Cuban Lawyers Condemn US Unfair Treatment of Cuban Five Relatives
SANTA CLARA, Cuba, June 3 (acn)
Jurists from the central Cuban province of Villa Clara condemned on Tuesday the unjust denial by the US government of the rights of relatives of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters held in US jails to visit them in prison.. Adriana Pérez and Olga Salanueva have waited for more than 8 years for the US administration to grant them permission to visit their imprisoned husbands, Gerardo Hernández and René González, respectively.The workers of Villa Clara’s Provincial Court, in order to back their disagreement with the inhumane restriction, have begun to collect signatures, a process that is carried out among the members of the Cuban Union of Jurists throughout the country. The vice-president of the organization in the province, Alfredo Cabrera, told ACN news agency that the process should conclude on July 21. The signatures will be included in a book and will be sent to the US Attorney General, in order to demand the rights of the Five and their relatives to be respected. Also receiving a copy of the book will be the UN Secretary General and the UN Human Rights Council, where the issue will be debated once again, he added.
Lo peor es que si todo sigue como hasta hoy, la situación se hará aún más grave
Intervención del Jefe de la Delegación Cubana, compañero José Ramón Machado Ventura, en la Conferencia de Alto Nivel sobre la "Seguridad Alimentaria Mundial: Los Desafíos del Cambio Climático y la Bioenergía. Medidas requeridas para obtener la seguridad alimentaria mundial"
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2008/06/04/cubamundo/artic01.html,
Key Address by Cuba's First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura To the High Level Conference on World Food Security, Rome, Italy http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/noticias/junio08/3junio/cuba5.htm,
FAO Official Praises Cuba’s Contribution to Summit on Food Security
HAVANA, Cuba, June 3 (acn) The Deputy General Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Modibo T. Traore, recognized on Monday Cuba’s contribution to a summit of this organization that begins on Tuesday in Rome, Italy.Speaking to Cuban reporters accredited for the High Level Conference on World Food Security that runs until next Thursday in the Italian capital under the slogan ‘The Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-Energy’, Traore expressed his satisfaction for the Cuban contribution to the topics of this summit and for the high level of its delegation.“We are living in a situation in which food prices continue soaring and that is why it is important that world leaders meet to discuss the issue and to find solutions,” he said.According to Granma news daily, Traore, who is also FAO’s representative to Africa, said he was optimistic about a consensus on the Final Declaration of the event and added that human solidarity should prevail in this moment.Cuba is participating in the summit with a delegation headed by First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura.The opening session of the event includes speeches by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and FAO General Director Jacques Diouf.Participants will also listen to a message from Pope Benedict XVI.
Cuba: Rich Countries are Accountable for World Crisis
HAVANA, Cuba, June 3 (acn) Cuba stressed in Rome today that hunger and malnutrition are the consequences of an international world order that maintains and deepens poverty, inequalities and injustice. In his statements at the World Summit on Food Security, Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura criticized developed countries for their responsibility in today’s food crisis, which have imposed a commercial liberalization among unequal actors. As a result of financial recipes based on structural adjustments, developed countries caused the bankruptcy of many small producers in the South and they turned countries that used to be self-sustainable, into importers of food said Machado Ventura, PL news reported. The Cuban First Vice President, who heads the island´s delegation to thethree-day summit underway at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO), said that the crisis can be successfully addressed at its very roots. Machado Ventura explained that the situation can not be countered with palliative measures or with symbolic donations, which would neither meetthe actual needs nor result into sustainable actions. Rich nations have enough resources to reconstruct and boost agricultural production in the South, though political will is what is needed, saidthe Cuban First Vice President. If NATO's military spending in a year would be reduced by 10 percent, itwould translate into 100 billion dollars that could be used to condone the foreign debt of South countries, which dedicate 345 billion dollars annually to pay their debt, Machado Ventura pointed out. He also recalled that an extra 130 billion dollars would be available each year if the so-called First World honoured its commitment to allocate 0,7 percent of its Gross Domestic Product for Official Assistance for Development. The Cuban First Vice President explained that 12 years ago, FAO established the goal of reducing the number of malnourished people to a half by 2015, an objective that now seems an illusion. Likewise, during its 2006 Summit in Havana, the Non-Aligned Movement called for the setting up of a peaceful and prosperous world and a fair and equitable world order, he recalled. Machado Ventura stressed that at Cuba’s initiative, the phrase stating that access to food is an inalienable human right has been confirmed since 1997 by consecutive resolutions adopted by the former UN Human Rights Commission. He concluded his statement by quoting Cuban Revolution Leader FidelCastro in his speech at the UN General Assembly in 1997, when he said: “bombs may kill the hungry, the sick and the ignorant, but they can not kill hunger, disease and ignorance”.
