South Korea has no problem wasting eight Somali Muslim priates

Unlike the U.S. President, South Korea has no problem wasting eight Somali Muslim priates

From  Bare Naked Islam's Weblog

South Korean Special Forces stormed a hijacked freighter in the Arabian Sea on Friday, rescuing all 21 crew members and killing eight assailants in a rare and bold raid on Somali pirates.

We all remember how Obama dithered for days not allowing our Navy to kill the Somali Muslim pirates who had hijacked a US cargo ship and taken the captain hostage. Obama never did give the order to kill the pirates, but the US Navy finally took it upon themselves to do it and rescued the captain. Obama was said to have been incensed over this but then took credit for the rescue.

FOX NEWS – The military operation in waters between Oman and Africa, which also captured five pirates and left one crew member wounded, came a week after the Somali attackers seized the South Korean freighter and held hostage eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 citizens from Myanmar.

“We will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the lives and safety of our people in the future,” South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in a brief televised statement, adding that the rescue was a “perfect operation.”

The successful raid is a triumph for Lee, whose government suffered harsh criticism at home in the weeks following a North Korean attack in November on a South Korean island near disputed waters. Critics said Lee’s military was too slow and weak in its response to the attack, which killed two marines and two civilians.
With a South Korean destroyer and a Lynx helicopter providing covering fire, South Korea’s special navy forces stormed the hijacked vessel in a pre-dawn rescue operation that left eight of the pirates dead and five captured, Lt. Gen. Lee Sung-ho told reporters.
The captain of the ship was shot by a pirate and taken by a U.S. helicopter to a nearby country for treatment, but the wound is not life-threatening, Lt. Gen. Lee said. The 20 other crew members were rescued unharmed, he said.
“This operation demonstrated our government’s strong will to never negotiate with pirates,” the general said.

UCLA: Muslims Call for Dominance of America at Conference

UCLA: Muslims Call for Dominance of America at Conference

From Logan's Warning:

Now, we will take a look how our enemies are allowed to assemble and preach against us in our own backyard.

Speaker: Amir Abdel Malik – An African-American activist and former member of the Nation of Islam, Malik is involved with MSA West and is Imam of the Masjid Al Islam, Oakland. He has insisted that the Jews were behind the 9/11/01 attack on the World Trade Center.

Islam will prevail over all other religions. What will your impact be? American society needs “us”, and we have a role to play. The American Empire is falling because of corrupt rich corporations that are robbing the government blind and because of the money needed for the war effort. Muslims are used as scapegoats, just as the Times Square bomber, which was fake. The government is denying people of their civil liberties, and the economy is in the hand of the corporations which are filled with corruption. Radicalization of Muslim youth is a non- issue, and it is a set-up by the government. The MSA has to take over the campuses and take the pressure off the Musajal (the enrolling, or the missionary work of the Imams).
Islamic knowledge fuels activism. Master the basics and use it as energy. The message here was so militant that I became very disturbed. There was a lot of “Allahu Akbar” being shouted throughout Amir’s presentation. At the very end, he said, “Let’s all pledge allegiance.” I looked around for a flag, and was about to stand when he said, “repeat after me”: “We’re all for Islam, Allah is the way, Jihad is the means”, etc. I was so distraught, that I couldn’t write everything down. This session was by far the most militant and extreme that I encountered during the entire weekend. It also had the largest attendance. It was reminiscent of “Deutchland uber alles”. It was very disturbing indeed and made me feel quite helpless. I might add that the presenters were both black converts.

I have said it before, and I will say it again. Islam is at war with us, and allowing the enemy to assemble and preach against us in our own backyard is beyond foolish!

Islandia: La revolucion silenciada/ Luis Picazo

La revolución silenciada 

Tomado de www.nosinmibici.com

Recientemente nos han sorprendido los acontecimientos de Túnez que han desembocado en la huida del tirano Ben Alí, tan demócrata para occidente hasta anteayer y alumno ejemplar del FMI. Sin embargo, otra “revolución” que tiene lugar desde hace dos años ha sido convenientemente silenciada por los medios de comunicación al servicio de las plutocracias europeas. Ha ocurrido en la mismísima Europa (en el sentido geopolítico), en un país con la democracia probablemente más antigua del mundo, cuyos orígenes se remontan al año 930, y que ocupó el primer lugar en el informe de la ONU del Índice de Desarrollo Humano de 2007/2008. ¿Adivináis de qué país se trata? Estoy seguro de que la mayoría no tiene ni idea, como no la tenía yo hasta que me he enterado por casualidad (a pesar de haber estado allí en el 2009 y el 2010). Se trata de Islandia, donde se hizo dimitir a un gobierno al completo, se nacionalizaron los principales bancos, se decidió no pagar la deuda que estos han creado con Gran Bretaña y Holanda a causa de su execrable política financiera y se acaba de crear una asamblea popular para reescribir su constitución. Y todo ello de forma pacífica: a golpe de cacerola, gritos y certero lanzamiento de huevos. Esta ha sido una revolución contra el poder político-financiero neoliberal que nos ha conducido hasta la crisis actual. He aquí por qué no se han dado a conocer apenas estos hechos durante dos años o se ha informado frivolamente y de refilón: ¿Qué pasaría si el resto de ciudadanos europeos tomaran ejemplo? Y de paso confirmamos, una vez más por si todavía no estaba claro, al servicio de quién están los medios de comunicación y cómo nos restringen el derecho a la información en la plutocracia globalizada de Planeta S.A.
Esta es, brevemente, la historia de los hechos:

