Reflexión de Fidel Castro
La llama eterna
Esta es una reflexión política. Para decirlo más exactamente: es otra proclama. Hoy se cumple un año exacto de la primera, el 31 de julio del 2006. Pero el año transcurrido vale por 10 en cuanto a la posibilidad de vivir una experiencia única que me aportó información y conocimientos sobre cuestiones vitales para la humanidad, que he transmitido con toda honradez al pueblo de Cuba.
Ahora me acosan con preguntas sobre el momento en que volveré a ocupar lo que algunos llaman el poder, como si tal poder fuera posible sin independencia. Hay un poder real y destructivo en el mundo, emanado de un imperio decadente que a todos amenaza.
El propio Raúl se ha encargado de responder que cada decisión importante a medida que me iba recuperando era consultada conmigo. ¿Qué haré? Luchar sin descanso como lo hice toda la vida.
Al cumplirse un aniversario de la Proclama, comparto con el pueblo la satisfacción de observar que lo prometido se ajusta a la inconmovible realidad: Raúl, el Partido, el Gobierno, la Asamblea Nacional, la Juventud Comunista y las organizaciones de masas y sociales, encabezadas por los trabajadores, marchan adelante guiados por el principio inviolable de la unidad.
Con la misma convicción, seguimos batallando sin tregua por liberar de cruel y despiadada prisión a los Cinco Héroes que brindaban información sobre los planes terroristas anticubanos de Estados Unidos.
La lucha debe ser implacable, contra nuestras propias deficiencias y contra el enemigo insolente que intenta apoderarse de Cuba.
Este punto me obliga a insistir en algo que no puede ser jamás olvidado por los dirigentes de la Revolución: es deber sagrado reforzar sin tregua nuestra capacidad y preparación defensiva, preservando el principio de cobrar a los invasores en cualquier circunstancia un precio impagable.
Nadie se haga la menor ilusión de que el imperio, que lleva en sí los genes de su propia destrucción, negociará con Cuba. Por mucho que le digamos al pueblo de Estados Unidos que nuestra lucha no es contra él —algo muy correcto—, este no está en condiciones de frenar el espíritu apocalíptico de su gobierno ni la turbia y maniática idea de lo que llaman "una Cuba democrática", como si aquí cada dirigente se postulara y eligiera a sí mismo, sin pasar por el riguroso tamiz de la abrumadora mayoría de un pueblo educado y culto que lo apoye.
En reflexión anterior mencioné nombres históricos: Martí, Maceo, Agramonte, Céspedes. Para el recuerdo permanente de la interminable lista de caídos en combate, o de los que lucharon y se sacrificaron por la Patria, Raúl encendió una llama que arderá eternamente, al cumplirse 50 años de la caída de Frank País, el joven héroe de 22 años cuyo ejemplo nos conmovió a todos. La vida sin ideas de nada vale. No hay felicidad mayor que la de luchar por ellas.
THE ETERNAL FLAME, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/reflexiones/ing038.html,
LA FLAMME ÉTERNELLE, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/reflexiones/fra-038.html,
DIE EWIGE FLAMME, http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/reflexiones/ale038.html,
Cuban-American's bullet-riddled body found in MexicoStory Highlights
CANCUN, Mexico (AP) -- The body of a Cuban-American who was under investigation in a migrant smuggling case was found riddled with bullets along a road outside the Caribbean resort of Cancun, authorities said Tuesday.
Luis Lazaro Lara Morejon, who was wearing only white Bermuda shorts, was found handcuffed and blindfolded with duct tape Monday night. He had been shot at least 10 times, said Didier Vazquez, the director of the judicial police in Quintana Roo state, where Cancun is located.
Vazquez said Mexican police were investigating whether Lara was part of a Cuban-American group that smuggled Cubans from southern Mexico to the United States. He said Lara was from Miami, Florida, and moved a year ago to nearby Merida, the capital of Yucatan state. He was reported missing July 20.
Earlier this month, Mexican authorities outside Cancun arrested eight people -- six of whom were Cuban-Americans or Cubans with U.S. residency -- on suspicion of smuggling migrants.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said American authorities traveled to Cancun to interview the detainees and confirm their nationalities, but refused to comment further.
