WASHINGTON, D.C., November 30

     U.S. REJECTS CUBAN CONCESSION DEMAND
    The United States has rejected a Cuban offer to compensate Americans whose properties were nationalized 40 years ago if the U.S. embargo is lifted and Washington makes other concessions, an official said Thursday.

    Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque reaffirmed the long-standing Cuban proposal during a news conference at the United Nations earlier this week. Cuba has never rejected the U.S. compensation claims but has linked repayment to a lifting of the embargo and to U.S. payment of $181 billion to Cuba, a figure it says is based on the damage the embargo has done to the island's economy over the years. In 1999, a Cuban court found the United States liable for that amount.

    The United States maintains that the principle of compensation for expropriated properties is embedded in international law. It rejects any linkage between the compensation issue and the embargo. The U.S. government has certified 5,911 property claims by U.S. citizens against the Cuban government.



WASHINGTON, D.C., November 29

    U.S. CAPTURES CLOSE ASSOCIATE OF BIN LADEN
    U.S. forces in Afghanistan have captured the first high-level members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network and the prisoners might be flown to a U.S. air base for interrogation, senior administration officials said Wednesday. The captives include Sayef Abdel-Rahman, son of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in 1995 as the ringleader of a plot to bomb the United Nations, the George Washington bridge and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels in New York City.

    The younger Abdel-Rahman, believed to be in his late 20s, is considered a close associate of bin Laden, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that leveled the World Trade Center, destroyed four jetliners, damaged the Pentagon and killed nearly 4,000 people. Details of the capture were not known, but one senior official said Abdel-Rahman and a number of other al Qaeda members could be flown to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to be interrogated by CIA and military intelligence officers.


HAVANA, November 28

     CUBAN DICTATOR LEADS PROTEST OVER U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY
     Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, wearing a black arm band, led Cubans in a rally in front of the U.S. diplomatic mission on Tuesday to protest the deaths at sea of 30 Cuban migrants, which Havana blames on Washington's immigration policy. Castro  did not wear a black arm band on July 13, 1994, when he ordered his thugs to murder 41 men, women and children for attempting to escape from Cuba aboard the tugboat "13 de Marzo". Do we really know what happened this time? Why the tyrant vehemently discards the rumors from Panama that some Cubans had been rescued? Why is Castro so certain that all had died?

     In the latest and one of the worst tragedies involving Cubans being smuggled into the United States, the migrants, including 13 children, perished when their boat capsized in heavy seas after setting out from Cuba on Nov. 17. The boat and some debris, but no bodies, were found by the U.S. Coast Guard on Nov. 20, some 47 miles off Key West, Florida.

    The crowd chanted "down with the murderous law" and "long live the revolution ...  we are against the Cuban Adjustment Act". The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act offers preferential treatment to Cubans seeking U.S. residence once they reach American soil.  Castro blames the United States, but U.S. officials blame Castro for the constant trickle of Cuban migrants, saying restrictions on travel and immigration, plus the conditions created by a failed economy and a authoritarian political system, are the root causes.


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 27

     THE STATE DEPARTMENT SAID: NO CHANGE IN US POLICY TOWARD CUBA
     On Monday a senior U.S. State Department official said sales of U.S. food to Cuba would not mark a new era in troubled relations. "Our concerns about Cuba are as strong as ever. We will follow the law. The sale of agricultural commodities is permitted ... but the embargo remains in place and is in no way altered by these sales," the official told a briefing. "I take my cue from President Bush, who has said repeatedly that we will do nothing to weaken the embargo," he added.

    The sales of food to Cuba, initiated unexpectedly by the Cuban government this month on the basis of a U.S. law passed last year, had given rise to speculation of an imminent change in relations between Washington and Havana.

    "It (our policy) is not totally passive. The administration's objective is to bring about a democratic Cuba and to end this anachronism that exists in this hemisphere. At some point the hemisphere has to say no," he said.


CARACAS, November 26

     CHAVEZ IS FACING COUP RUMORS
     The Venezuelan Institutional Military Front, a group of former armed forces officials that includes recently retired generals, says there is ñprofound discontent'' in Venezuelan military barracks. There is little doubt by now that Chávez -- a former paratrooper who led a failed coup attempt in 1992 and was elected by a landslide in 1998 -- is one the most disastrous presidents Latin America has produced in recent times.

   Chávez has managed to turn oil-rich Venezuela poorer, despite a massive influx of dollars from sky-high oil prices during his first two years in office. Last year, Venezuelans moved up to $10 billion to foreign banks accounts. With his endless television appearances filled with insults against his critics, he has antagonized virtually everybody: the business community, organized labor, the Roman Catholic Church, the Venezuelan media and his country's biggest client, the United States.

   Lately, Chávez has begun to shift from rhetorical attacks to concrete actions against his critics. He has shut down the Catholic Church-run Vale TV and the independent Globovision network, and on Nov. 13 announced 49 economic laws that economists say will set the country back to the dark ages of massive state intervention in the economy. During the implementation of his ñpolitical revolution," Chávez has followed to the letter Cuban dictator Fidel CastroÍs advices  and repeatedly said he would ñmake Venezuela, as Castro has made of Cuba, a Sea of Happiness."


LIMA, November 26

     CUBA SAYS KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT THE PENTAGON SPY    
     Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, who represented Cuban dictator Fidel Castro at the Ibero-American Summit in Lima, Peru, said that Havana knows no more about the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analyst arrested in Washington for allegedly spying for Cuba than what it has read in newspapers. "We have read this news too. It remains to be seen, to be known and to be confirmed if what has been said publicly corresponds to the truth."

  Ana Belen Montes, who had worked at DIA since 1985, was arrested in September and charged with giving classified defense information to Cuba for the past five years. She could face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted of spying for the communist state. (Click Here to read ReutersÍ article and additional information on the DIA/PENTAGON SPY).