• A finales de 2008, los efectos de la crisis en la economía islandesa son devastadores. En octubre se nacionaliza Landsbanki, principal banco del país. El gobierno británico congela todos los activos de su subsidiaria IceSave, con 300.000 clientes británicos y 910 millones de euros invertidos por administraciones locales y entidades públicas del Reino Unido. A Landsbanki le seguirán los otros dos bancos principales, el Kaupthing el Glitnir. Sus principales clientes están en ese país y en Holanda, clientes a los que sus estados tienen que reembolsar sus ahorros con 3.700 millones de euros de dinero público. Por entonces, el conjunto de las deudas bancarias de Islandia equivale a varias veces su PIB. Por otro lado, la moneda se desploma y la bolsa suspende su actividad tras un hundimiento del 76%. El país está en bancarrota.
• El gobierno solicita oficialmente ayuda al Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), que aprueba un préstamo de 2.100 millones de dólares, completado por otros 2.500 millones de algunos países nórdicos.
• Las protestas ciudadanas frente al parlamento en Reykjavik van en aumento. El 23 de enero de 2009 se convocan elecciones anticipadas y tres días después, las caceroladas ya son multitudinarias y provocan la dimisión del Primer Ministro, el conservador Geir H. Haarden, y de todo su gobierno en bloque. Es el primer gobierno (y único que yo sepa) que cae víctima de la crisis mundial.
• El 25 de abril se celebran elecciones generales de las que sale un gobierno de coalición formado por la Alianza Social-demócrata y el Movimiento de Izquierda Verde, encabezado por la nueva Primera Ministra Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.
• A lo largo del 2009 continúa la pésima situación económica del país y el año cierra con una caída del PIB del 7%.
• Mediante una ley ampliamente discutida en el parlamento se propone la devolución de la deuda a Gran Bretaña y Holanda mediante el pago de 3.500 millones de euros, suma que pagarán todos las familias islandesas mensualmente durante los próximos 15 años al 5,5% de interés. La gente se vuelve a echar a la calle y solicita someter la ley a referéndum. En enero de 2010 el Presidente, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, se niega a ratificarla y anuncia que habrá consulta popular.
• En marzo se celebra el referéndum y el NO al pago de la deuda arrasa con un 93% de los votos. La revolución islandesa consigue una nueva victoria de forma pacífica.
• El FMI congela las ayudas económicas a Islandia a la espera de que se resuelva la devolución de su deuda.
• A todo esto, el gobierno ha iniciado una investigación para dirimir jurídicamente las responsabilidades de la crisis. Comienzan las detenciones de varios banqueros y altos ejecutivos. La Interpol dicta una orden internacional de arresto contra el ex-Presidente del Kaupthing, Sigurdur Einarsson.
• En este contexto de crisis, se elige una asamblea constituyente el pasado mes de noviembre para redactar una nueva constitución que recoja las lecciones aprendidas de la crisis y que sustituya a la actual, una copia de la constitución danesa. Para ello, se recurre directamente al pueblo soberano. Se eligen 25 ciudadanos sin filiación política de los 522 que se han presentado a las candidaturas, para lo cual sólo era necesario ser mayor de edad y tener el apoyo de 30 personas. La asamblea constitucional comenzará su trabajo en febrero de 2011 y presentará un proyecto de carta magna a partir de las recomendaciones consensuadas en distintas asambleas que se celebrarán por todo el país. Deberá ser aprobada por el actual Parlamento y por el que se constituya tras las próximas elecciones legislativas.
• Y para terminar, otra medida “revolucionaria” del parlamento islandés: la Iniciativa Islandesa Moderna para Medios de Comunicación (Icelandic Modern Media Initiative), un proyecto de ley que pretende crear un marco jurídico destinado a la protección de la libertad de información y de expresión. Se pretende hacer del país un refugio seguro para el periodismo de investigación y la libertad de información donde se protegan fuentes, periodistas y proveedores de Internet que alojen información periodística; el infierno para EEUU y el paraíso para Wikileaks.

Pues esta es la breve historia de la Revolución Islandesa: dimisión de todo un gobierno en bloque, nacionalización de la banca, referéndum para que el pueblo decida sobre las decisiones económicas trascendentales, encarcelación de responsables de la crisis, reescritura de la constitución por los ciudadanos y un proyecto de blindaje de la libertad de información y de expresión. ¿Se nos ha hablado de esto en los medios de comunicación europeos? ¿Se ha comentado en las repugnantes tertulias radiofónicas de politicastros de medio pelo y mercenarios de la desinformación? ¿Se han visto imágenes de los hechos por la TV? Claro que no. Debe ser que a los Estados Unidos de Europa no les parece suficientemente importante que un pueblo coja las riendas de su soberanía y plante cara al rodillo neoliberal. O quizás teman que se les caiga la cara de vergüenza al quedar una vez más en evidencia que han convertido la democracia en un sistema plutocrático donde nada ha cambiado con la crisis, excepto el inicio de un proceso de socialización de las pérdidas con recortes sociales y precarización de las condiciones laborales. Es muy probable también que piensen que todavía quede vida inteligente entre sus unidades de consumo, que tanto gustan en llamar ciudadanos, y teman un efecto contagio. Aunque lo más seguro es que esta calculada minusvaloración informativa, cuando no silencio clamoroso, se deba a todas estas causas juntas.
Algunos dirán que Islandia es una pequeña isla de tan sólo 300.000 habitantes, con un entramado político, económico y administrativo mucho menos complejo que el de un gran país europeo, en el que es más fácil organizarse y llevar a cabo este tipo de cambios. Sin embargo es un país que, aunque tienen gran independencia energética gracias a sus centrales geotérmicas, cuenta con muy pocos recursos naturales y tiene una economía vulnerable cuyas exportaciones dependen en un 40% de la pesca. También los hay que dirán que han vivido por encima de sus posibilidades endeudándose y especulando en el casino financiero como el que más, y es cierto. Igual que lo han hecho el resto de los países guiados por un sistema financiero liberalizado hasta el infinito por los mismos gobiernos irresponsables y suicidas que ahora se echan las manos a la cabeza . Yo simplemente pienso que el pueblo islandés es un pueblo culto, solidario, optimista y valiente, que ha sabido rectificar echándole dos cojones, plantándole cara al sistema y dando una lección de democracia al resto del mundo.
El país ya iniciado negociaciones para entrar en la Unión Europea. Espero, por su bien y tal y como están poniéndose las cosas en el continente con la plaga de farsantes que nos gobiernan, que el pueblo islandés complete su revolución rechazando la adhesión. Y ojalá ocurriera lo contrario, que fuera Europa la que entrase en Islandia, porque esa sí sería la verdadera Europade los pueblos.

Evaporating Water in -30C in Yellowknife, Canada

The rising yuan

Ways to play the rising yuan
1. Yuan bonds
2. Yuan futures
Making the yuan more flexible
- Last week, the yuan hit a 17-year high, at 6.5817 yuan to the U.S. dollar, as Chinese President Hu Jintao met U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.
- China announced it would let Chinese companies make investments overseas in yuan, expanding the currency’s role in the global economy.
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. would consider Chinese requests for greater investment opportunities in return for movement on the currency and other U.S. concerns.
- Also last week, Bank of China allowed U.S. customers to trade the yuan for the first time. It is the first state-owned bank to do so. Some analysts say this is a necessary step in allowing the yuan to ultimately float freely.
Sonali Verma

Toronto Pride passed test for federal funds but ultimately failed

I am not anti-gay guy but to make a Pride with our taxes is to much. Go to work and do with your own money. 

