CUBA SUSPENDS U.S. CATTLE PURCHASES

    Cuba said on Tuesday it had suspended purchases of live animals from the United States but expressed confidence it would resume them soon and add beef to a growing list of imported U.S. foods. "We have some outstanding contracts for cattle ... and we hope they can be executed after the epidemic is resolved," Pedro Alvarez, chairman of Cuba's state food importer Alimport, said in a telephone interview.

    "I am confident the U.S. industry and scientists will stop the epidemic and normalize the situation ... I hope as soon as possible so we can continue and increase our purchases of cattle and begin buying meat," Alvarez said. Alvarez said the approximately $350 million in U.S. food products purchased to date included 500 head of cattle, which were under observation. Alimport was in the process of negotiating its first U.S. beef purchases when the U.S.'s first case of madcow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, was discovered earlier this month in a Holstein cow in Washington state.

    All trade between Cuba and the United States was cut off after President Fidel Castro's 1959 Communist revolution but Washington eased the embargo in 2000 to allow agricultural sales for cash. Cuba began buying American farm products in December 2001 and this year became the U.S. cattle industry's newest client. Alimport is the only Cuban company authorized by Castro's government to purchase agricultural products from the United States.

    VENEZUELA TIGHTENS FRONTIER SECURITY AFTER KILLINGS

    Venezuela moved to tighten frontier security Monday after the government blamed Colombian paramilitaries for killing seven of its National Guard troops on the border between the two nations. Officials said Venezuelan armed forces had already reinforced border areas where the troops were killed and the government planned other measures to improve coordination, control of the frontier and military intelligence.

    "We are carrying out more counter-subversion operations," Brig. Gen. Julio Quintero, chief of the unified command, told reporters after meeting with ministers and high-ranking military officials on improving frontier security. "In addition to increasing numbers, they have also increased resources to bring better security and cover for the troops on ground patrol," he said.

    He said 20,000 Venezuelan armed forces troops currently operate on the porous 1,400 mile frontier with Colombia where violent crime, kidnappings, drug trafficking and smuggling are common. Ties between the Andean neighbors have been strained by the recent spate of violent clashes between Venezuelan troops and suspected Colombian gunmen and accusations that Venezuelan soldiers have violated Colombian territory. Colombian army officials charge leftist President Hugo Chavez has allowed Marxist guerrillas to use Venezuelan territory for refuge from their military operations.

    CASTRO: "I COULDNçT RULE OUT AN INVASION OF CUBAî

    The U.S. may think twice about attacking Cuba after the difficulties it is facing the Iraq invasion, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said in an interview published in Venezuela's Ultimas Noticias newspaper. Asked if he feared a U.S. invasion of Cuba, Castro said he "couldn't rule out any dangers," especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks "created favorable conditions for those who have no common sense and are the most violent."

    The communist leader gave the interview Monday during a one-day visit to Venezuela to meet with President Hugo Chavez. Castro declined to say where he thought captured Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein should be tried. But he said the U.S. shouldn't "pretend to have the right to invade a country and then decide where (its leader) should be tried."  After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Castro repeatedly accused the U.S. of seeking a pretext to strike Cuba. However, U.S. officials have denied such intentions.

    MARTHA BEATRIZ ROQUE CABELLO'S HEALTH CONDITION

    As per telephone conversation on this date with Maria de los Angeles Falcon Cabello, niece of Cuban political prisoner Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello, she was able to visit her aunt on December 24, 2003. Martha Beatriz, who was arrested in March, 2003 during the most recent wave of repression unleashed by Castro's regime and sentenced to 20 years in prison, was transferred from Manto Negro prison to a cell at the Carlos J. Finlay Military Hosital in Havana five months ago due to her delicate health condition.

    Maria de los Angeles informed us that Martha Beatriz' blood pressure and sugar blood level remains unstable. In addition, she reported that Martha Beatriz' face is swollen, as well as her knee, and that she is presently undergoing therapy and ultrasound treatment for the knee condition. Martha Beatriz continues to have vaginal bleedings, and continues to be treated for a uterus infection prior to having necessary tests performed in order to determine the cause of this condition. Martha Beatriz' niece was told that she would be able to visit her aunt again in fifteen days.

    "We call on the international community to demand that Martha Beatriz receives the complete medical treatment her condition requires, and that Martha Beatriz and all political prisoners be immediately set free", stated Sylvia G. Iriondo, President of M.A.R. POR CUBA.