ALIMENTACIÓN-CUBA:
Respuestas con prisma local
Por Patricia Grogg
SAN JOSÉ DE LAS LAJAS, Cuba, jun (IPS) - Las soluciones al agudo déficit en la producción de alimentos en Cuba podrían encontrarse en experiencias locales, cuyo éxito muestra cómo es posible sacar frutos a la tierra sin depender de los costosos insumos que sostenía al sector agropecuario hasta fines de los años 80. http://www.ipsnoticias.net/nota.asp?idnews=88637,
IV Conferencia Internacional del Arroz
En Cuba todos comen
http://www.cubahora.co.cu/index.php?tpl=principal/ver-noticias/ver-not_ptda.tpl.html&newsid_obj_id=1025923,
Cuba Upgrades Teaching Method
HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 3 (acn) Cuba is upgrading the technological support for the teaching method "Yo Si Puedo" (Yes, I Can), which has helped over three million people from 28 countries learn how to read and write.Rolando Portela, adviser of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute vice rector' office, told Prensa Latina that a method is being developed to use the literacy program in the media. "Yo Si Puedo," available in 14 languages including indigenous languages such as "Quechua" and "Aymara," is being adapted to television, information technology, as well as VHS and DVD video supports.
Changes in Cuba?
Salim Lamrani provides an alternative to the western media's reporting on recent changes in Cuba
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/news.asp?ItemID=1326,
Cuba and Dominican Republic Sign Trade Agreement at Expocaribe Fair
HAVANA, Cuba, June 3 (acn) Cuba and the Dominican Republic signed on Monday an agreement that includes joint actions to promote bilateral trade and investment during the second day of the 15th Expocaribe International Trade Fair that is underway in eastern Santiago de Cuba City with the participation of 187 firms from 28 countries.The document was signed by the president of Cuba’s Chamber of Commerce, Raul Becerra, and by Eddy Martinez, executive director of the Export and Investment Center (CEI-RD) of the neighboring Caribbean nation.The accord includes the organization of business delegations between both countries as well as Cuba’s participation in trade fairs in the Dominican Republic.According to experts, this will facilitate the promotion of business opportunities and contacts among businesspeople, which would result in a significant increase of bilateral trade in the next few years.Currently, the Dominican Republic exports fertilizers to Cuba while it receives products from the Cuban steel industry.The CEI-RD executive director expressed his interest in increasing exchanges in fields such as medicine, biotechnology and tourism
Should a U.S. President Meet with Hugo Chavez or Raul Castro?
By Roger F. Noriega Latin America Advisor
Roger F. Noriega was asked to respond to the following question:US presidential candidate Barack Obama's stated willingness to meet with leaders of hostile nations has generated quite a bit of controversy and debate. How effective would such a policy be in the Americas? Would meetings with leaders like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Cuba's Raul Castro help or hurt US interests?Visiting Fellow Roger F. Noriega My suspicion is that Senator Barack Obama's commitment to meet unconditionally with the United States' worst enemies was a gaffe that has morphed into a doctrine. Unfortunately, his gambit to present himself as fresh and bold may merely prove him to be naive and careless. In the case of Raul Castro, we're talking about a changeling dictator who is trying to consolidate himself in power against the rising expectations among the Cuban people for real change. At this sensitive time, even the promise of such an encounter is all Raul Castro would need to legitimize himself and demoralize his opponents. Even if "President Obama" were to give Raul a withering lecture, the mere chance to "give as good as he gets" with a US president would do more to consign 11 million Cubans to years more in tyranny than any other single factor. I don't think for a second that Senator Obama would want this result, but that would be the result of his not thinking for a second before repeating his careless pledge. To treat Chavez as a worthy interlocutor--at the same time that Obama is disrespecting a stalwart US ally, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, by dumping on a trade agreement he hasn't even read--is a very silly way for a new president to introduce himself to the region. There are literally dozens of responsible leaders in the Americas who deserve presidential attention--and they've received it from President Bush, who has met with more of his counterparts from the region than any president in US history.Roger F. Noriega is a visiting fellow at AEI. His law and advocacy firm, Tew Cardenas, LLP, represents U.S. and foreign governments and companies.
