>from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Radio Havana Cuba-25 August 2000 21:00 > Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 25 August 2000 21:00 > > >*LABIOFAM PHARMACEUTICAL LABORATORY A TARGET OF US ATTACKS >*UKRAINE'S COMMUNIST PARTY SECRETARY SAYS CUBAN VISIT A SUCCESS >*ST. LUCIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER IN CUBA ON "PRIVATE VISIT" >*PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION FROM LAOS ARRIVES IN HAVANA >*SIGNS OF ECOOMIC RECUPERATION, TEN YEARS INTO THE "SPECIAL PERIOD" > > >*LABIOFAM PHARMACEUTICAL LABORATORY A TARGET OF US ATTACKS > >Havana, August 25 (RHC)-- The President of Cuba's LABIOFAM >pharmaceutical laboratory, Jose Antonio Fraga, has denounced >pressures exerted by U.S. transnationals based in Guatemala as the >cause of the cancellation of the licensing of Biorat, a Cuban product >proven effective as a biological rat exterminator in various >countries. > >Fraga said that a commission of Guatemala's Ministry of Agriculture >claimed the product caused ecological damage, which, said the Cuban >business executive, is totally false. He asserted that Biorat has >been shown to be safe and effective in other countries including >Bolivia and Vietnam. > >Biorat has been used for years in Central America to eliminate rats >that cause epidemics like the bubonic plague and leptospirosis. > >According to the President of Cuba's LABIOFAM pharmaceutical >laboratories, the campaign against the Cuban product is headed by CDC >laboratories based in Atlanta, Georgia. LABIOFAM will file a letter >of protest next week. > > *UKRAINE'S COMMUNIST PARTY SECRETARY SAYS CUBAN VISIT A SUCCESS > >Havana, August 25 (RHC)-- The General Secretary of the Ukrainian >Communist Party, Pietr Simonenko, has called his four-day official >visit to Cuba "a success." In a meeting with Cuban Communist Party >official Jose Ramon Balaguer, the Ukrainian political leader thanked >the Cuban government for the free medical assistance extended to >Ukrainian children -- victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. > >The First Secretary of the Ukraine's Communist Party, Pietr >Simonenko, met with the president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo >Alarcon and toured places of interest in Havana and in the central >province of Villa Clara. > > . > >*ST. LUCIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER IN CUBA ON "PRIVATE VISIT" > >Havana, August 25 (RHC)-- Saint Lucia's Foreign Minister, George >Odlum, has signed a letter of intent in Havana for the purchase of >various pharmaceutical products from Cuba's LABIOFAM laboratories. > >The foreign minister, who is on a private visit to Havana, told >Prensa Latina News Agency that his country will begin by purchasing, >among other products, banana derivatives and ACYTAN, a vitamin that >fights intestinal diseases. > > *PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION FROM LAOS ARRIVES IN HAVANA > >Havana, August 25 (RHC)-- A parliamentary delegation from the >Popular Democratic Republic of Laos arrived in Havana on Thursday for >a four-day official visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations. > >The Laotian delegation will meet with the president of the Cuban >Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, and Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge >Bolanos. > >The delegation will also visit Havana's Latin American School of >Medicine and other places of interest. > > Viewpoint: > >*SIGNS OF ECOOMIC RECUPERATION, TEN YEARS INTO THE "SPECIAL PERIOD" > >Ten years after declaring a "Special Period in peace time," Cuba >is exhibiting good economic results after much hard work and >sacrifice. > >It was the end of August of l990 when the Cuban newspaper "Granma" >published an article warning of the necessity of rationing and saving >fuel because the Soviet Union was failing to make good on its >promised oil deliveries. > >That warning of the future scarcity of necessities, fundamentaly >of petroleum, placed in time and space the beginning of the economic >crisis which, though it is still plaging Cubans, the worst seems to >be over. > >With the predictable disintegration of the Soviet Union, to which >Cuban President Fidel Castro referred as early as July of l989, the >island's principal adversaries began packing their bags for a speedy >return to Cuba since, from their point of view, the Revolution was on >the verge of destruction. > >Eleven years later, extremist right wing Cubans in Miami, who have >unpacked their suitcases, have launched new campaigns against the >island. > >Throughout the years of the Cuban Revolution, right wing Cuban- >Americans in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere have executed plans >ranging from assassination attempts on Cuban leaders and setting off >bombs in Cuban hotels to kidnapping little Elian Gonzalez. Cubans on >the island resisted and today they can speak of an economy which >though it is still restricted, is at least expanding. The current >economic trend is not recession, but a 7.7% growth rate registered in >the first six months of this year. > >And though the increase is important, it is also important to note >how the wealth is distributed. In Cuba, efficiency has also >increased along with basic services including education, health care >and social security. > >This advance has affected the Cuban in the street whose electricity >is no longer being shut off at regular intervals and who sees cooking >gas, telephone and water services rapidly increasing. > >Though the economy has grown by an average of 4.4% since l995, >many obstacles still remain in the way of continued growth, >especially if oil prices remain at their current high levels; prices >which cost the country more than 500 million dollars in the first >three months of this year. > >So, even in the clutches of Washington's fierce blockade, there is >still concrete evidence of a better future. > > (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. > >================================================================= > NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems > Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us > 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 > http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >=================================================== >nytcari-08.25.00-21:04:56-26522 " JC > > _______________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________
