Raul Castro visits "nephew" Chavez on first trip

[Zorro]

Source: Reuters

Cuban leader Raul Castro strengthened his relationship with his "nephew" and biggest benefactor, President Hugo Chavez, symbolically starting his first foreign trip as president in Venezuela on Saturday.

The two men share a rejection of capitalism and the Bush administration but are unlikely to become as close as Chavez is to Raul's older brother, Fidel Castro, who this year gave up the presidency of the communist-run island due to illness.

Raul Castro, 77, worked in the shadow of his iconic brother for decades and is now seeking to boost his credentials as a statesman, as well as his country's trade, on visits to Venezuela and Brazil.

With cheap oil aid exchanged for doctors working in Venezuelan slums, Chavez has helped Cuba to recover from the shock of the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had propped up the island's statist economy in the face of a U.S. embargo.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081214/wl_nm/us_cuba_castro_3

[EFerrari]

1. LOL

[ohio2007]

2. ?

the bastardo nino of Fidel ?

[Sex Pistol]

3. Well, at least it is a demonstration of how dimwits and dip-shits can get it right sometimes.

<<<The two men share a rejection of...the Bush administration>>>

[ronnie624]

4. Your message is a demonstration of an ad hominem argument.

Note the complete avoidance of substance in favor of smears and abusive epithets: "dimwits and dip-shits".

[Billy Burnett]

5. Yep. Those dimwit Castro brothers who enabled universal health care and education for all Cubans.

Cuba has more Drs per capita than any other nation.

---

Dimwits.
:sarcasm:

[Sex Pistol]

6. Hey, with Bush, Castro and Chavez referenced in one sentence, what else is there to say?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot..."The Three Stooges."

[EFerrari]

7. Why aren't you writing for Salon?

lol

[Billy Burnett]

8. With some fake photos included.

el Nuevo Herald style.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Certain news sources are crazy about bogus photos in Miami, for sure!

Listen Up, McClatchy
The most-honored Spanish newspaper in the United States is ethically challenged
By Chuck Strouse
Published on July 27, 2006

A striking, five-column color photo was splashed across the Sunday, June 25 edition of El Nuevo Herald. It showed four spandex-clad prostitutes in Cuba hailing a foreign tourist. Just a few feet away, two policemen conversed with a little girl and a woman. The headline: "Hookers: The Sad Meat of the American Dollar."

The cops obviously didn't care about the working girls — a clear sign of the hypocritically wanton ways of Fidel Castro's Cuba.

Problem is, the picture was a fake. Indeed it was just the kind of manipulated combination of two images that prompted the Los Angeles Times to fire staff photographer Brian Walski in 2003. Walski, you may recall, altered two photos of an American soldier to make them appear as one, more dramatic image. Several papers unknowingly published the combo on their front pages, and Thom McGuire, a Hartford Courant assistant managing editor, said the incident made him "sick to my stomach."

El Nuevo's sin was worse. Its image — on page 27A — appeared with the caption "The government has proven incapable of confronting the dramatic phenomenon of prostitution" and a story about a book on Cuba's working girls by author Amir Valle.

It pushed an anti-Castro agenda in a newspaper advertised by its new owners, McClatchy and Co., as the "most-honored, highest-circulation Spanish-language newspaper in the continental United States."

And, perhaps worse, higherups at El Nuevo overrode the objections of veteran photographer Roberto Koltun, who snapped both pictures several years ago in Cuba (and didn't return a call seeking comment). "Two things were put together," commented photo coordinator Orlando Mellado. "{Koltun} expressed concern about it for that reason and others. He basically didn't want it used."

http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com.nyud.net:8090/48673.47.jpg

Clues to Deception: In the doorway in the
background, there is a sharp variation in
light between the right and left sides;
note the difference in perspective between
the police officers and prostitutes; the
police officers cast shadows -- the
prostitutes don't.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2006-07-27/news/listen-up-mcclatchy/

[ronnie624]

10. I have full confidence in your ability to produce more gibberish. n/t

[Billy Burnett]

9. AP vid: Chavez, Raul Castro Meet in Venezuela

Raw Video: Chavez, Raul Castro Meet in Venezuela
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEqpsVnFe7g

[EFerrari]

13. Does Chavez say, hopefully President Obama will prosecute terrorists

or, something to that effect? I'm getting more sorda every day.

[Billy Burnett]

15. That's what I heard.

Still, I'm not going to hold my breath for that to happen

[Billy Burnett]

16. Chavez Urged Obama to Extradite Posada Carriles

Chavez Urged Obama to Extradite Posada Carriles
Caracas, 14 Dec (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, urged the next US president, Barack Obama, to extradite international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela, where he faces trial for masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people.

Chavez Willing to Talk with Obama

Chavez made his request at the closing ceremony of the 9th Cuba-Venezuela Joint Commission, held last night in Caracas, with the presence of Cuba President Raul Castro, who is on his first foreign trip as head of state.

The Venezuela president denounced that Posada Carriles is living freely in the United States, in spite of being wanted by Venezuelan justice.

He recalled that the well-known terrorist and CIA operative was sent to Venezuela in the 70´s to torture and murder left-wing militants as part of Washington’s plans to dwarf left-wing movements in Latin America.

We must not forget that such a big terrorist named Luis Posada Carriles used to work here as Operation chief of the Venezuelan political police, Chavez said.

The Venezuelan leader also urged Obama to make good on his promise to close Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba after taking office on Jan. 20.

We’ll see what happens with Guantanamo and the Guantanamo prison, a territory that belongs to Cuba, he stressed.

[EFerrari]

17. Thank you, Billy!

:hi:

[ronnie624]

18. A perfectly reasonable request.

Perhaps the response will be equally reasonable.

[RedCloud]

12. Epa gringo.

If you think that Chávez is evil, then you had better look at how much he gets done in a day as opposed to our lazy butt Bush.

Some of those international deals will never get undone no matter how many repugs get in office.

In other words while Bush is busy trying to get Iraq's oil, other parts of the world are getting their things done and at a much faster pace.

[Judi Lynn]

14. Venezuela and Cuba to form energy, tech joint ventures

December 14, 2008
Venezuela and Cuba to form energy, tech joint ventures

(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Caracas, Dec 14 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, signed agreements to create joint oil and telecommunications ventures, opening the way for the development of some 173 bilateral projects worth $2 billion in 2009.

The agreements were signed Saturday by Chavez and Castro, who is on his first official visit to Venezuela, at the closing of the 9th High Level Joint Commission meeting in Caracas.

Caracas and Havana signed a memorandum of understanding that calls for the formation of a "joint venture for the oil and liquefied natural gas refining system in Cuba," a deal that will expand the island's Cienfuegos and Hermanos Diaz refineries.

The two leaders also signed an agreement for the "creation of the joint socialist company Guardian del Alba," which will be based in Venezuela and "regulate cooperation in the area of producing integrated technology solutions" for telecommunications and information technology.

The meeting's final act included a review of the 2009 "cooperation program," which calls for the continuation "of 137 development projects and 36 new ones" worth $2 billion.

Venezuela and Cuba have carried out 76 joint projects worth $1.35 billion in 2008, according to figures released by the commission, which began its session on Friday.

~snip~
The Cuban government announced earlier that Castro planned to attend the Latin American and Caribbean summit on integration and development this week in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, and would start an official visit to that country on Thursday.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/12/14/3855114.htm