De: "Judicial Watch" info@judicialwatch.org Fecha: Jue, 8 de Mayo de 2003, 8:54 am Para: "Judicial Watch Infonet" infonet@lyris.corysecure.com

MCI SPOKESMAN SUPPORTS CASTRO: TERRORIST MURDERER WHO SYSTEMATICALLY VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS

MCI Should Fire Glover

Actor Danny Glover Signs Document Supporting Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro, Who Recently Executed Three Innocent Freedom Seekers And Has Sentenced 75 Intellectual Dissidents To Lengthy Prison Terms

(Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, is calling for a boycott of telecommunications giant MCI after its spokesman, actor Danny Glover, signed an offensive document titled, "To the Conscience of the World" which supports Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro and asks the United States to respect the island's sovereignty.

Glover's support for the dictator comes only weeks after Castro summarily executed--by firing squad--three men who unsuccessfully tried to flee the island prison on a ferry as well as the jailing of 75 passive dissidents, many of them independent journalists, simply for opposing the communist regime. Most of them are serving sentences in deplorable conditions that include dark, dirt cells infested with rats, no food and scarce water.

Castro has come under harsh international criticism, even from his traditional leftist supporters, for this latest wave of crimes against humanity yet Glover, often seen in prime-time MCI television commercials, continues to publicly support him. MCI's code of ethics handbook includes a hard-hitting message from Chairman and Executive Officer, Michael Capellas, which stresses "pride in company ethics" and a commitment to "do the right thing." Mr. Capellas also writes that, "our reputation is a critical asset." Glover's actions clearly contradict this.

"MCI must fire Glover. Any more than it should have a spokesman supporting Osama bin Laden, it can't have a spokesman supporting terrorist Castro," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. " Perhaps"

Mr. Glover should speak to Judicial Watch client Yordanis Montoya Isaac whose brother was summarily executed in front of a firing squad for trying to leave Cuba without giving his mother a chance to say goodbye. Or, he should chat with Judicial Watch client Isabel Roque whose frail 55-year-old sister is dying in a dark, rodent-infested cell because Fidel Castro won't allow her to receive medicine for her ailments.

Posted May 04, 2003 By Ben Jones Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

The roads in the United States may not be paved with gold, but they have long beckoned to immigrants seeking something better.

The roads have led many to the Fox River Valley and the Green Bay area, where thousands have put down new roots.

But despite the area’s reputation for high-paying jobs, the paychecks of more than 3,500 immigrants in the region tell a different story — they still live in poverty.

“People move up north for a better chance,” said Federico Sotillo, a native of Venezuela who lives in Green Bay.

“Because too many people are coming, the job situation gets harder. The competition gets harder,” he said.

Recently released figures from the 2000 census show that 18.4 percent of the approximately 19,444 foreign-born residents in Brown, Outagamie, Calumet, Waupaca and Winnebago counties live in poverty.

That’s more than three times the rate of poverty for the area’s overall population. Nationwide, the immigrant poverty rate is 15.4 percent.

The federal poverty threshold varies depending on the size of the family. In 1999, the threshold was $16,895 for a family of four with two children. The median family income in Wisconsin that year was $52,911.

Sotillo also said the wages of some Hispanic workers are lower because of exploitation by employers.

“They use the Hispanics because they know they are illegal,” Sotillo said. “So they pay them whatever they want to pay them. They fire them whenever they want to fire them.

“How are they going to argue about it? They have no rights here.”

Chungyia Thao, president of Universal Translation and Staffing in Appleton, came to the United States in 1987 at the age of 15 from a refugee camp in Thailand.

Thao arrived with few possessions and no English skills. He lived with family in Seattle while attending school.

He said that while life in the refugee camp was hard, life in the United States presents other challenges. He said a lack of English skills puts daily activities and jobs out of reach for many immigrants. He said it is particularly difficult for older Hmong.

“Most of the older generation, they are just finding jobs in factories, but there are not many good jobs,” he said.