It was unclear if Lara also was being investigated by U.S. authorities.
Mexican police are still searching for Lara's girlfriend, who also was reported missing July 20.
Mexico, whose Caribbean coast is about 120 miles southwest of Cuba, is increasingly used by smugglers as a route to get Cuban migrants into the United States.
Migrants arriving here travel to the U.S. border, where they identify themselves as Cubans to American officials and are usually allowed to stay. Cuban migrants detained in Mexico also are often allowed to stay.
TV Marti signal weak in Cuba, broadcast specialist saysStrategy to deliver signal to Cuba isn't working, professor contends
By Vanessa Bauzá - South Florida Sun-Sentinel Trying to reach an audience for its anti-Castro programs, the Miami-based Office of Cuba Broadcasting has turned to a variety of creative means. One of the most recent is a Gulfstream propeller plane that began transmitting federally funded TV Marti to Cuba in October. However, it is unclear whether the $10 million investment has boosted viewership on the island.
A U.S. State Department Inspector General report last month called the use of the Gulfstream, also known as AeroMarti, "a Best Practice" but an American broadcasting expert who returned recently from a weeklong research trip in Havana says the signal is weak and the plane has not increased viewership.
"The signal from the plane is essentially unusable," said John S. Nichols, a communications professor at Pennsylvania State University, who has studied TV Marti since it was founded in 1990. "I found no evidence of significant viewership of TV Marti."
Nichols traveled to Havana in late June on a trip sponsored by the Center for International Policy in Washington, which has opposed U.S. policy on Cuba. His findings were based on a variety of interviews with Cuban government officials and broadcasting technicians, academics and foreign reporters based in Havana.
TV Marti and its partner Radio Marti have a combined $33.7 million budget. The anti-Castro stations are meant to provide an alternative to Cuba's state-run media, but the Cuban government routinely jams their signals, prompting critics to question the programs' effectiveness.
Nichols said the audience for Radio and TV Marti is too limited to have an impact. "That's not to say there are not opponents to the Castro regime that are not searching out alternative sources of information," he said. "It is our conclusion that Radio and TV Marti are not central to the Cuban political dialogue or normal Cuban life, they are almost exclusively a domestic U.S. political issue."
TV Marti's signal was beamed from a blimp over the Florida Keys before it was destroyed in a hurricane in 2005. Now its signal is carried primarily by the Gulfstream plane, in addition to a C-130 airplane. The Gulfstream broadcasts the TV Marti signal every Sunday and weekday for five hours. Newscasts are carried on a television station that can be seen by some in Cuba with black market satellite dishes. The stations are among the Cuban exile community's few tangible achievements during its 48-year struggle to overthrow Castro's government, and many Cuban-Americans are loathe to criticize it publicly.
Tish King, a spokeswoman for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, said the Gulfstream "absolutely is having an effect" on improving viewership.
King said TV Marti has received 200 testimonials from Cubans on the island who have viewed the programming over the past 10 months.
"The fact that it's jammed is an indication of how important it is for us to broadcast to the people of Cuba," King said.
Según un reportaje de AP La televisión invisible le cuesta una fortuna al contribuyente de EE.UU.
Jean Guy Allard en Granma
EL funcionamiento de TV Martí, la "televisión invisible" que mantiene el Departamento de Estado contra Cuba, le cuesta a los ciudadanos de Estados Unidos "más de 20 millones de dólares por año en impuestos", confirma la agencia noticiosa norteamericana Associated Press (AP) en un reportaje.
Mucha parafernalia, pero sin audiencia.
Numerosos viajeros contactados por AP a su llegada a Miami le han confirmado que la TV propagandística norteamericana no solo no se ve en la Isla, sino que su contenido, tal como ha anunciado, no le interesa a nadie.
El año pasado, el gobierno estadounidense lanzó "un nuevo esfuerzo" al utilizar un avión para enviar transmisiones de televisión a Cuba, recuerda AP.
Lo del avión fue otro robo al contribuyente norteamericano.
La adquisición del avión, por sí solo, costó diez millones de dólares. Detalle muy significativo: su empleo se anunció el 5 de agosto del 2006, por presiones de la mafia a raíz de la Proclama del Presidente Fidel Castro.
