Western businessmen bitter as Cuba closes doors  5/31/2005 Reuters: "Western companies welcomed in Cuba as heroes a decade ago for bucking the U.S. embargo are packing up and leaving as the Communist government rolls back market reforms and squeezes out intermediaries. Embittered by the change in attitude, small and medium-sized foreign businesses complained this week that they no longer feel welcome and worried they would not recover money owed to them by Cuban partners. President Fidel Castro's government, bolstered by growing economic ties to Venezuela and China, is cutting back the autonomy granted to state-run companies to do business in the 1990s and restoring central control over trade and finance."

ASSATA: THE STAKES ARE RAISED, WEEK OF MAY 26-JUNE 1, 2005  5/31/2005 Wilmington Journal: a reprint of the Final Call article, with this note - "EDITOR’S NOTE: Assata is the granddaughter of the late Mr. Frank and Mrs. Lula Hill of Wilmington. She spent many summers here in Wilmington In the 500 block of South Seventh Street."

A Living Monster Of Our Making  5/30/2005 AfroCubaWeb: by Alberto Jones

Cuban militant worked for US in Contra supply network  5/30/2005 Tallahassee Democrat: "Using the "Ramon Medina" alias, Posada worked closely with another militant Cuban exile known as "Max Gomez" at the major Contra staging area at Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador. "Max Gomez" was actually Felix Rodriguez, a longtime CIA operative who took part in a 1967 operation in Bolivia that led to the capture and execution of Castro's revolutionary ally Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Posada needed a job, and Rodriguez had a destination," said Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a nonprofit organization at George Washington University that collects and publicizes government documents. "If Rodriguez is the CEO of the operation, Posada is the chief operating officer." [Predictably, this US paper neglects to mention the large scale narcotics trafficking Posada and Rodriguez organized out of Ilopango.]

Black Liberation leader Robert Williams remembered - New audio documentary  5/28/2005 Worker's World: "The government’s phony charges for an alleged kidnapping, but really for their militancy, forced the couple into exile in Cuba. There they became de-facto representatives of the oppressed and working class people in the United States. She said that everywhere they went—Cuba, China, Vietnam and African countries—Williams told her that he did not want to represent the “ugly America” but be a good ambassador “for our people and for the whole human race.” The Williams’ son, John C. Williams, told the audience what it was like to be raised by his activist parents. Forced into exile in Cuba, the Williams family saw firsthand what a socialist government can do for its citizens and guests."

National Conference of Black Lawyers  5/27/2005 Black Commentator: "The announcement that a $1 million bounty has been placed on the head of exiled freedom fighter Assata Shakur sends a clear, unmistakable message that the U.S. government will stop at nothing to perpetuate the systemic denial of the most basic human rights of African people born and/or residing in the Americas. The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) demands that the U.S. government immediately withdraw the bounty offer, and permanently cease its pursuit of Assata Shakur as such is both illegal and unjustifiable under international human rights laws."

British judge sends himself to Cuba in music royalties row  5/26/2005 AFP

Mos Def, Talib Kweli, dead prez Speak Up For Assata Shakur  5/26/2005 All Hip Hop: "Rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli and dead prez spoke in support of former Black Panther Assata Shukur at a press conference yesterday (May 25) at New York’s City Hall. Charles Barron, councilman from Brooklyn's East New York called the meeting as a response to a million dollar bounty on the political fugitive, who now resides in Cuba. Barron also introduced a resolution that seeks presidential clemency for Shakur, claiming that she the victim of “trumped-up charges and a kangaroo court with an all-white jury.” Both Mos and Kweli stated that they feel Shakur was unjustly convicted for the murder of a police officer in 1973."

