| Latest
News of FEBRUARY 2006 |
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FARC OFFERS TO SUPPORT HUGO CHAVEZ IF US
INVADES VENEZUELA
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA.-
Rebel
Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) said it would give
"unconditional support" to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez if the
United States invaded Venezuela, said one of the guerrillas leaders in a
communiqué published Monday, AFP reported. "In the event of an invasion
by the US war hawks from Colombia against the friendly Venezuelan
people, the FARC would voice their most strong rejection and offer their
unconditional support to the Bolivarian process," said Raúl Reyes,
spokesman for the rebel group.
Reyes' remarks came during an interview with Anncol, a news
agency publishing information on FARC, the most ancient and militarily
powerful rebel group operating in Colombia. Reyes branded Colombian
President Álvaro Uribe as "a paramilitary linked to drug traffic." "He
is a dangerous squire of the Yankee politics in the south of our
hemisphere."
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FORTY-SIX DEAD DURING CARACAS
CARNIVAL, SAYS CIVIL PROTECTION AGENCY
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA.-
Forty-six people died in Venezuela from February 23rd to
February 27th during Carnival holidays, most due to car
accidents, Monday said colonel Antonio Rivero, director of the
Civil Protection Agency. Riverto told
eluniversal.com that until Monday 27th, 37
people died in car accidents due to reckless driving, driving
under the effect of alcohol, or speeding.
Other eight people drowned, while another person died in a
parachute crash. So far, there have been 358 car accidents, 11
less than in the same period in 2005 Carnival, when 369 road
accidents were reported by Monday.
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SUCCESSFUL DEMONSTRATION OF THE CUBAN
MEMORIAL AT THE SEAT OF THE DICTATORSHIP
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The
peaceful act of protest and denunciation
fulfilled its main goal. Different forms
of press media, television, radio, and
newsprint both English and Spanish, were
present where a group of Cuban activists
unfolded a large placard with a gigantic
panoramic photo showing more than 10,000
crosses representing victims of the
Cuban dictatorship throughout the last
forty-seven years. They also carried
symbolic white crosses and Cuban flags.
Cuban activists Eng. Cesar Alarcón and
Ernesto Diaz (writer and ex- political
prisoner) were escorted by members of
the secret service and the metropolitan
police during the event as they tried to
hand over to the representatives of the
dictatorship in Washington, the more
than 10,000 documented names of victims.
They had to push aside by force a group
of contra-demonstrators made up mainly
of homeless from the area and Latin
American immigrants Communist
sympathizers ordered and paid by the
office of Cuban Interests in Washington
as they blocked the access to the door
of the embassy with the main objective
to prevent its presentation.
The representatives of the Cuban regime did not respond to
the call of the Cuban activists at their
door, discrediting themselves before the
international press that were present
and could corroborate this unusual fact.
Once again it was demonstrated to the
world the insensibility of the present
government of Cuba and its "diplomatic
body", that is equally responsible and
accomplices of these murders and
disappearances. With patriotic pride the
Cuban Memorial every year reminds the
world of ours victims.
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OIL MINISTER RAFAEL RAMÍREZ SAYS
VENEZUELA PREPARED TO STOP OIL EXPORT TO UNITED STATES
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA.-
Venezuela could
easily sell oil to markets other than the United States and is
prepared to end exports to its No. 1 buyer if needed, the oil
minister said in comments published Sunday. Hugo Chavez's
government has recently stepped up threats to cut off oil
exports to the United States and sell Venezuelan-owned
refineries there amid rising tensions with President George W.
Bush's administration.
"If our country, our process, our constitution are attacked by
the Bush administration, we are not going to send any more oil,"
Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez told the Ultimas Noticias daily in
an interview. "We'll see then which of the two governments is
able to manage this type of a situation better." The South
American country says it exports about half its official
production of 3.2 million barrels per day to the United States -
much of that refined and sold by Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum
Corp.
Industry experts have said Venezuela would find it difficult
to find alternative markets for its oil because the country's
heavy, highly sulfurous crude requires special refineries which
are limited. Also, the U.S. market is only five days away by
tanker, and exports elsewhere would be more costly. Ramirez
dismissed those difficulties, and said finding another buyer for
Venezuela's crude exports would be easy. "That's not a problem
... because there would be chaos in the global energy market, an
undersupply, and so we would have no problem finding a place for
them," Ramirez said.
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TENS OF THOUSANDS RALLY IN MADRID AGAINST POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT
TALKS WITH ETA
MADRID, SPAIN.-
Tens of thousands of
people, including victims of ETA bomb attacks, marched through
central Madrid in the rain Saturday to press the Socialist
government not to negotiate a peace deal with the armed Basque
separatist group. The Madrid regional government put the number
of participants at 1.4 million while the Interior Ministry said
some 110,000 attended. Many journalists reporting on the march
felt the ministry figure was more accurate.
The demonstration, led by the Association of Victims, was
backed by some 80 social and political groups. Leaders of the
main conservative opposition Popular Party, including Secretary
General Mariano Rajoy and former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar,
also took part. "We can't let ETA have its way," said Irene
Villa, 27, who lost both her legs in an ETA bombing 15 years
ago.
"We want to make sure that they (the government) does not
negotiate with murderers and that terrorism is not be seen as a
way to achieve a political end." "The objective is to defeat
ETA, not negotiate with them," Rajoy told reporters. On
Saturday, demonstrators waved Spanish flags and banners reading,
"Zapatero Surrenders to Terrorism," and Negotiations: In Our
Name, No!" Chants for Zapatero resign could be hear all along
the route. "Only when the ETA killers served out their sentences
will we be prepared to talk," said Carlos Gonzalez, 44, who took
part in the march.
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victims'
families ask that raul castro be indicted
MIAMI,
FLORIDA.-The
victims' families believe Raúl Castro is the
highest official in Cuba's chain of command who
can be indicted under U.S. law for his alleged
role in the shoot-down, as head of the Cuban
armed forces. An indictment may seem like a
fool's errand to some people, but there is legal
precedent, and family members say there are
geopolitical ramifications to their quest for
justice.
The legitimacy of Raúl Castro, who is next in
line to succeed Fidel Castro as Cuba's leader,
would be questioned in the international arena
if he is under indictment by the United States,
the families believe. Interim U.S. Attorney R.
Alexander Acosta said the case remains open but
would not elaborate. "This is an active case in
active litigation.'' But other U.S. officials
who have been at the forefront of the case say
anything is possible -- if the evidence supports
it.
''You don't have to be an expert to know how that country is
run, and who has the ultimate say and makes the
decisions that would affect the country in such
an immediate way,'' said Guy Lewis, a former
U.S. attorney for the Southern District of
Florida who oversaw the prosecution of the
Avispa trial. "I think they [the MiG pilots]
were following orders from their superiors . . .
Without speaking to any individual or potential
defendants, like Raúl Castro, it was clear in my
mind that the evidence supported the fact that
these individuals did not act alone.''
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VENEZUELA DELAYS US FLIGHT CURBS FOR MORE TALKS
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Venezuela has delayed a suspension of some U.S. passenger and cargo
flights until March 30 while the government holds talks with U.S.
carriers over the restrictions, authorities said on Saturday.
Venezuela said this week it would halt Delta Air Lines (DALRQ.PK)
and Continental Airlines (CAL.N) flights and restrict flights by
American Airlines (AMR.N) effective March 1 as it demanded
Washington lift restrictions placed on Venezuelan carriers a decade
ago.
"The date was extended to March 30 to allow the proper
authorities to communicate and guarantee fair opportunities in air
operations for both Venezuelan and U.S. carriers," Venezuela's INAC
aviation authority said in a statement. INAC said Venezuelan
officials held talks on Friday with Delta, Continental, American and
other carriers over the decision it says was in response to
restrictions placed on Venezuela in 1995 by the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration.
Washington, already sharply at odds with Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez, warned on Friday it would consider taking action should
Caracas push ahead with the flight restrictions. The airline spat is
the latest to test relations between the United States and
Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter and a key crude supplier
to the U.S. market.
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HUGO CHAVEZ
BARS TWO U.S. AIRLINES FROM FLYING INTO
VENEZUELA
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA.-
Venezuela has
prohibited Continental Airlines and Delta Air
Lines from flying into this South American
nation and is restricting American Airlines,
Francisco Plaz, the president of the National
Aviation Institute, said. Speaking late
Thursday, Plaz said that the measure was taken
because the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration, or FAA, had established a
similar ban on commercial jets registered in
Venezuela 10 years ago due to safety violations.
The ban would take effect on March 1, Plaz told
the local Globovision television channel.
Delta currently serves a daily route from Simon
Bolivar international Airport to Atlanta while
Continental has daily flights to Houston and
weekly flights to New York. American Airlines
services daily routes to Puerto Rico and Miami.
A spokeswoman for the Venezuelan Association of
Airlines, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because she was not authorized to be
quoted by name, told The Associated Press the
three U.S.-based airlines received notification
of the ban on Thursday and would meet soon with
Venezuelan aviation officials to discuss the
measure.
In 1996, the FAA ruled that Venezuela must tighten its
airline safety procedures and downgraded its
civil aviation authority to Category II,
restricting flights because Venezuela allegedly
didn't meet international safety standards.
Delta spokesman John Kennedy said the three
U.S. airlines were discussing the ban with U.S.
authorities. "We're very disappointed by this
unilateral action by the Venezuelan government
and we are working closely with the U.S.
Departments of State and Transportation as well
as our peer carriers who received similar notice
to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,"
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SALVADORAN SOLDIERS RETURNING FROM IRAQ RECEIVE HEROES' WELCOME
COMALAPA, EL SALVADOR.-
El Salvador (AP) -
Waving Iraqi, Salvadoran and U.S. flags, 378 Salvadoran soldiers
returned home after a six-month humanitarian mission with the
U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. The Cuscatlan battalion was greeted by
Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Ricardo Abrego, accompanied by marching
and mariachi bands, late Thursday night at a military base 45
kilometers (30 miles) southeast of the capital, San Salvador.
