Post election fallout suggest an escalation of US hostility
Campaign News | Friday, 14 January 2005
Cuban TV discusses the changes in Washington
Havana, Jan 11 - With representatives of the Cuban counterrevolution well placed in the US Congress and government, it appears that the Bush regime's holstility towards the island will continue on the rise.
Panelists on Cuban television's “Round Table” political discussion programme on January 11 commented on the arrival of Melquiades (Mel) Martinez to the US Senate while Carlos Gutierrez has been confirmed by Bush in the important post of Secretary of Commerce.
Martinez is a former Secretary of Housing and Human Development of the first George W. Bush administration.
During his tenure, he participated on a commission convened by President Bush to draft the report for what they called Assistance to a Free Cuba.
The 450-page document made proposals for the reinforcement of the economic, financial and commercial blockade against the island, some of which were implemented last year, and which are seen as a prelude to invasion.
In the view of the Round Table panelists, Martinez’s presence in the Senate will now be used by the Miami-based Cuban-American mafia to step up hostilities against the island.
In the meantime, observers note that Gutierrez will face contradictions in his performance as commerce secretary.
While he steadfastly defends the blockade policy on Cuba, he nwill face an agro industrial sector that increasingly wants to do business with the island and harshly criticizes the policy.
The Los Angeles Times recently editorialized on the increasing interest in doing business with Cuba, and noted that 108 companies from 35 states have sold products to the island. The paper called attention to the business opportunities the US loses with Cuba as a result of its blockade.
Mel Martinez’ invitation to former Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso to visit Miami was another topic considered by the Cuban journalists participating on the programme.
During her stay in Dade Country, Florida, Moscoso was warmly welcomed and honored for pardoning four terrorists of Cuban origin who had been arrested in her country.
Terrorists Luis Posada Carriles, Guillermo Novo, Pedro Remon and Gaspar Jimenez, were illegally released from prison by Moscoso as she concluded her presidential term, in complicity with the United States government and terrorists groups based in southern Florida.
The former president is currently being investigated by Panamanian legal authorities in conjunction with the pardoning, and other charges including corruption and bribery. There are other voices that also contend that the former head of state was possibly linked drug-trafficking.
Interviewed by Miami Channel 41 TV during her visit to the US, Moscoso repeatedly lied about her participation in the release of the four terrorists.
The Cuban television programme showed excerpts of the interview, where the former Panamanian President tried to portray herself as a victim of political persecution, while stressing that she always felt that the terrorists she pardoned were not responsible of any wrongdoing.
The panelists noted that the long history of crimes committed by these subjects in several countries is well known, and that the Panamanian Justice System found them guilty of charges relating to their plot to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during the Ibero-American Summit of November 2000.
Nonetheless, while in Miami, Moscoso was given special recognition by the mayor, Mani Diaz. In the ceremony, she expressed her satisfaction for sharing the turf with the murderers.
The Round Table presentations also touched on Pope John Paul II’s statement to Raul Roa Kouri, the new Cuban Ambassador to the Vatican. The pontiff reiterated his call for the lifting of the nearly half century US blockade on the island.
Another subject covered by the analysts was the White House financing and systematic use of a host of non-governmental organizations as a front for their activities of intelligence gathering and the destabilization of foreign states.
http://www.periodico26.cu/english_new/cuba/policy120105.htm
