Fidel Defends His People

Wouldn't it be terrific to vote for someone you actually had confidence in? Instead it will be the usual game of crossing fingers while holding noses to vote for the "lesser evil." At the risk of being accused of handing the election over to the repuglicans, here are some thoughts from Chairman Castro. It seems Obama's "change" doesn't really extend to Cuban policy or, more importantly, to the people who will receive the impact of these policies.
Castro calls Obama speech "formula for hunger"
Mon May 26, 2008 10:51am EDT
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Monday called Democrat Barack Obama the candidate most advanced on social issues running for U.S. president but said his speech on Cuba last week was a "formula for hunger."
In one of his periodic newspaper columns published in Communist Party newspaper Granma, Castro said he had "no personal rancor" toward Obama, but "if I defended him I would do a huge favor for his adversaries."
Obama, speaking before an influential Cuban-American group in Miami, said Cuba deprived its people of civil liberties and free elections, and vowed to maintain, with modifications, a 46-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the island.
Obama has called for lifting restrictions on travel to Cuba and the amount of money people in the United States can send to relatives in Cuba.
"Obama's speech can translate into a formula of hunger for the nation (Cuba), the remittances like alms and the visits to Cuba as propaganda for consumerism and the unsustainable lifestyle that he sustains.
"How is the very grave problem of the food crisis going to be confronted? Grains must be distributed among human beings, domestic animals and fish, which year by year are smaller and more scarce in the over-exploited seas," Castro said. "It's not easy to produce meat from gas and oil." [Don't cha wish you could be that smart when you're 81!]
"Obama overestimates the possibilities of technology in the struggle against climate change, although he is more conscious than (President George W.) Bush of the risks and the little time available," he said.
Obama "without doubt is, from the social and human point, the most advanced candidate" running for the U.S. presidency, Castro said. But he accused him of reviving the Monroe Doctrine, which stated in 1823 the United States would not permit European countries to further colonize or interfere in the Americas.
Last week, Castro blasted Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain in a newspaper column for their criticisms of the Cuban government. McCain, he said, showed why he finished near the bottom of his class in college.
Castro, 81 and not fully recovered from intestinal surgery in July 2006, took power in a 1959 revolution but stepped aside in February and was succeeded as president by his younger brother Raul Castro. He is still head of the Communist Party and said to be involved in governing.
(Reporting by Jeff Franks; editing by Jackie Frank)
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2633744220080526ters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2633744220080526 BTW--There is a very inspiring documentary called The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. Instead of freaking out about the coming crises, Cuba has already managed to restructure their gas guzzling ways to create sustainability. Here's the blurb from Ironweed: "After the Soviet Union collapsed and the U.S. tightened its embargo, Cubans suffered a ‘peak oil’ crisis. Their adaptation to this decline in petroleum offers a much-needed model for living sustainably on a finite earth." A good way to obtain it is from the monthly film club, Ironweed.org. Check it out!
http://www.ironweedfilms.com/films/past

