September 30,  2010

venezuelan dictator hugo chavez says that his party's victory is enough to strengthen socialism
   
      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--"We must continue strengthening the Revolution! It is a new victory of the people. I congratulate you all," the president said in a message posted on Twitter minutes before the preliminary results were released by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council. The ruling party did not manage to obtain the two-thirds supermajority it needed to control the 165 seats in the National Assembly. Venezuela's dictator  Hugo Chávez said early on Monday that the election result obtained by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the parliament election held on Sunday is "a new victory of the people," in a message posted on his Twitter account.  "Well, my beloved countrymen, it's been a great day and we have won a solid victory. Enough to continue strengthening Bolivarian and Democratic Socialism," Chávez said in another message posted on his Twitter account. 

    Opponents of Hugo Chávez made major gains yesterday in legislative elections that could weaken the president's dominant power in Venezuela. The opposition overturned Chávez's two-thirds majority in the national assembly, and claimed to have won most of the popular vote. If it were confirmed, the result would mark a milestone. The opposition claimed that it had won 52% of the popular vote but argued also that changes in electoral rules favouring rural areas, where Chávez is popular, meant that this support had failed to translate into proportional seats. Both sides claimed victory and momentum for the 2012 president election, in which Chávez will seek a third consecutive term. Turnout was 66%, high for a legislative election.

    Chávez's allies took at least 98 seats. The remaining two seats went to a splinter left-leaning party. The president said via Twitter that his PSUV party was the victor. "Well, my dear compatriots," he wrote, "it has been a great election day and we have obtained a solid victory: enough to continue deepening Bolivarian and democratic socialism. We need to continue strengthening the revolution!" He did not address supporters from the balcony of Miraflores palace, a tradition from previous elections. During the campaign, the former soldier said it was crucial to "demolish" the opposition and win at least 110 seats for the two-thirds majority required to continue to rubberstamp his decisions. The assembly has acted as a rubber stamp since the opposition boycotted the last legislative election in 2005, giving Chávez free rein to push through radical legislation and appoint judges and members of the electoral council.

GENERAL STRIKE STARTS IN SPAIN AGAINST AUSTERITY 

      MADRID, SPAIN-- Airlines canceled flights and picketers hurled eggs at buses and blocked trucks from delivering produce to wholesale markets as Spanish workers staged a general strike Wednesday to protest austerity measures imposed by a government struggling to slash its budget deficit and overcome recession. The stoppage was the opening salvo of a day of protest expected to see tens of thousands of people converge on EU buildings in Brussels to protest belt-tightening measures that unions see as punishing workers for a crisis they consider to have been triggered by bankers and traders, many of whom had to be rescued by massive government intervention. Transport stoppages were also scheduled in Greece, which had to be rescued by the euro-nations this spring to stave off bankruptcy and has also been forced to cut deep into workers' allowances.

    In Spain, the national flagship carrier Iberia said it expected to operate only 35 percent of its scheduled flights as some air traffic controllers and ground crews honored the strike call. Ryanair said it canceled all its domestic flights in Spain and most international flights to and from the country. Buses were extremely scarce in Madrid, garbage went uncollected and even electricity consumption nationwide was down by nearly 10 percent early in the day. Eighty percent of Spain's high-speed train trips were canceled, all mid-distance were scrapped and only 25 percent of commuter trains were running. Picketers roamed the streets of downtown Madrid, trying to go into offices with pamphlets explaining to workers why they should not work. At midday, a group of about 100 strikers blocked Madrid's Gran Via, a major commercial thoroughfare, and merchants shuttered their shops when picketers approached. Tourists took photographs of the unfolding drama.

    Spain's first general strike since 2002 marks a bitter split in the usually close relationship between unions and Spain's Socialist government, which is struggling with a 20 percent jobless rate and a bloated deficit that has prompted market worries it might end up in the kind of dire straits that forced a massive bailout for Greece. The stoppage was called to protest austerity measures that include wage cuts for civil servants, a freeze on most retirement pensions and labor market reforms that make it easier and cheaper for companies to lay people off. "This strike is more necessary than ever," said one union representative, Roberto Tornamira, manning a picket line near Madrid's elegant Plaza de Cibeles. Striking workers braving a pre-dawn chill staged a sit-in outside a garage housing buses in the Spanish capital, screaming "scabs" at drivers trying to get out onto the road. Some strikers scuffled with police. Spanish National Radio reported 11 people injured nationwide. "We are here to explain to our colleagues the reason for the strike and urge them to take part and not work," said one striker, Mercedes Ramirez, amid a din of whistles and bullhorns. Protesters prevented trucks from delivering fruit, vegetables, meat and fish to the main wholesale markets in Madrid, Barcelona and other major cities.

IRAN UNVEILED THREE SQUADRONS OF NEW FLYING BOATS

     TEHRAN, IRAN--Iran’s mullahs may not get their advanced Russian anti-aircraft missiles. But they’re boasting about a souped-up capability to use against anyone who’d challenge them in the Persian Gulf: Flying boats. Yes, again.  Iranian state TV broadcast these images of three squadrons of flying boats in time for an annual commemoration of the Iran-Iraq war. Judging from the video, the Bavar-2 (“Confidence”) is a periwinkle-colored seaplane with a propeller grafted on the back, ferrying one or two naval aviators in open cockpits. In the demonstration video, the boats putter along in formation and glide slowly above the water, looking more like synchronized swimmers than an advanced fleet. Take that, would-be aggressors!

    Official television claims the ship is armed with a machine gun, but the BBC reports that its primary mission is surveillance, owing to the cameras of unknown capability attached to it. If so, that would mark a change from the last time the Iranians unveiled their flying boats to the world. In 2006, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps had developed a missile-equipped flying boat whose “advanced design makes it undetectable by any naval or aerial radar,” according to a translation by the Israeli MEMRI service. That earned Iran more ridicule than fear. Our own Noah Shachtman noted that the boats were similar to commercially available and decidedly less-fearsome seaplanes.

    The demonstration took place on the coast of Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, near the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a global energy chokepoint. Although this version of the flying boat apparently lacks missiles, the intended message seems to be that anyone thinking of attacking Iran should be on notice that Iran has a new tool to block their oil shipments.  But Stephen Trimble at the DEW Line can barely contain his laughter. “You have to respect the courage of the pilots,” he writes. “These flimsy things make the Soviet ekranoplan designs look stable.” That takes some kind of “Confidence,” at least. The craft, dubbed the Bavar 2, is armed with a machine gun and carries surveillance cameras, according to a report from the Iranian Student News Agency.

September 29,  2010

former cuban dictator fidel castro speaks at 5oth anniversary of the committees in defense of the revolution
   
      HAVANA, CUBA--former dictator Fidel Castro gave his longest speech since illness forced him from power four years ago, but limited his comments on Tuesday to describing Cuba's past and avoided any mention of the tumultuous economic changes the country is embarking on under his brother's leadership. The speech before tens of thousands marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of neighborhood watch groups designed to defend the government against subversive activity. As is his style lately, the 84-year-old offered no opinions on contemporary Cuban life, such as the recent decision to fire half a million workers and embrace small pockets of private enterprise. Nor did Castro say anything about his health or future plans. Though he is no longer Cuba's leader, he remains head of the Communist Party. Instead he spent much of the first part of his address quoting his own old speeches and joking about his age.

    Gesturing to younger members of the crowd, Castro said, "I really envy the youth I see in these guys" even though he himself appeared stronger than he did during appearances even a few weeks back. He used reading glasses to decipher prepared remarks and deviated little from them at first, mostly railing against what he described as the all-powerful imperialist monster of the north: The United States. But when his prepared text ended, Castro began talking without notes, waving his hands for emphasis and noting that the morning sun was not yet unbearable. His second wind pushed the speech to an hour, 14 minutes — the longest address in years though far from the five- and six-hour speeches that were routine in the younger days of the revolution. "We haven't even been here two hours," he finally grinned in conclusion. "But I'm leaving now. It's getting hot."

    The former Cuban dictator wore olive-green fatigues without any insignia designating rank, as well as a military cap, as he has on past occasions. Castro ceded Cuba's presidency to his younger brother Raul after his health crisis of July 2006 and has said nothing publicly to indicate he is itching to retake power since emerging from the shadows several months ago and launching a series of public appearances. A swelling crowd, many waving Cubans flags, stretched from an outdoor stage in front of Cuba's former presidential palace for blocks through parks and surrounding streets. "Fidel! Fidel!," it chanted, and "Where ever you lead, Fidel!" A surrounding downtown area normally filled with strolling tourists and hulking Detroit sedans from the 1950s was instead blocked off by police and crammed with parked Soviet-era buses that ferried supporters to the speech. That effort made it by far the largest crowd Castro has addressed in years. He spoke to a smaller group of university students for 35 minutes earlier this month. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution keep an eye on their neighbors and report behavior considered subversive, but they also lead immunization drives, recycling efforts and other public service campaigns.

dictator hugo chavez wants to start a nuclear energy program

      caracas, venezuela--Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez said Monday that his government is carrying out initial studies into starting a nuclear energy program.

    Chavez brought up the issue during a news conference, saying the South American country needs an atomic energy program. "We're taking on the project of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and they aren't going to stop us," Chavez said. "We need it and we're carrying out the first studies."

     Chavez is a close ally of Iran and has defended the Iranian nuclear program, saying he is sure Iran is not making atomic weapons in spite of U.S. and European suspicions. He has mentioned plans for an atomic energy program previously. It remains unclear how quickly he intends to pursue the program.

radio france rejects dictator chavez's reply

     PARIS, FRANCE--Radio France Internationale (RTFI) rejected through a statement the behavior and answers given by President Hugo Chávez to her correspondent in Caracas, journalist Andreína Flores.

    The Venezuelan journalist asked President Chávez on Monday night to explain why the opposition parties have fewer deputies if their total number of popular votes were higher than the ruling party. RFI said in the statement that her question does not violate the code of ethics used by the French radio station.

     "In your answer, you questioned the integrity of our correspondent Andreína Flores, who has worked for RFI for several years. She has made a number of radio reports in Venezuela and other Latin American countries. RFI vouches for her professional quality and her intellectual honesty as a journalist." RFI also denied the statements made by the Venezuelan president, according to which he has requested, on several occasions, that Radio France International explains why it has spread "false" reports. "We want to clarify that we have not received such a request, made by the Venezuelan president or by your government," the statement noted.

September 28,  2010

FORMER DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO BLAMES THE USA FOR DICTATOR CHAVEZ'S DEFEAT IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
   
      HAVANA, CUBA--FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR Fidel Castro said on Monday that "the enemy," meaning the United States of America, prevented Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chávez from getting two thirds of the seats at the parliament election. Anyhow, his ally got a "great victory." "The enemy accomplished part of his goals, which was to prevent the Bolivarian government from having the support of two thirds of the parliament. The empire might think that it got a great victory," Castro said in an article posted on the government-run website Cubadebate.cu.

    "The Bolivarian revolution has today the Executive branch of government, a wide majority at the parliament and a party able to mobilize million fighters for socialism, the Cuban leader wrote in his article entitled, "All that they want is Venezuela's oil."

    However the former Cuban president said he still thought the vote was a victory for the Chavez forces.  He noted the high 66.45 percent turnout and that the United Socialist Party (PSUV) had obtained at least 95 seats in the 165 member legislature “with a large number of young people, women, and seasoned activists.”  Castro never mentioned that the opposition won the majority of the popular vote, 52 % against 48% for the Chavez’s allies.  Venezuela is Cuba’s closest economic and political ally.  Tens of thousands of Cubans work in the South American country as doctors, educators, sports trainers, and numerous other professions in an exchange that allows Cuba to obtain the fuel and oil products it doesn’t produce.

washington post: venezuelan opposition can stop chavez's SOCIALIST  policies

      washington, d.c.--The arrival of the democratic opposition to Venezuela's National Assembly will slow down the most radical initiatives implemented by Hugo Chávez, said The Washington Post in its editorial published on Monday. The US newspaper leaves open the question of whether the Venezuelan President is a threat to the United States.

    "Despite the regime's domination of the media and election board, and heavy-handed gerrymandering of districts, the anti-Chávez forces may capture enough seats to slow his most radical initiatives," the Washington Post says.

     The editorial presents some arguments according to which Chávez would be a threat to the United States. It considers that Venezuela's relations with Iran can pose a "significant threat to US security."  The newspaper mentions reports from former State Department assistant secretary Roger Noriega, who warned that the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be using the Venezuelan territory in the Orinoco River to develop its nuclear program.

colombian senator piedad cordoba ousted for her collaboration with the farc

     BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Colombia's attorney general removed and disqualified Sen. Piedad Cordoba from the Congress for 18 years for having "promoted and collaborated" with the FARC guerrillas, the attorney general's office said in a statement.  Attorney General Alejandro Ordonez Maldonado made the announcement Monday. Cordoba is a controversial political figure in Colombia. She heads Colombians for Peace, a group trying to end to the decades-old war between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. Cordoba has had a hand in freeing prisoners held by the FARC, including two soldiers released in March, one of them who was a captive of the rebels for 12 years.

    Ordonez said that the investigation against Cordoba originated from computers seized in a 2008 operation against a top FARC leader, Raul Reyes. Reyes was killed in a Colombian military raid. The evidence showed communications between the FARC and the senator, who was identified under the aliases "Teodora," "Teodora de Bolivar," "La Negra" and "La Negrita," the statement said. In these communications with the FARC, a designated terrorist group, Cordoba overreached her functions and authority to negotiate hostage releases, the statement said.

    The links found on the computers were corroborated through other channels, including legal phone taps, the attorney general's office said. Investigators "established with certainty that the senator sent advice to the FARC," the statement said. In particular, the investigation found that she advised the rebel group not to send videos of hostages and instead voice recordings, with the goal of helping meet the group's agenda, the statement said. The attorney general's office said that Cordoba instructed the FARC to release proof of life videos from the hostages with the goal of making other countries look favorable. She also made public statements aimed at promoting the rebel group and helping their interests, the statement said. While Cordoba lost her senatorial post, she was not charged with treason, the attorney general pointed out.

September 27,  2010

POLLS CLOSED IN VENEZUELA'S PARLIAMENTARY RACE
   
      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Polls have officially closed throughout Venezuela in the critical vote for control of the 165 seats of the National Parliament. In some cases, authorities said the slated closing of 6:30 p.m. EST Sunday will be extended to allow everyone in line to vote. Venezuelan voters turned out in force as dictator Hugo Chávez and a revitalized opposition battled for parliamentary seats. Analysts have said the election is too close to call and could hinge on the one-third of voters who went to the voting booth undecided.

     Both the opposition and the ruling party said their estimates suggest this legislative race would likely have a presidential turnout -- with more than 60 percent of the nation's 17.6 million voters casting a vote. Unconfirmed exit polls by the COPEI opposition party suggested the opposition coalition might make significant gains and perhaps even deprive Chávez of the two-thirds majority he has enjoyed in the parliament for the last six years.  But official results were expected late Sunday or early Monday. Despite the deep polarization that exists in this country of 27 million, Sunday's vote took place amid relative calm, both sides said -- although there were scattered reports of violence and some candidates being harassed. A good showing in the popular vote -- even if it failed to win a legislative majority -- would give the opposition renewed hope of challenging Chávez for the presidency in two years.

     The armed forces said there were 130,000 troops guarding the process, but there were sporadic reports of irregularities and violence. In the working class neighborhood of Catia in Caracas, opposition candidate Iván Olivares of the Justice First party was chased away by armed gunmen without being able to vote, said Alejandro Castillo, who was with the entourage. ``They forced us away from the site and were shooting into the air,'' he said, describing a group of armed men on motorcycles. In the battleground states of Lara and Zulia, officials said PSUV partisans had harassed and tried to intimidate opposition candidates.

DESPITE NETANYAHU'S PLEA FOR RESTRAINT, THOUSANDS OF ISRAELI SETTLERS CELEBRATE END OF BUILDING FREEZE

      JERUSALEM, ISRAEL--Thousands of people gathered in the West Bank settlement of Revava on Sunday afternoon to begin the countdown to the end of Israel's temporary construction freeze, which was set to expire at midnight. Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged settlers and their supporters to show restraint in their festivities.

     Some 2,500 attended the celebratory rally in Revava with tractors, cement mixers and other equipment to broadcast to the world that construction in the territories was resuming.  Leaders of the settler movement and their supporters from Netanyahu's Likud party came together to release 2,000 balloons - signifying the number of new homes that settler groups said they intend to start building next week. "These are homes that have already received final permits," said an aide to MK Danny Danon, a Likud legislator who helped to organize the rally.  Settler leader Dani Dayan, who chairs the Yesha Council of Settlements, demanded that the government "admit this was a mistake and never do it again."  "Today it's over and we will do everything we can to make sure it never happens again," Dayan told the crowd. "We return with new energy and a new determination to populate this land."

     On Sunday morning, dozens of buses brought Likud activists to visit various settlements to hear about the damage caused by the construction hiatus, and to show support for the settlers. In the mid-afternoon, a ceremony was held marking the laying of the cornerstone of a new kindergarten in Kiryat Netafim.  The Prime Minister's Office earlier Sunday approached Danon, as well as settler council leaders, asking them to avoid provocations and maintain a low profile in the media.  "The prime minister calls on the residents in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] and the political parties to show restraint and responsibility today and in the future exactly as they showed restraint and responsibility throughout the months of the freeze," it said.  Netanyahu's bureau also asked cabinet ministers to refrain from giving interviews on the topic. The Prime Minister's Office explained that the request meant to prevent inflammation of the delicate ongoing contacts between Israel, the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority surrounding the expiration of the freeze order.