http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.28087/pub_detail.asp,
Posada Carriles: la Corte convoca a las partes… ¡después de un año!
Jean-Guy Allard 2008-06-03
La Corte de Apelación de la Nueva Orleans ha convocado las partes en la causa migratoria del terrorista Luis Posada Carriles a presentar sus respectivas argumentaciones mañana miércoles, a partir de las 9:00 am (hora local). Según la convocatoria, cada parte dispondrá de 20 minutos para convencer a los jueces Carolyn D. King, Patrick E. Higginbotham y Leslie H. Southwick de la validez de sus alegaciones.En el instante de la comparecencia, habrá pasado exactamente un año desde que los ejecutantes de este verdadero complot para salvar a un terrorista, el Fiscal tejano Michael Mullaney y los Fiscales federales John F. De Pue, John W. Van Lonkhuyzen y Paul Ahern presentaron su solicitud de apelación, el 5 de junio de 2007, después de la liberación de Posada por la jueza Kathleen Cardone.Cómplice de las maniobras dilatorias de la Administración Bush, los abogados de la Sección antiterrorista del Departamento de Justicia de los Estados Unidos, en Washington, habían presentado sus argumentos al último minuto del último plazo otorgado por la Corte de Apelación de la Nueva Orleans, 150 días después de manifestar esta intención.Resultado de esta estrategia criminal desarrollada por funcionarios que pretenden proteger su país del terrorismo, Posada y su pandilla de Miami han tenido meses para montar eventos en los cuales el connotado torturador, asesino y terrorista ha intentado rehacerse una imagen. La Corte de Apelaciones del Quinto Circuito en Nueva Orleáns (Louisiana) precisa en su convocatoria que la audiencia tendra lugar en la Sala 223 de su sede, el Edificio John Minor Wisdom United, 600 Camp Street. Dos otras causas serán objeto de audiencias en este mismo día. Mientras el ministerio publico consagra una pagina de su documento de apelación a resumir la carrera terrorista de Posada Carriles, citando la explosión en pleno vuelo de una avión de Cubana con la muerte de 73 personas en 1976, los atentados de La Habana de 1997 y el complot de Panamá para asesinar al Presidente de Cuba, en el 2000, el Gobierno de los Estado Unidos se niega a reconocer a Posada como terrorista, y a aplicarle las leyes vigentes o a extraditarlo a Venezuela que lo reclama de manera sostenida desde su arresto en el 2004. La audiencia ocurre mientras circulan en Miami rumores según las cuales la Casa Blanca estaría a punto de ordenar un indulto en el caso del terrorista internacional. De manera escandalosa, Posada es defendido en este caso por los abogados mafiosos Arturo Hernandez, Felipe Millan y Rhonda Anderson, pagados por fondos occultos, reunidos por el terrorista Santiago Álvarez Fernández-Magriña con el total apoyo de los capos del Cuban Liberty Council así cómo de los congresistas cubanoamericanos, encabezados por Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Encarcelado en un lugar indeterminado de la Florida, Santiago Álvarez se beneficia de una reducción de sentencia obtenida gracias a la cooperación servil del jefe de la Seccion de Intereses norteamericana en La Habana, Michael Parmly, quién consintió a prestar servicios de "mula" para trasmitir al juez en el caso una carta firmada por vendepatria afiliados a sus servicios.
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