www.etaiwannews.com 2003-01-21 / Reuters / HAVANA

Cubans voted in one-party general elections on Sunday, with President Fidel Castro saying the election showed defiance against U.S. efforts to destroy the country's communist revolution.

Dissidents dismissed the poll as a fraud and urged people to boycott it, but authorities said that 7.4 million people, or 89.6 percent of registered voters, had cast their ballots by early afternoon.

The election is held every five years to choose 609 deputies to the National Assembly and 1,119 representatives to provincial assemblies.

Voters have no choice of candidates which are equal to the number of open seats. They can check a box for all the candidates, or vote for one or more of them, or none.

The father of Elian Gonzalez, a young boy who survived a shipwreck that killed his mother while trying to reach the United States and whose later return to Cuba ignited fury among many Cuban Americans, was among those on the slate. Others included a mix of well-known leaders and personalities, such as singer Silvio Rodriguez as well local officials.

Castro, dressed in his traditional military uniform, cast his ballot as voters chanted "Fidel, Fidel" in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, where he stood for re-election to the National Assembly.

"This is a response to the empire in its efforts to destroy the revolution," Castro said, referring to the United States.

Dissident Vladimiro Roca, who was released from prison last year after serving a five-year sentence for opposition activity, had a different view. "This is not an election because in an election you can choose between different options. Here the only option is to continue as we are ... this is one of Fidel Castro's many frauds," he told Reuters.

Like other members of Cuba's small and hounded dissident movement which Havana charges works for the United States, Roca called on voters to boycott the polls or spoil their ballots.

DISSIDENTS OBSERVE POLLS

Some dissidents went to polling stations to observe the vote count when they closed. Roca told Reuters he was allowed to observe, but another dissident, Martha Beatriz Roque, was turned away. Roque said some 200 dissidents participated in the action countrywide and a full report would be issued on Wednesday.

It is the first election since dissidents in May delivered 11,000 signatures to the government requesting a referendum on electoral reforms, the right to operate private businesses, more civil rights and amnesty for political prisoners.

Cuba's constitution requires petitions signed by more than 10,000 voters be considered for a referendum vote.

Asked in Santiago de Cuba why the government has not directly responded to the initiative, named the Varela Project after an 18th century priest and independence hero, Castro said it was not worth even discussing.

"Do you think in a country as serious, hard working and heroic as this we are going to pay attention to such foolishness," Castro said, charging that the project was invented by the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

The United States and Cuba do not have diplomatic relations but maintain interests sections in each other's capitals. Washington has maintained an economic embargo against Cuba for more than 40 years and worked to isolate the government.

Castro, 76, was expected to be sent back to parliament, which will elect the Council of State. That body designates the President of the Republic and Castro, in power for 44 years, is expected to be chosen for another five-year term.

Castro defended Cuba's electoral system to reporters, insisting that the country's only legal political organization, the Communist Party, had stayed out of the process.

Havana points to a traditional turnout of about 98 percent as proof of huge support for the government, while dissidents say it reflects voters' fears they will be ostracized if they do not participate.

Angela Ramirez, a housewife from Havana's La Lisa district, said she voted because it was her duty. "I support the system as the best possible. I would like more choice, but at least we are not in the situation Argentina or Venezuela is in," she said.

Other Cubans said they felt compelled to vote. "It may seem like you can vote or not, but if you don't you are marked, so it is in your interest to turn out," said Francisco, a taxi driver who cast his ballot in the Central Havana district.

sf.indymedia.org by Bolivarian Solidarity Network / copytrastor • Tuesday January 21, 2003 at 12:29 PM

Bolivarian Solidarity Network is presenting today its complaints about Lula's initiative of an International Group of Countries "friends of Venezuela" to help out finding a solution to Venezuelan crisis. Also they state that "We must be alert because the US government and the opposition are looking forward to create conditions to overthrow the Venezuelan government".

----- Original Message ----- From: Bolivarian Solidarity Network To: lasolidarity@topica.com Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2003 12:58 AM Subject: LASC: Venezuela in critical period.