PENTAGON ORDERED DESTRUCTION OF 9,500 COPIES OF A BOOK WRITTEN BY AN ARMY VETERAN

     WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Department of Defense paid $5 per book to burn the 9,500 copies of "Operation Dark Heart," Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer's memoir about going undercover in Afghanistan that the Pentagon claims revealed too many national security secrets.  The Defense Intelligence Agency objected to the book's publication, spurring a review that resulted in its being blocked over recollections in the book about the controversial pre-Sept. 11, 2001, data mining project called "Able Danger."  Shaffer claimed in the book that Able Danger had successfully identified hijacker Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States nearly a year before the Sept. 11 terror attacks but that information -- shared with the Sept. 11 commission after the attack -- was left out of the commission's final report.

    Shaffer explained  that the distinction between the Army and DIA's rules on redaction are traced to the public domain argument. He said while the Army review found that everything he published is in the public domain in some form, DIA notes that much of it is still classified.  "So that's the difference in standards," he said. A new version of the book has been published, which the book's publisher "voluntarily agreed" to do, Shaffer said. The Pentagon is currently working with the publisher to "mitigate the resulting effects of the disclosures," a Defense Department official told Fox News.

     Among the information DIA objected to including in the book were references to a meeting between Shaffer and Philip Zelikow, the executive director of the Sept. 11 commission.  In that meeting, which took place in Afghanistan, Shaffer alleges he told Zelikow about "Able Danger" and Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11 hijackers who piloted American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center.  Shaffer, who was undercover at the time, said there was "stunned silence" at the meeting after he told Zelikow and others that Atta was identified as early as 2000 by "Able Danger."  "Dr. Philip Zelikow approached me in the corner of the room. 'What you said today is very important. I need you to get in touch with me as soon as you return from your deployment here in Afghanistan,'" Shaffer said. But once back in the U.S., Shaffer says he contacted the commission. Without explanation, the commission was no longer interested in his statement.  No mention of Atta's early detection was made in the final Sept. 11 commission report.

September 26,  2010

PRESIDENT OBAMA CONGRATULATES COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT SANTOS FOR HIS GREAT VICTORY OVER THE FARC
   
      UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK--President Barack Obama praised Colombia's security forces on Friday, saying he hopes this week's death of a top rebel leader will lead to more stability in the embattled country. "Yesterday was a big day for the people of Colombia and those who are seeking peace in the region," Obama said as he met with Colombian President Jan Manuel Santos inbetween U.N. meetings here. On Thursday, officials announced that rebel leader Jorge Briceno had been killed in a two-day bombardment of his jungle military camp. Nicknamed "Mono Jojoy," Briceno was field marshal and second in command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has been battling the Bogota government for a half-century.  Colombian officials hailed it as a major blow against an already reeling insurgency.

    Obama lauded Colombia's U.S.-backed security forces for "outstanding work." "The people of Colombia have been plagued by this terrorist insurgency for a very long time," he said. "We now have the chance to see continued stability for Colombia in the region." Santos, 58, a U.S.-trained economist, was sworn in last month, replacing Alvaro Uribe, a longtime U.S. ally. Obama said Santos has already "shown remarkable leadership" and is off to "a great start."

     The scion of one of Colombia's leading political families, Santos took office promising to cement military gains but also remain open to dialogue with FARC leaders in hopes of finally ending the Western Hemisphere's last remaining armed conflict. Under Uribe, rebel forces were rolled back, and kidnappings and bombings were sharply reduced. As he met with Obama, Santos told reporters, "Now that the security problem is more or less solved, we can now turn to a more progressive agenda - social development, the prosperity of our people, climate change." Educated at the University of Kansas, Santos often boasts about the exploits of the Jayhawks basketball team, Obama said. This spring, in the NCAA playoffs, Obama noted, "I bet on them winning it all and they lost. He's already apologized to me for that."

OPPOSITION COALITION URGES THE VENEZUELAN MILITARY TO VOTE THEIR CONSCIENCE

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Ramón Guillermo Aveledo, the executive secretary of the Democratic Unified Panel (MUD), delivered an institutional message to the members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) on behalf of the opposition coalition.

    In a written statement, Aveledo stressed the importance of abiding by the provisions of the Constitution, regarding both the parliament election to be held on September 26 and the role and rights of the military in Venezuela.  "The Constitution sets out the guidelines to defend ourselves against any threat to our sovereignty. The Constitution clears the serene and peaceful way of vote, which will take on September 26."

     The MUD spokesman appealed to the FANB's patriotism, respect and responsibility. He stressed that polls will highly depend on the institutional behavior of troops, who should act "in accordance with the Constitution and faithful to the main goal of the Plan República (electoral security and protection operation plan)". He urged the military to ensure that "Venezuelans can express their will peacefully, with transparency and efficiency."  The spokesman of the Democratic Unified Panel urged the Armed Forces to vote according to their conscience and recalled that "the vote is secret."  He added that the military should not fear the democratic alliance's legislators.

TRACKING FARC'S CHANCELLOR RODRIGO GRANDA, DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ'S DIRECT LINK TO THE GUERRILLAS

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Known as the “FARC’s Chancellor,” Rodrigo Granda left a trail of his liaison with the Venezuelan Bolivarian Government since 2002. According to Colombia, he is still hidden in Venezuela. In October 2002, there was an incident at Maiquetía airport when two women with visas issued in Cuba were prevented from entering Venezuela because they had authorization for one visit only and they had already used it. One Colombian and two officials of Venezuela's Directorate for Intelligence, Security, and Prevention (Disip) were their escorts, as entrusted by then Minister of the Interior Ramón Rodríguez Chacín. The officers showed up at the airport transit section and succeeding in making the two women enter Venezuela. Visitors were the wife and daughter of Rodrigo Granda, the chancellor of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). According to a report of Bogotá's daily newspaper El Tiempo, Granda was an envoy of FARC Commander Raúl Reyes. Since then, a Colombian intelligence special team followed his steps.

    In 2004, they proved that Granda lived under protection in Venezuela. His kidnap in Caracas, in December 2004 and ensuing forced transfer to Colombia unveiled his close ties with Venezuelan authorities. The records of the case file, kept at El Universal, report how this man, whose identity had been a mystery for the Colombian intelligence, had lived in Venezuela together with his family for at least three years. His story tells a lot about the links between the Venezuelan government and the FARC, the reason for so many conflicts between the two countries. Shortly before the meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS), last July, where the Colombian ambassador produced evidence of guerrilla camps in Venezuela, the Colombian government stated in an official communiqué that Granda was again in Venezuela, like Iván Márquez and other FARC kingpins.

    On December 13, 2004, a group of agents of the National Guard Anti-Kidnapping Command captured Rodrigo Granda in Caracas. The day after, he was handed over to Colombian authorities on San Antonio del Táchira international bridge. After that episode, the Anti-Kidnapping command was dismantled. His commander, Lieutenant Colonel Humberto Quintero Aguilar, was convicted of "high treason" and sentenced to three years in prison. The group of agents involved in the operation was released in exchange for a confession. Today, they are scattered in far-away border points. At the time of his capture, it was disclosed that Granda had been living in Caracas for quite a while and was the holder of Venezuelan identity papers. He even was registered as a voter. A communiqué of the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated then that the Venezuelan government knew nothing about Rodrigo Granda; there was no Interpol red notice and that in case that the alleged guerrilla man were in possession of any identity papers, these were false. According to Colombia's intelligence services, Granda is again in Venezuela. One of his immediate tasks is the coordination of a new congress of the Continental Bolivarian Movement. The organization was created in Venezuela and brings together anti-imperialist movements in the Western Hemisphere.

September 25,  2010

A GPS PLACED IN THE NEW COMBAT BOOTS OF "MONO JOJOY" ALLOWED TO PINPOINT HIS LOCATION
   
      BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Colombian Minister of Defense, Rodrigo Rivera, joined  this Friday  journalists at Catam air base, west of Bogota,  then traveled to the jungle area of La Macarena where Wednesday Mono Jojoy died in a bombing.  Rivera said that upon reaching the area they  able to identify the body of Victor Julio Suarez Rojas ‘Mono Jojoy, because of the medicines for diabetes in their camouflage uniforms and had because he had a luxury  Rolex wrist watch.  In addition, they were surprised because he had a uniform “camouflaged pixel, one of the latest models used Forces Colombia’s military. In the guerrilla camp were also found 20 computers, 69 laptops and USB sticks.

    Rivera has also confirmed that are 13 military officers who have been injured in clashes with the Revolutionary Armed Forces Colombia (FARC) security forces and “still fighting operations in the area.” He noted  the intelligence work  performed to locate Mono Jojoy. They  were using  as a main weapon his diabetes and that he had abrasions and sores generated in his feet, so he  could not wear boots that usually all the guerrillas have. It was possible to intercept a communication in which the guerrilla called for a special shoe for Mono Jojoy and military intelligence managed to intercept the supply .

     “When they received the shoes,  they didn’t know they had a GPS class=”ParrafoNegrita”> (systemglobal positioning) that began to transmit the signal several days and only managed to detect motion last Monday, day where we made the first bombing  but it was not successful, “ Rivera said. As a result, the rebel leader moved to another camp, which was bombed early Wednesday and we hit him, he died there.  We knew Mono Jojoy had a habit of between 1 and 4 in the morning to get up and view documents (…) so it was decided that the operation began at 2 in the morning, “said Rivera W.  The agencies forensic autopsy would be performed today at the body of ‘Mono Jojoy.  On Thursday night he was moved to Bogota to determine the exact causes of death and identify six bodies found in the area.

MEXICAN MAYOR SLAIN IN DRUG-PLAGUED NORTHERN STATE, 4TH IN LITTLE MORE THAN A MONTH

      MONTERREY, MEXICO-- Gunmen killed a town mayor near the drug-plagued industrial city of Monterrey, authorities said Friday, the fourth mayor in northern Mexico to be murdered in little more than a month. Prisciliano Rodriguez Salinas was gunned down late Thursday as he was leaving his house with a personal employee in the town of Doctor Gonzalez, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Monterrey, the Nuevo Leon state Attorney General's Office said. The employee, Eliseo Lopez Riojas, who was picking up equipment from the mayor's house, was also killed when gunmen in a white car waiting outside started firing. Investigators found 19 shells from two different weapons at the scene. The mayor was shot seven times.

    Drug gangs warring for territory and smuggling routes in northern Mexico have increasingly targeted political figures in the region, though the attorney general said aspects of Rodriguez's killing were uncharacteristic of gangs.  "The act, in terms of waiting for the mayor outside his house ... is not a very common tactic for organized crime," state Attorney General Alejandro Garza y Garza said. "So we're not ruling out any line of investigation." Police officers from the town were taken to Monterrey for questioning about the killings, though Garza y Garza said none were under arrest. Hermenegildo Linares Robledo, assistant to the town clerk, said normal activities at the town hall had been suspended and confirmed that state police were patrolling the streets, though there were no soldiers in view. "There are very few people in the streets," he told the AP. "Right now the mood is tense and quiet."

     Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina said that his administration "will not be intimidated, that we do not give in." President Felipe Calderon condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the family as his government reiterated its commitment to the security of all Mexicans. The government has attributed the spike in violence in the border states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas to a breakup between the Gulf and Zetas cartels. Monterrey-area mayor Edelmiro Cavazos was kidnapped in August and his body dumped three days later. Seven police officers who authorities said were paid monthly salaries by the Zetas were arrested in connection with that killing. It was followed two weeks later by a fatal attack on Mayor Marco Antonio Leal Garcia in Hidalgo, Tamaulipas. Hooded gunmen shot to death Mayor Alexander Lopez Garcia in the town of El Naranjo in San Luis Potosi state on Sept. 8. The methods used in all three slayings were similar to those used by Mexico's drug cartels. In June, gunmen killed the leading gubernatorial candidate in Tamaulipas.

WASHINGTON ADMITS NATIONAL SECURITY IS THREATENED BY MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS

     MONTERREY, MEXICO--A dozen bound and tortured bodies were discovered dumped on the side of a remote highway in Michoacán. Police found the latest victims of the ongoing battle between rival drug traffickers on Monday. A threatening message was located near the beaten bodies of 11 men and one woman piled up and wrapped in a tarp, police revealed at the scene. Sadly, this has become a frequent occurrence: Last week, police found four bodies and a menacing note in the same spot.   This reoccurring brutality stems from opposing drug cartels fighting over cocaine smuggling routes running up from Central America into the United States, the world’s top drug consumer. Because Mexico’s drug trade has become a very lucrative business—pulling in billions a year—having control of these routes ensures a hand in that money.

     Despite thousands of Mexican troops dispatched to numerous drug hot spots throughout the country, bloodshed has not decreased. U.S. authorities have offered a helping hand, pledging $1.4 billion through the Merida initiative in an attempt to help Mexico combat the cartels.   The alarming rise of violence in Mexico perpetrated by warring Mexican drug trafficking organizations and the effects of that violence on the United States, particularly along the U.S. Mexican Southwest Border. The responsibility for this ongoing violence rests with a limited number of large, sophisticated and vicious criminal organizations known as Mexican Drug Cartel (MDC’s) or as the U.S. Government prefers to call them Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) – not individual drug traffickers acting in isolation. Their illicit drugs are destined for communities throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. They generate billions of illegal dollars annually.

     These organizations support candidates for local and national office and bribe officials and particularly Mexican law enforcement all the way from a local Mexican cop on the beat to the highest levels of the Mexican Federal police and all levels in between.  U.S. Government documents show that during a report to Congress this month by Lanny A. Breuer an assistant attorney general in the criminal division United States Department of Justice stated that “the department’s strategy to systematically dismantle the Mexican drug cartels, which currently threaten the national security of our Mexican neighbors, pose an organized crime threat to the United States, and are responsible for the scourge of illicit drugs and accompanying violence in both countries. He begins by emphasizing the priority that this issue commands at the highest level of the department’s leadership, including the U.S. Attorney General himself.

September 24,  2010

COLOMBIAN ARMY KILLS JORGE BRICEÑO "MONO JOJOY," TOP-LEVEL FARC LEADER
   
     BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--The No. 2 leader in a Marxist guerrilla group that has been at war with the Colombian government since the 1960s has been killed in a bombing raid, President Juan Manuel Santos said Thursday. Victor Julio Suarez Rojas, also known as Jorge Briceno Suarez and by his nom-de-guerre Mono Jojoy, was the military leader for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, commonly called the FARC. Santos called the rebel leader's death a "historic" event. "This is the biggest blow the FARC has suffered in its history," Santos said from New York, where he is participating in meetings of the United Nations General Assembly.

    "To the rest of the FARC, we are going after them," Santos said. "We are not going to rest." About 20 other guerrillas also were killed in the raid, Santos said. "This is a day of joy," Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said. "It is a day of jubilation for Colombians." The guerrilla leader was killed near the town of Macarena, in the southwestern Colombia state of Meta. The final operation against Suarez started Wednesday, Rivera said, adding that officials had spent two sleepless nights while they awaited the results.

     Five Colombian soldiers were wounded in the operation, Rivera said at a news conference from Bogota, the nation's capital. Rivera called Suarez the guerrilla group's "strategic heart" and said the military had captured "the mother of all FARC camps." The camp, which measured about 1,000 feet (300 meters) long, had a bunker, tunnels and escape routes, Rivera said. The guerrilla leader's death was the FARC's second major setback in the past few days. An airstrike over the weekend killed a high-ranking rebel commander who was wanted in the United States, police said. Sixto Antonio Cabana Guillen was among the more than two dozen guerrillas killed in a Colombian air force bombing operation Sunday, Colombia's National Police said Monday. At least 27 FARC members were killed in Sunday's operation in southern Colombia, Santos said.

IRANIAN PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD SAID AT THE UN THAT MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE THE U.S. WAS BEHIND THE SEPT 11 TERRORIST ATTACK

      UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK--The U.S. and European delegations walked out of the U.N. speech of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday after he The U.S. and European delegations walked out of the U.N. speech by Iran's president after he said most people believe the U.S. was behind the Sept. 11 attacks in order to assure Israel's survival. Full story

     What to watch for at U.N.: Leaders who dislike U.S. Updated 19 minutes ago Fallujah raid highlights Iraq's security concerns Updated 10 minutes ago Tropical storm Matthew forms in Caribbean Inside a day in the life of trapped miners In his speech to the annual General Assembly, Ahmadinejad said it was mostly U.S. government officials who believed a terrorist group was behind the suicide hijacking attacks that brought down New York's World Trade Center and hit the Pentagon. Another theory, he said, was "that some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy, and its grips on the Middle East, in order to save the Zionist regime." "The majority of the American people as well as most nations and politicians around the world agree with this view," Ahmadinejad told the 192-nation assembly.

    The U.S. and several European delegations left shortly after Ahmadinejad made the remarks. The U.S. delegation issued this statement in response: "Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people, Mr. Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable." The Iranian leader also spoke of threats to burn the Quran by U.S. religious groups, calling that an act of "evil." He held up a copy of the Muslim holy book, saying "the truth cannot be burned." Earlier, President Barack Obama spoke to the session , saying "the United States and the international community seek a resolution to our differences with Iran, and the door remains open to diplomacy should Iran choose to walk through it." "But the Iranian government must demonstrate a clear and credible commitment, and confirm to the world the peaceful intent of its nuclear program," Obama said.

us: mono jojoy's death is AN important victory for colombia

       WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Prominent figures around the world made public statements following the announcement Thursday that FARC leader "Mono Jojoy" was killed in a bombing raid by the Colombian armed forces. A representative from the White House said the death is an "important victory" for Colombia. "We firmly support the Colombian people, their security forces, and President Santos in their efforts in combating the FARC," said National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer.