Buena Vista case flies to Cuba  5/26/2005 Guardian

Flow of funds to Cuba holds steady  5/26/2005 Miami Herald: "Cubans living in the United States still send an estimated $460 million a year to relatives on the island despite restrictions tightened by the Bush administration last summer, according to a poll released by a Coral Gables firm Wednesday. But a portion of the Cubans on the island who receive the cash transfers believe they are getting less money, according to a separate and less scientific survey conducted inside the island by a Washington-based think tank. The assumption: That Fidel Castro's government is taking a bigger bite of the remittances, one of the key sources of income in an island where the economy was devastated by the 1990s collapse of Soviet subsidies. ''Now that it is clear to them how much money is arriving, [the Cuban government] is now getting a higher and higher percentage of that money,'' said pollster Sergio Bendixen of Bendixen & Associates."

Barron Seeks Clemency for Cop Killer  5/26/2005 NY Sun: "Infuriating law-enforcement organizations and his colleagues, a City Council member, Charles Barron, introduced a resolution yesterday urging clemency for a convicted and escaped cop-killer, Assata Shakur, formerly known as Joanne Chesimard."

Hasta la vista: judge takes off to Cuba  5/26/2005 Times: "The High Court has been adjudicating in a dispute between an American music company and a Cuban state-owned concern over which should receive royalties from sales of the record — and video and DVD sales — in Britain. The Buena Vista Social Club became a worldwide hit in 1997 after Ry Cooder, the American guitarist and composer, tracked down veteran musicians in Havana and made a documentary film and album. Peer International Corporation, the US firm, went to court claiming that its copyright to songs dating back to the 1930s has been unlawfully taken over by the Cuban Government. Editora Musical de Cuba defended itself by saying it was salvaging royalties from songs that had never earned a penny for their impoverished authors."

N.Y. Politicians, Black Activists Rally in Support of Assata Shakur  5/25/2005 Black America Web: "Several members of the New York City Council and black community activists assembled on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan Wednesday to condemn the federal government’s $1 million bounty on Black Liberation Army member Joanne Chesimard, who is now known as Assata Shakur, and living in Cuba."

Cuba says US must try exile if he's not extradited  5/25/2005 Reuters: "The United States would be obliged under international law to try Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles on terrorism charges if it fails to extradite him to Venezuela to face trial for a bomb attack 30 years ago, a senior Cuban official said on Wednesday."

Growing up Revolutionary: An interview with John Williams, son of Mabel and Robert F. Williams  5/25/2005 SF Bay View: ""The last demonstration before we had to go into exile was over a swimming pool, over Black folks having the right - a taxpayer's right - to a public swimming pool. To see all these (Cuban) kids having such great fun, yelling and playing, just enjoying themselves, was a great contrast. In a lot of ways that was a simple, though it was my first encounter in Cuba, it was symbolic of what was to come in terms of race relations and being able to go to school in Cuba, not having to have those same kinds of fears and worries we had in (Monroe), people coming by our home with weapons threatening to kill my father. It was a welcome change, to say the least. "To be able to leave the country and live in a place that was no longer a hostile environment probably helped me tremendously," John concluded. Soon after a protest against Monroe, North Carolina, city officials, the Williams family had to flee the country. The four headed for Cuba, where the boys attended boarding school. Three years later they were sent to China, where they spent five years. John and Robert Jr. finished high school there before returning to the United States with their family."

Hip-Hop Artist Get Involved For Assata  5/24/2005 Thug Life Army: "On Wednesday, May 25th at 1:30PM, Brooklyn City Councilmember Charles Barron, prominent hip-hop artists and community groups will hold a press conference on the steps of City Hall condemning a one-million-dollar bounty offered May 2nd for the capture of exiled Black Liberation fighter Assata Shakur; the godmother of the late rap icon Tupac Shakur. “I’m infuriated that a bounty has been put on her, placing her in danger,” said Councilmember Barron – who called for Wednesday’s press conference – “She is a shero to our community, its long overdue for her to receive clemency and come home.” "

Chávez threatens ties with U.S. over Posada  5/23/2005 Miami Herald: "Venezuela's president said he'll reconsider diplomatic ties with the United States if Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles is not extradited."

