>
>Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
>
>Prensa Latina
>DIRECT FROM CUBA
>17 May, 2000
>
>Cuba:
> -CUBAN DEMAND CONTINUES FOR ELIAN GONZALEZ RETURN
> -ELIAN'S RELATIVES PROFIT FROM HIS SITUATION
> -POLAND'S SERVILE ATTITUDE LINKED TO US POLICY
> -CUBA TO MAKE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY REFRIGERATORS
> -9TH CONGRESS ENDS WITH RECOGNITION AND COMMITMENT OF CUBAN FARMERS
>
>International:
> -LATIN AMERICAN FARMERS ARE EVERYDAY POORER
> -MEJIA CLOSE TO MAJORITY IN DOMINICAN ELECTIONS
> -PANAMA PRESIDENT WANTS TO STRENGTHEN RELATIONS WITH MEXICO
> -ANOTHER MAYAN CITY DISCOVERED IN GUATEMALA
> -CENTRAL AMERICA: FIRST RAINY SEASON DAMAGE REPORTED
>
> -COLOMBIAN PEACE DIALOGUES ATTEMPTED
> -NEW VENEZUELAN INTELLIGENCE UNIT TO BE CREATED
> -BRAZIL PROPOSES LATIN AMERICAN FIGHT AGAINST RENAL INSUFFICIENCY
> -ARGENTINA: CURRENT RAINFALL IS THE WORST IN A CENTURY
> -JULIA ROBERTS SUFFERS ACCIDENT AND FAN PURSUIT IN MEXICO
>
>Sports:
> -SANTIAGO ON POINT OF BECOMING CUBAN BASEBALL CHAMPS
>
>
>CUBAN DEMAND CONTINUES FOR ELIAN GONZALEZ RETURN
>
>HAVANA, May 17 (PL) The strenuous efforts of the Cuban people for Elian
>Gonzalez' return continues today at an Open Tribune of Youth and Students,
>'tribune' is the common name for this action that began in December.
>
>Today it will be part of the closing ceremony of the 9th National
>Association of Small Farmers' Congress (ANAP), which has been meeting here
>since Monday.
>
>This movement, created with the first Agrarian Reform Act of May 17, 1959
>which gave the land to those who work it, will demand concrete actions to
>end the tragedy that began November 25.
>
>Elian survived the shipwreck of a vessel in which he was illegally taken out
>of Cuba. In the accident his mother died and he was rescued near Florida
>coasts.
>
>Instead of being returned home, he was put in the custody of some
>unscrupulous distant relatives who retained him until April 22 against his
>father's will.
>
>An INS operation removed Elian from the Miami house in which he were
>illegally retained and returned him to his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who
>flew to Washington to reclaim his parental custodial right.
>
>The tragedy did not end with that action, but began in a new and dangerous
>way.
>
>Now that the child is with his father, stepmother, baby stepbrother, a small
>group of Cuban classmates and one of their teachers, US authorities keep
>them unjustifiably isolated in a mansion at Wye Plantation, Maryland.
>
>The pretext was to await the decision of a suit by Miami-based distant
>relatives, supported by anti-Cuban group leaders that freely operates there,
>but this process could last indefinitely due to a complex mechanism of
>eventual appeals and new demands.
>
>All political and mass organizations continue calling on their members to
>denounce this new maneuver, only applied to Elian's case because of US
>hostility against Cuba, and to demand the speedy return of the child, his
>relatives and companions.
>
>Cuban farmers in the ANAP joined that demand today in defense of a common
>Cuban citizen whose US political enemies want to deprive him of his rights.
>
>Both Cuban TV channels, national radio stations and international Radio
>Habana Cuba will broadcast the Open Tribune. LPL/CCS
>
>
>ELIAN'S RELATIVES PROFIT FROM HIS SITUATION
>
>HAVANA May 17 (PL) At least two videos could be recorded this year on the
>sad odyssey of Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez, who was taken out of the country
>illegally by his mother and survived a shipwreck when he arrived in the US.
>
>His mother and ten other emigrants died in the accident and he has suffered
>a real odyssey here since last November 25.
>
>The Mexican actor that will perform Elian in the work has already been
>chosen, it was revealed yesterday in an open roundtable discussion.
>
>The panelists reported that the relatives' house, where Elian was
>sequestered, would probably become a museum, although objects supposedly
>touched or owned by the boy have been sold since his rescue by federal
>agents.
>
>Locks of the boy's hair, as well as containers with dirt from the yard where
>the boy played during his long captivity in Miami, were also offered for
>sale.