-------------------------------------------------

Jennifer Ditchburn The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—Toronto’s 2010 Pride Week festival passed the test for federal stimulus funding before it got passed over, The Canadian Press has learned.
Federal bureaucrats had declared the festival a good candidate for stimulus funding before Industry Minister Tony Clement ultimately announced the bid had been rejected.
Toronto Pride, the organization that runs the 10-day gay and lesbian festival, had been successful a year earlier in scoring a $400,000 grant under the Marquee Tourism Events Program (MTEP).
For 2010, organizers had asked for $630,000 to fund initiatives that would bring in more high-profile performers, improve facilities, boost marketing and help better train volunteers.
A team of civil servants at Industry Canada studied their lengthy application, which included an independent economic impact study. The study concluded federal help in 2009 had increased visitor spending by $6 million, with 200,000 more tourists pouring into Toronto than the year before.
Some 275,000 more people were projected to attend if the festival got a second year of funding, bringing total attendance to close to 1.5 million.
Industry Canada officials who reviewed event applications were satisfied that Toronto Pride Week, one of the three largest gay and lesbian events in the world, was a good bet for a second year in a row.The program sought applicants who would bring in more tourism and also attract international media attention.
“The Tier Advisory Committee had reviewed the proposed project and the Committee is satisfied it meets the eligibility criteria and program objectives of the MTEP,” an internal project summary notes. Toronto Pride appeared in April on a list of a half-dozen eligible events in Ontario.
The documents were obtained by The Canadian Press under Access-to-Information legislation.
Toronto Pride staff had no inkling they would not be getting the money before the recipients were announced in May. One bureaucrat wrote to Pride’s director of fundraising asking for clarification in February of certain documents, noting that things were otherwise, “going great.”
But by May 7, a list of recipients was released by the department and Pride Week 2010 was not on it.
Clement told reporters at the time that the decision had nothing to do with the nature of Pride week, but rather about the limited number of events that were being approved per major Canadian city.
In Toronto last year, only arts festival Luminato (for the second year in a row) and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair received funding — $2.6 million and $1.9 million respectively.
“So really this is not to denigrate Pride Week at all and its impact on the economy of Toronto, but it is also trying to help some other fairs and festivals that aspire to international leadership as well,” Clement said last May.
A year earlier, the department’s support for Pride week had kicked up a controversy among social conservatives. Some balked at the funding, approved under junior minister Diane Ablonczy.
Responsibility for the program was transferred from Ablonczy to Clement shortly thereafter. One Conservative MP, in an interview with an online publication, attributed the move to the Pride week funding controversy. Clement’s office denied there was a connection.
Tracey Sandilands, executive director of Toronto Pride, says she still doesn’t understand the rationale for funding the other events over Pride Week.
“The fact is it was meant to be an economic stimulus program and our understanding of that was the funds would be allocated in a way that would best stimulate spending and the best return on investment and not that it was a fund that was intended to uplift smaller organizations,” said Sandilands.
“We can only assume that there has to be some political reason we didn’t get the money.”
Toronto Pride abandoned many of their plans for expanding the festival, although the Ontario government helped them secure Cyndi Lauper as their headline act on Canada Day weekend.
Sandilands said organizers never received any notice from the government saying they had been rejected, although a letter from Clement to Toronto Pride exists in Industry Canada’s files.
The letter does not tell Toronto Pride it was eligible for the funding, but instead states that, “All applications were required to meet the eligibility requirements.”
Other top-tier events that had received funding in 2009 got money again in 2010, including the Calgary Stampede and Ottawa’s Bluesfest. But others besides Pride Week didn’t, including the Calgary Folk Music Festival.
Two Montreal gay events, Black and Blue and Divers/cite, have been turned down for funding. Divers/cite had been told in 2009 it had met all the requirements.
Shortly after Toronto Pride Week received funding in 2009, Industry officials at a meeting wrote that Marquee Tourism “activities are now being scrutinized,” according to documents previously released to The Canadian Press.
The Marquee Tourism Events Program, part of the government’s stimulus plan, has not been renewed for 2011.

Hogs in Havana: Harleys Hit the Cuban Streets

Now that the U.S. government has announced an easing of travel restrictions to Cuba, more Americans will be able to see first hand a collection of artefacts which at least one group of Cubans treasure: Harley Davidson motorcycles.

Cuban Harley owners, who call themselves "Harlistas," have kept their bikes, some 150 of them, running using homemade spare parts for 49 years because they had no way to order up a carburetor or gear box from America.
For 52 years Harleys were officially evil symbols of American imperialism. But prior to the communist revolution in 1959, Harleys, which began arriving on the island in the 1920s, were the official motor bike of the Cuban police and army.
The Cold War embargo prohibited sales of Harleys, and most other goods, to Cuba, so the bikes were locked in a time wrap. Thus the newest models on the streets of Havana today are from the late 1950s.
There have long been rumors, never substantiated, that a secret cult of Harley owners buried hundreds of the bikes so they would not be destroyed by the Soviet supported regime.
Regardless of the method of storage, at least some of the bikes have survived and are running. And they're not only tolerated in Cuba these days, they're actually celebrated.
Times are changing.
Cuban rock singer David Blanco, dressed like the Fonz from 'Happy Days' even rode his Harley into a concert at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana, where Fidel Castro used to deliver five-hour speeches on the evils of America, and it's capitalist icons.
"We're opening up to the world and the world is opening up to us," said Blanco. "All young people here in Cuba have lots of dreams. Dreams don't have limits."

Actor Colin Firth, in accepting his Golden Globe trophy in Hollywood, said it was the only thing between him and a Harley Davidson motor cycle, i.e. a midlife crisis. We don't know whether Castro ever rode a Harley during his midlife period, but if you buy into in the popular myth and karma of Harleys, you might believe that history would have have been different had the Communist leader felt the spirit of America throbbing between his legs instead of aimed at his head.

Now, even with the he dream of owing a Harley did have its limits, and still does. The new easing of U.S. government travel restrictions will not allow 'Halistas' to open an American hog shop in Havana.
Not yet...

Russians want Lenin removed from Red Square

Two-thirds of Russians want Vladimir Lenin to be removed from his Red Square mausoleum in central Moscow, a new poll has shown.

 

Lenin's waxy corpse remains a popular tourist attraction and is regularly treated with a special cocktail of chemicals to stop it from degrading Photo: REUTERS

 

Image 1 of 2

Lenin's mausoleum on Red Square  Photo: EPA

By Andrew Osborn, Moscow 5:13PM GMT 23 Jan 2011

The poll, organised by Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, comes after a senior figure in the party sparked a lively debate on the issue, saying the time had come to respect Lenin's last wishes and bury him in St Petersburg alongside his mother.