    CUBA SAYS GUANTANAMO PRISON IS A CONCENTRATION CAMP

    Cuba has charged the United States with running a concentration camp at the Guantanamo base on the eastern tip of the island, in the government's first attack on use of the facility to hold terror suspects. "In the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo naval base, hundreds of foreign prisoners are subjected to indescribable abuses," said a statement passed by parliament earlier this week and broadcast by the state-run media on Friday.

    Communist-run Cuba's National Assembly said prisoners were isolated and denied the right to communicate with their families or to prepare an adequate defense. "Some of the few freed have spoken of the horrors of this concentration camp," said the statement, appealing to lawmakers throughout the Americas to halt U.S. human rights violations related to the war on terror.

    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's government surprised observers when after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington it offered logistical support to Washington as it transformed the base at Guantanamo into a prison for suspected Taliban soldiers from Afghanistan.

    CASTRO, CHAVEZ MEET IN SECRETIVE VENEZUELA TALKS 

    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro met revolutionary ally President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela at a secret venue Monday in a morale-boosting visit to the leftist Venezuelan leader who faces a campaign to vote him out of office. Shrouding the trip in secrecy, government officials declined to confirm the venue even though Venezuelan state journalists said the two held a lunch meeting for several hours on the Venezuelan island of Orchila, a presidential retreat 110 miles north of Caracas.

    Sunday, Chavez announced the 77-year-old Castro's brief trip to oil-rich Venezuela -- communist Cuba's biggest political ally and trade partner in Latin America. Foreign Minister Roy Chaderton described Monday's talks as a "quick, informal" meeting to review fast-expanding bilateral cooperation.

    Venezuela's opposition criticized Castro's trip as a meddling attempt to support the populist Chavez at a time when he is resisting a determined opposition bid to trigger a referendum on his presidency next year. "I think Chavez is looking for someone to cheer him up," opposition spokesman Timoteo Zambrano said. Opponents accuse Chavez of trying to install Cuba-style communism in Venezuela. The president says his self-styled "revolution" will benefit Venezuela's poor.

    CUBAN FLIGHT STEWARD DEFECTS TO U.S. AFTER HIJACKING TRIAL

    A Cuban flight-crew member allowed by Fidel Castro's government to testify in a recent hijacking trial in Key West has defected to the United States. Abilio Hernandez Garcia, a steward on the domestic DC-3 flight commandeered at knife point from Cuba to Key West in March, did not return to Cuba after testifying for the prosecution, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

    The trial ended a week ago with the conviction of six Cuban men, who face minimum prison sentences of 20 years. Hernandez has left Florida and has traveled to a state out west, sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said. Hernandez, who had an application pending with the Cuban Communist Party, was one of four crew members greeted by Castro in a televised meeting following the hijacking. He was then allowed to return to Florida to testify.

    During his testimony, Hernandez said he was forced at knife point to the rear of the plane, where his hands were bound. He also said he was treated badly at Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade and fed bad food. Hernandez insisted he knew nothing about the hijacking plot, which defense lawyers claimed was accomplished with the complicity of the crew. Mario S. Cano, the lawyer for one of the six convicted men, said Hernandez's defection will bolster his client's chances for an appeal. "The government's position all along was that none of the crew members wanted to stay.''

    SEVEN CUBANS RESCUED AT SEA

    After drifting for four days in their wooden boat, with only dry cake and sugar for food, Barbaro Antonio Vela and his group were picked up by a "Good Samaritan" 20 miles northeast of Islamorada on Dec. 13, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. They spent almost a week aboard a Coast Guard cutter before being flown to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station Friday afternoon.

    A former television and radio repairman, Vela headed one of Cuba's small dissident groups known as the January 6th Civic Movement. Though he was not well known, state security agents kept an eye on him and recently warned that he too could share the fates of the 75 dissidents jailed this spring. He was told there were 25 [dissidents] yet to be detained and he was at the top of the list. Calzada, 62, said.  At 48, he was the oldest man on the boat and was joined by seven others in their early 20s and 30s who had also chafed against the Cuban government. They are Daniel Cartaya, Juan Tamayo Muñoz, Rudy Lopez, Maikel Gonzalez, Claudio Garcia, Eugenio Labastida and Juan Carlos Nuñez.