LIMA, November 24

   THE CUBAN DICTATOR FAILS TO SHOW AT SUMMIT
     Cuban dictator Fidel Castro failed to attend the XI Iberoamerica Summit. A personal letter sent Thursday from Castro to Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo noted that it was ñimpossible'' for him to be absent from the island ñbecause of the lashing of Hurricane Michelle in Cuba''  However, the summit could raise prickly issues for Cuba, one of seven nations blacklisted by the United States as alleged sponsors of terrorism -- and put Castro in a diplomatic bind as leaders rally for a push against terror. At last year's summit in Panama, Castro was the only leader who refused to sign an "anti-terrorism" motion he called "hypocritical."

    On Tuesday, Toledo met for an hour with Cuban exiles, including prominent exile leader Carlos Alberto Montaner. And breaking summit protocol, Toledo announced he would decorate another severe critic of Castro, Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, with the country's highest distinction, previously reserved only for foreign dignitaries.

    Vargas Llosa received the Order of the Sun of Peru of the Diamond Degree at a banquet of summit leaders Friday night for his pro-democracy efforts, and could scarcely contain his glee at Castro's absence. ñWhat an honor and what a pleasure it is that for the first time in its 11 years of existence, the Ibero-American Summit is attended only by democratic heads of state and government, chosen in free elections that respected legality and liberty,'' Vargas Llosa said.


HAVANA, November 23

   THE "CÍRCULO DE VETERANOS LIBRES DE CUBA" IS FOUNDED IN HAVANA
     CAMCO welcomes the ñCírculo de Veteranos Libres de Cuba" recently founded in Havana. Its main objectives are to work for peace and democracy, as well as to denounce all human rights violations perpetrated by officials of the government of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

     The ñCírculo de Veteranos Libres de Cuba" will be organized with "individuals who had belonged to any of the Cuban armed forces who participated in the so called internationalist wars or in any of the clandestine struggles, as well as individuals, reservists, militiamen, as long as they fulfill the organizationÍs assignments", declared one of the organizers.


ABUJA, November 22

   CUBA DEMANDS AN END TO U.S. BOMBING
       Cuba has demanded that the government of the United States stops the war in Afghanistan, describing it as "senseless, absurd and inefficient method to eradicate terrorism."

   In a press release made available in Abuja, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Felipe Pérez Roque, at the general debate of the 56th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations which ended last week stated that, "The war in Afghanistan must be stopped. The government of the United states must acknowledge that it has made a mistake - and must halt its ineffective, unjustifiable bombing campaign."

   Noting that the war seemed to have targeted children, starving, helpless civilians and humanitarian organizations, Roque said it will never be "justified from the point of view of ethics and International law. Those responsible for it will one day be judged by history."


FORT CAMPBELL, November 22

     A CLEAR RESPONSE FROM PRESIDENT BUSH TO PEREZ ROQUE'S DEMAND: THE PRESIDENT WARNS NATIONS THAT HARBOR TERRORISTS
      President Bush warned U.S. troops -- and the nation -- yesterday that the fight against al-Qaeda must be extended beyond the Central Asian country's borders. ''Afghanistan is just the beginning on the war against terror,'' Bush told cheering troops at Fort Campbell, home to the Army's 101st Airborne, as U.S. bombers pounded the last Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan.

   The President also issued a stern warning to nations that may harbor al-Qaeda members, some of whom may be fleeing from U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan. ''If you harbor terrorists, you are a terrorist. If you train or arm a terrorist, you are a terrorist. If you feed a terrorist or fund a terrorist, you're a terrorist and you will be held accountable by the United States,'' the President said.

   No nations were singled out, but Bush suggested the United States could launch preemptive strikes against al-Qaeda and other groups outside Afghanistan's borders. ''There are other terrorists who threaten America and our friends, and there are other nations willing to sponsor them.  We will not be secure as a nation until all these threats are defeated,'' Bush said. ''America's not waiting for terrorists to try to strike us again. Wherever they hide, wherever they plot, we will strike the terrorists.''


MIAMI, November 21

     THIRTY MORE CUBANS DIE SEEKING FREEDOM FROM AN EVIL MADMAN
     Coast Guard crews searching the Florida Straits on Tuesday found what they believed was the speedboat used by some 30 Cuban migrants who set out from Cuba last Saturday from Bahia Honda, Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba, but never turned up in Florida. So far there was no sign of any people on or near the overturned vessel, said a Coast Guard spokeswoman.

     The white, 30-foot boat with two outboard engines was spotted by a Coast Guard C-130 plane that had been part of an intense search for the missing vessel launched after worried Cuban exiles reported that their relatives had not turned up. The Coast Guard had searched some 30,000 square miles, a broad area between Cuba and the Miami area, before spotting what it thought was the missing vessel in the Florida Straits.

    Like hundreds of Cubans who try to escape every year from the oppression and tyranny established by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, the lost group was trying to be smuggled into this country and had probably paid thousands of dollars a head for the journey. So far this calendar year, the Coast Guard has intercepted 739 Cuban migrants at sea, compared with 928 for all of 2000.

     ñNo!, human life is not all of life! The tomb is a way, not an end. The mind could not conceive what is incapable of achieving; existence cannot be the abominable toy of an evil madman ... Death is jubilation, renewal, a new task. Human life would be a repugnant and barbaric intervention if it were limited to life on earth under a tyrant."  José Martí


MIAMI, November 20

     COAST GUARD SEARCHES FOR MISSING CUBAN MIGRANTS 
     Two U.S. Coast Guard planes, a helicopter and a cutter searched the Florida Straits on Monday for a boatload of 30 Cuban migrants who were said to have left the communist-run island on Friday but who had not yet arrived in Florida. The Coast Guard said in a statement that family members of the migrants reported the 30-foot (9-metre) speedboat left Cuba on Friday and was expected to reach south Florida on Saturday. The Coast Guard launched its search on Saturday

     The weather in the area was rough and windy Monday, with 25-knot (40-kph) winds and seas of up to eight feet (2.4 metres). Conditions were worse over the weekend. The Coast Guard stressed that smuggling of migrants -- a thriving underground business bringing hundreds of Cubans over the 90-mile (140-km) stretch of water to the United States every year -- was extremely dangerous.