>
>Videos of Elian, one of them obviously manipulated to avoid his return to
>his father, were broadcast worldwide.
>
>The conclusion of the boy's process, which depends on the good judgement of
>the courts, might create a serious situation in the US regarding questions
>of children's rights, panelists, specialists and journalists attending the
>tribune agreed.
>
>According to Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian's great-uncle and kidnapper, the boy
>signed a document asking to stay in the US in exile, but Elian's defense
>lawyers question whether his signature is genuine.
>
>Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark warned in a telephone interview with
>Cuban television that the process against Elian might be delayed, according
>to US law. He considered the minor's present situation a kidnapping.
>
>The former attorney general insisted there is no sound reason to retain the
>boy in US territory and reaffirmed Elian's right to return to Cuba with his
>father.
>
>Cuban journalist Max Lesnik, residing in the US, agreed with this when
>interviewed by telephone. DIG/CCS
>
>POLAND'S SERVILE ATTITUDE LINKED TO US POLICY
>
>HAVANA, MAY 17 (PL) Strong arguments demonstrating the Polish government's
>servile attitude and its links to the Czech Republic in a US-directed policy
>against Cuba were discussed during a roundtable discussion broadcast by
>national television and international and national radio stations from
>Havana.
>
>Experts, journalists, psychologists and other well-known figures
>participated in an analysis of the Polish government's attitude, linked to
>US government actions in the case of Cuban child Elian Gonzalez.
>
>The child has been subjected to an arbitrary legal process that keeps him in
>the US despite his father's assertion of parental authority. Juan Miguel
>Gonzalez is now with his son in the US.
>
>Elian arrived in US territory November 25 after a sea rescue, adrift in a
>tube. His mother and 10 other Cuban illegal immigrants died when their
>vessel capsized.
>
>Panelists opened the discussion session by referring to the Polish
>provocation of Cuba as an event related to the diverse and continuous US
>actions against the Island, which includes Elian's retention.
>
>At a recent UN meeting in Geneva, Poland cosponsored a project presented by
>the Czechs that accused Cuba of violating human rights.
>
>Direct influence by the White House in this conspiracy against the Caribbean
>Island was proven.
>
>Comprehensive information was revealed by the audacious behavior of Polish
>Senate Human Rights and Legalities Commission president Zbigniew
>Romamszewski, who visited Cuba May 2-10, accompanied by compatriot Piotr
>Kielanows, to fulfill their services to Washington.
>
>Both justified their presence here by stating they were attending a meeting
>for a scientific-technical cooperation project.
>
>Romamszewski's wife Zofia Romaszewska and translator Gabriela Banach, who
>arrived as tourists several days earlier, joined them.
>
>According to Granma daily, the visitors used their stay to contact
>counterrevolutionary elements, encourage actions by donating money, and
>motivate dissidents by visiting an art exhibition of worldwide prisoners of
>conscience.
>
>They met with religious representatives including Jose Siro Gonzalez
>Bacallao, Bishop of Pinar del Rio diocese, with whom their conversation
>remains unknown. Later, they met counterrevolutionary figures, revealed the
>daily.
>
>The four left Cuba in a furtive way that prevented knowledge of their
>actions, highlighted the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) official journal.
>JCR/RRC/BBC/LPB
>
>
>CUBA TO MAKE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY REFRIGERATORS
>
>HAVANA, May 17 (PL) Supported by international organizations, Cuba will make
>pollution-free domestic electric refrigerators.
>
>According to a UN press release in this capital, the UN Development Program
>(UNDP) and the World Environment Fund (WEF) will participate with national
>organizations in the project.
>
>The agreement includes a seven-million-dollar Cuban investment and the UN
>institutions will contribute some 750,000 dollars, allowing production of
>some 30,000 appliances annually.
>
>The project uses refrigeration gas and insulating substances compatible with
>the ozone layer, according to technical documents from Cuban Iron and Steel
>and Electronics Industry experts.
>
>To create the necessary infrastructure, the National Industry of Domestic
>Equipment (INPUD) of central Villa Clara province, with financial support by
>the UNDP and GEF are remodeling in order to The new cooperation project is
>part of the support given by the UN organizations to Cuba for the gradual
>elimination of substances that destroy the ozone layer, the sources added.
>GM/CCS
>
>
>9TH CONGRESS ENDS WITH RECOGNITION AND COMMITMENT OF CUBAN FARMERS
>
>HAVANA, May 17 (PL) The final day of the 9th National Association of Small
>Farmers (ANAP) Congress, which was attended by First Vice President Raul
>Castro Ruz, ended after deep analysis and a commitment to increase food
>production in Cuba.