AP reporta cómo a su llegada a la Florida, varios cubanos entrevistados afirmaron que esa ofensiva de la administración Bush fracasó totalmente, además de señalar su falta de interés por ese tipo de programación diseñada contra la Isla.
"Estas son las críticas más recientes que enfrenta el canal", dice la agencia que señala cómo "la televisora se mantiene en sintonía con los puntos de vista del sector más radical del exilio cubano en Miami".
Para mantener en servicio esta cueva donde siempre han situado a no pocos amigos del poder, el Departamento de Estado evoca una encuesta realizada en enero que pretende demostrar que la cantidad de cubanos que ve TV Martí se incrementó con el uso del referido avión.
Sin embargo, AP revela que "el hombre a cuya empresa encargó el sondeo, el veterano consultor de medios hispanos Herb Levin, ayudó a fundar Radio Martí y ha tenido numerosos contratos para mejorar la programación".
Para reafirmar el absurdo, otro informe reciente del Departamento de Estado "instó a la oficina de transmisiones a que examine cómo puede expandir la programación a otros países de América Latina".
PEDRO ROIG, testaferro de la CIA
AP precisa que "cerca de seis periodistas actuales y del pasado del canal y la Radio Martí, al igual que numerosos expertos que apoyan las transmisiones, manifestaron preocupación sobre la calidad de la programación" y el estilo "piramidal" de administración de la Radio y TV Martí, "que castiga rápidamente a los disidentes".
El reportaje de AP omite señalar que Pedro Roig, el actual director de Radio y TV Martí, tiene una trayectoria terrorista que se remonta a cuando dirigía la Interamerican Military Academy de Miami. Roig fue uno de los esbirros especialmente entrenados en el campo de entrenamiento de la CIA en Fort Benning, con vistas a la fracasada invasión de Playa Girón. El terrorista internacional Luis Posada Carriles fue uno de sus compañeros de "estudio".
Roig es socio del ex director de Radio y TV Martí, Herminio San Román, quien, con Salvador Lew, contribuyó a enlodar definitivamente la, de inicio, dudosa reputación de este antro de viejos conspiradores.
En un reportaje publicado el 24 de diciembre último, el periodista Andrew Zajac, del Chicago Tribune, revelaba cómo Roig ha contratado al sobrino de su esposa como jefe del personal y de qué forma el connotado terrorista cubanoamericano, Luis Zúñiga Rey, amigo personal de George W. Bush, recibe anualmente 100 000 dólares como miembro del Consejo de Administración de la radio que nadie oye y de la televisora que nadie ve.
Radio y TV Martí fueron causa de varios escándalos en los últimos años. Se reveló, entre otras cosas, cómo estos organismos federales pagaron a un mínimo de 10 "periodistas" del sur de la Florida, "incluyendo a tres del Nuevo Herald", y a Carlos Alberto Montaner, por sus contribuciones a programas de propaganda en esa maquinaria concebida como arma de la guerra sucia contra la Isla.
Como si no fuera suficiente, "Chema" Miranda, quien era director de Programas de TV Martí hasta noviembre último, confesó el 13 de febrero ante un tribunal criminal de Miami haber recibido 112 000 dólares en sobornos.
Para el año fiscal 2007 el Congreso norteamericano aprobó un presupuesto de 36 millones 100 000 dólares para estos programas violatorios de varios acuerdos internacionales y del reglamento de la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones.
Fundada en 1985, Radio Martí y luego su sucursal TV Martí, han dilapidado en dos décadas, más de 520 millones de dólares del dinero del contribuyente norteamericano.
Constituyen Cuba y Venezuela cinco empresas agrícolas del ALBA
Ronald Suárez Rivas, enviado especial
BARINAS, Venezuela, 31 de julio.— Cuba y Venezuela dieron un nuevo paso hacia la integración al constituir aquí cinco empresas mixtas en las áreas de avicultura, lácteos, leguminosas, arroz y forestal.
María del Carmen Pérez, ministra en funciones de la Agricultura de la Isla, y su homólogo venezolano, Elías Jaua, suscribieron los convenios y afirmaron que otros países de la Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas (ALBA) podrían sumarse a ellos.