Sotillo, who is minister of a United Pentecostal Church in Green Bay, said many new immigrants come from rural areas and don’t have the education and technical skills to obtain high-paying work.

“If we find a job, it has to be a manual job like working in a factory or farm work, because we don’t have the skills,” Sotillo said. “We don’t know how to use a computer, we don’t speak good English.

“So, of course, we don’t get good jobs.”

Lo Lee, director of the Hmong American Partnership in Appleton, said a cultural difference may account for part of the high immigrant poverty level reflected by the census.

Lee said many Hmong households, for example, are large and extended families. They may be surviving but not faring well by the federal standards.

“I don’t think anyone is going be foodless or homeless, but they may not have the quality of food or the quality of life,” Lee said.

Some immigrants come to Northeastern Wisconsin to earn money by working in farm fields.

But many migrant workers instead find themselves unemployed and waiting.

Deanna McGill, a case manager at the Emergency Shelters of the Fox Valley in Appleton, said that between 12 and 15 percent of the people in her shelter are migrant workers, including many from Mexico.

“They come up for work, but what happens sometimes is maybe the fields aren’t ready or the crops are delayed,” McGill said. “Their employers might not have housing.”

Amparo Baudhuin, an immigration caseworker for the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, said immigrants in general are hard-working.

“It’s fantastic,” she said. “The majority of folks from Mexico, Central America and South America have an incredible work ethic. They have a great instinct of self-preservation.

“If they don’t work, they don’t eat.”

Baudhuin said immigrants can’t take advantage of many federal assistance programs unless they have been in the country for years.

And acceptance of certain programs now could jeopardize someone’s chances of becoming a citizen later because the application process takes such things into account.

“The bottom line is the government wants immigrants that are coming of their own free will to basically survive on their own strengths and not take advantage of anything,” she said.

Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2003 From Herald Wire Services

BOGOTA - Colombian rebels were transporting drugs, injured comrades and kidnap victims in four airplanes seized by authorities earlier this week, RCN television station reported Saturday.

Police officers and soldiers discovered the Cessna airplanes on Thursday during raids throughout eastern Arauca state near the border with Venezuela.

The planes allegedly belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The rebels also were using the planes to transport commanders and money to bribe local officials, RCN reported. Officials reached Saturday from the army, police and the attorney general's office could not confirm the report.

Last year, soldiers destroyed an aircraft packed with explosives that allegedly belonged to the FARC.

Authorities also believe the rebels could be using stolen helicopters in their nearly four-decade insurgency against the government.

JAMAICA

ANGRY CROWD SETS FIRES

TO PROTEST BOY'S DEATH

MONTEGO BAY -- Angered by the killing of a 14-year-old boy by police, a crowd of residents set fire to four buildings Saturday as they took to the streets of a town in western Jamaica, police said.

The boy, Omari Wedderburn, was shot by police Friday night in Negril, which is fringed with some of the Caribbean country's premiere tourist resorts. The next day, more than 300 people gathered to protest, police said.

The crowd had largely dispersed by Saturday night, but some were still blocking roads, police said. During the day, protesters' road blocks forced police to divert traffic.

BRAZIL

SWAT TEAM HUNTS

SUSPECTS IN JUNGLE

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Police SWAT teams scoured back roads of the Amazon jungle Saturday searching for some 30 armed men who held up two banks, took several customers hostage and terrorized a northern Brazilian city, authorities said.

The suspected robbers fled Friday with five hostages from the eastern Amazon city of Redencao, police spokesman Sidney Dantas said by telephone.

The hostages later were released unharmed. Police recovered the two pickup trucks used in the getaway, Dantas said.

VENEZUELA

RIGHTS GROUP BLAMES

VIOLENCE ON LAX SYSTEM

CARACAS -- A leading rights group said Saturday that the country's lax justice system has contributed to rising political violence.

The group, which called itself Cofavic, condemned the slayings of Jorge Nieves and Ricardo Herrera, who were killed during a May Day march in Caracas.

Since April 2002, ''57 people have been killed and over 300 injured by gunfire in a context of political violence,'' Cofavic said in a statement.