Cuban American Exiles Celebrate CIA Terrorist

Luis Posada Carriles, a terror suspect abroad, enjoys a 'coming-out' in Miami
A dinner with 500 fellow Cuban exiles honors the militant and former CIA operative, now 80 and still wanted in Venezuela on terrorism charges.
By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, May 7, 2008
MIAMI -- [...] the man being honored by 500 fellow Cuban Americans at a sold-out gala was Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA operative wanted in Venezuela on terrorism charges and under a deportation order for illegally entering the United States three years ago.
Posada, 80, has mostly kept a low profile since his release from a Texas prison a year ago and a federal judge's dismissal of the only U.S. charges against him -- making false statements to immigration officials.
But recent events like the Friday dinner and an exhibition and sale of his paintings last fall show that the man who spent his life trying to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro has returned to the social forefront of this city's exile community.
"We are coming to the end of a terrible stage. The end of our struggle is near," Posada told the crowd of supporters in evening dress, referring to Castro's failing health.
Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, condemned the celebration of Posada as a mockery of justice and evidence of a Bush administration double standard in fighting terrorism.
"This is outrageous, particularly because he kept talking about violence," Alvarez said of Posada. "He said that the whole thing now is 'to sharpen our machetes' " for a confrontation with leftist regimes in Latin America.
The U.S. government has never given Venezuela a formal answer to its 3-year-old request for extradition of Posada, despite a treaty providing for such cooperation that has been in effect since 1922, the ambassador said.
Posada, a naturalized Venezuelan citizen, is alleged to have masterminded the bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 on which all 73 on board were killed, including a youth fencing team returning from a tournament in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. He is also suspected of plotting a series of hotel bombings in Havana in the late 1990s, one of which killed an Italian tourist.
He has boasted of his many attempts to kill Castro and has allegedly been involved in, according to court documents, "some of the most infamous events of 20th century Central American politics."
Posada was serving time in a Panama prison for a 2000 assassination attempt on Castro when outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso pardoned him and three accomplices in August 2004 in what some observers saw as a favor to President Bush to rally the Cuban-dominated Florida vote for his reelection.
[...] As Venezuela, Cuba and human rights groups clamored for Posada's extradition for trial on the plane-bombing charges, federal authorities here arrested him in May 2005 for illegal entry. A federal judge in Texas ordered him deported, but another judge prohibited his being sent to Venezuela, heeding claims by Posada's lawyers that he could face torture or execution there.
None of a half-dozen friendly countries contacted by the State Department would agree to take Posada.
[...] Analysts speculate that the U.S. government has dodged calls for prosecution of Posada for fear he would disclose details of CIA involvement in coups, assassination plots and scandals, including the Iran-Contra Affair.
Peter Kornbluh, head of the Cuba Documentation Project at George Washington University's National Security Archive, has compiled declassified CIA and FBI documents on Posada that show he remained in close touch with Washington handlers throughout his covert service.
"The spectacle of a wanted international terrorist being publicly feted as a hero in Miami makes a mockery of the Bush administration's commitment to wage a war on terrorism," he said of Posada's coming-out party.
Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) convened a congressional hearing in November on the administration's handling of the Posada case, arguing that there was "compelling evidence" implicating Posada in the plane bombing.
Delahunt said Tuesday that "there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm" under the current administration for prosecuting Posada, but that he would push again for legal action against Posada after the fall election. "To have Posada honored in such a way sends a terrible statement to the rest of the world," the congressman said of the tribute.
Posada, still under a supervision order with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, entered the banquet to a standing ovation, his face beaming and minus the scar from a 1990 attack by gunmen in Guatemala. […]
carol.williams@latimes.com http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-posada7-2008may07,0,1699509.story

Starved & Stupid In The USA

Here's news you won't get from BushCo's media:
UN praises Cuba's ability to feed people
By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer, Wed Nov 7, 12:14 AM ET
Jean Ziegler, who has been the United Nations' independent investigator on "the right to food" since 2000, spent 11 days in Cuba on a fact-finding mission, meeting with top officials and chatting up farmers, state managers and ordinary Cubans waiting in line for food allotted by ration cards.
"We haven't seen even one malnourished person" — a rare feat in much of poverty-stricken Latin America, Ziegler said Tuesday. "The right to being fed is the priority, without a doubt."
Cuba is one of 32 countries that include the "right to food" in their constitutions, and fewer still — including Brazil, Latin America's largest economy — meet pledges to provide food to all their citizens, he said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071107/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cuba_un_hunger_expert
Here is more information regarding basic "right to life" issues and Cuba:
The Anti-Empire Report -- Cuba and Original Sin
By WILLIAM BLUM
"Each day in the world 200 million children sleep in the streets. Not one of them is Cuban."
Carlos Lege, Cuban vice president.
...the sanctions (which Cuba calls an economic blockade), designed to create discontent toward the government, have been expanding under the Bush administration, both in number and in vindictiveness. ... the US Treasury has frozen the accounts in the United States of the Netherlands Caribbean Bank because it has an office in Cuba, and banned US firms and individuals from having any dealings with the Dutch bank.
The US Treasury Department fined the Alliance of Baptists $34,000, charging that certain of its members and parishioners of other churches had engaged in tourism during a visit to Cuba for religious purposes; i.e., they had spent money there. (As George W. once said: "U.S. law forbids Americans to travel to Cuba for pleasure."[7])
...Cubans in the United States are limited to how much money they can send to their families in Cuba, a limit that Washington imposes only on Cubans and on no other nationals. Not even during the worst moments of the Cold War was there a general limit to the amount of money that people in the US could send to relatives living in the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe.
In 1999, Cuba filed a suit against the United States for $181.1 billion in compensation for economic losses and loss of life during the first forty years of this aggression. The suit held Washington responsible for the death of 3,478 Cubans and the wounding and disabling of 2,099 others. In the eight years since, these figures have of course all increased.
...Cuba's sin, which the United States of America can not forgive, is to have created a society that can serve as a successful example of an alternative to the capitalist model, and, moreover, to have done so under the very nose of the United States. And despite all the hardships imposed on it by Washington, Cuba has indeed inspired countless peoples and governments all over the world.
http://members.aol.com/bblum6/aer51.htm
Citizen, just one more thing before I stop this rant. Go here for world literacy rates. We're #21:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate

Proud Vets of PO Box 1142

Interesting story about a WWII veterans who participated in a top-secret mission called P.O. Box 1142. Their job was to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war at Fort Hunt, but in this article they expressed dismay and disgust at BushCo’s interrogation tactics.

