike at the presidential palace in
Bolivia's capital, La Paz.
Morales called on opposition members -- who walked out of the
Congress in mid-session late Thursday --
to pass the election law, the
government-run Bolivian Information
Agency said. The opposition-controlled
Senate has yet to pass a law setting a
December date for the elections as
called for within 60 days of the passage
of a constitutional reform in January.
Morales, who was awakened by reporters as he slept on an
improvised bed on the floor of the
Government House, said he was "going to
continue the hunger strike," the
Bolivian Information Agency said. "I
feel that the opposition that does not
understand the desire of the people is
unfeeling," he said. The nation's first
indigenous president said the action
reminded him of members of Congress in
other times -- who thought only of "how
much money they were going to get before
thinking of the people." He reminded
reporters that he carried out an 18-day
hunger strike in 2002, when he was
expelled from Congress. |
|
SOMALI PIRATES DEMAND $2 MILLION FOR
RELEASE OF U.S. SHIP CAPTAIN
NAIROBI, KENYA--Pirates
holding an American ship captain hostage
in a lifeboat off the coast of
East Africa on Friday demanded $2
million for his release, maritime
officials said, hours after the captain
attempted a daring escape from his
captors. The American, Richard Phillips,
jumped overboard into shark-infested
waters but was quickly recaptured and
brought back onto the lifeboat, a U.S.
official said. In a statement released
after the incident, the owner of
Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, said
that Phillips remained in contact with
U.S. warships on the scene and appeared
unharmed.
As U.S. officials continued to negotiate with the pirates for
Phillips' release, the escape attempt
was a sign that veteran captain was
still in fighting shape after two days
in captivity aboard a 28-foot lifeboat
some 350 miles off the coast of Somalia.
In a separate incident involving another
ship hijacked in the notoriously
dangerous waters off Somalia, the French
government said its navy on Friday freed
a yacht that was captured over the
weekend, but that one hostage had died
in a gun battle between pirates and
French special forces. Four other
hostages were rescued unharmed. French
forces killed two pirates and captured
three others.
With two U.S. naval vessels watching the situation - the USS
Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer,
and the USS Halyburton, a guided missile
frigate - the Pentagon was aiming for
show of might that could force the
pirates' hand. Experts said it was
doubtful, however, that the pirates
would attempt a dramatic confrontation
with U.S. warships that could result in
casualties. Maritime officials said
their best option now was to give up
Phillips in exchange for being allowed
to return to Somalia. "That's how it
will end," predicted Andrew Mwangura,
the director of the East African
Seafarers' Assistance Program, who
tracks piracy from Mombasa. "They have
no bargaining power now. They don't have
a ship, they don't have cargo, and they
are surrounded." |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ SEES 'GOOD SIGNAL' FROM
UNCLE SAM
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Hugo Chavez said he sees "good
signals" from the United States after
Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles was
charged with lying about his involvement
in a series of 1997 bombings in Cuba.
Chavez made the remark to Caracas-based
TV channel Telesur while traveling from
China to Cuba, where he arrived for a
visit Friday. Chavez said he was
encouraged by the indictment handed down
this week against the 81-year-old former
CIA operative, who is accused of lying
about his involvement in bombings in
Havana that killed an Italian tourist.
"They're opening a trial against Posada Carriles in the
United States, they're summoning the
terrorist again," Chavez said in the
interview, which was shown Friday on
Venezuelan state television. "They seem
like good signals on the part of the
United States," Chavez said. Venezuela
has sought to reactivate a long-stalled
request for the U.S. to extradite
Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan citizen
who is accused of masterminding the 1976
bombing of a Cuban airliner while living
in Caracas. Posada, who has denied
wrongdoing, is due to be arraigned in
U.S. federal court on April 17.
Chavez, whose relationship with Washington grew increasingly
tense under former President George W.
Bush, has said he hopes to "reset"
Venezuela's relations with the United
States under President Barack Obama. The
Venezuelan leader also said he was
encouraged by U.S. authorities'
cooperation in a large drug bust aboard
a Venezuelan boat off South America.
Chavez said the U.S. Coast Guard
detected the Venezuelan-flagged boat in
international waters and "called and
asked permission to board." "Now they're
going to turn over to us the boat, the
drugs, the prisoners. Those are good
signals because that didn't used to
happen," Chavez said. |
|
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA WILL NOT MEET
HUGO CHAVEZ 'ONE-ON-ONE' DURING THE
UPCOMING SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--
Despite growing speculation in recent
days that United States President Barack
Obama will hold a one-on-one
meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez at next week's Summit of the
Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, there
will be no meeting between the two
leaders, US officials said on
Wednesday. The Trinidad Express
reported that in fact, Obama may not
hold bilateral meetings with any of the
33 other leaders attending the April
17-19 meeting, well-placed US officials
planning the Obama trip say. Instead,
Obama will hold just three separate
group meetings in addition to the
official closed-door session between all
participating heads of state.
"There will be a series of meetings where both Obama
and Chavez will be present, but I don't
think there will be a one-on-one
bilateral. I don’t think there will be
one meeting with anyone," the US Summit
organiser said. During the campaign
Obama had vowed to meet "without
preconditions with anti-American leaders
such as Chavez. But, under criticism
from Democratic rival Hilary Clinton and
former Republican candidate John Mc
Cain, Obama later refined his statement
to promise that he would only meet with
these leaders after careful
"preparations". Obama's planned group
meetings outside the summit's agenda in
Port of Spain are likely to be with
Caribbean leaders, Central American
leaders, and a third group made up of
heads of state from South America and
Mexico, including Chavez.
On Monday, media reports had fuelled speculation of an
Obama-Chavez meeting when US Summit co-ordinator
Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow was quoted as
saying that "the president is going to
Trinidad with the interest and desire of
talking to all of his colleagues." But
US officials say Davidow was referring
to the fact that there will be plenty of
opportunity within the Summit's
closed-door sessions, as well as in the
separate meeting with the presidents of
South America and Mexico for the US
President to speak with Chavez. |
|
BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES ANNOUNCES
HUNGER STRIKE
LA PAZ, BOLIVIA--President
Evo Morales announced he was
starting a hunger strike on Thursday to
pressure Bolivia's congress to set a
firm date for general elections that are
likely to return him to power. Bolivia's
opposition-led Senate has failed to
approve a law to handle the elections,
which are mandated by a Morales-backed
constitutional reform approved by voters
in January. The socialist president, who
took office in 2006, has suggested
opposition leaders are trying to block
the planned December elections with
delaying tactics.
He told reporters Thursday he was starting the strike
"to defend the vote of the people."
Fourteen leaders of labor and social
groups said they were joining the
president on the hunger strike. They did
not say how rigorous it would be, but
such protests in Bolivia usually involve
taking water and chewing coca leaves,
which help ward off hunger pangs.
