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subject: Havana Radio Jan 16. Vieques vibrations.Venezuela happy
Radio Havana Cuba-16 January 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 16 January 2001
.
*CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER SIGNS AGREEMENTS WITH GREEK AUTHORITIES
*CZECH "TOURISTS" ARRESTED FOR COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES
*SOUTH AMERICAN BRIGADE BEGINS VOLUNTARY WORK IN HAVANA
*CUBA'S EASTERN COFFEE PLANTATIONS DECLARED UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
SITES
*CUBAN, FOREIGN DELEGATES PLAN MEETING ON GLOBALIZATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
*OSPAAAL CELEBRATES 35th ANNIVERSARY
*PINOCHET FACES 206 CHARGES, BUT HE MAY YET WALK FREE
*ON 10th ANNIVERSARY OF GULF WAR, IRAQ BARS UN INSPECTORS, DENOUNCES
BOMBING
Viewpoint:
*RESIDENTS OF VIEQUES SUFFER FROM ACOUSTIC VIBRATION SYNDROME
*VENEZUELAN STUDENTS EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE
.
*CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER SIGNS AGREEMENTS WITH GREEK AUTHORITIES
Athens, January 16 (RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
has wrapped up an official visit to Greece, signing several important
agreements in the areas of agriculture, tourism, sports and bilateral
exchange.
Cuba's top diplomat met last night with his Greek counterpart,
Yorgos Panadreu. Following their meeting, the Greek official told
reporters that Havana and Athens will strengthen relations as a
result of Perez Roque's visit. Cuba's Foreign Minister will begin an
official visit to Turkey on Wednesday.
*CZECH "TOURISTS" ARRESTED FOR COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES
Havana, January 16 (RHC)-- Two citizens from the Czech Republic are
under arrest for violating Cuba's immigration laws and carrying
out counterrevolutionary activities. According to Tuesday morning's
edition of the daily Granma, the two Czech citizens had entered the
country on Monday, January 8th, from Cancun, Mexico on tourist visas.
Jan Bubenik and Ivan Pilip were arrested on Friday, January 12th, in
Ceigo de Avila. The two reportedly were planning to leave Havana
today, the 16th, and travel to Miami and Washington before returning
to Prague, the Czech capital.
According to Granma, preliminary investigations show that the two
"tourists" were acting as contacts with counterrevolutionaries in
Cuba -- supplying them with information and resources. Granma says
that both Czech citizens had contacts with anti-Cuban groups in Miami
and were connected with the ultra right-wing organization "Freedom
House."
Pilip, a deputy in the Czech Parliament's lower house and a former
minister in the government, and Bubenik, a former student leader in
the counterrevolutionary movement in Czechoslovakia, will be charged
with violating Cuban immigration laws.
*SOUTH AMERICAN BRIGADE BEGINS VOLUNTARY WORK IN HAVANA>
Havana, January 16 (RHC)-The 8th South American voluntary work
Brigade got started Tuesday on the outskirts of Havana as a gesture
of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.
The 350 brigade members will take time out from their work in the
fields and on construction sites to participate in conferences on the
reality of the Cuban Revolution and they will also visit places of
social and political interest.
*CUBA'S EASTERN COFFEE PLANTATIONS DECLARED UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE
SITES
Havana, January 16 (RHC)---The colorful ruins of 6 French Coffee
plantations dating from the first part of the 19th Century, are an
added attraction to the natural beauties of the lush Sierra del
Rosario Mountain Range in the westernmost province of Pinar Del Rio.
French farmers fled to Cuba from Haiti after that country's
revolution in 1789 and planted coffee in the rich mountain areas of
the south eastern portion of the island as well as in Pinar del Rio.
After three centuries, the vestiges of French farming society remain
in the coffee plantations of Buenavista, Santa Serafina, La Victoria,
San Pedro, Santa Catalina and La Union. Visitors can see the remains
of antique agricultural techniques, European architecture, homes,
slaves' quarters and other structures.
The ruins of another 191 French coffee plantations are found in the
eastern provinces of Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba where 32 estates
have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
*CUBAN, FOREIGN DELEGATES PLAN MEETING ON GLOBALIZATION AND
DEVELOPMENT
Havana, January 16 (RHC)-Over 300 Cuban and foreign delegates
will participate in February in the 3rd International Meeting on
Globalization and Development Problems.
Delegates, among them renowned figures in the economic and academic
sphere, will participate in some 70 workshops on current issues like
finance and trade, competitiveness and technological innovations.