Fort Hunt's Quiet Men Break Silence on WWII
Interrogators Fought 'Battle of Wits'
By Petula Dvorak, Washington Post, Saturday,October 6, 2007

Several of the veterans, all men in their 80s and 90s, denounced the controversial techniques. And when the time came for them to accept honors from the Army's Freedom Team Salute, one veteran refused, citing his opposition to the war in Iraq and procedures that have been used at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

"During the many interrogations, I never laid hands on anyone," said George Frenkel, 87, of Kensington. "We extracted information in a battle of the wits. I'm proud to say I never compromised my humanity."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/05/AR2007100502492_2.html?hpid=topnews

¡Venceremos! Celebrate Che! Free the 5!

Everything's coming up Che in October!

Celebrate the Life of Che Guevara!

Saturday, October 6, Doors open @6:00 pm

310 W. 43rd Street (between 8th & 9th Ave.)
40 years after the murder of Ernesto Che Guevara under the orders of the US government, join a public conversation and discussion.
Featured Presentation: Speaker from the Cuban Mission to the U.N.
Short film presentation, Music and poetry inspired by Che.
Wheelchair accessible Sponsored by the July 26 Coalition

Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center

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Join the Fight to Free the Cuban Five!
¡¡NOCHE CUBANA WITH THE VENCEREMOS BRIGADE!!

Friday, October 19, 2007 @ 7PM-12AM

Unity Hall 235 w23rd St.(between 7th and 8th Avenues). Take the 1 train to w23rd St.

Suggested donation (no one will be turned away) - $10 comes with a plate of foodTo celebrate our 38th annual trip and in defeating the U.S. government's attempts to prevent us from going to see Cuba with our own eyes, Join us for our: ¡NOCHE CUBANA!
A Night of Good Food and Great Music (with DJ CARLITO!!)
Bring extra cash for our amazing Auction!!
Hear about our summer in Cuba, our 5th Travel Challenge, and how you can join the Brigade!!
Learn about the Cuban 5, the work to end the blockade and the Travel Ban!!
The Venceremos Brigade
For more information on the Brigade or Noche Cubana, please contact us at vbrigade@gmail.com or telephone: (212) 560-4360

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Che Events at the Brecht Forum
451 West Street, Between Bank and Bethune
A,C,E,1,2,3 to 14th Street, 212-242-4201/www.brechtforum.org

All events are suggested donation $6-$10

VIVA CHE! BEHIND & BEYOND THE ICON
Who Killed Che?
Thursday, October 25, 7:30 pm
Jane Franklin, Michael Smith & Leonard Weinglass

Our panel will lay out the specifics of what we know about the CIA's involvement in the murder of Che Guevara and trace the links between the CIA's actions and continuing attacks on the Cuban Revolution.

VIVA CHE! BEHIND & BEYOND THE ICON
Tuesday, October 30, 7:30 pm
Che's Legacy in Latin America Today
Joaquin Mauricio Chavez, Sujatha Fernandes, Forrest Hylton & Others TBA

When Che Guevara and his guerilla column left for Bolivia the idea was not to wage an armed revolutionary struggle in that country alone; rather, the project was seen as part of a cohesive strategy rooted at once in internationalism yet specific to the developing liberation movements then taking shape throughout Latin America.. This panel will examine what Che Guevara has meant to Latin America, and how his internationalist ideology has continued into the twenty-first century.

Che in Africa
Monday, November 05, 7:30 pm
Herb Boyd, Joan Gibbs, Joseph Harris, Rosemary Mealy & Others TBA

Not as well known as his activities in Latin America, Che's actions in Africa, which culminated in his personal participation in the Congo's Revolutionary War, forged lasting bonds between the Cuban Revolution and the Continent…. This panel will explore the major contributions of Che to the African Revolution and His legacy there. A legacy that continues to this day with the ongoing medical/humanitarian missions Cuba continues to undertake.

www.brechtforum.org