Morales rose to prominence as leader of
a coca-growers' union.
The election bill has been held up by demands for an updated
voter registry, by arguments over
whether Bolivians living outside the
country should be able to vote and over
a dispute about the number of seats in
congress that should be assigned to
indigenous groups. Under the new
constitution that took effect in January
and aims to further empower Bolivia's
long-suppressed indigenous majority,
congress was supposed to enact the
elections law by Thursday. Bolivians are
to vote for president and a new
congress. Morales, Bolivia's first
indigenous president, is considered a
favorite to win re-election over a
fractured opposition. |
|
the final DECLARATION OF THE SUMMIT OF
THE AMERICAS HAS BEEN AGREED UPON; it
will not mention the embargo on cuba
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--
The final declaration of the upcoming
Summit of the Americas, to be held in
Trinidad, is a document that has
been agreed upon by consensus among the
34 democratic countries attending the
meeting, said Thursday Jeffrey Davidow,
the White House Advisor for the Summit
of the Americas. The final draft does
not mention the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
"There is a declaration that has been industriously
negotiated and is ready for
publication," said Davidow in a forum at
the Council on Foreign Affairs, a
Washington-based think tank. "This is
of course a document of consensus,
negotiated by 34 countries. As a result,
it has all the pros and cons of a
consensus document," said the former
ambassador and special advisor of US
President Barack Obama.
Earlier this week, countries in the region ruled by
leftist governments, such as Venezuela,
Bolivia and Nicaragua raised questions
about the final declaration. Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez urged his
counterparts attending the Trinidad
Summit to publicly denounce the US
embargo on the Caribbean island. |
|
"IRAN
CLAIMS IT HAS INSTALLED 7,000
CENTRIFUGES
TEHRAN, IRAN --
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said his country could be proud
of two major nuclear accomplishments.
The first is "the packaging of fuel and
making the fuel ready to be put inside
the reactor" at Iran's only nuclear
plant to produce power, Ahmadinejad
said, speaking on his nation's National
Nuclear Technology Day. He said the
second is the testing of two new types
of centrifuges whose capacity is
"several times greater" than existing
capacity. Centrifuges are used to enrich
uranium. Centrifuges are used to enrich
uranium.
Ahmadinejad's comments were broadcast
nationally from the city of Esfahan,
about 100 miles south of the Natanz
nuclear enrichment facility in central
Iran. The United States, some European
nations and Israel contend Iran's
nuclear development is aimed at
developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies
that charge, saying its its nuclear
program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, who heads Iran's
nuclear program, said in Esfahan that
7,000 centrifuges have been installed at
Natanz, and the goal is to produce
50,000.
He also said Iran had reached a "new
phase (generation) of acquiring the
technolgy of uranium enrichment."
Ahmadinejad
said Iran must continue its nuclear
development to increase its status among
nations, and he criticized the United
States and other "enemies" for trying to
restrict its progress. Iran will not
stand down, he said.
In its February 19 report, the UN
nuclear watchdog, the International
Atomic Energy Agency said 3,964
centrifuges were actively enriching
uranium in Natanz. It said another 1,476
were undergoing vacuum or dry run tests
without nuclear material, and an
additional 125 centrifuges had been
installed but remained stationary. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ: CHINA IS THE MAJOR ENGINE
TO DRIVE THE WORLD PAST THE ECONOMIC
CRISIS
PEKING, CHINA--
Hugo Chávez said on Wednesday to
his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, that
he has no doubt that "China is the main
engine to drive the world past the
crisis." Chávez, who exchanged ideas
with Hu Jintao about the development of
bilateral relations and about what he
called "the construction of a new world
geopolitical order," described as
"highly positive for the world" the
actions taken by China to face the
crisis.
"I consider that your visit provides a unique opportunity to
exchange views face to face about the
topics that may be in your best
interest," the Chinese leader replied.
The Chinese ruler said that President
Chávez "is an old friend and a good
friend. He has visited us six times,
proving the great importance he gives to
boost bilateral relations and their good
dynamics."
Chávez told Hu Jintao that "nobody should have any
doubt that the center of gravity of the
world has moved to Beijing. We have no
doubt that China is the main engine to
drive the world past the crisis." Chávez
said he wanted to talk with Hu Jintao
about the G20 and other geopolitical
objectives, such as the ASPA summit
between Arab countries and Latin
America, the Union of South American
Nations (Unasur) "and tell him that the
presence of China in Latin America is
vital. |
|
THE CASTRO BROTHERS TELL AMERICAN
LAWMAKERS THEY WANT TO TALK WITH
PRESIDENT OBAMA
HAVANA,
CUBA--
THE CASTRO BROTHERS, FIDEL AND RAUL,
are interested in talking to the United
States, a delegation of black members of
Congress said Tuesday, returning from a
five-day trip to Cuba where they met
with Raúl and Fidel Castro. But members
of the Congressional Black Caucus said
they didn't discuss whether Cuba was
prepared to offer any concessions in
return. ''We didn't get into any of the
details,'' said caucus chairwoman Rep.
Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who led the trip.
``We just want to see a dialogue. You
don't have to offer anything to talk.''
The group of seven lawmakers, which
included six members of the
Congressional Black Caucus, spent four
hours with Raúl Castro, including
dinner. Three members met separately
with Fidel Castro at his home. They
described the aging leader as ``very
engaging, very energetic . . . very
talkative.'' The visit marked the first
meeting between Raúl Castro and U.S.
lawmakers since he took the helm of the
country a year ago and the first with
the elder Castro since he took ill in
2006.
Former dictator Fidel Castro talked to three of the visitors.
One of them, Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif.,
said Fidel ''looked directly into our
eyes'' and asked how Cuba could help
Obama change U.S-Cuba policy. She said
she was left with the impression that
the 82-year-old Fidel wants to see
changes in U.S.-Cuba relations in his
lifetime. Groups that support current
U.S. policy had called on the delegation
to visit with black political prisoners
on the island, but Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C.,
said the group was interested in
''cultivating a discussion to be able to
talk about the issues Afro-Cubans are
raising.'' The lawmakers did not meet
with any Cuban dissidents. Lee said
Fidel Castro appeared ''very healthy,
very clear thinking.'' Richardson noted
that he had a full head of hair and
surprised her when he knew her name and
congressional district. |
|
VENEZUELA'S CARDINAL JORGE UROSA SAID
HUGO CHAVEZ FAILS TO REPLY TO PEOPLE'S
CONCERNS
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuela's
Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino said that
President Hugo Chávez continues
discrediting the leaders of the Catholic
Church, but he has failed to answer to
the questions they have raised.
