Granma International

AN international event dedicated to the release of the five Cubans fulfilling unjust sentences in U.S. prisons began Sunday, March 30 with the simultaneous participation of organizations from 25 countries, among them Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Belgium.

During the week, convened by the Argentine committee for the release of the five Cubans, diverse activities are taking place until April 7 originally intended to back the appeal to be filed on that day before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

In Brussels, the campaign began with a two-hour protest on the steps of the Stock Exchange, given that police refused permission to protest outside the U.S. embassy.

Some 100 protesters met at the central building with a large Cuban flag and placards demanding the liberation of the Five, rejecting the U.S. policy of terrorism and war and exhorting Latin American resistance to imperialism.

As part of the protest, committee members also collected signatures and handed out leaflets to passersby informing them on the irregularities in the trial of Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, René González, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González.

The activities are also publicizing the case in order to fight the campaign of silence by the major media, setting up discussion groups and meetings, etc.

The committees to free the Five are also organizing an exhibition of photos and posters related to the lives of these young men, detained in 1998 and sentenced in December 2001 after a rigged trial in Miami, to severe prison terms ranging from 15 years to two life sentences.

Participants are sending letters to the UN Human Rights Commission denouncing the conditions of solitary confinement to which these men are currently being subjected.

They plan to show videos of the case and of violations committed by the U.S. authorities during the legal proceedings. Likewise, press conferences, radio and television programs are planned as a way to circulate information related to their case.

The two books written by Gerardo Hernández and Antonio Guerrero are to be launched and a web page with updated information on the Five.

SOLIDARITY FROM THE U.S. PEOPLE

Gloria La Riva announced in San Francisco that thousands of U.S. citizens, as well as those of other nationalities, are to mobilize in the city of Atlanta in early April to express their solidarity with these Cubans unjustly imprisoned in the United States for fighting against Miami mafia terrorism.

She highlighted that in the days previous to April 7, thousands of people will congregate in the state capital of Georgia in reaffirmation of the demand that they be released.

La Riva explained that in the United States, one of April’s most important tasks in support of the Five is to initiate the campaign to circulate information -via e-mail- in the southeast of the country where a considerable number of Cubans live.

She also noted that the U.S. press has remained silent about the case, without even revealing that due to a high-level order from the Bush administration they have been locked up in solitary confinement in each of the prisons where they are currently held; hellish places of physical and psychological torture.

She added that they have absolutely no contact with their families or letters, nor can they listen to the radio, watch television or read the newspapers. Their cell space has been reduced to the minimum with “the purpose of humiliating, demoralizing and forcing them to give in.”

“They are in sub-human conditions,” she added, “and national and international standards of prison treatment are being violated.

Dr. Corey Winstein, a doctor by profession and co-founder of the California Prison Focus, a non-profit organization working with over 2,700 persons held in solitary confinement in that state, told a Radio Havana Cuba journalist that the treatment of the Five is routine in U.S. prisons.

That practice, which violates prisoners’ rights, Weinstein stated, has a number of psychological effects on its victims. They can fall into a deep depression or even into a state of temporary insanity.

In the case of the five Cubans, he clarified, their profound awareness of who they are and what their mission is, will help them to understand why they are there and thus overcome the situation with the passing of time. (FCA)

Newsletters GI                        

The Australian From correspondents in New York April 01, 2003

OIL prices gushed higher overnight, fuelled by fears of a bloody, drawn-out war in Iraq and fresh reports of unrest in major oil exporter Nigeria. New York's benchmark light sweet crude contract for May delivery advanced 88 cents to $US31.04 a barrel.

The price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for May delivery rose 81 cents to $US27.16 a barrel.

"The market is up on constant war talk. There is a pretty high level of concern," said AG Edwards market analyst Bill O'Grady.

But there had been no major attacks by Iraq on its neighbours, and no large terrorist attack, he added.

"It leads me to believe ... Gulf oil production is pretty safe right now," O'Grady said. "What the market is missing is that from the oil point of view there is really not a whole lot more risk."

The White House said it saw no evidence to date that the United States needed to tap its strategic petroleum reserve to offset supply disruptions stemming from the war against Iraq.

"There is no change in the status of the strategic petroleum reserve. It remains an issue that gets reviewed on a regular basis to determine whether or not a severe supply disruption has occurred," said spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"We have seen no evidence to date of a severe supply disruption, nevertheless the experts continue to monitor it," he told reporters.

Traders were trying to sift through the reams of war news to work out how the campaign in Iraq was really progressing, said GNI trader Robert Laughlin in London.

"The interest is very much . . . in terms of the propaganda machine over the weekend, as the Americans still say the war effort is being successful despite the fact there appears to be a mini-ceasefire," he said.

Ethnic unrest in Nigeria, which has reduced the country's oil exports by more than a third, was further fuelling concern, analysts said.

