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Politics : About that Cuban boy, Elian -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Volsi Mimir who wrote (1656)	4/22/2000 6:02:00 PM
From: The Barracuda™	Respond to of 9127

THE KIDNAPPING OF ELIAN GONZALEZ At 5:00 a.m. (ET) this morning (4/22), armed Federal agents broke into the home of Elian Gonzalez' Miami relatives, enforcing the directives of Attorney General Janet Reno. At gunpoint, Elian was removed from the arms of Donato Dalrymple, one of the fisherman who rescued Elian last Thanksgiving Day. Tomorrow, in a special program, Dr. Leonard Peikoff will join me to discuss the kidnapping, Elian's rights to live in America, and the government's use of force to remove him. Also joining me will be Mrs. Amy Peikoff, J.D., who recently filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Florida's Federal Court, arguing for Elian's right to live in America. Both Dr. & Mrs. Peikoff have journeyed to Miami in recent weeks, meeting with Elian's relatives and, in Mrs. Peikoff's case, Elian himself. Dr. & Mrs. Peikoff will be on the show during the first hour, beginning at 11:00 a.m., Pacific Time (2:00 p.m., Eastern Time). I hope you will join us for this very special program. For more details on how to listen to the program live on the Internet, visit the show's website at alshow.com. Sincerely yours, Andrew Lewis ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Andrew Lewis Show (http://www.alshow.com) Sundays, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. (PST) Executive Director Americans for Free Choice in Medicine (http://www.afcm.org)

To: Volsi Mimir who wrote (1656)	4/22/2000 6:03:00 PM
From: Volsi Mimir	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9127

Cuba Calls Off EU Visit, Raises Pact Doubts Friday April 21 10:21 PM ET By Pascal Fletcher HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's decision to call off a visit by European Union officials after some EU states censured Havana's human rights record raises questions over its bid to join a major new trade-aid pact, EU diplomats said on Friday. A Portuguese-led EU ``troika' of ministers was due to have visited communist-ruled Cuba on April 27 and 28 for talks on human rights and Cuba's request to join a revamped accord between the EU and the 71-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. Havana-based EU diplomats said Portugal's ambassador to Havana, Antonio Carvalho de Faria, was told by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Angel Dalmau on Thursday that Havana did not want the EU delegation's visit to go ahead at this time. Portugal currently heads the 15-state European bloc. ``The 'troika' visit to Cuba is off,' one diplomat said. Explaining its decision, the Cuban side cited what it called the ``unfriendly' attitude of a group of EU states that voted in favor of a resolution criticizing Cuba on Tuesday at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. But Cuba nevertheless stressed its desire to continue developing bilateral relations with individual EU states. EU diplomats said Havana's cancellation of the visit injected an unwelcome note of controversy into ongoing deliberations by EU states on whether Cuba should be allowed to join the new EU-ACP pact replacing the old Lome Convention. ``It's regrettable and it certainly won't help,' one senior European diplomat said. ``The Cubans seem to be shooting themselves in the foot.' There was no immediate public comment from the Cuban Foreign Ministry on the cancellation of the visit. But, speaking privately, Cuban officials said Havana felt the time was not ``appropriate' for the visit. They cited what they said was public anger over the Geneva human rights vote. The new EU-ACP accord, which is due to be signed in early June, includes clauses calling for respect for democracy, good governance and human rights. Membership would give credit- starved Cuba access to preferential EU trade and aid packages. EU members France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Britain all voted on Tuesday with the United States in favor of the U.N. rights commission resolution that condemned Cuba for repressing political dissent and religious groups. Outraged Reaction President Fidel Castro's one-party communist government reacted with outrage and fury to the censure motion presented by the Czech Republic and Poland that was adopted by 21 votes in favor, 18 against and with 14 abstentions. It denounced the vote as a ``cynical maneuver' promoted by the United States, and staged a mass protest march on Tuesday by more than 100,000 students, communist youth militants and workers outside the Czech Embassy in Havana. Hitting back on Friday at its Western critics, Cuba accused them of hypocrisy and a ``double standard' and of committing serious rights violations at home and abroad. Cuban television broadcast a program in which government journalists and commentators rolled out a litany of accusations against EU states, Canada and other nations that joined the United States in the U.N. censure vote. ``There is hypocritical behavior here, a double standard,' said Pedro de la Hoz of the Communist Party daily Granma. Television journalist Reinaldo Taladrid told viewers that Western European nations displayed a history of past and current state violence against their citizens, including extrajudicial killings, torture against detainees and ill-treatment of prisoners. But Cuba's human rights record remains a sensitive sticking point within the EU in its efforts to reach a consensus over Havana's bid to join the EU-ACP pact. A number of EU member states have reservations about the lack of apparent improvement in the Cuban government's attitude toward internal opponents, whom Havana routinely dismisses as 'counter-revolutionaries' backed and financed by Washington. In June 1998, the EU agreed to let Cuba have ACP observer status but said Havana would have to improve its human rights record. Since then, however, the Cuban government has continued to harass and sometimes jail anti-government dissidents.