Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Says "Group of Friends" of Venezuela
Must Not Give Legitimacy to Terrorist and Fascist Opposition

Caracas, January 17 (RHC) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has warned
that he will not work with the recently formed "Group of Friends" of
Venezuela if it gives legitimacy to the opposition. In his annual
address to Congress on Friday, Chávez said that if the Group of Friends
gives legitimacy to terrorists and fascists who are trying to starve
the country, he will have to say: "Thank you, but no thank you for your
help."

And, he said, the Group of Friends will have to recognize that in
Venezuela there is a legitimate and democratic government freely
elected by the people, and that there are not two forces in the country
that are on equal footing. The Venezuelan president also rejected
restricting the size of the Group of Friends, saying that countries
like Russia, China and Algeria should also be able to participate.

He said Venezuela has friends everywhere, from the islands of the
Caribbean to Asia and the Middle East, and from North America to the
Southern Cone. Organization of American States secretary general César
Gaviria announced earlier this week in Quito, Ecuador that Brazil, the
United States, Chile, Mexico, Spain and Portugal had formed the Group
of Friends of Venezuela.

*****

US Special Forces Arrive in Colombian War Zone to Train Government
Soldiers and Protect Occidental Oil Pipeline

Bogotá, January 17 (RHC) - Dozens of US Green Berets have flown in to
a Colombian war zone to train Colombian army troops to protect a key
oil pipeline from rebel attacks, in what observers say marks a turning
point in US involvement in Colombia's civil war. US military aid and
training had been largely restricted to battling cocaine production.

But the Bush administration, with approval from the US Congress, has
decided that US military assistance should expand into helping Colombia
combat the rebels. Close to 60 US trainers from the 7th Special Forces
Group began arriving earlier this week, joining some 10 others already
stationed in Arauca state on Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela,
according to a US official speaking on customary condition of anonymity
and quoted by AP news agency.

The official said numerous shipments of equipment and supplies are
expected over the next few weeks and the troops are expected to begin
training at the end of the month in army bases throughout Arauca.
Leftist rebels regularly battle government troops in the state and bomb
the pipeline that carries oil for the Los Angeles, California-based
Occidental Petroleum firm across northern Colombia to a seaside depot.
Car bombs and mortar attacks are also common in the region.

****

Western Transnationals Accused of Killing Third World Babies by
Breaching International Code on Promotion of Baby Milk

London/New York, January 17 (RHC) - Several Western transnationals have
been accused of breaching an internationally agreed code on the
promotion of baby milk in the developing world, which is contributing
to the deaths of thousands of children. The World Health Organization
adopted an international code of marketing of breast milk substitutes
more than 20 years ago to reduce the influence of baby formula
companies because breast milk is the best nourishment for babies,
particularly in the developing world.

But in a report in the British Medical Journal, researchers in
Africa accused companies of advertising directly to the general public,
suggesting their products will improve health and failing to provide
enough information about the health hazards of breast milk substitutes
in Togo and Burkina Faso. Swiss food giant Nestle - which recently
sparked outcry by demanding millions of dollars from famine-stricken
and cash-strapped Ethiopia -, the French firm Danone and the US-based
Wyeth company are cited in the report.

Many women in Third World countries do not have access to sterilized
water to make the formulas, causing infections that campaigners say are
killing a baby every 30 seconds from unsafe bottle feeding. A scientist
writing in the British Medical Journal said the death rate in bottle-
fed babies might be 10 times higher than breast-fed babies. The
marketing practices of the accused firms have been successful in
convincing women in the developing countries that breast feeding is
backward and bottle feeding more modern and sophisticated.

Researchers from Helen Keller International, a charity based in New
York, found free samples of infant formula were given to health clinics
for distribution to mothers, in contravention of the code, accompanied
by leaflets advertising the products that failed to emphasize the
advantages of breast feeding or explain how the bottle feeds were to be
made up safely. Authors of the survey published in the British Medical
Journal said urgent action is needed, pointing out that infant
mortality in Togo and Burkina Faso is among the highest in the world.

****

US Activists Remake Chilling Cold War-Era TV Ad to Turn Public Against
War in Iraq

Washington, January 17 (RHC)-- An Internet-based group of activists
has remade a chilling Cold War-era television advertisement to try to
turn the public against a war in Iraq. The advertisement resurrects
former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's "Daisy" election ad of
1964, which depicted Republican Barry Goldwater as a trigger-happy
extremist who could usher in nuclear Armageddon if elected president.
Like the original, the 30-second spot that aired in several American
cities this week begins with a little girl picking petals from a daisy
and ends with the mushroom-shaped cloud of a nuclear explosion.