     "Smuggling is not just criminal behavior, it's criminal behavior that puts human lives at risk," said Captain James Stark, chief of operations for the Coast Guard's Seventh District. "The transit from Cuba to Florida is a dangerous one, made even more dangerous by overloaded vessels, unfavorable weather conditions and a lack of life jackets." If Cuban migrants are picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard, they are usually sent home, but if they make it to United States, they are generally allowed to stay.


HAVANA, November 19

       THE CUBAN DICTATOR ATTACKS THE U.S. POLICIES AND, AT THE SAME TIME, WELCOMES THE CHANCE TO REPLENISH HIS RESERVES

   Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, during a five-hour speech on Saturday closing a Havana conference on how to stop the U.S.-sponsored Free Trade Area of the America's (FTAA), welcomed the chance to buy food and medicine from the United States to replenish his emergency reserve. However, he insisted there would be no further purchases from the United States unless there were substantial changes made in U.S. laws governing relations with the Caribbean island.

   Castro also accused the United States of trying to "annex" Latin America through the FTAA, which it hopes can be negotiated by 2005. Since the 1990s, Washington has been promoting the creation of a free-trade zone linking the whole region.  Cuba has been the only American country excluded from the process.   "The FTAA is being negotiated in secret, it's disgraceful, and will have ominous consequences for Latin America. It has to be categorically rejected," the dictator said.


HAVANA,  November 17

     CUBA OPENLY  HARBORS, ENCOURAGES AND ADVISES TERRORISTS
     The National Liberation Army -- known by the Spanish acronym ELN ¿and the Colombian government announced yesterday they would meet in Cuba in the next few days to revive peace talks. The Colombian government's chief peace negotiator, Camilo Gomez, told reporters he would meet leaders of the ELN in Cuba on the weekend.

     The Cuban-inspired ELN with a permanent delegation in Havana, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are the two major Marxist guerrilla forces in Colombia, whose 37-year civil war kills about 3,500 Colombians a year, mostly civilians.

     Both, the ELN and the FARC, are included in the State Department Current List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations as published on October 5, 2001.


HAVANA, November 17

     LEAVING CUBA (Por Manuel Vázquez Portal, Grupo Decoro)
     Local wags say there are two possible ways out to the Cuban problem.... One by air and the other by sea. Leaving Cuba, regardless of means or destination, is the secret longing of the larger part of the population. Never before had this happened. In Colonial times, the authorities had to condemn people to exile for them to leave the island. During the Republican period in the first half of the 20th Century, political persecution was the motive for the occasional exile which didn't last longer than a few years.

     Cubans seemed to be attached to their land. Nowadays, forty-two years later, it is different. Now, at the first opportunity, even the hottest proponent of the government takes offƒNow -- this now that is almost a half-century long -- houses deteriorate and collapse, family members die, and patriotic symbols lose their luster- people leave without thinking of returning. They simply want to escape from something that doesn't let them live the way they would want to. Ah, but it's not easy to leave. There are desperate ones who die in the landing gear of an aircraft. There are daring buccaneers who set out in a caulked washbasin. There are seductive damsels that snare a First World poverty boss. There are hardened officials who turn coat the minute the step on foreign land.

     Someone once said: "When the ruled emigrate, the rulers are the problem." But Cuban rulers don't want to shoulder the blame, and they blame another government of stimulating a stampede. Leaving is becoming more difficult with each passing day and people are increasingly finding no way out, and when they can no longer leave, they are going to want to blame the rulers and that's when all hell will break loose.


HAVANA, November 16

     CUBAN DISSIDENTS WANT IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT HELP
     Cuban dissidents called for the upcoming Ibero-American Summit of Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal to step up pressure on Havana for democratic reforms.

     Some 150 dissidents and small groups signed a statement expressing "a sense of deception" over past summits that did not call specifically for democratic change from Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's government, and appealing to Ibero-American leaders to do more when they meet Nov. 24 in Lima, Peru. "The heads of state have an obligation to openly state the situation of human rights violations and their solidarity with the Cuban people's right to an opening," Oswaldo Paya of the Christian Movement for Liberation said at a Havana press conference.

    Declarations issued by the previous 10 Ibero-American summits have included a paragraph supporting democracy and human rights, but not singling out Cuba, which is part of the group. "Among Cubans there is a sense of deception after waiting 10 years for a word of recognition of Cubans' right to all rights," the dissident statement said. "If you accept the situation we are suffering under as normal ... you will be negating the democratic values, human rights and solidarity 10 times proclaimed at these summits," it added.

    It is not enough to come to the defense of freedom with sporadic, epic efforts when it is threatened in moments of crisis; every moment is critical for the preservation of freedom." José Martí


MIAMI, November 16

     CUBAN FOOD SALE CALLED PLOY BY CUBAN EXILE LEADERS
     Cuban exile supporters of the longtime U.S. trade embargo against their homeland were skeptical that the agreement to sell U.S. food to Havana would benefit ordinary Cubans.

     Cuban dictator Fidel Castro offered to pay cash for the deal, which U.S. agriculture industry officials said could be worth $3 million to $15 million. The U.S. State Department said on Thursday it would expedite the sale, calling it a humanitarian gesture. The sale would be the first by U.S. farmers to Cuba since the United States imposed a trade embargo 41 years ago in an attempt to nudge Cuba's communist government toward democracy.

     U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Florida Republican who strongly supports the U.S. embargo against Cuba, called the decision a ploy by Castro to divert attention from recent public reports linking Cuban intelligence operatives to terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda.


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 15

     TALKS ON SUPPLIES BEGIN BETWEEN CUBA AND U.S.A.
     Cuba has opened talks with the United States for a one-time cash purchase of food and health care products to help replenish stocks depleted by Hurricane Michelle, administration and congressional sources said today.