Cardinal Urosa's statements came
following the Mass on the Day of the
Nazarene of Saint Paul. Reference was
made to President Chávez's remarks
lashing out at the Venezuelan Bishops'
Conference (CEV).
On Tuesday, the CEV issued a communiqué
showing concern about the climate of
political tension in Venezuela, after a
justice imposed a 30-year prison
sentence against three former
Metropolitan Police commissioners. In
the communiqué, the leaders of the
Catholic Church also rejected the
government moves to put and end to
decentralization, among others.
"Unfortunately, President Chávez has failed to reply to the
concerns we have raised. You do not
answer to the concerns we have voiced
–which the Venezuelan people share- just
by uttering discrediting, insulting and
outraging remarks." "There is growing
concern about crime and violence in
Venezuela, particularly in Caracas and
low-income neighborhoods. These problems
have to be solved," Cardinal Urosa said. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ ARRIVES IN CHINA
PEKING, CHINA--
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived
in China on Tuesday on a visit likely to
deepen already strong ties that focus on
oil but branch into areas stretching
from the military to the media. Chavez
spoke of a "new world order" as he
arrived in Beijing from Japan on his
sixth visit to the country in 10 years.
"A new world equilibrium is being born,
a new world order, the multi-polar world
of which we have long dreamed... with
new poles like Beijing and Tokyo,"
Chavez told reporters in the Chinese
capital.
Chavez said he was coming to China with
three "concrete objectives of high
strategical importance". They are a
reinforcement of China's presence in the
Venezualan oil sector to the extent that
by 2013 the South American nation would
be providing a million barrels of oil a
day to the world's third-largest economy
economy, the construction of Venezuelan
refineries on Chinese soil, and the
creation of a joint maritime oil
transport initiative. China now buys
300,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude
every day, and is eager for more from
the Latin American country as part of
its global quest for as diverse a range
of energy supplies as possible.
"The recent economic slowdown has eased the short-term supply
constraint in the world oil market,"
said Kevin Tu of Vancouver-based energy
research firm MK Jaccard and Associates.
"However, if we look at a longer time
span, oil will continuously be a scarce
commodity, especially when the world
economy starts to recover from the
current financial turmoil." The
bilateral relationship is driven by one
basic fact: Venezuela hopes to shift its
oil exports away from over-reliance on
US demand, and China wants to diversify
its imports to avoid over-dependence on
Middle Eastern supply. So while a drop
in global oil prices amid the economic
crisis puts Venezuela at a disadvantage,
it may boost bilateral trade as China is
keen to supply strategic oil reserves to
keep it secure during future energy
bottlenecks. |
|
FIDEL CASTRO MEETS WITH 3 VISITING US
LAWMAKERS
HAVANA,
CUBA--
Fidel Castro met with three
members of the Congressional Black
Caucus on Tuesday, marking the former
Cuban president's first meeting with
American officials since he fell ill
nearly three years ago. Coming after
lawmakers met with his brother Raul, the
current president, the session appeared
to underscore the Cuban government's
desire for improved relations with the
United States under new President Barack
Obama. Greg Adams, a spokesman at the
U.S. Interests Section in Havana, said
Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat,
and two other lawmakers met with the
82-year-old Castro. He did not have
further details, including the names of
the other two Americans at the meeting.
Lee led a delegation of six Democratic
representatives who left Havana after a
five-day visit designed to Castro, who
clashed with every U.S. president since
Dwight D. Eisenhower, has not been seen
in public since undergoing emergency
intestinal surgery in July 2006. He
turned over his duties to his brother,
five years his junior, then formally
ceded power in February. Raul Castro met
with the six American legislators for
more than four hours Monday night, his
first face-to-face discussions with U.S.
leaders since he became Cuba's president
- a sign that both countries may be
serious about improving nearly 50 years
of frigid relations.
The 77-year-old Raul Castro, who holds the rank of
four-star army general, wore a business
suit instead of his trademark
olive-green fatigues for the closed-door
meeting that ended around midnight. "I'm
convinced Raul Castro wants a normal
relationship with the United States,"
Lee told The Associated Press. "He's
serious." She did not answer questions
about why the delegation failed to meet
with any Cuban dissidents. Some past
congressional trips to Cuba, though not
all, have included meetings with
opposition figures. The Cuban government
issued a statement calling the encounter
"a broad exchange of ideas on many
topics, with emphasis on the future
evolution of bilateral relations and
economic ties after the arrival of a new
U.S. administration." |
|
RAUL CASTRO MEETS WITH VISITING MEMBERS
OF CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS
HAVANA, CUBA--Raul
Castro met Monday with six
visiting members of the Congressional
Black Caucus, his first face-to-face
discussions with U.S. leaders since he
became Cuba's president last year. State
television showed images of Castro, who
holds the rank of four-star army
general, wearing a business suit instead
of his trademark olive-green fatigues
and sitting down with Rep. Barbara Lee,
a California Democrat, and other members
of the American delegation behind closed
doors.
Seven Democratic representatives
traveled to Havana but an official
communique read on the air said only six
attended the meeting with Castro. The
statement provided no details of what
was discussed or how long the meeting
lasted. It added that the group also
spoke in recent days with the head of
parliament and the country's foreign
minister. The lawmakers came to talk
about improving U.S.-Cuba relations amid
speculation that Washington is ready to
loosen some facets of its 47-year-old
trade embargo against the island. The
meeting came as Fidel Castro said Cuba
is not afraid to talk directly to the
United States and that the communist
government does not thrive on
confrontation as its detractors have
long claimed. Suffering from an
undisclosed illness in a secret
location, Fidel Castro was succeeded by
the 77-year-old Raul as president last
February.
Lawmakers in both houses of the U.S. Congress have
proposed a measure that would prohibit
the president from barring Americans
from traveling to Cuba except in extreme
cases, effectively lifting a travel ban
that is a key component of the embargo.
Lee has said that many of the
representatives, who arrived in Cuba on
Friday and are scheduled to leave
Tuesday, support the travel legislation.
Democratic Rep. Mel Watt of North
Carolina said Monday that Fidel Castro's
column made it "clear that both
countries can exist without either
dialogue or adversity to each other."
"But wouldn't it be so wonderful," he
added, "if we struck a dialogue and
found the things that were mutually
advantageous and mutually of interest to
our two countries and stopped the
historical divisions that have separated
us (though we are) so close
geographically?" |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ CLASHES WITH CATHOLIC
LEADERS IN VENEZUELA DURING THE HOLY
WEEK
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Hugo Chavez railed against Venezuela's
Roman Catholic leaders on Tuesday
for condemning a law that has weakened
his political opponents. Chavez took
issue with the Venezuelan Bishops'
Conference for accusing him of
sidelining adversaries with a new law
that let him take control of airports
and seaports previously under the
administration of opposition
politicians. "This group of bishops is
shameless," Chavez told state television
from China, where he is wrapping up a
tour that also included visits to Japan,
Iran and Qatar. "They side with all
those who attack the government."
