Washington admits denying visas to 64 Cuban academics

WASHINGTON, October 7.—The George W. Bush administration admitted today that it has denied visas to 64 Cuban university professors who were invited to an academic event in the United States, because it viewed them as loyal to the island’s revolutionary process, PL reports.

Responding to reporters’ questions, State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher acknowledged the refusal, stating that their visit would be contrary to the interests of the U.S. government.

The fact is that the Cuban professors are government employees and are traveling as state officials, Boucher continued, in an attempt to justify the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the island, instrumented by Washington to destroy its Revolution.

According to Boucher, his government thought it inappropriate for the Cuban professors to give lectures and spread their party line, a somewhat contradictory statement for an administration that claims to defend the freedom of ideas and expression.

He conditioned the concession of visas to Cuban academics to their expressing opposition to the socialist system in Cuba supported by the island’s population.

Last week, Felipe Pérez Roque, minister of foreign affairs, exposed the case of the 64 social scientists, who were scheduled to take part in a conference of the Association of Latin American Studies (ALAS) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"In other words, they are preventing our scientists, a large Cuban delegation that was invited to participate in the ALAS October event," Pérez Roque stated, after the presentation in Havana of his country’s report to the UN Secretary General on the need to put an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

During the same press conference, Culture Minister Abel Prieto affirmed that a great fear of the exchange of ideas is perceptible among the U.S. authorities.

From May 2003 and April of this year alone, 53 representatives of Cuban cultural institutions and 215 of the island’s artists have been denied visas, in many cases quoting Article 212-F, alleging that they constitute a danger to U.S. interests and national security.

BAGHDAD, October 8 (PL).— At least 11 people died and another 17 were injured when U.S. planes bombed a wedding today in the Iraqi city of Falluja, reported Al Arabiya.

The bridegroom was killed during the attack and the bride was wounded, whilst another nine women suffered injuries, as did several children, according to hospital sources quoted by the Arab television network.

In this context, the U.S. central military command admitted that it had carried out more than a dozen fighter plane attacks on this city, located to the west of Baghdad and with a majority Sunni population.

The attacks – according to local medical records – have costs the lives of hundreds of civilians, mostly women, children and elderly people.

According to high-ranking coalition officials, these punishment attacks on Falluja respond to a plan by the invaders to destroy alleged hideouts of the followers of Jordanian Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi.

For some time now, Al Zaqawi has claimed responsibility for various attacks on the Pentagon forces and criticized the submissive policy of the Iraqi interim government and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

A few months ago, the U.S. Air Force opened fire on another wedding causing more than a dozen deaths and injuries.

THE first biography of Che written in Hebrew: Che Guevara, the life of a revolutionary, is currently a best seller in Israel, coinciding with the anniversary of his death.

The book, written by Argentine-Israeli historian and journalist Efraim Davidi, has increased Che’s popularity with the youth of that country, while paradoxically its government, is one of only two – Micronesia being the other – to have consistently supported the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

Since 1963, when Che visited Palestinian refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, his image has never been as popular in this region as it is today, confirmed correspondent Shlomo Slutky from the Clarin digital edition.

A combatant may die but not his ideas, Fidel Castro affirmed some years ago, referring to Che Guevara. On this same occasion, he expressed that not all periods and not all circumstances require the same methods and the same tactics, but that no one can halt the course of history.

This October 8 -9, 2004 is the 37th anniversary in Bolivia of the capture and assassination of the "little condottiero" as Che referred to himself in a farewell letter written to his parents before setting off for the Bolivian peaks.

The fact that he never ceased acting what he preached, or demanded more of others than he demanded of himself, resonates today more than ever among those struggling for a better world. Now more than ever, Che travels the paths of the world with Rocinante’s ribs below his heels and his shield on his arm.

Three decades have gone by since Cuban President Fidel Castro wrote in the preface to his comrade in arms’ Bolivian Campaign Diary: "very few times in history, if ever, has a figure, a name, an example become so universal with such celerity and passionate strength. It is that Che embodies in its purest and most selfless manner the internationalist spirit that characterizes the world of today and increasingly, the world of tomorrow. "

At the end of 1966, with polished determination and artistic joy, Che embarked on the mission that took him to Bolivia, leading a group of 52 guerrillas including Bolivians, Cubans and Peruvians, the intention of which was to extend the socialist revolution to all of South America. After 11 months, at midday on Sunday, October 8, Che was surrounded in La Quebrada de el Jhuro, where an unequal combat resulted in his capture by Bolivian soldiers, with an wound in his right calf and his M-3 carbine destroyed by a bullet. That same day he was taken to La Higuera, where 24 hours later a soldier assassinated him by firing several machinegun rounds into his body.

