Cuba hands over US citizen
Cuba hands over US citizen sought by Interpol
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Photo: Cubadebate archives
On 9 August 2018, the Cuban government handed over to authorities of the United States government in Havana the US citizen Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, who was wanted by the US justice system for crimes committed there, and who is also facing an Interpol arrest warrant with a Red Alert. This citizen entered the national territory on 31 July 2018.
This action is based on Cuba’s strict compliance with its international legal obligations and existing bilateral agreements with the United States on compliance and enforcement, and the cooperation that both Governments are developing on that front.
Interpol Red Alerts refer to persons who are under search of national jurisdictions. It provides for the arrest or provisional detention of persons wanted for extradition. The legal basis for issuing a Red Alert Order is the arrest warrant or court decision issued by the judicial authorities of the country concerned.
Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, 50, who is accused by a court in Portland, Oregon, of conspiracy and arson for a series of incidents that took place in the 1990s and 2000s, according to the FBI file, was internationally circulated by Interpol.
(With Information from Cubaminrex and agencies.)
Cuba hands over US citizen sought by Interpol
Cuba hands over US citizen sought by Interpol
On Thursday, August 9, the Government of Cuba handed over to the authorities of the United States government the US citizen Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, who is wanted by the US justice system and who is also subject to an Interpol arrest warrant with a Red Alert.
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The Government of Cuba handed over to U.S. government authorities on Thursday, August 9, the U.S. citizen Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, who is wanted by the U.S. justice system and who is the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant with a Red Alert, the daily Juventud Rebelde reports.
Author: Digital Editor | internet@granma.cu
August 11, 2018 10:08:20
Information published on the CubaMinrex website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba details the following:
On 9 August 2018, the Cuban government handed over to United States government authorities in Havana a US citizen wanted by the US justice system for crimes committed there, who is also facing an Interpol arrest warrant with a Red Alert. This citizen entered the national territory on July 31, 2018.
This action is based on Cuba’s strict compliance with its international legal obligations and existing bilateral agreements with the United States on compliance and enforcement, and the cooperation that both Governments are developing on that front.
Interpol’s Red Alerts refer to people who are being sought by national jurisdictions. What it stipulates is the arrest or provisional arrest of the persons sought for extradition. The legal basis for issuing a Red Alert order is the arrest warrant or judicial decision issued by the judicial authorities of the interested country.
Chucho Valdés album dedicated to his father
Chucho Valdés will release an album dedicated to his father
Chucho Valdés: I dedicate the album to my father because this year is the centenary of his birth, he was the first one to insert the batá drums in a Big Band, creating the so-called batanga rhythm.
By Juventud Rebelde
digital@juventudrebelde.cu
Posted: Thursday August 9, 2018 | 12:39:36 PM
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Cuban jazzman Jesús “Chucho” Valdésut confirmed on Wednesday that he will release the album Jazz Batá II, a recording dedicated to his father, also a jazzman, Bebo Valdés, in October.
“I dedicate the album to my father because this year it is the centenary of his birth. He was the first to insert the batá drums in a Big Band, thus creating the so-called batanga rhythm”, said the multi-awarded pianist in a press conference, according to PL.
One of the songs I include in the recording, he said, “I played it when I was a kid, and many years later I played it for him and I didn’t remember it, I called it 100 years of Bebo.
Another new development from the Cuban jazz musician is the project “Chucho en buena compañía” (Chucho in good company), a series of concerts that he will offer in August each year, starting in 2019, in Havana with special guests.
It will be something special, he said, and I already have plans to start with Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea, said the winner of six Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.
Valdés is in the capital of the island to present in concert the album “Once. Concierto para dos”, which he recorded with the Argentine singer Patricia Sosa.
Both of them will take to the stage of the Gran Teatro de La Habana “Alicia Alonso” on Saturday, August 11 to perform the songs on the album. The Cuban will also present solo themes, and with a special character they will share a few themes with Omara Portuondo.
Where do Assassins Come From?
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Where do Assassins Come From?