Dear friends,

Under the advice of Lula (who promised to work everything out) Chavez decided to accept an "unfriendly" group of Venezuelan friends.

The government stated that the acceptance of this group of friends--United States, Mexico, Spain, Chile, Portugal, and Brazil--will be under the premise that these countries will state their support to the Venezuelan constitution and will openly express their rejection to the opposition attempts to overthrow Chavez's democratically elected government. It is not clear how the Venezuelan government is going to obtain these statements because the group is already formed, and there is not a special protocol to sign.

In an additional note, the government stated their desire to continue looking for friends elsewhere. We must remember that the United States and Spain recognized the dictatorship of Pedro Carmona after the April coup d'etat in Venezuela. Mexico kept an ambiguous position in April and recently called for not supporting the Chavez government because the opposition could consider it an intromission in Venezuelan internal affairs. Chile and Portugal have been critics of Chavez government in the international arena. We are not sure if Brazil is a friend now. Really!

The government also decided not to abandon the dialogue with the opposition for now, hoping that the presence of Jimmy Carter in Caracas will help the process. Although Chavez stated that: "We in the government ... are considering withdrawing our team from the negotiating table because those people (the opposition) are showing no sign that they really want to choose the democratic path."

The opposition is covertly calling for an increase of violent activities on the streets, the sabotage of the oil industry, and the electric system. The police have confiscated documents on this regard and people have visited TV stations to denounce the situation. They are also calling for the formation of "emergency-units" in wealthy and middle-class neighborhoods, and for the identification of government sympathizers in those areas in support of actions that are to take place by the end of the month. Pure Fascism and terrorism.

After his recent trip to the United States, Carlos Ortega, a top member of the CTV and the opposition also stated that they were not alone in this struggle (in a clear reference to the meeting they had with Otto Reich, people from the State Department, and with business people from the United States).

We must be alert because the US government and the opposition are looking forward to create conditions to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

Bolivarian Solidarity Network

The Latin American Solidarity Conference website can be found at www.lasolidarity.org

www.dailytimesofnigeria.com Emmanuel Majebi

The characteristics of people and their politics differ from place to place. The Prime Minister of Belgium for example rides a bicycle from his residence to work, but I am quite sure you would not recommend that for our own President here. You would not even expect the US President to be so careless as to ride a bike to work. Nor would you expect the British Prime Minister; in the light of the ever present threat from the I.R.A, to do such a careless thing. The amiable late General Murtala Muhammed tried to lay a good example for future Nigerian leaders, by being a simple zero - protocol head of state and he paid with his life. Even our own dear Uncle Bola Ige who chose to be a very simple Minister who shunned all protocol paid with his life. So under our own peculiar circumstances a Minister driving himself to work all alone might be suicidal.

Dr Utomi believes that we have a disconnected state where the leaders do not know what their people go through. I beg to disagree. In a poverty-stricken country like Nigeria, no person no matter how highly placed would not have one or two of his relatives who are living in penury and who keep pestering you for help. So to say that there are government officials who do not know what the majority of the people are going through would be putting things too far. I believe that the real problem is that even if one knows what the people are going through, there is virtually nothing he may be able to do. If for example a person is the Minister for Sports and Culture or a Legislator, what can he do about the roads to his village? So when I hear our people say that when a man was in power he did nothing for his people it is very clear that our understanding of governance is still very faulty. That is the very reason why every village would insist that one of it’s indigenes must be appointed into government. When most people say that their parts of the country have been marginalised, what they really mean in essence is that not enough people from that area have been appointed into government! The reasoning is that unless someone from your village is in power nothing would be done for your area! But in real sense governance is supposed to be a collective endeavour where the person holding power and even the governed decide on how the country should be run. This type of sophistication in governance is not something that can be achieved in 4 years but through constant practice of democratic principle and the agreement by majority of Nigerians; both leaders and the led that we should run the country in a better way. The theory that I always like to put across to people whenever they lay the entire blame for our backwardness on the doorsteps of office holders, is to remind them of the fact that a people would only get the type of government that they deserve. I honestly believe that our country is still the way it is because the majority of us have not yet decided that our country should be better. The day a large majority of us decide that our country should be better that is the day it would be better! And there after any leadership that comes to be in Nigeria would have no option but to follow the wishes of the people. In this regard I would like to tell Dr Utomi that the politicians know exactly what their people want, that is why they do what they do! A quick perusal of our past governments show that the governments like those of Gowon, IBB and Abacha that were very corrupt were the ones that had lasted longest. Others like those of Murtala and Buhari which sought to put things right were quickly terminated! If you want to test my theory just do a simple test. In your place of work or small community you just stand out and decide that you are going to fight for things to be done properly and according to laid down rule and see how unpopular you would be in the shortest time possible. You would be labelled with all sorts of names like radical, e.t.c and if you are too much of a pest with your crusades you would either be sacked, settled or eliminated. The truth of the matter is that Nigeria as a nation (I mean majority of us) are not yet ready for an honest leadership.