"Lenin was an extremely controversial political figure and his presence as the main figure in a necropolis in the heart of our country is absurd," Anatoly Medinsky, an MP and member of the party's governing committee, said.

Only 10 per cent of Lenin's corpse remained, he said, alleging that the rest had been "ripped out and replaced a long time ago". The body's presence in a purpose-built mausoleum on Red Square had turned the country's central square into a cemetery and was "blasphemous", Mr Medinsky added.

Lenin's waxy corpse remains a popular tourist attraction and is regularly treated with a special cocktail of chemicals to stop it from degrading.

But with a parliamentary election looming later this year and a presidential poll next year, analysts believe that the ruling United Russia party may be considering closing the Red Square mausoleum in order to show the world it is serious about modernising the country.

• Lenin should be buried, says Gorbachev

• Davos 2011: Here comes the Russian bear

The poll, organised online at a specially created site mischievously named Goodbye Lenin suggested that most Russians agreed. As of Sunday afternoon, almost 200,000 votes had been cast with more than two-thirds saying they favoured Lenin being buried.
It was possible to vote more than once however and the Russian Communist party, which is staunchly opposed to Lenin's removal, claimed the results were being rigged in order to pave the way for a bill ordering his burial.
"This is about distracting people's attention from social problems and genuine issues concerning the Russian Federation," Valery Rashkin, a Communist MP, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
Lenin, who died in 1924, is still revered by the Russian Communist party as an ideological genius who laid the foundations for the world's largest superpower.

Goers: A Cuba of contradictions

A Cuban taxi driver in Old Havana waits for customers to board his classic American car. Picture: AP/Jose Goitia Source: AP

Goers: A Cuba of contradictions

Local Cuban-Americans recall links to island nation

Local Cuban-Americans recall links to island nation

Achy Obejas: Cuba goes both ways on gay rights

Achy Obejas: Cuba goes both ways on gay rights

"Cuba goes both ways on gay rights". That's the title of a masterful opinion piece published yesterday in In These Times and authored by renown lesbian Cuban author Achy Obejas.

An excerpt:

"Cuba’s split personality on LGBT issues came onto the international stage at the United Nations in November, when it was the only Latin American country that voted to have 'sexual orientation' removed from a list of discriminatory motivations for extrajudicial executions. The amendment would have changed the LGBT-specific language to the vague phrase, “for discriminatory reasons, whatever they may be.”

Citizens around the globe raised such an outcry that, a month later, the international body reversed itself and passed an inclusive resolution.

In a second round of voting, to re-insert the original inclusive language, Cuba abstained.

Breaking with Cuban officialdom, pro-government Cuban bloggers joined dissident bloggers—in defiance of a complete blackout on the matter in official Cuban media—in criticizing the Cuban U.N. delegation for the anti-gay vote..."

Read the rest of the essay. Now.

Former Spy With Agenda Operates a Private C.I.A.

By MARK MAZZETTI

Paul Hosefros/The New York Times

Duane R. Clarridge in 1991. He still runs a private spy agency, after the military ended his contract.

A network of spies run by Duane R. Clarridge shows how private citizens can exploit the chaos of rivalries inside the government to carry out their agenda.

#China Begins Preparing for #Successor to Hu

BEIJING — President Hu Jintao of China returned home this weekend after a trip intended to repair relations with the United States. But the next time the White House marches out the honor guard and polishes the crystals for a Chinese leader, it is unlikely to be for Mr. Hu.

Enlarge This Image

Andy Wong/Associated Press

President Hu Jintao of China, left, spoke with Vice President Xi Jinping in 2009.

Following a secretive succession plan laid out years ago, Mr. Hu has already begun preparing for his departure from power, passing the baton to his presumed successor, a former provincial leader named Xi Jinping, now China’s vice president. While Mr. Xi is expected next year to formally take the reins in China, the world’s second-largest economy and fastest-growing military power, he remains a cipher to most people, even within China.
But an extended look at Mr. Xi’s past shows that his rise has been built on a combination of political acumen, family connections and ideological dexterity. Like the country he will run, he has nimbly helped maintain the primacy of the Communist Party, while making economic growth the party’s main business.
There is little in his record to suggest that he intends to steer China in a sharply different direction. But there are also signs that he may have broader support within the party to experiment with new ideas than Mr. Hu has had — injecting uncertainty about how he may wield authority in a system where power has grown increasingly diffuse. Mr. Xi also has deeper military ties than his two predecessors, Mr. Hu and Jiang Zemin, had when they took the helm.
For much of his career, Mr. Xi, 57, presided over booming areas on the east coast that have been at the forefront of China’s experimentation with market authoritarianism: attracting foreign investment, helping put party cells in private companies and expanding government support for model entrepreneurs — the kind of political and economic experience that Mr. Hu lacked when he ascended to the top leadership position.
He is less of a dour mandarin than Mr. Hu is. The tall, stocky Mr. Xi is a princeling — the aristocracy of descendants of revolutionary party elites — and his second marriage is to a celebrity folk singer, Peng Liyuan.
Unlike the carefully scripted Mr. Hu, Mr. Xi has dropped memorable barbs against the West into a couple of recent speeches, warning critics of China’s rise to “stop pointing fingers at us.” But he also enrolled his daughter in Harvard, under a pseudonym, last fall.
Mr. Xi climbed the ladder by building a network of support among top party officials, particularly those in Mr. Jiang’s clique. He has sought to cultivate an image of humility and self-reliance despite his prominent family ties, political observers say.
His subtle and pragmatic style was seen in the way he handled a landmark power project teetering on the edge of failure in 2002, when he was governor of coastal Fujian Province. Bechtel, the American contractor, and other foreign investors had poured in nearly $700 million. But the investors became mired in a dispute with planning officials.
After ducking repeated requests by foreign executives for a meeting, Mr. Xi finally agreed to meet one night in the governor’s compound with an American business consultant on the project whose father had befriended Mr. Xi’s father in the 1940s. Mr. Xi explained that he could not interfere in a dispute involving other powerful officials. But he sent signals that he expected both sides to come to terms and promised to meet the investors “after the two sides have reached an agreement.”
That spurred a compromise that allowed the plan to begin operating. “I thought, This person is a brilliant politician,” said the consultant, Sidney Rittenberg Jr.
Mr. Xi’s political skills paid their greatest dividend last October, when he was appointed vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, a move that means he will almost certainly succeed Mr. Hu as party secretary in late 2012 and president in 2013.
Over the years, Mr. Xi had built his appeal on “the way he carried himself in political affairs,” said Zhang Xiaojin, a political scientist at Tsinghua University. “On economic reforms and development, he proved rather effective. On political reforms, he didn’t take any risks that would catch flak.”
Mr. Xi also emerged as a convenient accommodation to two vying wings within the party — those loyal to Mr. Hu and those allied with Mr. Jiang, who in China’s collective leadership had an important role in naming Mr. Hu’s successor.
Mr. Xi’s elite lineage and career along the prosperous coast have aligned him more closely with Mr. Jiang. But like Mr. Hu, Mr. Xi also spent formative years in provincial boondocks. Mr. Hu was once close to Mr. Xi’s father, a top Communist leader during the Chinese civil war.