The battalion was the fifth contingent of troops sent by El
Salvador to Iraq. When it left six months ago, 380 soldiers were in
the group. One returned home early due to health problems, while
another deserted while receiving medical attention in the United
States. A sixth contingent of 380 soldiers arrived in Iraq last
week.
The fifth contingent carried out humanitarian duties for five
months in the city of Al Hillah before moving to the city of Kut.
Both cities are south of Baghdad. The sixth contingent will spend
six months in Kut. El Salvador is the only remaining Latin American
country with troops in Iraq. Since the missions began in August
2003, two soldiers have died and 12 others have been wounded, in
traffic accidents and rebel attacks.
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PHILIPPINE OFFICIAL: COUP RUMORS ARE ILL-CONCEIVED ATTEMPTS TO GRAB
PUBLIC ATTENTION
MANILA, PHILIPPINE.-
Recent rumors of a coup attempt against President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo are feeble attempts by her opponents to grab attention and
destabilize the country, the government said Wednesday. Such rumors
have intensified ahead of the 20th anniversary of the first "people
power" revolt, which toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos on Feb. 25,
1986.
Opponents have vowed to mass tens of thousands of people to
oust Arroyo, who says she won't step down and predicted any
attempted revolt would fail. "Our people are wise to the spread of
coup rumors and black propaganda as feeble attempts of a
disgruntled, unproductive few to grab public attention through the
media," presidential spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said in a statement.
Arroyo - who succeeded ousted President Joseph Estrada after
a second "people power" revolt in January 2001 - survived three
impeachment bids in September, when her dominant allies in the House
of Representatives used a technicality to block complaints of
alleged massive corruption and vote-rigging. Last week, Arroyo met
the military's top brass to discuss security threats, including what
a general described as a new coup plot against her by disgruntled
soldiers, who want to replace her with a civilian-led revolutionary
council. The mutineers were recruiting young officers, the military
said.
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OAS
ASKS FOR STRENUOUS US-VENEZUELA DIPLOMATIC DIALOGUE
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK.-
Organization of
American States (OAS) Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza thinks
that the United States and Venezuela should make a better diplomatic
effort to overcome strained relations. "Diplomacy should serve a
purpose," Insulza pointed out during a press conference in New York
City following his presentation in an event on elections in the
Andean region, hosted by the Council of the Americas, a private
agency.
"There should be a powerful diplomatic dialogue between
Venezuela and the United States, and all of us ought to help," he
underscored. The OAS Secretary-General did not mention any concrete
steps on how to help, but he thinks that one way of doing it is by
resorting to the need for a better dialogue between these countries.
"I deem it necessary and most rulers in the Americas think likewise.
There is need to find some diplomatic verification between Venezuela
and the United States."
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HUGO CHAVEZ MAY MEET SECRETARY
CONDOLEEZZA RICE DURING BACHELET'S INAUGURATION
SANTIAGO DE CHILE, CHILE.-Outgoing
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos said US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice may visit Santiago to attend the inauguration of
Michelle Bachelet next March 11th, when she could meet Venezuelan
ruler Hugo Chávez. Lagos told reporters that he is "likely" to meet
with Rice when she arrives in Chile, but he would not officially
confirm her visit, AFP reported.
According to press reports in Chile, Rice is visiting Chile
to attend Bachelet's inauguration, and she is then to travel to Peru
to meet with President Alejandro Toledo. Around one week ago, Rice
proposed creating an international common front intended to stop
Chávez' influence in democracies in the region.
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bush administration to
extend protected status for central americans
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
The Bush administration has decided to extend special
temporary U.S. residency for Central Americans for
another 12 months, a spokeswoman for Rep. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen said Wednesday. The decision means hundreds
of thousands of Central Americans will not have to
return home when their Temporary Protected Status ends
next month.
The U.S. provided temporary legal residence and authority to
work in this country to Nicaraguans and Hondurans after
Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to Salvadorans following a
devastating earthquake in 2001. That status has been
renewed several times. The residency was due to expire
this year amid criticism that the program was never
meant to be permanent.
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EXPLOSIVES
AND GRENADES SEIZED IN NORTH VENEZUELA
YARACUY, VENEZUELA.-The
24th National Attorney Didier Rojas briefed Thursday on seizure of 2.8
kilograms of presumed C4 explosive and a fragmentary grenade in Chivacoa,
a city of central-northern Yaracuy state. The senior official explained
that two local police officers and a National Guard officer were
presumably in possession of the confiscated materials.
Yaracuy Governor Carlos Giménez linked the finding with an
alleged plan to destabilize the national government. "Today, we can say
that -while it has not been full eradicated- we have cracked down on
terrorism, the criminal action of those who do not believe in democracy,
who try to damage President Hugo Chávez, who intend to damage the
government," Giménez stressed.
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PEASANTS HOLD CHAVEZ FATHER HOSTAGE
AMID PROTESTS
BARINAS, VENEZUELA.-Demonstrators
in San Rafael de Canaguá, in southwestern Barinas state, Wednesday held
governor Hugo de los Reyes Chávez, father of President Hugo Chávez,
hostage amid protests to reject the poor conditions of roads. Local
police corps flew Hugo de los Reyes Chávez out of the town in a
helicopter, as demonstrators blocked all roads.
Local newspapers said the governor urged protesters to be
patient, as no funds have been earmarked for road construction and
maintenance in President Hugo Chávez' home state. |
VENEZUELAN ARCHBISHOP
'OVERWHELMED' BY APPOINTMENT AS CARDINAL
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-Venezuelan
Archbishop Jorge Urosa Sabino said he was happy but
"overwhelmed" upon learning that he was among 15 new
cardinals appointed on Wednesday by Pope Benedict XVI.
Urosa Sabino's appointment comes as Venezuela's Catholic
Church leaders are attempting to defuse tensions between
the clergy and President Hugo Chavez.
Cardinal Rosalio Castillo, who was the only cardinal in this
deeply divided South American nation until Urosa
Sabino's appointment, has been fiercely critical of
Chavez. He has repeatedly accused the president of
acting despotically and endangering Venezuela's
democracy. "I'm feeling happiness, gratitude," Urosa
Sabino told the local RCTV television channel. "I also
feel overwhelmed because it is a bigger responsibility."
Chavez has labeled the church "a tumor" in Venezuelan society and
clerics have been critical of Chavez's populist policies
and close relations with communist-led Cuba. More than
two-thirds of Venezuela's 26 million people are
Catholic.
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ECUADOR IN STATE OF EMERGENCY
QUITO, ECUADOR.-
Ecuador's President Alfredo Palacio late Tuesday declared a state of
emergency in Napo province following violent protests that halted
operations on the privately-owned heavy crude oil pipeline, known as
OCP. The decree suspends the constitutional rights in Napo province
"because of the conflict situations provoked by groups that cause
chaos in oil installations." Extraordinary powers have been given to
the army to restore order, under the command of General Gonzalo
Meza.
Protesters
took control of the OCP's Sardinas pumping station in the town of
Quijos, some 120 kilometers southeast of Quito. The OCP was "forced
to stop operations to protect the security of its personnel and of
the pipeline's installations," the company said in a statement.
The OCP "regrets the lack of security and demands that the
authorities...apply the law and re-establish conditions that allow
us to restart operations," the OCP statement said. Some of Napo's
inhabitants are asking for $40 million from the government to build
highways and other local projects, as well as an international
airport, which had been promised by the previous president, Lucio
Gutierrez, who is from Napo.
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JULIO
BORGES: HUGO CHAVEZ'S WAGES ELECTORAL PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-Julio
Borges, leader and presidential candidate for opposition Primero
Justicia party, branded President Hugo Chávez threat to convene a
consultative referendum to ask voters if they want Chávez to run for
re-election as many times as he wants is part of a "psychological war."
"He is trying to undermine the morale and spirit of change of
Venezuelans," Borges told local news TV network Globovisión.
He ensured, however, that the Venezuelan ruler would not
succeed. "Our country wants deeper changes than those we have faced in
the last seven years." Borges added that Chávez threat should raise the
alarm among opposition parties planning to do nothing before Chávez'
plans.
He criticized the parties that encouraged abstention in last
December parliament election with a view to undermine the legitimacy of
the National Assembly. Now, those parties are asking the parliament to
designate a new board of directors for the National Electoral Council (CNE.)
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PRESIDENT BUSH: UNITED
STATES ON VERGE OF ENERGY BREAKTHROUGH
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.-
Saying the nation is on the
verge of technological breakthroughs that would
"startle" most Americans, President Bush on Monday
outlined his energy proposals to help wean the country
off foreign oil.
Less than half the crude oil used by refineries is
produced in the United States, while 60 percent comes
from foreign nations, Bush said during the first stop on
a two-day trip to talk about energy.
Some of these foreign suppliers have "unstable"
governments that have fundamental differences with
America, he said. "It creates a national security issue
and we're held hostage for energy by foreign nations
that may not like us," Bush said. Bush is focusing on
energy at a time when Americans are paying high power
bills to heat their homes this winter and have only
recently seen a decrease in gasoline prices.
One of Bush's proposals would expand research into smaller,
longer-lasting batteries for electric-gas hybrid cars,
including plug-ins. He highlighted that initiative with
a visit Monday to the battery center at Milwaukee-based
auto-parts supplier Johnson Controls Inc. "Our nation is
on the threshold of new energy technology that I think
will startle the American people," Bush said. "We're on
the edge of some amazing breakthroughs - breakthroughs
all aimed at enhancing our national security and our
economic security and the quality of life of the folks
who live here in the United States."
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PRESIDENT TOLEDO EXPECTS CHAVEZ TO RESPECT PERU DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
LIMA, PERU.-
Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Monday said he expected his
Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez to respect Peru domestic affairs,
in response to press reports that Chávez is granting illegal
Peruvian immigrants the Venezuelan nationality if they commit to
vote nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala in next April presidential
election in Peru.
"I hope he (Hugo Chávez) respects Peru domestic
affairs, just the way I respect Venezuelan domestic affairs," Toledo
said, AFP reported. He refused to make any further comments on this
issue. "I am a friend of President Chávez, and our ambassador is in
Venezuela. No further comments."