It said the violence has been characterized by ''total impunity,'' because those responsible for the aggression are rarely brought to justice.

The Herald Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2003 BY JANE BUSSEY jbussey@herald.com

With a wary eye on Argentina's experience, tiny Uruguay chose to forgo any celebratory default or even strong-arm tactics as it faced creditors last month and pleaded for forgiveness from its international debts.

Uruguay has become the latest Latin American government to join the list of deadbeats, or potential deadbeats, through a stealth default. Its request that bondholders swap their debt for new bonds is being carried out on gentlemanly terms and has the blessing of the U.S. Treasury and the International Monetary Fund.

There is a kinder and gentler tone in Washington toward Latin America these days, but the change is unlikely to stop countries from resorting to what some analysts have labeled ''elegant restructuring'' and ``liability management.''

''You've got Ecuador, Argentina and Uruguay, to some extent back-to-back defaults,'' said Christian Stracke, head of emerging-market research at CreditSights Inc., an independent Wall Street research firm. ``How far away is Brazil from having that happen?''

While Ecuador quietly defaulted in 1999, Argentina earned the enmity of international financiers when former President Adolfo Rodríguez Saá announced, in late December 2001, a default on the debt to a cheering congress.

Earlier in 2001, Argentina had swapped bonds for ones with lower interest rates but to little end. The reduction couldn't halt the economic implosion or persuade the IMF to disburse new loans.

Latin America is no stranger to debt default. These periodic bouts of sovereign bankruptcy have served to entrap the region in low economic growth and inflict severe disruption on trade and investment. The 1980s debt crisis was labeled the ''lost decade,'' and restructurings that took place around 1990 were originally viewed as a watershed moment in the region -- the end of debt forever.

In contrast to Argentina, Uruguay's quiet restructuring signals a new approach to the region. Washington has started to recognize that the debt burden is too high in many countries, a point made by U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow last Monday.

U.S. officials, working with the IMF, are trying to stage preemptive debt restructurings with small losses to bondholders and avoid the panic of such ''messy defaults'' as the events in Argentina.

''The U.S. Treasury is out in front, organizing crisis prevention,'' Miami bond trader Martin Schubert said. ``The U.S. Treasury is playing a more important role than it would appear.''

Treasury spokesman Tony Fratto insisted that officials had not encouraged Uruguayan authorities to do anything specific. But Uruguay, in asking creditors to swap old bonds for new ones that mature at a later date, has added some insurance clauses that have received Treasury's endorsement.

`COLLECTIVE ACTION'

These clauses, known as ''collective-action clauses,'' set out rules for future restructuring deals should the country later default. Now all creditors must agree to take a hit; under the new clauses, only two-thirds to three-quarters are required to agree, preventing one bondholder from holding up a deal.

''We do think that using collective-action clauses is wise,'' Fratto said.

Also playing a role is William Rhodes, the Citigroup veteran who directed the 1980s negotiations between commercial banks and their Latin American borrowers. Today's incipient problems do not yet resemble the nearly universal regional default on debt to commercial banks that took place in Latin America in the '80s.

Another difference is that today's creditors are international bondholders instead of the commercial banks.

There are also other countries that could join the default trend, but no one seems to be paying attention. Paraguay owes money to the World Bank, Venezuela is talking with creditors about stretching out its debt payments, and no one rules out another round of rescheduling in Ecuador.

The main concern is Brazil, which inched toward a default last year as interest rates soared on billions of dollars of debt. An IMF loan package to give Brazil up to $30 billion helped tide it over.

The largest South American country still faces the unsustainable odds of having to raise $1 billion a week to cover its debt payments and current account deficit. Much of Brazil's debt is held by local investors, and some economists have suggested that the government ''inflate'' the debt away, as Latin American countries have in the past. By printing money, the old debt goes down as the value of the currency is diluted. The downside is a rise in inflation.

But, after just a few months in office, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has enchanted Wall Street with his moderate tone. Not only does default seem far away, but creditors are anxious for more exposure in Brazil.