     Cuban officials have presented a list of goods for examination by U.S. officials and also have contacted directly 15 agricultural companies and 15 companies that produce either pharmaceuticals or medical supplies, the sources said. Estimates of the total value of the products requested range from $3 million to $15 million. If approved, the goods would be shipped on U.S. or third-country vessels.

     A year ago, Congress softened the U.S. embargo against Cuba, permitting the sale of food to the island nation but barring U.S. government financing of any such sales. Cuban President Fidel Castro reacted angrily to the restriction and ruled out any purchases (not even an aspirin) from U.S. markets.


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 14

     A WARNING TO CUBA FROM SECRETARY RUMSFELD 
     Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld warned that other countries should not provide safe harbor to Osama bin Laden and other terrorists fleeing Afghanistan. He said some al-Qaeda members might flee to neighboring Iran and Pakistan or to countries where they have operated before, specifically Somalia and Sudan. He also listed Cuba, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and North Korea as ñstates that in the past have housed terrorists."

     Rumsfeld mentioned that President George W. Bush, at the beginning of the war, warned that the United States would also attack those countries that harbor or finance terrorism. The SecretaryÍs comments were intended to ñlay down a marker" for those countries and show them that the United States is closely watching their behavior, a defense official said.


NEW YORK, November 14

     AGAIN, CUBA CRITICIZES AMERICA
     Cuba's Foreign Minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, harshly criticized the United States today at the United Nations for its strikes against Afghanistan, saying its global coalition against terrorism lacks legitimacy and warning that military action will only fuel extremism.

     ñThe United States has not fostered international cooperation. It has rather imposed its war on a unilateral basis and unwontedly stated that whoever does not second them is with terrorism,'' the Cuban minister told the U.N. General Assembly.


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 14

     ñFIDEL MAY BE PART OF TERROR CAMPAIGN" (Insight Magazine, November 9, 2001 ¿ By Martin Arostegui)
     An Insight Magazine article titled ñFidel May Be Part of Terror Campaign" published on the Washington Times of November 12, reveals that  ñAs Russia and the United States try to close ranks against the common threat posed by Muslim terrorist networks in Central Asia, Castro's growing ties with radical Islamic movements have become a source of worry for both governments. During his recent tour of Syria, Libya, Iran, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia, the Cuban dictator told a cheering crowd of Muslim students at the University of Tehran, "Together we will bring America to its knees."

     ñThere are signs that Castro's new alignment with fundamentalist Islam could go beyond crowd-pleasing declarations. U.S. law-enforcement agencies have indications that Cuba may have assisted the logistics and planning for the latest wave of terrorist attacks. Insight has learned that al-Qaeda ringleader Mohammed Atta, who organized the Sept. 11 attacks and crashed a hijacked airliner into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, may have met secretly with Cuban undercover agents shortly after his arrival in the United States last year. The Czech government has confirmed that Atta similarly had met with Iraqi intelligence officers in Prague."

     ñAtta's dealings with the DGI are not the only contacts reported between Cuba's military intelligence and al-Qaeda. The Associated Press reported on March 4, 2000, that a young Afghani who trained at a camp run by bin Laden in northeast Afghanistan says he saw advisers there from Chechnya, Sudan, Libya, Iran, North Korea and Cuba. Some of these foreigners, he said, had brought biological/chemical weapons, which were stored in caves." (Click Here to Read Complete Articles in English and Spanish).


KABUL, November 13

     KABUL FALLS; AS COMMUNIST HAVANA  WILL INEXORABLY FALL TOO. 
    Only hours after their stunning victories in the north, Afghan Northern Alliance rolled into Kabul today after Taliban troops slipped away under cover of darkness, abandoning the capital without a fight. Heavily armed Alliance troops roamed the city, hunting Taliban stragglers and their allies from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida movement. At least five Pakistanis and two Arabs were slain during  a shootout early today, witnesses said. Their bodies lay in a public park hours later. The Alliance vowed to help prepare a transitional Afghan government this morning after seizing Kabul in defiance of international pressure to stay out. The Alliance cautioned that while it would not go on to formally occupy Kabul, a move opposed by the U.S.-led coalition against terror, it would not be told what to do by foreigners. President Bush had urged the opposition to stay out of the capital until a new, broad-based government could be formed to replace the Taliban.

     Kabul residents shouted out congratulations, honked car horns and rang bells on their bicycles. Men shaved off beards -- mandated by the Taliban -- and the sounds of music returned after having been banned by the Islamic militia. In Kabul City, bands of heavily armed northern Alliance soldiers roamed the city in taxis, trucks and cars, seeking out Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and others who had come to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban. Alliance troops were setting up roadblocks on streets where Arabs and others associated with al-Qaida movement had been living. The bodies of two dead Arabs lay on the street near a U.N. guest  house. Close to the bodies were rocket launchers and a rifle.

    At the United Nations, the United States, Russia and six nations that border Afghanistan pledged "to establish a broad-based Afghan administration on an urgent basis." The aim is to put together a transitional leadership that is broadly acceptable, possibly including Taliban defectors. However, Alliance leaders have rejected bringing in the new government  former Taliban members. (If the readers substitute the names of KABUL for HAVANA and ALLIANCE for DISSIDENTS, they could observe the similarity between what is happening inside AFGHANISTAN today, and what it could happen in CUBA tomorrow.)

     ñThe sufferings we endure to win freedom make us love it all the more when we have won it ƒ When an individual is introduced into the happiness and discipline of liberty, the result is like a colossal flowering of lilies, a chaste and profound faith in the utility and justice of nature."  José Martí


MATANZAS, November 13

     COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HELP HURRICANE VICTIMS

     Residents of Matanzas province, who were among the most affected by hurricane Michelle last week, are complaining that government officials are concentrating on the reconstruction of tourist installations, sugar mills, and citrus plantations in nearby JagÙey Grande, leaving them to their own devices with scarce resources to face the crisis.