Quoting the Bible, Chavez added:
"Father, forgive them, for they know not
what they do." The law passed last month
by the predominantly pro-Chavez National
Assembly reduces the authority of
opposition governors and also reduces
their government revenues by prohibiting
them from collecting tariffs and tolls
at transportation hubs.
Catholic bishops issued a statement Monday criticizing "the
increasing power of the executive
branch, which deteriorates the legal
system (and) strips national, regional
and municipal entities of their
legitimate autonomy and puts the
democratic system at risk of collapse."
The socialist president denied that he
holds sway over the judicial system and
lambasted the clergy for siding with
"crooks." Opposition leader Manuel
Rosales and another prominent Chavez
critic, former Defense Minister Raul
Baduel, argue that corruption
accusations against them are part of a
Chavez crackdown on dissidents. Chavez
has repeatedly clashed with church
leaders since taking office in 1999, but
tensions have grown in recent months.
|
|
media covers u.s. war dead's return
after 18-year ban
DOVER,
DELAWARE--
The media was permitted on Sunday
to cover the arrival of a U.S. soldier's
coffin at the Pentagon's main mortuary
in Delaware late for the first time in
18 years. The coffin containing the body
of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers is
moved by a transfer team upon its return
to the U.S. at Dover Air Force Base,
Delaware April 5, 2009. REUTERS/Joshua
Roberts A flag-draped coffin bearing
the remains of Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers
arrived at Dover Air Force Base. Myers,
30, of Hopewell, Virginia, was killed in
Afghanistan on Saturday by an improvised
explosive device, the Pentagon said.
The administration of President Barack
Obama relaxed a Pentagon ban on media
coverage of returning U.S. war dead in
February, giving grieving families the
choice of whether to allow cameras at
the solemn arrival ceremony. The ban was
imposed in 1991 during the first Gulf
War with some exceptions, including the
return of Navy seamen killed during the
attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni
port of Aden in October 2000 that killed
17.
Former President George W. Bush imposed a stricter ban during
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq,
sparking criticism that the federal
government was hiding the human cost of
its military operations. The Pentagon
says that at least 4,262 U.S. service
members have died in Iraq since the
U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, while
another 673 have been killed in
Afghanistan since U.S. forces went there
to oust the Taliban in late 2001
following the September 11 attacks. |
|
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES
ANNOUNCES MAJOR PENTAGON PRIORITY SHIFTS
WASHINGTON, D.C.--U.S.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates
announced a 2010 Pentagon budget Monday
that reflects major changes in the
"scope and significance" of Defense
Department priorities. One of the
high-profile programs on the chopping
block is the Air Force's most expensive
fighter, the F-22 Raptor. Three key
priorities are reflected in the changes,
Gates said. The priorities include a
stronger institutional commitment to the
military's all-volunteer force, a
decision to "rebalance" defense programs
to better fight current and future
conflicts, and "fundamental overhauls"
of the military's procurement,
acquisition and contracting process.
Among other things, Gates called for
production of the Air Force's most
expensive fighter, the F-22 Raptor, to
be phased out by fiscal year 2011. He
also called for terminating a proposed
fleet of 23 presidential helicopters
estimated to cost more than $13 billion.
The proposed fleet, he noted, was
originally projected to cost $6.5
billion. It "has fallen six years behind
schedule and runs the risk of not
delivering the requested capability," he
said.
Gates maintained that a new fleet of presidential helicopters
will still ultimately be necessary,
however. o help create a more mobile,
flexible force, Gates proposed boosting
special operations personnel by 2,800,
or 5 percent, as well as purchasing
aircraft designed to provide greater
lift mobility and rapid transportation
of those forces. mong other things, he
cited a proposed increase in the
purchase of "littoral combat ships, a
key capability for presence, stability
and counterinsurgency operations in
coastal regions" from two to three
ships. The Pentagon's ultimate goal, he
said, is to acquire 55 of these ships. |
|
VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADERS CALL
PEOPLE TO REACT TO "OPPRESSION"
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--
Young leaders of Venezuela's opposition
parties, as well as student
leaders, called the Venezuelan people to
react to "a phase of repression and
terror" by the government of President
Hugo Chávez. They urged people to
advocate democracy rather than public
offices or political leaders in
particular.
In a symposium called "Diálogo con
Venezuela" (Dialogue with Venezuela),
Yon Goicoechea, a young leader of
Primero Justicia, an opposition party,
asked the government to respect the
democratic people of Venezuela.
"We demand respect for the Venezuelan people, we gained
ground on November 23 (local vote). We
won with dignity, with a hope for
change. We did not win to hold
government positions. We are not going
to defend our jobs. We are not here to
defend Maracaibo's mayor office or the
Metropolitan mayor office. We are here
to defend the dignity of the people who
voted in Maracaibo and Caracas." For
Goicoechea, if Venezuelans allow Chávez
administration to conduct further
nationalizations and measures against
decentralization, with increased
political persecution and sabotage of
the opposition efforts in the province,
things will grow worse |
|
president BARACK obama condemns north
korea missile launch
PRAGUE,
CZECH REPUBLIC--President
BARACK Obama called for swift new
United Nations sanctions against North
Korea after the isolated communist
regime fired a ballistic missile Sunday,
a technological stride -- the West fears
-- toward the future use or threatened
use of long-range nuclear weapons. North
Korea broke U.N. rules once more by
testing a rocket that could be used for
a long range missile.
"This provocation underscores the need
for action -- not just this afternoon at
the U.N. Security Council, but in our
determination to prevent the spread of
these weapons. Rules must be binding.
Violations must be punished," Obama said
in a speech calling for the long-term
abolition of all nuclear weapons
delivered at Prague's historic Hradcany
Square. "Words must mean something. The
world must stand together to prevent the
spread of these weapons. Now is the time
for a strong international response.
North Korea must know that the path to
security and respect will never come
through threats and illegal weapons," he
said.
The president learned of the launch at 4:30 am local
time when he was awakened by Press
Secretary Robert Gibbs. He conferred
with his national security team by phone
and dispatched his chief diplomats --
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Susan Rice -- to begin the push for
swift new sanctions. A joint statement
by the U.S. and European Union said the
ballistic missile capability is aimed at
providing North Korea "with the ability
to threaten countries near and far with
weapons of mass destruction. This action
demands a response from the
international community, including from
the U.N. Security Council to demonstrate
that its resolutions cannot be defied
with impunity." |
|
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION MEET WITH
CUBAN OFFICIALS
HAVANA, CUBA--The
United States and Cuba should
normalize diplomatic relations then sort
out their differences, the head of a
delegation of U.S. lawmakers on a visit
to Cuba said on Sunday.
