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June 12, 2002.
Castro calls out hundreds of thousands for march in support of Cuba's
socialist state
Wed Jun 12, 9:27 Am Et . By Anita Snow, Associated Press
Writer
HAVANA - Protesting President Bush's policies toward his country and defying
calls for democratic reforms his one-party system, Fidel Castro led hundreds of
thousands of people in support of a constitutional amendment declaring Cuba's
socialist state "untouchable."
Surrounded by security men and other top communist leaders, the Cuban leader
who will celebrate his 76th birthday in August started out with a slow, but firm
step down the Malecon coastal boulevard. He walked for about a mile, about the
distance he usually does in such events, before leaving the march.
Wearing his traditional olive green uniform and cap and the black high-top
athletic style shoes he now favors, Castro waved a small red, white and blue
Cuban flag as the sea of people marched toward the U.S. Interests Section, the
American mission.
"Come on, comrades! Everyone will participate in the great march
against the lies of Mr. W!" an unidentified man with a megaphone said in a
reference to U.S. President Bush. "Come on, comrades! In support of the
constitutional amendment!"
The Havana event coincided with related marches around the island involving
several million of the nation's 11 million citizens, the government said. Castro
said earlier 1 million people — about half of the capital's population —
were expected to participate in Havana alone.
State television, which carried the Havana march live, also showed images of
large marches in the eastern provincial capitals of Holguin and Santiago.
Castro called for a massive march here and in cities across the island to
support the amendment, announced one month after a group of activists submitted
a proposed referendum for deep reforms in the socialist system.
The proposed constitutional amendment declaring Cuba's socialist system to
be "untouchable," and the mobilization, appear to be Castro's response
to the Varela Project, the proposed reform referendum.
Organizers submitted more than 11,000 signatures to Cuba's National Assembly
on May 10, demanding a referendum asking voters if they favor civil liberties
such as freedom of speech and assembly, the right to own a business, electoral
reform and amnesty for political prisoners.
Most Cubans first heard of Project Varela in mid-May when former President
Jimmy Carter mentioned it in his live and uncensored television address to the
Cuban people.
The march organizers called on all Cubans to support changes proposed by the
Varela Project "to achieve respect for fundamental rights" on the
island.
Castro has said nothing publicly about Project Varela.
In comments to international media, several communist officials have accused
project organizers of being on the U.S. government payroll. They also have
described what they say are legal and technical problems with the demands,
indicating the project has little chance of success.
The top leadership of Cuba's popular organizations, which form the pillars
supporting Cuba's one-party system, unanimously agreed Monday to ask the
National Assembly to consider approving the proposed amendment.
The proposal asks lawmakers to ratify that "Cuba is a socialist state
of workers, independent and sovereign, organized with all and for the good of
all, as a unified and democratic republic, for the enjoyment of political
liberty, social justice, individual and collective well-being, and human
solidarity."
The march and proposal come after President Bush's May 20 address
reiterating his promise not to ease up on Cuba trade or travel restrictions
until the communist country undertakes deep reforms.
Cuba leads off poor countries in demanding access to markets as a way to
curb hunger
Tue Jun 11, 1:34 Pm Et . By Nicole Winfield, Associated
Press Writer
ROME - Led by Cuba, developing countries demanded greater access to
international markets and an end to export subsidies Tuesday, saying fairer free
trade was the only way to end world hunger.
On the second day of the U.N. World Food Summit, leaders of the world's
poorest countries called on the United States, European Union and other
exporting nations to give poor farmers a competing chance to sell their wares.
"We are poor. You are rich. Level the playing field!" said
Teofisto Guingona, foreign minister of the Philippines.
"Do not impose subsidies for exports. Do not dump products that kill
our farmers and fisherfolks," he said. "Do not in the name of free
trade deny us time to integrate our resources, and having integrated them deny
us access to your rich markets."
Many poor countries say the current international trade framework leaves
farmers in the developing world unable to compete with subsidized crops from
richer countries.
The issue of freer markets has dominated the four-day summit, which is
designed to accelerate efforts to meet U.N. targets of reducing the number of
the world's hungry from 800 million to 400 million by 2015.
Leaders adopted a resolution Monday promising to work harder to meet the
goal — and to develop in two years a voluntary set of guidelines
recognizing the right to food for the world's 6 billion people.
The United States, which had opposed recognition of that right in the past,
may register a reservation to the final document or may not sign, human rights
groups say.
The European Union pushed for the summit to consider food a human right.
Several EU leaders also acknowledged that high export subsidies — among
them in the EU — were part of the world's hunger problem.
Italy's agriculture minister, Gianni Alemanno, said the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization, which is hosting the summit, should play a balancing
role to the Wolrd Trade Organization.
"FAO must be strong and credible ... to avoid that the processes of
globalization be dominated only by a purely commercial logic devoid of an ethic
of solidarity," he said.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque went further, saying hunger would
never end as long as wealthy countries controlled an economic system that he
alleged deprives 800 million people of their daily bread.
"The root causes of such genocide is the global imposition by an
opulent and privileged majority of a system of international economic relations
that proves increasingly unjust and marginalizing, and which in fact is
unsustainable," Perez Roque said.
Perez Roque didn't mention the United States specifically in his remarks,
directing his comments more to wealthy countries in general and the plight of
the world's poor.
