Cuba to
conduct large-scale military
drills
Cuba will conduct large-scale
military drills on December
13-19 due to threats from the
United States against the
island, Raul Castro, minister of
the revolutionary armed forces,
said in a statement released
Saturday by local press.
Raul Castro, brother of
President Fidel Castro, termed
as "gigantic" the "Bastion 2004"
drills in which millions of
Cubans will participate.
The first five days of the
exercises will be attended by
100,000 troops, including
reserves. In the last two days,
millions of Cubans will join the
exercises, said the
second-in-command of Cuba's
political leadership.
"What matters is that everyone
knows at least what is
indispensable in order to combat
the enemy," he said.
"Definitely, all these we are
planning are to guarantee your
future and that of your
children," the minister was
quoted as saying.
The Bastion 2004 is to be
conducted due to the continuous
threats of aggressions by the US
government, according to a
communique of the Ministry of
the Cuban Revolutionary Armed
Forces.
The armies have the duty to
assess "the degree of
preparation of the whole society
to cope with an armed
aggression," the communique
said.
It stressed that all seemed to
indicate the government of US
President George W. Bush will
keep its hostile policy towards
Cuba as was the case during his
first term.
Peruvian police seize 140 kg of
cocaine
Peruvian police seized 140 kg of
cocaine and arrested 10
suspected drug pushers,
including nine Peruvians and one
Colombian, during an anti-drug
sweep in the capital on
Saturday, the National Police of
Peru said.
The police swooped a house in
the eastern capital, where 100
kilograms of cocaine were
confiscated, and a couple were
arrested.
The rest of the drugs were found
in two other houses. Meanwhile,
a clandestine drug-processing
laboratory was also found.
With an annual output of 250
tons, Peru is the world's second
largest cocaine producer after
Colombia. Peruvian police have
confiscated more than 10 tons of
drugs since the beginning of the
year.
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Colombian drug chief extradited
to US
Colombian drug kingpin Gilberto
Rodriguez Orejuela was
extradited to the United States
on Saturday for trial.
Rodriguez Orejuela, head of the
powerful Cali drug cartel in
Colombia, became the most
powerful Colombian trafficker to
be extradited to America.
The 64-year-old drug chief,
nicknamed "The Chess Player,"
has been in detention since
1995. He and his brother Miguel
founded and headed one of the
largest drug trafficking
organizations in the world. In
the 1990s, the cartel controlled
80 percent of the world's
cocaine trade, earning 8 billion
US dollars in annual profits,
the US Drug Enforcement Agency
has said.
The kingpin faces trial in
federal courts in Miami and New
York for trafficking cocaine and
laundering money.
Rodriguez Orejuela was flown
from Colombia hours after
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe
signed the final extradition
order. Colombia's Supreme Court
approved the extradition in
November.
Colombia is the world's top
cocaine producer with an annual
output of 580 tons. It supplies
about 80 percent of the world's
cocaine market, most of which
ends up in the United States and
Europe.
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