La titular cubana comentó a Granma que antes de que finalice el 2007 deberán lograrse los primeros resultados, y precisó que con excepción de la empresa Arroz del Alba, que requiere una obra hidráulica de envergadura, el resto alcanzará su plena capacidad en un plazo de cinco años.
Explicó además que la participación cubana en las nuevas entidades, ubicadas en el país sudamericano, consistirá fundamentalmente en aportar la asesoría técnica, y que el objetivo de las producciones será la sustitución de importaciones, a fin de garantizar la seguridad alimentaria de ambos pueblos.
Ambos ministros aprovecharon la ocasión para repasar el convenio en materia agroalimentaria, que ya abarca unos 40 proyectos y alrededor de 1 300 colaboradores de la Isla en campos venezolanos
http://www.mercopress.com/vernoticia.do?id=11016&formato=html
Venezuela looking for oil offshore Cuba, 100 miles from the US
Venezuelan government oil company, PDVSA begins this week hydrocarbons exploration in six blocks offshore Cuba, 100 miles from the United States coast, with prospects of finding abundant light crude. PDVSA oil rig begins this week to work in Cuba Seven international corporations are interested in exploring the promising northern basin of Cuba where Spain’s Repsol-YPF back in 2004 found high quality oil although not in commercial volumes.
“The project between PDVSA, CVP and CUPET (Cuban Petroleum) includes six blocks covering approximately 10.000 square kilometers, in which we expect to confirm the presence of light crude deposits in volumes with high production potential”, reported PVDSA in a release.
Repsol-YPF, India’s ONGD Videsh; Norway’s Norsk Hydro; Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Berhad and Canadian Sherritt International have shown interest in 59 blocks of Cuba’s exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
Vietnam’s Petrovietnam was the last company to join the offshore exploration boom in Cuba’s north basin, which the United States Geological Survey estimates holds reserves equivalent to 4.6 billion barrels of oil, with a maximum potential of 9.3 billion.
The opening of the northern basin, just 100 miles from the US coast has US oil corporations restless since they are banned from operating given the standing sanctions imposed by Washington on Cuba since the sixties.
Sanctions have turned Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez into Cuba’s main trading partner with daily shipments of 98.000 barrels of oil, at preferential prices, which the Fidel Castro regime pays with the services of 26.600 doctors who are working for the Venezuelan government social and health programs.
Bilateral trade reached 2.6 billion US dollars last year, six times higher than in 2001.
Besides PDVSA is collaborating with several energy projects in Cuba such as the renovation of the Cienfuegos refinery which can process 65.000 bpd and the building of fuel storage facilities in Matanzas province.
ECLAC Praises Cuban Economic Growth
(acn) Jose Luis Machinea, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighted in Santiago de Chile, Cuba's economic results and its 12.5 percent growth in 2006.
Cuba is growing more, partly because of the investments in human resources carried out nationwide, the official told Prensa Latina at the presentation of the 2006-2007 Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, at the regional entity's headquarters in the Chilean capital.
The Caribbean Island "is exporting much more services than it did in the past, and it is taking advantage of international prosperity in a context where it has qualified exportable labor force," he said.
In this regard, Cuba is the regional exporting leader, not only in health services, but also in general, he asserted.
"In my opinion, those are factors that are helping, and I understand that the growth in construction in recent times has also boosted the demand in a great extent," Machinea said.
In the case of tourism, according to the ECLAC document, Cuba's income in 2006 was $2.5 billion, lower by 0.7 percent compared to that of 2005.
ALBA on the Spotlight of Latin American and Caribbean Summit
(acn) The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas regional integration initiative will be at the center of discussions during the 6 th Social Summit for Latin American and Caribbean Unity, which opened sessions in Venezuela on Tuesday. The main achievements and current strategies of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), plus a multilateral mechanism to achieve real integration will be addressed by the summit, said Vidal Cisneros, member of the Venezuelan group at the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO), cited by PL.
Cisneros said that the participation of Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua in the regional integration initiative proves the willingness of the governments of those four countries to progressively pay the social debt they have had with their own people.