My Visit to the Clinton White House - Bearing a Secret Message from Fidel About Terrorism - By GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ  5/22/2005 Counterpunch

Send Posada Carriles to Venezuela - Beating Around the Bush  5/22/2005 Counterpunch: "There's no valid reason why Posada should not be extradited to Venezuela now. There's no necessity to wait while lawyers mess around with Homeland's insignificant illegal entry claim or any asylum claim. The case should be promptly submitted to the extradition judge. It seems like the Administration is using these immigration cases, with Posada's cooperation, to try to delay decision on the extradition request in hope of avoiding evidence of CIA's involvement in the bombing from becoming public in a Venezuelan proceeding. Part of its plan seems to be to make reporters and the public think the US can't extradite until the immigration proceedings are ended and they have some policy preventing extradition. Neither of which is so."

A different behavior - Special address by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, at the Anti-imperialist Square, May 20,2005  5/21/2005 Granma: "SUMMARY OF ISSUES THAT GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ MAY CONFIDENTIALLY TRANSMIT TO PRESIDENT CLINTON Point 1 (literally) "An important issue. Plans for terrorist actions against Cuba continue to be hatched and paid by the Cuban American National Foundation using Central American mercenaries. Two new attempts at setting up bombs in tourist resorts have been undertaken before, and after, the Pope's visit."

'A triumph' in Cuba as dissidents gather  5/21/2005 Miami Herald

EU warns Castro over expulsions  5/21/2005 News, Australia

Castro Allows pro-Democracy Demonstration  5/21/2005 Sunday Telegraph: "About 200 dissidents chanted "Freedom, freedom" and "Down with Fidel Castro" as they called for democratic change and the release of political prisoners. It was the first general meeting of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, a US-backed umbrella organisation joining dozens of small dissident groups across Cuba."

The crimes of Bosch and Posada - Washington knew beforehand of the plot to sabotage the Cubana airliner  5/20/2005 Granma

Former rebel: Posada ordered torture  5/20/2005 Miami Herald: "A former Venezuelan leftist guerrilla fighter has accused Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles of ordering his torture."

Posada charged with illegal entry  5/20/2005 Miami Herald: "Immigration authorities have charged Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles with entering the United States illegally and have ordered that he be held without bond."

Assata Shakur is No Terrorist By Hands Off Assata Campaign  5/20/2005 Political Affairs

Cuba allows dissident meeting, deports Europeans  5/20/2005 Reuters: "Several opposition groups stayed away from the meeting because they disagree with Roque's close ties with right-wing exiles in Miami and funding from the United States. "This meeting does not represent the majority of the opposition," said Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's most prominent dissident and winner of the European Union's top human rights award, the Sakharov Prize. Paya is not on speaking terms with Roque. Paya said the meeting would benefit Castro, who brands all dissidents "counter-revolutionaries" on Washington's payroll."

Assata Shakur: The Government's Terrorist Is Our Community's Heroine  5/19/2005 All Hip Hop: by Mos Def

Cuba slams US extradition 'farce'  5/19/2005 BBC: "Cuban President Fidel Castro has condemned the US handling of an old foe, bombing suspect Luis Posada Carriles, as "a big farce, a big lie". "

Exiles reluctant to publicly back militant Posada  5/19/2005 Miami Herald: "Eager to avoid the blistering that Miami's Cuban community took in 2000 as a result of the Elián case, exile leaders are preaching restraint when it comes to Posada, 77, a militant accused in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner and other acts of terrorism. A group that had sponsored street demonstrations in 2000 was asked to back off, for example, and Spanish-language radio stations on Wednesday appeared intent on building interest in Friday's scheduled assembly of civil societies in Cuba -- rather than fueling outrage over Posada's fate."

Cuban Militant Gives U.S. Tough Choices  5/18/2005 AP

Venezuela Wants Cuban Exile Extradited  5/18/2005 AP: "But Castro has repeatedly ruled out trying to extradite Posada, saying he should be tried in Venezuela or by an international court. Rangel called the idea that Posada could be sent to Cuba "an excuse, a subterfuge, that they are using precisely in order to not approve the extradition." "

US arrests notorious Cuban extremist  5/18/2005 ISN

Cuban exile whisked away after his arrest  5/18/2005 Miami Herald: "Cuban exile militant Luis Posada Carriles, accused of terrorism, briefly came out of hiding Tuesday before he was arrested by federal immigration authorities and whisked away in a Homeland Security helicopter. Posada, who has been linked to the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner and to a 1997 series of bombings at tourist hotels in Havana, was arrested in Miami-Dade on the same day Cuban President Fidel Castro mounted a massive march in Havana to accuse U.S. leaders of hypocrisy for sheltering the accused bomber. And his arrest came just hours after Posada, who has been hiding in the Miami area since he entered the United States illegally in late March, held an invitation-only news conference under tight security at a warehouse near Hialeah."