MUST SEE TRUCK CRASH !!! on Highway 401 west of Toronto

Tomas Bilbao [CSG] miente y apoya al regimen kaxtrizta

Como se aprecia en la entrevista, el Sr. Tomas Bilbao[a] comulga absolutamente con su jefe en el Cuban Study Group Carlos Saladrigas, en la simbiosis con el regimen kaxtrizta.

Pero no se detiene solo en ello que es muy grave en si, sino que ademas miente desvergonzadamente al afirmar que los opositores y disidentes apoyan unanimemente las concesiones unilaterales de la administracion Obama. Algunos grupitos aislados lidereados por Yoani y algunos blogueros residentes en la isla, asi como los Espinosa Chepe, Cuesta Morua y Elizardo Sanchez Santacruz entre otros.

Miente igualmente cuando sustituye la voz de exilio cubano al afirmar que el mismo apoya las mismas.

Todas demasiadas coincidencias, para serlas ciertamente.



[a] Tomas Bilbao is Executive Director of the Cuba Study Group. Prior to joining the CSG, Mr. Bilbao served as Director of Operations on the successful campaign of Mel Martinez for U.S. Senate. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Bilbao served in the Administration of George W. Bush as Deputy Director of Operations at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and as Personal Aide to Secretary Mel Martinez.

Escape from Havana: Operacion Peter Pan/ Documental

WIKICUBA: EEUU afirma que "mafias" administran sectores del Estado cubano

EEUU afirma que "mafias" administran sectores del Estado cubano (WikiLeaks)

(AFP)

MADRID — La corrupción en Cuba es "generalizada" y algunos sectores del Estado están administrados por "mafias", según cables de la misión diplomática de Estados Unidos en La Habana, revelados por WikiLeaks y publicados en el diario El País de España este sábado.
"La corrupción en Cuba ha avanzado hasta tal punto que se ha convertido en un fenómeno generalizado que alcanza a altos funcionarios, miembros del Partido Comunista Cubano y profesionales sin adscripción política", citó El País sobre cables de 2006 y 2007 de la Sección de Intereses de Washington en Cuba (SINA), cuyo jefe era entonces Michael Parmly,
Según los cables, las prácticas corruptas incluyen "soborno", "malversación de los recursos estatales", trampas contables y "comisiones ilegales cobradas por funcionarios a cambio de concesiones y cuyo monto es depositado en cuentas abiertas, a su nombre o al de personas interpuestas, en bancos extranjeros".
"Hay instalaciones del Estado que son administradas, de hecho, por mafias (en sectores como el turismo y la construcción) Como en cualquier lugar en el mundo, un contrato de un millón de dólares supone (para el comisionista cubano) 100.000 dólares en el banco", dicen los reportes.
El periódico agrega que de acuerdo con los cables esos dirigentes corruptos no son tanto de la cúpula revolucionaria sino funcionarios "pragmáticos que se han hecho un espacio dentro de un rígido sistema comunista".
La información enviada al Departamento de Estado por la SINA señala que en Cuba, donde el Estado controla más del 90% de la economía, el robo y la corrupción -para nutrir el mercado negro- "son un mecanismo de supervivencia", debido a los bajos salarios.
"Las autoridades toleran las corruptelas de supervivencia hasta cierto punto, pero cuando saben de desvíos importantes actúan con severidad", añadieron los reportes.
Señalan que muchos de los puestos potencialmente más rentables suelen ser asignados sobornando al funcionario que decide y que los policías "son famosos por aceptar sobornos".
El gobierno de Raúl Castro lleva a cabo una ofensiva contra la corrupción y el robo de recursos al Estado, y creó una poderosa Contraloría General.

Carlos Saladrigas no se vende barato, se regala

El camarada Carlos Saladrigas, el mismo sobre el que expreso  Castro: Saladrigas wants to buy us cheap
cada vez muestra mas claramente su sincronia con la estrategia del regimen kaxtrizta en su transmutacion neokaxtrizta. No hay un solo aspecto tratado por el tambien presidente del Cuban Study Group, que no sea coincidente con lo mas conveniente para la dictadura.
Ya lo dijo un dia el propio Raul Castro: "Cuando no puedas distinguir entre un amigo y un enemigo, observa que dicen los americanos de el"

CARLOS SALADRIGAS: Obama da pasos a favor del pueblo cubano

FRANK CALZON: Sacando a los hermanos Castro del apuro

• Leer >>

Arrests, strong rhetoric in Albania despite calls for compromise

 

Arrests, strong rhetoric in Albania despite calls for compromise

By the CNN Wire Staff

January 23, 2011 -- Updated 0210 GMT (1010 HKT)

Relatives grieve over the body of Herukan Deda, 40, in Laknas on Saturday a day after a deadly riot that killed Deda and two others.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Police arrest 113 people after Friday's violent demonstration in Tirana, a spokeswoman says
• Albania's PM has accused the Socialist Party head of targeting him and fomenting violence
• The opposition blames the government and says the PM's party rigged the last election
• The U.S. ambassador retirates calls for compromise to resolve the political stalemate

(CNN) -- Despite international calls for calm and negotiations, Albania's ruling government continued Saturday to levy sharply-worded rhetoric against its opposition and arrested 113 people following a massive Friday protest that turned violent, state-run media reported.
Those arrested were charged with confronting riot police and destroying property during Friday's demonstration in Tirana, a city police spokeswoman told reporters, according to the state-run ATA news agency.
Three protesters were killed -- all shot at close range, according to Tirana Military Hospital emergency chief Sami Koceku.
The clashes left at least 35 civilians and 27 police hurt, the state-run TVSH network reported.
"Yesterday was a terrible day for Albania," U.S. Ambassador Alexander Arvizu said Saturday. "There were no winners. There were only losers."