  FOUR VENEZUELAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN BORDER AMBUSH

    Suspected Colombian gunmen ambushed and shot dead four Venezuelan National Guard troops near the two nations' border Saturday in the second deadly attack on Venezuelan forces in three days, officers said.  "We presume this was carried out by a group of Colombian irregulars," Gen. Castor Perez said in a televised interview from Zulia state, where the troops were shot while patrolling in the remote Tres Bocas frontier region.

    Perez said it was not immediately clear whether Marxist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries or another Colombian group was responsible for the killings, which he said were probably carried out by a large group. "Our unit was hit by more than 50 bullets," he said. The deaths brought to seven the number of Venezuelan troops killed in the border region this week.

    On Wednesday, three National Guard troops patrolling the border with Colombia in Tachira state, south of Zulia, were also ambushed and killed by unidentified gunmen. In both incidents, the soldiers' rifles were stolen, but a National Guard officer who asked not to be named said it was not clear whether the attacks were linked.

    LIBYA ABANDONS ITS WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION PROGRAM

    The world welcomed Libya's decision to abandon its weapons of mass destruction program. The surprise decision, made public on Friday, was an important step towards the full return of this country to the international community. The decision will pave the way for the normalization of political relations with the States and also with the West in general and also will lead to eliminate any threat against Libya from the West and from the States in particular.

    Lifting sanctions could allow U.S. oil companies back into Libya, where U.S. firms were at one time producing more than 1 million barrels per day and where oil facilities could be enhanced to reach 2 million bpd within five years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Libyaçs leader, Muammar Gadhafi, said the "wise decision" showed Libya was committed to "building a world free of weapons of mass destruction and all sorts of terrorism."

    CIA and British intelligence officials met with Gadhafi and other senior Libyan officials as the three governments negotiated the deal under which the Libyan government would give up its weapons of mass destruction programs, U.S. officials said. CIA officials also visited key sites in Libya during a nine-month period of negotiations that started with meetings in various European capitals. 

    VENEZUELA OPPOSITION DEMANDS RECALL

    Venezuela's opposition turned in more than 3 million signatures before dawn Friday to demand a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule, giving election authorities about a month to decide whether to call the vote.  Under military escort, several buses transported 250 boxes with 3.4 million signatures to the National Elections Council. The security and early hour was meant to deter attacks from pro-Chavez street protesters.

    Opposition activists jumped up and down and chanted "this government is going to fall!" as volunteers hoisting the cartons above their heads streamed into the council.  With Chavez insisting the petition is a "gigantic fraud," election officials have about one month to verify the signatures and decide whether to authorize a referendum on whether the Venezuelan leader should continue in office.

    Venezuela's opposition claims to have collected far more than the 2.4 million signatures needed to force a referendum. The Organization of American States and the U.S.-based Carter Center monitored the four-day drive and said they saw no evidence of widespread fraud. OAS and Carter Center officials also plan to observe the verification process. Chavez says he is leading a revolution to bring social justice to the poor, who make up 80 percent of the population. Opponents say the "revolution" includes steering Venezuela toward Cuba-style dictatorship.

    SEVEN CUBAN DISSIDENTS FEARED LOST AT SEA

    A group of seven Cuban dissidents who fled the island in a makeshift raft last Monday have not been heard from since and are feared lost at sea. Among those missing: Bárbaro Antonio Vela Crego, the president of the January 6 Civic Movement, or Movimiento Civico 6 de Enero, who faced 20 years in prison for his opposition to the Castro regime.

    Vela and six other dissidents slipped away from the city of Alamar, east of Havana Bay. Their vessel was powered only by pieces of cloth patched together to form a sail and had no engine, Vela's wife told the Cuban Liberty Council. The Coast Guard had no information on the group and said no migrants had been repatriated to Cuba this week. î According to reports from the island, the day after he left, the police went to Velaçs house looking for him. The day before he was told they were coming to arrest him, and that he would spend 20 years in jail.

    Other movement members fleeing with Vela: Juan Tamayo Muñoz, Claudio García Porcades, Julio Armando López Calma and Juan Carlos Nuñez Guerra. Two other dissidents, Michael González González and Eugenio Lavastida Alonso, were also on the raft, according to the Cuban Liberty Council. Vela signed a 2001 ''Appeal from Havana'' on behalf of his group, the National Council of Civil Resistance.

    THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT: "THE VOICE OF THE (VENEZUELAN) PEOPLE HAS TO BE HEARDî

    "We admit that the voice of the (Venezuelan) people has to be heard," said the spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, J. Adam Ereli. He said he would be surprised that the U.S. commitment to democracy in any part of the world, especially in the Western hemisphere and Venezuela, were questioned.

