Fidel Castro will have to convince Cubans not to re-elect him as leader, official says

AP-Int Herald TribuneFidel Castro will have to persuade Cubans — even his brother Raul — if he decides not to serve another term as president because of health issues, a Cabinet member said Wednesday.
Elections are expected to vote next spring for Cuba's National Assembly, or parliament, which in turn will chose a new Council of State, the country's supreme governing body. Castro has held the council presidency since 1976, although he has been the nation's unchallenged leader since 1959.
Castro "would have to convince the people not to be re-elected," Culture Minister Abel Prieto said. Cubans are convinced "Fidel has to stay on top, and even Raul would totally agree with that."
Castro still officially holds the title of Council of State president, even though he announced in mid-2006 that emergency intestinal surgery was forcing him to cede power to a provisional government headed by his younger brother, who is now 76.
"I'm convinced that the immense majority of our people, the sweeping majority, are going to want Fidel to continue as president of the Council of State," Prieto said. "I don't know what he would say about the state of his health, and I think it depends a lot on that."
Castro was re-elected to his sixth term as council president by the parliament in March 2003, following direct elections in which 97 percent of Cubans participated.
Castro has not been seen in public since stepping aside and Prieto said he had no new information about the 81-year-old's medical status. But he said the essays Castro has issued every few days over six months "give me the impression that he is in good health and continues recovering favorably."
Speaking to foreign reporters after a book presentation, Prieto also knocked down a month of rumors circulating in Miami's Cuban exile community that the elder Castro is dead or dying. The latest rumors gained steam after Castro's 81st birthday passed on Aug. 13 without the release of any new photographs or videos of the leader.
"I think people are confusing their wishes with reality," said Prieto, the first senior official to comment on the rumors.

Cuba cosecha porque ha sembrado
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/09/13/index.php?section=opinion&article=033a1mun,


Turismo de salud, sello que distingue a Cuba
http://www.cubahora.co.cu/index.php?tpl=principal/ver-noticias/ver-not_ptda.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=1021204,

The Empire and its Lies, Reflection by Cuban President Fidel Castro http://www.cubamigos.be/nl/node/570,

Castro: Cuba helped save Reagan's life

HAVANA -- (AP) -- Fidel Castro says Cuba once saved the life of President Ronald Reagan by giving American officials information about an assassination plot.The essay published Wednesday in the Communist Party daily Granma appeared to be Castro's first public description of the matter. It seemed to be aimed at showing that Cuba had cooperated with the United States in the past.Also Wednesday, Cuba's National Assembly president, Ricardo Alarcón, told CNN that he had been ''in touch'' with Castro more than a week ago and that the ailing leader was recovering and preparing the published essay at the time.In the essay, Castro wrote that a Cuban security official stationed at the United Nations in New York alerted U.S. mission security chief Robert C. Muller about an extreme right-wing group that was planning to assassinate Reagan during a planned trip to North Carolina in 1984.Castro wrote that Cuban authorities learned later that the FBI had arrested several people in North Carolina.The U.S. State Department's Western Hemisphere Affairs in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.Wayne Smith, head of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba in the early 1980s, said he had not heard about the 1984 plot.

World briefs: Cuba claims it foiled Reagan assassination plot
Kansas City Star - HAVANA Fidel Castro says that Cuba’s government saved the life of President Ronald Reagan by giving American officials information about an assassination ...Castro Claims Cuba Helped Save Reagan The Associated PressCastro: Cuba tipped US on Reagan plot PRESS TVCastro: Cuba saved Reagan's life Evening EchoSt. Petersburg Times - Telegraph.co.uky 153 artículos relacionados »

UN ANTITERRORISTA CUBANO SALVÓ LA VIDA DE REAGAN
Radio Reloj - Cuando el presidente Ronald Reagan recibió un disparo en 1981, Cuba expresó mediante el Canciller Isidoro Malmierca su condena al atentado al entonces Jefe de la Oficina de Intereses, Wayne Smith. La transcripción de la conversación entre Malmierca y ...Alerta de Cuba frustró un atentado contra Reagan en 1984, dice Castro La Jornada (México)Castro: Cuba dio información EEUU que salvó a Reagan de asesinato UnivisiónMilenio - Granma Internacionaly 66 artículos relacionados »