The imam who inspired the Orlando assassin was a homophobic ex-Marine and former FBI agent
14 June 2016 22:36:33 CDT
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
Marcus Dwayne Robertson was undercover FBI agent for 15 years.
Author: dailymail
WASHINGTON, June 14.- Omar Mateen, Orlando’s killer, was a follower of Marcus Dwayne Robertson, a former imam who preached hatred of homosexuals.
Robertson, 47, has a past that raises more than one question about the effectiveness of U.S. intelligence controls of suspected terrorists, ANSA said.
The imam, who was allegedly interrogated Sunday along with other colleagues, has been known to law enforcement since 1991, when he was first arrested, Foxnews reported.
This is an American ex-marine who later became the leader of a New York gang known as Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, considered responsible for robbing more than ten banks, post offices and houses, as well as shooting three policemen.
At that time Robertson served as a bodyguard for Omar Abdel Rahman, known as “The Blind Sheik,” who led the terrorist group that attacked the World Trade Center in 1993.
But after his arrest, along with others in the gang, the plaintiff reached an agreement with Robertson: a sentence of only four years in prison, before working as an undercover agent for the FBI to document terrorist plans and networks in Africa, Egypt and the United States.
In 2011, Marcus was re-arrested and sentenced to four years for fiscal fraud and violation of the weapons law: his goal was to pay for a Mauritanian student’s trip to teach him how to be a terrorist.
The prosecution asked to add another ten years for his links to terrorism, but district judge Gregory Presnell released him last year.
During his detention he was confined to solitary confinement because he was suspected of having radicalized at least 36 prisoners.
Robertson launched a seminar on Islam, via the Internet: a spiritual school frequented by Omar Mateen that may not have been the only source of inspiration for the author of the Orlando massacre.
In fact, Mateen was in the Islamic center of Fort Pierce with Imam Shafig Rahman two days before the attack, according to The Washington Post.
This mosque was also frequented by Monar Abu Salha, also known as Al-Amriky (the American), considered the first with that nationality to commit a suicide bombing in Idlib, Syria, in 2014, as a militant of a group linked to al-Qaeda.
Mateen and Abu Salha knew each other and this relationship led the FBI to interrogate the former in 2014, though without judicial follow-up.
Imam Rahman confirmed that Omar “prayed in the mosque three or four times a week” and took part in the evening ceremonies, recently even “with his little son”.
Orlando’s killer was not very sociable: “Once the prayer was over, he left, he didn’t socialize with anyone. He never seemed like a violent person,” Rahman said.
¿De dónde vienen los asesinos?
Un homofóbico exmarine y exagente del FBI, el imán que inspiró al asesino de Orlando
Marcus Dwayne Robertson fue agente encubierto del FBI durante 15 años.
Autor: dailymail
Juventud Rebelde
digital@juventudrebelde.cu
14 de Junio del 2016 22:36:33 CDT
WASHINGTON, junio 14.— Omar Mateen, el asesino de Orlando, era seguidor de Marcus Dwayne Robertson, un exmarine devenido imán, que predicaba el odio contra los homosexuales.
Robertson, de 47 años, tiene un pasado que plantea más de una interrogante sobre la eficacia de los controles a sospechosos de terrorismo por parte de los servicios de inteligencia estadounidenses, dijo ANSA.
El imán, quien habría sido interrogado el domingo junto a otros colegas, es conocido por las fuerzas del orden desde 1991, cuando fue arrestado por primera vez, informó Foxnews.
Se trata de un exmarine estadounidense quien luego se convirtió en jefe de una banda de Nueva York, conocida como Alí Babá y los 40 ladrones, considerada responsable de haber robado más de diez bancos, oficinas postales y casas, además de haber disparado contra tres policías.
En aquella época Robertson se desempeñó como guardaespaldas de Omar Abdel Rahman, conocido como «El Jeque Ciego», quien guió al grupo terrorista que atacó al World Trade Center, en 1993.
Pero tras su arresto, junto a otros de la banda, la parte demandante alcanzó un acuerdo con Robertson: una pena de solo cuatro años de cárcel, antes de trabajar como agente encubierto para el FBI para documentar planes y redes terroristas en África, Egipto y Estados Unidos.
