Yahoo! July 5, 2001
U.S. Religious Group Lands in Cuba
HAVANA. 4 (AP) - A religious group opposed to the U.S. trade embargo against
Cuba arrived on the communist island Wednesday evening ahead of its delivery of
80 tons of humanitarian aid.
The Rev. Lucius Walker, founder of Pastors for Peace, said the 90 people in
his group - most of them Americans - planned on returning home with Cuban
products to demonstrate its opposition to U.S. restrictions on such imports.
The aid - including medical equipment, tools for bicycle repair, school
materials, computers, and food - left the Mexican port of Tampico on a
Havana-bound ship on Wednesday and is expected to arrive later this week.
The group that arrived in Havana aboard a commercial flight from Mexico on
Wednesday had accompanied the shipment in a caravan of buses across the U.S.
border into Mexico.
This is the 12th visit to Cuba by Walker, who founded Pastors for Peace in
1988 to deliver aid from Americans to the Cuban people.
Lawmakers Debate Economic Sanctions
By CAROLYN SKORNECK, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ban investment in Cuba, even as foreign competitors scoop
up big contracts. Punish foreign companies that do business with Iran and Libya.
Cut foreign aid from countries to cover their unpaid New York City parking
tickets.
Some members of Congress, while supporting multilateral economic sanctions,
say slapping unilateral sanctions on countries has gotten out of hand,
especially since these punishments often wind up hurting U.S. farmers and
manufacturers while failing to change a foreign country's behavior.
"Almost all sanctions are ineffective,'' said Sen. Richard Lugar (news
- bio - voting record), R-Ind., a senior member of the Foreign Relations
Committee. "Sanctions have been imposed as an inexpensive foreign policy.''
Sen. Pat Roberts (news - bio - voting record), R-Kan., likened them to "a
modern-day gunboat diplomacy'' without guns or boats. "We don't like what
you're doing, so we're going to put on a trade sanction or an embargo.''
But some lawmakers defend them with vigor, demonstrated by overwhelming
votes last month by a House committee to renew sanctions against Iran and Libya
for five more years.
Unilateral U.S. economic sanctions target more than 75 of the world's nearly
200 countries, says USA Engage, a coalition of business and farming interests
that oppose such sanctions. The coalition was formed in response to a burst of
26 new sanctions in 1996, many imposed by the new Republican majorities in
Congress. There are about 100 separate sanctions, according to USA Engage
figures.
The sanctions were prompted by such diverse concerns as nuclear
proliferation, terrorism, whaling and fishing practices, intellectual property
and labor rights, religious discrimination and human rights abuse.
Some targeted countries are obvious candidates: Afghanistan (news - web
sites), Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea (news - web sites), Sudan, Syria,
Vietnam and Yemen.
Others are not so obvious: Canada, Italy, Japan and Taiwan.
Although no new sanctions were imposed last year, critics of the system,
including Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), want an overhaul.
"I don't know of any embargo that's ever been successful other than
making people who put the embargo in place feel better,'' said Roberts, who is
still rankled by President Carter's 1980 grain embargo against the Soviet Union
after it invaded Afghanistan.
"Not one Russian troop ever left Afghanistan, and the effect of the
embargo was like shattered glass on the American agricultural economy,'' Roberts
said. "It took us a decade to get over that.''
Lugar hopes to pass a bill that, among other things, would require any
future sanction to have:
-A clear rationale provided by the president or Congress, whoever is seeking
it.
-A sunset date so the government must take action to continue it,
eliminating perpetual sanctions that outlive the reason they were instituted.
-A cost-benefit analysis to ensure it's worthwhile.
Lugar and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del.,
say the bill should be broad to avoid political tripwires that accompany any
attempt to adjust sanctions on a single country such as Cuba.
But they won't tilt again at the sanctions windmill unless the Bush
administration will push the bill, since previous efforts failed for lack of
cheerleading by the Clinton administration.
Powell has already implored lawmakers not to create new sanctions. His
department is assessing what sanctions changes are needed.
The House International Relations Committee recently rebuffed Powell's plea
to renew sanctions against Iran and Libya for just two years, instead of five,
to give him more leeway. The 34-9 vote against the two-year limit was preceded
by emotional debate.
America's "arrogant, authoritarian approach ... encourages and
stimulates the radicalism that we find around the world, because they feel like
we have no openness to their position,'' contended Rep. Ron Paul (news - bio -
voting record), R-Texas, pushing the two-year limit.
"Is it arrogant to sanction Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites)?'' Rep.
Gary Ackerman (news - bio - voting record), D-N.Y., cried out. "Should we
have had a dialogue with him? He killed 170 people. (Libyan leader Moammar)
Gadhafi killed 270 people!'' on Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988 over
Lockerbie, Scotland.
The five-year sanction renewal was approved 41-3.
