Mr. Castro is Mr. Chávez's guide in the art of gently and gradually introducing authoritarian government to Venezuela. Mr. Chávez abolished the Senate and established a unicameral Parliament whose members support him. He has a new constitution, approved by a simple majority of voters in a referendum, that grants him considerable power.
To complicate matters and his relations with the United States, Mr. Chávez has been openly supporting leftist guerrilla movements in neighboring Colombia. The rebels control big swaths of Colombian territory, along with numerous coca plantations. Washington has already committed $1.3 billion, mainly in military aid, to the eradication of both guerrillas and coca plantations. This could foreshadow a big U.S. commitment in Colombia and an eventual conflict with Mr. Chávez that may interfere with the flow of oil north from Venezuela.***
Letter: Castro Made Soviets Worried***Weeks after the Soviet Union agreed to pull offensive missiles from Cuba in 1962, Nikita Khrushchev was worried that an "irrational" Fidel Castro would renew tensions with the United States, possibly even provoking a war, newly released documents show. Cuba "wants practically to drag us behind it with a leash, and wants to pull us into a war with America by its actions," Khrushchev said in a Nov. 16 letter to diplomatic aides in Cuba.***
Outide View: Castro on the Skids***In international capital markets, reputation is everything. So it was little surprise when Reuters reported on July 8 that, "Direct foreign investment in Cuba plummeted to $38.9 million in 2001 from $488 million the year before." And earlier in the year, despite Castro's tantrum, Russia closed its spy facility near Havana, which will cost the Cuban government $200 million per year in foregone rent payments. Castro's current creditors are far from happy with these circumstances, as many have not received payment on interest of principal credit since 1986. Without even counting Castro's debt to Russia, which he will not pay because he declares his debt is to a country that "no longer exists," Havana owes billions of dollars to western banks and former socialist countries.***
Cuba shuts sugar mills - workers hold 9th grade education - degree not any better *** Since many sugar workers have only a ninth-grade education, officials said the government is building new schools to allow them to receive a salary while studying for their high-school diplomas. Classes will include computer training, as well as vocational skills for the emerging industries, they said. Whether there will be jobs for everyone, and whether the restructuring of the sugar industry will suffice to ease Cuba's economic problems are both uncertain, said Antonio Jorge, a professor of economics at Florida International University.
Cuba imports about twice as much as it exports, and has high debt, including loans from Russia that have yet to be renegotiated, while European companies have suspended commercial credit for nonpayment, Jorge said. "Cuba's economy is at a very crucial moment," the professor said. "It doesn't possess the capability to keep on importing and that means major crisis." ***
THE CONGRESS AND SENATE'S SUPPORT OF CASTRO'S TERROR NETWORK*** World renown and highly respected American investigative journalist and author, Claire Sterling, who is considered one of the foremost experts on international terrorism, wrote in 1981 a definitive report on this theme in her book "The Terror Network, The Secret War on International terrorism." According to her: "All of the world's emerging terrorist bands in the 1970's were indebted to the Cubans and their Russian patrons for that honeycomb of camps around Havana. None could have started without rudimentary training, and those who didn't train in Cuba were trained by others who did." Twenty years later, the central and main head of the terrorism network is still the same diabolical tyrant, Fidel Castro. What Sterling wrote then, still applies and helps to understand the central role of Castro in today's terrorist explosion and his relationship with the "axis of evil." ***
Russian Expert: 'Strong Suspicions' of Cuban Bio Threat***Currently, thousands of Cuban scientists laboring at 38 institutes continue to refine products for treatment of cancers of the lung, head, neck, breast and ovaries, as well as chemo-therapeutics derived from snake venom, an epidermal growth factor, and a recombinant vaccine against ticks. Castro's ultimate propaganda message is that his country is selflessly working to provide affordable life-saving meds to an overlooked Third World still dying in droves from AIDS and even cholera. If all this is but a covering ruse to proliferate forbidden technologies to dangerous foes, it is that much more dangerous and sinister. Experts like Alibek, who have been to the dark side, are very skeptical of Cuba's intentions - despite all the window dressing.***
Defector sees Cuba in crisis***He said Raul Castro, 71, is less inclined toward one-man rule and would be more flexible in allowing reforms, but that he drinks too much and is not very healthy. Mr. Hidalgo said that Fidel Castro, who turned 76 last week, took better care of himself. Using intelligence culled from a Russian spy facility at Lourdes in Cuba, Mr. Hidalgo worked as part of a high-level Cuban delegation to Iraq in early 1991 that tried to convince Saddam Hussein that he could not win a war against the United States. "We told him he'd be defeated, and that would be a defeat for every revolutionary force in the world," said Mr. Hidalgo, who has met Saddam on several occasions. "He didn't listen. He was very rude. Saddam is a disgusting person."
Rumsfeld Bluntly Warns Russia Ties To Iraq Will Hurt It*** "What that tells people in business is that is not an environment that is hospitable for investment, that it is not a place that they want to invest....To the extent that the country is saying to world that they want to be known as close personal friends to Saddam Hussein, and Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il and those folks, it sends a signal that is harmful to them," Rumsfeld said. In another part of his remarks, Rumsfeld also included Libya in the list of states he was warning Russia not to do business with.***
Venezuela-Libya Ties Coming to the Surface ***However, Venezuelan sources with longtime ties to Rich said negotiations with Crown Resources ended last year when a due diligence investigation turned up "troubling indications" of links with suspected Russian mobsters. Rich, who fled to Switzerland to avoid tax-evasion charges and was pardoned by former President Bill Clinton in January 2001, may have feared running afoul of legal authorities in the United States and Europe if he closed a deal with the firm. If the allegations involving Crown Resources are accurate, it would indicate that high-level officials in the Chavez regime are involved not only in questionable loan and investment negotiations with the governments of Libya and Cuba, but also with a company alleged to have ties to some members of Russia's criminal underworld.***
Havana: Cuban leader Fidel Castro has accused the Czech Republic of spying on his country in a blistering verbal attack. The Czech embassy in Havana was "a cave of spies" which had "spent 10 years spying," he said on Friday, during the final session of an international economists' meeting in Havana. His comments came as Cuba continued to hold two Czech officials, arrested in the central Cuban province of Ciego de Avila on January 12, 2001 after meeting pro-democracy dissidents.
Castro demanded that the Czech Republic offer an apology for the activities of former Czech Finance Minister Ivan Pilip and former student leader Jan Bubenik who were charged with acting against Cuba's security and inciting a rebellion. Cuban authorities have claimed the two detainees acted on behalf of American interests, gathering information and providing instructions to anti-communist dissidents. They could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.
Czech President Vaclav Havel has refused to apologise but Castro suggested such action would help solve the dispute between the two countries.
"Offer an apology to our country -- there must be an excuse," Castro said. "We are telling the truth and we have the proof."
U.S. officials have branded the accusations "ludicrous" and Havel and Prime Minister Milos Zeman said the country had no reason to apologise. "There have not been any credible charges nor any substantial evidence brought against our two citizens, so I see no reason why we should apologise in this matter," Zeman said earlier.
Czech Senate President Petr Pithart is currently in Cuba hoping to meet Castro to discuss the case. Pilip's wife, Lucie, who visited her husband in prison last week, said the two are in good spirits and good physical condition and are awaiting trial, expected within 60 days - "Castro accuses Czechs of spying," CNN, The Associated Press contributed to this report, Feb 3, 2001