Espías cubanos al servicio del 'imperialismo'
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Espias/cubanos/servicio/imperialismo/elpepuintlat/20070912elpepuint_19/Tes,


Cien días sin la imagen de Castro crean incertidumbre
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america_latina/cuba/story/90530.html,

Elevada participación de los cubanos en proceso electoral
http://www.ain.cu/2007/septiembre/septiembre12iggelecciones.htm#Elevada%20participación%20de%20los%20cubanos%20en%20proceso%20electoral,

American author Alice Walker supports five Cuban agents jailed in U.S.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/12/news/CB-GEN-Cuban-Five.php,


Campaign to Free Cuban Five Intensified

(Prensa Latina) Cuban National People"s Power Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon summoned people to intensify the campaign for the liberation of the antiterrorist Cuban Five, imprisoned in the United States for nine years.US Actor Danny Glover Speaks Out for Cuban Five Bolivia, Venez, Demand Release of Cuban Five "This battle is to be won by demonstrations and protests in streets, regardless of the legal process that is being carried out," Alarcon expressed.According to Alarcon, the reasons that led Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Fernando Gonzalez to go into anti Cuban organizations in southern Florida are currently still in effect.The program for their liberation includes several demonstrations of protest in front of US embassies, lectures in universities, showing of documentaries and journalistic articles about that judicial process.

Zimbabwe: Cuba an Oasis of Hope - Mujuru
http://allafrica.com/stories/200709130274.html,

Missionaries pray for Castro's health
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/09/13/Worldandnation/_Missionaries_pray_fo.shtml,

Raleigh FIST tells truth about Cuba
http://www.workers.org/2007/us/raleigh-fist-0920/,

Raul Castro works on quality-of-life issues
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-09-12-cuba-raul_N.htm,

La corrupción, el verdadero enemigo
http://www.abc.com.py/articulos.php?pid=357099&ABCDIGITAL=04b59cf9f4ad716422a4677704e8b602,

Jamás nos rendiemos. Somos rojos, rojitos. Jamás nos rendiremos ante el enemigo imperialista ni vamos a permitir tampoco que se repita en Cubala experiencia europea de burocracias corruptas que traicionaron a los trabajadores, al pueblo y al socialismo. http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia.php?id_noticia=40994,

To change within socialism*http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=146&Itemid=1,

Cambiar dentro del socialismo *http://progreso-semanal.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=1,

Maintaining Momentum: The Challenge of Follow-through in Cuban Society (I)The failure to maintain momentum in carrying out certain programs and services in Cuba has become a pernicious problem that tarnishes the dreams of residents on the islandhttp://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/cuba/2007-09-12/maintaining-momentum-the-challenge-of-follow-through-in-cuban-society-i/;



Llega hoy en visita oficial a Cuba el Presidente de la Comisión de la Unión Africanahttp://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2007/09/13/cubamundo/artic01.html,


Rediscovering Che Guevara, the romantic revolutionary http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2956426.ece,

Cuba y un hombre perversohttp://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/09/13/index.php?section=opinion&article=020a1pol,

Promocionan la defensa del medio ambiente en Cuba con la santería y el uso de plantas medicinaleshttp://actualidad.terra.es/sociedad/articulo/promocionan_cuba_defensa_medio_ambiente_1846293.htm,

La Unión Europea dice que las elecciones de Guatemala, con 46 asesinatos políticos durante la campaña, son un “ejemplo magnífico” para América Latina http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=56109,