On Dr Utomi’s doomsday prediction that Nigeria is headed for the Sierra Leone experience, I say God forbid. Firstly for the umpteenth time, I would like to say that the Nigerian situation is different from that of other nations, Sierra Leone inclusive. Countries like Sierra Leone are so small that one man or a group of men can hold them to ransom. A few selfish leaders whose personal agendas have been truncated by their fellow oppressors instigate most wars in Africa. They quickly work people to a frenzy by either playing the religious or tribal joker which always get the masses on the run fighting for causes they know little or nothing about. Bu here in Nigeria, God has blessed us with a little more sophistication.

Concluded.

Majebi wrote in from Lagos.

Ever since Ojukwu led the Igbo nation, under the guise of emancipation, to a near Hara kiri and later cleverly fled to Abidjan with is family under the guise of going to seek for fresh foreign backing for the war efforts, whilst leaving the common Igbo man to face the wrath of the Federal troops with their bare hands and hungry stomachs, I think the masses of Nigeria have learn a bitter lesson. Anytime anyone comes to you telling you to go and start some war or fracas, be sure to tell him to let his own children or grand children lead the charge whilst you follow behind. The only part of Nigeria where leaders still seemingly have a hold on the psyche of their people is in the North where the selfish leaders always play the religious cards to get their people to commit atrocities on their behalf! And even in this part of Nigeria, they days of deciet would soon pass and the masses would come to understand that they are just being exploited under the guise of religion.

I pray that just as divine intervention in the form of a sudden increase in the price of Crude Oil foiled Utomi’s doomsday prediction on the economy, his prediction on us going the way of Sierra Leone would also go unfulfilled. The type of near misses we have recorded as a nation should tell us that God loves us and that He has a purpose for our nation and I honestly believe that a second civil war is not one of those purposes! The economies of many nations have gone through serious recession between year 2000 and year 2002 so I do not know why Utomi is making heavy weather of the fact that the economy is not doing well. Even the US economy has not been as strong as it used to be. The United States Dollar according to the CNN is suffering form a 3-year low against all the world’s major currencies. CNN also reported that a record 186 American companies in the year 2002 filed for bankruptcy with an estimated 4billion US dollars worth of investment in jeopardy! BBC TV reported that almost all the world’s major stock exchanges are yet to recover from the last 3years decline and that this year 2002, they suffered their lowest returns in those 3 years. The Asian economies are not doing any better The economy of Japan; a hitherto well renowned powerhouse of healthy economies, continued to suffer recession throughout 2002. In Europe many of the economic powerhouses like Germany and Britain have had a bad year. In Italy the car making giant, Fiat, is in trouble and they are at the verge of being taken over by American company GM Motors. In Britain, according to reports from BBC, over 25 billion Pounds Sterling was wiped out of the profits of Britain’s top companies in 2002. The Brazilian Economy was so bad that for the first time in decades Brazilians in a move of desperation elected into government, a leftist leaning government of Lula Da Silva’s Workers Party, with the hope that it would be able to turn round the economy. In Argentina the economy of the country totally collapsed and in the ensuring palaver Argentina had 5 Presidents in a space of 2 months!! The Nigerian economy, like most other parts of our national life had been taken to the cleaners under the recklessness of the last 3 military regimes that we have had in this country for about 15 good years, so with the strides we have made so far under the Obasanjo government inspite of the global decline in the world economy, I think that we heave not fared too badly.

