Portia Siegelbaum

Portia Sieglebaum

Portia Siegelbaum is a Producer at CBS News Greater Philadelphia Area, Previously she worked on the staff of the Communist Party USA's Daily World. She married a Cuban man and lived in Havana. She worked for Radio Havana Cuba (RHC). She recruited Tim Wheeler to serve as an RHC stringer.

Education

New York University.

Career

Portia Siegelbaum

• Producer CBS News April 2003 – Present.
• Freelance Producer NBC News November 1999 – February 2003.

Cuba trip

According to Portia Siegelbaum, writing in the Communist Party USA's Daily World, Wednesday March 3, 1976 page 4, in late February, the Marxist-Leninist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola and Angola government officials led a two-dav seminar in Havana to acquaint a large United States delegation with the struggle of the Angolan people.

A day and a half presentation by three Angolan leaders: Commandante Dibala, a member of the MPLA central committee and political commissar of the Eastern Front; Olga Lima, director of political affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Relations; and Pedro Zinga Baptista, a member of the Foreign relations department of the MPLA, was followed by a question and answer period. The MPLA spokesmen affirmed that MPLA doesn't believe that revolutions can be exported, but that it does believe that examples are followed.

Attending the seminar were 26 North Americans representing a wide range of organizations as well as several journalists.

Among the representatives were Marjorie Boehm from Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; James Bristol of the American Friends Service Committee; Robert Chrisman of the magazine Black Scholar: Henry Foner of the Fur and Leather Workers Joint Board; George Houser of the American Committee on Africa; Lee Johnson of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Brenda Jones of Freedomways Magazine: Willis Logan of the Africa Office, National Council of Churches; Anthony Monteiro of National Anti-Imperialist Movement in Solidarity with African Liberation ; Patricia Murray of National Conference of Black Lawyers; Antonio Rodriguez of Centra de Accion Social Autonomo (acasa), a Chicano organization and Jose Velazquez of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

A telegram sent to the gathering by Rep.Charles Diggs (D-Mich) expressed regret that he could not attend and offered his hope for a frank and fruitful meeting.

Meeting with Foreign Correspondents at the Embassy of Malaysia

left to right,Mary Murray, Portia Siegelbaum, Paul Haven

There was a meeting with Foreign Correspondents at the Embassy of Malaysia, Havana, 11 November 2009. Ambassador Yean Yoke Heng convened the discussion.

Participants included Mrs. Mary Murray, Correspondent, NBC; Mrs. Portia Siegelbaum, Correspondent, CBS; and Mr. Paul Haven, AP., Mr. Mohd Fareed Zakaria, Second Secretary / Head of Chancery, Embassy of Malaysia; Michael Voss, Correspondent, BBC; Marc Frank, Reuters.

Assembly of First Nations Honours Cuban

In a moving ceremony on July 12, 2011, during its 32nd Annual Assembly in Moncton, New Brunswick the Assembly of First Nations conferred the inaugural Treaty Rights Recognition award on the late Miguel Alfonso Martinez. In presenting the award, National Chief Shawn Atleo underscored the invaluable contribution made by Miguel Alfonso to the defence of the rights of indigenous peoples around the globe, particularly the affirmation of rights established under various treaties.

National Chief Atleo further outlined the profound respect and esteem with which Mr. Alfonso was held by indigenous peoples across the world. A Mi'kmaq elder performed a song written in Mi'kmaq specifically to honour the memory and contribution of Mr. Alfonso. In receiving the award on behalf of her late husband, Portia Siegelbaum emphasized Mr. Alfonso's dedication to the cause of indigenous peoples, describing his many journeys around the world to talk directly to communities, including those in the Canadian north.

Miguel Alfonso Martinez (b. Havana, May 16, 1935; d. February 1, 2010) was an outstanding diplomat, lawyer and academic, serving in various capacities in the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He represented Cuba at numerous international meetings and acted as the Ministry's spokesperson from 1994-97. As one of Cuba's most prominent diplomats he was recognized as a foremost specialist on human rights. In particular, he enjoyed international acclaim for his work on the rights of indigenous peoples. As United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Study on Treaties, Agreements and Constructive Arrangements between States and Indigenous Peoples, Chair of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, and as First Chairman of the Advisory Committee to the UN Human Rights Council, he made an indelible contribution to the struggle of indigenous peoples to realize their rights.

At the United Nations, Professor Martinez was a founding member of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations. As a jurist and a teacher, in 1988 he was asked by the Commission on Human Rights to prepare a study on Indigenous treaties. This ground-breaking document is officially called the “Study on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between states and indigenous populations.”

Professor Martinez spent a substantial amount of time with Lakota leaders and elders in preparing the Study. Lakota history and issues with the United States government, especially those related to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, provided important facts and documentation that he used liberally in the Treaty Study. In 1994, he visited Pine Ridge and spoke with treaty elders and many are personally thankedd in the Study. He attempted to come back on several occasions for treaty gatherings and to meet with elders but was repeatedly blocked by the United States government.

On July 30, 1998, Professor Martinez presented the Final Report on his long awaited Treaty Study. Despite attacks, both personal and professional, from many nations, especially the United States, as well as many Indigenous peoples from other continents, Professor Martinez’s conclusions were in no way vague:

In the case of Indigenous peoples having concluded treaties or other legal instruments with the European settlers and/or their continuators in the colonization process, the Special Rapporteur has not found any sound legal argument to sustain the position that they have lost their international juridical status as nations.”

In his oral presentation at the United Nations in Geneva during the summer of 1998, he spoke of the personal effect that doing the report had had on him. He stated that his view of life and his place in the universe were changed through the outstanding experience of researching the project and meeting with Indigenous peoples to discuss it.

[Working on the Study] has afforded me the opportunity to enter a new dimension of thinking I inhabit as a jurist and as a human being. I have learned about a different reality. I am quantitatively different.”

Meeting US Congressmembers

Portia Sieglebaum, left

In June 2011 a delegation organized by the Center for Democracy in the Americas traveled to Havana Cuba. It consisted of Sarah Stephens of CDA, US Congresswomen Barbara Lee, Anna Eshoo, Rosa DeLauro, Betty McCollum, and Laura Richardson, Bettina Duval, Alicia Daly, Heather McGhee and other, The delegates had several meetings in Havana, including on June 21, when the Congressmembers and Sarah Stephens met with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.

On June 18, Lee, Eshoo, and DeLauro also met with former Communist Party USA journalist Portia Siegelbaum.

References

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