    Several Colombian politicians have also made statements regarding the news. Senator Piedad Cordoba said that Mono Jojoy's death doesn't mean Colombia can abandon dialogue. "You have to sit down and define together the next steps to take," Cordoba stated on her website. "Crushing one another will not strengthen democracy." Former Colombian representative Consuelo Gonzalez, who was kidnapped by the FARC in 2001, said the news brings her calm. She said the now-deceased FARC leader was the one who had ordered her capture, and told her that if she escaped they would kill her. Gonzalez was freed in 2008.

    Other international groups have made statements about the killing, including the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Roman Catholic Church. Jose Miguel Insulza of the OAS congratulated the Colombian government and said the FARC should realize the path they are following will only continue to close. Monsignor Ruben Salazar, archbishop of Bogota, said the Church will never rejoice in the death of anyone, and the armed conflict in Colombia must end. Salazar added that the event should initiate "a new process of dialogue" with the FARC. Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt said that Mono Jojoy's death gave new hope to the chance of peace in Colombia. "He is one of the most bloodthirsty commanders of the guerrillas in Colombia. I always thought that as long as Mono Jojoy was alive, there would be no chance for a serious peace process," said the French-Colombian.

September 23,  2010

alicia alonso invites president obama to visit cuba and bring the five imprisoned cuban spies
   
HAVANA, CUBA--U.S. President Barack Obama has been issued an unexpected invitation to visit Cuba — from the island’s 90-year-old prima ballerina, who implored him to bring along five Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States for more than a decade. “I want to invite the president of the United States to come to Cuba with his wife and lovely children,” Alicia Alonso said at an event to call for the release of the agents, who were convicted of spying on Cuban exile groups in a hotly debated trial.

    “I would ask a favor also. Please, to make everyone happy and to feel happy with all around the world, bring those five Cubans,” Alonso said in English. White House officials contacted Wednesday morning said they were not aware that any such invitation had been received. The Cubans, known at home as “the five heroes,” were sent to Miami to infiltrate violent exile groups at a time when anti-Castro groups were bombing Cuban hotels. They were arrested in 1998. The invitation caps off a week-long international campaign with Hollywood stars such as Sean Penn and Danny Glover calling on Obama to step in and release the five.

     Last year, the defendants lost their last chance of an appeal when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear their case. The defense argued it was impossible for the men to get a fair trial in a city dominated by anti-Castro politics. Three of the men were handed life sentences in 2001 for allegedly helping Cuba shoot down two unarmed airplanes that were dropping leaflets over the island, killing the Cuban-American pilots. After Cuba began its biggest release of political prisoners in a decade, pro-Cuba activists stepped up pressure on Obama to respond by releasing the five Cubans.

NORTH KOREA TO ANNOUNCE RESHUFFLE OF THE POWER STRUCTURE

      SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA-- North Korea's ruling party will hold its biggest meeting in decades on September 28 to pick a new leadership, state media reported on Tuesday, and likely anoint an heir to the dynasty as Kim Jong-il's health deteriorates. Kim, who is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, has reportedly accelerated succession plans, and analysts say his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, is likely to be given an official title at the Workers' Party conference. The North's KCNA news agency said the conference would be held in Pyongyang "for electing its supreme leadership body," but provided no further details of the agenda. The meeting had been slated to start in early September. The report made no mention of the delay.

    South Korea said it appeared the meeting was held up by "internal problems," probably related to flooding. Media reports have also speculated Kim's health or disagreements over a reshuffle of the power structure could be responsible for the delay.  Party meetings have been held around the country to elect delegates to the conference, KCNA reported. "The meetings elected working people and officials who have displayed patriotic devotion at the work sites for effecting a fresh revolutionary surge, remaining intensely loyal to the party and revolution as delegates to the conference," it said.

    Next week's meeting will be the biggest gathering of the reclusive state's political elite since 1980, when Kim himself began his official role to succeed his father and state founder by taking on a Workers' Party title at the age of 38. The 68-year-old leader, however, is not expected to go into retirement just yet despite his declining health, experts say, as his 20-something son, Kim Jong-un, is considered too young and inexperienced. Analysts say the younger Kim will likely be given a party post next week, even though it might only be a minor role, but any appointment would signal the start of the succession process. Little is known about the young Kim, except that he was educated in Switzerland and that he reportedly possesses the same ruthless streak as his father. In the event Kim Jong-il dies suddenly, analysts say his brother-in-law Jang Song-taek -- who is expected to be promoted to a senior role during next week's meeting -- will act as regent until Jong-un is fully ready to take over.

IRAN DISPLAYS ADVANCED MISSILE CAPABLE OF REACHING ISRAEL

     TEHRAN, IRAN-- Iran has displayed an advanced missile capable of reaching Israel at a military parade on the 30th anniversary of the start of the Iran-Iraq war.

    The solid-fuel Sajjil has the longest range of any missile in Iran's arsenal, more than 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers). Iran has dramatically accelerated its missile program in recent years, raising international concern that it could pose a threat to Israel and U.S.-allied Arab nations, including some that are home to American military bases.

     Iran test fired an upgraded version of the Sajjil in December in part to demonstrate it could deter any military strike on its nuclear facilities. Wednesday's display included a domestic unmanned bomber aircraft that Iran's president has nicknamed the "ambassador of death."

September 22,  2010

9 US TROOPS KILLED IN AFGHAN HELICOPTER CRASH
   
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN-- Nine U.S. troops were killed yesterday in the worst helicopter crash in Afghanistan in more than four years, making 2010 the deadliest year for NATO forces troops since the war began.  The international force's website announced the crash without giving the victims' nationalities. It said the crash took place in the country's south, where mostly American and British troops are stationed. London's Daily Telegraph quoted unnamed military sources as saying the dead were not British. And CNN is quoting an unnamed western defense official as saying they were Americans.  Three other passengers -- another NATO soldier, an Afghan soldier and an American civilian -- were injured in the crash and taken to a NATO hospital for treatment, the statement said. NATO said the cause of the crash is under investigation, but that there were no reports of enemy fire in the area.

    The spike in the number of deaths comes after President Barack Obama ordered a surge of some 30,000 more U.S. troops to the country, which has led to increasing combat with Taliban fighters, especially in the Afghan south where the chopper went down.  NATO uses helicopters mainly to transport troops across rural mountainous swaths of Afghanistan where roads are scarce. Most helicopter crashes there have been caused by mechanical failures, but some have been downed by enemy fire.  While NATO said there was no enemy fire in the area, a Taliban spokesman phoned The Associated Press to claim responsibility for downing the aircraft. But the group frequently exaggerates its reach and takes credit for accidents.

     Today's crash took place in Zabul province, a spokesman for the provincial governor told news agencies. Zabul lies to the east of volatile Kandahar province, near the border with Pakistan. It's a sparsely populated region with low mountains and desert plains.  This is the deadliest helicopter crash in Afghanistan since May 2006, when a Chinook crashed during a nighttime landing in eastern Kunar province, killing 10 American soldiers. That followed a 2005 crash in Kunar that killed 16 U.S. troops, The Associated Press reported.

"BIGGEST BLOW": COLOMBIAN ARMED FORCES KILLS 22 FARC GUERRILLAS 

      BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--The Colombia military “dealt a serious blow” to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killing 22 left-wing guerrillas Sunday during an offensive that involved an aerial raid and ground troops near the country’s border with Ecuador, near where eight policemen died earlier this month in a FARC attack. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the operation and said the military strike was “the biggest blow in recent times” to the FARC.  At least 22 FARC guerrillas were killed early Sunday in fighting with the National Police near San Miguel, a town in southern Colombia close to the border with Ecuador, where eight police officers died in a rebel ambush earlier this month, officials said.

    The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas were killed in coordinated operation by the National Police with the support of the army and air force, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera said. President Juan Manuel Santos, for his part, thanked Ecuadorian officials for their assistance with the operation. “The cooperation of the government of Ecuador ... is very important, and I am going to personally call President (Rafael) Correa to thank him,” Santos said. The deaths of the 22 guerrillas “is the biggest blow in recent times against” the FARC, the president said.  El frente 48 de las FARC, objetivo de la ofensiva de este domingo, fue el responsable de la muerte de ocho policías el pasado 10 de septiembre en el municipio de San Miguel, en el Putumayo, en uno de los mayores golpes de la guerrilla desde que Juan Manuel Santos asumió la Presidencia el 7 de agosto.

     The bodies of the dead guerrillas were taken to the town of Puerto Asis, Rivera said. “Very valuable cooperation from the officials in Ecuador,” the defense minister said. Rivera and National Police director Gen. Oscar Naranjo visited the scene of the operation and the defense minister held a press conference on his return to Bogota. The dead rebels belonged to the FARC’s 48th Front, Rivera said. The operation took place on “Colombian territory” and involved Colombian police and army troops, Rivera said. The fighting occurred near the San Miguel River in Putumayo province. The FARC, Colombia’s oldest and largest leftist guerrilla group, was founded in 1964, has an estimated 8,000 fighters and operates across a large swath of this Andean nation.

IRANIAN PRESIDENT AHMADINEJAD CALLS ON U.S. TO RELEASE 8 IRANIAN PRISONERS 

     NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK--Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad  called on the United States to release eight Iranians who he said were being held illegally, noting that his country made a humanitarian gesture last week in releasing an American woman held since July 2009. Ahmadinejad, who arrived in New York on Sunday to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting, also played down the impact of sanctions imposed by the international community on Iran over its nuclear activities.

     Iran on September 14 released Sarah Shourd, 32, one of three Americans held in Iran for more than a year on suspicion of espionage. She arrived back in the United States on Sunday and was due to hold a news conference later in the day in New York. Ahmadinejad, speaking through a translator in an interview on the ABC program "This Week," called her release "a huge humanitarian gesture." "So I believe that it would not be misplaced to ask that the U.S. government should take a humanitarian gesture to release the Iranians who were illegally arrested and detained here in the United States," Ahmadinejad said, referring to eight Iranians without naming them.

    Ahmadinejad was one of several foreign leaders to hold separate meetings with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. A U.N. statement said Ban "stressed the importance of respecting fundamental civil and political rights" but the statement did not mention any specific issue in Iran.  The statement also said Ban told Ahmadinejad he hoped Iran would "engage constructively" to resolve its nuclear standoff with the West. Major powers are due to discuss the matter in New York this week but no meeting with Iran has been set. Shourd was detained near the Islamic Republic's border with Iraq in July 2009 along with two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Their families say the three were on a mountain hike in northern Iraq at the time. 

September 21,  2010

VENEZUELAN CARDINAL JORGE UROSA SAVINO URGES ELECTORS TO VOTE "FOR A BETTER COUNTRY" 

   CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino stressed the importance of voters’ participation in the election to be held on Sunday in order to elect a Parliament that encompasses all sector.

    Caracas Archbishop, Jorge Cardinal Urosa Savino, urged the nearly 18 million electors who have the right to vote in Sunday's parliament election to participate massively. He is confident that the vote is secret. In his view, the election to be held on September 26, represents an opportunity to elect a Parliament that encompasses all sectors, unlike the current National Assembly which only "represents the ruling party sector.

     He said that it is necessary to be confident that the vote is secret. ""Only God knows who we will vote for," he told the Venezuelan radio station Unión Radio. In his opinion, it is important that Venezuelans understand that "we are at a critical and decisive juncture, and we must participate." On the contrary, voters should be contributing with a system that "controls and dominates." Cardinal Urosa Savino said that President Chávez want to lead the country into a "Marxist-Leninist political system, that is, Communism. It has proven that it is fatal for all peoples."

CUBAN DICTATOR RAUL CASTRO FIRES BASIC INDUSTRY MINISTER YADIRA GARCIA VERA

      HAVANA, CUBA--Cuban DICTATOR Raúl Castro has fired Basic Industry Minister Yadira García Vera, a top Communist Party stalwart in charge of the critical power, petroleum, nickel and pharmaceutical industries. Castro proposed her dismissal because of shortcomings ``in the direction of the ministry, reflected especially in the weak control over resources,'' according to a government statement Sunday. The ruling Council of State endorsed the dismissal, the statement added.  García also sits on the 22-member Political Buro that rules the Communist Party and on the legislative National Assembly of People's Power. The statement did not mention her future in those organizations.

    The 54-year-old chemical engineer was named minister of basic industries in 2004 after her predecessor, Marcos Portal, was fired amid deep problems in the electricity and nickel sectors. Cuba faces a crushing economic crisis because of low prices for nickel exports -- one of its leading sources of hard currency -- as well as steep cuts on foreign financing and stagnant revenues from tourism and remittances. The Sunday announcement said Deputy Ministry of Basic Industries Tomás Benítez would replace García at the head of the ministry until a permanent successor is selected. Her dismissal continued Castro's streak of firing government and party officials since he officially succeeded his ailing older brother, Fidel Castro, in early 2008

    Yadira García had been considered one of the country's most powerful cabinet ministers, in charge of handling negotiations with foreign companies for offshore oil explorations critical to Cuba's future. Her ministry also was in charge of plans to more than double the production of a petroleum refinery in Cienfuegos, run by the Venezuelan and Cuban governments. In May 2009, García told the Communist Party's Granma newspaper that her ministry was gaining ground on efforts to reorganize the electricity sector and eliminate the lengthy blackouts that have bedeviled Cuban families for decades. The headline on the story was ``Cuba will not have blackouts in the future.'' Havana residents say that while the power outages indeed became less frequent, they continue sporadically.

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ MAKES OFFICIAL HIS REFUSAL TO ACCEPT INCOMING US AMBASSADOR LARRY

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA-The Venezuelan government sent a notice to the US government whereby it officially advises that it will not accept the ambassador appointed by US President Barack Obama and requested to choose anyone else, Venezuelan Ambassador to Washington Bernardo Álvarez reported on Monday.

    "It is not possible, considering what happened, to accept Mr. (Larry) Palmer as ambassador," read the notice sent last Friday to the US Department of State, as quoted by Álvarez to journalists.

      The United States keeps the door open to "send any other candidate to be considered by Venezuela," added the government of dictator Hugo Chávez, according to the Venezuelan ambassador to Washington. Chávez had reasserted the very Friday that his government would not accept Palmer as the new ambassador following his criticism of Venezuela in a questionnaire forwarded to him by US Representatives.

September 20,  2010

CUBAN ENVOY  CALLS "SCUM" THE POLITICAL PRISONERS EXPATRIATED TO SPAIN

   MADRID, SPAIN--The Cuban political prisoners who were freed and EXPATRIATED to SPAIN are "scum" creating problems, the Cuban ambassador to Spain Alejandro González Galiano said at a Communist Party seminar in San Fernando de Henares. Quoted by the Spanish daily El Mundo, González Galiano  denounced the efforts of several ex-inmates who are trying to convince the European Union to maintain its "common position" toward Cuba. That stance – "which Cuba totally rejects as meddlesome," according to González – conditions improved relations with Cuba on the Castro government's observance of human rights and the rule of law.

     When asked by journalists about Fidel Castro's recent statement that the Cuban model "doesn't even work for us," González said the leader's words were "manipulated" and that Castro "would never betray the principles of the banner of the Cuban revolution." "Fidel cannot err that way," the diplomat said. "Cuba will not renounce its revolution. We shall do everything that needs to be done [...] to perfect our system. Will Cuba make adjustments? Certainly. The world changes and we must be able to take the steps that may be necessary to solve the nation's economic problems, because no model can stand up if it is not successful from the socioeconomic point of view.

     The economy must be "more efficient," he said. "We have to remove paternalisms that no longer work. We even have to remove things that worked earlier in the Revolution and don't work today, that are a ballast, a burden to our system." Still, those "adjustments" do not mean "ever renouncing the social justice" of the Cuban system, González said.

IRAN DETAINS SEVEN U.S. TROOPS AFTER CROSSING INTO IRAN

      TEHRAN, IRAN--Iranian border guards detained seven U.S. troops as they tried to illegally enter the Islamic state, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday, without giving a source.

    "Recently seven American troops were detained by Iranian guards in a southeastern province of the country ... Two Iranians accompanying the troops were also arrested," said Fars. No other news agency reported the incident, which Fars said occurred in Sistan-Baluchestan, an impoverished province that borders Pakistan and Afghanistan.

     If confirmed, the incident would aggravate tension between Tehran and Washington, which have lacked diplomatic relations since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and are at odds over many issues particularly Iran's disputed nuclear program. Iran on Tuesday freed one of three Americans held for over a year ago for alleged spying. Sara Shourd was detained near Iran's border with Iraq in late July 2009 along with two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Their families say the three were on a mountain hike in northern Iraq at the time.

IRan denies detaining seven u.s. troops  AFTER CROSSING INTO IRAN

     TEHRAN, IRAN--Iran denied on Sunday that border guards had detained seven U.S. troops, calling the report "unfounded," the state-run English language Press TV said. The semi-official Fars news agency reported earlier in the day that border guards had detained seven U.S. troops as they tried to illegally enter the Islamic state. The agency later withdrew the story, which had given no source. Iran's Arabic-language television al-Alam quoted Iran's Revolutionary Guards, in charge of Iran's border security, as denying that any such incident had happened in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan.