"War with Iraq," a narrator says. "Maybe it will end quickly. Maybe
not. Maybe it will spread. Maybe extremists will take over countries
with nuclear weapons." The ad, which also features footage of burning
oil wells and a crowd of Middle Easterners seething with anger,
concludes with the words: "Let the inspections work." The original
"Daisy" ad aired only once because of claims by the Republican Party
that it slandered Goldwater.

The new commercial was funded by the members of MoveOn.org,
an Internet-based grassroots group that was formed in the 1990s to
oppose the impeachment of then president Bill Clinton that now claims
some 600,000 members. Opponents of war, who are staging demonstrations
in Washington and San Francisco this weekend, fear time is running out
to prevent a conflict, as the administration of President George W.
Bush presses ahead with a major military build-up in the Gulf region.

A major new poll, however, has found that Bush has not yet
convinced Americans that war with Iraq is justified, suggesting that
the White House has much work to do to win public support. While there
is widespread support for removing Saddam Hussein, it's conditional on
proof of a threat from Iraq and on the support of allies, said the poll
by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Meanwhile, the
Christian Science Monitor has asserted that as the antiwar movement
tries to gain momentum, it is gradually bringing with it more
mainstream Americans, people who have never attended a rally or carried
a sign.

****

Vatican Joins Voices With Critics Who Say Washington is After Immense
Iraqi Oil Reserves

Vatican City/Paris/Washington, January 17 (RHC) - The Vatican has
joined voices with those who affirm that the US's primary objective in
Iraq is to secure control of that country's immense oil reserves. The
affirmation came in an editorial in the Jesuit-run journal Civilta
Cattolica, whose articles are approved by the Vatican's Secretariat of
State and reflect Vatican opinion. The editorial rebutted the reasons
given by Washington to justify a possible war against Iraq, saying they
were often contradictory.

It also stated that "one can foresee the destabilization of the
entire Middle East because the more politicized Islamic masses, which
already harbor a deep hate for the West, will see it as an act of war
against Islam and against Arab and Muslim countries," adding that "the
gravest consequence of a war against Iraq, however, would be a flare-up
of terrorism against the United States and against allied Western
countries." The editorial appeared four days after Pope John Paul II
put the Vatican on a diplomatic collision course with Washington by
saying war would be a "defeat for humanity."

****

Belgium Poised to Reactivate War Crimes Case Against Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon

Brussels, January 17 (RHC) - Belgium has announced upcoming changes to
its internationally contentious global war crimes legislation which
could resurrect a war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon. Belgium gave itself the right in 1993 to try cases of war
crimes committed by anyone, anywhere at any time. But legal setbacks to
the "universal competence" law - including a court ruling in June that
the war crimes suspect has to be in Belgian territory to be tried -
have left the Sharon case on a backburner. That obstacle now appears
likely to be dismantled.

Belgian politicians want foreign nationals to be tried in absentia and
will vote on the matter next week. Belgian Prime Minister Guy
Verhoftstadt has given his support to the plan, and Belgian media
outlets say that calls for reform of the controversial law are reaching
critical mass. Sharon is accused of being responsible for the massacre
of hundreds of Palestinians in Lebanon in 1982 while he was Israel's
defense minister.

He's charged with having allowed militia forces allied to Israel to run
amok in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Survivors of the
atrocities began legal proceedings against him in Belgium and were
furious when the case was dismissed by three judges in Brussels in
June. The Sharon case is still under appeal and remains live, so any
change in the law could see it reinstated. The very fact that Belgian
judges are even considering a case against Sharon has soured relations
with Israel and many Belgian politicians were relieved when the matter
appeared to be at an end.

The Israeli prime minister's accusers, however, face another,
probably insurmountable hurdle, which is likely to mean that even a
trial in absentia will never get off the ground. Last February the
international court of justice ruled that past and present government
leaders could not be tried for war crimes by a foreign state, a ruling
that observers say is likely to spare Israel's blushes. 


Week of Cuban Cinema Celebrated in Russian Capital

Moscow, January 17 (RHC)-- A week of Cuban cinema is taking place in
Moscow, the Russian capital, with the screening of a number of movies
from the island.

The Cuban film festival includes showings of the recent feature-
length comedy "Un Paraíso Bajo las Estrellas" (Paradise Under the
Stars), as well as films from yesteryear: "Memorias del Subdesarrollo"
(Memories of Underdevelopment), "Lucia" and "La Última Cena" (The Last
Supper). "Fresa y Chocolate" (Strawberry and Chocolate), nominated for
an Oscar Award in 1994, is also Now Showing on the big screens of
Moscow.

-Radio Habana Cuba