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CUBA
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US scolds Venezuela's Chavez on Cuba,
recall
WASHINGTON, 9 (AFP) - The White House scolded
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez over his
chummy ties to Cuban leader Fidel Castro
and his efforts to block a recall drive
mounted by his political foes.
"There are roles that Venezuela has
played that have not been very helpful,"
Condoleezza Rice, US President George W.
Bush's national security adviser, said in
a briefing ahead of next week's Summit of
the Americas in Mexico.
Rice cited tensions between Venezuela and
neighboring Colombia as well as Chavez's
good relations with Castro, who has outlasted
successive US presidents for four decades
despite pressure from Washington on his
regime.
"It is beyond me to understand why
anybody who believes in democracy or wants
people to believe that they believe in democracy
would want to have anything in that regard
to do with Fidel Castro, because that's
the one truly undemocratic regime in the
region," Rice told reporters.
She also called on Chavez to abandon efforts
to block a vote on cutting short his term
after opposition leaders filed paperwork
containing 3.4 million signatures gathered
to support such a referendum.
"The best thing that President Chavez
could do at this point is to demonstrate
that he believes in a democratic future
for Venezuela by carrying out the wishes
of his people in this regard," said
Rice.
She added that the United States was "working
very closely" with the Organization
of American States and non-governmental
organizations that are "trying to ensure
that this process goes off without interference."
Bush is due to meet the leaders of Mexico,
Chile, Brazil, Canada, Argentina and Bolivia
-- but not Chavez -- during the January
12-13 gathering in the city of Monterrey.
After five years in office, Chavez, a 49-year-old
former lieutenant colonel, has faced down
general strikes -- one in 2001, and the
other between late 2002 and early 2003 --
and survived a 47-hour civilian-military
coup in mid-April 2002.
He has warned Washington not to intervene
in the recall campaign and supporters have
claimed that the US Central Intelligence
Agency has been trying to topple the Chavez
government.
Venezuela is the third-largest exporter
of oil to the United States and the only
South American member of the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Chavez and his allies also claimed that
Washington was involved in a failed April
2002 coup d'etat that swept the president
from office for two days.
Washington at first refused to condemn
the coup against the elected president,
then later did so.
Cuba Defends Diplomat Expelled From
U.S.
HAVANA, 8 (AP) - Cuba's top diplomat for
North America on Thursday defended a diplomat
recently expelled from the United States
and rejected U.S. officials' accusations
that he had associated with criminal elements.
The expulsion of Roberto Socorro Garcia,
a third secretary at the Cuban mission in
Washington, was carried out last month without
announcement.
U.S. officials said last week that Socorro
was expelled for associating with criminal
elements but didn't elaborate further. But
one news report said he had been linked
to drug trafficking.
"The Foreign Ministry totally rejects
and categorically denies that comrade Roberto
Socorro Garcia has associated with people
or activities related to drug trafficking
in the United States," Rafael Dausa
Cespedes, the ministry's director for North
America, said in a statement published in
the Communist Party newspaper Granma and
other Cuban media.
Dausa further denied that Soccoro had "undertaken
activities that were damaging to the American
government or that violated his diplomat
status."
Dausa mentioned no retaliatory measures,
and U.S. officials cited in the earlier
reports on the expulsion at the time said
no such measures had been announced.
Jimmy Rankin in Cuba to shoot music
videos
Fri Jan 9, 1:43 PM ET
(CP) - Singer Jimmy Rankin is in Cuba shooting
two music videos in support of his new album
Handmade.
The Cape Breton native, along with a crew
from the Toronto-based production company
Blink Pictures, arrived Thursday to film
scenes in Havana for videos to accompany
the upcoming rootsy-rock songs Butterfly
and California Dreamer. Both videos are
being directed by Blink's Margaret Malandruccolo,
who has worked with Dwight Yoakam (news),
Molly Johnson (news) and the Ennis Sisters.
The songs follow the release of Rankin's
top 10 radio hit Morning Bound Train from
Handmade, his second solo album.
Rankin, who got his start singing with
the Rankin Family, is up for six East Coast
Music Awards next month.
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