Lider maximo - Havana Tuesday Jan. 30, 2007
zed | 31.01.2007 11:07
Cuba's President Fidel Castro talks with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in Havana January 29, 2007. State television showed Castro for the first time in three months on Tuesday and the ailing Cuban leader said he was still in the fight to recover from surgery that forced him to relinquish power last July. Picture taken January 29, 2007
Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez in Havana January 29, 2007
HAVANA - Emerging from months of seclusion, Cuban President Fidel Castro has appeared on television in apparent good spirits, telling his Venezuelan counterpart his recovery from surgery was "far from being a lost battle."
Castro, 80, stood for part of the meeting with his Venezuelan friend and ally Hugo Chavez. He seemed far healthier than he did the last time such footage was broadcast by Cuban television three months ago.
The video raises new speculation over Castro's fate and leadership over the communist-ruled island six months after he underwent intestinal surgery and handed over power "provisionally" to his brother Raul.
"This is far from being a lost battle," said Castro, clad in a red, blue and white track suit the colors of Cuba's flag.
Chavez, wearing his trademark red shirt, responded: "it is not, nor will it be a lost battle."
The ailing Cuban leader spoke slowly and softly and sipped orange juice during the meeting, which state-run television said lasted two hours and took place in Havana on Monday.
Castro recalled his fall during a public event in October 2004, when he hurt his right shoulder and his left knee.
"I had a fall, I hadn't finished recovering, and then the other one came," he said in apparent reference to his surgery.
"One after the other," the veteran revolutionary leader added.
The footage, which lasts just under six minutes, showed the two presidents sharing a bear hug, which Chavez said reflected the feelings of "the millions" who admire the Cuban president.
Chavez, a former paratrooper, greeted the smiling Castro with a crisp military salute and hailed him as "the Caesar of dignity."
The firebrand Venezuelan leader said the two discussed a variety of topics, ranging from the environment to "the threats of the (US) empire against the world."
He said Castro was in good spirits, looked well and spoke "with much clarity, as always, in his ideas."
Chavez's brother Adan, Venezuela's education minister and the former ambassador to Havana, also appeared briefly chatting with the Cuban leader.
The two presidents concluded their meeting by saying, one after the other: "We will triumph. Fatherland, socialism or death."
It was the sixth time authorities released video footage of Castro since he underwent intestinal surgery on July 27, 2006.
Following the operation, Castro announced in a July 31 statement that he "provisionally" handed over authority to his younger brother Raul, 75, Cuba's defense minister and longtime number two.
Cuban television said the younger Castro saw Chavez off on Tuesday and broadcast a photograph of the two.
Communist authorities in this one-party state say Fidel Castro is recovering steadily, but have given scant details about his condition.
Castro, who has survived several assassination attempts in his 48 years in power, said a few days after surgery that his condition had to remain a "state secret."
Such secrecy is crucial for the communist government, which insists that ever since Castro toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Cuba has been under constant threat from the United States.
The secrecy however has also fueled rumors and speculation.
US authorities suggested earlier this month that Castro has cancer and may have only days to live, while Spain's El Pais daily said recently he had suffered intestinal hemorrhaging and a severe infection caused by inflammation of the large intestine.
In Washington, the US administration said the television footage did not alter its policy on Cuba.
"Our position has not changed. We are for a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, told AFP.
A number of people interviewed in Havana expressed relief at finally getting some news of Castro, the only president most Cubans have ever known.
"The Comandante will be here for a while," said Jose Diaz, 27, after watching the television broadcast.
"He is recovering well. He looks much better," he said.
Regla Falcon was visibly moved as she watched the footage in her home in Havana's historic old town.
"We were waiting for these images, to know he is well," she said.
Castro, 80, stood for part of the meeting with his Venezuelan friend and ally Hugo Chavez. He seemed far healthier than he did the last time such footage was broadcast by Cuban television three months ago.
The video raises new speculation over Castro's fate and leadership over the communist-ruled island six months after he underwent intestinal surgery and handed over power "provisionally" to his brother Raul.
"This is far from being a lost battle," said Castro, clad in a red, blue and white track suit the colors of Cuba's flag.
Chavez, wearing his trademark red shirt, responded: "it is not, nor will it be a lost battle."
The ailing Cuban leader spoke slowly and softly and sipped orange juice during the meeting, which state-run television said lasted two hours and took place in Havana on Monday.
Castro recalled his fall during a public event in October 2004, when he hurt his right shoulder and his left knee.
"I had a fall, I hadn't finished recovering, and then the other one came," he said in apparent reference to his surgery.
"One after the other," the veteran revolutionary leader added.
The footage, which lasts just under six minutes, showed the two presidents sharing a bear hug, which Chavez said reflected the feelings of "the millions" who admire the Cuban president.
Chavez, a former paratrooper, greeted the smiling Castro with a crisp military salute and hailed him as "the Caesar of dignity."
The firebrand Venezuelan leader said the two discussed a variety of topics, ranging from the environment to "the threats of the (US) empire against the world."
He said Castro was in good spirits, looked well and spoke "with much clarity, as always, in his ideas."
Chavez's brother Adan, Venezuela's education minister and the former ambassador to Havana, also appeared briefly chatting with the Cuban leader.
The two presidents concluded their meeting by saying, one after the other: "We will triumph. Fatherland, socialism or death."
It was the sixth time authorities released video footage of Castro since he underwent intestinal surgery on July 27, 2006.
Following the operation, Castro announced in a July 31 statement that he "provisionally" handed over authority to his younger brother Raul, 75, Cuba's defense minister and longtime number two.
Cuban television said the younger Castro saw Chavez off on Tuesday and broadcast a photograph of the two.