Assata Shakur: The Government's Terrorist is Our Community's Heroine  5/18/2005 Pacific News

Assata and Posada: Two different colors, two different stories  5/18/2005 SF Bay View: "The generally unacknowledged factor of Posada and Bosch’s blowing up of the Cubana airliner, however, is this. If tourists to Cuba take the time to visit Havana’s Sport’s Palace, guides will inevitably take them to the memorial wall. From there, visitors will be greeted by row after row of young, mostly Black faces staring back at them – photographs of Cuba’s Olympic athletes who were returning from the Pan American Games in Venezuela and were on board the airliner Posada and Bosch likely bombed. Therefore, by putting a $1 million bounty on Sister Shakur, who, they say, is linked to the killing of one white person, while allowing Posada and Bosch remain free in the U.S. after killing at least 73 mostly Black people, the U.S. has once again exposed itself as a government that continues to capitulate to and accommodate itself to racism."

Reporters Without Borders Unmasked - Its Secret Deal with Otto Reich to Wreck Cuba's Economy  5/17/2005 Counterpunch

Assata: The stakes are raised  5/16/2005 Final Call: "Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, according to Newsday, personally approved the money from the Justice Department. It will be paid for information leading to her safe capture, but not if she is killed in the process."

Official Response to Announcement of $1 million Bounty and the Listing of ASSATA SHAKUR on Domestic Terrorist Watch List  5/15/2005 HOA: "Former New Jersey Governor, Christie Todd Whitman, curried political favor with the state’s police when she announced a bounty of $25,000 for Assata and later doubled it to $50,000. She was duly rewarded by President Bush who appointed her in 2001 to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The bounty was quietly increased by the FBI to a million dollars as it crept around the country looking for relatives, friends and associates to enlist in its scheme to kidnap Assata and return her to the United States. Time and time again, the FBI offered them a million dollars for their services. To some, they stated that there was no limit to how much they would pay for Assata’s return."

Iran, Cuba to boost economic ties  5/13/2005 Islamic Republic News Agency

Miscelanea II of studies dedicated to Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969): an online machine-readable transcription  5/13/2005 NY Public Library: includes ON THE RELATIONS BETWEEN BLACKS AND WHITES -- Fernando Ortiz -- (1943) [English translation]

2 Pac's Godmother: Victim Of Political Persecution?  5/13/2005 Rap/Hip Hop

Time for U.S. to live up to its anti-terror rhetoric  5/12/2005 News Press, FL: "President Bush has said that any government that harbors terrorists is complicit in murder and equally guilty of terrorist crimes. Yet thousands of Cuban people have died by violent attacks perpetrated on the island by anti-Cuban paramilitary groups that operate freely in Miami. Following Bush's reasoning, allowing Posada into the United States and entertaining an asylum request from a confessed terrorist is an open acknowledgement of complicity in terrorist acts. (And Cuban exiles would do well not to start calling Posada Carriles a "freedom fighter.") The United States must deny Posada's political asylum request, and should arrest and deport him to Venezuela, honoring that country's extradition treaty with the United States. Or, as Cuba has suggested, Posada should be tried by a competent international tribunal."

Troopers slam Castro for comment  5/12/2005 Trentonian, NJ: "Indignant New Jersey troopers blasted Cuban leader Fidel Castro yesterday for calling convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard a "political prisoner’’ and victim of American racism."