Such sanctions, said Dan O'Flaherty of USA Engage, rely on "the belief
that the United States has the economic leverage to change other countries'
policies without going to war, without costing us very much,'' but "there
is virtually nothing that a country like Iran needs that it can't get from our
competitors.''
Incremental changes in sanctions have already begun, as many rock-ribbed
Republicans chip away at the once sacrosanct Cuban embargo.
Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., sponsor of last year's successful bill
allowing sales of U.S. agricultural products and medicines to Cuba, said he was
surprised to find himself fighting the embargo, but did so to help American
farmers.
Multilateral sanctions are another approach, but can require
hard-to-negotiate agreements, as the U.N. Security Council found regarding Iraq.
For example, a Russian veto threat prevented reworking of U.N. sanctions against
Iraq on Tuesday.
On the Net:
Senate offices: http://www.senate.gov
House offices: http://www.house.gov
USA Engage: http://www.usaengage.org
Fox Sports Net Presents 'Juego De Pelota' - 'Play Ball'
Tuesday July 3, 3:02 pm Eastern Time. Press Release.
Oakland Rattlers Play Ball with Cuba. Five-Part Series, 30-Minute Special
Follows Youth Baseball Team to Havana. Premieres Monday, July 9 on "Bay
Area Sports Report''
SAN FRANCISCO--(BW SportsWire)--July 3 2001-- Fox Sports Net will present "Juego
de Pelota'' ('Play ball'), a five-part series debuting Monday, July 9 on "Bay
Area Sports Report'' (10:00 PM). This project allows Northern California viewers
to follow a local prep baseball team to the Communist country of Cuba for a rare
opportunity to play its Junior National Team.
The series will run the week of July 9-13, and will be shown as a half-hour
special Tuesday, July 17 at 7:00 PM. "Juego de Pelota'' is produced and
reported by Emmy-Award winner J.D. Pruess.
The Oakland Rattlers are a AAU all-star team made up of 20 of the best 16
year olds in the East Bay. Last fall, the team was chosen from a group of 60
teams nationwide to travel to Cuba for a goodwill series of games versus that
nation's best players. The four-game series was played last week (June 25-28).
"Juego de Pelota'' will follow the team from its first practice in
March to the final out in Havana. Series synopsis:
Part One (Monday, July 9)
The series starts off with an introduction of the team and its coach, Eddie
Abram. Abram once negotiated the largest contract in sports history when he was
the agent of Raghib Ismail. Now he volunteers his time for this eclectic group
of baseball players. J.D. Pruess will follow the team on the long trip to the
Caribbean and watch the team prepare for its big battle.
Part Two (Tuesday, July 10)
The Rattlers take to the field against Team Cuba in Game One and get a solid
effort from Twins Rafael and Juan Mendoza (Skyline and Fremont H.S.) We look at
growing up in the cities of Oakland and Havana playing baseball and see how life
compares.
Part Three (Wednesday, July 11)
Before visiting the Sports School of Havana, Game Two sees the Rattlers
shackled by Cuban pitcher Pedro Jubiel. J.D. Pruess discusses with Pedro what it
means to play for the Cuban national team. Pruess sits down with Livan Hernandez
to discuss his jump to American freedom and see how Livan is thought of back in
his native land.
Part Four (Thursday, July 12)
Playing in a foreign land, the Rattlers' frustrations boil over in Game
Three as a near-forfeit is called. Off the field, the Rattlers shake off a tough
loss with an immersion into Cuban culture and friendliness with a visit to Old
Havana. We will also see how the parents who made the journey view the
experience.
Part Five (Friday, July 13)
The Rattlers say goodbye to Cuba with their strongest showing of the series.
Game Four is a back-and-forth battle that mirrors the political relationship the
two countries have had over the past 42 years. Players from both sides discuss
how the series may have aided future dealings with one another and how the event
changed their lives.
J.D. Pruess is a frequent contributor to Fox Sports Net's "Bay Area
Sports Report'' as a reporter and producer. He has worked for Fox Sports Net for
the past two years, most recently serving as senior producer and feature
reporter for "Stanford Sports Magazine.'' Pruess recently traveled to
Europe for Fox Sports Net for the three-part series "Strangers in a Strange
Land,'' which was shot in Croatia, Germany and Italy. He has won two "Best
Sports Segment'' Emmys, both in the Northern California competition, in 1999 and
2000.
Fox Sports Net reaches more than 73 million households nationwide and is a
service of National Sports Partners, equally owned by Cablevision's Rainbow
Media Holdings, Inc., and Fox Entertainment Group. Fox Sports Net Bay Area is a
service of Rainbow Sports Networks, a division of Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc.
Rainbow Sports Networks incorporates Rainbow's 50% ownership of Fox Sports Net
and Fox Sports National Advertising and the ownership and management of 5
regional networks affiliated with Fox Sports Net -- Chicago, Florida, New
England, Ohio and San Francisco.
Contact:
Fox Sports Net
Jay dela Cruz, 415/296-8900
J.D. Pruess,
510/967-5487 | 