    In Washington, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman said: "Reports by state-run Iranian media that seven U.S. soldiers were detained after crossing into Iran are false." A spokesman for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Captain Ryan Donald, said no U.S. soldiers were missing. The Fars report came at a time of high tension between Tehran and Washington, which have lacked diplomatic relations since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and are at odds over many issues particularly Iran's disputed nuclear program.

     Iran on Tuesday freed one of three Americans held for over a year ago for alleged spying. Sarah Shourd was detained near Iran's border with Iraq in late July 2009 along with two male companions, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Their families say the three were on a mountain hike in northern Iraq at the time. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York on Sunday to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting. The U.N. Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions against Tehran for refusing to suspend sensitive parts of its nuclear work that the United States and its allies suspect is aimed at developing weapons.  Iran denies this and refuses to halt its uranium enrichment program.

September 19,  2010

US COUPLE TRIED TO PASS NUCLEAR SECRETS TO VENEZUELA 

   WASHINGTON, D. C.--The US has charged a pair of former nuclear contractors with attempting to leak nuclear secrets to Venezuela.  The husband and wife team were arrested on Friday in New Mexico and accused of passing nuclear information to an FBI agent posing as a Venezuelan spy. US citizens Pedro and Marjorie Mascheroni were contractors at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a centre of US nuclear research. "The conduct alleged in this indictment is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation's nuclear secrets for profit," Assistant Attorney General David Kris said in a statement.

     Mr Mascheroni, a 75-year-old native of Argentina, worked as a scientist at Los Alamos from 1979 until 1988, when he was fired after criticising US nuclear research funding priorities, according to court documents.  This bizarre story appears to be the result of an elaborate sting, designed to catch a scientist with a long history of grievances against his employers at Los Alamos.  The FBI's statement makes it clear that it is not accusing the government of Venezuela of anything. But for over two years, an undercover FBI agent, posing as a Venezuelan official, held a number of conversations with Pedro Mascheroni, a naturalised American of Argentine origin, about plans to develop a nuclear weapon. According to the FBI, in November 2008, the physicist handed over a coded, 132-page document entitled A Deterrence Program for Venezuela.   He allegedly told his wife he was doing it for the money and no longer considered himself an American. Mrs Mascheroni was a technical writer and editor from 1981 to 2010, the justice department said.

     The pair had access to nuclear secrets, including material on the design and manufacture of nuclear weapons, it said. According to the justice department, in March 2008 Mr Mascheroni met an FBI agent posing as a Venezuelan intelligence operative named Luis Jimenez at a hotel in the US city of Santa Fe.   Mr Mascheroni allegedly said he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and a nuclear energy programme, and described a potential "umbrella" deterrent strategy for the Latin American nation. "Mascheroni told 'Jimenez' that after Venezuela conducted a test of its nuclear weapons, Venezuela could cause an explosion over New York that would result in an electromagnetic pulse that he contended would not kill anybody but would destroy all the electric power in New York," the federal indictment states. Mr.  Mascheroni asked about obtaining Venezuelan citizenship and said he hoped to be paid $800,000 (£512,000) for his services, the indictment states.

WHITE HOUSE REPORT: VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ FAILS TO  COMPLY WITH COUNTERNARCOTICS EFFORTS

      WASHINGTON, D.C.--Considering that a country has failed “demonstrably” to adhere to its obligations under international counternarcotics agreements, as in the case of Bolivia, Venezuela and Burma, could open the door to penalties

      The White House listed on Thursday two dozen countries, including three Latin American nations, as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries in a memorandum forwarded to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the memorandum, US President Barack Obama also reported that Bolivia and Venezuela has failed "demonstrably" to adhere to its obligations under international counternarcotics agreements; however, it will keep its aid programs.

    Pursuant to Foreign Relations Authorization Act, the US President should report each year on the nations identified as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries. The memorandum clarified that "a country's presence on the Majors List is not necessarily an adverse reflection of its government's counternarcotics efforts or level of cooperation with the United States.

DICTATOR CHAVEZ REBUTS WHITE HOUSE'S COUNTERNARCOTICS REPORT

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuela's DICTATOR Hugo Chávez refused on Friday a memorandum forwarded by the US Executive Office to the US Secretary of State, including Venezuela in a list of major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries.

    "I just authorized our Minister of Foreign Affairs to issue a press release on a new attack from the Yankee Empire. (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Nicolás (Maduro) told me that, weird enough, all of a sudden, the US Government released late last night (Thursday). The report hinted that they unilaterally have certified countries (concerning counternarcotics efforts). Who gave the United States that right? the president wondered during a rally at Alba Caracas hotel, aired on state-run TV channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).

     "If there were an objective agency in this world vested with the right to draft a list of countries (…) which violate whatever laws, which facilitate, which support terrorism, drug traffic, the US government would be top in the list, and now they put there any governments as they wish."

September 18,  2010

no word YET ON when WASHINGTON will unveil a long-expected expansion of us travel to cuba

   WASHINGTON, D. C.--The Obama administration has remained mum on when -- or if -- it will unveil a long-expected expansion of U.S. travel to Cuba, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Thursday. Peter Brennan, coordinator of Cuban affairs at the State Department, gave no indications at all on any changes in the travel policy when she and Mario Diaz-Balart met him Wednesday, Ros-Lehtinen said.  She said the South Florida Republicans requested the meeting because of the many news media reports that the administration plans to ease travel to Cuba.  Her understanding from Brennan was that there was ``no policy decisions that are ready to be announced,'' she said. ``But we know those changes are coming.''

    State Department spokeswoman Virginia Staab did not comment on the news media reports but said the administration ``remains committed to promoting policies that advance the Cuban people's desire to freely determine their country's future, that enhance the independence of the Cuban people, and that further the [U.S.] national interests. Mr. Brennan did not say anything to the contrary to members of Congress.'' Ros-Lehtinen said she and Diaz-Balart told Brennan they oppose softening the travel restrictions because that would only help the Cuban government ``at a time when the regime is very weak.'' The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and other news media have reported the White House had decided to ease restrictions on educational and cultural travel to Cuba. Some reports predicted the changes would be unveiled during the recent congressional recess, but no announcement was made. The Washington-based United States-Cuba Policy & Business Blog, which favors easing U.S. sanctions, reported Saturday that the White House had delayed the announcement until after the Nov. 2 elections.

South Florida Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Kendrick Meek -- who is a Senate candidate -- and Sen. Bill Nelson pushed for the delay to avoid hurting their party's chances, the blog added. Opposition from Cuban-American Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., also helped to delay the announcement, said a Democratic party operative. ``But it [the announcement] is still going to happen,'' he added.   Meanwhile, a bill that would lift all restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba remained in limbo, with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., telling reporters earlier this month that he's five short of the votes needed to send it to the full House. Berman said he was looking for the five votes, but the Washington blog said he was ``mostly half-hearted and not very inspiring . . . He may be `committed' to the issue but only to a point.''

dictator raul castro will EXPATRIATE  4 more political prisoners TO SPAIN

      havana, cuba--Cuba's Roman Catholic Church on Friday revealed the names of four more political prisoners to be released into exile in Spain, bringing to 36 the number freed and sent off the island under an agreement with President Raul Castro's government. The men are among 75 dissidents who were arrested in a March 2003 crackdown on organized political opposition and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. The charges included treason and conspiring with U.S. authorities to undermine Cuba's communist system.

    Under a once-unthinkable government deal with the church, which Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos helped facilitate, Cuba agreed on July 7 to release the remaining 52 prisoners still imprisoned from the crackdown.  Nelson Molinet Espino, Hector Raul Valle Hernandez, Miguel Galvan Gutierrez and Jose Miguel Martinez Hernandez will be freed as soon and flown to Spain, Cuban church official Orlando Marquez said in a statement.

    That means all 36 former prisoners released so far will have elected to head to Spain with their families. One then continued on to Chile and settled there. That leaves just 16 awaiting release some nine weeks after the agreement - though some political prisoners have been offered freedom but declined to leave their country. It is not clear if those released subsequently will be exiled or if some will be allowed to stay in Cuba - and how long their releases will take is also

five men arrested BY BRITISH POLICE over potential threat to pope benedict xvi 

     LONDON, ENGLAND--Five men were arrested Friday by British police over a potential threat to Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of his four-day visit to the U.K. Police confirmed the arrests in a statement Friday, which revealed the men were detained by Scotland Yard detectives about 5.45am local time "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism." The statement continued: "The men are aged 26, 27, 36, 40, and 50, and were arrested ... at [a] business premises in central London."

     The men -- reported to be of Arabic origin by Sky News -- were taken to a central London police station to be interviewed by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Counter Terrorism Command. Police were searching the business premises on Friday, and residential premises in north and east London. Police said initial searches failed to uncover any hazardous items. The arrests have led to a review of the Pope's security arrangements, however police "are satisfied that our current policing plan remains appropriate.

     The Pope's itinerary has not changed and there is no change to the U.K. terror threat level.  The security operation to protect the pope during his trip was expected to cost about $2.3 million. London's Metropolitan Police Fixated Threat Assessment Center (FTAC) has been monitoring people who they believe could threaten the pope's safety, including people suffering from mental instability. Officers coordinated with the Vatican to discuss security arrangements for the pope's visit. The task was complicated by the pontiff’s varied itinerary, which includes many sites around the U.K.

September 17,  2010

US OKs $30 MILLION IN MILITARY AID TO COLOMBIA

   WASHINGTON, D. C.--Citing improvements in Colombia's human rights record, the Obama administration on Wednesday freed up more than $30 million in assistance to the country's military to help it fight leftist insurgents and other drug-funded illegal armed groups. The administration said Colombia's government had curbed what had been a growing number of extrajudicial killings and taken other steps to prove it is serious about protecting human rights. The finding allows the administration to send $30.3 million to the Colombian armed forces that had been withheld over human rights concerns.

    U.S. officials said the money would go to support military aviation, ground and maritime programs as well as training for peacekeepers and equipment. Some human rights groups had urged the administration not to release the funds, arguing that Colombia has yet to rein in abuses by its security forces.  But the State Department said that despite some shortcomings, particularly involving impunity for rights violators, continuing threats against human rights activists and the use of illegal wiretapping, there had been demonstrable progress.

    "Though there continues to be a need for improvement, the Colombian government has taken positive steps to improve respect for human rights in the country," it said in a statement. "Firm direction by the government that extrajudicial killings will not be tolerated has led to a rapid reversal in this disturbing trend." A State Department official added that new Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos had also engaged with labor and civil society groups to improve the situation as well as proposing "monumental legislation" to return to displaced peasants millions of stolen acres of farmland. The official was not authorized to speak on the record.

CARLOS ALBERTO MONTANER: RAUL CASTRO IS PRESIDING OVER THE DISMANTLING OF BIG BROTHER FIDEL'S LEGACY 

      MIAMI, FLORIDA--Monday's announcement that the Cuban government plans to lay off 500,000 workers -- 10 percent of its workforce -- is not so much a step toward political reform but a fight for survival, El Nuevo Herald columnist Carlos Alberto Montaner said. It's an assault on Fidel, who in 1968 closed small and medium-sized businesses in a big step toward central control of the economy.

     Montaner offered this analysis at a luncheon address to the region's political and business leaders at the end of the two-day conference at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. ``We are in the first phase of the de-Fidelization of the country, without even waiting for the physical disappearance of the maximum leader,'' Montaner said.  ``In Stalin's Russia, they did not begin to criticize his economic nonsense while the dictator lived. With Fidel, as a consequence of his illness and, curiously, recovery, the process of criticism and demolition has begun beforehand while he is alive and watching the spectacle.''

    The plan is Raúl Castro's boldest move yet to overcome Cuba's economic crisis by cutting government spending and broadening the role of market forces in the communist-run country. Under the plan announced Monday, about 200,000 jobs would be generated by turning small state enterprises into private cooperatives run by employees. Another 250,000 jobs would be created by allowing more ``self-employment'' -- mostly one-person jobs such as plumbers, flower salesmen and piano tuners. But Montaner doubts that Cuba has the infrastructure -- such as capital or supplies -- to make the plan work. Quoting 19th century French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, he said: ``This type of regime shudders and collapses when it tries to change, not when it stays quiet and indifferent in the middle of disaster.''

IMPRISONED VENEZUELA JUDGE MARIA LOURDES AFIUNI DEMANDS JUSTICE FROM DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--María Lourdes Afiuni, a Venezuelan judge who is in prison, sent a letter to Venezuela’s dictator explaining the reasons why she decided to engage in civil disobedience. “I am being judged for acting within the framework of my constitutional competence, in due process of law after authorizing the release pending trial” of a banker

    Imprisoned Judge María Lourdes Afiuni sent a new letter to President Hugo Chávez Frías explaining the reasons why she decided to engage in civil disobedience and demanding respect for her human rights. "I ask for justice and as long as I do not have (a fair trial), I have decided to engage in civil disobedience."

    She said that she is facing trial "for acting within the framework of my constitutional competence, in due process of law after authorizing the release pending trial (of a banker), and under the recommendations of international human rights organizations that must be met by the Venezuelan government, under Article 23 of our Constitution." "I am a woman and an honest judge, Mr. President. The Attorney General Office acknowledged it in my preliminary hearing when it determined that I had received neither money nor promises."

September 16,  2010

EUROPEAN UNION THREATENS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST FRANCE FOR ROMA DEPORTATION

   BRUSSELS, BELGIUM--The EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding on Tuesday threatened legal action against France for its deportation of Roma [JURIST news archive], calling the initiative "a disgrace." Reding's statement, which came one day after French media leaked [Le Canard Social report, in French] an interior ministry circular document directing a priority of clearing Roma from illegal camps, criticizes France's discrimination against the Roma and insists that the systematic deportation of the ethnic group is "in violation of EU law." Reding stressed that the European Commission (EC) [official website] has been following the situation in France very closely. Reding said she was "appalled" by the contradicting statements made by French ministers Eric Besson and Pierre Lellouche, who previously assured [French Embassy report] the EC that specific ethnic groups had not been targeted:

    I can only express my deepest regrets that the political assurances given by two French ministers officially mandated to discuss this matter with the European Commission are now openly contradicted by an administrative circular issued by the same government. Let me be very clear: Discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or race has no place in Europe. It is incompatible with the values on which the European Union is founded. National authorities who discriminate ethnic groups in the application of EU law are also violating the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which all Member States, including France, have signed up to.

    In response to Reding's statements, French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bernard Valero expressed  his "astonishment" at the accusations. Reding says that the next step for the European Commission will be legal sanctions against France, including infringement proceedings for a discriminatory application of the Free Movement Directive [text, PDF]. Formal legal proceedings are expected in the coming weeks. France has defended its handling of the Roma, saying only few cases result in forced deportation and that France was helping those displaced reintegrate into their countries of origin. In July, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered measures against illegal Roma communities in France and announced legislation [JURIST report] that would make deportation easier. At the time, the French government aimed to dismantle half of illegal Roma camps within three months and to immediately deport all those found to have broken the law.

LACK OF INVESTMENT IS THE REASON FOR FIRES IN "PETROLEOS DE VENEZUELA" (PDVSA) FACILITIES

      CARACAS, VENEZUELA--In the opinion of José Toro Hardy, a former senior director of state-run holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), the fires that blew up in three Pdvsa facilities in less than one week are not casual events. He regards them as the result of having dumped skilled staff, in addition to the failure to make timely investments intended to keep refineries in good working order.  "Not a single one" of Venezuela's refineries has been saved from similar events. He quoted, for instance, failures in the catalytic cracking plants in the refineries of Cardón, Amuay and El Palito.

     Despite forecasts, the oil expert fears that the problem will be more and more frequent, "until it is understood that the industry is a serious business and that political speeches do not prevent accidents." "If you buy a new car and decide to fire the mechanic, and at the same time, you do not conduct maintenance, probably the car will do well for some time, but later on, it will start breaking down. This is exactly what is going on with the Venezuelan oil industry." While Pdvsa has ruled out any untoward effects on fuel supply, Toro Hardy said that in the case of Curacao, it forms part of the Venezuelan refining system. "Many of the components needed to manufacture gasoline in Venezuela are produced in Isla refinery," he said.

    As for domestic refineries, "if they are not working, most of the barrel cannot be converted into light oil; consequently, it is traded as low-value products in the market," Toro Hardy told El Universal. The expert is worried about the situation of the domestic oil industry and recalled that Pdvsa used to be the second largest oil company in the world. Today, however, the numbers provided by the Executive Office are not reliable.  "In general terms, we can see a very indebted Pdvsa that has mistaken its mission of exploring, producing and trading oil, and tries instead many functions that are not inherent in it."

VENEZUELAN OIL MINISTER: USD 100 PER BARREL IS A FAIR PRICE FOR OIL

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Rafael Ramírez, Minister of Petroleum and Energy and also the president of the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa), said that pricing by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should be handled with caution, because the factors that affect the world oil market should be taking into account.

     Rafael Ramirez, the president of state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela and Venezuelan Minister of Energy and Petroleum said on Tuesday that USD 100 per barrel is a fair price for crude oil at the present time. "One hundred dollars per barrel is a fair price because it would reward the value of our natural resource and sustain the important investments that all oil producing countries must make in order to maintain our production capabilities," Ramirez said, according to the state-run news agency Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN).

     Ramírez commented after a speech on OPEC's 50th anniversary, that pricing by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) should be handled with caution, because the factors that affect the world oil market should be taking into account. "We know that oil prices are being affected by factors other than the so-called oil market fundamentals; for instance financial speculation or a weak dollar. All these elements are very tied to people's perceptions about economic troubles, particularly about the US economy and the Euro area. We are closely following all these factors to make (the appropriate) decisions," Ramírez said. "We have a de facto oil price floor that average USD 70," the minister added.