     The municipalities directly in Michelle's path, such as JagÙey Grande, Calimete, Colón, Perico, Los Arabos, and Jovellanos lost, by some estimates, fully half the existing housing. The houses that remain standing are mostly in various states of disrepair. There is no water service in many areas, and the few tank cars that have been provided don't meet sanitary standards. In addition to receiving no help from the government, people here complain that Cuban civil defense authorities did not  prepare the population for the disaster.

     Information also seems to have been in short supply. Residents say they received a lot of needed information from Radio Martí, including up-to-date reports from weatherman Ángel Martín. "Radio Martí (now under the leadership of Dr. Salvador Lew) was the only source of information we had during and after the hurricane and it still is right now," said one Perico resident. Some said they had been able to listen to the radio by connecting the set to a car battery.

     "The duty to relieve unnecessary misery and suffering of the people 
is a duty of the state." José Martí


HAVANA, November 13

     EMERGENCY MEASURES ADOPTED IN HAVANA

     The Havana government has adopted a series of emergency measures to cut electricity demand a week after Hurricane Michelle ripped across central Cuba seriously damaging the power grid. All businesses in the capital, which accounts for around 43 percent of Cuba's gross domestic product, were ordered to reduce energy consumption in general and stop production from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. local time, a period of peak demand.

     Use of air conditioners, except where technically indispensable, was banned, and offices and social services ordered to reduce lighting and take other energy-saving measures. Havana's 2.2 million residents, 20 percent of Cuba's population, are being urged by authorities to cut consumption or face blackouts. It will be weeks before the transmission lines destroyed by Michelle are restored, and until then the Cuban capital must rely on local power plants that cannot meet the city's demand, the government said.


NEW YORK, November 12

     PLANE CRASHES IN QUEENS, NEW YORK

     An American Airlines jetliner en route to the Dominican Republic with 255 people aboard, 246 passengers and nine crew members, crashed this morning moments after takeoff  from Kennedy International Airport setting  homes ablaze in the Rockaway section of Queens. There was no immediate word on the number of deaths or injuries.

    Bush administration officials said the FBI believed there was an explosion aboard the plane, and was investigating whether it was the result of a mechanical failure or sabotage. The city - already on edge after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack - was put on high alert. Fighter jets were seen flying over the area. All metropolitan-area airports - Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark, N.J. - were closed after the crash. All bridges and tunnels into the city were closed except to emergency vehicles.

     In Washington, a senior administration official said that no threats against airplanes had been received and that the pilot reported no trouble before the crash. The twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by two Boeing 767s hijacked out of Boston's Logan Airport. One of the planes was operated by American, the other by United. As reported below, on November 8, Communist Cuba planes still flight over United States territory.


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 12

    CASTROÍS APOCALYPTIC EXIT (By Ernesto F. Betancourt)

     Since achieving power, Fidel has been preparing an apocalyptic exit in case he has to face his regimeÍs downfall. That moment is near. For that apocalypse, Fidel is counting on the willingness of the Cuban military to sacrifice themselves to his cause. Although this is the exit that Fidel seeks to ensure himself a place in history, it is not the exit that is followed by the Cuban people, the Cuban military or their families.

     ñThere are people who, because of their base nature, are made to stepped on ƒ There are some who take their master for his morning bath each day a servile basin filled with the blood of their land." José Martí


FORT WASHINGTON, November 11

     THE MEMBERS OF CAMCO SALUTE YOU ON VETERANS DAY

     CAMCO  joins in spirit with all people throughout the world to acknowledge the heroism and sacrifices that have been made by servicemen and women in all wars and conflicts.


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 11

     THE CUBAN DICTATOR MAY CREATE A NEW REFUGEE CRISIS

     There is a growing consensus among Cuba affairs observers that the islandÍs present economic chaos is likely to bring about a new avalanche of thousands of Cuban rafters to the United States. History shows that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has opened the gates of migration at critical moments of his 42-year revolution, whenever he had needed to release social pressures at home. At this moment, the dictator might be thinking to create a new ñbalsero crisis" for the following reasons:

     1)  Cuba Tourism industryÍs thrashing as a result of the terrorist attacks.
     2)  Miami Cuban exilesÍ cutback in remittance.
     3)  Sugar world pricesÍ decrease
     4)  RussiaÍs pull out from Lourdes.
     5)  Hurricane MichelleÍs catastrophic effects

     The accumulation of these negative economic factors will create growing social pressures on the island, and Castro might decide to open the migration safety valve to keep the situation under control.


HAVANA, November 10

     CUBA DECLINES U.S. OFFER TO HELP

     "We do not require the cooperation kindly offered," said a foreign ministry communiqué summarizing a Cuban government note responding to the earlier "respectful and kind" U.S. note. "Instead, what would be useful for our country, as an exceptional circumstance given the innumerable laws and specific regulations prohibiting it, would be to allow public Cuban firms to make speedy purchases of certain quantities of food, medicines and raw materials to produce them."

We do not require the cooperation kindly offered," said a foreign ministry communiqué summarizing a Cuban government note responding to the earlier "respectful and kind" U.S. note. "Instead, what would be useful for our country, as an exceptional circumstance given the innumerable laws and specific regulations prohibiting it, would be to allow public Cuban firms to make speedy purchases of certain quantities of food, medicines and raw materials to produce them."

     Havana said that would enable it to quickly replenish emergency reserve stocks, which are fast being emptied in the aftermath of Hurricane Michelle. In its counter-proposal to the U.S. aid offer, Havana said the cheapest and fastest method to bring products over from its northern neighbor would be to use Cuban boats. It also promised to pay in cash.

     The State Department said publicly Wednesday that any U.S. assistance would have to be administered by intermediaries other than the Cuban government. "Our goal would be to provide aid to the people of Cuba, to ensure that the Cuban people benefit and not the Castro regime," said one official.


