>Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit > >Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 17 November 2000 > > . > >*FIDEL CASTRO, IN PANAMA FOR IBEROAMERICAN SUMMIT, DENOUNCES PLOTS > >*NEW ANTI-CUBA LEGISLATION TIGHTENS U.S. BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA > >*VICE PRESIDENT OF LAOTIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT > >*CEPAL EXECUTIVE SECRETARY PRAISES CUBA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH > >*CUBA AND CYPRUS SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT TO FIGHT DRUGS > >*CUBAN AUTHORITIES CONFISCATE 51 TONS OF DRUGS > >*Viewpoint: 10th IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT - PUT CHILDREN'S NEEDS FIRST > > . > >*FIDEL CASTRO, IN PANAMA FOR IBEROAMERICAN SUMMIT, DENOUNCES PLOTS > >Havana, November 17 (RHC) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro has arrived in >Panama to participate in the 10th Iberoamerican Summit. Upon arriving, the >Cuban leader said he had been asked to deliver a brief speech with words of >greetings to the Panamenian people. > >He said he was moved to be back in Panama 52 years after his first visit, >when he travelled there to promote the creation of a Latin American students >organization. During that visit, said the Cuban leader, he met with students >who had been seriously wounded in the struggle for Panamenian sovereignty >over the Panama Canal. President Castro said today all of that has changed, >that there are no more foreign troops shooting students and the Panamenian >people in general. He said his ideas haven't changed since that first visit, >and that he sustains those ideas with more experience and conviction than >ever. > >The Cuban leader said he will never abandon those convictions. Fidel Castro >thanked the friends of Cuba in Panama who gave his such a warm welcome, said >the Iberoamerican leaders will work together for the Summit's success. > >A few hours later, the Cuban leader held a press conference in which he >detailed plans drawn up by the Miami based extreme rightwing Cuban American >National Foundation to assassinate him while in Panama. He reported that the >anti-Cuba terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is in Panama at the head of a team >to carry out the task. Posada Carriles is wanted in Cuba for the bombing of >a Cubana airliner in 1976 with the loss of all lives on board. One of the >members of the Foundation's board, Ninoska Perez, stated that President >Castro had no proof to support his accusations. However, numerous prior >attempts on the life of the president funded by the Foundation are >well-known and well-documented. > >The Cuban leader is expected to attend a solidarity with Cuba rally at the >University of Panama and pay homage to the late Panamenian leader, General >Omar Torrijos. At the top of the agenda of the 10th Iberoamerican Summit is >the social and economic situation of children and adolescents here in the >region. > > >*NEW ANTI-CUBA LEGISLATION TIGHTENS U.S. BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA > >Moscow, November 17(RHC)-- In Moscow, Ricardo Alarcon, President of the >Cuban Parliament, denounced the recently passed U.S. Agricultural Law as a >measure which further tightens Washington's 40-year blockade against Cuba. > >Addressing a plenary session of the DUMA --the lower chamber of the Russian >Congress -- on Friday, the high-ranking Cuban official reaffirmed that the >U.S. latest maneuver reinforces the economic siege laid by Washington >against Cuba, while at the same time deceiving international public opinion >with an alleged easing of the blockade. He added that under the new law, >Cuba is the only country that is still denied access to medicine and food >produced in the United States. > >Alarcon, who is also a member of Cuba's Communist Party's Political Bureau, >thanked the DUMA for its strong rejection of the genocidal, illegal U.S. >blockade and all U.S. anti-Cuba legislation, such as the Torricelli and >Helms-Burton Laws, which violate the national sovereignty of other nations. > >The president of the Cuban parliament then asked why, in light of the >current political crisis in the United States, due to evident electoral >fraud, no one has suggested to send in UN forces or international ballot >observers as it's the common practice of the Organization of American States >(OAS) regarding any other country. > > >*VICE PRESIDENT OF LAOTIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT > >Havana, November 17(RHC)-- Khombou Sounivax, Vice President of the National >Assembly of the People's Republic of Lao, has begun an official visit to >Cuba, following his participation in the II World Solidarity with Cuba >Conference that concluded earlier this week in the Cuban capital. > >During a tour of LABIOFAM, Havana's Biological and Pharmaceutical >Laboratories, the vice president of the Laotian Congress reviewed, with >LABIOFAM officials, the prospects for the establishment of a mixed Cuba-Lao >enterprise for the production of medicine. > >LABIOFAM Director, Jose Antonio Fraga, explained to the distinguished >visitor that the Cuban firm is considering a program to export larvicides to >South East Asia to fight mosquitoes and other disease carriers. > > >*CEPAL EXECUTIVE SECRETARY PRAISES CUBA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH > >Havana, November 17(RHC)--Jose Antonio Ocampo, Executive Secretary of the UN >Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) praised >Cuba's economic expansion that began in 1998 and is reaffirmed once again >this year with a 5 to 6 percent growth of the Cuban Gross Domestic Product >(GDP). > >Ocampo pointed to reforms in the National Financial System and the program >to increase the efficiency of state-run Cuban enterprises as key factors >favoring economic growth. > >The CEPAL executive secretary attended an International Seminar on Planning >that concluded on Friday in Havana. > >During the closing session, Cuba's Economy Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez, >gave a lecture on Cuba's accumulated experiences in the field of economic >planning. The seminar, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the >implementation of economic planning in Cuba, had the participation of >experts from 13 countries from Asia, Latin America and Europe. > > >*CUBA AND CYPRUS SIGN COOPERATION AGREEMENT TO FIGHT DRUGS > >Havana, November 17(RHC)-- Visiting Cypriot Justice Minister Nicos Koshis >and his Cuban counterpart Roberto Diaz Sotolongo have signed a cooperation >agreement to prevent the illegal use of drugs and drug trafficking in their >respective countries. > >The top Cypriot judicial authority stressed that although drug-related >crimes do not constitute a major problem in Cyprus, his government >cooperates in the fight against international drug traffickers who are >intent on using Cyprus as a springboard to take the drug to the European >continent. > >The bilateral agreement, the 27th that Cuba has signed with other nations to >fight drugs, provides for the exchange of information, expertise and >techniques between the two nations. > > >*CUBAN AUTHORITIES CONFISCATE 51 TONS OF DRUGS > >Havana, November 17(RHC)-- Cuban authorities have confiscated 51 tons of >drugs over the past five years, mainly packages that drifted on to Cuban >shores or found during operations involving international drug-traffickers >that were interrupted by Cuban forces. > >This announcement was made by Lieutenant Colonel Guillermo Valdes, from the >Cuban National Drug Division. Valdes added that as a result of Cuba's >efforts to fight drug trafficking, the island's authorities have arrested >259 foreigners. Of them, 175 were tried and are currently serving their >sentence here in Cuba. > >The Cuban authorities have repeatedly denounced the activities of small >aircraft which come from drug-producing nations and drop drug packages into >the sea, to be picked up by speedboats that take the drug into the United >States. Many of those operations have ended up as complete failures thanks >to the actions by Cuban patrol vessels. > >Addressing participants in the International Congress on Criminology that >concluded on Friday in Havana's International Convention Center, the >official from the Cuban National Drug Division stated that in Cuba, the >fight against drugs if of the highest priority and is considered a matter of >national security. Cuba has signed bilateral agreements with 27 nations and >cooperates with 12 anti-drug services around the world. > > >Viewpoint: > >*10th IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT - PUT CHILDREN'S NEEDS FIRST > >The 10th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government is underway >in Panama City. Cuba believes that urgent attention must be paid to the >needs of children and adolescents -- the first generation of citizens of the >21st century. Their developmental needs must be attended and solutions to >their problems are priorities that must be addressed now, without delay. The >problems faced by this vulnerable sector of the community are not limited to >Latin America. They extend to the entire Third World, including the hidden, >marginalized areas of the wealthiest countries, which are like pockets of >underdevelopment within rich areas of human society. > >Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Pique, interviewed in Madrid, stated that >Summit participants must prioritize the needs of children and adolescents. >The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Relations has called for a common platform >to address social problems -- building on the work done at the Guadalajara >Summit in Mexico in 1991. This common platform will share its findings and >proposals with other world institutions and agencies. It is time for an >ethical approach to the problems which are facing young people today. >Financing is essential to find solutions to social problems. However, >ethical principles are necessary in order to ensure that the money is used >in the right way. > >Neo-liberalism does not allow for the human element; it is, instead, based >on selfish principles that defend the International Monetary Fund and the >World Bank. The privatization of health and social services will never >benefit the children and adolescents of the poor. > >The 10th Ibero-American Summit should reiterate that health and social >services need to remain public responsibilities in order to protect those >most at risk and those who cannot afford to pay for such necessary services. > > >(c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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