    "We have been clear about this issue since the beginning. We have acknowledged the importance of hearing the will of the people. We support the people of Venezuela, and the Organization of American States in connection with the collection of signatures for a recall petition. This process has started." Ereli ratified that the administration of George W. Bush "hopes the Venezuelan people's expectations are met. "We have said that the process seems to be working fine. I see no reason to think otherwise," he added.

    NURSE FIRED FOR SIGNING VARELA PROJECT PETITION

    A nurse at the Carlos Finlay military hospital in Havana was fired for signing the Varela project petition, asking for political change under provisions of the Cuban Constitution. Rosa María Esquivel, 34, had been working at the hospital for 12 years. She said she had been having problems with hospital administrators, who had been pressuring her to attend political manifestations and to do volunteer work, both common features of daily life in Cuba. She also said she had been censured for not having paid union dues or the assessment for the territorial militia.

    "Thursday they told me they had decided to let me go, that they had sent the petition to the Ministry of Public Health, but nonetheless not to bother going back to work while they waited for approval," said Esquivel, who added that she would contest her firing at every possible level

    U.S. FOOD PRODUCERS  WORKING WITH COMMUNIST CUBA DESPITE A "TIGHTENING OF THE EMBARGOî

    American food producers pushed ahead on new trade with communist Cuba on Monday, signing the first contracts in three days of negotiations expected to result in as much as $135 million in new sales. Scores of farmers, port operators and supermarket representatives from 147 firms from 29 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. watched Monday morning as Pedro Alvarez, head of the Cuban import company, Alimport, and Chris Aberle, FC Stoneçs Domestic Sales Director, signed contracts to buy $4.7 million from American firms.

    Interest by American food companies in doing business with Cuba has grown despite claims of tightening of trade restrictions established on the island by the Bush administration. Some 250 Americans are attending the conference, the largest gathering of U.S. business interests in the island since a U.S. agriculture trade show in September of last year. "How times have changed!" Alvarez said, noting that just two years ago there was no trade at all between the two countries, which have been without diplomatic ties for more than four decades.

    Many more contracts were expected through the end of  the conference on Wednesday. Among the companies participating were Cargill Inc., of Minnetonka, Minn.; Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Ill.; FC Stone of Des Moines, Iowa; Kaehler's Homedale Farms in St. Charles, Minn. Also on hand were representatives of Carolina Turkey, of Mount Olive, North Carolina, and Crowley Liner Services of Jacksonville, Fla., which has transported about 70 percent of the American food sold to Cuba over two years. Because the law prohibits U.S. financing for the transactions, the Cuban funds generally are shipped through European banks.                                                                                                                      

    OSCAR ELIAS BISCET GONZÁLEZ PUNISHED ONCE MORE IN A "DUNGEONî

     Cuban physician condemned to 25 years in prison for defending human rights, is punished once more in a "Dungeon."  His wife, Elsa Morejón,  urgently requests international solidarity, alleging the objective of Cuban authorities is to destroy him physically and psychologically.

    Mrs. Morejon makes the Cuban government responsible for the physical and mental well-being of her husband and family, and urgently appeals to heads of states, leaders of political, civic, religious and professional organizations, the press, and all men and women of good will worldwide to demand before the Cuban government the unconditional and immediate freedom of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and all those prisoners whose only crime is to honor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in their own country.

    Click here    and read Mrs. Morejón's testimony.

    MANUEL VÁZQUEZ PORTAL: "THIS REGIME WILL BE OVER WHEN CUBANS WISH IT"

    "If we suffer under a tyranny, it's only because we put up with it, and so we deserve it. Until the Cuban people, in spite of the government's repression, decide to be free, we will continue to be slaves. As long as we continue believing the regime's barrage of propaganda, we will continue, like mesmerized toads, living in the muck," wrote imprisoned poet and journalist Manuel Vázquez Portal, serving an 18-year sentence, to his wife.

    Click here    and read the complete article.

    PRESIDENT BUSH: SADDAM "WILL FACE THE JUSTICE HE DENIED TO MILLIONSî

    President Bush on Sunday said the capture of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was good news for the Iraqi people.  "Now he will face the justice he denied to millions," President Bush said during a five-minute formal television address. "For the vast majority of Iraqi citizens who wish to live as free men and women, this event brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever," the President said.  "This afternoon I have a message for the Iraqi people: You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again," Bush said, adding a warning. "The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq."