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DIPLOMAT
DISMISSES MEDDLING IN PERU ELECTORAL SYSTEM
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-Peruvian
ambassador to Venezuela Carlos Urrutia Monday clarified that "nobody can
register for voting in one country and cast their ballots in another
country. You cannot do that." He thus dismissed claims that illegal
Peruvian immigrants in Venezuela have been granted Venezuelan identity
documents in exchange for their votes for Peruvian nationalist candidate
Ollanta Humala.
"The granting of ID cards at the present time has no sense or
effect. Registration with the Peruvian electoral register has ceased
(last December 10, 2005). Those people who are granted identity
documents now cannot vote (in next April 9th, when presidential election
is to take place) in Peru," Urrutia added. His comments came following a
meeting with Venezuelan Vice-President José Vicente Rangel.
He stressed that the Peruvian electoral system is so
"stringent and highly monitored" that "there is no chance for
mishandling." Urrutia added that his country's consulate in Venezuela
has 18,000 Peruvians registered who are to cast their ballots in
Venezuela, as they are holders of legal identity documents. He stressed
that Peruvians residing in Venezuela are entitled to campaign for their
preferred candidate. In a press release from Venezuelan Vice-President's
Office, Urrutia said his meeting with Rangel was scheduled in advance.
"For Peru, it is important to know that our links are and continue to be
strong and lasting." He dismissed that Peru considers Venezuela a threat
for the region.
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hugo chavez mulls referendum to end VENEZUELA presidential term
limits
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Hugo Chavez said Sunday he was considering holding a referendum
to ask Venezuelans if they favor ending presidential term
limits. The constitution permits presidents to be re-elected
twice. Chavez has vowed to win a second re-election in December,
and has indicated he would consider governing Venezuela until
2019 - or longer.
"I could sign a decree calling for a popular referendum: 'Are
you in favor of Chavez going for a third term in 2013? Yes or
no?' Let the people decide," he said to a rousing applause
Sunday on his weekly television and radio program "Hello
President." Chavez's allies now dominate Congress and have the
power to amend the constitution. Some have said they hoped to
consider an amendment to extend term limits for all political
offices, including the presidency.
Polls suggest Chavez, first elected in 1998 and re-elected to
a six-year term in 2000, remains popular and has no viable
challenger in the Dec. 3 vote. However, a poll released earlier
this month showed that Chavez's approval rating had fallen to 45
percent in December, down from 54 percent in July. The local
Datanalisis polling firm showed that about 55 percent of
Venezuelans would consider voting for a candidate other than
Chavez.
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PRESIDENTS BUSH AND FOX DISCUSS MEXICO BORDER SECURITY
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.-
President Bush and President Vicente Fox of Mexico exchanged ideas
Monday on how to stop violence and improve security along the two
countries' mutual border, the White House said. Press secretary
Scott McClellan said that Bush telephoned Fox while traveling here
to give a speech and said the pair "talked about working together"
to improve conditions that have been a source of friction between
the two countries.
McClellan told reporters that Bush has designated Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to talk to his counterpart in
Mexico about the problem and said that Bush and Fox also talked
about pending immigration legislation in Congress. Late last year,
Washington dispatched federal agents to Texas to combat violent
crime along the Mexican border. In August, U.S. and Mexican
officials had traded accusations over who is to blame for problems
in border security.
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|
MUSLIMS
ASSAULT U.S. EMBASSY IN INDONESIA
JAKARTA, INDONESIA.-
Hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad tried
to storm the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, smashing the windows of a guard
post but failing to push through the gates. Several people were injured.
Pakistani security forces, meanwhile, sealed off the capital of
Islamabad to block a planned mass demonstration and fired tear gas and
gunshots to chase off protesters. In Turkey, tens of thousands gathered
in Istanbul chanting slogans against Denmark, Israel and the United
States.
In Jakarta, about 400 people marched to the heavily fortified
U.S. mission in the center of the city, behind a banner reading "We are
ready to attack the enemies of the Prophet." Protesters throwing stones
and brandishing wooden staves tried to break through the gates. They set
fire to U.S. flags and a poster of President Bush and smashed the
windows of a guard outpost before dispersing after a few minutes. The
U.S. Embassy called the attacks deplorable, describing them as acts of "thuggery." |
AGAIN, HUGO CHAVEZ
THREATENS TO CUT OFF OIL EXPORTS TO THE UNITED STATES
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-Hugo
Chavez warned on Friday he could cut off oil exports to
the United States if Washington goes "over the line" in
what he has said are attempts to destabilize his
left-leaning government. Chavez made his threat a day
after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that the
Venezuelan government posed "one of the biggest
problems" in the region and that its ties to Cuba were
"particularly dangerous" to democracy in Latin America.
"The government of the United States should know that if
they go over the line, they are not going to have
Venezuelan oil," Chavez said. "I have already taken
measures regarding this. I'm not going to say what
because they think that I can't take these measures
because we would not have any place to send the oil,"
Chavez said. Chavez has threatened to halt oil exports
to U.S. ports before, but Friday was the first time the
former paratroop commander mentioned having made
contacts with other crude buyers as part of a
contingency plan.
"Many countries ask us for more oil and we have had to tell
many countries we can't send them more" because
Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, ships
1.5 million barrels of oil a day to the United States,
he told supporters at the presidential palace. Chavez,
who refers to President Bush as "Mr. Danger," said U.S.
officials would fail in their attempts to turn Latin
American nations against Venezuela. "You create your
front Mr. Danger, we will create ours," Chavez said. "We
are going to defeat the empire."
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VENEZUELA PONDERS PROTECTIONISM AS
NEIGHBORS LOOK TO THE UNITED STATES
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-Venezuela
is considering a series of protectionist moves to guard local
producers as neighboring countries work to sign trade deals with
the U.S., Venezuela's trade minister said Friday. Subsidies and
taxes are some measures the government is considering to protect
local producers from more competitive products resulting from
U.S. trade with other Andean nations, Gustavo Marquez said.
Peru, Ecuador and particularly Colombia, Venezuela's main
trade partner, plan to sign agreements with the U.S. and "this
is a concern ... they will violate Andean trade rules and this
could hurt Venezuelan industries," he said. To guard against
this Venezuela is asking members of the Mercosur trade block of
South American nations to upgrade regulations to prevent U.S.
products from harming regional producers.
Venezuela has joined Mercosur as an associate member, but it
plans to begin negotiations in May 15 to become a full member,
Marquez said. Overall, he said, deals with the U.S. will only
damage the unity of the region. "Instead of contributing to
South American integration it will lead to disintegration," he
added. Hugo Chavez has long argued that signing agreements with
the U.S. condemns Latin American nations to continued unequal
trade and pervasive poverty.
|
SECRETARY RICE CALLS VENEZUELA A CHALLENGE FOR DEMOCRACY
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
Venezuela
is a challenge for democracy in the hemisphere, US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice said during a hearing with the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, US House of Representatives.
The
comment followed her remarks on the challenges posed on the
United States by Iran and relations with the Government of
President Hugo Chávez and Cuban ruler Fidel Castro.
Rice conceded that she contacted the Foreign Ministers of Spain,
Austria and Brazil to speak about "what is going on in
Venezuela" and try to establish a front to defend the people.
"Some days ago, I had a telephone conversation with the
Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Austria, Spain and Brazil to
advise them that they should pay close attention to what is
going on in Venezuela," Rice asserted.
"We must show what is happening." She labeled the trial
against NGO Súmate as a disgrace and deceitful. "The
international community should be more active to support and
defend the Venezuelan people."
|
VENEZUELAN VP RANGEL: US ATTEMPTS AT
CONFRONTING VENEZUELA WITH ISRAEL ARE UNACCEPTABLE
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-Venezuelan
Vice-President José Vicente Rangel called "unacceptable" any
attempts by the United States to confront Venezuela with Israel due
to "alleged anti-Semitism of the Venezuelan Government." This was
the official reply to the remarks made Wednesday by US Ambassador to
the United Nations (UN) John Bolton, who opposed Venezuela's
incorporation into the UN Security Council.
"Bolton is part of the warlike team, headed by (US Secretary
of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld and including ultra leftwing sectors in
US politics and some groups in Venezuela eager to destabilize the
democratic and constitutional order, that intends to construe the
Jewish issue in a perverse way," the senior official said in a press
release.
He highlighted that the Venezuelan Government keeps "the best
relations with the Israeli state and Government," and with the
Jewish community based in Venezuela.
|
PARLIAMENTARIAN RULES OUT US RAPPROCHEMENT
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Congressman Saúl Ortega, president of the National Assembly (AN)
Foreign Policy Committee, downplayed readiness for dialogue
expressed by US officials, after a meeting held on Tuesday between
Venezuela's Ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, and U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Tom
Shannon.
"That meeting does not provides me any positive
expectations," Ortega told official Bolivarian News Agency (ABN.)
Ortega argued that Shannon is a cautious man known for his
"loudness" policy. He claimed that, as opposed to the attitude of US
officials, the majority of the Labor Party in the British House of
Commons approved a motion to back Venezuela and President Hugo
Chávez, in addition to reject the policy of British Prime Minister
Tony Blair.
"Such a move by British parliamentarians to reject Mr.
Blair's performance in foreign policy is also noted in the United
States, where there are more and more political and civil society
sectors opposed to the foreign policy of hawks and the warlike group
ruling in the White House," he mentioned.
|
|
FIVE
POLITICAL PRISONERS CALL CUBA AN "ISLAND PRISON"
CAMAGÜEY, CUBA.-
Five political
prisoners held at the Cerámica Roja in Camagüey
province have signed an open letter in which they say "Cuba has become
an island prison."
The document was signed by Egberto Ángel Escobedo Morales,
Lázaro González Adán, René Montes de Oca Martija, Jorge Luis Suárez
Varona and Elizardo Calvo Hernández. "Cuba has become a island prison,"
the letter said. "All Cubans in the street just have conditional freedom
and those of us in prison are in solitary confinement cells." |
FRANCE BLASTS IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM
PARIS, FRANCE.-
French Foreign
Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Thursday that Iran's nuclear
program is a cover for clandestine military activity. "No civil
nuclear program can explain the Iranian nuclear program. It is a
clandestine military nuclear program," Douste-Blazy said on
France-2 television. "The international community has sent a
very firm message in telling the Iranians to return to reason
and suspend all nuclear activity and the enrichment and
conversion of uranium, but they aren't listening to us."
