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European Parliament asks Havana to authorize exit visas of Payá and the Ladies in White |
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The European parliamentarians call on the EU to support dissidents to “share their proposals” in the international media
Jun.3.- The European Parliament again asked the Cuban regime this Thursday (May 29) to authorize dissident Oswaldo Payá and the Ladies in White to travel abroad to explain at the European Union the situation on the island, EFE reports.
In a report on the human rights situation in the world, the European parliamentarians introduced an amendment in which they reject “vigorously the systematic violence and the repeated acts of harassment” suffered by the Ladies in White, comprised of the women relatives of dissidents imprisoned in the Spring of 2003.
The document calls on Havana to authorize the group, which received the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament in 2005, to receive the award at one of the institution’s headquarters in Brussels or Strasbourg. |
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US elections: What happens next? |
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June 5.- The race to be the Democrat Party's candidate for the White House is drawing to a close, with Barack Obama claiming victory on the night of the final two primaries. John McCain effectively clinched the Republican nomination after primaries in four states, including Ohio and Texas, on March 4.
What are the next steps?
Obama's position as the presumptive Democrat nominee will not be confirmed until his rival, Hillary Clinton, concedes defeat. "In the coming days, I'll be consulting with supporters and party leaders to determine how to move forward with the best interests of our party and our country guiding my way," she said after the final primaries on June 3.
After this, Obama called Clinton and suggested they "sit down when it makes sense to you". This meeting is not expected to happen immediately.
Does Hillary want something from Obama? |
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What Communism left behind |
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TOXIC LEGACY May 29.- TWICE a symbol of foreign oppression, the disused Czech airfield of Hradcany, a couple of hours’ drive from Prague, is now a happily disorganised sort of place. On a recent spring afternoon its concrete expanses, first built by Nazi invaders, attracted a learner-driver bunny-hopping past deserted bunkers that used to hold Soviet fighter jets. On another taxiway a woman on rollerskates led two small girls on bicycles. At weekends, cyclists mingle with kite-flyers and microlight pilots.
The air of subversive freedom is fitting. Since the Velvet Revolution, the image of the Czech Republic’s governments has been set by ex-dissidents, not the sleek reformed communists who clung to power in some neighbouring states. The Czechs made a better job than most of opening the archives of their communist-era secret police and trying to keep ex-spooks away from high office (see article). Prague does not just look as rich as any Western city, it is rich: in terms of GDP per person, it is wealthier than any region of France outside Paris.
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Georgian President claims electoral victory |
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Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has claimed victory for his ruling party in parliamentary polls  May 21.- Early official results indicate his United National Movement has 61% of the vote to the opposition's 14%.
Opposition supporters gathered in the capital Tbilisi for a late night protest, saying the vote was rigged, but numbers fell short of expectations.
The vote is being seen as a test of Georgia's commitment to democracy.
The election took place amid fears of political unrest, and rising tensions between Georgia and Russia.
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The next battlefield: Ceuta and Melilla? |
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 May 19.- Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's No.2, makes a point to regularly mention in his broadcasts the Muslim lands that need to be "liberated." The list includes the usual suspects for every respectable jihadist: "Palestine," Kashmir and Chechnya. But interestingly, the list includes "al-Andalus" and two tiny Spanish enclaves located in Morocco: Ceuta and Melilla.
For the time being Zawahiri focuses on the enclaves rather than the whole "al-Andalus" (historic Spain). Indeed their importance should not be underestimated.
The two enclaves administered by the Spaniards, (as Hong Kong was by the British) physically inside Morocco, are in fact neither Spanish nor Moroccan. Ceuta and Melilla – 140 miles apart as the crow flies, or 240 miles by road – on the Moroccan coast hover between Islamic and Christian cultures.
The 12-square-mile territories however have a vital and strategic importance: they serve as beachheads between Europe and Africa. Ceuta is only 13 miles from the European coast. Morocco and Spain have been fighting over them for years. Now the Islamists have joined the fray.
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Chávez Seizes Greater Economic Power |
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Caracas, May 18.— Faced with shortages of foods, building materials and other staples, President Hugo Chávez is intensifying state control of the Venezuelan economy through a new wave of takeovers of private companies and the creation of government-controlled ventures with allies like Cuba and Iran. 
The moves come just months after voters rejected a referendum to give the president sweeping constitutional power over the economy and public institutions, leading to new accusations that Mr. Chávez is more interested in consolidating power than in fixing Venezuela’s problems.
And while he has argued that aggressive action against the private sector is needed to correct social injustices and fight soaring inflation, his critics say his moves are instead compounding those troubles.
One significant measure is foreign investment, which has hit record levels in several other Latin American countries but has fallen in Venezuela.
As foreign interests reacted to Mr. Chávez’s socialist-inspired changes, including nationalizations last year of major electricity, telephone and oil companies, outside investment dropped to just $500 million in 2007. In contrast, Peru, with a population comparable to Venezuela’s 27 million, received $5.4 billion in foreign investment last year.
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Chile says Chávez wrong about INTERPOL probe |
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Santiago, May 16 (Reuters).- Chile defended one of its top police officials on Friday after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez charged he was being probed for dictatorship-era abuses, saying the leftist leader was "badly informed" and wrong.
Chavez said late that Thursday Arturo Herrera, head of Chile's investigative police branch and acting president of international police agency Interpol, was being probed over abuses committed during Augusto Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
Chavez was reacting to an Interpol report issued on Thursday [introduced by the Secretary General of INTERPOL, Ronald Noble] that authenticated documents Colombia says prove Venezuela's leftist leader has supported FARC guerrillas.
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