Castro Speaks on Rap Icon's Godmother  5/11/2005 AP: "On Tuesday, he referred to Bush as "the little Hitler" and suggested he wanted to dominate the world. Castro dedicated more than an hour to reading for Cubans a New York Times story about the Posada case and again listed numerous terrorist actions that that Cuban officials attribute to Posada or his associates. He even suggested that Posada and his friend Orlando Bosch might have ties to the 1963 assassination of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy. "There are strange things, very strange, mixed up here," Castro said."

Cuba 'plane bomber' was CIA agent  5/11/2005 BBC: "The documents, released by George Washington University's National Security Archive, show that Mr Posada, now in his 70s, was on the CIA payroll from the 1960s until mid-1976. One FBI report quoted a confidential source as saying that Mr Posada was one of several people who met at least twice at a hotel in Caracas, allegedly to discuss bombing a Cubana airlines plane."

Writers of Buena Vista hits were paid with a few pesos and rum, court hears  5/11/2005 Guardian, UK: "Pushpinder Saini, representing Peer, told Mr Justice Lindsay that there had been a massive resurgence of interest in Cuban music since the Buena Vista film and album of 1997. He said Peer, which owns the title track and a large number of other works featured on the film and album, had paid royalties to the composers until the Cuban revolution in 1959, when the US trade embargo stopped payments to Cuba. Writers and composers living outside Cuba were paid and bank accounts were set up to hold funds for those who remained on the island. Many have now been paid since the US government relaxed its embargo in 1994, added Mr Saini. "In recent years, the heirs of certain deceased authors have themselves approached Peer in order to continue to license to Peer for the future," he said. "But they have wished to minimise evidence of contacts because they, for good reason, fear the Cuban regime, which wishes itself to ensure that any US dollars to which such heirs have an entitlement are secured by EMC as part of the Cuban state." He said all 14 authors men tioned in the action, all now dead, might have been poor when they signed with Peer. "But they were a well-educated and cultured group of people. Even if by western standards they were poor, they were not ignorant and were certainly aware of the value of their music." So Peer had decided to sue Termidor Music Publishers, which claims exclusive rights through EMC, claiming it sought to register itself as owning the copyright of the songs in the UK. "It is not clear whether EMC is part of the Cuban state or a private company operating in Cuba, but Peer believe it to be the former," said Mr Saini. "It is certainly agreed to be under the direction and control of the Cuban ministry of the interior." For EMC, Peter Prescott QC said in papers submitted to the court that Peer's claims to the music of more than 600 Cuban composers were all invalid. "We shall demonstrate that these contracts were so cunningly contrived as to allow the publishers to get away with paying the composers practically nothing," he said. "The composers in this case received nothing or, at most, a few pesos and maybe a drink of rum." "

Bush, Posada & Terrorism Hypocrisy  5/10/2005 Consortium News: "The New York Times has finally put the case of fugitive terrorist Luis Posada Carriles on Page One, observing that the violent anti-Castro Cuban’s presence in Florida “could test” George W. Bush’s universal condemnation of terrorism. But that principle already appears to have been tested and failed. Without doubt, Posada – who reportedly has been hiding in South Florida for six weeks – is getting the benefit of a conscious U.S. policy of benign neglect, a Bush version of the “I know nothing” approach made popular by Sgt. Schultz, the German prison guard in the TV comedy “Hogan’s Heroes.” If Posada were a suspected Islamic terrorist – not a CIA-trained right-wing Cuban exile – there’s no question that the Bush administration would be showing zero tolerance for his presence inside the United States. Certainly, the U.S. government wouldn’t be waiting around patiently for the terrorist to check in with immigration authorities."