Douste-Blazy's comments were likely to increase pressure on Iran
amid the international dispute over its nuclear activities,
which Tehran insists are purely civilian but which European and
U.S. leaders fear are aimed at building nuclear weapons. The
U.N. Security Council is to consider Iran's nuclear program next
month. France, Britain and Germany have led European
negotiations that have failed to persuade Iran to suspend parts
of its nuclear program.
"Now it's up to the Security Council to say what it will do,
what means it will use to stop, to manage, to halt this terrible
crisis of nuclear proliferation caused by Iran," Douste-Blazy
said. Iran confirmed on Monday that it had resumed
small-scale uranium enrichment last week, and Iran's President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the Natanz uranium enrichment plant
Wednesday.
|
UNITED STATES DOES NOT WANT VENEZUELA IN UNITED NATIONS SECURITY
COUNCIL
UNITED
NATIONS, NEW YORK.-
United States
does not want Venezuela to join the United Nations (UN) Security
Council because it cannot play a contributory role there, US
Ambassador to UN John Bolton argued Wednesday. Bolton thinks that
composition of the 15-country Council is "a very important issue"
for all UN members, but the United States objected to Venezuela's
participation.
"I do not deem it a mistake to say that Venezuela will not
contribute to the effect of the operations in the Security Council,"
Washington representative told reporters. "We could see its actions
over the last six months at the General Assembly, which actions have
been useless, and I do not think that this may help an effective,
properly operating Security Council," he added. However, the General
Assembly has the word in temporary membership at the UN Security
Council, and the United States cannot veto it.
|
VENEZUELA'S OIL MINISTER SAYS OPEC
SHOULD CUT OUTPUT IN MARCH
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-The
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries should cut output at its
next meeting due to rising crude inventories, Venezuela's oil minister
said Thursday. "Everyone is building inventories - Japan, the U.S., and
that is very dangerous," said Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez. "There is an
oversupply of one million barrels a day."
Ramirez said he plans to talk with other energy ministers
within OPEC about cutting output ahead of a meeting in March. The cartel
should cut 500,000 to one million barrels a day, he said. Oil prices
fell sharply this week due to strong growth in U.S. oil inventories.
Venezuela is one of OPEC's most strident price hawks, consistently
arguing to constrain oil output to keep prices high. OPEC announced
Wednesday that crude oil demand will grow at a slower pace this year as
uncertainties remain over economic growth in the U.S. and Asia. |
POPE BENEDICT XVI RECALLS JOHN PAUL'S 1998 APPEAL TO CUBA IN
MESSAGE TO THE ISLAND'S CARDINAL
VATICAN
CITY.-
Pope
Benedict XVI, in a message Wednesday to Cuba's cardinal,
recalled his predecessor's 1998 appeal to the communist country
to open up to the world and vice versa. John Paul II's
pilgrimage was the first and only trip by a pope to the
Caribbean island.
"Human reality is full of events which we are called to live
as salvific, since time and history are filled with divine
presence which sustains and strengthens," Benedict said in the
message to Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, president of
the Cuba bishops conference. Benedict sent the message to mark
the 20th anniversary of a meeting of Cuban bishops.
The pope recalled John Paul's appeal during his trip: "May
Cuba open up to the world and may the world open up to Cuba."
John Paul was talking about an "opening which demands that one
examines above all how to open up one's heart and intelligence
to the things of God," Benedict said, as well as "opening
oneself to the world sphere with the challenges of its
possibilities and difficulties at the same time."
|
VENEZUELA, IRAN CREATE $200 MILLION
FUND
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-Venezuela
and Iran agreed on Wednesday to create a joint US$200 million
(euro168 million) development fund, further strengthening a
relationship that is viewed with concern by Washington. Venezuela's
Foreign Trade Minister, Gustavo Marquez, said the fund would help
finance agricultural and industrial projects in both countries,
Venezuela's state news agency said.
"We have taken a fundamental step toward the consolidation of
the relationship between Iran and Venezuela," Marquez was quoted by
the Bolivarian News Agency. Both countries will provide an equal
portion of funds, he said. Details on the projects to be funded were
not given. Iran is now the closest Middle East ally to Hugo Chavez's
government and U.S. officials have said the tightening bonds between
the two is a cause for concern. Washington believes Tehran is using
its nuclear energy program as a cover for producing an atomic bomb
and has sought to censure it.
Venezuela and Iran have begun collaborating on business
projects to manufacture tractors and auto parts, and produce cement
in the South American country. Chavez also has expressed interest in
developing a nuclear program for peaceful energy uses. Asked whether
Iran would support such a move by Venezuela, Iranian parliament
speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, who is heading the Iranian
delegation, said Tuesday that "all countries could help each other"
in such efforts as long as they met international agreements
regulating the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
|
VENEZUELA, U.S. RESUME DIALOGUE AFTER
DIPLOMATIC RIFT
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Venezuelan and U.S. diplomats have begun talking again after a
political rift that led to name-calling, the expulsion of embassy
officials and threats by Hugo Chavez to cut off oil shipments.
Ambassador William Brownfield said his Venezuelan counterpart in the
United States, Bernardo Alvarez, met Tuesday in Washington with U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon "to resolve problems."
"Without a doubt, we have established dialogue," Brownfield
said in an interview with private Globovision TV station.
Nevertheless, tensions remained. President Hugo Chavez told troops
Wednesday they should be prepared for an "anti-imperialist war" in
case a foreign country were to attack. Without specifically
mentioning the United States, Chavez said he hopes for peace, and
that military preparedness can prevent conflict.
But he added that there was willingness in Washington to work
on the differences. "Hopefully there will be other meetings that
will produce some concrete results," Brownfield said. During a
ceremony, Chavez urged soldiers to be prepared to defend the country
from outside invaders. "If this sacred soil of this fatherland ...
were tread upon by the insolent boot of any foreign power, we would
have no other alternative than to unsheathe our swords, go to the
battlefields and fight and defend Venezuela's sacred soil," Chavez
said.
|
MILITARY CORRUPTION -- Military
officers in active service allegedly involved
USD 1.2 billion missing
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
The
Venezuelan Defense Ministry council for investigations found twelve
corruption offenses in connection with the construction of industrial
sugar mill Ezequiel Zamora in southwestern Barinas state. Some USD 1.2
billion the government gave to the Army 62nd military unit -then headed
by general Delfín Gómez Parra- for purposes of paying for the works of
the sugar mill ordered by the Agriculture and Lands Ministry are
missing.
Defense minister admiral Orlando Maniglia appeared before the National
Assembly comptrollership committee. During his intervention, Maniglia
unveiled a report the council for military investigation prepared in
connection with Gómez Parra, who is still in active service. Maniglia
claimed that President Hugo Chávez himself -once he was advised of this
case last December 2005- suggested to take Gómez Parra and other three
junior officers involved, namely colonel Jhonny Asensao, captain
Franklyn Castillo and major Orlando Herrera Sierralta, to civil courts.
According to Maniglia, the Army Inspector's Office ordered launching an
investigation into this case. In July 2005, they advised the officers
involved that a military council would delve into this affair. On
January 20th this year, the findings of the military investigation were
delivered to the Attorney General's Office. Maniglia stressed that
Chávez chose to have civil courts prosecute the officers involved before
removing them from active service. Besides the "loss" of USD 1.2
billion, the military investigation council found that bad checks were
issued, and that military officers in charge of contracting and paying
for the works of sugar mill Ezequiel Zamora owe USD 466 million to
contractors.
|
VATICAN CARDINAL HEADS TO CUBA TO
STRESS THAT CHURCH CAN'T BE SIDELINED ON JUSTICE
VATICAN CITY.-A
Vatican cardinal is heading to Cuba this week, saying he will stress
Pope Benedict XVI's recent message that the Catholic Church cannot
remain on the political sidelines in the fight for social justice.
Cardinal Renato Martino, who heads the Vatican's pontifical council for
justice and peace, leaves Wednesday for Havana to present a compendium
of the church's social doctrine. In a statement, he said he hoped to
have a meeting with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, though there was no
confirmation.
Martino said that message would be the "leit motiv" of his
visit to Cuba, as well as his subsequent travels to the Dominican
Republic and Puerto Rico. Communist Cuba became officially atheist in
the years after the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power, but
the government removed references to atheism in the constitution more
than a decade ago and allowed religious believers to join the Communist
Party. Relations between churches and the Cuban state climaxed in
January 1998 when Pope John Paul II visited - the first and only trip to
the island by a Roman Catholic pope.
|
DIPLOMATS SAY IRAN STARTS ENRICHMENT OF
URANIUM
VIENNA, AUSTRIA.-
Iran
has started small-scale enrichment of uranium - a process that can
produce fuel for nuclear reactors or bombs, diplomats said Monday. The
move reflected Tehran's defiance of international pressure meant to ease
concerns it wants to build nuclear arms that led to its recent referral
to the U.N. Security Council "Uranium gas has been fed into three
machines," one senior diplomat familiar with Iran's nuclear said.
Another diplomat confirmed that limited enrichment had begun at Iran's
Natanz site.
To produce significant amounts of enriched uranium, gas must be fed into
hundreds of such machines. Uranium enriched to a low degree can be used
for nuclear reactors, while highly enriched uranium is suitable for
warheads. Iran is years away from running the 50,000 centrifuges it says
it wants to operate as a source of fuel for its Russian-built nuclear
plant at Bushehr.
Even small-scale enrichment is significant, however, because
it represents symbolic determination on the part of Tehran to go ahead
with a technology that most nations want it to give up because of fears
of misuse. Further piling on tensions, a senior Iranian official
announced Monday that talks with Moscow scheduled for Thursday on moving
Iranian enrichment to Russia as a way ensuring Iran has no direct
control were on indefinite hold. And the official, presidential
spokesman Gholamhossein Elham, reiterated that his country may
reconsider its adherence to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty if it
judges that goes against its interests
|
SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE: NATIONS MUST NOT INCITE
PROTESTS
WASHINGTON, D. C.-
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that violent
protests in the Muslim world over caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad could "spin out of control" if governments refuse to act
responsibly. Rice, speaking from Washington on ABC television's
"This Week," said Iran, in particular, should be urging its citizens
to remain calm -- not encouraging protests against Western
embassies.