THE popular Cuban presenter and actress Consuelo Vidal died yesterday in the capital at the age of 74, after being hospitalized for a number of months with a serious heart disorder.

The mother of singer-songwriter Amaury Pérez, Consuelito – as she was known since the 1950s when she made her debut on Cuban television – played a leading role in memorable programs, serials and soap operas in that media, including "Detras de la fachada" (Behind the Facade) and "Julito el pescador" (Julito the Fisherman).

She also rose to fame in the island’s movie sector, with the films Los pájaros tirándole a la escopeta (Birds Flying at the Shotgun, prize for best female actress at the 2^nd Bogotá Film Biennial, Colombia, 1984) and Reina y Rey (Queen and King, best actress in the French Amiens Festival, and the Cartagena de la Indias, Festival, Colombia, 1994).

A series of recent events have occurred in connection with the so-called Plan Puebla-Panama (PPP initiative for Central America: the Colombian government has expressed an interest in participating in it either as an observer or as an extra-regional associate, and the Central American Economic Integration Bank (CABEI), with its headquarters in Tegucigalpa, has announced that it is to be the institution in charge of administering the funds for this mega-project.

But Rigoberta Manchú, the indigenous Guatemalan leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner overshadowed both those pieces of news, by linking the massacre of a group of farmers from her country with the usurpation of their land for the PPP.

Designed in 2001 by the current Mexican president, Vicente Fox (with the approval of the US administration, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund), Plan Puebla-Panama is expected to come on line by 2005. However, the countdown has already begun for the rural communities of nine states extending from southeast Mexico to Guatemala and areas of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The PPP will affect a total of 64 million people residing in these territories.

The Guatemalan Revolutionary National Unity (URNG) and other NGOs have added their voices to Menchú’s protests. According to the Mayan-Quiche activist, the eviction at the Nueva Linda farm illustrates "the illusion of the PPP." Out of approximately 2,000 indigenous peoples settled in Realhuleu, the zone of reference, seven were killed and 47 suffered various degrees of injury as a result of police brutality

"These mega-projects intensify the repression demanded by landlords and elites with extraordinarily strong interests; this is the kind of crisis that the illusion of the PPP provokes," assured Menchú in Mexico, where the Autonomous University of Puebla awarded her an honorary degree.

Congress member Alba Estela Maldonado of the URNG pointed out that it is crucial to make a thorough investigation of these events, which have aroused suspicions given that they occurred in an area strategic for its proximity to the Mexican border, Prensa Latina reported. Maldonado believes that there is a project to build a road in the area where the Nueva Linda farm is located, as one of many projects designed by the PPP.

When these statements were made public, approximately 27 workers and farmers organizations agreed to propose a project for an alternative nation, excluding initiatives such as the PPP that favor multinational interests.

According to La Jornada, this is a truly popular movement denouncing the enforcement of neoliberal models with the PPP at the head.

In a broad sense, PPP advocates justify the implementation of the plan with the promise that it will generate employment and funds through more efficient trade or tourism. To date, there are 69 variations on how to implement the plan within the eight initiatives. Among them, the most remarkable projects are a highway system, electric and telecommunication interconnections, and a controversial Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

This is precisely one of the most questionable aspects since, even if this territory only amounts to 0.5% of the world, it possesses an invaluable 7% biodiversity and important water resources: 1,797 mammals, 4,135 birds, 1,882 reptiles, 944 amphibians, 1,132 fish species and 75,861 different plants.

The World Bank (WB) itself, a key PPP sponsor, recognizes the importance of this area for the pharmaceutical industry and as a large-scale reservoir for genes. In addition, PPP critics in Mexico warn that 90% of Mexican oil extraction is located in the limits of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Yucatan.

Extremely interested in the development of the Biological Corridor, the WB has invested approximately $19 million between last year and 2004. Mexico will have to be "interconnected" with Guatemala and Belize through the perimeter of El Petén selva. This interconnection requires the construction of roads, which native NGOs oppose, fearing that they will harm the balance of their ecosystem.