LUIS POSADA CARRILES - THE DECLASSIFIED RECORD  5/10/2005 National Security Archives: "The National Security Archive today posted additional documents that show that the CIA had concrete advance intelligence, as early as June 1976, on plans by Cuban exile terrorist groups to bomb a Cubana airliner. The Archive also posted another document that shows that the FBI's attache in Caracas had multiple contacts with one of the Venezuelans who placed the bomb on the plane, and provided him with a visa to the U.S. five days before the bombing, despite suspicions that he was engaged in terrorist activities at the direction of Luis Posada Carriles. Both documents were featured last night on ABC Nightline's program on Luis Posada Carriles, who was detained in Miami yesterday by Homeland Security. In addition, the Archive posted the first report to Secretary of State Kissinger from the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research on the bombing of Cubana flight 455. The report noted that a CIA source had overheard Posada prior to the bombing in late September 1976 stating that, "We are going to hit a Cuban airliner." "

Cuban leader denounces U.S. hunt for convicted cop killer  5/10/2005 Newsday: "Castro suggested that the action was meant to divert attention from Cuba's demand that U.S. officials arrest Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted in Venezuela on charges of involvement in blowing up a civilian Cuban jetliner in 1976, killing 73 people."

Terrorist Cuban Exile Luis Posada Carriles Seeking Political Asylum in U.S.  5/9/2005 Democracy Now: "ANN LOUISE BARDACH: I think I saw the June 1976 document about him being in Santa Domingo, from memory, back in 1998. Actually it ties -- the one I think I recall that we got at The New York Times back then had to do with the Cubana shoot-down, where there was that big meeting in Santa Domingo, the DR, and that that was discussed. I'm not sure it’s a new document. I think it has been declassified for some time. But yes, I am aware of what they're referring to. I can only say that the information -- Posada denied blowing up the airliner, but I have never found an intelligence official whether in the F.B.I., the C.I.A., certainly the Cuban intelligence, Venezuelan intelligence, who did not believe that Posada and Bosch were involved. They're basically two guys who worked for their detective agency after he sort of got in trouble with the Venezuelan government, he started a private eye detective agency, and the two guys who planted the bombs on the plane, who were Venezuelan, worked for Posada and Bosch. And I have never – and I even did an interview, which is cited in my book, with the former head of Latin American intelligence for us, and he just said to me, he said, look, there were no other suspects. But Posada and his lawyers will properly point out that eventually over time, over ten years, he won an acquittal here, an acquittal there. Venezuelan justice is very peculiar. Same thing with Orlando Bosch. I mean, there are people who will tell you that you can get an acquittal in Caracas back then, you know, for around $45. I'm not exactly sure, but Venezuelan justice is very peculiar, labyrinthan, and it was very susceptible to what is called mordidas, and there was a tremendous crusade in Miami to free these guys. But again, he and his lawyers say they did not do it. I have never heard anyone else in the intelligence world who did not think, au contraire, that he did do it. What is interesting in the memos I saw back in 1998 was, I remember one where he's informing and sending tips to the C.I.A. throughout 1976, and I just remember one where he said that Orlando Bosch may be involved in blowing up a civilian airliner, I think he identified the country, leaving from Panama."

Cuban Exile Could Test U.S. Definition of Terrorist  5/9/2005 NYT: "On Sept. 21, 1976, in the heart of Washington, a car bomb killed a former foreign minister of Chile, Orlando Letelier, and an American aide, Ronni Moffitt; at the time, it was one of the worst acts of foreign terrorism on American soil. Fifteen days later, a Cubana Airlines flight with 73 people on board was blown out of the sky off the coast of Barbados in the worst terrorist attack in Cuban history. Mr. Cornick, the F.B.I. counterterrorism specialist who worked on the Letelier case, said in an interview that both bombings were planned at a June 1976 meeting in Santo Domingo attended by, among others, Mr. Posada. "The Cubana bomb went off, the people were killed, and there were tracks leading right back to Disip," said Mr. Cornick, who is now retired. "The information was so strong that they locked up Posada as a preventative measure - to prevent him from talking or being killed. They knew that he had been involved," said Mr. Cornick, referring to the Venezuelan authorities. "There was no doubt in anyone's mind, including mine, that he was up to his eyeballs" in the Cubana bombing. A November 1976 F.B.I. report, based on the word of a trusted Cuban-American informer, Ricardo Morales, places Mr. Posada at two meetings where the Cubana bombing was plotted. It quotes the informer directly: "If Posada Carriles talks," it says, "the Venezuelan government will 'go down the tube.' " The document was obtained from government files by the National Security Archive, a private research group in Washington."