"If people continue to incite it, it can spin out of
control," she said of the protests. Last week, demonstrators in Iran
attacked the Danish, French and Austrian embassies with stones and
firebombs. The governments of Iran and Syria, Rice said, organize
street protests whenever they want to make a point.
"Everybody understands that there's a sense of outrage, that
these cartoons were inappropriate in the Muslim world," Rice said.
"But you don't express your outrage by going out and burning down
embassies. ... You express your outrage peacefully." The cartoons,
first published in a Danish newspaper in September, were seen by
millions of Muslims around the world as an attack on Islam and an
insult to their revered prophet.
|
PERU
PRESIDENTIAL POLL HAS FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN LEADING RETIRED ARMY OFFICER
LIMA,
PERU.-
A
pro-business former congresswoman continues to hold a clear lead over a
nationalist retired army officer ahead of April's presidential election,
according to a poll released Sunday. The Apoyo poll showed Lourdes
Flores with 35 percent to 25 percent for Ollanta Humala, whose surge in
voter support in recent months had rattled Peru's financial markets and
its political establishment.
The poll did not survey potential voters in Peru's most
remote rural area representing 19 percent of the electorate. Ollanta, an
ally of Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, has heavy support in
rural areas. The Feb. 8-10 poll of 2,000 people had a margin of error of
2.2 percentage points. After tying Flores in mid-January polls, Ollanta
has slipped into second place in surveys since then.
Former President Alan Garcia, whose 1985-1990 administration
left Peru with annual inflation exceeding 7500 percent, had 17 percent.
Former President Valentin Paniagua was in fourth place with 8 percent.
Studies show that Peruvian voters often don't make up their minds until
the remaining days of a campaign. Apoyo said the latest poll confirmed
that tendency, noting that 30 percent of those polled said they could
still change their minds before the elections. |
RENE
PREVAL DOMINATES RESULTS IN HAITI'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI.-
Former President René Préval held a wide
lead in the first official results from Haiti's presidential
elections, electoral officials said Thursday. The results came from
only 15 percent of the nation's 9,000 or so polling stations set up
for the balloting Tuesday -- the first since President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide fled the country in February 2004 as political opposition
paralyzed his government and an armed insurgency swept the country.
Of the more than 283,000
votes tallied by 6 p.m., Préval had received nearly 175,000, or over
61 percent of the vote, according to the first official returns
announced by the electoral council. If this percentage holds, the
63-year-old agronomist would handily win his second five-year term
for president without the need for a run-off. But most of the votes
tabulated so far came from the western areas that include
Port-au-Prince, where Préval seems to have much more consistent
support than in other parts of the country.
The west contains 41
percent of Haiti's electorate. Given that, the deciding factor in
whether Préval wins outright or must face the second-place finisher
in a March 19 run-off will depend on how he does in the rest of the
country. Diplomats and observers continued to praise the Haitian
people on Thursday for their apparent high turnout on Election Day,
at a time many feared the nation was spiraling towards failed-state
status. ''Haitians can take great pride in the success of these
elections,'' said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a press
statement. She urged Haiti's citizens and political parties to
respect the results.
|
the pentagon sees hugo chavez as u.s.
threat
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
A new Pentagon long-term planning document
mentions Venezuela as a concern, reflecting a mounting sense that
President Hugo Chávez's fiery populism poses a challenge to U.S.
security. The 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review says poor income
distribution and weak democratic institutions have led to a ``resurgence
of populist authoritarian political movements in some countries, such as
Venezuela.''
''These movements . . . are a source of political and
economic instability,'' added the QDR, issued last week. It comes out
every four years. Venezuela's mention in the QDR was unusual because the
document typically discusses broad trends and seldom mentions individual
countries. Cuba, for example, was not mentioned. The 2001 QDR did not
mention any Latin American country.
The QDR's reference to Venezuela was the latest in a
steady drumbeat of U.S. statements criticizing the leftist Chávez as an
increasingly authoritarian leader, a buyer of massive new weaponry and
exporter of an aggressive brand of populism that could destabilize Latin
America. Earlier this week, the Director of National Intelligence John
Negroponte said Venezuela posed the most serious threat to U.S.
interests in Latin America and was seeking closer ties with North Korea
and Iran -- both accused of having or seeking nuclear weapons. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared Chávez to the also democratically
elected Adolf Hitler.
|
|
vice president DICK cheney accidentally
shoots fellow hunter
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
A
HunterVice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a
companion during a weekend quail hunting trip in Tex`s, spraying the
fellow hunter in the face and chest with shotgun pellets. Harry
Whittington, a millionaire attorney from Austin, was "alert and doing
fine" in a Corpus Christi hospital Sunday after he was shot by Cheney on
a ranch in south Texas, said Katharine Armstrong, the property's owner.
He was in stable condition Sunday, said Yvonne Wheeler,
spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi.
Armstrong in an interview with The Associated Press said Whittington,
78, was mostly injured on his right side, with the pellets hitting his
cheek, neck and chest during the incident which occurred late afternoon
on Saturday. She said emergency personnel traveling with Cheney tended
to Whittington until the ambulance arrived.
Cheney's spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice
president met with Whittington and his wife at the hospital on Sunday.
Cheney "was pleased to see that he's doing fine and in good spirits,"
she said. The shooting was first reported by the Corpus Christi
Caller-Times. The vice president's office did not disclose the accident
until the day after it happened. |
IRAN
THREATENS TO LEAVE NUKE TREATY
TEHRAN, IRAN.-
Iran may reconsider its membership of
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if it feels its enemies
are using the accord to put unfair pressure on it, President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said on Saturday. "The Islamic Republic's policy has
been to follow its nuclear efforts in the framework of the
(International Atomic Energy) Agency and the NPT," he told a huge
crowd on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"However, if we find out they are going to take advantage of
these regulations to destroy the rights of the Iranian people, you
should know that the Iranian nation will reconsider its policy," he
added. Western nations have successfully pushed for Iran to be
reported to the U.N. Security Council for failing to convince the
world its atomic scientists are working exclusively on power
stations and not bombs.The crowd voiced its approval of
Ahmadinejad's remarks with chants of "Nuclear technology is our
inalienable right."
Russia and Iran will hold talks next week to see if any
headway can be made on a Russian proposal that Moscow should enrich
Tehran's uranium, thereby allaying fears that atomic fuel could be
diverted for use in weapons. But Ahmadinejad strongly suggested such
proposals were not workable. "You are telling us not to produce our
nuclear fuel and that you are going to produce it somewhere else
instead and then give it back to us. Wow. Do you think we believe
you?" he said.
|
A
SIXTH CONTINGENT OF SALVADORAN SOLDIERS LEAVES FOR DUTY IN IRAQ
COMALAPA, EL SALVADOR.-
The sixth contingent of
Salvadoran soldiers headed to Iraq for humanitarian work on Friday
following a send-off by mariachi musicians. Carrying Salvadoran
flags and holding rifles to their chests, the 380 soldiers boarded
two U.S. planes at the military base in Comalapa, 50 kilometers (30
miles) south of the capital.
They planned to stop in the United States, Ireland and
Kuwait before traveling by land to the Iraqi city of Kut, 160
kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad. During their six-month
stint, the soldiers will build schools, medical clinics and drinking
water wells, as well as provide free medical attention to Iraqis.
"It is an honor to form part of this mission," said Sgt. Raul Nerio
before boarding the plane. "Morale is high."
The new group of engineers and special forces are replacing 380
soldiers who will return to El Salvador at the end of February. Two
Salvadoran soldiers have been killed in Iraq, one by Iraqi
insurgents and one in an accident. El Salvador is the only Latin
American nation with troops still in Iraq. Honduras, Nicaragua and
the Dominican Republic withdrew their troops.
|
|
UNITED KINGDOM AVOIDS VERBAL
CONFRONTATION WITH CHAVEZ
LONDON,
ENGLAND.-
The British
government Friday refused to enter in a new verbal war with President
Hugo Chávez, who Thursday asked Prime Minister Tony Blair to return Las
Malvinas islands to Argentina-, but clarified that the UK stance on the
Falkland Islands remains unchanged, AFP reported. A spokesman for
Downing Street was reluctant to comment on Chávez' statements.
"I do not think that entering in an oral war regarding this
issue is beneficial to anyone," said the spokesperson for Tony Blair.
The United Kingdom "stance regarding the Falkland Islands has been
clearly established many times. Our stance remains unchanged," he
explained. "I do not think that comments like that are of any help. I
think we better close this chapter and move on," he added.
There was
no immediate comment from Uribe's administration. Government palace
officials in Bogota said Uribe was meeting with his Interior Minister
Sabas Pretelt and Foreign Minister Carolina Barco. Palacio has
repeatedly said that Ecuador's policy is to avoid involvement in
Colombia's 41-year civil war. Ecuadorean officials have long expressed
concern that violence from Colombia's U.S.-backed battle with leftist
rebels and right-wing paramilitary forces could spill across the
640-kilometer (400-mile) border with Colombia. |
|
ECUADOR RECALLS AMBASSADOR FROM COLOMBIA OVER BORDER INCIDENT
QUITO,
ECUADOR.-
Ecuador
recalled its ambassador to Colombia Thursday for consultations over a
diplomatic row brewing since last month when Colombian war planes
violated Ecuadorean airspace, Foreign Minister Francisco Carrion said.
"Ecuador's ambassador in Bogota, Ramiro Silva del Pozo, was recalled for
consultations and will arrive in Ecuador in the coming hours," Carrion
told reporters. He said the diplomat was recalled on orders from
President Alfredo Palacio.
Ecuador's
government had accepted Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's apology for
the border incident, but Carrion said the issue flared again on
Wednesday after Uribe suggested Ecuador was being complacent about
Colombian rebels who take refuge in its territory. Carrion said the
ambassador was recalled in order to review Uribe's comments and analyze
relations between the two countries since the Jan. 28 incident when
three Black Hawk helicopters and two military planes crossed over the
San Miguel River in Ecuador's northern jungle region in pursuit of
Colombian guerrillas.