HAVANA, November 10

     MICHELLE INCREASES THE ALREADY UNBEARABLE SUFFERING OF THE CUBAN PEOPLE 

     Hurricane Michelle has greatly increased the misery of the Cuban people. Michelle did more economic damage to Cuba last week than any other storm in four decades of communist rule, the government said. While past hurricanes have caused more deaths, ñnone has provoked economic damage of the magnitude'' of this storm, Vice President Carlos Lage said Thursday night in a report broadcast live to the nation.

     Lage said the hurricane affected about 45 percent of the island's territory, home to about 5 million of the nation's 11 million citizens. Electrical and telephone systems were hit hardest. Although Cuba is still recovering from its post-Soviet financial crisis, it does have some reserves to help rebuild collapsed buildings and toppled communications towers, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said earlier this week.

     At least 45,000 homes were damaged nationwide, state media have reported in recent days. Sugar ministry officials said Cuba's important sugar crop was severely damaged. Nearly 1 million acres of sugarcane that was to be harvested later this month was flattened. Lage predicted more suffering for the Cuban people residing in hard-hit Matanzas province, he said they  will not have power until later this month.

     ñExcessive suffering drives the soul to great resolve. Cowards turn to the barrel of a pistol and disappear with the smoke of gunpowder. Those with energy reach for the sword, the plow or the pen and, though them may be broken inside, like a rosary with a snapped string, they rebel. Man has to be downtrodden like a beast before the hero in him appears." José Martí


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 9

    U.S. OFFERS STORM RELIEF AID TO CUBA, EXILES SEEKING WAY TO HELP VICTIMS

    In a gesture that U.S. officials described as ñroutine'' in cases of natural disasters, the Department of State on Wednesday made a formal offer of relief assistance to Cuba, which is still gauging damage caused by Hurricane Michelle. The Cuban government did not immediately respond to the offer, which was made to Cuban officials in both Washington and Havana.

    Cuban Americans in South Florida also are trying to find a way to help the victims of Michelle, but it's not an easy task.  Miami Spanish-language radio commentators, as well as CAMCO leadership, who support the 40 year-old economic embargo on Cuba say all money or food and supplies should be sent directly to dissidents for them to distribute.

   The type of aid offered by the United States would depend on the needs of the island. Any U.S. assistance would come with strings attached. ñWe did make it clear to them that this cannot be government-to-government assistance, and that any relief assistance that we could give should be through international relief organizations or NGO's,'' or nongovernmental organizations, a State Department official said. In 1998, Cuba rejected a U.S. offer to deliver food to the island through the U.N. World Food Program, said Richard Boucher, a State Department spokesman. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro already has indicated outside assistance would not be necessary, saying that Cuba has the reserves to take care of the devastation caused by Michelle.

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 8

     CASTROÍS PLANES FLY OVER U.S. DESPITE HIS TIES WITH KNOWN TERRORISTS

     While the U.S. war effort is focused on the terrorists hiding out in Afghan caves, a terrorist supporter regularly flies his planes over U.S. territory, unimpeded. A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Hank Price, said that in 1998, during -President ClintonÍs administration, the commercial flights of the communist regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro were authorized to operate over U.S. territory during their flights to Canada.

     Price confirmed that despite the criminal terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, D.C. , of September 11, Cuban planes are now permitted to fly two paths, one over land on the U.S. East Coast, and the other offshore over the Atlantic Ocean near the U.S. coastline. Cuban planes fly over American communities notwithstanding CastroÍs ties to the worldÍs deadliest terrorist groups and biotechnology manufacturing plants, his strong ties to Iran, and his well-documented hatred of the United States.

     A Cuba-observer who had been informed that CastroÍs planes were flying over peaceful American communities reacted by saying that the flights are undoubtedly "used also for military surveillance purposes to photograph targets previously identified." Castro recently proclaimed "Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees." Because that aim is also number one on bin LadenÍs agenda, terrorism experts have difficulty figuring out how Cuba flights can be of any help in the U.S. fight against international terrorism.


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 8

     CASTRO FACES THREE OPTIONS (By Ernesto F. Betancourt) 

     Castro is currently facing three options. The first option, to join the modern forces, is incompatible with the nature of his regime and his personality, as well as the essentially anti-American international forces upon which he relies. 

     The second, to try to initiate a post-special period, with more adjustments and necessities. This would be very difficult to sell to citizens who have gone through a special period already and who have watched how the ñdolarization" divided Cuba into two societies: one group, encompassing approximately 15 percent of the population with access to dollars and more comfort, while the other 85 percent has reached intolerable levels of poverty. 

     The third option, which he has prepared during his long forty years in power, is the apocalyptic ending. A crazed effort to initiate a military crisis with the United States such as the launching of an attack against  the nuclear plant of Turkey Point, the provoking of airplane collisions at U.S. airports with his Plan Titan 1500 kwatt transistors, the interference of red ARINC radio plants that serve U.S. air traffic control and the use of biologic weapons that have been developed by his Engineer Genetic and Biologic Center.

     The time has come to ask the Cuban military, many of whom have been corrupted and bribed with the ñdolarization," whether they are willing to sacrifice everything in the final craziness of their commander in chief, or whether they are going to remember the loyalty that they have sworn to their homeland and refuse to follow the orders of the apocalyptic option.  Because, gentlemen, that is the option that probably Fidel Castro will follow. However, even if it is the option of Fidel Castro it does not  necessarily have to be the option of Cuba, the Cuban military or their families. (Click here and read the complete article in Spanish).


