RTC Director

Cuba lashes out against U.S. fines on foreign banks

The Cuban government has denounced what it called the “unjust and illegal” multi-million dollar fines the U.S. government slapped on two foreign banks for violating Washington’s sanctions on the island.
The U.S. actions show that its “ferocious persecution of financial and commercial transactions by Cuba and those with legitimate relations … has only changed but has hardened,” a Foreign Ministry official said in a statement.

The British-based HSBC bank agreed to pay $1.9 billion to the U.S. government last week to settle accusations that it laundered drug money through its Mexican and other branches, and violated U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba.

The next day Washington announced that Japan’s Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ bank had agreed to pay $8.6 million to settle what the Cuban statement called “a supposed violation of the unilateral sanctions of the United States against various countries, including Cuba.”

Under the trade embargo, banks cannot move Cuban funds through U.S. financial institutions or handle U.S. dollar deposits for Cuban entities or citizens. Cuba is subject to other sanctions as well because it is on the U.S. list of countries that support international terrorism.

by RTC Director

Venezuela's Chavez 'conscious' says VP Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is conscious but in a "delicate and complex situation" after a cancer operation in Cuba, his deputy says.

Vice-President Nicolas Maduro said he had seen the president twice in the past two days.

The 58-year-old president has been in power since 1999 and was elected for a fourth term in office in October.

He is due to be sworn in for a new term on 10 January, but it is unclear if he will be able to attend ceremony.

But Mr Maduro angrily denounced speculation the president's health was failing.

Earlier, Venezuelan cabinet ministers prayed for Mr Chavez's recovery during a Mass at the presidential palace in Caracas.

Official New Year celebrations were called off after Mr Maduro announced the president had suffered new complications.

Speaking in Havana, Mr Maduro said he had visited Mr Chavez in hospital twice since arriving on Saturday.

"We have faith in God and in the doctors that Hugo Chavez will continue to make progress and sooner or later will emerge from this complex and delicate post-operative state he is in," he told the Latin American satellite network Telesur.

But he gave very little further concrete information about the condition of the president, who underwent his operation on 11 December.

He said Mr Chavez gripped his hand "with gigantic force" as they spoke, discussing political matters, the economy in Venezuela and the swearing-in of new governors following regional elections.

He denounced what he called right-wing media rumours about Mr Chavez's health as the work of "mentally ill" people, saying they were inventing and manipulating information without respect for Mr Chavez or his family.

Earlier this year, the president said he had been cleared of a cancer diagnosed in 2011 and was fit to serve out his six-year term.

But on 11 December, he went through his fourth cancer operation in Cuba.

There are also many questions about what will happen on 10 January when Mr Chavez is due to be re-inaugurated, says the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Havana, adding that it is now three weeks since Mr Chavez has been seen or heard from.

National Assembly head Diosdado Cabello recently said that the swearing-in ceremony would be delayed in the case of Mr Chavez's absence.

But the opposition says such move would be unconstitutional.

The Venezuelan constitutions states that a new election should be called in 30 days should the president not be fit enough to attend his inauguration, the opposition argues.

by RTC Director

Thirteen Colombian Farc rebels 'killed in air strike'

At least 13 members of Colombia's largest rebel group, the Farc, have been killed in an air strike, the Colombian military says.

The air force bombarded a rebel camp in north-western Antioquia province on Monday and has since found 13 bodies.

The military has been continuing its attacks on the left-wing rebels at the same time as the government is engaging them in peace talks in Cuba.

The next session is scheduled in two weeks time.

The Farc called a temporary unilateral truce at the start of the peace talks and urged the Colombian government to do the same.

But Defence Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon called the truce "incoherent" and said there would be no let-up in operations against the Farc.

Key suspect

Air Force officials said Monday's air strike near the town of Chigorodo had seriously weakened the 5th Division of the Farc.

They said that among those injured in the attack was a rebel known as Mayerli, who is wanted on suspicion of involvement in the 2009 killing of 19 soldiers in Antioquia.

In its heyday in 2001, the Farc had some 16,000 fighters, but military operations and desertions have halved their number.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has set a deadline of November 2013 for an agreement to be reached with the rebel group.

He said the peace process had to be a matter of months, not years.

The last peace talks broke down in 2002 after the government accused the rebels of using a demilitarised zone they were granted as part of the negotiations to regroup and retrain.

by RTC Director

Juvenile inmates escape from Peru prison

Thirteen inmates have escaped from a juvenile detention centre in Peru.

The youths staged a riot at the prison, in Lima, as the guards prepared to celebrate the New Year.

The warden of the jail has been fired and several guards transferred pending an investigation.

Among those on the run is a 17-year-old serving time for a double murder who had been moved to the centre after he was recaptured following an escape from another prison.

The detention centre was built to house 370 inmates, but currently there are about 1,000 youths incarcerated there.

Police said they were continuing to search for the escapees.

by RTC Director

Rape victims anger at police in Barbados

Two British women who helped free a man, who police accused of raping them in Barbados, have expressed outrage after the island's commissioner said he was happy with the investigation.

Dr Rachel Turner, of Hertfordshire, and Diane Davies, of Anglesey, were raped within days of each other in 2010.

Barbadian Derick Crawford, 47, was charged with the rapes, but the case was dismissed this month.

Police Commissioner Darwin Dottin said the case was investigated thoroughly.

In his first public comment on the case since it was dismissed, Commissioner Dottin told a press conference on Friday that the Royal Barbados Police had reviewed on the files on the case and there was "nothing that would keep me awake at night on the matter".

He suggested that Dr Turner and Mrs Davies may not have recognised the attacker because he was a "different race".

Dr Turner, 30, who grew up near Letchworth, Hertfordshire, and holds a research post at the University of the West Indies, and Mrs Davies, 63, of Valley, Anglesey, waived their right to anonymity to voice their concerns.

They do not understand why the police kept insisting on Mr Crawford's guilt long after they told them he was not the attacker, and when there was no forensic evidence linking Mr Crawford to the crimes.

Dr Turner told the BBC she was "almost speechless" at the response by Commissioner Dottin to the womens' concerns.

She said it was "preposterous and so insulting" to suggest that she would not recognise her attacker.

Dr Turner said she was concerned that the police did not seem interested in finding the attacker.

Mrs Davies said: "It is incredulous he can make these claims (that the investigation is thorough). Darwin Dottin needs to find the man who did these rapes and apologise to myself and Rachel."

After the dismissal of the case against Mr Crawford, who spent 18 months in jail, said he would be seeking compensation after being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.

At a news conference in Barbados, Mr Crawford said he was coerced into making a confession.

--BBC

by RTC Director