There was no immediate comment from Uribe's administration.
Government palace officials in Bogota said Uribe was meeting with his
Interior Minister Sabas Pretelt and Foreign Minister Carolina Barco.
Palacio has repeatedly said that Ecuador's policy is to avoid
involvement in Colombia's 41-year civil war. Ecuadorean officials have
long expressed concern that violence from Colombia's U.S.-backed battle
with leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary forces could spill
across the 640-kilometer (400-mile) border with Colombia. |
SPONTANEOUS NEAR-RIOT OVER DEFECTIVE APPLIANCES
CAMAGÜEY, CUBA.-
A
spontaneous march by residents of the Lenin district in Camagüey
province prompted government authorities to set up an impromptu facility
to try to repair the appliances they had just sold the consumers who now
claimed they were inoperable. The appliances, including fans, electric
rice cookers and other small appliances, had been heralded by Cuban
ruler Fidel Castro as an energy-saving measure as well as one that would
make the average citizen's life a little easier.
So when it became the Lenin's residents turn to acquire the
government- sold appliances, they dutifully lined up and acquired them.
Only this time, they all found out at about the same time the appliances
were duds. Back they marched to the government warehouse, almost in
lockstep, hundreds of weary consumers who were now very dissatisfied
with their purchases and who were loudly voicing their discontent.
Authorities set up a makeshift repair facility and promised the
appliances would be duly repaired, but many in the crowd demanded their
money back, classifying the whole affair a swindle. Three days after the
initial distribution of the appliances, people were still lined up at
the repair facility, waiting for a resolution. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ CALLS BRITISH PRIMER
MINISTER TONY BLAIR 'PAWN OF IMPERIALISM'
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Hugo
Chavez on Wednesday called British Prime Minister Tony Blair "a pawn of
imperialism," accusing him of siding with President Bush in a
confrontation with Venezuela. Chavez said he will have to search for a
nickname for the British leader just as he now calls President Bush "Mr.
Danger."
Blair "is being a pawn of imperialism trying now to attack us from
Europe," said Chavez in the western oil city of El Tablazo. A
spokeswoman for Blair's office said Chavez "is entitled to his views."
She spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy.
Chavez's broadside came after Blair urged Venezuela to abide by the
rules of the international community, adding he would like to see true
democracy in communist-led Cuba, Venezuela's closest ally in Latin
America.
"I say with the greatest respect to the president of
Venezuela that when he forms an alliance with Cuba, I would prefer to
see Cuba a proper functioning democracy," Blair said in Parliament.
Chavez said it was Blair who blatantly violated international law by
sending British troops to join the U.S.-led war in Iraq. "You, Mr.
Blair, do not have the morality to call on anyone to respect the rules
of the international community," said Chavez. "You are precisely the one
of those who has disrespected international law the most ... siding with
Mr. Danger (as Chavez calls Bush) to trample the people in Iraq." |
|
VIDEO OF REPORTER ATTACKED OUTSIDE A NOTORIOUS BAHAMIAN DETENTION CENTER
RILES CUBAN EXILES
MIAMI,
FLORIDA.-
Video of a Miami
television reporter attacked by a guard outside a notorious Bahamian
immigration jail is snowballing into a political crisis for the island
government, as Cuban exile groups called Wednesday for a tourism
boycott.
Univisión
reporter Mario Vallejo said he received seven stitches just above his
eyebrow Tuesday night after a jail guard slammed his head against a car
bumper, knocking him unconscious for about two minutes. Among the
witnesses was a Telemundo 51 reporter and Cubans who traveled from Miami
to visit relatives kept at the immigration detention center.
Vallejo was in the Bahamas to report on eight Cuban migrants found on
the tiny, uninhabited Elbow Cay last week by the Coast Guard --
survivors in a group in which six others perished at sea and one man was
taken to a Florida Keys hospital for treatment. The Coast Guard turned
over the seven migrants to Bahamian authorities Sunday because Elbow Cay
is Bahamian territory. ''I was just doing my job as a reporter,''
Vallejo said Wednesday. “At that moment, I was outside the limits of the
jail and my cameraman was hidden in a taxi.''
The Bahamian consul in Miami, Alma A. Adams, said the government had
launched an investigation into the incident, in which at least two other
journalists were detained by jail guards. ''I'm informed that
the reports that have appeared in the media are not correct, and there
is being prepared an update to be relayed by the Bahamian government to
present the facts of exactly what transpired,'' Adams told The Miami
Herald, adding she met with representatives of concerned Cuban exile
groups. |
|
TONY BLAIR ENCOURAGES hugo chavez AND fidel castro TO ABIDE BY DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
LONDON,
ENGLAND.-
British
Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Wednesday Venezuela to "observe the
rules of the global community" and added that he would like to see Cuba
operating "as a true democracy," AFP reported. During the weekly
question and answer session, Labor Congressman Colin Burgon asked Blair
about the takeover in Latin America of leftist governments.
"I am sure that you share the satisfaction of many Labor deputies for
the shift leftwards recorded in Latin America, following the takeover by
governments that fight for the interests of the majority instead of the
interests of a few," Burgon declared.
"But you
may concede that it would be terrible for all of us to let our politics
with regard to those countries, particularly nations such as Venezuela,
be defined by the Republican rightist agenda of the US Government," the
parliamentarian queried. "To a certain extent," the Prime Minister
answered laughing. Blair emphasized that Latin American nations should
act in accordance with international community rules. "It is most
important for the Venezuelan Government to understand that if it is to
be respected by the global community, it should comply with the rules of
the international community," Blair declared. |
|
EADS-CASA: AIRCRAFT SALE TO VENEZUELA IS "NONVIABLE"
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Spanish
aeronautics company EADS-CASA is to make efforts to have Washington lift
a veto on its sale of 12 military aircrafts comprising US technology to
Venezuela, after the corporation found that changing the components
George W. Bush' administration vetoed would render the transaction
nonviable.
In a
meeting last week with Venezuelan Defense minister, admiral Orlando
Maniglia, EADS-CASA representatives asked Spanish and Venezuelan
authorities to wait for one month until they found "a final solution" to
the sales agreement they initialed in November 2005, Spanish daily
newspaper ABC reported.
However, sources claimed that replacing US components
(avionics, radars and even engines, which are manufactured by US firm
Honeywell) in C-295 airplanes with equipment manufactured in other
countries would render the transaction unprofitable and nonviable. They
claimed that such changes would virtually amount to designing a new
model. "Replacements would significantly increase the price of each
aircraft and would require design modifications in wings and other
components of this model, the C-295. Among other reasons, a change in
engine would entail modifications in weight distribution and in the
aircraft power," ABC explained in a report published Tuesday.
Industry sources told the Spanish newspaper that replacing
US-made avionics components would cost over USD 1.7 million per
aircraft, for a total of some USD 20 million, not to mention the cost of
full engineering re-designing. Therefore, moving forward with this
negotiation would result in losses for EADS-CASA, and it would even risk
losing contracts in the United States. |
|
COMMUNIST CUBA HELD RALLY OUTSIDE
AMERICAN MISSION TO REMEMBER VICTIMS OF "TERRORISM" AGAINST CUBA
HAVANA,
CUBA.-
The communist government held an evening
rally at the hundreds of black flags raised in the parking lot of the
U.S. Interest Section in Havana. The rally - called to remember those
who have lost their lives in violent acts against Cuba over 45 years -
was expected to include the unveiling what appears to be dozens of
flagpoles, positioned to block the view of an electronic sign on the
outside of the U.S. Interests Section that has provoked the ire of
President Fidel Castro.
"It will be
an act of tribute and denunciation," said the note in the Communist
Party daily Granma. "Over the pain and mourning of the loss of more than
3,000 compatriots assassinated in criminal terrorist acts organized,
financed or supported by the U.S. government, we Cubans will lift up
with honor our infinite love for the homeland." In response to the
electronic sign streaming news and human rights messages across the
facade of U.S. diplomatic offices, Castro led a huge march past the
mission. The construction project began the next day.
America's
top diplomat in Havana has said the sign will stay, despite protests
from Cuba. The government also surrounded the U.S. mission with several
billboards, including one with a mock ad for a horror film, "The
Murderer," featuring likenesses of U.S. President George W. Bush and
anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles with bloody vampire teeth. |
|
cUBAN LIBEL "JUVENTUD REBELDE" SLAMS
WASHINGTON OVER MEXICO OIL SUMMIT FLAP
HAVANA, CUBA.-
A
communist libel on Sunday lambasted Washington for allegedly pressuring
a U.S.-owned hotel in Mexico to kick out Cuban energy officials who were
meeting with U.S. oil executives. "It's obvious that the Bush
administration has taken a further step with this new provocation
against Cuba," said an editorial in Juventud Rebelde, the newspaper of
the Communist Youth Union.
The article - which was not an official statement but likely
reflected the Cuban government's stance - was published after a Mexico
City meeting between Cuban oil officials and U.S. business executives
was briefly disrupted this weekend, allegedly by pressure from
Washington. Juventud Rebelde asked rhetorically whether the incident was
the result of "arrogance or impotence," and suggested that U.S.
President George W. Bush's administration was tightening sanctions
because it feared the island's strengthened alliances with leftist
governments in the hemisphere.
"Those from the North are not only - and with good reason -
worried," the paper said. "They are also ornery." Hugo Chavez said
Friday that U.S. officials were right to worry about Latin America's
tilt to the left because it represents a threat to the U.S. "empire."
"If other nations join the revolutionary wave that the Venezuelan
president spoke of on Friday, that's worse still" for the United States,
the paper said. Washington has expressed growing concerns about ties
between leftist governments in Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia, which last
month inaugurated new President Evo Morales, a close ally of Chavez and
Cuba's Fidel Castro. |
|
CUBANS EXPELLED FROM MEXICO HOTEL UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE U.S.