In conclusion I would like to point out to Dr Utomi and others that feel like him that whilst we must agree with them that we could be doing better as a nation, we must not make the type of statements that make others outside Nigeria feel that our nation is about to go up in flames. We have not always had governments who are focused; sometime we get some that are relatively better and at other time we get down right useless governments. The people too have not yet developed to a stage where they would demand certain things from their governments, and to support any leader who can provide for such demands regardless of such said leader is from their village or the same religion with them. One of these days we are going to achieve that type of sophistication as a people and then we would have the type of leaders that we deserve! But the fact that we have not yet reached that state of political awareness that de-emphasizes religion, tribe and creed and we are still floundering on the way to development does not mean that we are a failed nation! I refuse to agree with such apocalyptic judgement.

EMMANUEL MAJEBI

LEGAL PRACTITIONER

N0 1 ODUNUGA STREET

OPEBI - IKEJA

www.guardian.co.uk Leader Monday January 20, 2003 The Guardian

As the long-running political crisis in Venezuela begins to have an ever-greater international impact, efforts to end a divisive general strike and get the country back to work continue to founder. Until this week, outside mediation intended to defuse the confrontation between President Hugo Chavez and his vociferous opponents has been led by Cesar Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organisation of American States. But Mr Gaviria has made no headway and has now been reinforced by a new group, to be known as the Friends of Venezuela, initiated by the new Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, and including Mexico, Chile, Spain, Portugal and the US. It is not yet clear what the "friends" may propose - but the problem is plain enough. Venezuela, losing $50m a day and moving ever closer to bankruptcy, escalating violence and possible civil war, cannot afford to allow the present situation to continue unresolved. The neighbours, and in particular the US, think so too.

Washington, unsurprisingly given its disproportionate wealth and power, has more to lose than most. Venezuela supplies about one-sixth of US oil imports or did so, at least, until managers at the state oil company joined the anti-Chavez rebellion at a cost to their country so far of $4bn. Non-emergency US crude stocks are now touching a 27-year low and pump prices are rising, just as its designs on Iraq threaten to disrupt Middle Eastern supply. For the US, the problem is increasingly strategic, not local.

Despite this growing sense of urgency and a clear US temptation to try to take charge, the damage caused by Washington's perceived backing for last year's abortive coup against Mr Chavez has taught it to tread warily. Last week, controversial Latin American policy chief Otto Reich was moved to a lesser position. The state department has meanwhile taken to emphasising the need for a "peaceful, constitutional, democratic and electoral" solution. Regional leader Brazil would in any case be likely to oppose any US attempt to force the pace and warns that "aiming for magic solutions could lead to more violent conflicts". Indeed, Mr da Silva is far from unsympathetic to Mr Chavez, and rightly so. While both have their flaws, both are elected presidents attempting to reform badly run countries, raise the poor and reverse decades of entrenched injustice. Pressure from special interests, from whatever quarter, should be resisted.

www.nytimes.com By LARRY ROHTER

ÔRTO ALEGRE, Brazil — When groups critical of globalization decided three years ago to organize a World Social Forum as an alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this seemed a logical place to gather. Brazil's Workers Party, one of the main sponsors of the event, was in power here and considered the state of Rio Grande do Sul an ideal showcase for its brand of "post-Marxist" democracy and social revolution.

Last October, the leader of the Workers Party, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was elected president of Brazil, and in that capacity he is scheduled to open the third World Social Forum here on Jan. 23. But in the same election, voters here in this prosperous state of 10.5 million people gave his party a drubbing, electing a governor who says he embraces globalization and will try to attract the multinational corporations that the Workers Party had shunned.