 

Albania protesters clash with police

 

Albanian anti-govt. protest turns deadly

The opposition Socialist Party claimed, on its website, that around 250,000 people had gathered outside Prime Minister Sali Berisha's office to implore him to resign. Some protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the more than 1,000 police at the scene, who used water cannon to disperse the crowd.
The Socialist Party blamed police for provoking protesters by using the water tanks and tear gas. But on Saturday, Berisha again accused his rival Edi Rama, Tirana's mayor and the Socialist Party head, of spearheading the violence.
He claimed that demonstrators were trying to takeover the prime minister's office, parliament and cabinet ministries.
"Those behind the putsch and bandits will receive the deserved punishment," he told reporters, according to ATA. "No force in this world can take over the democratic institutions of Albania, a NATO member country."
Earlier this month, in an interview quoted in a Socialist Party newsletter, Rama reiterated long-standing claims that Berisha's ruling Democratic Party had rigged the June 2009 election.
"Are there any Albanians who have not yet understood that (Berisha) stole the elections in order to rob Albania?" he said.
The country's supreme court determined that the elections were valid, and the ballots were burned by the Central Election Commission.
The Socialist Party boycotted Albania's parliament between September 2009 and February 2010, according to the U.S. State Department. Reconciliation efforts since then have been unsuccessful, with opposition parties continuing to push hard against the Democrats in alleging corruption.
The tensions escalated in the past two weeks, after a former government minister sent the media a secret recording that allegedly documented an illicit back-room deal.
In addition to the increasingly pointed, accusatory barbs between Rama and Berisha, personal slurs marred a parliamentary session this week meant to settle governmental changes following the resignation of a minister central to that video.
On Friday, Berisha vowed that there would "be no early elections" and that "general elections will be held in 2013," a rebuttal to a proposal being pushed by the opposition
Such entrenched stances, the strong language and Friday's violence came as diplomats outside Albania continued to push for a peaceful solution to a southern European nation's stalemate. Rama, then the nation's president, was the focus of the last such severe unrest in 1997, when angry mobs protested voting irregularities and government-backed Ponzi schemes that plunged Albania into near anarchy.
Albania's current president, Bamir Topi, met Saturday with prominent U.S., U.K. and European diplomats. A day earlier, he'd urged all parties to resume talks soon and not to reopen old wounds.
"We have repeatedly urged Albania's political leaders to search for compromise," said Arvizu, one of those who met with Topi. "When one side -- or both -- insists on maximalist positions that it knows the other side cannot accept, I'm sorry, that's not compromise. Resolving political differences through street battles is also not compromise, and does not reflect the democratic aspirations of Albanians."
"It's time to desist from further provocations," he added. "It's time to stop the mutual recriminations and name-calling."
Those remarks echoed similar ones the previous day from the European Union, which has been considering adding Albania as a member. On Saturday, a key member of the EU's parliament said the recent escalation of tensions could hinder that development.

"I hope that, in this critical moment, the politicians will show maturity and will engage ... in finding a compromise solution," said Eduard Kukan of Slovakia.

Cuba-United States: The worm that turned

The worm that turned

Helping Cubans to help themselves

Cuba and the United States

AMERICAN presidents tend to be very cautious when it comes to policy toward Cuba. True to form, Barack Obama’s latest directive relaxing the rules on travel and remittances to the communist island was released late on January 14th, just before a long weekend. The directive makes it easier for religious, cultural and educational groups to visit, widens the number of airports which can apply to host charter flights and allows all Americans to send up to $2,000 a year to ordinary Cubans.
The broader economic embargo against Cuba stands. Only Congress can scrap it, and many in the new Republican majority still support it. But the administration has taken a further step in reversing George Bush’s tightening of the embargo.
In 2009 it abolished Mr Bush’s curbs on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans. That has already had a noticeable effect. Last year some 400,000 Americans visited Cuba, the highest figure since before the 1959 revolution. The United States now ranks second to Canada as a source of visitors, even though direct flights have been allowed only from Miami, New York and Los Angeles and are usually full. Remittances from across the Florida Straits may amount to $1 billion a year. Havana’s best nightclubs and restaurants, once the preserve of foreigners, are now full of Cubans and their Cuban-American hosts.
Cuba’s government called the latest directive “positive” but “limited”. Some Cuban-American leaders denounce the changes as simply propping up the Castro brothers with American dollars. But the administration says they are designed to help Cubans free themselves from the communist state.
Allowing Americans without relatives on the island to send money will help to promote “private economic activity”. The directive comes as Raúl Castro, Cuba’s president, has launched a reform of the island’s stagnant economy under which up to 1.8m, from a workforce of 5.2m, will be laid off from state jobs over the next few years, and required to make a living from self-employment or small business.
These people will need capital. Cuba’s Central Bank may provide loans. Spain and Brazil have expressed interest in helping. But the most likely source of funds will be relatives abroad. Not long ago any Cuban leaving the island was denounced as a gusano (worm). No wonder that word has been officially retired.

Escape from Siberia's jail: 'The Way Back'

After failed Iran nuclear talks: What now?

After failed Iran nuclear talks: What now?

AP

Jan. 21: Iran's Chief Nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili salutes as he leaves Ottoman-era Sultan Ahmed Mosque after he attended Friday prayers following a round of talks between Iran and world powers on Iran's nuclear program in Istanbul, Turkey.

January 22, 2011Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT12:01 AM EST

The collapse of another attempt at international outreach to Iran on Saturday has left world powers with few options except to wait — and hope that the bite of sanctions will persuade Teh...

#Miami: Vigilia Mambisa marcha contra medidas de Obama

Espacios tomados/ Claudia Codelo

 

Dibujo de Claudia Cadelo

Espacios tomados

The 10 happiest countries

The 10 happiest countries:

1. Norway
2. Denmark
3. Finland
4. Australia
5. New Zealand
6. Sweden
7. Canada
8. Switzerland
9. Netherlands
10. United States

#Belarus police arrest #protesters

As Alexander Lukashenko is sworn in, many opposition supporters stage protests.

Belarus' opposition supporters protest against President Alexander Lukashenko in downtown Minsk  [AFP]

A group of protesters have staged a demonstration outside Belarus' Palace of the Republic, just hours after the inauguration of long standing leader Alexander Lukashenko.

The president of Belarus had warned on Friday that no dissent would be tolerated as he took the oath of office for a fourth time in a ceremony that was boycotted by European Union ambassadors.
However, the protesters ignored his threats, some of the protesters were arrested by the police.
While holding a copy of the Belarusian constitution, protester Maxim Vinyarsky said he swore "never to recognise Alexander Lukashenko as a legitimate ruler."
"I put my hand on the Constitution, I hold it in my hand and I swear never to recognise him as president but consider him an usurper, illegally holding power in his hands," he said.
Lukashenko was re-elected last month in a vote widely seen as fraudulent and has since cracked down on the opposition, including jailing hundreds of opposition protesters and also seven candidates who ran against him in the 19th December poll.
Lukashenko also closed the office for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe after its election observers called the vote flawed.
The 56-year-old president has accused Poland and Germany of plotting to overthrow him, claims both countries have rejected.