"Most of the members of
our delegation believe we need to
actually normalize relations and then
the details of what that means would
follow," Representative Barbara Lee, who
is also chairwoman of the Congressional
Black Caucus, said at a news conference.
The seven member
delegation of Democrats, made up mostly
of African-American lawmakers, met with
Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon and
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in what
Lee said was an effort to improve
relations between Washington and the
communist-ruled island. They also toured
various Cuban facilities, including a
genetic engineering and pharmaceutical
complex, and planned to visit churches
on Sunday. The United States is the only
country in the hemisphere, other than El
Salvador, that does not have normal
diplomatic and economic relations with
Cuba.
El Salvadoran
President-elect Mauricio Funes has
announced he will establish both when he
takes office in June. The U.S.
congressional delegation is the first to
visit Cuba since Obama took office in
January. They hope to meet with Raul
Castro, aiming to get a better grasp of
issues that should be discussed between
the two countries, before returning home
on Wednesday, Lee said. "We talked in
broad terms, more about principles than
about details, and what would make sense
between two sovereign nations and how we
would want to see those conversations
proceed," Lee said of their meeting on
Saturday with Foreign Minister
Rodriguez.
The
U.S. Congress is preparing to consider
bills lifting most restrictions on U.S.
travel to Cuba. |
|
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA BACKS TURKEY'S
EUROPEAN UNION BID, FRANCE RENEWS
OPPOSITION
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC--
President Barack Obama gave his
backing Sunday to Turkey's bid to join
the EU, and urged the European Union to
accept Turkey as a member, saying it
would be a positive sign to the Muslim
world. The French president however
reiterated Sunday his country's
opposition to Turkey's accession. Its
accession to the bloc, which currently
has 27 members, would be "an important
signal" which would "firmly anchor"
Turkey in Europe, said Obama in an
address to European Union leaders at a
summit in the Czech capital Prague.
Obama said the West should seek greater
cooperation and closer ties with Islamic
nations and that allowing Turkey into
the EU would be an important sign of
those efforts. However, France renewed
its opposition to Turkey's EU bid on
Sunday, as French President Nicolas
Sarkozy said that he remained opposed
to the country's entry into the Union.
"When it comes to the European Union,
it’s up to member-states of the European
Union to decide" on membership, Sarkozy
told a French television interview from
Prague where he was attending the EU-US
summit.
Despite Obama’s plea, Sarkozy said "has not changed and will
not change" his longtime opposition to
granting EU membership to Turkey. "I
have always been opposed to this entry
and I remain opposed," he said during
television interview. Sarkozy also said
his opposition to Turkish membership is
shared by the "immense majority" of
European countries. German Chancellor
Angela Merkel however said that the
future of European Union’s ties to
Turkey remains an open question. "I
believe that a close link between the
Muslim world and in particular with
Turkey is interesting for us all," she
said after Obama’s first summit with EU
leaders. |
|
north korea: 'satellite will be launched
soon'
SEOUL,
SOUTH KOREA--North
Korea has completed preparations
for launching what it says is "an
experimental communications satellite,"
the reclusive nation's state news agency
reported early Saturday. A satellite
image shows a rocket sitting on its
launch pad in northeast North Korea.
"The satellite will be launched soon,"
KCNA reported. How "soon" was anyone's
guess. On Friday, President Obama
reiterated that the United States
strongly opposes any such launch. "We
have made it very clear to the North
Koreans that their missile launch is
provocative, it puts enormous strains on
the Six-Party Talks and that they should
stop the launch," Obama said while on a
stop in France. Obama warned that the
United States will join with its allies
to take "appropriate steps" to let North
Korea know it can't violate United
Nations rules and get away with it.
Western nations fear that North Korea
plans a ballistic missile test rather
than a satellite launch, but the
administration's special envoy to the
Six-Party Talks, Stephen Bosworth, said
it didn't matter if the North Koreans
were trying to put a satellite in space
or testing a ballistic missile that
could threaten Japan or the United
States. "Whether it is a satellite
launch or a missile launch, in our
judgment makes no difference. It is a
provocative act," Bosworth said.
Bosworth said the United States stands
ready, in the event of a launch, to
participate in U.N. deliberations on new
sanctions against North Korea.
The U.S. Navy is monitoring the expected launch with at
least four ships in the region around
the Korean Peninsula and northern Japan,
according to U.S. military officials.
The ships -- three destroyers and one
cruiser -- are capable of tracking and
shooting down ballistic missiles using
powerful Aegis radar systems aboard each
vessel. Two ships are in the Sea of
Japan, the USS Curtis Wilbur and the USS
Stethem, both guided-missile destroyers.
Two other ships are on the Pacific Ocean
side of Japan to monitor the missile if
it flies over that nation. Those ships
are the USS Shiloh, a guided-missile
cruiser and the USS Fitzgerald, another
guided-missile destroyer, the officials
said. All four U.S. ships are working
with Japanese naval ships in the same
region that are also equipped with Aegis
radar. |
|
CONGRESSWOMAN ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN WARNS
U.S. ABOUT "DICTATORIAL ADVANCEMENTS" IN
VENEZUELA
WASHINGTON, D.C.--US
CONGRESSWOMAN Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
Ranking Republican on the House
Foreign Affairs Committee met on
Thursday with officials of the US State
Department to discuss the expanding
anti-democratic and anti-Semitic
practices under the Venezuelan
government. According to a press
release that announced the agenda of the
Representative for Florida, Ros-Lehtinen
had also scheduled to submit to the US
officials a list of Venezuelan political
prisoners provided by The Venezuelan
Awareness Foundation, headed by Patricia
Andrade.
"As the power of the Venezuelan regime
becomes more sweeping and menacing,
democratic freedoms and institutions are
coming under increasing attack. Chavez'
goal? To lock in his dictatorial
advancements." "Human rights, civil and
political rights, and economic freedoms
are all under fire as the Venezuelan
leader knows no limits when quieting
opposition," the lawmaker said.
Ros-Lehtinen insisted that "the
Venezuelan regime is also fomenting
anti-Semitism as a political tool."
"There have already been two attacks against Jewish
institutions this year. In fact,
anti-Semitic sentiment has grown so
strong that Venezuelans outside the
Jewish community fear to participate in
anything remotely related to Judaism or
Israel. The United States must remain
resolute in our rejection and
condemnation of such conduct and support
those being persecuted for their
religious beliefs. The U.S. must make
these issues a priority at the Summit of
the Americas conference." |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ SAID HE WANTS TO "RESET"
HIS RELATIONS WITH U.S.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Hugo
Chavez said Saturday he hopes to
"reset" relations with the United States
at an upcoming summit. Despite recent
criticism of President Barack Obama,
Chavez said he wants to bring relations
between the two governments back to a
"rational level." "I'll be willing to
press the reset button," he said in an
early morning telephone call to
Venezuelan state television from Iran.