September 15,  2010

CUBAN JOBS GOING PRIVATE IN OVERHAUL   

   HAVANA, CUBA--The Cuban government will dismiss more than 500,000 workers -- a whopping 10 percent of its payroll -- but will reportedly allow a major expansion of private economic activity in what would amount to the most significant overhaul undertaken by Raúl Castro. The half-million state employees will be cut by April 1, according to an announcement Monday from Cuba Workers' Central, the government-controlled confederation of labor unions. The communist government also plans to allow a significant increase in private economic activity in hopes of creating 450,000 nonstate jobs by the end of 2011, the Reuters news agency reported from Havana.

     The two changes would amount to the most substantial initiatives undertaken by Castro to pull the economy -- 95 percent controlled by the communist government -- out of its worst crisis in two decades. Overall, they indicate a government decision to turn small state enterprises such as repair shops into cooperatives run by their employees, and expand the number of self-employed such as plumbers and wedding photographers. Dissident economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe said Castro's reforms so far have been so small and shallow that he doubts the goal of creating 450,000 private-sector jobs next year will be met. ``We need much stronger, deeper measures, like allowing the establishment of small- and medium-sized enterprises,'' Espinosa said by telephone from Havana. But there's so much pent-up demand for almost everything in Cuba that the shift from state to private sector employment is likely to succeed, said Julia Sweig, a Cuba expert with the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations. ``There will be an adjustment period, for sure,'' Sweig said at a news conference Monday. ``But the private sector is going to absorb them very, very rapidly.'' The Cuba Workers' Central statement said economic plans for 2011-2015 ``project the reduction of more than 500,000 workers from the government and state enterprise sectors'' by the end of March. Rumors of the massive layoffs had been sweeping Cuba for several months already.

    Castro earlier this year acknowledged a surplus of more than one million workers on the payrolls of the government and state-run enterprises. About five million people work for the state -- 85 percent of the overall labor force in a country of 11.2 million people. The government also will expand the possibility of obtaining private sector jobs through arrangements such as ``rents, leases [of farm lands], cooperatives and self-employment'' in hopes of creating ``hundreds of thousands of jobs in coming years,'' the CTC added. The statement did not detail those plans, but an exclusive report by Reuters in Havana said the government plans to allow a significant increase in private economic activity, which now accounts for only about 600,000 jobs.

U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENTS IN "FIREFIGHT" WITH MEXICAN GANG

      SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS-- U.S. Border Patrol agents fired gunshots into Mexico after coming under attack during a half-ton drug bust and giving chase to a truck along the Rio Grande, U.S. authorities said Monday. No Border Patrol agents were hurt during the "fire fight" early Saturday in Mission, agency spokeswoman Rosalinda Huey said. She did not say whether Border Patrol gunfire hit anyone, citing the ongoing investigation. "The firing they received came from the Mexican side," Huey said. Huey said several Border Patrol agents, at least some of whom were patrolling in boats, were seizing a half-ton of marijuana when they came under gunfire. Federal officials said the shots from Mexico began when a truck that was being chased by another group of Border Patrol agents entered the area.

    FBI special agent Jorge Cisneros said the truck, which was on the U.S. side, appeared to be connected to the drug seizure. He said the gunfire from Mexico was a "direct result" of Border Patrol agents doing their jobs.  "We're obviously concerned with what happened, that they would be shooting from the Mexico side to us," Cisneros said. Federal officials did not release how many agents were involved, how many shots were fired or the number of shooters on the Mexico side. Cisneros said the FBI was working with Mexico authorities, including the Mexican military and the Tamaulipas state police, to determine what happened. It was at least the second time in three months that Border Patrol agents in Texas have fired into Mexico. In June, a Border Patrol agent fatally shot a 15-year-old Mexican boy after authorities say a group trying to illegally enter Texas threw rocks at officers near downtown El Paso.

     Reports of bullets whizzing across the border from Mexico also are on the rise. At least eight bullets have been fired into El Paso in the last few weeks from the rising violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where drug violence has killed more than 4,000 people since 2009, making it one of the deadliest cities in the world. Cisneros said he can recall a handful of times in the last few years that gunfire from Mexico has crossed over the border. He said Border Patrol agents "have always been very good about not shooting back unless there is a life-threatening situation." Huey who would not say whether the agents involved in the shooting still were on patrol. She said agents are authorized to fire their weapons any time they feel lives are at risk, even into Mexico. "As long as our agents feel their life is in danger, they are allowed lethal (force)," she said.

IRAN RELEASES AMERICAN HIKER, LAWYER SAYS

     TEHRAN, IRAN--American Sarah Shourd left Iran Tuesday after Iranian authorities freed her from the Iranian prison where she has been held since July 2009, her lawyer told CNN.  Masoud Shafii said he was with a smiling Shourd when she was released from Evin Prison late Tuesday afternoon and that bail had been posted. She was handed over to Swiss authorities. The United States and Iran do not have formal relations, and Switzerland serves as the "protecting power" for Washington in Tehran. Shourd, wearing a red head scarf, did not have any belongings with her, Shafii said. Her release was bittersweet because she was leaving behind companions Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. Shourd told Shaffi she wished all three were walking out together.

     Iranian prison officials who processed her release gathered to say goodbye to her and wish her well, Shaffi said. One official told her he hoped never to see her again in the notorious Tehran prison. Shroud was heading to Oman, where her bail was posted, according to Iranian state-run media. The bail had been set at $500,000. Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told Iran's Press TV that Shourd's "representatives" paid her bail to an Iranian bank in Muscat, Oman, after which a judge ordered her release.  Shourd left Iran later Tuesday on a chartered flight to Muscat, Oman, the Swiss ambassador said. Shourd, 32, was detained along with fellow U.S. citizens Bauer, 28, and Fattal, 28, after they allegedly strayed across an unmarked border into Iran while hiking in Iraq's Kurdistan region. Iran accused the three of spying, a charge the United States denies.  Dolatabadi said Tuesday that Bauer, who is Shourd's fiance, and Fattal will remain in jail until their trial. The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the detention for the two Americans had been extended by two months. Iran had said Shourd would be freed once the $500,000 bail was paid. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley made it clear Washington would play no role in paying the bail.

     A judge decided to allow Shourd to be released on bail because of her medical condition, IRNA said Sunday, citing Dolatabadi. Shourd had a pre-existing gynecological problem, and her family says she now also has a lump in her breast, according to Shafii. Iranian officials have apparently changed their stance on Shourd's release several times since last week. Iranian officials had announced Thursday that Shourd would be released on Saturday, at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. But state media announced Friday that the release had been called off because legal procedures had not yet been resolved. Some analysts said it was not a coincidence that Shourd's release comes as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is about to attend the U.N. General Assembly's meeting later this month. "I think President Ahmadinejad really wanted to use this as a way of building up a store of goodwill just before he comes to New York," said Gary Sick, a professor at Columbia University and a former National Security Council Iran analyst.

September 14,  2010

cuban dictator fidel castro calls french president sarkozy 'crazy,' questions control over nukes

   HAVANA, CUBA--French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears to be going "crazy," Cuban leader Fidel Castro said in an article published Monday, suggesting that Sarkozy could not be trusted with his finger on the nuclear trigger. Castro's article, published in the Mexican daily La Jornada, denounced Sarkozy for the expulsion of Roma gypsies, which he called "the gypsy holocaust.

    He pointed out that France is the world's third biggest nuclear power and said Sarkozy carries around a briefcase with the launch codes for an arsenal of more than 300 atomic weapons. "Suppose that Sarkozy suddenly goes crazy, as appears to be happening. What would the UN Security Council do in that case with Sarkozy and his briefcase?" Castro asked. "Does it make any moral or ethical sense to launch an attack on Iran, which is condemned for its supposed intention to make bombs of this type? Where is the sense and logic of this policy?"

    Castro went on to ask, "What would happen if the French far right decides to force Sarkozy to maintain a racist policy contrary to the norms of the European Community?" "Would the UN Security Council answer those two questions?" he added. France has deported almost 1000 Roma migrants to Bulgaria and Romania since a hardline speech last month by Sarkozy, and more than 8000 Roma have been deported since the beginning of the year, after 9875 were expelled in 2009.

PERUVIAN PRESIDENT ALAN GARCIA SAYS THE CUBAN MODEL IS INDEFENSIBLE AND INAPPLICABLE IN THESE TIMES

       LIMA, PERU--President Alan García of Peru on Sunday said he agreed with the statement made by Cuban President Fidel Castro that "the Cuban model doesn't even work for ourselves."

     "Can anyone defend a model without freedoms, without a free press, without political parties, without a world presence and with state ownership and led by those who rule the state? I think not," García said, during a press gaggle reported by the Peruvian newspaper La República.  The president said people shouldn't try to reinterpret Castro's statement, but rather analyze if such a model is applicable in these times.

     "I think not," he repeated. "I want for all countries what my country has: clean elections, free political parties and press, above all. If there is no free press, there is no freedom or democracy. Above all, there is misery."

MEXICO SAYS SOME DRUG CAPOS NOW SURRENDERING WITHOUT A FIGHT WHEN SURROUNDED

     MEXICO CITY, MEXICO--Mexico's capture of two rival drug gang leaders in two weeks may mark a new trend in the country's drug war, an official said Monday: drug lords surrendering without a fight when surrounded.  Drug lords — once notorious for dying in a blaze of bullets — have started surrendering, said Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Jose Luis Vergara. The capture of the rivals also may help allay suspicions that the government hits one gang while leaving its rivals alone.  "The criminals are no longer putting up resistance" when surrounded, Vergara said, referring to Sunday's arrest of Sergio Villarreal Barragan, a leader of the Beltran-Leyva drug cartel.

    Villarreal was taken by about 30 Mexican marines without a shot fired in a raid at a house in the central state of Puebla on Sunday. That came a little over two weeks after the Aug. 30 arrest of his rival, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a U.S.-born trafficker known as "La Barbie," who also gave up when stopped by police. "I think it is a sensible attitude on their part not to resist," Vergara said, referring to two previous capos — Arturo Beltran Leyva and Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel — who died while trying to fight off marines and soldiers. I think the case of 'Nacho' Coronel was a watershed. I think that the drug gangs now know very well the federal government has the superior force needed to arrest them, and that is why they are not putting up resistance," Vergara said at a news conference in which Villarreal Barragan was presented before the cameras.

     The unsmiling Villarreal Barragan towered over marines flanking him, living up to his nickname "El Grande," or "the Big One." Vergara said he was also known "King Kong" and "The Child Eater," for reasons that are not clear. He appears on an Attorney General's Office list of Mexico's most-wanted drug traffickers, with a reward of just over $2 million, and he faces at least seven formal investigations into alleged drug trafficking and organized crime. He is considered the second-in-command to Hector Beltran Leyva, who leads the cartel following the death of his brother Arturo.  Villarreal Barragan and Valdez Villarreal — who are not related — were bitter enemies, whose dispute led to bloodshed across the southern state of Morelos and Guerrero as they fought for territory.

September 13,  2010

IRAN TO FREE JAILED AMERICAN HIKER ON $500,OOO BAIL, PRISON TIME EXTENDED FOR TWO OTHERS

   TEHRAN, IRAN--Iranian authorities are prepared to release on $500,000 bail one of three American hikers held since last year, Tehran's chief prosecutor said Sunday. However, the trio was formally charged at a morning session with espionage and trespassing into Iran, and the detention of the other two Americans was extended for two months, the hikers' defense attorney told The Times. "All my clients pleaded not guilty and did not accept the charges," attorney Massoud Shafii said in a telephone interview, adding that the three were in "good spirits."

    Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi told reporters Sunday that bail had been set at the equivalent of $500,000 for Sarah E. Shourd, according to various Iranian news agencies attending a briefing. But he also said the "order of arrest for the other two American nationals has been extended." The 32-year-old woman was arrested more than 13 months ago along with Americans Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer along the Iran-Iraq border during what relatives of the detainees called an ill-fated hiking trip in northern Iraq.

     Shafii said he was upbeat about Shourd's imminent release and predicted she'd be allowed to leave the country at once, though the prosecutor said she'd be expected to show up for any trial. Her lawyer said he had contacted his client's family and informed the Swiss Embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Iran in the absence of formal relations between Washington and Tehran, "to procure the $500,000" for her release. Iranian officials, under the authority of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had days earlier said Shourd would be released Saturday morning. However, in a stark illustration of Iran's political infighting, they backtracked after the powerful judiciary said the investigation of her case had not been completed. On Sunday, Dowlatabadi said Ahmadinejad's team had failed to "coordinate with us" regarding Shourd's release.

iranian diplomat resigns in finland

       tehran, iran-- A senior diplomat at the Iranian embassy in Finland said on Saturday he had resigned to join the political opposition movement against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Alizadeh, who said he was number two at Iran's embassy in Helsinki, became the second Iranian diplomat in Europe to join the opposition movement this year following the disputed presidential election in 2009. "I have resigned definitively in protest -- I am no longer an Iranian diplomat," Alizadeh said by telephone from Finland.

    Alizadeh's resignation was announced on Friday by the Green Wave, founded by Paris-based Iranian exile Amir Hossein Jahanchahi. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the semi-official Fars news agency on Saturday that the issue was being investigated. "Hossein Alizadeh's posting ended on August 20. But he had asked for an extension of his stay until his children's exams were finished," Mehmanparast said, when asked about reports of the diplomat's resignation.

    Alizadeh's announcement followed the resignation in January of Mohammed Reza Heydari, an Iranian consular official in Norway, who claimed political asylum and has since joined the Green Wave opposition movement in exile. Iran's reformist "Green" movement accuses Ahmadinejad of stealing the June 2009 election from opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi and crushing political opponents. The disputed poll was followed by months of anti-government protests, but there have been no major rallies in Iran since December when eight people were killed in clashes with security forces.

venezuela's cne will not investigate complaints filed by director vicente diaz agains dictator hugo chavez

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--According to CNE directors Tibisay Lucena, Sandra Oblitas, Tania D'Amelio and Socorro Hernández, the Venezuelan president, governors and municipal authorities and public employees at any level "are political players and individuals, and the Constitution and laws enable them to exercise this right" during the election campaign.

     Article 17 of the Regulation on Election Campaign N°6 provides that public employees, in general, work for the State and not for "any political partisanship" and therefore, they are not allowed to "act in the exercise of public function, guided by their political preferences in favor or against any organization or candidate." However, the electoral directors determined that the actions of the Head of State do not circumvent electoral regulation.

    Díaz, however, does not share this interpretation. He said that President Chávez should not participate in proselytizing activities that could be interpreted as official events.   Meanwhile, Lucena confirmed that the directors of the National Electoral Council (CNE) will subpoena executive officers of private TV station Televen, Globovisión and NGO Ojo Electoral (Electoral Eye).

September 12,  2010

JOFFREY GOLDBERG RATIFIES THAT FIDEL CASTRO TOLD HIM THAT THE CUBAN MODEL DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE

   WASHINGTON, D.C.--According to CNN, CUBAN DICTATOR Fidel Castro is claiming that Jeffrey Goldberg  misunderstood his statement, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore". In a speech at the University of Havana that was then broadcast on Cuban TV, Castro said he meant "exactly the opposite" of what was understood by Jeffrey Goldberg, who was interviewing him for The Atlantic.

     On Friday, Castro said he was correctly quoted, but that, "in reality, my answer meant exactly the opposite of what both American journalists interpreted regarding the Cuban model.  Goldberg’s  idea, as the whole world knows, is that the capitalist system no longer works for the United States or the world," he said. "How could such a system work for a socialist country like Cuba?" Castro called Goldberg "a great journalist." "He does not invent phrases, he transfers them and interprets them," he said. "I await with interest his extensive article." Jeffrey Goldberg ‘s response was, “first, thank you very much, Fidel, for the kind words. Second, I'm sorry to say it, but I think the expression, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" means, "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."

     Fidel says that his answer meant "exactly the opposite" of what Julia Sweig and Goldberg  heard him say. Goldberg said: “just as a language experiment, here is what the opposite of his statement would sound like: ‘The Cuban model works so well for us that we want to export it.’ But he didn't say this. What he said was -- well, you've read what he said. I'm not sure how this statement --accurately quoted, according to Fidel -- could mean anything other than what it means.”

FORMER DICTATOR fidel castro accuses france of 'racial holocaust' 

       havana, cuba--Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro accused France Friday of carrying out a "racial holocaust" over its expulsion of Roma migrants back to their homes in eastern Europe. "The last thing one would expect is the news of the expulsion of French gypsies, who are victims of the cruelty of the extreme rightwing in France," Castro said at an event to promote the second volume of his autobiography. Some 7,000 migrants are "victims of another kind of racial holocaust," Castro said.

    France launched in August a controversial crackdown on illegal Roma and gypsy camps across the country, leading to hundreds of people being flown back to Romania and Bulgaria despite fierce criticism by human rights organizations.  "Strong protests in France are essential (to counter the expulsions), especially when at the same time millionaires are limiting the rights to retirement and reducing employment opportunities," Castro added, referring to recent plans to raise the retirement age in France from 60 to 62. Earlier this week, Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, likened France's rhetoric on the issue to that used by the Nazi and fascist regimes.