" The important issue is to discuss the integration mechanism, which was launched by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and backed by Cuba from the very beginning. The ALBA was later joined by Bolivia and Nicaragua, though millions of Latin American and Caribbean people have been benefitted by the ALBA programs, such as the Miracle Operation free-eye surgery", said Cisneros.
232 colombianos se han graduado de Medicina en Cuba
EL TIEMPO - Bogota
Héctor Martínez se considera afortunado por poder estudiar medicina en Cuba, aunque acepta que no ha sido fácil estar lejos de su familia. Forman parte de un contingente de 1.380 estudiantes que han sido becados por el gobierno de la isla.
Martínez tiene la sensación de que en Cuba hace más calor que en el desierto de La Guajira, aunque no tiene certeza de si su impresión es porque ha extrañado su tierra, después de estar en la isla caribeña cuatro años estudiando medicina.
"Lo más increíble es que en Cuba todo el año el calor es intenso, pero en diciembre hace frío", dice.
Este joven guajiro de 24 años, macizo y de mediana estatura, tiene claro, sin embargo, una cosa: que los cubanos son más felices de lo que normalmente se cree. "No se puede negar que se pasan dificultades por el bloqueo, pero la gente es trabajadora y orgullosa del país".
Héctor vino a Colombia hace pocos días para ver a su familia y deberá regresar en septiembre a Las Tunas, la pequeña provincia donde cursa su carrera.
La última ceremonia de graduación fue la semana pasada, cuando 86 de ellos recibieron su título, la cifra más alta desde hace tres años.
"Es una gran oportunidad que tienen estos muchachos de escasos recursos, de regiones muy apartadas del país, de estudiar una carrera como medicina, deportes, arquitectura, ingeniería, agronomía, cine o música, y regresar a sus regiones a ayudar", explicó Héctor Rivera, el secretario general de la asociación que conformaron los padres de los jóvenes que estudian en Cuba.
Justamente, un grupo de 40 padres viajó hace diez días a Cuba para acompañar a los 90 colombianos que se graduaron el martes 24 de julio como médicos, arquitectos y licenciados en deportes, en el teatro Carlos Marx de La Habana. La otra mitad no pudo ir porque no tenían dinero para el pasaje, que cuesta cerca de 599 dólares, dijo Eunice Ospino, quien tiene una hija estudiando medicina.
En septiembre -añadió Eunice-, cuando regresen al país, se les hará una graduación simbólica para que todos los padres puedan vivir ese momento.
Un gran esfuerzo
Las becas que cada año entrega el gobierno de Cuba tienen como principal requisito que los jóvenes que se beneficien de ellas tengan una procedencia rural y sean de familias de bajos recursos, que no puedan pagarles una carrera universitaria.
"Esto hace parte de nuestro aporte desinteresado a Colombia. Estos jóvenes reciben gratuitamente desde los uniformes hasta los insumos para alimentación, transporte y libros", explicó José Antonio Solana Fernández, encargado de negocios de la embajada de Cuba en Bogotá.
Solana dijo que su país es el que más becas entrega a colombianos. Y destacó que en la actualidad 800 nacionales estudian medicina y cerca de 100 licenciatura en deportes.
"De todas maneras no es fácil estar allá, hay que superar todo lo que extrañas de casa. Cuando sea médico quiero trabajar con los indígenas en La Guajira, porque se enferman mucho y están muy abandonados. Es un buen lugar por dónde comenzar", concluyó Martínez.
Cuba seguirá dando becas a Colombia
José Antonio Solana, encargado de negocios de la embajada de Cuba en Colombia, aseguró que su gobierno mantendrá esta ayuda
¿Aumentará el número becados?
"El gobierno cubano tiene la decisión de apoyar anualmente a los jóvenes colombianos con estas becas, pero las cifras depen- den de la capacidad que tengamos en las escuelas".
¿Existe alguna exigencia política o ideológica para acceder a las becas?
"Absolutamente ninguna. En el país se encuentran miles de jóvenes extranjeros de varias latitudes del mundo, con distintas costumbres religiosas, culturales y políticas. Solo pedimos que cumplan con un Código de Ética, que permite la convivencia".