En 2011, Marcus fue arrestado nuevamente y condenado a cuatro años por fraudes fiscales y violación de la ley de armas: su objetivo era pagar el viaje de un estudiante de Mauritania para instruirlo como terrorista.
La acusación pidió agregar otros diez años por sus vínculos con el terrorismo, pero el juez distrital Gregory Presnell lo dejó en libertad el año pasado.
Durante su detención estuvo confinado a aislamiento porque era sospechoso de haber radicalizado al menos a 36 encarcelados.
Robertson lanzó un seminario sobre el Islam, vía Internet: escuela espiritual frecuentada por Omar Mateen y que podría no haber sido la única fuente de inspiración del autor de la masacre de Orlando.
De hecho, Mateen estaba en el centro islámico de Fort Pierce junto al imán Shafig Rahman, dos días antes del atentado, según informó el diario The Washington Post.
Esa mezquita era también frecuentada por Monar Abu Salha, conocido también como Al-Amriky (El estadounidense), considerado el primero con esa nacionalidad en cometer un atentado suicida en Idlib, Siria, en 2014, como militante de un grupo ligado a Al Qaeda.
Mateen y Abu Salha se conocían y esta relación llevó al FBI a interrogar al primero en 2014, aunque sin seguimiento judicial.
El imán Rahman confirmó que Omar «rezaba en la mezquita tres o cuatro veces a la semana» y formaba parte de las ceremonias nocturnas, recientemente incluso «con su pequeño hijo».
El asesino de Orlando no era muy sociable: «Una vez finalizada la plegaria se iba, no socializaba con nadie. Nunca pareció una persona violenta», relató Rahman.
Why Three Popes in Twenty Years?
Why Three Popes in Twenty Years?
By Manuel E. Yepe
http://manuelyepe.wordpress.com/
Exclusive for the daily POR ESTO! of Merida, Mexico.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann.
In less than twenty years, three Popes have visited Cuba. This is something really surprising when you consider that this archipelago is a country geographically and demographically small, and has a relatively small number of Catholics compared to other nations of Latin America.
After four centuries of colonialism –during which the official religion, with total exclusivity, was Catholicism– an “independent” republic emerged in Cuba under the protection and control of the United States. During that republican period, Cuban society, in fact, maintained Catholicism as its main religion for the first half of the 20th Century.
Although the 1902 and 1940 constitutions stipulated the separation between church and state, their texts identified Christian morality as the ethical rule for society. This was to the detriment of any other non-Christian morality and thus ignored the cultural, moral and religious diversity required in such a plural community in terms of ethnicities, religions and traditions.
The process of formation of the Cuban nationality, the struggle for independence from Spain, and the successive stages in building an independent national project as is the current socialist society, have been characterized by a secular orientation… anticlerical to some extent. This does not mean that religion was absent from the motivations of the patriots, but the objectives have always been formulated on secular foundations.
The first time the separation of church and state was proclaimed as a constitutional principle in Cuba was during the Republic in Arms [during the 19th Century war for independence] when Cubans were fighting the colonial regimes of Spain … and Catholicism.
Relations between the Catholic Church and the Revolutionary Government –which took power in 1959 after a bloody struggle against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista– have gone through big challenges and tense moments.
The social transformations generated by the revolution and the development of its independent and socialist project had great impact on the process of demystification of nature. Because of its character, which renewed traditions, customs and culture in general, the revolution had a secularizing effect on society.
The legislative actions and practices of the revolution, such as the law for nationalization of education, limited the social space of the Catholic religion in Cuba, and extended it to others, such as the Spiritualists, those associated with African religions, and the Pentecostals. All these managed access to public spaces to which they had very little access previously, because of the Christian and Catholic religious monopoly.
Just remember that before 1959, the Cuban Criminal Legislation included as an aggravating factor the practice of brujeria
(witchcraft), the term with which the predominant Christian culture identified those religions originated in Africa, that were widespread in Cuba, especially among the poorest sectors.