Last Tuesday, investors offered to buy $6 billion in new government bonds but the new government only needed $1 billion. Brazil's new bond included the ''collective-action clause'' as the latest bonds issued by Mexico. Except for Chile and Mexico, all other bonds in Latin America are speculative, the elegant term for junk bonds.

Schubert, president of the European Inter-American Finance Corp. in Miami, said the appeal of Brazilian bonds and some other recent issues in the region lay in the higher returns investors can get south of the border compared to the low interest rates in the United States. The Brazilian bonds will earn 8 percent over the Federal Reserve's interest rate.

KEY ELEMENT

The debt is one of the most crucial factors affecting Latin American economic growth and stability. Unlike their counterparts in Asia, Latin American countries do not generate sufficient savings to fund their own development.

After Argentina's financial crisis spilled over to Uruguay, the Bush administration stepped in to give its support, throwing its weight behind what would eventually become about $4 billion in loans from official lenders.

But as Uruguay's debt burden shot up to 90 percent of the gross domestic product, it became clear that, even with new loans, Uruguay could not make it. Hence a debt swap that would carve some 15 percent off what Uruguay has to pay. Bondholders have until May 15 to accept the Uruguayan offer.

''If the Uruguay exchange goes forward, it will result in economic losses to bondholders for the present value,'' said Morgan Harting, a director in Fitch Rating's Sovereign Ratings Group. ``We will take Uruguay into default if the exchange is completed, even if the government calls it voluntary.''

Despite the U.S. backing, this cut for Uruguay may not be sufficient.

''A debt write-down of 10 percent or 15 percent, it's kind of hard for me to believe that is enough,'' said Michael Mussa, the former chief economist at the IMF.

If all goes according to plan, Brazil will grow again and have no need to default. But best-laid plans often go awry in the region, Mussa noted.

''It has been a continuing series,'' he said of the defaults. ``I don't think it's going to end.''

May 2, 2003, 11:48PM By JOSEPH A. GIANNONE Houston Chronicle-Reuters News Service

NEW YORK -- The global travel slump and a potential slowdown in Asia's economies prompted by the deadly SARS virus could cut into energy companies' earnings in the second quarter and beyond, analysts and industry executives said.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has claimed nearly 400 lives since spreading from China in March.

Efforts to avoid and contain the disease have crimped travel and tourism and shut down factories and office buildings in China and Hong Kong.

Industry analysts say demand for oil and refined fuels will suffer, sapping profit growth at Exxon Mobil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp. and ConocoPhillips -- all global oil companies with big refining and marketing businesses in Asia.

"SARS has reduced airplane travel, reduced jet fuel demand and affected the economy," said analyst Lowell Feld of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, referring to China.

Energy companies, which posted record first-quarter profits amid soaring oil and gas prices, already face a period of falling prices.

The war in Iraq ended with little damage to oil facilities, and fears of disruptions in Venezuela and Nigeria have eased.

Yet companies face the prospect of reduced sales of jet fuel, gasoline, natural gas, chemicals and power in Asia, according to Lysle Brinker, an oil analyst for John S. Herold.

OPEC President Abdullah Al-Attiyah, Qatar's oil minister, estimated last week that SARS will reduce oil demand by about 300,000 barrels per day.

If the 2-month-old downturn persisted, SARS could erase much of Asia's projected economic growth. J.P. Morgan Chase has warned the virus may not be brought under control until June.

China's economy, once expected to expand by 8 percent, now may shrink by 2 percent in the second quarter.

It had been slated to consume an additional 100,000 barrels per day this year, according to Energy Information Administration estimates.

"The demand side of the picture is in big trouble because of the high energy prices we've experienced the past few months and SARS' impact on demand in Asia," said Fimat USA analyst John Kilduff.

The airline industry, a major consumer of jet fuel and other oil products, has been hard hit.

Industry group IATA in March said trans-Pacific flights were down 12 percent and Europe-to-Asia flights fell by 15 percent.