Communist authorities in this one-party state say Fidel Castro is recovering steadily, but have given scant details about his condition.
Castro, who has survived several assassination attempts in his 48 years in power, said a few days after surgery that his condition had to remain a "state secret."
Such secrecy is crucial for the communist government, which insists that ever since Castro toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, Cuba has been under constant threat from the United States.
The secrecy however has also fueled rumors and speculation.
US authorities suggested earlier this month that Castro has cancer and may have only days to live, while Spain's El Pais daily said recently he had suffered intestinal hemorrhaging and a severe infection caused by inflammation of the large intestine.
In Washington, the US administration said the television footage did not alter its policy on Cuba.
"Our position has not changed. We are for a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council, told AFP.
A number of people interviewed in Havana expressed relief at finally getting some news of Castro, the only president most Cubans have ever known.
"The Comandante will be here for a while," said Jose Diaz, 27, after watching the television broadcast.
"He is recovering well. He looks much better," he said.
Regla Falcon was visibly moved as she watched the footage in her home in Havana's historic old town.
"We were waiting for these images, to know he is well," she said.
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Washington and Miami’s Preferred Terrorist...
31.01.2007 17:28
Gloria La Riva
2007-01-20
How is the surrender of huge weapons caches supposed to lighten someone’s sentence?
This is the case with Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat, who by any dictionary’s definition, are terrorists. The evidence against them? Machine guns, C-4 explosives, dynamite, grenade launchers, recorded statements calling for a nightclub full of people to be bombed, admissions of plots to assassinate the Cuban president, etc.
Yet, now the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami has arranged the surrender of Alvarez’s weapons caches in order to lessen his prison sentence. That sentence is already a pitiful slap on the wrist, four years for Alvarez, three for Mitat, for the one weapons charge they were allowed to plead guilty to in November.
The last time I heard, Miami was a city in the United States. The last time I heard, there are United States laws against launching armed actions against a country with whom the United States is not at war with. Yet, Alvarez’s and Mitat’s lawyers state openly that their clients’ aim was “always” to overthrow Fidel Castro.
The situation in Miami is becoming more and more bizarre, but it is not a funny kind of bizarre. This is terrorism we are talking about.
Alvarez will get a lesser sentence but the “Cuban Five,” men who were working in Miami to stop the terrorists, are unjustly serving 15 years to double life in U.S. federal prison.
The unfolding revelations of the terrorists’ activities in Miami—and the influence they wield over Miami institutions—proves more and more that the Cuban Five could never have hoped to receive a fair trial in Miami. From day one, every aspect of the U.S. government’s prosecution of these five men, their arrest, trial and sentencing, was politically motivated.
It is apparent that the U.S. government’s objective in the Cuban Five’s prosecution was to tie the hands of these anti-terrorists. At the same time it looked the other way while terrorists like Alvarez and Mitat amassed weapons and hatched assassination plots.
The terrorist bands must feel that Miami is the perfect refuge for their kind. After all, it is where Alvarez and crew smuggled Posada in. Don’t forget Posada’s three accomplices in the Panama terrorist plot. They flew into Miami hours after their ignominous pardon in August 2004.
Has the FBI or U.S. Attorney’s office ever considered prosecuting those three terrorists? There is certainly enough evidence against Guillermo Novo Sampol, Pedro Remón and Gaspar Jiménez for their terrorist crimes committed on U.S. soil. And their plot to try to assassinate Fidel Castro in Panama, definitely qualifies as a violation of the Neutrality Act.
But the FBI interviewed the three terrorists upon their Miami arrival and let them go.
On Jan. 15, Alvarez and Mitat were indicted for refusing to testify to a grand jury in El Paso about their role in smuggling Posada into the United States in March of 2005.
And the U.S. Attorney is going to lessen their sentence? What is going on here?
It is clear that the U.S. officials’ orientation in coddling the Miami terrorists comes directly from the White House. George Bush has failed to utter one word denouncing or acknowledging Luis Posada Carriles’ presence in the United States or his terrorist history.
Bush’s attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, has yet to declare Posada a terrorist. By his inaction Gonzales may be giving the ultimate green light to Posada. The immigration judge has set Feb. 1 for the U.S. government to declare Posada the terrorist that he is, or he could very well be freed.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continues to ignore Venezuela’s extradition request of Posada for his leading role in bombing the Cubana airliner in 1976 and killing 73 people.
The absolute impunity with which the anti-Cuba Miami terrorists operate, and the complicity of the U.S. government in protecting them, demands an outside independent investigation. Investigation and prosecution of the terrorists are what is needed, not symbolic sentences.
In the meantime, supporters of the Cuban Five continue to fight for their freedom.
To learn about the campaign and their appeals:
Gloria La Riva
Cell: 415-312-6042
Coordinator, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
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Other websites related with Cuba:
Videos:
- "Misión contra el terror", acerca de los Cinco héroes cubanos prisioneros en cárceles del imperio:
- "El infierno de Guantánamo, territorio usurpado":
- "Comandante" de Oliver Stone:
- "Looking for Fidel", de Oliver Stone:
- Video corto sobre el desfile del 2 de Diciembre 2006:
- Video ICAIC "Antes del 59":
- "Momentos con Fidel":
- "La Solidaridad Internacional":
- "Che Guevara, donde nunca jamás se lo imaginan":
- "Desafío", sobre el bloqueo a Cuba:
- "Operación Milagro en Venezuela":
- "Cuba, caminos de revolución":
- "Entre el arte y la cultura":
- "Una isla en la corriente":
- "Los años que estremecieron al mundo":
- "Dí que NO", Hoyo Colorao:
- "La guerra contra Cuba":
- "Sistema migratorio, Ricardo Alarcón":
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