GOVERNMENT
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO.-
A meeting between Cuban
officials and U.S. energy representatives was canceled after the
Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City, under pressure from the U.S. government,
asked the Cubans to leave, the event's organizer said Saturday. Kirby
Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association, said the U.S.
government called Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., and
pressured the chain to ask the Cubans to leave.
Jones organized the three-day meeting that opened Thursday.
Valero Energy Corp., the United States' biggest oil refiner, as well as
the Louisiana Department of Economic Development and the Texas Port of
Corpus Christi also took part.
The
three-day energy meeting in Mexico City, which wrapped up Saturday after
moving to a Mexican-owned hotel, was the first private-sector oil summit
between Cuba and the United States.
Judith Bryan, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, could
not confirm that the U.S. government pressured Starwood. But she did say
that "U.S. law prohibits U.S. persons and entities from providing
services to Cuban national persons or entities, and the Sheraton, as a
subsidiary of a U.S company, is bound by U.S. law." |
|
iRAN ENDS VOLUNTARY COOPERATION WITH
NUCLEAR WATCHDOG
VIENA, AUSTRIA.-
Iran has ended all voluntary cooperation with the U.N.
nuclear watchdog agency, saying it would start uranium enrichment and
bar surprise inspections of its facilities after being reported to the
Security Council over fears it is seeking an atomic bomb. However, the
Islamic republic left the door open for further negotiations over its
nuclear program and, in an apparent softening of its position Sunday,
said it was willing to discuss Moscow's proposal to shift large-scale
enrichment operations to Russian territory in an effort to allay
suspicions.
A day earlier, an Iranian official at the International
Atomic Energy Agency meeting in Vienna, Austria, said that proposal was
"dead." The comment was made after the IAEA's 35-nation board of
governors voted to report Iran to the council, which has the power to
impose economic and political sanctions. "The door for negotiations is
still open," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday.
But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the West "can't do a thing" to
stop Iran's progress.
"The era of coercion and domination has ended," Ahmadinejad
was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
"Issue as many resolutions like this as you want and make yourself
happy. You can't prevent the progress of the Iranian nation. "In the
name of the IAEA they want to visit all our nuclear facilities and learn
our defense capabilities, but we won't allow them to do this." |
|
POLL: VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT'S APPROVAL
RATING FALLS TO 45 PERCENT
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez's public approval rating fell to 45 percent in December, down
from 54 percent in July, according to a survey released Friday. The
local Datanalisis polling firm showed that about 55 percent of
Venezuelans would consider voting for a candidate other than Chavez in
December's presidential elections. The Nov. 24-Dec. 3 poll of 1,300
adults had a margin of error of 2.7 percent.
Luis Vicente Leon, the director of Datanalisis, said Chavez's
approval rating drop was influenced by his increasingly close relations
with communist-led Cuba, and reforms that are seen by some as threat to
private property rights. "Chavez has been successful in distributing oil
wealth but not so much with his ideological stance and his stand on
private property," Leon told reporters.
Chavez has forged strong ties with Cuba's Fidel Castro and is
pushing a far-reaching land reform initiative. The self-proclaimed
revolutionary says he is steering Venezuela toward socialism. Leon said
39 percent of those surveyed said they were unsatisfied with the
president's attempts to create jobs and 30 percent said crime was one of
the country's most pressing problems. |
|
CUBA INVITES AMERICAN ENERGY EXECUTIVES
TO DISCUSS CUBA'S POTENTIAL OIL RESERVES
CIUDAD
DE MEXICO, MEXICO.-
The
organizer of a meeting between American energy executives and their
Cuban counterparts urged the U.S. government to focus on Cuba's
potential oil reserves, not on the perceived misdeeds of President Fidel
Castro. Kirby Jones, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association,
organized the three-day meeting that opened Thursday along with Valero
Energy Corp., the United States' biggest oil refiner, as well as the
Louisiana Department of Economic Development and the Texas Port of
Corpus Christi.
"We want new sources of oil, and the oil is there, then that
should be the driving point, not whether Fidel Castro is a good guy or a
bad guy," Jones said. U.S. companies are currently barred by U.S. law
from engaging in trade and investment with Cuba, except under special
circumstances. Cubans at the meeting, scheduled to run through Saturday,
hope to inform the businessmen of their country's oil potential while
undermining the U.S. trade embargo, which has often frustrated American
corporations.
"This is the first sector where Cuba has something the U.S.
needs," Jones added. In 2004, the Spanish petrochemicals company
Repsol-YPF SA announced it had found petroleum reservoirs off Cuba's
coast. The first well was not considered commercially viable, but the
company recently announced it will conduct a second exploration. |
|
united states government expels
venezuelan diplomat in washington
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
The Bush
administration Friday expelled a Venezuelan diplomat in direct
retaliation for the expulsion of a U.S. naval officer from Caracas on
spying charges. A State Department announcement said it is ordering
Jenny Figueredo, a political counselor at the Venezuelan embassy in
Washington, to leave.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced Thursday that Navy
Cmdr. John Correa was declared a persona non grata and had to leave.
U.S. officials say Correa was out of the country even before the
announcement, although his exact whereabouts are unknown. ''The U.S.
Naval Attache in Caracas, Venezuela has been rotated back to the U.S.
mainland for further duties as assigned,'' Defense Department spokesman
Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros said in an email. ``As a matter of routine
practice, we do not discuss the details of personnel transfers.''
The leftist Chávez said Thursday that Correa had sought to
recruit naval officers that were opposed to his government, presumably
to lay the groundwork for a U.S. invasion. Venezuelan authorities have
formally charged six officers in the case. The last major U.S. expulsion
of foreign diplomats occured in May of 2003, when Washington ordered out
14 Cuban diplomats on accusations that they spied for Havana. |
|
EIGHT CUBANS SURVIVED 2-WEEK SEA
ORDEAL, SIX OTHERS PERISHED
MIAMI,
FLORIDA.-
More than two
weeks after they left Cuba in a boat bound for Florida, eight Cubans
were found alive on a sliver of an island in the Bahamas. Six others
perished. One of the eight survivors, Raidel Martinez Chávez, 33, was
airlifted to a hospital in Marathon for treatment for a severely
infected finger. The finger was amputated.
Relatives in Miami identified two of the dead as Emixi Asqui
and Yule Parra. Others believed to be alive: Rogelio Amaro, Walfrido
Rivero, Juan Carlos Torres and Yosvani Suarez. The Coast Guard could not
immediately confirm if the eight were survivors of a rickety boat
carrying about 15 migrants spotted Jan. 26 about 46 miles southeast of
Marathon. Search crews lost track of the vessel when darkness set in,
and could not relocate it during the ensuing 48-hour search. Coast Guard
spokesman Luis Diaz confirmed that six bodies had been recovered.
The
survivors were found on Elbow Cay, part of the Cay Sal Bank -- and not
very far from the spot where the boatload of migrants had been spotted
the previous week. A Bahamian fishing vessel that came across the
survivors Thursday contacted the Coast Guard about 3:45 p.m. A Coast
Guard helicopter crew, including a surgeon, made contact with the
stranded party, said Petty Officer Gretchen Eddy, a Coast Guard
spokeswoman. Except for Chávez, the survivors appeared to be in
relatively good condition, although dehydrated, Eddy said. |
|
EU PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR INCREASED
PRESSURE ON CUBA TO RELEASE POLITICAL PRISONERS
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.-
The
European Parliament urged EU member states Thursday to increase their
pressure on Cuba to release all political prisoners. In a resolution,
the lawmakers also called for human rights issues to be raised by every
high-level EU visitor to Cuba. "In 2005 no prisoners of conscience held
in Cuba were released and ... the number of political prisoners
significantly increased," said the resolution, which did not calling for
renewed sanctions against the island.
Ties between Cuba and the European Union have been strained
over the issues of human rights and political freedoms. The EU imposed
sanctions on the communist island in 2003 after Cuban authorities
detained 75 dissidents on grounds that they were engaged in treasonous
activities. The activists received prison terms averaging 20 years.
"Scores of independent journalists, peaceful dissidents and
upholders of human rights are still being held in jail in subhuman
conditions," the parliament resolution said. Last December, the Cuban
government did not allow a women's group demanding the liberation of
Cuban political prisoners to travel to Strasbourg, France, in time to
receive the EU's top human rights prize. |
|
US INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR ACCUSES HUGO CHAVEZ OF MEDDLING
WASHINGTON,
D.C.-The
head of US intelligence services fears that a potential victory of Hugo
Chávez during the elections next December may reinforce what he views as
a foreign policy of meddling in internal affairs of neighbor countries
and getting closer to Cuba, Iran and North Korea. John Negroponte, the
Director of National Intelligence, a super-agency composed of 15
intelligence services including CIA and FBI, claimed that President
Chávez is determined to continue "particularly harassing the dissent and
curtailing freedom of the press."
"Growing
oil revenues have allowed for Chávez to embark upon activism of foreign
policy in Latin America and meddling in the internal affairs of his
neighbors by supporting some candidates to elective positions,"
Negroponte commented during a hearing before a Senate committee. According to the senior officer, President Chávez has used
extra income to "swap oil at preferential rates for allies, create and
use new broadcasting media in order to get support for his Bolivarian
purposes and intervene in the internal affairs of his neighbors." |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ DECLARES US MILITARY ATACHE
AS PERSONA NON GRATA
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA.-
Hugo Chávez announced Thursday that his government has declared US
military attaché John Correa as persona non grata and accused him of
spying. He warned that in the face of a new case of spying, he may ask
the whole US military mission to leave the country. The president stated
that the US Navy officer "should leave the country immediately." "If any
US military attaché continues doing what that Captain has been doing
will be detained and be subject to the embassy.
Chávez maintained that he had evidence of Correa's involvement in spying
along with "a group of traitor army officers facing trial." In reference
to his remarks last week, according to which "if US military accredited
to Venezuela continue spying, we will imprison them," he clarified to
the diplomatic corps that Venezuela "is observant and will always
observe international conventions." |
|
CUBA, VENEZUELA REJECT TAKING IRAN ISSUE TO SECURITY COUNCIL
HAVANA,
CUBA.-
Cuba and
Venezuela Thursday rejected taking Iran nuclear dossier to the UN
Security Council at the executive body of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. "We are going to vote no, and we expect
Cuba does it too," Venezuelan ambassador Gustavo Márquez Marín told
reporters.
