Usa Forum - Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Aug 17, 2006

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8/17/2006 9:47:00 PM

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Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Aug 17, 2006

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Progreso Weekly - Aug 17, 2006
http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Cuban_Radar&otherweek=...

Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Aug 17, 2006
A Service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau

* Chávez: 'The best visit'
* Declaration by Cuban Chapter, Network in Defense of Humanity
* South African lawmaker briefed on Cuban health programs
* More than 11,000 signatures support Cuban sovereignty

* Chávez: 'The best visit'

[To mark] Fidel Castro's birthday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
traveled to Havana on August 13 to celebrate the 80^th anniversary the man
he called his "brother Fidel". According to Granma, Cuba's official
newspaper, Chávez "shared with him more than three hours of emotional
exchange, anecdotes, laughs, photos, gifts, a light snack and the joy of an
intimate friendship," in the presence of Raúl Castro, who welcomed him at
Havana's International Airport. Chávez gave Fidel a cup from Bolívar's
Napoleon collection and a dagger which also belonged to the Liberator. For
his part, Raúl gave Chávez a portrait of Fidel painted in 1959 by famous
Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros.

"This is the best visit I have made in my life", said Chávez, who expressed
his amazement for the rapid recovery of the Cuban leader.

Photographs of the visit, which have made headlines all over the world,
show Fidel Castro in bed -- but smiling and looking well, to the
displeasure of his enemies.

* Declaration by Cuban Chapter, Network in Defense of Humanity

Organizations from Cuban civil society, members of the Cuban Chapter of the
Network in Defense of Humanity, issued a declaration in support of the
Cuban revolution and against plans for "assistance" and "transition" in
Cuba by the Bush administration. The declaration also accuses the U.S.
government of manipulating its own laws in order to keep in prison five
Cuban antiterrorist fighters who have been unjustly and illegally
imprisoned for eight years.

In the declaration, the institutions of the Cuban chapter also thanked the
many people from around the world who have sent messages of solidarity.

Cuban parliamentary commission rejects ruling of the Atlanta appeals court
The Cuban Parliament's Commission for Constitutional and Legal Issues
rejected the ruling by the Plenary of the Atlanta Appeals Court on August
9, 2006, against the Cuban Five imprisoned in the U.S. for combating
terrorism.

The declaration expresses outrage for the ruling that overturned a previous
one by a panel of three judges of the same Court, which had annulled a
Miami trial that sentenced Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Ramón
Labañino, René González and Antonio Guerrero.

The document again points to the political character of the case and the
U.S. government's arbitrariness, besides the violations of U.S. laws and
the Constitution, as well as of human rights.

It claims that the panel of three judges, whose combined experience came to
80 years, said in their 93-page decision that to conform a fair and
impartial jury in Miami was an unreasonable possibility, due to the
prejudice against Cuba in that community, an issue that the majority of the
judges did not take into account in the recent ruling.

The Cuban parliamentary commission also points out that a previous decision
by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions of the UN Human Rights
Commission was also ignored. The UN group found that the case of the Cuban
Five was illegal and violated legal proceedings.

Lastly, the document says that the International Demonstrations for the
Liberation of the Five Cuban Heroes, which will take place from September
12 to October 6, should assist in the increasing of the struggle in favor
of truth and justice for these patriots.

* South African lawmaker briefed on Cuban health programs

Vice President of South Africa's National Assembly Gwendoline Lindiwe
Mahlangu-Nkabinde was able to appreciate, during a recent visit to Havana,
the development of Cuban health programs in collaboration with other
countries.

The South African lawmaker was briefed on the evolution of Operation
Miracle, a project for the free treatment of eye diseases such as cataract
and others that cause blindness or poor eyesight.

Secretary of the Health Commission of Cuba's National Assembly of Popular
Power Diana Martínez explained to the visitor that with this program
eyesight has been restored, free of charge, to more than 300,000 people
from 26 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Martínez also explained how the Cuban health system works when dealing with
patients who are carriers of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or
infected with AIDS, a condition frequent among South Africans.

* More than 11,000 signatures support Cuban sovereignty

As we were finishing this week's "Cuban Radar", on Tuesday, August 16, more
than 11,000 persons had signed on to the declaration, "Cuba's Sovereignty
must be Respected", whereby artists and intellectuals from all over the
world are demanding that that the United Status respect the independence of
the country.

According to the Prensa Latina news agency, the signers reject George W.
Bush's stance after the announcement on July 31 that Cuban leader Fidel
Castro had temporarily ceded power to brother Raúl and six trusted
followers.

"We the signatories listed below demand that the government of the United
States respect the sovereignty of Cuba. We must prevent a new aggression at
all costs," reads the declaration signed by well-known intellectuals,
artists and writers.

It also denounces the fact that U.S. officials have declared that the time
has come for a democratic transition in Cuba, this coming after the
temporary cession of power by Fidel Castro.

It also recalls that previously the administration's Commission for the
Assistance to a Free Cuba, chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
had stresses the urgency of "guaranteeing that Castro's strategy of
succession is not successful," and that President George W. Bush had
approved a plan that includes secret measures against the island.

"It is not difficult to imagine the character of such measures and the
'announced assistance' if one considers the militarization of the foreign
policy of the present American administration and its performance in Iraq,"
says the text.

The initial signing by 400 intellectuals from 50 countries of the document
was presented at the Cuban capital a week ago by Casa de las Américas
president and member of the Council of State Roberto Fernández Retamar,
together with Belgian theologian Francois Houtart.

Among the signers are Nobel Prize winners José Saramago (Portugal), Nadine
Gordimer (South Africa), Dario Fo (Italy), Wole Soyinka (Nigeria), Desmond
Tutu (South Africa), Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala), Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
(Argentina), Zhores Alferov (Russia) and Harold Pinter (United Kingdom).

Also signing are actors such as Benicio del Toro and Jorge Perugorría;
writers Eduardo Galeano, Juan Gelman and Mario Benedetti; theologian Frei
Betto; journalist and editor Ignacio Ramonet; and Spanish-French musician
Manu Chao.

For the complete text of the declaration, and an update on the name and
number of signers, go to http://www.p...

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Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Aug 17, 2006

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