    "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,'' U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer told a news conference. "The tyrant is a prisoner.'' "He was just caught like a rat,'' said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, whose 4th Infantry Division troops staged the raid. "When you're in the bottom of a hole you can't fight back.''

    The president was first informed about the operation at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday at Camp David by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.  Then President Bush called Iraqi Civil Administrator L. Paul Bremer, Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Meyers, and Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, to congratulate them on the successful mission. Bush also called U.S. Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of the US Central Command, to congratulate him and his troops for carrying out the mission that led to Saddam's capture.

    HUGE VICTORY FOR THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES -- SADDAM CAPTURED WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT 

    Without firing a shot, some 600 troops from the 4th Infantry Division along with Special Forces captured a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam Hussein in an underground hide-out on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit, ending one of the most intensive manhunts in history. The arrest was a huge victory for U.S. forces battling an insurgency by the ousted dictator's followers. Saddam, with a thick, graying beard and bushy, disheveled hair, was seen as doctor examined him, holding his mouth open with a tongue depressor, apparently to get a DNA sample. Then the video showed a picture of Saddam after he was shaved, juxtaposed for comparison with an old photo of the Iraqi leader while in power.

    In Baghdad, radio stations played celebratory music, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration and passengers on buses and trucks shouted, ''They got Saddam! They got Saddam!''  Washington hopes Saddam's capture will help break the organized Iraq resistance that has killed more than 190 American soldiers since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1 and has set back efforts at reconstruction. U.S. commanders have said that while in hiding Saddam played some role in the guerrilla campaign blamed on his followers.

    Saddam was one of the most-wanted fugitives in the world, along with Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network who has not been caught despite a manhunt since November 2001, when the Taliban regime was overthrown in Afghanistan. Saddam was captured at 8:30 p.m. Saturday in a walled farm compound in Adwar, a town 10 miles from Tikrit, said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq. The cellar was little more than a specially prepared ''spider hole'' with just enough space to lie down. Bricks and dirt camouflaged the entrance. A U.S. defense official said Saddam admitted his identity when captured. Iraqi journalists in the audience stood, pointed and shouted ''Death to Saddam!'' and ''Down with Saddam!'' In Tikrit, U.S. soldiers lit cigars after hearing the news.

    OSWALDO PAYÁ ISSUES NEW CHALLENGE TO CUBAN DICTATOR FIDEL CASTRO

    Cuba's best known dissident Oswaldo Paya issued a new challenge to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro on Friday, detailing what analysts said was the most complete plan ever presented for a peaceful transition to democracy and a market oriented economy. In the first public challenge to the Communist government by a leading dissident since a massive roundup of opponents earlier this year, Paya vowed his organization would lead debates across the Caribbean island on his manifesto.

    "Cubans not only want their rights, but want to know what the transition and their lives will look like," the introduction to the 72-page manifesto, distributed to foreign correspondents, states. The manifesto calls for a multi-party democracy, freedom for political prisoners, the return of exiles, privatizing much of the economy and preserving Cuba's free education and health care.

    The program tries to capture the sympathies of government supporters and Cubans worried exiles will reclaim property confiscated after the revolution. Members of the government, military and security apparatus will get amnesty, the manifesto states, and claims on confiscated property will not be allowed. "This is our Christmas present and way of giving hope to the Cuban people for the new year,"  Payá said.  The latest initiative comes despite a government crackdown this year that resulted in 75 activists receiving long prison terms, many of whom helped gather petition signatures. Paya said his organization had hundreds of activists organized into committees in all 14 provinces and the majority of 169 municipalities to lead debate about the manifesto.

    U.S. FARM PRODUCERS TRAVEL TO CUBA

    The door to American trade with Cuba was nudged open a bit more this weekend as more than 250 U.S. agribusiness representatives traveled here for sales talks, marking the second anniversary of the first U.S. commercial food shipments to the communist island.

    Pedro Alvarez, head of Cuba's food import company, Alimport, told The Associated Press on Saturday that he expected at least $130 million in new sales contracts would be signed during four days of talks, which begin Monday. "We've had a really strong response from companies" to the government's invitation to participate in the talks, said Alvarez, adding that 147 companies from 29 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico are expected to attend.