Venezuela was the only country that voted to reject a
resolution taking Iran nuke dossier to the UN Security Council at the
end of September last year. World powers, including Russia and China,
have agreed to take the Iranian issue to the Security Council, according
to several diplomatic sources. Meanwhile, in a communiqué, Cuba, a new
member of IAEA board of governors, said it "firmly opposes to the use of
this sovereign decision as a new excuse to condemn that country (Iran)." |
|
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN BOASTS
ABOUT RUSSIAN MISSILES
MOSCOW,
RUSSIA.-
Russian
President Vladimir Putin boasted on Tuesday that Russia has missiles
capable of penetrating any missile defense system, an apparent allusion
the U.S. defense network, Russian news agencies reported. "Russia last
year tested missile systems that no one in the world has and won't have
for a long time," he was quoted by the ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news
agencies as telling a news conference.
"These missile systems don't represent a response to a
missile defense system, but they are immune to that. They are hypersonic
and capable of changing their flight path." Putin said he had shown the
working principles of the missile systems to French President Jacques
Chirac during a visit to a Russian military facility. "He knows what I'm
talking about," RIA-Novosti quoted Putin as telling reporters after
state-run news channels cut their live broadcast of the news conference.
The U.S. defense system against long-range missiles is
limited mainly to an installation in Alaska, where at least six missile
interceptors are in underground silos, linked to a command and control
system. It is designed mainly to shoot down missiles fired at U.S.
territory from North Korea, with future expansion planned. |
|
CZECH REPUBLIC PROTESTS DETENTION OF
TWO CZECH WOMEN IN HAVANA
PRAGUE,
CZECH REPUBLIC.-
The Czech Foreign Ministry on Wednesday
summoned
Cuban
charge d'affaires in Prague, Ayme Hernandez Quesada, to protest the detention
of
Czech model Helena Houdova and psychologist Mariana Kroftova when they
were taking photographs in the Cuban capital.
The two
were detained for eleven hours without being allowed to contact the
Czech Embassy. Hernandez Quesada said the women were detained because of
alleged "anti-revolutionary activities." The Cuban charge was not,
however, able to explain why the Czech Embassy was not contacted, Krpac
said. "We want that explanation soon." |
SURGERY SUSPENDED FOR LACK OF BLOOD IN CUBA
SANTA
CLARA, CUBA.-Various patients awaiting surgery in local
hospitals were told to return home as the operations could not be done
because of a lack of blood for transfusions.
Provincial
radio station CMHW issued an appeal to listeners to donate blood to
replenish the hospital supply. Sources at ministry of health told Ismel
Iglesias Martínez, vice president of the Independent Medical College of
Villa Clara, that the shortage resulted from the supply of blood which
accompanied Cuban doctors sent to Pakistan to treat earthquake victims. |
SEVEN WOUNDED IN GRENADE BLAST IN VENEZUELA
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA.-
Seven
people were wounded Tuesday when a grenade exploded in the middle of a
crowd in a town square in southeastern Venezuela, authorities said. The
explosive apparently was fired using a grenade launcher into a plaza in
Maroa, Amazonas state, about 500 kilometers southeast of Caracas. Five
adults and two children were hurt, it said.
The incident occurred near the Colombian zone plagued by
guerrillas, paramilitaries and crime. "It still has not been confirmed
if it was an act by Colombian rebels, or a confrontation between
paramilitaries and guerrillas from the neighboring country," the
government statement said. |
|
AL-JAZEERA
AND VENEZUELA GOVERNMENT-BACKED TV STATION TELESUR SIGN ALLIANCE
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Al-Jazeera
and a Latin American television station backed by Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday they have signed an alliance to share
content and cooperate on newsgathering. Under the agreement, the
Qatar-based Arabic network and Telesur will also exchange information on
technical and journalistic training, Telesur said in a statement.
Telesur is financed largely by Chavez's government, but also
receives funds from other left-leaning governments in Argentina, Cuba
and Uruguay. Its programs are shown in 15 countries, and it has opened
bureaus across the Americas since its launch last year. The
Caracas-based station aims to provide an alternative to private media
outlets in the region that Chavez has accused of U.S.-biased coverage.
The Venezuelan leader is a fierce critic of what he describes
as the United States' overbearing and harmful influence in the region.
Al-Jazeera, which the Bush administration has criticized for what it
says is the network's biased accounts of Middle East developments,
recently opened its first Latin American bureau in the Venezuelan
capital. |
|
SAMUEL ANTHONY ALITO Jr. SWORN IN AS THE NATION'S
10TH SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
WASHINGTON, D.C.-
Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. was sworn in as the nation's 110th Supreme
Court justice on Tuesday after being confirmed by the Senate in one of
the most partisan victories in modern history. Alito was sworn in by
Chief Justice John Roberts in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court
building across from the Capitol at about 12:40 p.m. EST, court
officials said. Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Bomgardner, along with
other members of the court and their spouses, attended the ceremony in
the justices' conference room.
The 55-year-old New Jersey jurist took both the
constitutional and judicial oaths so he can immediately participate in
court decisions. Alito will be ceremonially sworn in a second time at a
White House East Room appearance on Wednesday. "Sam Alito is a brilliant
and fair-minded judge who strictly interprets the Constitution and laws
and does not legislate from the bench," President Bush said after the
vote.
"He is a man of deep character and integrity, and he will
make all Americans proud as a justice on our highest court." Alito's
swearing-in came only hours after the Senate voted 58-42 to confirm
Alito - a former federal appellate judge, U.S. attorney, and
conservative lawyer for the Reagan as the replacement for retiring
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been a moderate swing vote on the
court. |
|
HUGO
CHAVEZ DEMANDS PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE FROM UNITED STATES
CARACAS, VENEZUELA.-
Reiterating
that "the government of (US President) Mr. (George W.) Bush is a
murderer and terrorist" regime, President Hugo Chávez Sunday demanded
Puerto Rican independence from the United States. "I am inviting
Venezuelans. Let us stand up and say it together: We demand the
independence of Puerto Rico and we do support the Puerto Rican people in
their fight for independence!"
Chávez' remarks came during his weekly radio and TV show "Aló,
Presidente" on Sunday. He was accompanied by several delegates attending
the sixth World Social Forum in Caracas, including Elma Beatriz Rosado,
wife of the late Puerto Rican leader Filiberto Ojeda. |
|
HUGO CHAVEZ WARNS SPAIN IT MAY PURCHASE
PATROL BOATS FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA.-
Hugo
Chávez late Monday warned Spain Venezuela would purchase from any other
country the patrol boats it agreed to buy from Spanish shipyards in the
event that Madrid respects a US veto on the sale, Efe reported. "We are
going to ask Spain to make a decision on whether they are going to sell
them or not. Otherwise, we will buy these patrol boats from Russia,
China, Iran, India or even Brazil," Chávez said during an event with
local businesspeople.
Venezuela and Spain last year initialed a weaponry sales
agreement comprising the patrol boats Chávez mentioned on Monday. "We
have no problem if they do not sell them to us. We wanted to help Spain
because President (José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero) told me one day they
faced some problems with shipyards," Chávez added.
Under the agreement, Venezuela ordered from Spanish firms
Navantia and EADS-CASA the construction of 12 aircrafts, including 10
transportation C-295 planes and two coastal surveillance CL-235
airplanes, as well as eight patrol boats, including four boats for
monitoring the exclusive economic zone and four coast guard boats.
Chávez claimed that uncertainty around the operation emerged following
the United States move to veto the Spanish sale to Venezuela.
|
VENEZUELA SEES OIL PRICES UP IF IRAN DISPUTE IS TAKEN TO UNITED NATIONS
CARACAS,
VENEZUELA.-
Energy and
Petroleum minister Rafael Ramírez Tuesday in Vienna warned against the
negative effects on oil prices if a dispute over Iran controversial nuke
program is taken to the UN Security Council. "Pressure on producers is
to affect prices. (Oil prices) are likely to soar," said the official.
The Venezuelan government is one of Iran's strongest allies in Tehran
dispute with the international community.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely
US, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, together with Germany,
agreed in London to take Iran nuclear dossier to the UN Security
Council, which has the capacity to impose sanctions on Tehran.
"Venezuela is to support Iran's stance. We disagree with any sanction
regarding Iran," Ramírez told reporters ahead of a ministerial meeting
of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) taking place
Tuesday in Vienna.
"What the United States need is to manage oil in a more
responsible way. Not only did they stage a coup in Venezuela in 2002.
They invaded Iraq and it has been a mess. And now they are putting
pressure on Iran," he added. "It has been a permanent policy of the
United States to take our (oil) reserves violently. The world is paying
for the US aggressive foreign policy," Ramírez ensured. |
|
ASSASSINATION
ATTEMPT AGAINST CUBAN OPPOSITION LEADER JUAN FRANCISCO SIGLER AMAYA
HAVANA,
CUBA.-
On Friday, January
27th, Cuban opposition leader from Matanzas,
Juan Francisco Sigler,
Amaya, suffered an attempt on his life. As he traveled
by bicycle to work in the early morning hours, a car coming from behind
turned off its lights, sped up, and attempted to run him over. He
dashed onto the curb, falling on his bicycle to the ground and suffering
severe bruises to the arms and legs. The car turned around and reduced
its speed as the unidentified occupants yelled at him. A woman’s voice
yelled “worm,” “worm,” and several male voices exclaimed, “we’re going
to squish you, worm.” The car then sped away. The inc ident took place
at around 6:30 A.M, at Km. 2, Pedro Betancourt Highway, in Jovellanos,
Matanzas.
Sigler Amaya, who advocates peaceful opposition to the
Cuban Communist government, has received death threats on several
occasions from members of the Communist Party, the government, and State
Security police. Having recently served a prison sentence for his
dissident activities, two of his brothers Guido and Ariel are serving
long prison sentences after the Spring 2003 roundup against Cuba’s
opposition movement. Another brother, Miguel, recently took political
refuge in the United States after spending 26 months in prison. |
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