In 1991, the Fourth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba corrected sectarian errors committed in the heat of the initial clashes. It modified its statutes and declared itself as a secular non-atheist organization. It also eliminated admission barriers in the political organization for people with religious beliefs.
As a result of this, in the midst of a situation of apparent contraction of the social space of religion, the Cuban revolution created the basic legal and social conditions for a genuine religious pluralism, without confessional or institutional distinction; as well as for something that had never existed before in the country and which few nations can boast of having: a genuine religious freedom.
Admittedly, after some initial negative episodes promoted by the strong influence of Pope Pius XII and the Fascist ideas of some Spanish priests inserted in the Cuban Catholic hierarchy, the Vatican has promoted a very constructive policy in its relations with Cuba
But the current positive practice did not start as a result of the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998 –as some have written several times– but after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). On this, it is fair to acknowledge as essential, the role of the then newly appointed Apostolic Nuncio in Havana, Archbishop Cesare Zacchi, today considered the “Architect of peace between church and state in Cuba.”
The impressive popular and official welcome offered to Pope Francis in Havana seems to confirm forecasts that Latin America and the humble peoples of the world can count on the moral and ethical support of this charismatic guide of Catholicism who is willing to clean and thoroughly renew the image of his Church, bringing it closer to the Poor.
Now that US elites want to turn back history in the Latin American countries which are in the process of liberation from the domination by the North, this support could be really transcendental.
September 19, 2015.
Mass traffic accident in Sancti Spíritus
Mass traffic accident in Sancti Spíritus, 30 injured reported (+ Photos and Video)
By Israel Hernández Álvarez
July 28, 2018.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
View of the state of the Yutong bus after the traffic accident that occurred at dawn on July 28, 2018 at kilometer 327 of the National Highway, near Cabaiguán, in the Sancti Spíritus province, when the bus went off the road and when trying to get up it overturned. Photo: Oscar Alfonso Sosa/ ACN.
One person was reported seriously injured among the 30 injured in the traffic accident that occurred at dawn this Saturday at kilometer 327 of the National Highway, belonging to the province of Sancti Spíritus.
The incident occurred when a Yutong bus went off the road and its driver, trying to incorporate it into the road, lost control of the vehicle, which overturned.
The general hospital Camilo Cienfuegos received the injured, some of whom received first aid at the mother and child hospital in the municipality of Cabaiguán.
Two children are in a state of care and are cared for at the José Martí Provincial Pediatric Hospital.
At noon today, 22 people with minor injuries had already been discharged from the hospital and, after receiving the appropriate treatment and verifying their good state of health, they continued their journey to Havana, the destination of the National Bus Company’s vehicle, which was arriving by freight from Baracoa, in the province of Guantánamo.
Dr. Eduardo Pedrosa Prado, director of the Camilo Cienfuegos Hospital, told ACN that, as in these cases, the Integrated Emergency Medical System was immediately activated and the injured were provided with the necessary resources for their care.
Every four hours, Pedrosa Prado added, we make the visit pass, and in correspondence with the evolution of the patients we will adopt the behavior to follow with them.
Upon learning of the incident, authorities of the Cuban Communist Party, the Government and the Health Ministry in the territory went to the largest health centre in Sancti Spíritus to take an interest in the wounded and their medical care.
This is the fifth massive accident that has taken place this year in the territory of the Spirit, and the second in less than 10 days; the previous one took place in the early hours of last Saturday at kilometer 332, also on the National Highway, in which 37 people were injured.
Injured patients receive care at the Camilo Cienfuegos Provincial Hospital. Photo: Cristóbal Álamo/ Escambray.
View of the right side of the Yutong bus state, involved in the traffic accident that occurred at dawn on July 28, 2018 at kilometer 327 of the National Highway, near Cabaiguán, in Sancti Spíritus province, when the bus went off the road and when trying to get on board it capsized. Photo: Oscar Alfonso Sosa/ ACN.
The injured were immediately taken to the Camilo Cienfuegos General Hospital in Sancti Spíritus, where they were treated on July 28, 2018. Photo: Oscar Alfonso Sosa/ ACN.