HAVANA, November 7

      THOUSANDS OF CUBAN HOMES AND BUILDINGS DESTROYED BY MICHELLE 

     Large areas of Cuba were still without power on Tuesday and millions were short of food two days after Hurricane Michelle slammed into the Caribbean island, destroying at least 2,000 homes and buildings and damaged another 8,000 in central Cuba alone, government officials said. In the City of Havana, where two million people reside, it has been reported that 180 apartment buildings were partially destroyed and 4 other buildings completely destroyed. City of Havana, where two million people reside, it has been reported that 180 apartment buildings were partially destroyed and 4 other buildings completely destroyed. City of Havana, where two million people reside, it has been reported that 180 apartment buildings were partially destroyed and 4 other buildings completely destroyed. The disaster was a further blow to Cuba's fragile economy, whose recovery from a decade-long crisis after the Soviet collapse was already being undermined by this year's world economic downturn and the aftermath of the September 11 criminal terrorist attacks on the United States. 

     Assessing immediate food needs, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said around 5 million of Cuba's 11 million inhabitants "need something," but ruled out an appeal for foreign aid. "The country has the necessary resources to recover by itself," he said. The dictator said it was too early, however, to quantify damage, and that anyway was a capitalist concept he did not like. "You can't measure damage by volume or cost, that's capitalism," the communist dictator told reporters.

     Communications across the island was still limited, but a picture of widespread destruction was emerging, especially in some localities where Michelle's eye passed over and to the economically important sugar and citrus crops. Civil Defense gave a preliminary list of 45,000 homes and buildings, 780 industrial installations and 500 schools damaged in the island. "It was worth than any disaster I've seen in the films ... everything was coming down," said a young medicine student, in the tourist resort of Varadero on Matanzas' northern coast.


HAVANA, November 6

    MICHELLE KILLS FIVE IN CUBA AND DESTROYED HUNDREDS OF HOUSES

      Vast portions of Cuba were still without power and communications Monday after Hurricane Michelle swept across the island. In a state television broadcast early Monday afternoon, Cuba's National Defense confirmed five deaths -- four people were killed in building collapses.

Vast portions of Cuba were still without power and communications Monday after Hurricane Michelle swept across the island. In a state television broadcast early Monday afternoon, Cuba's National Defense confirmed five deaths -- four people were killed in building collapses.

    When the storm made landfall in Cuba on Sunday at the Bay of Pigs, its winds were estimated at 130 mph. The storm caused at least 23 homes to collapse in Havana, state television reported, saying that more were expected to crumble as they dried out in the sun. Switched off by the government after Michelle hit Sunday afternoon, electricity remained shut down across the western half of the island.

    The 750,000 people who had been evacuated before the storm still had not been allowed to return home by early Monday afternoon. Speaking Sunday night, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said extensive damage to the communist island's crops was likely. The hurricane ñsurely has done damage to all agriculture - to sugarcane, to forests, to plantains,'' Castro said. ñIt's another blow ... but it would have been worse if it had passed over the capital.''


MANAGUA, November 6

     ORTEGA CONCEDES DEFEAT IN NICARAGUA ELECTIONS

     Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega conceded defeat Monday to the governing party presidential candidate, Enrique Bolaños, who had once been imprisoned by a past Ortega government. ñWe accept the mandate of the people and congratulate the Liberal ticket,'' Ortega said. He promised to continue working for national reconciliation and a free-market economy, from within the country's National Assembly, or congress. U.S. officials openly sided against him, expressing concern about his party's past ties to terrorists and its past socialist policies. Once the official results were announced, the State Department congratulated Nicaraguan President-elect Bolaños on his election victory and said it looks forward to working with him on strengthening democracy and promoting economic growth.

     With 5.4 percent of the vote counted, the Liberal party's Bolaños had 61,100 votes or 53 percent, while Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) trailed with 45.3 percent or 52,297, according to Roberto Rivas, the president of the country's Supreme Electoral Council. The first results, delayed because of late closing of voting places, also had the Liberal party headed for control of the national assembly.

     Results indicated Ortega had failed to convince voters of his transformation from a Marxist revolutionary to a free market believer. ñWe are happy with the results ƒ This triumph is a triumph of democracy,'' said Rivas. "We didn't think things would go so badly," said Delia Sandoval, women's coordinator for the FSLN. "We thought the people would respond to us, but they just didn't."  

     ñIt appears that orderly and continual exercise of freedom gives people confidence in its power and makes violence unnecessary." José Martí


HAVANA, November 5

    HURRICANE MICHELLE ñATTACKS" CUBA AT THE BAY OF PIGS

      Powerful Hurricane Michelle slammed into Cuba's coast on Sunday, packing winds up to 135 mph and heading toward the country's premier tourist resort as the government evacuated more than a half-million people from low-lying areas.

     The International Red Cross in Geneva reported that 24,500 Red Cross volunteers in Cuba were helping authorities of the communist government in evacuation efforts. About 560,000 residents had been evacuated - mostly to the homes of friends or family - and 66,000 were in shelters.

     Michelle made landfall around 4 p.m. EST at the Bay of Pigs, about 70 miles southeast of Havana, the same spot where the Cuban exile Assault Brigade 2506 landed on 17 April 1961. It was moving northeast, putting Cuba's premier vacation resort, Varadero, near its path.    

       (Click here to read an important article of Pablo Alfonso published yesterday on  "El Nuevo Herald."  Learn the latest about the DIA/PENTAGON Spy) 

     "Liberty never dies from the stab it receives on its back. The dagger that wounds liberty carries new blood to its veins."  José Martí

HAVANA, November 4

     MORE SACRIFICES FOR THE CUBAN PEOPLE

     Cuban dictator Fidel Castro acknowledged Friday that his island's economy has taken a serious hit. ñThis crisis was already coming; the cause, though, was not the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks," The dictator said in a live address to the nation that lasted more than two hours. Citing global figures that revealed a steady drop in industrial production, a rise in the cost of living and high unemployment rates, Castro said the terrorist attacks simply ñmade the crisis worse.''

     Cuba's economy is as fragile as the rest of the world's, Castro said, adding that it's been affected primarily by a drop in prices for sugar, nickel and tobacco, the island's three most important export products. He admitted, though, that tourism -- the most important source of hard currency -- has been hurt by the terrorist attacks.