Political thugs attacked an opposition rally in Nigeria's troubled Niger Delta at the weekend, driving activists into a river and hacking them with machetes, an eye-witness said in Lagos.

Nigeria is due to go to the polls for general elections on April 12 and for presidential and state gubernatorial votes on April 19, the first test of the country's fragile democracy since the 1999 return of civil rule.

Over the past two weeks a violent uprising by ethnic Ijaw militants in the western Delta, south and west of the city of Warri, has led to scores of killings and crippled the region's oil industry.

"The market is up because people are still worried about the situation in Nigeria, where there was more violence over the weekend," said Deutsche Bank analyst Adam Sieminski in London.

"It means that the 800,000 barrels a day of production that was lost last week is still out, in contrast to statements on Friday and Saturday suggesting that a compromise between ethnic groups and the government had been reached," he added.

For the moment, there were few real concerns about supplies, but more bad news could send prices soaring, Sieminski said.

"There is still enough oil coming from Saudi Arabia and even Venezuela to keep the market supplied, but with Iraq out and the conflict in Nigeria still continuing, the market is tightly balanced, and if anything else should go on, we would see higher prices," he said.

By Anwar Iqbal UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

     WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell Monday described the United States as a leader in a world "marching toward democracy and respect for human rights."

     Amnesty International, however, said there's a "widening gap between America's words and action."      Powell, who released the State Department Human Rights Report for 2002, reported a general improvement around the world, but warned that in some places people are still denied these basic rights.      Human rights, the secretary said, were "not grounded exclusively in American or Western values but their protection worldwide serves a core U.S. national interest."      Commenting on the report, Amnesty International said: "As the scale and intensity of the war on terror increases, the distance between the words in this report and the actions of the U.S. government is greater than it has been in more than a decade."      Powell said this year's report covers 196 countries, ranging from defenders of human rights and democracy to the worst violators of human dignity.      "No country is expect from scrutiny," he added.      "Despite the generally honest and factual character of the report, it is reduced in value by being set adrift from this administration's development of foreign policy," said William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International USA.      "The report serves as a gauge for our international human rights efforts, pointing to areas of progress and drawing our international human rights efforts, pointing to areas of progress and drawing our attention to new and continuing challenges," said Powell.      "When the administration does acknowledge the torture, abductions and killings that the report compiles so extensively, the policies it enacts are often selective, inconsistent and damaging to human rights," warns Amnesty International.      "In a world marching toward democracy and respect for human rights; the United States is a leader, a partner and a contributor. We have taken this responsibility with a deep and abiding belief that human rights are universal," declared Powell.      Over the period that the report covers, Amnesty International says it has documented Washington's elective attention to human rights, including the White House's citing torture in Iraq as partial justification for military action while dismissing concerns about its own ill-treatment of prisoners, including transfers of prisoners to countries where they are at risk of torture.      "The U.S. is the Jekyll and Hyde of human rights, at once praising the protection of human rights and discarding those protections at will," said Schulz. "In the name of combating terror, the U.S. has turned a blind eye to the effects its own actions have to the detriment of human rights in the world. Missing from this report is any shred of contrition for the rights trampled this past year as a result of increased U.S. support of governments that commit abuses," he added.      The report points out:      -- In Asia, democratic politics continued to develop in East Timor, with the ratification of a constitution, election of a president, and efforts to establish governance based on the rule of law and human rights protections. Taiwan's strides were also notable, with consolidation and improvement of civil liberties catching up to its free and open electoral system.      -- The push to meet European Union entry requirements resulted in positive human rights developments in aspirant countries. Turkey passed extensive human rights reform packages that covered a broadening of laws on freedom of speech, political activity and association, and fair trial. At the same time torture, although illegal, was still a serious problem and restrictions on freedom of the press remained.      -- Other positive developments in Europe included the first general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be conducted by local (not international) authorities since the Dayton Peace Accords. Macedonia also reaffirmed the strength of its democracy through peaceful elections while its parliament laid the legal groundwork for improving civil and minority rights by completing nearly all of the constitutional and legislative actions related to the Framework Agreement.      -- In the Middle East, several positive steps were taken. In May, the first open municipal council elections were held in Bahrain, and in October women joined men in exercising their right to vote for the first time in nearly 30 years to elect a national parliament. Morocco saw its first open elections in September, and in Qatar, a new constitution has been drafted and municipal elections are scheduled for April 2003. Female candidates will participate for the second time.      -- In Russia, a new Criminal Procedure Code that took effect in July permitted for the first time the application of existing Constitutional provisions that only upon a judicial decision could individuals be arrested, taken into custody or detained. The changes appeared to be having an effect on police, prosecutorial behavior and the judicial system, although there were reports of non-compliance in some regions.      -- The Chinese also continued to carry out some structural reforms in the areas of the rule of law and democracy. Direct elections at the village level took place in several provinces and pressure to move them to higher levels grew. Economic reform has led to legal reform, and legislatures continued experimenting with public hearings to incorporate public opinion into policy.      Political rights:      -- In 2002 six nations in the Western Hemisphere -- The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Jamaica -- held elections for their chief of state or government. The Organization of American States, which adopted a democracy charter in 2001, put its collective commitment into action in 2002 with vigorous efforts to resolve the political crisis in Venezuela.      -- In Africa, Kenya's free election and peaceful transfer of power in December signaled hope for the consolidation of democratic politics there. A political crisis in Madagascar during the first half of 2002 was eventually resolved, and legislative elections were held. In Swaziland, respect for rights and rule of law took steps backward with a government declaration that it would not abide by court decisions.      -- In 2002 China continued to commit serious human rights abuses in violation of international human rights instruments and at year's end, a spate of arrests of political dissidents and the imposition of the death sentence on two Tibetans, the continued detentions of Rebiya Kadeer, Wang Youcai, Qin Yongmin and others, and restrictions on religious freedom and repression of some ethnic minorities were particularly troubling.      -- Zimbabwe's government has used a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation against stated and perceived supporters of the opposition, even to the extent of routinely and publicly denying food to these individuals. The government manipulated the composition of the courts and repeatedly refused to abide by judicial decisions, which undermined the judiciary.      -- In Central Asia, several republics of the former Soviet Union resisted positive change. In Turkmenistan the human rights situation deteriorated markedly after an attack on President Niyazov's motorcade in November, leading to serious violations of due process under the law including widespread arrests and forced evictions of suspects' families, use of torture, threats of rape and summary trials.      -- In Kazakhstan the government's poor human rights record worsened, including selective prosecution of opposition leaders and a pattern of media harassment suggesting an attempt to silence media critics. While there were positive steps in the first half of 2002, such as registration of the first human rights non-governmental organization and abolition of prior censorship of the media in Uzbekistan, there were also setbacks that are a cause of concern, including at least four deaths in detention due to torture.      -- The Kyrgyz Republic held a regional by-election in October, judged by independent monitoring groups to be marred by irregularities such as multiple voting and lax standards of voting eligibility. Harassment of media and civil society continued and police killed six unarmed protesters.      -- Pakistan's military regime began the process of restoring elected civilian governance at the national and provincial level in October. Observers deemed the elections to be flawed, but the new government seems reasonably representative.      Internal and other conflicts:      -- Throughout 2002, Sri Lanka made progress in implementing a cease-fire agreement between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil-Eelam. Prisoners have been exchanged, roadblocks reduced, internally displaced persons returned, and investigations into abuses by security forces have increased. There were unconfirmed reports that LTTE continued to commit extra-judicial killings, but observers believe the number decreased in 2002. There were also reports that LTTE continued to conscript children.      -- In Nepal, the Maoist campaign included killings, bombing, torture, forced conscription of children and other violent tactics. Government forces were accused of killing civilians and abusing others suspected of Maoist sympathies.      -- The war in Sierra Leone was officially declared over in January, and the Revolutionary United Front was disarmed. Remarkably peaceful presidential elections were held in May, although there were reports of election irregularities.      -- Elsewhere in Africa, conflicts continued to fuel human rights abuses. In Côte d'Ivoire, a coup attempt and ensuing civil unrest sparked violations by government and rebel forces. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, major abuses continued. Rwanda withdrew its troops by October, and Uganda only had 1,000 troops left in the country at year's end.      -- After 27 years, peace came to Angola in February. The former National Movement for the Total Liberation of Angola, or UNITA, rebel movement has disarmed and is transitioning into an unarmed political party, and the government -- working with the opposition -- is beginning to move the country toward new elections. The massive human rights violations of the civil war have come to an end, although an increase of abuses in Cabinda Province is worrisome. The primary focus will now be on the civil and political rights necessary for the conduct of free and fair elections as well as the establishment of the rule of law throughout the country.      -- Eritrea's record worsened through 2002. However, all recorded Ethiopian prisoners of war from the former conflict were released. Ethiopia also released the last of the Eritrean POWs during 2002.      -- In the Chechnya conflict, Russian forces and Chechen rebels continued to commit serious human rights violations. Government forces committed extra-judicial killings and at times used indiscriminate force, which resulted in civilian casualties. A number of government "cleansing" operations involved extensive abuses of civilians. Chechen rebels increased their killings of civilian officials and militia associated with the Russian-appointed Chechen administration. On Oct. 23, approximately 41 members of Chechen terrorist groups took more than 750 people hostage in a Moscow theater. The terrorists killed one hostage; another 128 hostages died in the rescue effort.      -- Iraq's Republican Guard and other members of the security apparatus committed widespread and systematic human rights abuses including killings, torture, disappearances, rapes and imprisonment of Iraqi political opposition and ethnic and religious minorities.      -- In Cambodia, incidents of extra-judicial killings began to increase as the country prepares for 2003 elections amidst a culture of impunity and with serious shortcomings in the government's investigations.      -- In Afghanistan there was dramatic improvement over the past year, but respect for human rights varied widely in different parts of the country. The reappearance of the Taliban's Department of Vice and Virtue, in the form of the new authority's Department of Accountability and Religious Affairs, bears monitoring. Likewise, reprisals against ethnic Pashtuns -- albeit with a limited religious dimension -- occurred in areas controlled by some local Northern Alliance commanders.      -- Other internal conflicts have a more pronounced religious dimension. Saudi Arabia continued to deny religious freedom to non-Muslims by prohibiting them from engaging in public worship. In some cases, non-Muslim individuals and private gatherings of worshippers were subject to harassment, leading to arrest, detainment, torture and deportation. Shiite Muslims faced widespread discrimination, including imprisonment and torture.      -- Sectarian violence erupted in India's Gujarat Province in February, where as many as 2,000 people -- mostly Muslims -- died. Elections in Jammu and Kashmir, and in Gujarat, were held successfully despite widespread terrorist violence and the new state government has proposed steps to ease repression and reduce alienation. Throughout India however, light punishment for instigators of violence and perpetrators of abuse remained a stumbling block to further improvement.