U.S. promotes double standard in how it deals with 'terrorist' cases  5/9/2005 USA Today: "What bothers me is that while these men, whose suspected crimes fit the State Department's definition of terrorism, haven't set off Justice Department alarm bells, Shakur is being treated like a disciple of Osama bin Laden. If she killed Foerster (her attorney argues the evidence suggests otherwise), Shakur should be returned to New Jersey to spend her life in prison. By not proclaiming that it will arrest Posada on sight and deport him, the Bush administration caters to those in the Cuban exile community who view him as a freedom fighter — and undermines its leadership of the fight against terrorism."

Race and Ethnicity in Cuba  5/8/2005 Indigenous People of Africa and Americas

Cuba rocks to concert by US band  5/7/2005 BBC: "Perhaps the biggest surprise surrounding the concert is that it is been licensed by the US authorities. Under President Bush, cultural exchanges with Cuba have been dramatically scaled back. But the organisers behind this concert believe they got the go-ahead because both the Cuban and the US governments thought that this was their opportunity to reach out to Cuba's youth."

New Campaign For Rap Icon's Godmother  5/6/2005 Thug Life Army: "The following information is provided by The Talking Drum Collective of Stone Mountain, Ga. The Hands Off Assata Campaign is a coming together of organizations and individuals who are outraged by the heightened attempts by the federal government, congress of the united states and the State of New Jersey to illegally force thru kidnapping a return of Assata Shakur from Cuba to the plantation United States…"

The complexity of some Cuban roots  5/5/2005 Progreso Weekly: "Cuban Roots/Bronx Stories is the visual autobiography of one family that confronts questions of Diaspora, class, immigration and identity. It highlights the historical journey of a black Cuban family, revealing that the Cuban-American experience is more complex, racially and ideologically, than is popularly understood."

From Assata to Emmett, Timing of Old Cases’ New Emphasis Questioned  5/4/2005 Black America Web: "But Rev. Jesse Jackson and other civil rights activists question the timing and the motives of the Bush administration's efforts, maintaining that when it comes to the nation's priorities. there are more pressing issues to be considered. “It is interesting how they are exhuming these old cases,” Jackson told BlackAmericaWeb.com Wednesday afternoon. “While they are planning to exhume Emmett Till's body to find the killers 50 years later, they are refusing to deal with current issues -- like a five-year-old being handcuffed in St. Petersburg or a man shot four times by the police in Chicago.”"

$1,000,000 bounty for Assata Shakur  5/4/2005 SF Bay View: “I’m going to jump on it,” said professional bounty hunter Louis Faccone, who attended the press conference Monday announcing the reward. “My guys can get (into Cuba) in the middle of the night by boat from the Florida Keys.”

Selling out Assata by Mumia Abu-Jamal  5/4/2005 SF Bay View: scroll down for this article originally published 9/98.

Commentary: NJ Troopers Have Selective Amnesia About How They Victimized People Like Assata Shakur  5/3/2005 Black America Web: "I’m dubious because the New Jersey State Police had then –– and still have –– a reputation for being notoriously racist. In many cases, stopping someone for a busted tail light tends to be more of an excuse to target someone, namely black people, for harassment rather than to advise them to get the light fixed. And while neither I nor any of the white people who convicted Shakur were there when Foerster was shot, it’s rather interesting that up until that time, she only had a record of organizing free breakfast programs and other community empowerment programs, and not a record of provoking violence. I’m dubious because, as much as people like Fuentes are calling for justice for Foerster, some of their own are still doing the same injustices to black people as they did in Shakur’s day. In 1998, troopers on that same New Jersey turnpike upon which Shakur was stopped shot and wounded three unarmed black and Latino men whom they suspected were carrying drugs. They weren’t. The next year, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office issued a report that found that racial profiling by the troopers was rampant. And as recent as 2003, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that internal affairs officers for the New Jersey State Police looking into racial and sexual harassment allegations found a T-shirt with the letters LOD. The initials, which stand for “Lords of Discipline,” represent a secret society that many black and women officers say is sexist and white supremacist. I’m also dubious because Shakur was convicted by an all-white jury –– a jury that was, at that time, probably was more consumed with administering punishment to black people than in administering justice to them. Some bounty hunter in Florida said he plans to try and capture Shakur. I hope he fails. I hope he fails not only because I believe that Shakur was wrongly convicted, but because I believe it is the height of hypocrisy for the Bush administration to put her on the same terrorist watch list as Osama bin Laden. It is also hypocritical because right here in the United States, we are harboring a number of fugitives and murderers from other countries. And it’s sheer political lunacy to compare Shakur to bin Laden; she hasn’t killed 3,000 people, nor does she have the capability of carrying out terrorist attacks against the United States."