"I hope that will be the policy of
President Obama."
Venezuela's relations with Washington
grew increasingly strained under former
President George W. Bush - reaching a
low point in September, when Chavez
expelled the U.S. ambassador and
withdrew Venezuela's envoy to
Washington. His visit to Iran is part of
an effort to build ties with other
countries at odds with the U.S. The
socialist leader has also been critical
of Obama, calling him "ignorant" last
month after the U.S. president accused
Chavez of "exporting terrorism" and
being an obstacle to progress in Latin
America.
But Chavez said Saturday that the upcoming Summit of the
Americas in Trinidad and Tobago from
April 17-19 could "be the place to reset
all types of relations between the
United States and Venezuela." Chavez
employed a metaphor first used by Vice
President Joe Biden in February, when he
said the U.S. would need to "press the
reset button" on its relations with
Russia. Russian President Dmitri
Medvedev also used the term this week,
following his first meeting with Obama.
Medvedev said it's time to "reset"
relations after years of built-up
tension under the Bush administration.
Chavez said he's waiting for signals
that Obama is willing to take similar
steps with Venezuela. Chavez said that
he'll have some questions for the new
U.S. leader when they finally meet.
"Somebody needs to ask him what his
vision is for the crisis that's weighing
terribly on Latin America," he said. |
|
G-20 SUMMIT LEADERS STRIKE HISTORIC
AGREEMENT
LONDON,
ENGLAND--The
leaders of the world's major
industrialized nations
accomplished something at their G-20
summit Thursday that rarely happens at
such gatherings of heads of state. They
produced large achievements. They
pledged the first global regulation of
hedge funds and private-equity firms,
big players in global finance that have
enjoyed operating under the regulatory
radar. They agreed to require banks to
set aside more capital in good times to
help them function in bad times.
They vowed to crack down on tax-haven
nations that allow the wealthy to escape
taxation. And they pledged $1.1 trillion
to the International Monetary Fund and
related institutions to help revive the
global economy. In short, the
summit in London marks the end of a
period of unbridled global capitalism
and a turn toward stronger government
oversight of economics, coordinated
globally. Leaders of the Group of 20
effectively closed the door on an era of
history and opened the door to a new
one.
''The world sees itself differently today from how it
did a year ago in some very profound
ways,'' said David Rothkopf, a visiting
scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace and former advisor
to President Clinton on international
trade. ``The reality is that
hyper-capitalism existed -- unfettered
capitalism, an anti-regulation attitude
-- because there was the perception of
support for it. . . . You saw it in
different forms around the world. That's
over. I think there is a sense among
these countries that . . . they have a
shared interest in this. The regulatory
coordination is only likely to grow.'' |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ SAYS "CAPITALISM WILL GO
DOWN,' RAILS AGAINST G-20
TEHRAN, IRAN--Speaking
to Venezuelan state television late
Thursday, HUGO Chavez said the
United States and Britain are "the most
guilty" for the financial crisis
sweeping the globe because of the
financial model "they've been imposing
for years." "It's impossible that
capitalism can regulate the monster that
is the world financial system, it's
impossible," Chavez said. "Capitalism
needs to go down. It has to end. And we
must take a transitional road to a new
model that we call socialism."
The Venezuelan’s comments came during a
trip to Iran. In recent years, Chavez
and Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad _ both well-known for their
anti-U.S. rhetoric _ have boosted
economic and political ties. During
Thursday's summit in London, leaders
from the Group of 20 industrial and
developing countries promised $1.1
trillion for lending to poorer
countries. They also vowed major efforts
to clean up banks' tattered balance
sheets, get credit flowing again, shut
down global tax havens and tighten
regulation over hedge funds and other
financial high-flyers in the U.S. and
elsewhere.
Chavez belittled the summit's efforts and said the
International Monetary Fund must be
eliminated. Chavez's own economic
program to institute socialism in
Venezuela could slow as his country's
oil-dependent economy suffers from
falling crude prices. Inflation there
has soared above 30 percent, eroding
Venezuelans' salaries. In his decade in
power, Chavez has boosted state control
over the economy and spent heavily on
social programs meant to increase his
popularity. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ WANTS WASHINGTON TO SEND HIM
GUANTANAMO DETAINEES
TEHRAN, IRAN--Hugo
Chávez has a well-honed habit of
insulting U.S. presidents and decrying
U.S. capitalism. But Chávez now wants to
help President Barack Obama solve one of
his thorniest foreign policy issues.
Venezuela is willing to begin housing
some of the suspected terrorists held by
the United States at its military prison
on Cuba's Guantánamo Bay, Chávez told
reporters while in Qatar.
Obama is planning to close Guantánamo by
early next year and is asking allies to
take as many of the prisoners as
possible off his hands. No one has
stepped forward yet. ''We wouldn't have
any problem in taking in human beings,''
Chávez told the Arabic TV channel al
Jazeera Wednesday at a summit of South
American and Arab leaders in Doha,
Qatar.
For good measure, Chávez also renewed his calls for the
United States to return Guantánamo Bay
to Cuba, his closest ally. Chávez said
the United States should end its
business with ``this miserable
prison.'' Some in Venezuela see irony
in Chávez's descriptions of conditions
at the U.S. prison in Cuba. Humberto
Prato, the general coordinator of the
Caracas-based Venezuelan Prison Watch --
a nonprofit that monitors prison
conditions, noted that Venezuela's
prisons are terrible. ''They are
inhumane,'' said Prato. Some 24,000
inmates are housed in facilities built
for half that many, he noted. And prison
violence kills more than 400 inmates per
year, he added. ''Venezuela needs to
first begin taking care of its own
inmates before taking care of anyone
else's,'' Prato said. |
|
REPUBLICAN SENATOR MEL MARTINEZ DELIVERS
CUBAN DISSIDENT'S LETTER TO WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--Florida
Sen. Mel Martinez phoned Cuban hunger
striker Jorge Luis ''Antúnez'' García
Thursday to tell him he's
delivered a letter from the dissident to
the White House.
The letter -- which asks President
Barack Obama not to ''put commercial
considerations ahead of political
freedom'' for Cubans on the island --
comes as members of Congress, including
several from farm states eager to do
business with Cuba, introduce bills to
lift all restrictions on travel to the
island nation. Martinez, who opposes the
measures, praised ''Antúnez'' for trying
to bring attention to Cuba's human
rights record by staging a hunger
strike, now in its 45th day. ''The
change is needed in Havana, not
Washington,'' Martinez said.