View of the state of the Yutong bus after the traffic accident that occurred at dawn on July 28, 2018 at kilometer 327 of the National Highway, near Cabaiguán, in the Sancti Spíritus province, when the bus went off the road and when trying to get up it overturned. Photo: Oscar Alfonso Sosa/ ACN.
Curiosities About the Sexual Act
Curiosities About the Sexual Act Around the World
Sexual intercourse is possibly the oldest and most universal practice in the world, but the way in which each person does it differs considerably from country to country.
By Juventud Rebelde digital@juventudrebelde.cu
Published: 03/08/2018 | 05:15 pm
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Love eros is an idealized form of love, it is the passionate feeling of ecstasy experienced at the beginning of a new relationship, where passion and physical attraction are the driving forces, tends not to last in the long run. Author: Juventud Rebelde.
After research by the BBC Crossing Continents programme, she discovered fascinating facts about culture and sex.
When it comes to having sex, there’s a little bit of everything: from people who practice celibacy to those who dance with apples in their armpits as part of sexual conquest.
Some of the most striking customs are:
1. Proper names for the genitals
The ancient Hawaiians used to give their genitals affectionate names. But not only that, both royalty and commoners had their own mele ma’i, a personalized genital song.
These lyrical odes would describe the lower regions of the individual in some detail and quite broadly.
An expert on Hawaiian sexual behavior, Dr. Milton Diamond, tells how Queen Lili’uokulani’s song speaks of her genitals “frolicking, going up and down”.
2. Towards celibacy
The birth rate in Japan is declining, as are contraceptive methods such as condoms and the pill. Abortions and sexually transmitted diseases have also declined.
“The only explanation is that the Japanese are having less sex,” says Kunio Kitamura, head of Japan’s family planning association.
Recent research has shown that there are a record number of couples living in marriage without sex and that one-third of men say they are too tired to have sex.
The report notes that a quarter of women consider sex to be problematic.
Another survey, which examined people between the ages of 18 and 34, found that the proportion of virgin people had skyrocketed over the past decade: almost 45% said they had never had sex.
3. A day marked for conception
In Russia, meanwhile, the birth rate is advocated to increase, so one region of the country has introduced an ingenious way of getting the population to procreate.
The governor of Ulyanovsk, just east of Moscow, declared September 12 as Conception Day: a holiday that encourages couples to stay at home for the sole purpose of producing offspring.
Couples who have a baby nine months later receive prizes such as video cameras, refrigerators and washing machines.
4. The fish of conquest
In the small town of Mehinaku, in central Brazil, women have devised a simple way to decide between their suitors. There, the men who compete for a woman’s affection have to bring her a fish as a gift and the one who gets the biggest piece takes the girl.
5. Apples with fragrance
In rural Austria, it was traditional for women to attend a dance with apple slices under their armpits, after inspecting the men in the room, to offer the chosen one a piece of the sweaty apple.
If the feelings were reciprocal and the man also liked her, he would take a bite out of the apple…. which would certainly have a “special” essence.
6. Falling to the ground
This is a community where being clumsy on the dance floor can really help you in your conquest. The men and women of a Colombian Guajira tribe participate in a special ceremonial dance, in which if a woman causes a man to stumble during the dance, then both must have sex.
This practice gives a new meaning to the phrase “fall asleep”.
7. Holidays…. “active”
According to research by the travel company Spies Travel, Danes have 46% more sex on holiday, not to mention that 10% of Danish babies are conceived during their parents’ holidays.
As a reward for such activity on holiday days, in 2014 the travel agency offered three years of baby supplies and a child-friendly holiday to any of its customers who could prove that they had conceived during their holiday.
8. Those who practice most
According to a global survey conducted by condom manufacturer Durex, which included nearly 30,000 people over the age of 16 in 26 different countries, Greece is the place to be.
Conspiracy Against Venezuela
The Actors in the Conspiracy Against Venezuela
By Eduardo Andrade Bone*, Resumen Latin Americano Summary, August 7, 2018.
Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
https://walterlippmann.com/conspiracy-against-venezuela/
The recent assassination attempt against Nicolás Maduro, whose drone operation was neutralized by members of the Bolivarian National Armed Force, is part of a long-standing plan to end the process of change in Venezuela, known as the Bolivarian Revolution. But it was also an attempt to warn the armed forces, with the aim of dividing them and adding a sector to promote a coup d’état.
Now the U.S. offensive to end the Maduro administration dates back to the administration of Barack Obama, who issued the executive order (decree 2015) declaring Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy. Subsequently, US President Donald Trump ordered a one-year extension of the “National Emergency” against Venezuela. This has also taken the form of economic sanctions, sanctions against government officials and the armed forces. The US government has also promoted the blockade of food products and various medicines, all within the destabilising plans of the White House.
Attempts to destabilize the Venezuelan government have many sides and also many actors who, directly or from the shadows, constantly conspire against Venezuelan democracy. Venezuelan U.S. lackeys, foreign plotters, U.S.-funded NGOs, organizations of diverse professionals, the national plutocracy and the most reactionary and conservative section of the Catholic Church are often the main plotters in the Caribbean country.
Among these various actors, who play a leading role in putting an end to the Bolivarian revolution, is the Organization of American States, whose Secretary General Luis Almagro is a good vassal of U.S. interests for the region and one of the leaders leading the conspiracy, as well as coordinating actions with the European Union and some NATO member countries (Colombia).
The new Colombian president, Iván Duque, also insisted that the region should support the secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, in his efforts to continue to plot against the Maduro government before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Duque met with Almagro last July 1, during his visit to the United States after his election.
We also have the so-called Lima Group, made up of right-wing governments whose presidents are mostly members of the ranks of the presidents linked to corruption (Odebrecht+-), among them the Macri family (Argentina), bank swindler Sebastián Piñera (Chile), Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia) and Peña Nieto (Mexico), who have almost completed their terms. The corrupt and de facto president of Brazil, Michel Temer. In addition to countries traditionally servile to U.S. policies such as Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Peru, also with leaders questioned for corruption.
Recently and before the end of his term in office, Juan Manuel Santos told the press that… “I see the fall of the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela coming,” said the outgoing president of Colombia, and then added that Maduro would fall, hopefully in a “peaceful way”. However, Santos insisted, “I wish that tomorrow” Maduro’s government would end, exposing him as one of the main plotters against Venezuela.
Now the successor of Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), the already president of Colombia, Uribe’s Ivan Duque, agreed in his visit as president-elect with the White House with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (July 5, 2018), to continue pressuring the Venezuelan government. “We talked about the situation in Colombia, about our security agenda, we also talked about the situation being experienced in the continent by the dictatorship in Venezuela,” Duque told the press.
For his part, Pence told a Tweet that he had spoken to Duque about the bilateral “strategic alliance“”in the fight against drug trafficking” and that they had “reiterated the need to maintain pressure on the regime of (Venezuelan President Nicolás) Maduro to face the tragic collapse of democracy in Venezuela”.
Duque gave Pence a glimpse of a possible military route in Venezuela after the White House confirmed to the Efe agency that U.S. President Donald Trump asked his team last year about an invasion of the Caribbean country and, although he never really planned for it, that option has not been ruled out.
But that wasn’t all, as Duque concluded his trip to Washington where he met with other U.S. officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CIA Director Gina Haspel and National Security Advisor John Bolton. Also with the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, and the directors of the World Bank, all this happened on July 5 of this year.
He later stated that he had invited Pence to his inauguration on 7 August and hoped that “the US would have the highest possible representation”. Now, in the act of assassination of Duque, he has been considering a coordination meeting with Mike Pence and Luis Almagro, as well as with some representatives of the opposition to the Maduro government, with the aim of refining and coordinating the way in which they are trying to put an end to Nicolás Maduro and his government, whose final objective is none other than to appropriate Venezuela’s natural resources, especially one of the largest oil reserves in the world, which the Caribbean country has.