The EU has threatened to re-impose travel restrictions on Lukashenko and other top officials over the flawed elections and subsequent crackdown if 30 opposition activists, including four presidential candidates, are not released. Lukashenko, who appeared to rule that out on Thursday, ordered his government to prepare harsh retaliatory measures if the sanctions are applied.
The travel ban on Lukashenko and others had been lifted in 2008 as the country, once described by the United States as Europe's last dictatorship, made modest progress on rights issues.
Several EU member states and the EU's Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton also have said they may reinstate the ban when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels on 31st January.

Vietnam: De Saigon a ciudad Ho Chi Minh/ 48 anos despues

WIKICUBA: Corrupcion

Cable en el que se describen algunas forma de corrupción en Cuba

"El embajador español Alonso dice que todos necesitan la corrupción para sobrevivir. En la mayoría de los países latinoamericanos un escándalo de corrupción es que una persona robe 11 millones de dólares; en Cuba, que 11 millones de cubanos roben un dólar cada uno" 

EE UU retrata la corrupción en Cuba

WIKICUBA: Distancia entre la Iglesia y los disidentes católicos

Cable sobre la distancia entre la Iglesia y los disidentes católicos · ELPAÍS.com

Tunisian Police Join Protesters

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TUNIS, Tunisia—Tunisia's once-feared police staged a rally of their own Saturday, demanding better salaries and insisting they aren't to blame for shooting deaths among protesters who forced the North African country's longtime autocrat to flee.
At least 2,000 police rallied in downtown Tunis, an epicenter of protest and clashes between youths and police that forced President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to quit the country he ruled with an iron fist for 23 years.
It was a significant development for Tunisia, where police under Mr. Ben Ali were widely feared. The rally took place near the hulking Interior Ministry, a ...

¿Es Diosa Canales la venezolana más erótica?/ Fotos

¿Es Diosa Canales la venezolana más erótica?: Mira y opina (fotos)

Como me la receto el doctor. La mayoria de las disfunciones sexuales que aquejan a muchos hombres, tienen causas mas naturales y cercanas.

Desde La Habana « Disidencia cubana: mirar hacia dentro

Desde La Habana « Disidencia cubana: mirar hacia dentro

Coincido con Ivan, no solo necesitan replantearse seriamente la estrategia politica hasta que logren articular un programa coherente, factible y viable a pesar de las terribles condiciones en las cuales tienen que desarrollar su labor, sino ademas que las sabanas no son para guardarlas en los armarios, sino tenderlas en los balcones.

Akademia Kubiche: Alguien sabe a que se refiere el profesor?

Brujeria indigena para Evo Morales

Los guías espirituales invocaron a las deidades y les pidieron acompañar a Evo Morales en su gobierno (EFE).

---

LA PAZ (EFE) — Un ritual realizado por sacerdotes aimaras en las inmediaciones del Palacio de Gobierno de La Paz inició esta sábado los actos de celebración de los cinco años de la Presidencia de Evo Morales en Bolivia.

Los amautas o guías espirituales aimaras invocaron en su lengua a las deidades andinas, a las que pidieron acompañar la gestión de Morales.
El presidente comenzó su mandato el 22 de enero de 2006. Tras ser reelegido, inició su segundo mandato en enero del 2010.

Hubo agradecimientos a la Pachamama (Madre Tierra), al Inti (Sol) y a las montañas de los Andes en un acto que, según dijo la dirigente cocalera Leonilda Zúrita, fue hecho para pedir "cuidados y una protección para el hermano presidente".

El mandatario no participó en estos rituales, pero cerca de las 13:00 horas (local) asistirá a la Asamblea Legislativa para dar un mensaje y un informe de gestión al país, y más tarde a un fiesta popular con grupos sindicales y campesinos afines.

En la Plaza Murillo, sede de los Palacios de Gobierno y del Poder Legislativo, se congregaron escoltas militares y algunos miles de personas, la mayoría de los movimientos y grupos indígenas que horas más tarde verán en pantallas gigantes el mensaje de Morales.

También se presentaron danzas folclóricas y un desfile de grupos indígenas y campesinos al son de marchas militares, que son actos típicos en las celebraciones para el presidente izquierdista.

The Tunisia effect: Thousands demand ouster of #Yemen's president

Thousands demand ouster of Yemen's president

Published January 22, 2011

| Associated Press

 

SANAA, Yemen –  Thousands of Yemeni protesters have called for the ouster of their president after 32 years in power.

Students, activists and opposition groups gathered Saturday inside the University of Sanaa in the capital to chant slogans against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

It appeared to be the first demonstration to directly confront the rule of Yemen's president, something that had been a red line few dissenters dared to challenge.

The demonstrators clearly drew inspiration from the recent ouster of Tunisia's longtime leader, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

"Oh, Ali, join your friend Ben Ali," the crowds chanted.

Police fired tear gas at the demonstrators, whose grievances include proposed constitutional changes that would allow the president to rule for a lifetime.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/22/thousands-demand-ouster-yemens-president/#ixzz1Bn7NORPc

The Tunisia effect: #Lebanon political crisis threatens economic gains

Lebanon political crisis threatens economic gains

Published January 22, 2011

| Associated Press

BEIRUT –  The political crisis in Lebanon is threatening to derail economic progress after a year that saw 7 percent economic growth, a record number of tourists and bank deposits among the highest in the Middle East.

Lebanon's Western-backed government collapsed Jan. 12 after Hezbollah and its allies resigned from the Cabinet in a dispute over a U.N. court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The court, which is widely expected to accuse the Shiite militant group, filed a sealed draft indictment Monday, touching off a process many fear could ignite new bloodshed nearly six years after the massive truck bombing along Beirut's waterfront that killed Hariri.

"This is a very deep and troubling crisis in Lebanon," said Lebanese economic analyst Kamel Wazni. "The continuation of this crisis with the absence of any political resolution any time soon will have its implications in terms of growth and in terms of development."

Still, Lebanon is accustomed to managing in crises. Street protests and violence have been the scourge of this tiny Arab country of 4 million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

In the days after the government collapsed, many Lebanese carried on as normal, packing the city's restaurants and nightclubs. But as the crisis drags on, the streets are growing quieter; in recent days streets normally clogged with traffic have been free of cars.

Cesar Touma, 38, says his pub in the Hamra neighborhood was doing well until the government collapsed.

"The day the Cabinet resigned, one client came in," Touma said, standing outside his pub and smoking a Cuban cigar.

One of the negative signs came on Tuesday when Standard & Poor's Corp. lowered Lebanon's sovereign outlook to stable from positive over the country's political uncertainty.