The phone call to the central
Cuban town of Placetas comes as two
house members introduce legislation that
would let Americans travel to Cuba,
which has been under the dictatorship of
Fidel Castro and now his brother Raúl
for half a century. A similar measure
was introduced Tuesday in the Senate.
Advocates for lifting the U.S. travel
restrictions said increased visits to
the island by Americans could help bring
democratic change to Cuba. Martinez told
''Antúnez'' he thinks they'd do little
more than ``bring tourists to the
beach.''
|
|
REPUBLICAN SENATOR RICHARD LUGAR FAVORS
AN OBAMA-TO-CASTRO ENVOY
WASHINGTON, D.C..--
Indiana Senator Richard Lugar has
asked President Obama to appoint a
special envoy to initiate direct talks
with the Castro government, The
Washington Post reported Thursday. Lugar
also asked Obama to drop U.S. opposition
to Cuba's membership in the Organization
of American States. Lugar, the ranking
Republican on the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, is on record as
favoring ending all restrictions on
travel to Cuba.
In a March 30 letter to Obama, Lugar
said the trade embargo "undermines our
broader security and political interests
in the Western Hemisphere." The upcoming
Summit of the Americas would present "a
unique opportunity for you to build a
more hospitable climate to advance U.S.
interests in the region through a change
in our posture regarding Cuban policy."
The appointment of a special envoy
would "serve vital U.S. security
interests [...] and could ultimately
create the conditions for meaningful
discussion of more contentious
subjects," Lugar wrote. To read The
Washington Post article, click here.
The concept of a presidential emissary
who would bypass the standard diplomatic
channels was recently implemented by
Jack Lang, a special envoy from French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who met with
Raúl Castro on Feb. 25. See our Feb. 26
blog item "Raúl welcomes special French
envoy." |
|
CUBA IS EXPECTED TO BE A SUMMIT OF
THE AMERICAS HEADLINER
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Cuba
promises to be a hot topic at the
upcoming Summit of the Americas in
Trinidad and Tobago, as more Latin
American leaders push for the communist
country to be embraced by hemispheric
organizations, Trinidad's ambassador
said. Trinidad's ambassador to
Washington, Glenda Patricia Morean-Phillip,
said Cuba may not be on the official
agenda, but it's certainly on everyone's
lips.
''One issue that is expected to come up
-- especially from your president -- is
Cuba, because that's on everybody's
mind,'' Morean-Phillip said. “Latins are
very much in favor of admitting Cuba to
the hemispheric organizations. I think
there is a lot of sympathy and
support.'' Trinidad will be hosting 33
hemispheric leaders April 17-19. The
United States is bringing a delegation
that's more than 1,000 people strong,
she said. Among those she said is not
expected to pop in uninvited: Cuban
leader Raúl Castro. Prime Minister
Patrick Manning invited Castro to visit
Trinidad, and Castro accepted, the Cuban
media reported. But the hemisphere's
last military dictator is not expected
to attend the summit uninvited.
President Barack Obama is widely expected to announce
revisions to the rules that restrict how
often Cuban Americans can visit family
there. But Latin American presidents may
use the summit as the opportunity to try
to talk Obama into doing more, experts
said. The ambassador said it's unclear
whether Obama will use the forum to
announce major Cuba policy changes. But
he'll have to ''say something,'' she
said. ''I know there will be
conversations with respect to that
subject,'' Morean-Phillip said. |
|
PAKISTANI WARLORD THREATENS TO LAUNCH
ATTACK ON WASHINGTON, D.C.
LAHORE,
PAKISTAN--Pakistani
warlord Baitullah Mehsud threatened to
attack Washington and the White House,
as he claimed responsibility on Tuesday
for this week's assault on the police
training academy in Lahore. Mehsud leads
the biggest faction of the Pakistani
Taliban, an Islamic militia, operating
in the lawless South Waziristan tribal
region that borders Afghanistan.
Mehsud's violent faction is the biggest
challenge to the very existence of the
Pakistani state, which has been under
sustained attack by the Taliban and
other extremists for months. Fighters
loyal to Mehsud also cross the border to
battle U.S. and NATO forces in
Afghanistan. Earlier this month, the
U.S. put a $5 million bounty on his
head, describing him as a key commander
of al-Qaida.
The Pakistani Taliban have no known
capability to stage attacks in
Washington or elsewhere in the west,
although al-Qaida could facilitate such
an operation for them, said Asad Munir,
the former head of military intelligence
for northwest Pakistan. That fact isn't
dampening Mehsud's bluster. "We
wholeheartedly take responsibility for
this attack and will carry out more such
attacks in future," said Mehsud,
speaking with Reuters news agency by
phone from his hideout. "It's revenge
for the (U.S.) drone attacks in
Pakistan." The CIA operates pilotless
"drone" aircraft that have repeatedly
fired missiles at suspected militants in
the tribal area including, more
recently, the area under the control of
Mehsud.
Mehsud warned the U.S. that, "You can't imagine how we could
avenge this threat inside Washington,
inside the White House." Separately,
Mehsud told the Associated Press: "Soon
we will launch an attack in Washington
that will amaze everyone in the world."
At least 12 people were killed on Monday
when a squad of heavily armed militants
stormed the police training school on
the outskirts of Lahore, spraying it
with gunfire and grenades. Nearly 100
were injured. Mehsud was accused by
Islamabad of carrying out the
assassination of the former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto in December
2007; he denied the charge. Despite the
threat that Mehsud poses to Pakistan,
the country's army is not fighting him.
Instead, it signed a secret truce with
the warlord early last year, a deal that
concerns the West. Munir said that
Pakistan "does not have the firepower
available" to tackle Mehsud. That means
that, in the near term, the best chance
of eliminating the warlord is through a
successful strike by a U.S. drone. |
|
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU TAKES POWER, WARNING
OF CULTLIKE IRAN WITH NUKES
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL.--Ten
years after being ousted as prime
minister by Israeli voters looking for a
more conciliatory leader, conservative
Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power
Tuesday as the head of a hawkish
coalition government that will be a
pivotal player in President Barack
Obama's push to stabilize the Middle
East. Whether it comes to curbing Iran's
nuclear ambitions, rejuvenating stagnant
peace talks with the Palestinians or
brokering a diplomatic breakthrough with
Syria, Israel's new leaders will be
crucial to success for the Obama
administration.
Netanyahu, 59, faces an immediate
challenge in assuaging skeptical world
leaders who worry that the new prime
minister's combative style will
undermine America's diplomatic efforts
and fuel another spiral of violence in
the Middle East. In an unusually blunt
interview with The Atlantic magazine,
Netanyahu charged that Iran was a
"messianic apocalyptic cult" with
nuclear ambitions and a "grave danger"
to the world. European leaders have
been especially critical of Israel
because of its recent 22-day military
offensive, which ravaged the Hamas-led
Gaza Strip and prompted a brewing feud
over the threatened demolition of
Palestinian homes in especially
contentious parts of East Jerusalem.