>
>This purpose is included in a Principles Declaration that was to be approved
>on this final day of the forum by the more than 800 delegates, 200 of them
>invited guests representing 11 Latin American, Caribbean and European
>nations.
>
>The Conventions Center plenary session also included a presentation to
>participants of a 'Solidarity with Cuba' Resolution by the foreign visitors.
>This resolution supports the Cubans' fight against the more than 40-year US
>economic blockade.
>
>Today the new ANAP officers and the best-producing territories, entities and
>farmers received recognition.
>
>The meeting has encouraged debates about farming development, including the
>need to increase results and the commercialization of the products.
>
>The most important results of the forum were methods to increase
>agricultural output and improve mechanisms for product commercialization in
>various markets. The farmers indicated their priorities were supplying
>people's basic food needs particularly in schools, hospitals and workers'
>dining halls.
>
>The forum's final day coincides with the celebration of Cuban Farmer's Day
>and the 41st anniversary of the first Agrarian Reform Law in 1959,
>considered a revolution in the Cuban fields, when the state gave the lands
>to those who worked them.
>
>The conclusion of the forum will be an open tribune by youth, this is how
>Cuban people term the mass actions held since December everywhere in the
>country, demanding Elian Gonzalez' return. JCT/IFF/CCS
>
>
>International:
>
>LATIN AMERICAN FARMERS ARE EVERYDAY POORER
>
>HAVANA, May 17 (PL) As a direct consequence of neoliberal policies, Latin
>American farmers become poorer everyday, Mexico's Labor, Farmer and Peoples
>General Union(UGOCP) coordinator, Miguel Angel Castro Cossio asserted.
>
>The Mexican Labor Union coordinator also said men and women from the country
>lack education, culture, live in poverty, are without jobs and fight for
>prerogatives the Cuban Revolution won over 40 years ago.
>
>Castro Cossio, who led the Mexican delegation to the 9th Congress, declared
>most of his country's farmers are among the most marginalized and suffer
>misery and exploitation by rich families.
>
>The executive reported that an important UGOCP farmer group from the
>northeast of the country has started new work on an aqua-cultural collective
>project for shrimp culture and other species, permitting the export of 2,500
>tons.
>
>When speaking about the misery of his compatriots, he recalled Marti's idea:
>"Democracy is only believed when every child in the world can have
>breakfast".
>
>Answering a question about Elian Gonzalez' sequestering, still retained in
>the US, Castro Cossio assured that everyone in Mexico is watching the
>results.
>
>He stated Elian's retention is the responsibility of the US government and
>Cuban counter-revolutionaries, and is condemned by the most of North
>America.
>
>It is unbelievable a country like the US, a self-styled democracy and
>justice model, acts this way against a child when his country demands his
>return, he pointed out.
>
>We demand Elian's return as you do, he represents every captive child in a
>foreign country, the union leader added. IFF/CCS
>
>
>MEJIA CLOSE TO MAJORITY IN DOMINICAN ELECTIONS
>
>SANTO DOMINGO, May 17 (PL) Opposition-candidate Hipolito Mejia is close to
>the majority needed to win the presidency in the Dominican Republic.
>
>Central Electoral Board (JCE) Report #2 gave the Dominican Revolutionary
>Party (PRD) (and six allied organizations) candidate 373,365 votes, 49.03
>per cent, very near the half plus one required to win on the first round.
>
>Joaquin Balaguer, Social Christian Reformist Party, has 203,256 votes (26.70
>per cent) and Danilo Medina, Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), 170,773
>(27.67 per cent).
>
>Those results correspond to 3,162 of the 11,422 polling places, which
>represents 27.68 per cent of the votes.
>
>Mejia has been proclaimed winner along with his vice-presidential candidate
>Milagros Ortiz.
>
>PLD general secretary, Jose Tomas Perez, declined to comment on Mejia's
>self-proclamation, and said that was disobeying a JCE rule to wait for the
>electoral court vote count. IFF/CCS
>
>
>PANAMA PRESIDENT WANTS TO STRENGTHEN RELATIONS WITH MEXICO
>
>PANAMA, May 17 (PL) Panama's President Mireya Moscoso will try to strengthen
>bilateral relations with Mexico and promote her country's international
>image during a state visit she will make next Monday to the northern nation,
>it was reported in this city.
>
>Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Miguel Aleman explained that the president's
>trip, the first one of state character since she assumed the presidency, "Is
>
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