"We are seeking to form partnerships and to minimize confrontations," the new governor, Germano Rigotto of the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, said in a recent interview here in the state capital. "Radicalization and polarization are not the way for this state to grow more and attract new investments."

During the election campaign, Mr. Rigotto repeatedly criticized the Workers Party government led by Olívio Dutra for reneging on an agreement that would have brought a Ford Motor Company plant here and created thousands of jobs. The party objected to the tax breaks and other incentives offered to Ford.

"Not one cent of the taxpayers' money is going to go to those who don't need it," Mr. Dutra announced when he took office four years ago. "These funds are necessary for health, education and agriculture."

The Ford plant was eventually built in the state of Bahia, along with 17 other factories that supply glass, plastic, leather and other components for automobiles. Though David Stival, state president of the Workers Party, still defends the decision, saying "the contract was totally unfavorable and would not have resolved our social problems," the new state administration believes that voters have made it clear that they want a more vibrant private sector to reduce the state's social burden.

"Lula talks about Zero Hunger, and we agree with that," said Luiz Roberto Andrade Ponte, secretary of development and international affairs in the new state government, which took office on Jan. 1. "But we think the best way to combat hunger is creating jobs for people, through productive employment rather than a wage paid by the state."

The forum itself also seems to have played a role in the Workers Party's defeat. At the first session in 2001, the most prominent participant, received personally by Mr. Dutra and praised warmly, was José Bové, the French farmer and globalization opponent whose best-known exploit is vandalizing a McDonald's.

Mr. Bové had barely arrived here when he and members of the Landless Movement, associated with the most radical wing of the Workers Party, raided a Monsanto company experimental farm where genetically modified soybeans and corn were grown, destroying seeds and documents. He was later detained and expelled from Brazil, generating a protest by forum delegates who chanted, "We are all José Bové."

Since the state's interior is dominated by thousands of small farmers, the image of private property being destroyed did not sit well with landholders. But the affinity the Workers Party showed for Mr. Bové also rankled because he is one of the European Union's most outspoken supporters of restrictions on agricultural imports. Rio Grande do Sul is a major exporter of meat and grain that wants those barriers removed.

"It was a paradox that the populace was quick to perceive," said Carlos Sperotto, president of the state agricultural federation. "You had the Workers Party making common cause with the same guy who impedes the entry of our products in the French market, and that had a lot of impact."

The Workers Party has also been weakened by a corruption scandal linking a campaign fund-raiser close to Mr. Dutra with an illegal numbers game popular across Brazil. During an official parliamentary inquiry into that connection, a former party official testified that numbers game kingpins had donated $500,000 toward the purchase of the party's new headquarters here. But the inquiry's highlight was the playing of a tape on which the fund-raiser, claiming to speak for Mr. Dutra, could be heard urging the then chief of police to go easy on numbers runners.

"This sort of thing happens regularly in other parts of Brazil, but it had more impact here because this time the Workers Party was involved," said Celi Pinto, a professor of political science at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul here. "They had set themselves up as the guardians of morality, with a monopoly on virtue and ethics in politics, so it really hurt them."

In the end, though, Mr. Dutra's administration was considered so disastrous that he was unable even to win the Workers Party's primary vote last year. Instead, the nomination went to Tarso Genro, an admirer of the neo-Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramcsi and then the mayor of this city of 1.5 million, who lost to Mr. Rigotto by more than 300,000 votes.

But both Mr. Dutra and Mr. Genro quickly landed on their feet. They were appointed to highly visible cabinet posts in the new Workers Party national government, Mr. Dutra as minister of urban affairs and Mr. Genro as minister of economic and social development.

Mr. Rigotto said that despite the change of administration, he hopes that the forum will continue to meet here because it "projects Rio Grande do Sul throughout the whole world" and generates tourist revenue. "I think, though, they could be more pluralistic and open to more currents of thought," he added, "but it's the organizers who decide who to invite and what to discuss, not us."