For Netanyahu, peace talks with the Palestinians are
subordinate to his concern about Iran's
largely unchecked nuclear program. He
called Iran's nuclear ambitions and
"extreme Islam" the greatest danger to
Israel and the world. In a rare
interview with an American journalist
before he took office, Netanyahu said
that along with fixing the economy,
blocking Iran's nuclear ambitions should
be one of Obama's two "great missions."
"You don't want a messianic apocalyptic
cult controlling atomic bombs,"
Netanyahu told Jeffrey Goldberg of The
Atlantic. "When the wide-eyed believer
gets hold of the reins of power and the
weapons of mass death, then the entire
world should start worrying, and that is
what is happening in Iran."
|
|
HUGO CHAVEZ BACKS SUDAN'S AL BASHIR
BEFORE INTERNATIONAL BENCH WARRANT
DOHA, QATAR--Hugo
Chávez announced on Tuesday that
he invited Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
to visit Venezuela, thus supporting the
Sudanese ruler, who faces an
international bench warrant issued by
the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"I spoke with al-Bashir and asked him
about the risks he is facing when he
visits a foreign country. I invited him
to visit Caracas, and I told him, 'I
hope you do not have any problem
there,'" Chávez said during his speech
in the 2nd Arab-South American Summit (ASPA),
held on Tuesday in Doha, EFE reported.
The decision of the ICC to issue an
international arrest warrant for Omar
al-Bashir for alleged war crimes and
crimes against humanity in Darfur, is "a
legal eyesore and a political abuse, not
only for Sudan but for the people of the
third world," claimed the Venezuelan
ruler.
In his view, the move is due to the "cynicism" of
developed countries. Chávez wondered, as
he did earlier on Tuesday when he
arrived in the Qatari capital, "why do
not they order the arrest of (former US
president George W.) Bush, who is a
genocidal murderer who ruled the United
States for eight years and ordered
bombing Iraq?" Chávez's address was
preceded by a round of applause from the
audience. His was the only speech
acclaimed before the speaker began his
intervention. Venezuela is a signatory
of the Rome Statute that was signed in
October 14, 1998 and led to the creation
of the ICC. |
|
US LINKS RIGHTS TO LIFTING CUBA EMBARGO
SAN
JOSE, COSTA RICA--Washington
expects a "firm commitment" that Cuba is
moving towards democracy and respect for
human rights before lifting the
US embargo on the island, US Vice
President Joe Biden said Monday.
US links rights to lifting Cuba embargo
Washington expects a "firm commitment"
that Cuba is moving towards democracy
and respect for human rights before
lifting the US embargo on the island, US
Vice President Joe Biden said Monday.
Biden spoke after meeting with Central
American leaders in Costa Rica, the
first contact between the new government
of President Barack Obama and regional
leaders.
"Over in the next decade and sooner
there is likely to be -- and needs to be
-- changes in the relationship between
Cuba and the Unites States, and the
United States and Cuba, as well as with
the hemisphere," Biden told a press
conference after the meeting. However
Biden insisted that Washington needs "a
firm commitment" that Cuba is moving
towards democracy and improving human
rights conditions before it can lift the
nearly 50 year-old embargo on the
communist-governed island. "President
Obama and I campaigned on a platform
that said we are willing to reach out,"
Biden said, "and I think you will see us
reach out."
Biden told the Central American leaders that the Obama
administration was sincerely looking for
good relations with its Latin American
neighbors. The event host, Costa Rican
President Oscar Arias, asked Biden for
Washington to re-impose an embargo on
advanced weapons sales to the region,
which former president Bill Clinton
lifted in the 1990s and allowed Chile to
purchase F-16 fighter jets. "Today what
we have is an arms race, especially in
South America," said Arias, the 1987
Nobel Peace Prize winner. Central
America depends heavily on trade with
the United States, and the leaders want
help from Washington as they see their
US-bound exports sink and unemployment
rise. The nations are also suffering
from a drop in remittances from Central
American workers living in the United
States. |
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FORMER DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO SAID VICE
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN’S COMMENTS ON CUBA’S
“BLOCKADE” WERE “PITY”
WASHINGTON,
D.C.--Former
Cuban leader Fidel Castro
criticized U.S. Vice President Joe Biden
for ruling out any imminent lifting of
the country's long-term economic embargo
against Cuba, Latin American media said
on Monday. Biden, who attended the
Progressive Governance Summit in Chile
on Saturday, said a "transition" was
needed in U.S. policy toward
Cuba,
but reiterated that Washington had no
plans to end the 47-year embargo.
The 82-year-old Castro,
who stepped down as Cuba's president
last year, said in his latest reflection
that Biden's comments were a "pity"
because all Latin American countries
viewed the “blockade” as a "burden of
the past." "It is fun to see how the
guts of the [U.S.] empire churn, filled
with problems and insurmountable
contradictions with the peoples of Latin
America, which the U.S. always wanted to
dominate," Castro wrote.
U.S. President Barack Obama said after
his inauguration in January that
Washington needed to normalize relations
with Havana and issued instructions to
close the controversial Guantanamo
prison in Cuba, used to hold terrorist
suspects, in one of his first acts after
taking office. However, he said that he
would maintain the embargo in a bid to
bring about democracy on the
communist-ruled Caribbean island. The
United States imposed an economic, trade
and financial embargo against
Cuba
in 1962, three years after the Cuban
Revolution that saw the downfall of
Washington-backed dictator General
Fulgencio Batista. The Cuban government
estimates that the blockade has resulted
in financial losses of around $86
billion. |
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THE US WILL NOT REPLY TO HUGO CHAVEZ'S
INSULTS
WASHINGTON, D.C.--
US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
said that her government will not
respond to the description of "ignorant"
that the Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez hurled to his US counterpart.
However, she gave some recommendations
to the Venezuelan ruler, during an
interview with the Spanish-language
broadcast television network Univisión.
"We will not enter into this debate,
this war of insults. This is so childish
that we are not going to answer it,"
said the US Secretary of State in an
interview that was recorded in her
office in Washington on the eve of her
recent trip to Mexico. Clinton said
that the US has obviously many problems
with President Hugo Chávez and the way
he is abusing Venezuelan people. "The
way he treats his neighbor countries;
his attitude in domestic and foreign
policy that, in our view, is not in the
best interest of anybody," she said.
Clinton recalled that "democracy is more than elections,"
referring to the argument used by the
Venezuelan government when critics
question its democratic record.
Venezuelan authorities usually say that
there have been 11 elections and
referenda in the South American country
in a decade. |
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