    Alvarez said the companies included Riceland Foods Inc. of Stuttgart, Ark.; Cargill Inc., of Minnetonka, Minn.; Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Iowa; FC Stone of Des Moines, Iowa; and Kaehler's Homedale Farms in St. Charles, Minn. The steady interest by American agribusiness in Cuba comes despite a tightening of restrictions on the island by the Bush administration, including stepped-up enforcement of rules on American travel.  Alvarez said that Cuba has signed contracts to buy $509 million worth of American farm goods.

    CUBAN DISSIDENT HIT BY MILITARY JEEP

    Lázaro Lemus González, president of the dissident Cuban Union of Young Democrats, says that while riding his bicycle December 4 he was hit by a Soviet-made military jeep that fled the scene. "The jeep, traveling at high speed, swerved into me," he said. "I jumped into the ditch. If I hadn't reacted so quickly, I'd have been killed."

    He said the jeep moved so quickly he wasn't able to see the driver nor note the license plate number. The incident occurred in near San Cristobal in the province of Pinar del Rio. "It must have been premeditated to kill me or it was a dangerous act to intimidate me," he said. Lemus theorized that the incident might have been related to a recent threatening visit by a state security agent who questioned him about an independent library in his home.

    SIX CUBANS FOUND GUILTY OF HIJACKING

    Six young Cuban men were found guilty of air piracy in Key West Thursday, after jurors rejected their claim that the act was a ''freedom flight'' masterminded by airport crew. The conviction carries a minimum prison sentence of 20 years.

    As the judgment was read, the faces of the defendants -- Alexis Norniella Morales; his brother, Miakel Guerra Morales; his cousin Eduardo Mejia Morales; and their friends Neudis Infantes Hernandez, Alvenis Arias Izquierdo and Yainer Olivares Samon -- registered shock. Some wept into their hands. In the courtroom's gallery, three of their wives, who were on the hijacked flight, began to sob.

    ''It was beyond our control,'' said Jeffrey Williams, one of the 12 jurors. "I really sympathize with those people, but I couldn't do anything about it.î  Prosecutors insisted that the diversion of a domestic Cuban DC-3 plane to Key West was a meticulously plotted, ''old fashioned hijacking.'' But the defense called the act a ''freedom flight'' masterminded by an airport security guard with the complicity of the copilot, Gustavo Salas. In Havana, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the conviction was a "positive signal, an inevitable decision consistent with the idea of combating terrorism."

    ZAMORA: "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY THAT THE CONTENTS OF AN ELECTORAL MINUTES INVALIDATES THE SIGNATURESî

    Ezequiel Zamora, vice president of the National Electoral Council, on Thursday explained that, in his view, the will of the people who signed recall petitions against President Hugo Chávez and both pro-government and opposition lawmakers should prevail over the signature collection minutes prepared by electoral witnesses.

    "It is impossible to say that the contents of an electoral minutes invalidates the signatures. That would be equivalent to violate any juridical principle (...) and disrespect the will of the several millions of Venezuelans that participated in the two initiatives by signing a recall petition against a popularly elected official."

    He ensured that there is no possibility that the will of millions of Venezuelans is severed by "mistakes or problems in the minutes." Zamora was responding to versions that when signature collection minutes contain mistakes, the signature registered therein would be invalidated.

    BRAVO!   PENTAGON DROPS FRANCE AND GERMANY FROM IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION

    Germany and France have reacted angrily to news that they are not on a U.S. list of countries eligible to compete for contracts for Iraqi reconstruction. The U.S. Defense Department has published a list of countries eligible to compete for $18.6 billion worth of contracts on its Web site. Countries that either participated in the Coalition effort in the war or supported it -- including Spain, Britain, Australia, Poland, Japan, Italia, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, South Korea, Philippine,  Norway, Romania and South Arabia -- are included.

    Noticeably absent from the list are Germany, France, Canada, Russia and China -- countries that strongly opposed the U.S.-led war. A German government spokesman said it would be unacceptable for the United States to bar firms from countries which opposed the war in Iraq from competing for prime contracts to rebuild the country. France is studying the legality of the decision to bar its participation, the French Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

    U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the list was restricted due to security concerns.  "It is necessary for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States to limit competition for the prime contracts of these procurements to companies from the United States, Iraq, coalition partners and force contributing nations." 

    ADOLFO FERNÁNDEZ SAÍNZ BRUTALLY BEATEN IN PRISON

    On Saturday, December 6, the prisoner of conscience Adolfo Fernández Saínz, was brutally beaten by a common prisoner at the Holguín provincial prison. Adolfo protested a violation being committed against a prisoner and the prisoner in question warned him that no one was allowed to protest, but Adolfo continued to protest. That is the last thing he remembers. He woke up in the infirmary with a  severe hematoma covering one of his eyes.