Hence, all the cards are already out on the table and they are none other than the economic suffocation, the assassination attempt as has happened during these days, the possibility of creating conditions for a coup d’état by dividing the armed forces, promoting terrorist actions that disconcert the population, unleashing a civil war or producing a direct military intervention, whose cannon fodder first is the paramilitaries and drug trafficking cartels of Colombia, and then continuing with the U.S. military personnel who are based in the eight military bases that the United States has in Colombia.
It is also worth noting that the Empire has an important ally for its destabilizing attempts, the various radical left-wing groups that do not support and do not contribute anything to the process of change and that from certain media through the Internet, are dedicated to ranting against the Bolivarian revolution by playing into the hands of the coup plotters, a factor that must also be taken into account when analyzing Venezuela’s domestic policy.
Hence, the story of the humanitarian crisis, the human rights problems and the character of dictatorship are elements that are exploited by the Western media with the aim of creating all the propitious conditions to facilitate and justify the destabilization of the government of Nicolás Maduro and the process of change in Venezuela.
For the Venezuelan oligarchy, the big businessmen and the geopolitical interests of the U.S. in the region, anything goes, including plunging Venezuela into a bloodbath, where the big losers will be the working class, the social sectors that support the process of change, the members of the armed forces that support the Bolivarian revolution and the loss of control over its natural resources, as simple as that.
Eduardo Andrade Bone is an AIP/MP press correspondent.
New Face of Palestinian Resistance
Ahed Tamimi, the new face of Palestinian Resistance
The 16-year-old girl arrested by the Israeli army two weeks ago has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.
Author: Ernesto J. Gómez Figueredo | internet@granma.cu
January 5, 2018 01:01:52
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
The international campaign for the liberation of Tamimi, the new flag against imperialist policy in the Middle East. Photo: PalestineFree Photo: Palestinalibre
With curly, thin, brave hair, that’s the image of Ahed Tamimi, the 16-year-old girl arrested by the Israeli army two weeks ago who has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance.
An Israeli military court charged the teenager with 12 crimes after the incident in which she slapped a Zionist army soldier after he entered her backyard.
Thanks to his family’s filming of the events, images of his resistance went around the world.
Tamimi is one of many minors arrested by the Zionist army for the purpose of being “interrogated” about alleged illegal activities. Army spokesmen confirmed that Ahed is charged with “assaulting a soldier”.
“She argued with the Zionist Defense Forces because her cousin Mohammad, 15, had been shot,” her father said. The Israeli version is that they were “throwing stones”.
According to the Committee for Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs, the number of Palestinians detained by Israeli security forces since US President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel on 6 December has risen to 610, including 170 minors.
The young woman lives in Nabi Saleh, 20 kilometers from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. He claims he wants them to see them as fighters, not victims. “Ahed says she does what any Palestinian child does, but she is filmed,” her father said in an article in the Haaretz newspaper.
“I do not want to be identified as a victim, and I will not give your actions the power to define who I am and will be. I choose to decide for myself how you will see me. We don’t want your support because of photogenic tears, but because we choose the fight and the fight is fair. This is going to be the only way we will ever stop crying,” wrote the father, reproducing Ahed’s words.
Tamimi is already an international heroine of the Palestinian cause and after her arrest her mother and cousin were also arrested.
The arrest of the Tamimi family was like the fire that awaited the sleeping powder of the international community to react. For days now, social networks have been flooded with messages calling for the release of mother, daughter and cousin, under the labels #FreeAhedTamimi and #LibertadAhedTamimi.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Ahed’s father, Basem Tamimi, a Fatah militant, and praised the family for “the key role” in the protests in his people against the Israeli occupation and settlements, according to an official statement.
“I can’t think about the future because the Israeli occupation prevents me from thinking about it. When I went to play in the streets, the army would come in and start shooting,” she said.
The international campaign for the liberation of Ahed Tamimi is a new flag against imperialist policy in the Middle East and highlights the crimes committed by the Zionist regime.