In an interview with Associated Press Television, however, he said recent
allegations by U.S. officials that Cuba was trying to develop biological weapons
were an excuse to justify a hardening of the U.S. embargo on the island.
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said last month he believes Cuba is
trying to develop biological weapons and is transferring its technical expertise
to countries hostile to the United States. U.S. officials later said the
administration believes Cuba has the capabilities but not necessarily the
weapons.
Perez Roque said the allegations were "absolutely false" and "have
as an objective justifying a hardening of the policy against Cuba, justifying a
hardening of the blockade."
Man Accused Of Spying For Cuba Faces Deportation
The attorney for a man accused of being a Cuban spy is expected to hold a
press conference this afternoon.
The lawyer defending Juan Emilio Aboy will speak out about charges brought
against him by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the INS's
intention to ship Aboy back to Cuba.
Bill West, chief of the national security section of the Miami INS, says
that the FBI linked Aboy to the Wasp Network, a Miami-based Cuban intelligence
ring that operated in the 1990s and was dismantled by the FBI in 1998. All
members of the ring were sent to prison.
West says that Aboy was implicated by physical evidence and surveillance and
the testimony of other members of the Wasp Network. According to the FBI and the
INS, Aboy was in South Florida to infiltrate Southern Command, the U.S. military
headquarters for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Aboy, 41, has been a commercial diver and Miami resident for seven years and
lived at 11800 S.W. 26 Terrace near Westchester. After a yearlong investigation,
FBI agents arrested Aboy in the quiet west Miami-Dade neighborhood in May 2002.
The INS says that four other Cuban spys have been deported in the way in
which they intend to deport Aboy. Those deported are Gilermo Samper in 1994,
Jorge Luis Rodriguez in 1996, and Olga Salanueva in 2000. The INS has not
released any information on a fourth person who was deported.
Regarding the accused spies, John Bulger, acting INS chief said, "Do
not come to this country and commit crimes, do not commit acts of terrorism and
do not engage in espionage. You will be arrested, prosecuted and deported."
Aboy's initial appearance before an immigration judge will be June 20 at the
Krome Detention Center. Prosecutors will not pursue espionage conviction. Aboy's
case will be handled as an immigration violation.
A 1999 immigration ruling permits the deportation of noncitizens who fail to
register as foreign agents but who are shown to be working for foreign
intelligence, even if they were never convicted.
Castro Holds March for Socialism
Wed Jun 12, 9:28 Am Et . By Anita Snow, Associated Press
Writer
HAVANA (AP) - Protesting President Bush's policies toward his country and
defying calls for democratic reforms his one-party system, Fidel Castro led
hundreds of thousands of people in support of a constitutional amendment
declaring Cuba's socialist state "untouchable."
Surrounded by security men and other top communist leaders, the Cuban leader
who will celebrate his 76th birthday in August started out with a slow, but firm
step down the Malecon coastal boulevard. He walked for about a mile, about the
distance he usually does in such events, before leaving the march.
Wearing his traditional olive green uniform and cap and the black high-top
athletic style shoes he now favors, Castro waved a small red, white and blue
Cuban flag as the sea of people marched toward the U.S. Interests Section, the
American mission.
"Come on, comrades! Everyone will participate in the great march
against the lies of Mr. W!" an unidentified man with a megaphone said in a
reference to U.S. President Bush. "Come on, comrades! In support of the
constitutional amendment!"
The Havana event coincided with related marches around the island involving
several million of the nation's 11 million citizens, the government said. Castro
said earlier 1 million people — about half of the capital's population —
were expected to participate in Havana alone.
State television, which carried the Havana march live, also showed images of
large marches in the eastern provincial capitals of Holguin and Santiago.
Castro called for a massive march here and in cities across the island to
support the amendment, announced one month after a group of activists submitted
a proposed referendum for deep reforms in the socialist system.
The proposed constitutional amendment declaring Cuba's socialist system to
be "untouchable," and the mobilization, appear to be Castro's response
to the Varela Project, the proposed reform referendum.
Organizers submitted more than 11,000 signatures to Cuba's National Assembly
on May 10, demanding a referendum asking voters if they favor civil liberties
such as freedom of speech and assembly, the right to own a business, electoral
reform and amnesty for political prisoners.
Most Cubans first heard of Project Varela in mid-May when former President
Jimmy Carter mentioned it in his live and uncensored television address to the
Cuban people.
The march organizers called on all Cubans to support changes proposed by the
Varela Project "to achieve respect for fundamental rights" on the
island.
Castro has said nothing publicly about Project Varela.
In comments to international media, several communist officials have accused
project organizers of being on the U.S. government payroll. They also have
described what they say are legal and technical problems with the demands,
indicating the project has little chance of success.
The top leadership of Cuba's popular organizations, which form the pillars
supporting Cuba's one-party system, unanimously agreed Monday to ask the
National Assembly to consider approving the proposed amendment.
The proposal asks lawmakers to ratify that "Cuba is a socialist state
of workers, independent and sovereign, organized with all and for the good of
all, as a unified and democratic republic, for the enjoyment of political
liberty, social justice, individual and collective well-being, and human
solidarity."
The march and proposal come after President Bush's May 20 address
reiterating his promise not to ease up on Cuba trade or travel restrictions
until the communist country undertakes deep reforms. | 
