Thực phẩm nông nghiệp: Castro

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Thứ Năm, 9 tháng 5, 2013

Death penalty for Ariel Castro? Official cites captives' miscarriages, 'torture'

Prosecutors may seek the death penalty in the case against a Cleveland man accused of kidnapping and holding captive three young women for years, on the basis of police reports that he allegedly forced miscarriages during the women’s detainment, officials announced Thursday.

Ariel Castro was arraigned Thursday morning in Cleveland Municipal Court, charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. He did not enter a plea at the hearing. He is being held on $8 million bail, which is higher than the $5 million requested by the prosecution.

Details about the conditions and abuse of the women – Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus – have emerged as the prosecution presented its case against Mr. Castro. The women were kidnapped between 2002 and 2004 when they were 21, 16, and 14 years old. Castro allegedly lured the victims into his car, promising to give them a ride home, but took them to his house, where he kept them confined for about 10 years.

While in captivity, Ms. Berry gave birth to a daughter who is now 6 years old, said police reports. Ms. Knight said she had at least five miscarriages caused by Castro. The three women were repeatedly beaten and raped, police reported.

“The horrific brutality and torture the victims endured for more than a decade is beyond comprehension,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said during a news conference.

Ohio state law calls for the death penalty for the "most depraved criminals who commit aggravated murder during the course of a kidnapping," said Mr. McGinty, who will "engage in a formal process to evaluate" seeking the death penalty against the suspect.

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"I will seek charges for each and every act of sexual violence, rape, every day of kidnapping ... and each act of aggravated murder he committed by terminating pregnancies ... during this decade-long ordeal," he said.

Both McGinty and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson have asked residents and the media to respect the privacy of the three women and the young girl.

“The victims and their families have been overwhelmed by this response.... We need to give them room, space and time to heal," Mr. Jackson said during a press conference.

Jackson ordered Public Safety Director Marty Flask to instruct officials to not release information or details outside of the department out of respect for the victims.

“This is not for the sake of concealing any information,” he said. “It is to demonstrate compassion for the victims and their families and to ensure the credibility of the investigative process and allow us to arrive at a just conclusion to this difficult situation.”

Castro is currently being held in his own cell at the Cuyahoga County Jail under suicide prevention watch, officials told WEWS-TV. It is likely the suspect will face additional charges after a grand jury hearing within the next few weeks.

– Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Chủ Nhật, 24 tháng 2, 2013

Cuban leader Raul Castro says he will retire in 2018

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro announced on Sunday he will step down from power after his second term ends in 2018, and the new parliament named a 52-year-old rising star to become his first vice president and most visible successor.

"This will be my last term," Castro, 81, said shortly after the National Assembly elected him to a second five-year term.

In a surprise move, the new parliament also named Miguel Diaz-Canel as first vice president, meaning he would take over if Castro cannot serve his full term.

Diaz-Canel is a member of the political bureau who rose through the Communist Party ranks in the provinces to become the most visible possible successor to Castro.

Raul Castro starts his second term immediately, leaving him free to retire in 2018, aged 86.

Former President Fidel Castro joined the National Assembly meeting on Sunday, in a rare public appearance. Since falling ill in 2006 and ceding the presidency to his brother, the elder Castro, 86, has given up official positions except as a deputy in the National Assembly.

The new government will almost certainly be the last headed up by the Castro brothers and their generation of leaders who have ruled Cuba since they swept down from the mountains in the 1959 revolution.

Cubans and foreign governments were keenly watching whether any new, younger faces appeared among the Council of State members, in particular its first vice president and five vice presidents.

Their hopes were partially fulfilled with Diaz-Canel's ascension. He replaces former first vice president, Jose Machado Ventura, 82, who will continue as one of five vice presidents.

Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes, 80, and Gladys Bejerano, 66, the comptroller general, were also re-elected as vice presidents.

Two other newcomers, Mercedes Lopez Acea, 48, first secretary of the Havana communist party, and Salvador Valdes Mesa, 64, head of the official labor federation, also earned vice presidential slots.

Esteban Lazo, a 68-year-old former vice president and member of the political bureau of the Communist Party, left his post upon being named president of the National Assembly on Sunday. He replaced Ricardo Alarcon, who served in the job for 20 years.

Six of the Council's top seven members sit on the party's political bureau which is also lead by Castro.

The National Assembly meets for just a few weeks each year and delegates its legislative powers between sessions to the 31-member Council of State, which also functions as the executive through the Council of Ministers it appoints.

Eighty percent of the 612 deputies, who were elected in an uncontested vote February 3, were born after the revolution.

EFFORT TO PROMOTE YOUNGER GENERATION

Raul Castro, who officially replaced his ailing brother as president in 2008, has repeatedly said senior leaders should hold office for no more than two five-year terms.

"Although we kept on trying to promote young people to senior positions, life proved that we did not always make the best choice," Castro said at a Communist Party Congress in 2011.

"Today, we are faced with the consequences of not having a reserve of well-trained replacements ... It's really embarrassing that we have not solved this problem in more than half a century."

Speaking on Sunday, Castro hailed the composition of the new Council of State as an example of what he had said needed to be accomplished.

"Of the 31 members, 41.9 percent are women and 38.6 percent are black or of mixed race. The average age is 57 years and 61.3 percent were born after the triumph of the revolution," he said.

The 2011 party summit adopted a more than 300-point plan aimed at updating Cuba's Soviet-style economic system, designed to transform it from one based on collective production and consumption to one where individual effort and reward play a far more important role.

Across-the-board subsidies are being replaced by a comprehensive tax code and targeted welfare.

Raul Castro has encouraged small businesses and cooperatives in retail services, farming, minor manufacturing and retail, and given more autonomy to state companies which still dominate the economy.

The party plan also includes an opening to more foreign investment.

At the same time, Cuba continues to face a U.S. administration bent on restoring democracy and capitalism to the island and questions about the future largess of oil rich Venezuela with strategic ally Hugo Chavez battling cancer.

(Editing by Kieran Murray and Vicki Allen)

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Thứ Sáu, 22 tháng 2, 2013

Cuba's Raul Castro jokingly hints at possible retirement

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Raul Castro, who is expected to begin a second five-year term on Sunday, jokingly told reporters on Friday that he was planning his retirement but left open just when he would step down.

"I'm going to retire," said a grinning Castro in the company of visiting Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Castro urged reporters to pay close attention to the National Assembly meeting this weekend, when a Council of State and president will be elected.

"I'm going to turn 82, I have a right to retire already," Castro said. "You don't believe me? Why are you so incredulous?" he added in an exchange with reporters as he visited a monument to fallen Soviet soldiers.

"It will be an interesting speech. Pay attention," Castro said before leaving with Medvedev.

Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel in 2008 and turns 82 in June, has in recent years repeatedly stated that Communist Party and government leaders should be held to two, five-year terms in office.

Castro would begin his second term on Sunday, which would theoretically leave him free to retire in 2018, aged 86.

During his first term, Castro has presided over a reform process that included the gradual loosening of restrictions on travel and personal property while moving the economy in a more market-friendly direction.

He has said it is the responsibility of those who built the 54-year-old revolution to see the reforms through and leave Cuba in better condition for a new generation of leaders.

Castro, despite his age, appears fit and lucid and is widely expected by foreign experts, diplomats and Cubans to serve a second term.

"Whether it happens now or after a second term, there's no shame in putting the limits of Raul Castro's presidential tenure on the table," said Julia Sweig, director of Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S. think tank.

"I see this as very consistent with his style - but I would be surprised if this Sunday's speech would indicate he won't stand for a second term," Sweig said.

(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by David Adams and Jim Loney)

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