The Cause of Free Cuba Gets a Boost
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun: http://www.nysun.com/article/59554
In a ruling that strengthens the American embargo on Cuba, a federal judge has firmly rejected a lawsuit challenging a ban on American participation in short-term study programs on the communist-run Caribbean island.
Judge Ellen Huvelle, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, found that the Treasury Department did not violate the rights of students or professors when it tightened the Cuba embargo in 2004 by requiring that approved educational programs be at least 10 weeks in length.
"Even assuming that plaintiffs possess a First Amendment right to academic freedom, the law is clear that it is not unconstitutionally infringed by the regulations at issue here," Judge Huvelle wrote in a decision issued Monday. "The regulations place no restrictions on what universities and their professors may teach their students about Cuba — they merely restrict them in limited circumstances from teaching students in Cuba. Thus, there can be no question that the [rules] are content neutral, and only incidentally, if at all, burden plaintiffs' First Amendment rights."
A Bush administration panel, the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, concluded in 2004 that some purported educational travel to Cuba was actually "disguised tourism." The commission's report found that some participants had no academic ties to the sponsoring school and that some study-tour programs included "lengthy unscheduled time periods to permit largely tourist activities to be accomplished."
Judge Huvelle, who was appointed by President Clinton, also dismissed as "simply wrong" the academics' claims that their constitutional right to travel was infringed by the embargo rules.
The restriction on short-term study devastated American-run study-abroad programs in Cuba, a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Jose Buscaglia-Salgado, said. "Certainly, upwards of 90% of all existing programs of U.S. universities in Cuba were immediately eliminated by that," Mr. Buscaglia said. "It was a very, very large impact."
Mr. Buscaglia, who teaches Spanish and comparative literature, transformed his school's summer Cuba program into a semester-long fall program. However, most universities, including Duke, Johns Hopkins, and New York University, pulled out. They cited various issues, including costs of running a program limited to students from a single school and student concerns that a longer program could set back their graduation.
The lawsuit against the program was filed last year by a group of students and professors who banded together as the Emergency Coalition to Defend Educational Travel. The group is led by an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins who once served as chief of the American interests section in Havana, Wayne Smith. He did not respond to a message seeking comment for this article.
A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, Molly Millerwise, said she could not comment on litigation. However, she said the 10-week minimum for educational travel to Cuba "was implemented to ensure that students had enough time on the island to engage in a true academic exchange at a substantive level."
One of the groups that pushed for the stricter rules said it was heartened by the judge's ruling.
"There was a lot going on under the guise of academic or cultural exchange that was actually tourism. There were groups that would go for two weeks on a salsa dancing tour of the island," a spokeswoman for the Cuban American National Foundation, Camila Ruiz-Gallardo, said. "This is just a boondoggle for the regime. …We support restrictions on travel by Americans to Cuba until there's some significant change in how the regime treats its own people and it starts respecting the human rights and civil liberties of its own citizens."
Mr. Buscaglia said the new rules intruded on the ability of academics to design their own study programs. "It sets a really bad precedent," he said. "You're basically at the federal level putting actual limitations on academic freedom and what, when, and where we're allowed to do our jobs."
The SUNY Buffalo professor said abuses in the study-abroad programs came largely from for-profit firms who had their licenses revoked before the 2004 crackdown. He also said the rules set up a double standard for academic programs. "Are you going to require that students that other universities take to Europe are doing their homework instead of hanging out in Irish pubs?" he asked.
For a time in the late '90s and early in this decade, Jewish cultural groups such as the 92nd Street Y were authorized to sponsor trips to visit Jewish sites in Cuba. However, those journeys ceased at about the same time as the short-term educational tours.
"A lot of people who were conducting such trips did not get their licenses renewed," a leader of several such trips, Eric Gordon, said.The former trip coordinator for the Y, Batia Plotch, said the American government now requires that the travel be entirely religious in nature. "Heritage tours are not allowed," she said. "You've got to go to a synagogue every day, volunteer, help the kids say prayers, the rabbi has to go help the Jews maintain their religion. Nothing else," Ms. Plotch said.
Open Letter from 9/11 Rescue Worker to Rudy Giuliani
Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani thinks his "plan for up to $15,000 in tax breaks to help families pay for coverage outside employer-based plans is the antidote."