<a href=www.nynewsday.com>NY NewsDay By Anthony M. DeStefano Staff Writer

March 31, 2003, 6:09 PM EST Federal investigators said Monday they broke up a ring of U.S. and Israeli nationals suspected of laundering millions of dollars in proceeds from trafficking in the drug Ecstasy.

A total of 17 people, as well as one Florida company, face charges in the probe, which involved coordination between federal and Israeli law enforcement agencies in the last year.

Among those arrested was Natan Banda, the alleged ringleader of the money-laundering network, which federal agents believe has systematically handled tens of millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds. Banda has U.S. and Israeli citizenship and maintains homes in Williamsburg and upstate Monroe, according to the affidavit for the arrest warrant unsealed Monday.

Others charged include the brothers Zakay and Ezra Sasson, identified in the affidavit as being residents of Florida and citizens of the United States, Venezuela and Israel. The Sasson brothers are listed as officers of National Electronics, Inc., a Florida company that sells consumer electronics in Central and South America, according to the affidavit. Federal investigators allege that the Sasson brothers arranged to launder millions of dollars for Banda.

The arrest warrant affidavits said there were alleged telephone conversations and money shipments totaling millions of dollars between Europe, Los Angeles and New York.

Arraignments were under way late Monday and bail packages were still being worked out with relatives and friends of some of the defendants.

Reuters, 03.31.03, 5:01 PM ET BOGOTA, Colombia, March 31 (Reuters) - The Colombian government will ask a local court whether state-owned Ecopetrol should renegotiate a contract with U.S. firm ChevronTexacoCorp. (nyse: CVX - news - people) to develop the offshore Catalinas natural gas field at a cost of $150 million, officials said on Monday. The State Council, a court that arbitrates contractual disputes between the government and the private sector, will determine whether the current terms of the Catalinas contract mean the government would forfeit potential royalties, Comptroller General Antonio Hernandez told reporters. If so, then Ecopetrol would renegotiate the contract, said Hernandez, the chief auditor of government spending, speaking after a meeting with President Alvaro Uribe. The auditor argues that if the project is, in effect, an extension of two fields already operated by a ChevronTexaco subsidiary then the state would receive $100 million less in royalties. Under Colombian law, if the court decides that Catalinas is just an offshoot of the existing operation according to the current contract, then royalties would be only 7 percent of production, compared with 20 percent if the project is totally new. "We have decided in this meeting that the national government will consult the State Council," Hernandez said. "It shouldn't take a long time, I estimate it will be two or three months," he said, adding, "Depending on its ruling, we will continue or renegotiate the contract." Ecopetrol signed the Catalina contract with Texas Petroleum Co., a ChevronTexaco subsidiary, on Feb. 8 but the controversy has slowed development of the project, which would cost $150 million. Catalinas, off the coast of the northeastern Colombian province of La Guajira near Venezuela, would ensure the natural gas supply to much of central Colombia for decades, with some left over to export to Venezuela. Texaco already operates the offshore Chuchupa field in La Guajira, and the onshore Ballenas field, producing a total of 500 million cubic feet a day, with which it supplies much of the gas needs of the country's capital, Bogota. Total proven reserves at the fields are estimated by Ecopetrol at 2,266 billion cubic feet. ChevronTexaco has not commented here on the dispute.