>Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 21:41:33 -0500 >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Radio Havana Cuba-09 November 2000 > >Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 09 November 2000 > > . > >*CUBA READY FOR NORMAL RELATIONS OR 100 YEARS OF RESISTANCE - PEREZ ROQUE > >*FINAL PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE > >*CHINA'S COMMUNIST PARTY CONDEMNS US BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA > >*SPANISH CATALAN DELEGATION HONORS ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA > >*CUBA AND ETHIOPIA EXPAND BILATERAL COOPERATION > >*EASING OF EMBARGO A MYTH, SAYS CUBAN ATTACHE IN NICARAGUA > >Editorials: > >*A BANANA REPUBLIC - Granma Daily > >*US ELECTORAL SYSTEM MORE QUESTIONABLE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE > > . > >*CUBA READY FOR NORMAL RELATIONS OR 100 YEARS OF RESISTANCE - PEREZ ROQUE > >New York, November 9 (RHC)-- At the United Nations General Assembly, Cuban >Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque Thursday asserted that Cuba is prepared >both for normal relations with the United States and to resist another one >hundred years of a U.S. blockade and aggressions. Presenting the 9th >consecutive resolution against Washington's blockade of Cuba, Perez Roque >said that President Bill Clinton probably wanted to change the situation he >inherited regarding Cuba, but that Clinton will go down in history as the >president who -- with the ability to do so -- was forced to act in the exact >opposite manner. > >The Cuban foreign minister said that after the normalization of U.S. >relations with China and Vietnam, and even with a group of countries once >called "terrorists," and when Clinton flies to North Korea -- with which the >United States has yet to formally sign a peace treaty -- the U.S. president >may reflect on his acts towards Cuba. > >Speaking directly to Washington's UN ambassador, Perez Roque said: "It must >be very difficult trying to defend, without arguments, the right of your >country to kill Cuban children with hunger and sickness." He said the next >U.S. president would have to decide whether he will promote before Congress >a change in this obsolete policy, or continue as a hostage to the sordid >interests and vengeful hysteria of an unscrupulous extremist minority. > >Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque wrapped up his speech by also >telling Washington's UN ambassador to remember that one can inspire terror >through force, but never affection; one can be the strongest, but not loved >and respected; one can impose an empire, but not have moral authority before >others; one can be the richest, but not the most virtuous; one can lie, but >will never be able to tell the same lie forever. > >Previous to the actual vote on Cuba's resolution, a number of diplomats from >around the world took the podium following Perez Roque's speech to condemn >Washington's blockade. Then 167 countries voted in favor of that resolution, >in what has been called another overwhelming Cuban victory. Three countries >voted against: the United States, Israel and the Marshall Islands. There was >also a record low four abstentions. > > >*FINAL PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE > >Havana, November 9 (RHC)-- Havana is ready to host the 2nd World Solidarity >with Cuba Conference with the participation of nearly 4000 delegates from >127 countries. > >The conference will open on Friday morning at the capital's Karl Marx >Theater and International Convention Center. On Saturday, delegates will be >divided into three commissions in which they will discuss issues like the >blockade, information and misinformation about Cuba. Delegates will also >exchange of experiences. On Monday, plenary sessions will be convened and on >Tuesday delegates will approve the final documents as the conference comes >to a close. > >Participants will also meet with Cuban grassroots organizations and visit >places of social, economic and cultural interest. > >The U.S. delegation is the largest delegation with some 600 representatives. > >According to statistics released by Cuba's Friendship Institute (ICAP), >there are currently 1685 Cuba friendship associations compared to 500 in >1989. > > >*CHINA'S COMMUNIST PARTY CONDEMNS US BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA > >Santiago de Cuba, November 9 (RHC)-- Chinese Communist Party official, Yang >Zhengne, reiterated his country's condemnation of Washington's blockade >against Cuba. During a visit to the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, >the Chinese leader underscored the Cuban people's ability to resist >continued economic aggressions. > >The Chinese delegation, which will participate in the 2nd World Solidarity >with Cuba Meeting, arrived in Havana last Tuesday. > > >*SPANISH CATALAN DELEGATION HONORS ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA > >Santa Clara, November 9 (RHC)-- A Spanish Catalan delegation, in Cuba to >participate in the 2nd World Solidarity with Cuba Conference, paid tribute >on Thursday to legendary guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara and his comrades at >the Memorial located in the central city of Santa Clara. > >The Catalan-Cuba Friendship Association collected donations to purchase >school materials and medicines for the Cuban people. > >The Catalan visitors will also help finance education and health projects >for children in Santa Clara daycare centers. > > >*CUBA AND ETHIOPIA EXPAND BILATERAL COOPERATION > >Havana, November 9 (RHC)-- Ethiopia and Cuba signed two bilateral >cooperation agreements in trade and education, according to Ethiopian >Industry and Commerce Minister, Kassaun Ayele. > >In a conversation held in Addis Ababa with the local Walta Information >Center, Kassaun Ayele said that the accords were the result of the recent >Ethiopia-Cuba joint commission that took place November 2-4 in Havana. The >Ethiopian government official explained that the agreements provide for his >country to export agricultural goods to Havana and, in exchange, Addis Abeba >will import medical and industrial products from Cuba such as sugar refining >equipment. > >Cuba and Ethiopia reestablished full diplomatic relations in 1976 and >Havana's cooperation with Addis Abeba over the past 20 years has included >public health, education and defense. More than 4000 Ethiopian young people >have studied in Cuban schools. > > >*VIETNAMESE OFFICIAL DISCUSSES UPCOMING ECONOMIC SEMINAR SET FOR CUBA > >Havana, November 9 (RHC)-- Vietnam's Investment and Economic Planning >Minister, Tran Xuang Gia, has stressed the importance of an International >Economics Seminar to be held next week on the island. > >Speaking with Prensa Latina News Agency in Hanoi, the Vietnamese government >official, who will soon travel to Havana, said that the forum, which will >focus on basic functions of Economic planning, will have