U.S. Government Declares $1 Million Bounty For Assata Shakur, Tupac's Godmother  5/2/2005 All Hip Hop News: "Rappers like Paris and Common have written sympathetic, reflective songs about Assata [“Assata’s Song” and “A Song For Assata” respectively]. Common explained his support of Shakur. “The reason I was even connected to this woman is because of her humanity and her passion for people,” the Chicago native told AllHipHop.com. “And when I met her on a Black August trip four years ago and I learned she was innocent and that all the pain and hate that had been placed upon her, she'd overcome. There's no way than anyone in this world should want to harm her. She’s such a beautiful human being.”"

Feds offer $1 million reward for fugitive Chesimard  5/2/2005 AP

ATTACKS ON HAVANA FILM FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK  5/1/2005 Cuba Now

The Cuban Ali  5/1/2005 The Observer: published 2/3/05 - "His house might have no hot water, but Teofilo Stevenson, the triple Olympic champ who chose Castro over Don King, has all the rum and adoration he wants."

Guerrillero»	«Pinar del Río
El Habanero»	«La Habana
Tribuna de La Habana»	«Ciudad de La Habana
Girón»	«Matanzas
Vanguardia»	«Villa Clara
5 de Septiembre»	«Cienfuegos
Escambray»	«Sancti Spíritus
Invasor»	«Ciego de Ávila
Adelante»	«Camagüey
26»	«Las Tunas
La Demajagua»	«Granma
Ahora»	«Holguín
Sierra Maestra»	«Santiago de Cuba
Venceremos»	«Guantánamo
Victoria»	«Isla de la Juventud

Radio Ciudad de La Habana	Radio Metropolitana
Tiempo 21	Radio Cadena Habana
Radio Sancti Spíritus	CMHW Villa Clara
Radio Victoria	Radio Ciudad del Mar

Bohemia	Habanera
Giga	Temas
Prisma	Negocios en Cuba
Alma Mater	Caimán Barbudo
Mujeres	La Jiribilla
La Gaceta de Cuba	Zunzún
Avances Médicos de Cuba	Travel Trade Cuba
Somos Jóvenes	Opus Habana
Tricontinental	Cine Cubano
Revolución y Cultura	Cuba Internacional
Ciencias de la Información	Salsa Cubana
Juventud Técnica	Pionero
Opciones	El economista
Notinet	El Fénix
Orbe	Senderos

Ceniai	IslaGrande
Infocom	Cubaweb
Infomed	Citmatel
Archivo Nacional	Cubaciencia
Cubanic	Cubarte
Cienfuegos	UPEC
Redsolar	Gobierno cubano
Sitio de Elián	Cuba demanda
Cuba contra el bloqueo	CubAhora
Sitio del Ajedrez en Cuba	Marinas Puertosol
Directorio Turístico de Cuba	Ballet Nacional de Cuba
Casa de las Américas	NO al ALCA

Cuba in the News
Archive: 5/05

List of Cuban provincial papers and other sites

Contacting AfroCubaWeb

Copyright © 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A.
Last modified: June 01, 2005

	AfroCubaWeb

Cuba in the News Archive: 5/05

List of Cuban provincial papers and other sites

Contacting AfroCubaWeb

Copyright © 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A. Last modified: June 01, 2005

Cuba in the News
Archive: 5/05

Copyright © 1997 AfroCubaWeb, S.A.
Last modified: June 01, 2005