Ahed Tamimi, Rebel With a Cause
LEADING FIGURES
Ahed Tamimi, Rebel With a Cause
With her, Palestine found what the media had long ago not allowed to be seen in those parts of the world: rebellion, beyond resistance.
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Author: Darcy Borrero Batista | darcy@granma.cu
August 7, 2018 17:08:03
A CubaNews translation.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.
The Palestinian teenager arrives at a press conference with her mother Nariman (right) in her hometown. Photo: El Clarin
She entered the Israeli prison of Hasharon at the age of 16, with abundant curly hair, uncovered, and rebellion scattered among her belongings. Eight months passed from that day until the last Sunday in July, when Palestinian Ahed Tamimi, now 17, regained her freedom from the Israeli occupiers.
With it, Palestine found what the media had long ago not allowed to be seen in those parts of the world: rebellion, beyond resistance.
The teenager did not stand idly by in the face of the abuse of her family. The video, in which she is frankly dissatisfied with the Israeli violence against her brothers, was shown as a trophy of war, as if responding to the violence were, in this case, a peaceful exercise and not an act of rebellion.
Because of the way they act, it is not possible to speak of the symbolic as something common. In a thinner and thinner strip, Tamimi gets up the way flags do and while some want to make it look like they’re touching the ground, the airs of real struggle make them rise to the top of the flagpole.
Her adolescent face then emerges as a challenge to the status quo, even if the Israeli regime seeks to grab the pole with no other limit than to lower the Palestinian flag and keep the territory on the other side of the line.
Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel – a state conceived for the Hebrew vindication after the racist anti-Semitic war unfolded by fascism – sets in motion the conflict in which Tamimi emerges as the voice of an urgent humanitarian cause: the cessation of extortion against the Palestinians, who are increasingly losing their land, their freedom and even their right to a dignified life.
Since she was imprisoned, Tamimi’s videos – the last of them slapping and kicking an occupying soldier in her village, the occupied West Bank, and the first threatening to punch a soldier after her older brother was arrested – have been manipulated in many ways. There are those who call them “Pallywood” in a mocking tone and say that the teenager is exploited by her family, who are accused of using her to try to provoke the Israeli soldiers.
The difference between the two videos is several years. The most recent was recorded on December 15 and the oldest when Tamimi was 11 years old.
Three out of four Palestinians detained by Israel are youth or adolescents. PHOTO: palestinalibre.org.
Tamimi seems to have plenty of hope despite all that she experienced at her young age. In a certain way, she reflected this when she said: “power is in the people and the people are the masters of their destiny and their future”. Her followers responded with applause.
The young woman also showed her solidarity with the Bedouin people of Khan al-Ahmar, who are awaiting demolition by Israel, and refused to answer questions from the Israeli media. Instead, she expressed appreciation for the media support received during the months of her imprisonment and hoped that the campaign for her release would be extended to the rest of the Palestinian adolescents who remain in Israeli jails.
Remember that this girl was arrested in December and sentenced on March 21, after accepting a suffocating agreement with the Office of the Prosecutor and assuming the charges of aggravated incitement and aggression, among others. Thus they condemned the rebellion with Tamimi’s cause. It would be necessary to see in which court it is condemned to the Israeli soldiers, the “defenseless” ones that take to jail to these adolescents, only to give them a slaps full of dignity and love to theirs.
IN CONTEXT:
– The Government of Israel applies the age of criminal responsibility for Palestinians to 12 years. In addition, children can be imprisoned for up to five years for just throwing stones.
– Every year, between 500 and 700 Palestinian children in the West Bank are arrested and interrogated by Israeli forces before being tried in military courts. Most of them are accused of throwing stones.
– Since 2000, some 7,500 Palestinian children aged 12 and over have been detained and tried by this judicial system.
– According to a report by Defense for Children International, a total of 210 children and one girl are currently in prison in Israel, 34 of them under the age of 16.
– Nearly two-thirds of Palestinian children and minors detained by the Israeli regime in 2017 were abused by their captors, according to a report by the Palestinian non-governmental organization Military Court Watch.
– International law prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons under 18 years of age.
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