How is a single mother of two with a monthly income of $1,500 or a family of four with an income of $3,100 supposed to live, buy insurance, pay deductibles, pay copays, afford medications and be able to eat and clothe their children?
Giuliani is so far removed from reality it's sad.
He's completely out of touch with why the average American is interested in improving our country's healthcare system by creating a single-payer system that would remove profit when it comes to caring for the sick and dying. As a country we have historically thrived by taking good ideas, making them better, and putting them to work for our country. The health care crisis should be no different.
A single-payer system would insure that all veterans who are currently being denied services are covered. It appears that Rudy is content with turning a blind eye on the returning injured vets who desperately need care. It seems that under Rudy's plan, vets will continue to be stuck with substandard Walter Reed-level care.
Giuliani neglects the underpaid worker, the unemployed worker, the low income family and all their children. After all, these people are not his base, so why should he care?
Giuliani doesn't care about the fact that Tracy Pierce, featured in the movie SiCKO, was insured and died because his insurance company's motivation was profit-driven. Why should he consider that when health insurance companies are key contributors to his campaign?
When I truly wanted to discuss the issue and asked Giuliani's staff for help on April 19th while attending the Oklahoma City Bombing Anniversary, his staff took my information, rebuffed me and he then left to go have a photo opportunity with two children who survived the bombing. Does he even remember their names today? Has he helped them with their mounting bills? Oh, I know, it was just a photo op!
Later, in May of this year, two other 9/11 rescue workers and I sent a letter to Giuliani. We were to discuss with him the state of healthcare in our country. We received no response.
Mr. Giuliani, I wanted to ask you why the terrorists who caused 9/11 receive free healthcare yet those of us who cleaned up at Ground Zero do not? Why do you continue to ignore us?
In your recent speech you asked if anybody in the room would like to go to Cuba for medical treatment. Well, Mr. Giuliani, I did because I had no other choice and it upsets me that you can't understand my position.
I am not a politician, just an American woman who voted for you for mayor and asked for your help. After helping my fellow citizens on 9/11 and the weeks following, I now suffer from lung disease. It pains me to watch you campaign on the back of my service on 9/11 while it seems that only your cronies get Workers Compensation while the rest of us are left to die.
The pulmonary fibrosis that I suffer from is no picnic and obtaining health insurance is going to be an obstacle I will face for life unless our system changes. So, once again, I am calling on you, Mr. Giuliani, to please explain to me what you will do as president to ensure that I get the care I need after suffering serious health problems as a result of working at Ground Zero on 9/11.
Cuba y el falso interés humanitario de los países ricos
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=54384,
USAID Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean Sworn In
U.S. Agency for International Development News Category : PressRelease WASHINGTON, July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Paul Bonicelli took the oath of office today as the new U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Acting USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore presided over the ceremony and administered the oath.
As Assistant Administrator for LAC, Bonicelli will direct an annual budget of more than $750 million, which supports economic growth, fiscal reform, democracy building and social transition programs in 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Bonicelli will also be responsible for four regional programs, including Cuba and those in several non-presence countries in the area.
"Paul has had a distinguished career both as a public servant and also in academia," stated Acting Administrator Fore. "Without a doubt, he possesses all of the qualifications, experience and technical expertise needed to effectively lead our important efforts in the Latin American and Caribbean region."
Prior to his appointment as Assistant Administrator for LAC, Bonicelli served USAID as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance. He has also served as Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Government, as well as the Chairman of the Department of Government, at Patrick Henry College in Virginia. In addition, he has held positions on Capitol Hill, in other academic institutions and in the private sector.
Bonicelli is from Memphis, Tennessee, and received his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Memphis, his master's degree in public policy from Regent University in Virginia and his doctorate degree in political Science from the University of Tennessee.
For more information about USAID's programs in Latin America and the Caribbean and around the world, visit http://www.usaid.gov/
América Latina ya no es patio trasero
Se reune en Caracas la VI Cumbre Social que será foro de debate en la búsqueda de una integración continental soberana y popular, y plataforma firme de apoyo a la Carta Social de las Américashttp://www.insurgente.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10612,
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