On Saturday, right-wing Christian leader Samir Geagea, a strong ally of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, warned that a government formed by a pro-Hezbollah prime minister that doesn't include Hariri supporters would be catastrophic for Lebanon.

"Can anyone imagine what will happen to the Lebanese pound?" he asked.

Geagea said Lebanon, like the Gaza Strip after it was taken over by the militant Palestinian Hamas group in 2007, would be isolated and ostracized by the international community and Arab world, with the exception of Syria.

Hariri, the son of the slain statesman, has refused to give in to Hezbollah's demands to break cooperation with the Netherlands-based tribunal investigating his father's assassination. Efforts by outside regional powers to mediate a resolution and bring the sides back into a unity government have failed.

Despite the uncertainty on the political scene, Lebanon's free market economy has always been a strong asset. Decades-old banking secrecy laws turned this tiny country into the region's Switzerland, attracting clients from around the Arab world who prized the anonymity its banks afforded.

Central Bank governor Riad Salameh said this month that bank deposits increased 10 percent in 2010 to reach $110 billion or about three times the country's gross domestic product.

Salameh said this week during the monthly meeting of the Association of Banks in Lebanon that the central bank's foreign currency reserve — about $31 billion, or nearly 90 percent of Lebanon's GDP, will help keep the Lebanese pound stable.

The bank has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars in the past weeks to protect the pound.

"The economic conditions will deteriorate if this period extends," said Finance Minister Raya al-Hassan. "Our conditions are still good at this time because of the huge (foreign currency) reserves at the Central Bank."

Two of the main sources of foreign currency are tourists and remittance from tens of thousands of Lebanese working abroad, mainly in oil-rich Persian Gulf states.

The World Bank estimated in November that for 2010 there would be about $8.2 billion worth of remittances coming into Lebanon. A record number of more than 2.1 million tourists visited Lebanon last year, a 17 percent increase from 2009.

Tourism generates up to $7 billion a year, according to the Minister of Tourism.

Since 2006, Lebanon has been able to bring its debt-to-GDP ratio from 180 percent to about 130 percent.

Touma, the Lebanese pub owner, returned home last year to start a business after working in the food and beverage sector in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

"I came back because I believe in Lebanon," he said.

But, he added, the country always manages to surprise him: "Working here is like walking in a minefield."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/22/lebanon-political-crisis-threatens-economic-gains/#ixzz1Bn6lo9rW

La unica foto de Marilyn Monroe con JFK

Fotografía inédita donde aparecen Marilyn Monroe, J.F. Kennedy, y el hermano del presidente, Robert F. Kennedy (Cortesía Keya Morgan).

Heriberto Mederos: A tale of torture and intrigue

A tale of torture and intrigue

From Castro's Cuba, a baroque account of abuse and, now, finally, retribution

By Chitra Ragavan

Posted 9/2/01

In April 1992, a retired Miami businessman named Eugenio de Sosa Chabau paid his weekly visit to an aged aunt at the Hialeah Convalescent Home. The visits had always been quiet family moments. But on this day, Chabau was horrified when he recognized a nurse named Eriberto Mederos. By Chabau's telling, the man was really Heriberto Mederos, a notorious head nurse at the Havana (formerly Mazorra) Psychiatric Hospital. Chabau says he was tortured by Mederos. His offense? In 1962, Chabau smuggled out a secret message to his Choate classmate President John F. Kennedy--telling him Soviet missiles were on their way to Cuba. That landed him in prison for nearly 21 years, including five months at Mazorra.

Mederos allegedly drugged Chabau and also zapped him with electric shocks. Stunned after seeing Mederos in Florida, Chabau, now 85, says that when he returned home, he told other Cuban-Americans. Some had also been tortured at Mazorra. They alerted the FBI and two Cuban-American members of Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The FBI opened an investigation. U.S. News has learned that the inquiry resulted in two findings. The first was that Mederos had tortured people. The second was that there were no laws at the time under which he could be prosecuted.

Instead, the FBI placed its report in Mederos's immigration file. In May 1992, Mederos applied for citizenship. In March 1993, Diaz-Balart placed Chabau's account in the Congressional Record. But despite the publicity, in May 1993, nine years after Mederos had followed his wife to the United States, the Immigration and Naturalization Service granted Mederos citizenship. He has also received two state nursing licenses. This year, he received a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Now, after prodding by Richard Krieger, a human-rights activist who runs International Education Missions, federal prosecutors in Miami plan to present evidence to a grand jury this week, U.S. News has learned. They will allege that Mederos lied on his citizenship application, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. If indicted and convicted, Mederos would also have his citizenship revoked, but it's unclear whether he could be deported to Cuba. He would become the first person prosecuted in U.S. courts for a crime relating to human-rights abuses committed outside the United States after World War II.

Mederos declined several requests for an interview. When a reporter knocked on the door of his home in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami, Mederos said cordially, in Spanish: "I do not speak to the press. The press has used my words in the past wrongfully." When asked about his past, Mederos smiled: "That's a very long story and distant story." In 1992, Mederos told the Miami Herald that he did give electric shocks. "But," he added, "it was never done with the intent to torture. I only did what the doctors ordered."

Belkis Ferro disagrees. When she was 16, she was labeled an anti-Castro rebel, sent for two weeks to Mederos's wards, then sentenced to four years in prison. Now 46, she says Mederos not only gave her electric shocks but also insulin shots--although she was not a diabetic. Ferro is among 18 Cuban-Americans in Florida who recently signed legal depositions identifying Mederos as El Enfermero, or "The Nurse." Mederos, she says, tortured hundreds of Cuban political prisoners.

Great expectations. Despite these allegations, Mederos will not be prosecuted specifically for his alleged atrocities because the statute of limitations has passed. Instead, using a novel legal theory proposed by Krieger, prosecutors could charge Mederos for lying on a citizenship application form, which has a 10-year statute of limitations.

The case would mark the first time an alleged human-rights violator would be prosecuted on charges of lying on a citizenship form. Prosecutors have successfully used a similar strategy over the past two decades to denaturalize Nazi war-crimes suspects. Now they're likely to focus on Mederos's answers to two key questions on his citizenship application: whether he ever ordered or participated in political persecution and whether he had ever supported the Communist Party. Mederos said "No" to both questions.

After so many years, emotions are running higher than ever. For many Cuban-Americans, their old nemesis seems poised, finally, to face justice. For Chabau, the integrity of his adopted country is the issue. If Mederos is not prosecuted now, Chabau says, he is "going to lose a lot of faith in the United States."

With Ricardo Castillo and Mark Madden