large >representations from Asia, Europe and Latin America. > >Also participating in the event will be representatives from China and >Vietnam, two countries that have begun a process of change in their economic >structures, said the Vietnamese official. > > >*EASING OF EMBARGO A MYTH, SAYS CUBAN ATTACHE IN NICARAGUA > >Managua, November 9 (RHC)-- Cuban embassy official in Nicaragua, Damian >Arteaga, reiterated on Thursday in Managua the fallacy of Washington's >alleged easing of its blockade against the island. > >Arteaga, who is the Cuban business attach� in Nicaragua, pointed out that >under the pressure of increasing international condemnation, last October 11 >the U.S. House of Representatives passed an agriculture bill which included >a provision for the supposed selling of food and medicine to Cuba. However, >he said, the conditions the legislation imposes make it impossible to >actually make purchases and in fact, tighten Washington's blockade against >the Caribbean island. > >The Cuban official pointed out that the United States government is trying >to fool the international community into thinking that they are easing their >blockade against the island. > > >Editorials: > >*A BANANA REPUBLIC - Granma Daily > >Editorial pubished Nov 9, 2000 edition of Granma daily > >Something strange took place in the U.S. presidential elections on Tuesday, >something which perhaps hundreds of millions of people throughout the >world never thought would have happened. It was a huge scandal that swept >around the world, as messages of congratulations were sent to George Bush >just as soon as the television networks, fooled by those who designed the >fraud, announced at 3 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday that Bush had won. > >The United States was really without a president-elect. The epicenter of >this political earthquake, which damages the prestige of the entire country, >was, once again, the State of Florida and especially Miami -- where the >terrorist Cuban-American mafia makes its home. The same ones who, allied >with the extreme right, kidnapped six-year-old Elian Gonzalez. > >On that occasion, they violated laws and institutions and, even worse, >psychologically tortured and physically abused an innocent child for months. >Armed men developed plans and organized violent disruptions in the city, >finally stomping on and burning the U.S. flag when the boy was returned to >his family in Cuba. The intense struggle of the entire Cuban people for >Elian's return to his father was given a great deal of support by the vast >majority of public opinion in the United States. > >Now, only six months have passed since those events, and the State of >Florida has become the determining factor in the presidential elections. >This time, the mafia laid out everything. Hungry for revenge and anxious to >recuperate lost ground -- with the help of its allies in the U.S. Congress-- >they maneuvered to tighten the blockade against our country, frustrating >the initiatives in support of the sale of food and medicine, codifying the >prohibition of U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba and stealing funds frozen in >the United States. When election day came, they even thought they would be >able to decide who would be the next president of the United States. > >As we all have been able to see since early yesterday morning, they not only >invested huge sums of money, but they also stooped to electoral fraud, just >like those in Cuba before the Revolution. Experts in having even the dead >cast their ballots -- something that they've already tried doing in Miami -- >they ripped off ballot boxes, fixed votes, surrounded polling stations in >order to intimidate and put pressure on the voters, and changed the order of >the candidates on the ballot to cause mistakes. Many voters -- especially >retired senior citizens -- wanted to vote for one candidate and instead >voted for another. > >An obscure cloud covers the political panorama of the United States today. >Once again, this nation is paying the price of a criminal and genocidal >policy against our country -- of a blockade and economic war, of the killer >Cuban Adjustment Act, which has promoted death and protected criminals >that enter that country without a single legal document. > >How should the world react? How can this scandal be stopped? This cannot be >fixed with a simple recounting of the votes. They can recount the votes of >Florida a thousand times and the fraud will remain intact. Leaving aside the >colossal figure of 3 billion dollars in election campaign expenses -- which >tarnishes any pretension of a democratic model and a government of the >people, by the people and for the people -- only one thing is possible. >There is no other alternative for the leaders of the United States but to >repeat the elections in the State of Florida -- to really find out who is >the winner and maintain the fiction that in the United States, there is >something that at least looks like a democracy... and not what is so >disrespectfully called "a banana republic." > > >*US ELECTORAL SYSTEM MORE QUESTIONABLE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE > >The combination of the electoral and the popular vote results, as well as >the antics of the U.S. mainstream media to announce the new president-elect >without the official results, turns the ridiculous U.S. electoral system >into a balancing act. > >Tuesday's elections and the confusing results bring about a logical end to >an electoral show. The whole farce was seen on television and the INTERNET >while the important issues and ideas were totally lost. > >The campaign to point out the defects, real or imagined, of their rival was >George W. Bush and Albert Gore's only way to be different from the other >candidate. They have similar positions on many issues and most of their >positions lack any social content. > >Election Day results showed the existing contradiction between the electoral >votes and the only ones that should really count: the popular vote. > >Tuesday's elections also point to the disproportionate role of the Electoral >College -- 538 votes that have enough power to ignore the opinion of the >majority. > >The vote re-count in Florida has ended up creating an atmosphere of anxiety >and uncertainty among not only the U.S. people but also abroad. The >frivolity with which the American mainstream media approached the electoral >campaign reached its peak on Tuesday when well-known TV anchors had to >apologize for announcing the new president-elect before the official results >were in. > >In the final analysis, Tuesday's presidential elections showed how >vulnerable the U.S. system is, despite Washington's self-proclaimed "model >of democracy." > >(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-11.09.00-21:41:11-26950 > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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