     The European Parliament meanwhile adopted a resolution emphasizing "the right of all EU citizens and their families to free movement and residence throughout the EU, a right which is a fundamental aspect of EU citizenship." Euro MPs also stressed that "mass expulsions are prohibited" under EU law, "since they amount to discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity." France has deported almost 1,000 Roma migrants to Bulgaria and Romania since President Nicolas Sarkozy's government launched a high-profile security crackdown. More than 8,000 Roma have been deported from France since the beginning of the year, with 9,875 expelled throughout last year.

france slams fidel castro's 'racial holocaust' charge on gypsy migrant expulsions 

     PARIS, FRANCE--FRANCE has criticised FORMER DICTATOR Fidel Castro for accusing France of "racial holocaust" regarding its expulsion of Roma migrants, saying the former Cuban leader's words are "unacceptable".  "The use of 'holocaust' by Mr Castro demonstrates his ignorance of history and disdain towards its victims," French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said today."Such words are unacceptable." Castro's pro-Roma, holocaust comment came days after his entirely unexpected defense of the Jewish people and Israel. On Tuesday, the retired dictator criticized strongly Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust and supported Israel's right to exist.

     In a rare interview with Jewish-American reporter Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, the ailing 84-year-old leader said he sympathized with the Jews who have suffered from repeated persecution over the course of history. "The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours," Castro said. "There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust." Last month, France launched a controversial crackdown on illegal Roma and gypsy camps across the country, leading to hundreds of people being flown back to Romania and Bulgaria. "That Fidel Castro shows an interest in human rights is truly revolutionary," Valero said.  Speaking in Havana yesterday, Mr Castro said gypsies in France "are victims of the cruelty of the extreme right wing in France" and "victims of another kind of racial holocaust".

     Earlier this week, Thomas Hammarberg, commissioner for human rights of the Council of Europe, likened France's rhetoric on the issue to that used by the Nazi and fascist regimes.  Meanwhile, the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution emphasising "the right of all (European Union) citizens and their families to free movement and residence throughout the EU, a right which is a fundamental aspect of EU citizenship". Euro MPs also stressed that "mass expulsions are prohibited" under EU law, "since they amount to discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity". The French Government maintains it has been scrupulous in observing national and EU laws. France has deported almost 1000 Roma migrants to Bulgaria and Romania since President Nicolas Sarkozy's government launched a high-profile security crackdown. More than 8000 Roma have been deported from France since the beginning of the year, with 9875 expelled last year.

September 11,  2010

FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO NOW SAYS THAT HE WAS MISINTERPRETED ON CUBAN MODEL

   HAVANA, CUBA--FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR Fidel Castro said now that his comments about the Cuban economic model no longer working were misinterpreted by a visiting American journalist - taking back an admission that caused a stir around the globe. The 84-year-old ex-dictator  said he was not misquoted but meant "the opposite" of what he was reported as having said by The Atlantic magazine reporter Jeffrey Goldberg. Goldberg wrote Wednesday that during three days of interviews with Castro in Havana last month, he asked the former leader over lunch and wine if Cuba's communist system was still worth exporting to other countries. He said Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore."  

    Castro read from Goldberg's blog during an event at the University of Havana and said he was misunderstood. "I expressed it to him without bitterness or worry. It's funny to me now how he interpreted it, word for word, and how he consulted with Julia Sweig, who accompanied him and gave a theory," Castro told those assembled. "The reality is, my answer meant the opposite of what both American journalists interpreted about the Cuban model." Sweig, a Cuba expert at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations who came to Cuba with Goldberg, confirmed Castro's comment earlier this week, telling The Associated Press it was in line with calls by Raul Castro, Fidel's brother and successor as president, for gradual but widespread economic and labor reform on the island. Goldberg blogged that Sweig told him Raul Castro "is already loosening the state's hold on the economy."

     Cuba's former "Maximum Leader" maintained Friday that wasn't what he meant at all. "My idea, as the whole world knows, is that the capitalist system no long works - neither for the United States nor the world, which it steers from crisis to crisis, which are ever more serious, global and repetitive, and from which there is no escape," Castro said. "How could such a system work for a socialist country like Cuba?" Castro said Goldberg missed the irony in his quip and took issue for the same reason with a a Goldberg blog entry from Tuesday, when he wrote that during another conversation, Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis - including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States. "He didn't mention many other aspects of our conversations," Castro said Friday. "I will respect the confidentiality of the matters we discussed while waiting with great interest his extensive article."

failed statism in cuba is gaining ground in venezuela

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Former Cuba's dictator Fidel Castro admitted on Wednesday that the system he promoted in his country for decades is not feasible. Castro said that "the Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." This statement is important for Venezuela, where the government is implementing a model aimed at reducing dramatically the private sector's share in the economy, expand the role of the State and, according to President Hugo Chávez, "bury capitalism."

    Based on a report issued by the Central Bank of Venezuela, a comparison of the results in the second quarter of 2010 with the results in the same period in 2007, shows that the private GDP dropped by 5 percent. For its part, public GDP has significantly increased to 25 percent. Government policies such as seizures of businesses, the establishment of a state-owned marketing network and the withdrawal of the private sector in an adverse business climate characterized by government control pave the way for the expansion of the public sector.

    Emeterio Gómez, an economist and professor with the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), considers that "Chávez adopted Marxism and class struggle, but it must be noted that although the importance of the State has grown, it has tried to create alternative forms of ownership, such as communal ownership and social production enterprises."  Nevertheless, the UCV scholar said that these initiatives usually fail.

farc mounts offensive, 45 soldiers, policemen AND GUERRILLAS killed over the past week 

     BOGOTA, COLOMBIA--Forty-five Colombian police, soldiers and guerrilla fighters have been killed over the past week as leftist rebels launch attacks meant to show they are still a threat after an eight-year U.S.-backed security push. Colombians have come to expect a step-up in guerrilla violence at times of government transitions. But even with 45 deaths in one week, the current wave of assaults has had less impact than those seen during past changes in government. The more than four-decades-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has staged several attacks this month. In one, it rocketed a police convoy, dousing the corpses of 14 officers with gasoline and torching them. In another, it struck a police station with homemade missiles, killing six.

     Both hit-and-run attacks occurred in the southern province of Narino, a drug smuggling hub near Ecuador's border. But the raids were a far cry from past sieges in which whole towns were taken, bridges destroyed and dozens of people kidnapped. "What we are seeing now is on a much smaller scale than what occurred during past government transitions," said Bogota-based security analyst Alfredo Rangel. "The guerrillas want to show that they are still a threat. What they are showing is really the opposite," he added.

    Previous President Alvaro Uribe was seen as a hero by many for pushing the guerrillas out of the cities and off the highways, making the country safer for investment and sparking an oil and mining boom. His anti-rebel crackdown was helped by billions of dollars in mostly military aid from the United States. Investors are embracing Santos' policies aimed at consolidating Uribe's security gains, sparking economic growth and cutting Colombia's nagging fiscal deficits. But Wednesday night TV news shows were once again filled with images of violence after a package bomb exploded outside government offices in the town of Pasto, leaving windows shattered and 12 people hurt. Authorities blamed the FARC.  Santos has meanwhile moved to improve ties with neighbors Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama and Brazil, part of a drive to seek regional cooperation in the war against the FARC.

September 10,  2010

IRANIANS UNAWARE FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO HAS TAKEN UP THEIR CAUSE

   TEHRAN, IRAN--FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR Fidel Castro's warnings of a looming war between the United States and Iran have Cuba buzzing with fears of nuclear Armageddon. But the revolutionary icon's alarming predictions have barely registered in the place where it might matter most: Iran. The former Cuban dictator  emerged from four years of seclusion in July, at one point predicting that war would break out before the end of the World Cup soccer tournament, which is now nearly two months past. Since then, he has described U.S. and Israeli efforts to ensure Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon - and Iran's defiant insistence it is merely developing nuclear energy, and has a right to do so.  Castro noted some Israeli and U.S. analysts have hinted at a pre-emptive strike on Iran, and he says the standoff has put the world on the brink of annihilation. "Even a nuclear conflict between two of the weakest nuclear powers would be enough," Castro wrote, "and the human species would disappear."

    The nuclear alarms have put the 84-year-old ex-president back in the world's gaze. but the doomsday discussion has received almost no coverage - official or otherwise in Iran itself. Of 20 people interviewed in Iran's capital over several days, none was aware of Castro's campaign, and many didn't know what to make of it. Masoud Kermani, a 29-year-old teacher, said it could mean the former Cuban leader had found God. "When people get old and are approaching death, they talk about doomsday more than before," Kermani said in downtown Tehran. "Castro, after a long period of denying religion, now is talking like a saint." Others said they had not heard about Castro's predictions, but did not dismiss the threat. "Iran should take any comments seriously, no matter who is talking about it," said Mohammed Reza Razeqi, a 23-year-old university student.

     Castro said that UN  sanctions could give the U.S. and Israel the right to intercept and search Iranian ships. He says Iran will never accept that, and the resulting confrontation that could go nuclear. It fell to this distant Caribbean island, Castro said, to save the world. "Faced with the skeptics, our duty is to keep up the fight," Castro told the crowd. "I am convinced that a good number of people are becoming conscious of the reality." "We have so many problems here and he is talking about over there," said Nelson Rojas, a 57-year-old teacher. "I don't even know where that country is, and I don't care." Many Cubans, however, said they were taking the warnings seriously.

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ TO MEET WITH VENEZUELAN JEWISH COMMUNITY; "I RESPECT AND LOVE THE JEWS," HE SAID

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--During a visit to the International Tourism Fair in Caracas yesterday, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez announced he would meet with leaders of Venezuela's Jewish community. "We respect and love the Jewish people," said Chavez, who added that opponents have falsely painted him as "anti-Jewish."  "Some people have tried to wage a campaign saying that I am anti-Jewish, and enemy of the Jews (...); in fact, we respect and love the Jewish people," Chávez said.

    While making the announcement, the Venezuelan president did not refer specifically to Castro or Ahmadinejad, whom Chávez views as "my father and brother," respectively. However, he said that Argentine President Cristina Fernández had told him that she was pleased about the meeting.  Chavez has been a close ally of Iran and a strong critic of Israel. He severed ties with Israel in January 2009 to protest its actions in the Gaza Strip. A series of recent incidents have ignited concerns about anti-Semitic violence in Venezuela.

     The Chavez remarks came one day after Jeff wrote on this blog about his recent reporting trip to Havana and his conversations with Fidel Castro. Castro excoriated anti-Semitism and criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust. The former Cuban president called upon Ahmadinejad to "stop slandering the Jews." (Castro also expressed misgivings about his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but that's another story.)

iran says it will release 1 of 3 jailed americans on saturday

     TEHRAN, IRAN--Iran said Thursday it will free one of three Americans jailed for more than 13 months as an act of clemency to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The imprisonment of the Americans has deepened tensions between the U.S. and Iran, a relationship already strained over Washington's suspicions that Tehran is trying to manufacture nuclear weapons -- something Iran denies. The Culture Ministry sent a text message to reporters telling them to come to a Tehran hotel on Saturday morning to witness the release. The site is the same one where the three were allowed the only meeting with their mothers since they were detained in July 2009.

     Iran claims they illegally crossed the border from Iraq's northern Kurdish region and had threatened to put the three on trial for spying. Their families say they were hiking in the largely peaceful region of Iraq and that if they crossed the border, it was accidental. "Offering congratulations on Eid al-Fitr," the ministry text message said, referring to the feast that marks the end of Ramadan. The Iranian message gave no other details about who would be freed. But Sarah Shourd, 31, has told her mother she has serious medical problems. Shane Bauer, 27, and Josh Fattal, 27, also are being held.

    The gesture could be a calculated move by Iran to soften international criticism of its judiciary. Iran has faced a growing storm of protest over a stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery that has been temporarily suspended. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past proposed swapping the three for Iranians he says are jailed in the U.S., raising fears that the Americans are being held as bargaining chips. Releasing prisoners and showing clemency is a common practice in the Muslim world during the fasting month of Ramadan. Iran's official IRNA news agency said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already pardoned a group of prisoners for Eid al-Fitr. The report gave no number of the freed inmates and did not say whether they also included the American.  The mother of the detained American woman, Nora Shourd, said her daughter told her in a telephone call in August that prison officials have denied her requests for medical treatment. The mother said they talked about her daughter's medical problems, including a breast lump and precancerous cervical cells, and her solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin prison.

September 9,  2010

FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO HAS CRITICIZED IRANIAN AHMADINEJAD FOR HIS ANTI-SEMITIC ATTITUDES 

   HAVANA, CUBA--Israel and the Jewish people found an unlikely defender in Fidel Castro, the retired dictator of Cuba, on Tuesday,  when he came out strongly against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust and supported Israel's right to exist. In a rare interview with Jewish-American reporter Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, the ailing 84-year-old leader said he sympathized with the Jews who have suffered from repeated persecution over the course of history.  "The Jews have lived an existence that is much harder than ours,"   Castro said. "There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust."

    Asked by Goldberg if he could relay the message to Ahmadinejad, who has denied the Holocaust and called for Israel to be wiped off the map, he was quoted as saying: "I am saying this so you can communicate it."  Castro said that Iran could further the cause of peace by "acknowledging the 'unique' history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence", Mr Goldberg wrote. He  told Goldberg that he understood Iranian fears of Israeli-American aggression and that he did not believe that sanctions and threat would dissuade Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons.  "The Iranian capacity to inflict damage is not appreciated," Castro said. "Men think they can control themselves but [US President Barack] Obama could overreact and a gradual escalation could become a nuclear war.

     Castro has recently made a number of warnings of the danger of a nuclear war between the West and Iran.  Castro spoke to Goldberg because he recently wrote a piece about the prospects of Israel launching a strike against Iran. Fearing a regional flare up in the Mideast, the former dictator called for Israel and the US to back down from Iran over its nuclear program. "This problem is not going to get resolved, because the Iranians are not going to back down in the face of threats," he said. "That's my opinion." In 2006 Castro was forced into retirement after 47 years in power due to poor health. Since then the leader famous for his lengthy speeches has kept a relatively low profile. His support of Israel's right to exist and criticism of Iran's Holocaust denial is surprising given his iconic status among the leftist movement in Latin American which has allied itself with the Islamic Republic.

PERUVIAN PRESIDENT ALAN GARCIA WANTS U.S. MILITARY AID IN DRUG WAR

       LIMA, PERU--President Alan Garcia said he is willing to accept U.S. military aid to combat drug traffickers, provided that this help is in the logistical and training areas, a Peruvian newspaper reported Sunday, citing an interview the head of state recently gave. “On all matters that are humane and universal, I don’t have any disagreement over sovereignty and patriotism. That is, if the Americans would like to put training troops (here), as they have helicopters, as they have satellite trainers here, it’s just at the right time,” Garcia said.

    Garcia made his remarks in an interview he gave to CNN en Español which will be broadcast next Tuesday and to which certain local media gained advance access. The Peruvian president also mentioned U.S. counterpart Barack Obama and the economic aid that Washington is providing to the fight against drug trafficking in Peru, saying that the amount of aid is not enough. “President Obama posed the same question to me and I told him that it’s his fault because ‘you have put all the money in Colombia with Plan Colombia, and in Peru, zero,’” Garcia said. In recent years, the production of coca leaf and the manufacture of cocaine have grown in Peru to the point that the country has become the world’s major grower of the plant.

     Simultaneously, as the head of the National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs, or Devida, Romulo Puzarro, has said that the U.S. economic aid has been declining year by year, since Washington has calculated that the Peruvian-produced drug is being smuggled mainly to Europe and not to the United States. “What is necessary is not being done to close the new European and Asian markets that are demanding more drug,” Garcia said in the interview. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in June that Peru had surpassed Colombia as the world’s leading source of coca, the raw material for cocaine, producing 119,000 metric tons of the leaf in 2009.

"CARLOS THE JACKAL" TO FACE TRIAL IN 2011 IN FRANCE  FOR ROLE IN TERRORIST ATTACKS

     PARIS, FRANCE--Carlos the Jackal, a Venezuelan legend of the armed struggle in the 70s, will be tried between May and July 2011 by the French government in connection with four bombing attacks that killed 11 people in the European country in 1982 and 1983, said a judicial source on Monday.

     The Venezuelan-born prisoner, who is serving a life sentence in France for murder since 1997, will be tried from May 16 to July 1, 2011, before a special criminal court in Paris, AFP reported.  The trial will be held before a special criminal court specialized in terrorism cases.

     Carlos will be tried in connection with four bombing attacks: one to a Toulouse-Paris train on March 29, 1982 (five dead), to the headquarters of the "Al Watan Al Arabi" magazine in Paris, on April 22, 1982 (one dead), to the Saint Charles train station in Marseille (two dead) and to a high-speed train in Tain (southeast France) on December 31, 1983 (three dead).

September 8,  2010

CUBA WOULD STRIVE TO PREVENT DICTATOR CHAVEZ'S DEFEAT ON SEPTEMBER 26

   MIAMI, FLORIDA--  Exiled Cuban author Carlos Alberto Montaner said on Tuesday that the Cuban government is most fearful that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez might lose power and "would do anything," including electoral fraud, to prevent it from happening.  Queried whether Cuba would accept Chávez's defeat, Montaner (Havana, 1943) answered in a conference held at Miami, that the Castro's regime is ready to undertake any action in order to prevent him from stepping down, to such an extent as to resort to "electoral fraud" and "intimidation of (Venezuelan) opponents," Efe reported.

    In a conference held in the University of Miami, the writer and journalist disclosed that electronic manipulation and alteration of election results is practiced in Cuba, "where there is a notable University of Information Technology," hence the "insistence on using electronic machines in Venezuelan voting." "For quite a while, the two countries are tied by fiber optic able to deliver a great volume of data. Frauds are committed in Cuba to prevent Venezuelans' indiscretions," Montaner said.

