Cuba, Venezuela gov’ts denounce China bashing

Cuba condemns campaign against China Olympics

By Prensa Latina
Havana

The Cuban government condemned the attempts to organize a politically motivated crusade to make the 2008 Olympic Games in the city of Beijing, China, fail this year.

The Cuban National TV News Report published a statement pointing out the Cuban authorities’ opposition to any interference in Chinese domestic affairs.

“A media campaign is being carried out, followed by actions destined to undermine international trust in the capacity of the Chinese government to fulfill its commitments,” the text said.

The Cuban statement added that “it is evident these disturbances have been prepared and promoted from abroad.”

CNN accused of distorting Tibet events

By Prensa Latina
Havana

Chinese internauts (internet astronauts, tr.) accused CNN and other Western media today of distorting violent actions in Tibet aimed at damaging China’s image.

Internauts, according to Xinhua news agency, are using their personal Web sites and chat forums to publish real photos of the events in Tibet, which are later cut and edited by CNN and other media.

A picture widely spread shows participants in riots throwing stones and inflammable bottles against a military truck, but in CNN the image is cut, showing only a bunch of people running.

Xinhua reported that it had tried to obtain some commentary on this from the CNN office in Beijing, but CNN’s phones were either permanently busy or else nobody answered the calls.

The slanderous way the information is presented also was highlighted by China Daily, which showed how a German daily newspaper published photos of clashes between Nepalese police and youths, presenting them as taken in Tibet.

The Berlin Morning Post published a photo of a youth of the Han ethnic group—the majority in China—wounded in Lhasa, who the police rescued and took to a safe place, but daily reporters turned him into “a Tibetan insurgent arrested by the police.”

Some Western media have intentionally omitted mentioning the cruelty of the rioters, revealing the media’s hypocrisy when talking of objectivity and impartiality, said Xinhua.

These media have barely mentioned the five women store workers who were burned alive when the rioters set fire to the commercial outlet.

Venezuela’s Chávez blames U.S. for Tibet unrest

By combined wire services

On March 24, Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo Chávez charged that the United States was behind the violent protests in Tibet. He said the protests were aimed at trying to destabilize China.

“The U.S. imperialists want to divide China. And they’re causing problems there in Tibet,” Chávez said in his speech. “They’re trying to sabotage the Olympics in Beijing, and behind that is the hand of imperialism.”

“We ask the world to support China to neutralize this plan, which aims to sabotage the Olympics,” he added.

“You see the images of the violence in Tibet. Who is that against? Against China,” Chávez said. “It’s the U.S. empire that wants to weaken China, because China is rising up,” Chávez said.

Reuters, which could not just report this news, added a commentary: “Leftists in Latin America see the Tibetan independence movement led by the Dalai Lama as a pro-Washington group of conservative monks.”