Antonio Guerrero Thanks International Solidarity

Antonio Guerrero, one of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unjustly held in US prisons, has written a letter in which he thanks the support, encouragement and affection received from so many corners of the world over the last nine years."It took me a while to answer the question about the letter of support received from the place most distant from Florence. First I had to remember the places from where I've received messages of support and encouragement, from regions of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia."I made a map of the world and began to locate countries and cities from where people had written me. Then came the most difficult part; calculating the distances. The Earth is round."I got some help from someone to find a map with the longitudes and latitudes. That was a big step. Florence (or Florence, Colorado) is located at around 100 degrees west longitude from Greenwich (this is an approximation). I looked at the longitudes of cities and countries: Moscow (Russia), Tokyo (Japan), Victoria (Australia), Cape Town (South Africa) and New Delhi (India)."According to my calculation India was the country farthest from Florence of the countries from where I've received a letter. If my memory doesn't betray me, the letter came from our embassy in that country. New Delhi is located at approximately 80 degrees east longitude. We can almost say that it is the most distant place from Florence as far as longitude goes, that is, it is exactly 180 degrees of difference."In miles the estimate is 12,000 miles, which converted into kilometers (multiplying by 1.609) equals 19,308 kilometers. (I hope our geographers don't laugh at these calculations). So my answer is India."Now that I'm on the subject of the letters we've received and the countries from where people have written, I am going to give some mental statistics on a topic that shows how much our people are loved around the world and how much the Revolution is admired: Excluding Cuba, most of the letters I have received came from Europe."Of the 38 countries that my calculations say make up the current European continent (that's another discussion: the word continent, because you'd have to include Asia) the most letters of support have come from the United Kingdom."Now, from how many of the 38 countries have people written? Here I'll mention every country I can remember: Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Slovenia, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, Norway and Ireland, which makes a total of 20 countries."There may be letters from other countries of the region, but that's what I remember."It would be a long, complex and interesting task to explain each show of solidarity, support encouragement and affection that we've received from around the world. One day we'll do it, nobody should doubt it. But for now, I can say that they have all had an immense importance for the five of us and all have a place in our hearts."Without a doubt our friends have taught us to learn the geography of our planet better; they have taken us to travel to their lands, and with them we have climbed mountains, crossed rivers, admired forests and grasslands. They have given us the opportunity to get to know their traditions and their history. They have taken us into their homes in which we have spoken in the most beautiful language, that of friendship and peace."None of the Cuban Five could have imagined that behind the cruel and unjust sentences we received would come all these waves of friendship and love; a great tsunami of solidarity that took its waters to five distant prisons, breaking the walls and clearing the path to a safe return home, which is where these waves of friendship and justice will take us."There are still a million things to say; for example the case of the Japanese woman who wrote me one day from Tokyo in Spanish saying that she was working on the translation of my book of poetry book From My Vantage Point. Then there's the girl from Turkey who sent me a photo and painting of her mother; the French students who consider me one of their classmates; the friend from Greece who, with her British father, always writes me. There's the letters from our internationalist doctors. Look, the list is never-ending and it's unfair not to mention everyone. It's something incredible and marvelous, something that gives us an invincible strength, like that of our already invincible people.

Chemistry Nobel Shuns Biofuels

Madrid, (Prensa Latina) The 1988 Chemistry Nobel Award winner, German Hartmut Michel, said that biofuels of vegetable origin are not a good choice to fight global warming.Michel told the Spanish daily El Pais that rather than preventing CO2 emissions, biofuels production boost deforestation.They foment rain forest burning in Indonesia, Malaysia and Africa, and in Brazil where soy bean plantations soar in the forest and their burning releases huge volumes of carbon dioxide.The scientist proposed annulling the EU bylaw that calls for 5.75 percent of fossil fuel vehicles to change to biofuels before 2010.He also said it was imperative to adopt renewable energy sources but warned that biofuels also issue CO2 since half their energy is of fossil origin..For instance, producing ethanol demands investing as much in fossil energy for fertilizers, transportation and alcohol distilling, so you end up issuing as much Co2 as with fueling a car with gas.Michel calls to trade biogas for solar energy since transforming biomass into biofuel is 0.15 to 0.3 percent efficient whereas photovoltaic cells are 15 to 20 percent efficient.

Chile: 11 de septiembre de 1973Por: Frida Modak fue Secretaria de Prensa del Presidente Allende.http://www.argenpress.info/nota.asp?num=047109&Parte=0,



humor ?José María Aznar cuestiona el socialismo siglo 21http://www.eluniverso.com/2007/09/13/0001/8/B0B939B0DB124C098FFCF5B94D1C6EE6.aspx,