    "The information handled by Havana on the next election for the Venezuelan parliament to be held this month, reveals that the opposition has a substantial advantage," Montaner said.   In his speech entitled "For the Castro brothers, Venezuela is a cow of endless teats," the writer made reference to several talks with diplomats accredited to Cuba and Venezuela, businessmen who travel to both countries, and relatives of nomenclature members.

VENEZUELAN DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE TO GROW DESPITE CRIMINALIZATION OF PROTEST

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--The possibility of ending up behind bars or being killed does not intimidate the Venezuelan people, who still consider that demonstrations are an effective way to voice discomfort or make complaints, according to a report prepared by Espacio Público (Public Space) and the Venezuelan Program of Education-Action in Human Rights (Provea) which was published on Monday.

     Based on the paper, in the first half of 2010 there were 1,581 street protests, a 14 percent increase over the same period in 2009, when they reported 1,380 demonstrations.

     The human rights groups added that the government policy of criminalizing protest continues. Provea and Espacio Público said that there were violent events in 91 street protests that began peacefully.vThere were 44 injured and 301 people arrested in those 91 demonstrations. The study also reported that most of the protests were carried out in the western state of Zulia (339 demonstrations.)

VENEZUELA'S MILITARY UNIVERSITY TO PROMOTE "ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE"

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Both the creation of A NEW MILITARY university and the change of name of a number of military institutes were published in the Official Gazette.

     One of the seven strategic goals of the Bolivarian Military University of Venezuela (UMBV) is to "contribute to the military and academic cooperation with the armed forces of other countries in the anti-imperialist struggle, and the construction of a multipolar world." The university was established under Decree No. 7,662, which was published in the Official Gazette.

     Additionally, the UMBV will seek "to speed up and deepen the Venezuelan military thinking and doctrine, based on the ideas of Simón Bolívar (Venezuela's independent hero); Simón Rodríguez (Bolívar's teacher) and Ezequiel Zamora (a soldier and Federalist leader), as well as the experiences of the anti-imperialist struggle of the countries."  The decree also changed the names of existing military educational institutes that will be part of the Bolivarian Military University of Venezuela.

September 7,  2010

ipi awards CUBAN BLOGGER yoani sanchez "the press freedom heroes"

   VIENNA, AUSTRIA--Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez said on Saturday that she feels “very responsible” following the International Press Institute’s decision to choose her as one of its 60 World Press Freedom Heroes. “The word that sums up how I feel now is responsibility. Very responsible for what this means, being on a list with people who are risking their lives and their reputations as well in many parts of the world,” Sanchez, who received a text message telling her the news about the award announced in Vienna on Friday, said.

     The blogger, who turned 35 on Saturday, joins the list of 60 journalists awarded prizes since 2000 by the Vienna-based IPI, which has described her as a “harsh critic of the reality in Cuba,” while highlighting her work to remind “the world about the Caribbean island’s restrictions on free speech.” Sanchez, author of the “Generacion Y” blog since 2007, said the IPI honor included an invitation and “in theory I should be in Vienna on Sept. 13 to take part in the ceremony.”

     “There’s not much time but I’m going to apply to see if I can go,” said the blogger, whom the Cuban government on several occasions has denied permission to leave the island when invited to receive prizes and take part in international events. Yoani Sanchez, who also expressed her gratitude for the prize with an audio message on her Twitter account, won Spain’s 2008 Ortega y Gasset Prize for Digital Journalism and in 2009 received an honorable mention for the Maria Moors Cabot Prize from Columbia University in New York City.

VENEZUELA'S DISSENTING MILITARY DEMAND "CREDIBLE EXPLANATION" FOR HELICOPTERS CRASH

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--The Institutional Military Front (FIM), a group of retired military officers said in a statement that the purchase of Russian weapons "was made without considering other options in the market."

     The Institutional Military Front (FIM) requested Venezuelan government authorities to carry out a "thorough investigation" into the recent crash of a Russian-built helicopter (MI-17V5) in the southern state of Apure on August 27. Ten members of the Venezuelan National Guard were killed. The FIM urged Venezuelan government authorities to give a "serious and credible explanation of the causes that led to these unfortunate accidents."

     Based on a press release issued by the FIM, the purchase of Russian weapons "was made without considering other options in the market." "It is difficult to understand that despite the high rate of accidents occurred in the past three years in this type of helicopter, with a high number of fatalities, the government has not provided yet an official explanation of the causes of the accidents," the FIM reasoned.

PORTUGUESE BUSINESSMAN LIVING IN VENEZUELA BEGINS HUNGER STRIKE TO DEFEND HIS PROPERTY

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--A Portuguese businessman living in Venezuela started on Sunday a hunger strike to prevent the seizure of his property by the Venezuelan government. He urged the Portuguese government to intercede with its Venezuelan counterpart. He requested that his rights be respected.

    "I declare a hunger strike and I request the Portuguese government to intercede with the Venezuelan government. It must comply with the Venezuelan laws and Constitution and respect private property," Francisco Alves Félix said, as reported by Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Noticias.

    The Portuguese businessman claimed that INTI officials want to seize 6.67 acres of his property, located in the valley of Monzaga, Carabobo state (central Venezuela) .  As reported, Alves decided to start a hunger strike and chained himself to his property because INTI officials told him that his land would be seized.

September 6,  2010

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ INTRODUCES CUBA-LIKE RATIONING CARD

   CARACAS, VENEZUELA-- Presented by DICTATOR Hugo Chávez as an instrument to make shopping for groceries easier, the ``Good Life Card'' is making various segments of the population wary because they see it as a furtive attempt to introduce a rationing card similar to the one in Cuba. The measure could easily become a mechanism to control the population, according to civil society groups. ``We see that in short-term this could become a rationing card probably similar to the one used in Cuba,'' Roberto León Parilli, president of the National Association of Users and Consumers, told El Nuevo Herald. ``It would use more advanced technological means [than those used in Cuba], but when they tell you where to buy and what the limits of what you can buy are, they are conditioning your purchases.''

     Chávez said Tuesday that the card could be used to buy groceries at the government chain of markets and supplies. ``I have called it a Good Life Card so far,'' Chávez said in a brief statement made on the government television channel. ``It's a card for you to purchase what you are going to take and they keep deducting. It's to buy what you need, not to promote communism, but to buy what just what you need.''  Former director of Venezuela's Central Bank, Domingo Maza Zavala, said this could become a rationing card that would limit your purchases in light of the country's recurring problems with supplies. ``If the intention is to beat inflation, they should find a good source of supply for the entire market and not only for centers that are part of social chains,'' he said. ``To do that, you need to encourage local production with the help of the private sector, since they cannot do it by themselves. The government cannot become the ultimate food distributor.''

     Humberto Ortega Díaz, minister for public banking and president of the Venezuelan Bank, minimized such criticism and said that all this measure is trying to do is to improve service at the government supply chains. ``Why can't our Bicentennial chain use a card to make it easier for customers to buy their groceries?'' the minister said in an interview broadcast on a government channel. He said that this type of initiative has been used by private commercial entities. Yet, critics pointed out that the measure could turn out not as innocent as the minister makes it to be, and they insist that the government control over the supply chain is too broad and depends greatly on imports the government authorizes through its currency exchange system. In theory, the government could begin to favor the import of products to be sold through the government chains and have more control over the type of products purchased and the people buying them.

SALVADORAN POLICE FIND OVER $9M IN CASH BURIED INSIDE OIL DRUMS

       SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR-- Police in El Salvador have found two buried oil drums stuffed with millions of dollars in cash possibly linked to the illegal drug trade, authorities said Saturday. The first barrel was found Thursday on a ranch in the town of Penitente Abajo, about 40 miles (62 kilometers) from the capital.

    After three days counting the bundles of $100, $50 and $20 bills, authorities announced that it contained about $9 million in U.S. dollars, which the Central American nation uses as its currency. Another plastic drum was uncovered Saturday about 5 yards (5 meters) away, also crammed with money. A count of the second stash was under way.

    "It is possible that there are more, and we are obliged to conduct a detailed investigation," said Carlos Ascencio, director of the National Civil Police. The Attorney General's Office said residents reported "frequent, strange movements" in the area. The money was found with the help of the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador.

MEXICAN POLICE RESCUE SIX CUBAN MIGRANTS BEING HELD FOR RANSOM

     MEXICO CITY, MEXICO-- Mexican police have rescued six illegal Cuban migrants kidnapped by gunmen in the beach resort of Cancun who were demanding ransoms of up to $10,000 for their release. One of them claimed he had been living in Cancun for 20 months and was kidnapped on a street by gunmen who noticed he was Cuban, said a photographer for the local Novedades newspaper who spoke with the six. The beach resort on Mexico's Caribbean coast has long been an entry point for illegal Cuban migrants seeking to reach the U.S. border with the help of smugglers who charge from $5,000 to $10,000 per person. But many Cubans and other undocumented migrants have fallen prey to Mexican gangs that capture and hold them until their relatives make extra payments for their release.

    Last week, 72 illegal migrants from Central and South America were found in a northern Mexico farm murdered by presumed drug traffickers who had tried to extort money from their relatives back home. And last year, 14 Cuban migrants were tortured and beaten in an abandoned Cancun house by a group of people smugglers, including some Miami Cubans, to pressure their relatives to pay ransoms. Mexican authorities said they rescued the six Cubans Tuesday night after getting a call about a kidnapping and gunfire in the Doctores neighborhood near Cancun's international airport. They were identified as five men and one woman — Lazaro Hernandez Alveja, 34; Eusebio Galas Sobrino, 46; Dandi Acosta Camber, 24; Edel Eimes Gama, 22; Janiel Cardo Rodriguez, 29; and Surami Acosta Camber, 23. All said they have relatives in South Florida.

     Police said they were found in a luxurious but apparently uninhabited home, and told authorities they had been held in several places over the past three to four months, always under guard. One of them told the Novedades photographer that he had arrived illegally from Pinar del Rio 20 months ago and had even found a Mexican girlfriend. But gunmen who noticed his Cuban accent kidnapped him from a street, photographer Israel Leal told McClatchy Newspapers. Leal said the Cubans also told him that when police arrived at the luxury house, they ran outside shouting "We're undocumented Cubans! We're undocumented Cubans!" and then threw themselves to the floor. Regional police Director Enrique Alberto Sanmiguel told local journalists that the gunmen guarding the Cubans escaped after firing on the raiders from the local and federal police. No one was injured. The Cubans told authorities they had been kidnapped at various times, all more than one month ago, and that their captors were demanding from $8,000 to $10,000 for their release. The six were being held Wednesday at police headquarters, but were expected to be transferred later to an immigration agency lockup.

September 5,  2010

cuban hunger striker guillermo fArinas rushed to hospital

   HAVANA, CUBA--Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas underwent emergency surgery Friday to remove his gall bladder, inflamed as a result of his 135-day hunger strike earlier this year to demand the release of political prisoners. The surgery was successful but his recovery is uncertain because of the deterioration he suffered during the protest, his mother, Alicia Hernández, told El Nuevo Herald. ``His status is grave because of everything that's happened, because he was not eating,'' Hernández said by telephone from Fariñas' home in the central city of Santa Clara.  Fariñas, 48, a psychologist and independent journalist jailed several times for his dissident activities, stopped eating and drinking on Feb. 24, one day after political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo died from his own lengthy hunger strike.

    Fariñas demanded the release of 26 other political prisoners in bad health, and abandoned his protest July 8, a day after Cuba's Catholic church announced the government would free 52 jailed dissidents. A former member of an elite military unit who fought in Angola, Fariñas dropped 50 pounds and suffered several health crises during 23 previous hunger strikes, including a seven-month protest to demand Internet access. During his latest hunger strike, the first in which he also refused liquids, he was hospitalized in Santa Clara and suffered several infections from the catheter through which he received nourishment. Fariñas emerged from the hospital July 29, looking emaciated and with more health complications. He has dangerous blood clots in his neck and an arm and has been suffering from severe vomiting, diarrhea and high fevers for the past month, said his mother, who is a nurse.

     Fariñas woke up Friday with violent pains and vomiting, she added, and was rushed into surgery after ultrasound tests showed inflammations of his gall bladder, with several stones, as well as his pancreas. Surgeons removed his gall bladder but found three more stones in his bile ducts, the result of his refusal to eat or drink for four and a half months, Hernández said. Fariñas had not come out of his anesthesia as of Friday evening, his mother added, and doctors were concerned that the bile ducts could rupture under pressure from the stones. ``This is serious because of the state of his health, deteriorated by the position that he maintained during his hunger strike, at the end winding up in a very delicate state,'' Hernández said. An article in the newspaper Granma, which seldom reports on the activities of dissidents, detailed all the procedures that doctors were doing to keep him alive.

14 police officers killed in colombia ambush,  leftist rebels blamed

       bogota, colombia--Suspected leftist rebels killed 14 police officers and wounded seven in an ambush of a five-truck convoy in southern Colombia, a police commander said Thursday.  Elsewhere in the country, two separate mine blasts on Wednesday and Thursday killed four soldiers and wounded six more, authorities reported. 

    The police casualties were among 45 caribiniers - all in their 20s - who were on patrol on Wednesday evening when attackers detonated roadside bombs then opened fire, police Gen. Santiago Parra told The Associated Press by telephone from the nearby provincial capital of Florencia.   Police had initially reported five dead but Parra said a rescue mission found nine more bodies later Thursday. He blamed the attack in the municipality of Doncello on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the Western Hemisphere's last remaining rebel army.

     It has been at war with the state since 1964 and, though weakened in recent years by Colombia's U.S.-backed military, has in recent months stepped up hit-and-run attacks. The ambush happened not far from an area the size of Switzerland that the government ceded to the FARC from 1999 to 2002 for a peace dialogue that failed. The carabiniers are a force of special police who operate in conflict zones and carry automatic weapons. According to Colombia's defense ministry, the armed conflict claimed the lives of 121 police and 175 soldiers in the first eight months of the year.

25 drug traffickers killed by mexican soldiers

     MONTERREY, MEXICO-- A shoot-out between soldiers and purported drug cartel gunmen killed 25 suspects in northern Nuevo Leon state, near Mexico's border with Texas, the military said. Troops were patrolling in the town of General Trevino when they came under fire from a ranch allegedly controlled by the Zetas drug gang, according to a military spokesman.

    Anti-drug forces flying over Ciudad Mier south of the Rio Grande River observed a group of armed people standing in front of a building, CNN said Friday.   When the suspects realized they were being observed, they began fleeing in vehicles and soldiers sent to the scene were met with gunfire.  They returned fire and invaded the ranch, known as The Stump.  At least 25 suspected cartel operatives died, but no soldiers were killed or wounded seriously, the spokesman said. Authorities rescued three people believed to be kidnap victims, he added, and seized 20 vehicles and an unspecified quantity of weapons and ammunition.

    Drug violence has claimed more than 28,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon intensified a crackdown on cartels after taking office in late 2006. The Zetas began as a gang of drug assassins but have since evolved into a powerful cartel.  A fight between the Zetas and their former allies, the Gulf cartel, has increased the rate of killings in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states, according to government figures. The Zetas are suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping and killing of 72 Central and South American migrants in Tamaulipas last week, in what could be Mexico's biggest drug-related massacre

September 4,  2010

FIDEL CASTRO TURNS UP IN FULL OLIVE GREEN UNIFORM TO ADDRESS CUBAN STUDENTS

   HAVANA, CUBA--Cuban former dictator Fidel Castro, reprising symbols of his former power, wore a full military uniform and spoke to a mass audience outdoors Friday for the first time since he nearly died four years ago. The island's former ruler seemed energetic and lucid as he spoke for 35 minutes to several thousand students from the historic steps of the University of Havana in an address broadcast by all the state channels. As he has done in his many public appearances since early July, the 84-year-old Castro repeated his warnings of nuclear holocaust over Iran and stayed away from commenting on Cuba's domestic issues.  He wore olive green pants, jacket and cap -- though without any insignias of rank.

    Castro’s  speech  fueled speculation that he  is trying to regain some of his former powers, which he turned over unofficially to his 79-year old brother Raúl in 2006. Parliament selected Raúl as head of the government in 2008. ``This is all a pantomime that he has mounted to show he's immortal,'' said Vladimiro Roca, a Havana dissident and former member of the ruling Communist Party and MiG pilot in the Cuban air force. Dissident Martha Beatriz Roque noted that while Castro remains first secretary of the party, a report on Cuban TV on Friday initially refered to Raúl as second secretary and only later as head of the government.  On  July 7, the former dictator visited scientific and economic think tanks, and last month delivered a speech to an official gathering of Cuba's parliament. Castro has now declared himself ``totally recovered'' and told a Mexican newspaper in an interview published this week that he was ``resuscitated'' -- without clarifying the exact nature of his health crisis or whether he was actually clinically dead at some point.

    Castro told his audience Friday, overwhelmingly made up of university students, that time is running out on his efforts to avert a nuclear war over Iran, allegedly trying to develop atomic weapons. ``The time left for humanity to wage this battle is incredibly limited,'' he declared during the 7:30 a.m. event, apparently timed to avoid the worst of the summer's hot sun. He noted that the United States is the only country that has used nuclear weapons -- against Japan at the end of World War II -- and that modern nuclear weapons are far more powerful than those. ``The hard duty of warning humanity about the real danger that it is confronting has fallen to Cuba,'' he added, urging the students to fight for peace ``so that human life can be preserved.'' Castro delivered the speech from a podium set up just below the statue of the Alma Mater, which dominates that stone steps leading up to the University of Havana, where Castro studied law in the 1950s.

DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ ACCUSES THE US OF FUNDING COUP ATTEMPT IN VENEZUELA

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Venezuela's dictator  Hugo Chávez accused the US government of funding the Venezuelan opposition to create chaos in order to promote a coup against his government. "The opposition has been desperate all these years and continues in despair, fabricating, lying, misleading; it has no limit whatsoever and they were plotting (...) At this time, in September, Venezuela would be in chaos.

    They like to fish in troubled waters; they will be trying always to create chaos, trying to tumble the government," the president said. He recalled that his government is a pacific but armed government. "They obey the government of the United States for all the money given to them; they invest here million dollars. (US President Barack) Obama, why don't you use that to fight poverty and growing misery in the United States? Chávez wondered.

    Chávez also questioned pullout of US troops of Iraq. “A very peculiar withdrawal because they still have about 50,000 troops in Iraq. Now, then, who is to answer for all those children who underwent that war. Very nice to say ‘we are leaving,’ but only after genocide,” he said

VENEZUELAN ELECTORAL OFFICIAL VICENTE DIAZ ACCUSED DICTATOR CHAVEZ OF BREAKING CAMPAIGN RULES

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--An electoral official accused DICTATOR Hugo Chavez and his allies of breaking campaign laws by using state-run media to berate rivals and praise friends ahead of this month's legislative elections. Vicente Diaz, one of the National Election Council's five directors, said Chavez is violating legislation prohibiting elected officials from using their posts to promote candidacies. Chavez has ignored the law, which also bans the use of state media and public funds for campaigning purposes, Diaz said. "We must investigate because (the president) is insulting other candidates ... through the use of state media," Diaz told a news conference.

     Diaz is the council's only director who is sympathetic to the opposition's complaints. The council's other four directors, including its president, are former members of the ruling party or widely perceived as pro-Chavez, and none of them have raised concerns over the alleged violations. The five directors were appointed by the predominantly pro-Chavez National Assembly in 2006. Chavez denied breaking the law and suggested he intends to keep backing his allies' campaigns: "I'm a political leader," he said. He also said Diaz could face criminal charges for allegedly making false accusations; he did not elaborate. Opposition candidates argue that Chavez is getting an edge by using state media for electioneering, along with a law that lets him seize control of TV and radio airwaves at will.

     Former presidents used the measure to address the nation in times of crisis, to announce important decisions or changes in economic policies, but Chavez frequently goes on the air to give speeches lasting hours. He often takes the opportunity to praise allies and warn that an opposition victory could allow foes to derail his efforts to transform this South American country into a socialist state. "While we are visiting voters, going from house to house, the ruling party's campaign is imposed through televised speeches," said opposition-sided independent candidate Maria Corina Machado.

September 3,  2010

US "SADDENED" BY DEATH OF VENEZUELAN FARMER-HUNGER STRIKER FRANKLIN BRITO

   WASHINGTON, D.C.--Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs, US Department of State, said on Tuesday that the United States is saddened by the death of Venezuelan farmer Franklin Brito, who had been on a hunger strike in protest for the expropriation of his lands by the government of President Hugo Chávez.

    "We are saddened to hear of Mr. Brito's passing and we extend our condolences to his family," said Crowley, as reported by AFP. He stressed that Washington "did follow his case closely." But he simply added that the United States would "leave it to the Government of Venezuela to explain."

     Brito, 49, died last Monday at the Military Hospital in Caracas after six years of protests and eight hunger strikes aimed at recovering full ownership of his lands.  Several months ago, Vice President Elías Jaua reported that there was a campaign to present Brito as an example of violation of human rights by the Venezuelan government.

VENEZUELAN DICTATOR HUGO CHAVEZ TO RADICALIZE THE REVOLUTION AFTER PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

       CARACAS, VENEZUELA--“They (the opposition) seek to go to the (National) Assembly not to pass laws, but to stage a coup d’état such as in Honduras. Those are the guidelines issued by the US empire. They are hiding their cards,” Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez  said.

     Chávez said on Tuesday that he would radicalize his Bolivarian revolution in his way "towards socialism," following a possible victory of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), in September parliamentary vote.  "Our game is to radicalize the revolution. We will win on September 26 and we will further deepen and radicalize the revolution in our way towards socialism," Chávez said during a rally in Maracay, state of Aragua.

     The Venezuelan president said that dissenting parties want to have deputies in the National Assembly to destabilize the government and stage a coup d'état "such as in Honduras."  Chávez voiced confidence that the PSUV would win more than two thirds of the 165 seats in the National Assembly, but he warned his candidates not to feel unbeatable.

SPANISH PEOPLE'S PARTY TO WATCH VENEZUELAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

     MADRID,  SPAIN-The People's Party (PP), the main opposition party in Spain, will participate as an international observer in the parliamentary election to be held in Venezuela on September 26, a PP spokesman reported.

     Jorge Moragas, the coordinator of International Relations of the Spanish People's Party, told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope that PP lawmakers are visiting Venezuela at the request of the Venezuelan opposition parties, Europa Press reported.  Moragas said that the presence of PP legislators will ensure a "real alternative" to Hugo Chávez's government in the presidential vote to be held in 2012.  "We want (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chávez to leave office in a democratic and peaceful process," Moragas said.  He added that the death of Franklin Brito, a Venezuelan farmer, is just the "tip of the iceberg" formed by a group of Venezuelans and Spaniards whose estates have been expropriated by Chávez.

     Guillermo Mariscal, a People's Party deputy for the electoral district of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, said that the Spanish government needs to "scrutinize, and monitor Hugo Chávez's regime and impose some sort of sanctions on it."  "We have requested the presence of Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos in the Spanish Parliament to advise of the explanations given by the Venezuelan government that its relations with the (Basque terrorist group) ETA and (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) FARC do not exist," Mariscal said in an interview with Venezuelan radio station Unión Radio.

September 2,  2010

FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO TAKES BLAME FOR 1960s GAY PERSECUTION IN CUBA

   HAVANA, CUBA--FORMER CUBAN DICTATOR Fidel Castro took the blame for a wave of homophobia launched by his revolutionary government in the 1960s, but said it happened because he was distracted by other problems, in an interview published on Tuesday in a Mexican newspaper. The former Cuban dictator told La Jornada the persecution of gays, who were rounded up at the time as supposed counterrevolutionaries and placed in forced labor camps, was a "great injustice" that arose from the island's history of discrimination against homosexuals. He said he was not prejudiced against gays, but "if anyone is responsible (for the persecution), it's me." "I'm not going to place the blame on others," he said.

    Castro, 84, said he was busy in those days fending off threats from the United States, including attempts on his life, and trying to maintain the revolution that put him in power in 1959. "We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death," Castro said. "In those moments I was not able to deal with that matter (of homosexuals). I found myself immersed, principally, in the Crisis of October (Cuban Missile Crisis), in the war, in policy questions," he said. Official persecution of gays continued into the 1970s before homosexual acts were decriminalized in 1979. Today, Cuba's medical service provides free sex-change operations. Tuesday's story was the second from La Jornada based on a recent five-hour interview with Castro, who has reappeared in public after four years of seclusion following surgery for an undisclosed intestinal illness.

     Castro, who resigned the presidency in 2008 but remains head of Cuba's ruling Communist Party, has warned for months that nuclear war will break out if the United States and Israel try to enforce international nuclear sanctions against Iran. Cuban media reported on Tuesday that he went to the National Aquarium in Havana to watch a dolphin show with U.S.-based writer Jeffrey Goldberg, Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in Washington and Adela Dworin, leader of Cuba's Jewish community. The purpose of the visit was not disclosed, but the reports said Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine who has written on the Middle East and Iran, had interviewed Castro.

RELATIVES OF LATE VENEZUELAN HUNGER STRIKER TO TAKE HIS CASE TO INTERNATIONAL COURTS

     CARACAS, VENEZUELA--Lawyers advised Franklin Brito’s family to sue Venezuela’s government authorities in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the “cruel, inhuman and humiliating treatment” of the farmer .  The Venezuelan Judiciary failed to solve the case of farmer Franklin Brito and, from the point of view of domestic law, all legal resources have been used. Therefore, the heirs of the deceased farmer must resort to different international human rights bodies to seek the justice they have not received in their country, according to lawyer Gonzalo Himiob, a member of NGO Foro Penal Venezolano. Brito's relatives agree.

     "There are several choices right now. I see little chance that the rights of Franklin Brito and his heirs can be respected in the country," Himiob told El Universal.  "From the view of international law, we advise them to resort first to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and report the cruel, inhuman and humiliating treatment of the farmer, to the point that he died following a series of arbitrary and unconstitutional measures against him, particularly from December last year until today," Himiob said.  Himiob thinks that the fact that police agents have taken Brito to the Caracas Military Hospital led to a series of violations of due process and against the physical, mental and moral integrity of the farmer that "even from an international view, can be considered as cruel, inhuman and humiliating treatment."

     This is the reason why the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the second option after the complaints with the Inter-American bodies.  Lawyers have already moved to notify the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) and the United Nations and the European Parliament are also likely to be notified, Himiob said.  Meanwhile, Elena de Brito, widow of Franklin Brito, said that the family is willing to continue fighting. First of all, they will seek explanations from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) because the term to decide on preemptive measures for her husband has already expired and no findings have been made by the IACHR.

CAPTURE OF DRUG KINGPIN A BREAKTHROUGH FOR MEXICAN PRESIDENT FELIPE CALDERON

       MEXICO CITY, MEXICO--Clambering to proclaim victory after more than three years of bloody narcotics warfare, Mexican authorities paraded a Texas-born accused kingpin before reporters Tuesday and offered abundant details of his climb through the violent drug underworld before his capture in a mountain hideout. While speculation surged that Mexico would deport Edgar Valdez-Villarreal, a 37-year-old former football star from Laredo, Texas, to stand trial in the United States, where he's still a citizen, there was no immediate sign of action by Mexico or the U.S. National security spokesman Alejandro Poire described Valdez-Villarreal as ``highly dangerous,'' a reference to his drug cartel's practice of beheading its enemies.

     Security officials paraded the handcuffed Valdez-Villarreal in an airplane hangar. Hooded security agents stood at his side, and a black helicopter provided the backdrop. Valdez-Villarreal smirked, and even chuckled, at the assembled journalists. Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said the capture of Valdez-Villarreal, known as ``La Barbie,'' came after a yearlong hunt that involved as many as 1,200 law enforcement officers. By Monday afternoon, a ring of security officers encircled the rustic mountain house in Salazar, about 20 miles west of Mexico City, where Valdez-Villarreal had holed up, Rosas said. Mobile phone service in the area was spotty, and the target and six underlings couldn't summon backup to fight their way free, he said. They were detained around 6:30 p.m. without any gunfire. ``Intelligence information indicates that `La Barbie' trafficked one ton of cocaine each month,'' Federal Police counternarcotics chief Ramon Pequeno said.

    His capture gives a boost to President Felipe Calderón, who declared war on drug cartels after taking office in late 2006. The death toll, which recently soared past 28,000 people, has soured many Mexicans on Calderón's tough drug-enforcement policies. Valdez-Villarreal is the third top drug lord to be arrested or killed in nine months. Government officials seemed to be seeking to regain support by offering details about Valdez-Villarreal's background and capture. Poire declared that Valdez-Villarreal maintained ties to drug gangs operating in the U.S. and Central and South America, and a series of arrests during the day in Colombia appeared to bear out that claim. Born in Laredo, Valdez-Villarreal moved to Mexico City, where in 1998 he met Arturo Beltran-Leyva, a drug lord working for the surging Sinaloa Cartel, Pequeno said. As the Texan worked his way up the criminal chain, first in Nuevo Laredo along the border, then starting in 2004 in the Pacific Coast resort of Acapulco, he nurtured a reputation for extreme violence, including frequent beheadings of the Beltran-Leyva group's enemies. The grisly reputation contrasted with his unlikely nickname, given because of his blue eyes and fair complexion -- reminiscent of Ken, the Barbie doll's companion.

September 01,  2010

venezuelan farmer-turned-hunger striker dies at a military hospital 

   CARACAS, VENEZUELA--The wife of VENEZUELAN HUNGER STRIKER franklin brito  said that doctors advised her about the death but gave no further details about the reasons for his death. Doctors unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him. The grower went on hunger strike to protest against squatting and seizure of his lands located in southern Bolívar state  Fears of Brito's supporters came true. Since 2009, the grower went on a number of hunger strikes to defend what he deemed his right to ownership. He died last Monday, approximately at 9:00 p.m., at the Intensive Care Unit of the Caracas Military Hospital.

    The information was confirmed by his wife Elena Rodríguez de Brito. During a telephone conversation, she told El Universal that doctors advised her about her partner's death, but gave no further details about the cause. Apparently, a myocardial infarction ended with Brito, 49. Since Friday, August 20, he remained unconscious as a result of induced coma. "It seems he had a heart attack. Doctors tried to resuscitate him, but they could not make it," Franklin Jr. told El Universal.  His wife mentioned that one hour before dying, she had seen her husband. According to her, he was "tough, very cold."

    Brito's health had lately deteriorated. "My father collapsed and was inserted a tube due to respiratory failure, widespread infection, pneumonia and deterioration of vital organs such as liver and kidneys," his daughter Ángela said in a press release posted on the website on Sunday, August 22. His height was 1.90 meters, but ended up weighting 35 kilograms only. His BMI was under 10 percent and he had critical hypothermia. Brito's brother Héctor told reporters on Monday night that they should wait until Tuesday morning to receive the body of his brother. Brito left a wife and four children. He died waiting for President Hugo Chávez to take a stance about his case. In 2003, he resolved to stage a protest because of squatting and seizure of his lands located in the peasant settlement of La Tigrera in southern Bolívar state.

iran state media SAID THAT FRANCE'S FIRST LADY, CARLA BRUNI, SHOULD DIE AFTER STONING COMMENTS  

     TEHRAN, IRAN--An Iranian newspaper said on Tuesday that Carla Bruni, the wife of France's president, deserved to die after she expressed solidarity with a woman sentenced to be stoned for adultery. The hardline daily Kayhan called Bruni a "prostitute" whose lifestyle meant she deserved a similar fate as the Iranian woman who was sentenced to death for adultery. Carla Bruni was one of several French celebrities who published open letters to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose case has caused international outrage and highlighted Iran's use of stoning as capital punishment.

    The wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote: "Spill your blood, deprive your children of their mother? Why? because you have lived, because you have loved, because you are a woman, an Iranian? Every part of me refuses to accept this." Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reported Bruni's letter on Saturday under the headline: "French prostitutes enter human rights uproar." On Tuesday it returned to the subject, criticizing Bruni's "illicit relationships with various people" and blaming her for causing Sarkozy's divorce from his second wife. "Studying Carla Bruni's record clearly shows the reason why this immoral woman is backing an Iranian woman who has been condemned to death for committing adultery and being accomplice in her husband's murder and, in fact, she herself deserves to die," Kayhan said.

    There has been no official reaction from France where the media have paid very little attention to the affair. "The policies, the manners and the comments of other countries' officials, we criticize them, we make objections to them and we call for them to review their deeds, but we don't think using inappropriate words and insulting words is the right thing to do." Ashtiani, a mother of two, has received 99 lashes for having an illicit relationship with two men. The stoning sentence has been suspended pending a judicial review but could still be carried out, an Iranian judiciary official has said. Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, enforced since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran is second only to China in the number of people it executes, according to Amnesty International.

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT HAS FIRED 10% OF FEDERAL POLICE IN 2010

       MEXICO CITY, MEXICO--Mexico's federal police agency has fired nearly 10 per cent of its force this year for failing checks designed to detect possible corruption, a major obstacle in the country's battle against increasingly brutal drug gangs.   Mexico's approximately 35,000 federal police are required to undergo periodic lie detector, psychological and drug examinations, and the government routinely investigates their finances and personal life. Federal Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said 3,200 officers have been dismissed this year for failing to meet the agency's standards. He did not give more details.  The fired agents are barred from taking jobs in any other security force - a recurring problem that Mexican governments have vowed to solve for many years.

     Another 1,020 federal police are facing unspecified disciplinary measures.  Police corruption at all levels is widespread in Mexico. Police are often found to have been involved in cartel attacks, including the assassination two weeks ago of a mayor who had disciplined municipal officers in his northern town. Investigators say local officers aligned with the Zetas drug gang killed the mayor in retaliation.  Scandals have also ensnared the federal police. Two years ago, a corruption probe known as "Operation Clean House" toppled the former anti-drug czar, Noe Ramirez, and other high-ranking police accused of protecting the Beltran Leyva gang.  President Felipe Calderon, who has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police to fight drug traffickers in their strongholds, has pointed to the regular police tests and crackdowns such as "Clean House" as evidence that his government is aggressively fighting corruption. 

      Drug violence has surged since Calderon intensified the crackdown on traffickers upon taking office in late 2006, claiming more than 28,000 lives.  In the latest violence, a 12-hour battle between troops and gunmen left killed seven people in the eastern town of Panuco.  The gunmen opened fire and launched grenades at a government electricity station as they tried to escape the soldiers, causing a power outage in a large part of town, said Salvador Mikel Rivera, attorney general in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, where Panuco is located.  The battle started Sunday night when gunmen in six cars ignored orders to stop from soldiers at a checkpoint, Rivera said. Soldiers, along with state and local police, started a chase that ended at two houses where the gunmen tried to hide, he said. The shootout at the houses lasted until yesterday morning.