     The address was an apparent attempt to quell concerns that Cuba is at risk of another dire economic collapse, like the one it experienced in the early 1990s following the demise of the former Soviet Union and an end to subsidized commodities in what the Cuban government refers to an ñspecial period'' that has never ended. During the last decades, Castro has predicted  a ñbetter future" for the Cuban people that, of course, has never materialized. 

      ñWhere people do not have a safe, honest way of earning living there is no hope that liberties can be firmly established." José Martí


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 3

     U.S. CALLS AMBASSADOR FROM CARACAS

     The United States has asked its ambassador in Caracas, Donna Hrinak,  to return to Washington for consultations after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned civilian casualties caused by the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. "We asked our ambassador to return to Washington for consultations to discuss the current state of our bilateral relationship with Venezuela," U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a press conference. "We've seen comments by President Chavez that we, frankly, found surprising and very disappointing," Boucher added.

    In a televised speech late on Monday, former paratrooper Chavez made an impassioned plea for an end to "the killing of innocents" in Afghanistan.  Chavez said there could be "no justification of any kind" for civilian casualties, even those killed by mistake.

     The United States has engaged in four weeks of bombing to weaken Afghanistan's Taliban rulers and cripple Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which Washington blames for the criminal terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

    
PINAR DEL RIO, November 3

     MILLIONS EMBEZZLED FROM GOVERNMENT BUSINESSES

     Six million pesos and one million dollars were found to have been embezzled from a handful of government-operated businesses in Pinar del Río province after 30 such businesses were audited this past September. "The figures speak for themselves. If just 30 audits found that kind of money missing, it's not hard to suppose that if all government enterprises were audited the total amount found to have been embezzled could surpass any estimate," said one informed source.

     Cases of falsified documentation, theft, and embezzlement are common in government-run companies in Pinar del Río, but often the police does not apprehend those responsible and sometimes, doesn't even investigate. The government-controlled press never explores the topic of corruption in government businesses, but workers constantly criticize administrators, most of whom are implicated in embezzlement, theft and other illegal activities.

     "You can't accuse the administrators because, more likely than not, it's the accuser that ends up being punished, or better yet, the corrupt administrator is transferred and continues stealing elsewhere. As to the losses, nobody knows how, but they get readjusted in the books and they show up as 'missing,' which is a catch-all term for all sorts of shenanigans," said the source.

     ñCrime is born where there is no work. Where misery is the only reward for submission, patriotism becomes blind and crazy". José Martí


WASHINGTON, D.C., November 2

     CYNICALLY, BIN LADEN, CASTRO AND CHAVEZ CALL AMERICA COUNTERATTACK ñTERRORISM"

     Terrorist Osama bin Laden, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and Venezuela President Hugo Chávez have cynically denounced America counterattack in Afghanistan as another form of ñterrorism."

     With great cynicism, the famous trio and their spokesmen have repeatedly tried to depict the United States, the leader of the Western democracies, as a warmonger nation that is carrying out in Afghanistan a ñterrorist war." Chavez has said the United States is taking the lives of innocent civilian ... murdering poor children and those who live in misery." They all criticize the air strikes on Afghanistan by the United States and Britain. Castro has emphasized ''No matter what the pretext, this is a war with the most sophisticated technology aimed at people who don't know how to read or write.''

     The U.S. and Britain are unleashing bombing and missile attacks against Taliban military targets and terrorist training camps in Afghanistan in retaliation for the Sept. 11 criminal  terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

    "Perhaps the enemies of liberty oppose it because they judge it by the clamor of those who are free. If they knew the charms of liberty, the dignity that accompanies it, how much a free man feels like a king, the perpetual inner light that is produced by decorous self-awareness and realization, perhaps there would be no greater friends of freedom that those who are now its worst enemies." José Martí



WASHINGTON, D.C., November 2

    THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION  KEEPS IGNORING CASTROÍS TERRORISM

     While the U.S. government keeps ignoring the fact that "Cuba is an eminent threat to this country," more and more evidence shows that Cuban  dictator Fidel Castro is a tremendous danger who can no longer be ignored, says Judicial Watch.

     "Castro's cozy relationship with Iran, strong ties to some of the world's deadliest terrorist groups and his biotechnology manufacturing plants, along with his well-documented hatred of America, should be enough to consider him dangerous," says the anti-corruption law firm.

    More evidence has recently been uncovered that Castro is a threat to national security, but the Bush administration, which has expressed an interest in softening the U.S. embargo against Cuba, continues to ignore the facts, Judicial Watch says. (Read Miami Herald's Article on Cuba's Threat to Our National Security).

    ñFreedom is not a private pleasure; there is a duty of every nation to extend to others." ."José Martí



WASHINGTON, D.C., November 1^st.

     U.S. ñDEEPLY DISAPPOINTED" BY CHAVEZ SPEECH ON WAR

     On Monday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held up what were purportedly photographs of dead children in Afghanistan and condemned the deaths of civilians as a result of the U.S.-led bombing campaign. The United States said on Tuesday it was "surprised and deeply disappointed" by ChavezÍs comments. In statements released by the State Department in Washington and its embassy in Caracas, the U.S. government rebutted Chavez's suggestion that military operations to destroy Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network were like fighting "terror with more terror."

     "It is false to present the U.S. response to the al Qaeda attack as if it were an act of terrorism ƒ We deeply regret any such casualties." It said the military response against Afghanistan was an act of self-defense in accordance with article 51 of the U.N. charter, and noted that four Venezuelans had been among those killed in the suicide hijackings. "The attacks of Sept. 11 were attacks against the entire global community, citizens from over 80 countries lost their lives," the statement read.

     Citing the need for a "multipolar" world order, Chavez has strengthened ties with China and Russia, and with states such as Iraq, Libya, Iran and Cuba, which are on a U.S. list of sponsors of terrorism.

    

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