    The aggressor was not punished for the unjustified violence for he has the authority to apply force as he sees fit. At the present time, Adolfo is among common prisoners, exposed to a new attack for he will continue to protest the injustices he sees in jail. His wife and daughter are extremely alarmed with this situation which posses a risk to his integrity for Adolfo is a peaceful Christian man, serving and unjust prison term.  This Information was received from Acción Democrática Cubana for general distribution.

     THE WHITE HOUSE WILL UNVEIL ANTI-CASTRO PLANS ON "MAY FIRST 2004"

     A commission set up by U.S. President George W. Bush will issue recommendations by May 1 on how the United States can hasten Cuban President Fidel Castro's fall from power without using force, the White House said on Monday. Bush's so-called Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Cuban-born Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, held its first meeting at the White House on Friday.

    A White House statement said the commission would issue its initial report to the president by May 1 for bringing about "a peaceful, near-term end to the dictatorship," as well as for establishing democratic institutions and a market economy. The commission is also developing plans to modernize the island's infrastructure and meet basic needs in the areas of health, education and housing, the White House said.

    "United States policy regarding Cuba is clear -- hasten Cuba's peaceful transition to a representative democracy and a free market economy -- ending decades of an oppressive dictatorship. The president created the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba to focus the United States government efforts on achieving this objective," the White House statement said.

    RAÚL CASTRO: CUBA READY IF U.S. ATTACKS

    Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro said Sunday that should the United States invade Cuba its forces would pay a far heavier price than the U.S. troops occupying Iraq. "Our people will pay a terrible price, but we will exact from the aggressors a high cost, be they the Yankees alone or with their cousins the British or Spanish," Castro told reporters after attending a Veterans Day ceremony.

    President Bush administration denies it plans to attack Cuba but since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March Cuban officials have expressed concern that they might be targeted too. Western diplomats say the government has used the prospect of such an invasion to rally Cubans. Raul Castro, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's younger brother and designated successor, said the Bush administration's accusation that Cuba may have weapons of mass destruction amounted to direct military threats.

    HUGO CHAVEZ REFUSES TO ACCEPT POLL BID

    Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned electoral authorities Sunday he would not accept a referendum on his rule if they approved what he said were fraudulent opposition signatures seeking such a vote. Speaking during his weekly television and radio broadcast "Hello President", Chavez demanded that he be allowed to personally count the signatures "one by one".

    It was the leftist president's bluntest warning that he would seek to block efforts to secure a constitutional referendum on his rule. The opposition says it has gathered enough signatures to trigger a vote but Chavez insists the petition is riddled with false signatures. Referring to Venezuela's National Electoral Council (NEC) as "the referee," Chavez said: "If the referee comes along and, let's say, recognizes these signatures, then we can't play can we?". "In that unlikely case, there couldn't be any electoral process in Venezuela and of course this government wouldn't recognize it at all."

    Opposition leaders have voiced fears that Chavez may try to avoid a referendum, either through legal challenges or maneuvers, or ultimately, through force. But they hope international pressure will stop this happening. Chavez repeated a charge that the 3.6 million pro-referendum signatures, which his foes say they collected a week ago, were a "mega-fraud." Chavez demanded that NEC provides him with a certified list of the identities on the pro-referendum petition. "We're going to check them one by one," he said. But his remarks were likely to trigger alarm in international bodies like the Organization of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which are monitoring Venezuela's referendum process.

    CASTRO: CUBAN REVOLUTION WILL OUTLAST BUSH

    Cuban dictator Fidel Castro said on Friday he will outlast any Bush Administration plans to oust him and Cuba's one-party communist state will survive his death. "The group of idiots that met in the White House will die of bitterness and frustration," the 77-year-old Cuban leader said in an address to school children celebrating the 10th birthday of Elian Gonzalez, the shipwrecked boy at the center of an international custody battle in 2000.

    Top Bush aides met on Friday at the White House and decided tighter inspections of U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba and a crackdown on illegal business with the Caribbean island to enforce four-decade-old sanctions aimed at undermining Castro. "This little meeting does not worry us ... they would be better off dedicating their time to drinking whiskey and smoking marijuana," Castro said, speaking to hundreds of school children.

    "They hope that 15 minutes after my death the revolution will collapse. They don't know that this country has thousands of leaders," he added. Castro has outlasted the hostility of nine U.S. presidents after building a Soviet-styled communist society 90 miles from the United States.

    ANOTHER SURPRISE ú NORIEGA:  "A TRANSITION (IN CUBA) COULD HAPPEN AT ANY TIMEŸî

    The Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, chaired by Housing Secretary Mel Martinez and Secretary of State Colin Powell, met at the White House on ways to hasten a transition to democracy and to plan federal aid for a future government. Appointed by President Bush on Oct. 11, the commission plans to issue its report by May 1.

    Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for hemispheric affairs, emphasized that top officials attended the Friday meeting, including national security advisor Condoleezza Rice, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. ''This commission is a national undertaking, and this commitment enjoys the full backing of President Bush,'' Noriega said.

    Martínez and Noriega, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said the administration was cracking down on illegal travel and remittances to Cuba, with inspections of all flights to the island, and officials were looking for new ways to help Cuban dissidents. Noriega said the federal government needed a plan "to ensure that profound and deep political and economic change occurs.'' ''A transition could happen at any time, and we have to be prepared to act decisively and agilely,'' Noriega said. "And there must be no accommodation with the cronies of the old regime that try to cling to power.''

    SURPRISE!  CORRUPTION DISCOVERED AT THE TOP OF CUBAN TOURISM

    Several senior officials in the largest state-run tourism organization in Cuba Cubanacan have been placed under house arrest on suspicion of corruption. Among those detained is the president of Cubanacan, Juan Jose Vega.

    Millions of dollars are said to be missing from the hotel, restaurant and travel agency business. The irregularities came to light when the company has to complied with a government order to all firms holding US dollars to convert them into Cuban pesos. For weeks Havana has been awash with rumors of a major corruption scandal unfolding. With its president under house arrest, the group is now being directly managed by Cuba's minister of tourism.

    Cubanacan is one of the business controlled by Cuban Army Forces, the other big one is the sugar industry. Cuban Minister of Defence Raul Castro is reportedly taking an active involvement in this inquiry - this points to the seriousness of the allegations. The scandal apparently came to light after a recent change in the rules in Cuba, whereby local firms had been told that they could not hold US dollars. In the process of exchanging their holdings into Cuban pesos, shortfalls were uncovered. The flow of hard currency into this communist-led island has increased - and so has the  corruption, our correspondent says.

    LATIN AMERICA MAY BE ALREADY LOST

    While the US congratulates for winning the Cold War ridding Eastern Europe communism, communism has reemerged within our own backyard.  Fidel Castro, who may yet prove to be the Free Worldçs worst foe, has been responsible for training, feeding and leading world terrorism for forty years and, is again turning his efforts towards organizing Latin American communism.   What Castro was not able to do through revolution, he has achieved by demonizing the United States in this hemisphere.  Latin American democrats who have demurely and privately applauded his criticism and hatred for the United States are now suffering the results of their political silence.  One by one, they are losing elections led by their own communist/hard left adversaries.  Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia Ecuador, Haiti and Venezuela and are firmly held by local communists and extreme left wing politicians who were either inspired or trained by Fidel Castro.  

    Other Latin American countries are facing their loss of democracy through national elections.  El Salvador, who fought a bloody war against a Castro-led communist insurgency for many years, is now well on the road to communism via their next elections.  It is clear that most Latin American countries are in danger of losing their freedom and liberty.  Once communism firmly holds power, all democratic institutions are modified under state control.  Venezuelaçs constitution has been changed to give power to the executive.  Brazil, while attempting to fool Wall Street and the International Monetary Fund, is in fact following a communist foreign policy led by Marco Aurelio Garcia.  Garcia, a notorious hard-line Marxist operative said that they were, "offsetting our losses in Eastern Europe with our victories in Latin America."

    The United States political and military efforts have been aimed, first, towards Europe and recently towards the Middle East and Asia.  Fidel Castro, who was able to survive the loss of the support of the Soviet Union, now depends on Cubaçs local sex tourism and Venezuelan oil to attract the millions of dollars he needs to stabilize his own island and destabilize the rest of Latin America.  The United States needs to reevaluate its economic, political, diplomatic and defense strategy.  Fidel Castro is not simply a bizarre and droll nuisance.  Castro is a dangerous enemy of democracy whose hatred for the United States compels him to attack and destroy Americaçs interests wherever they exist.

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