*OSPAAAL CELEBRATES 35th ANNIVERSARY
Havana, January 16 (RHC)-The Executive Secretariat of the
Organization in Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin
America, OSPAAAL is holding a special session on Tuesday and
Wednesday in Havana on the 35th anniversary of the organization.
Renowned political personalities will be on hand to discuss ways
to contribute to forging unity, solidarity and integration of
revolutionary, progressive and democratic forces.
As part of the program the Mehdi Ben Barka solidarity order is to be
awarded to a group of distinguished personalities from a variety of
solidarity organizations.
Delegates from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Angola, North Korea,
Vietnam, Palestine and South Africa are in the capital for the event.
*PINOCHET FACES 206 CHARGES, BUT HE MAY YET WALK FREE
Santiago de Chile, January 16 (RHC)-- Former Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet is now facing 206 legal charges for human rights
abuses. The new case was brought before a Santiago de Chile court by
attorney Francisco Bravo. It involves Sergio Requena, a civil
engineer who was arrested by Pinochet's secret police, the DINA, in
September 1975 and tortured for more than a year in a clandestine
prison. Requena, who now resides in London, is requesting that the
former dictator be tried for crimes against humanity.
Chilean Judge Juan Guzman Tapia now has a long list of charges
against Pinochet, whose defense attorneys insist he is medically
unfit to stand trial. On Tuesday, it was announced that official
results of the medical examinations will not be released for several
days. But attorneys for the plaintiffs said that the former dictator
has been diagnosed with senility and slight coordination and speech
problems. Political observers believe that while the results will
show that the 84-year-old Pinochet is physically and mentally able to
stand trial, he will probably be allowed to walk free.
*ON 10th ANNIVERSARY OF GULF WAR, IRAQ BARS UN INSPECTORS, DENOUNCES
BOMBING
Baghdad, January 16 (RHC)-- The government of Iraq has rejected
any possibility that a United Nations inspection team enter the Arab
country without at least first discussing the current situation.
According to an Iraqi statement issued in Baghdad, authorities will
not give in to pressures from Washington and the UN Security Council
for new inspections of its defense systems. Recent claims by the
United States and its military and political allies that Iraq is
producing so-called weapons of mass destruction have been flatly
denied by Baghdad. Iraq says that the U.S.-promoted sanctions imposed
against the country by the UN Security Council for ten years must be
lifted before UN inspections are once again allowed.
A special inspection team was expelled from the Arab country in
1998, charged with espionage. Baghdad has long considered the United
Nations sanctions and accusations that it is building major weapon
systems to be a direct violation of its national sovereignty.
According to official statistics from UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund,
every month for the past nine years, the economic embargo has cost
the lives of more than 4500 children under the age of five.
In related news, the Iraqi Civil Defense Agency revealed on Monday
that during the Persian Gulf War ten years ago, the U.S. and its
allies used explosives with the capacity of nearly seven Hiroshima
atomic bombs. The U.S.-supported strikes against Iraq -- which became
known as "Desert Storm" or the "Gulf War" -- began 10 years ago
today, on January 16th 1991. The civil defense agency says that
during five weeks of constant bombings, more than 140,000 tons of
explosives were dropped on Iraq. It was also noted that nearly 3000
war planes carried out 112,000 bombing missions -- including the use
of more than 800 Cruise missiles.
In statements to reporters in Baghdad, the Director General of the
Iraqi Civil Defense Agency, Qassim Nuri, stated that more than 14,000
anti-tank missiles were fired - each containing depleted uranium. And
Nuri told journalists that over the past ten years, Iraqi authorities
have deactivated more than 390,000 unexploded bombs scattered across
the country.
Iraq joins other nations affected by U.S. bombings and has demanded a
full investigation into the effects of depleted uranium, pointing to
the dramatic increase in cancer cases among Iraqi citizens following
the U.S.-led Gulf War.
.
Viewpoint:
*RESIDENTS OF VIEQUES SUFFER FROM ACOUSTIC VIBRATION SYNDROME
Amidst recent charges of serious health problems caused to various
Balkan populations by NATO bombing during the recent aggression
against Yugoslavia, another similar case has come to the fore: that
of Puerto Rico. The Caribbean island's new governor, Sila Maria
Calderon, has revealed a new study which shows that U.S. war games on
the Puerto Rican island of Vieques are affecting residents with
"acoustic vibration syndrome" which hardens the delicate membranes
around the heart.
The sobering study confirms that 49 out of every 50 residents of
Vieques who were examined demonstrated symptoms of the problem.
Acoustic Vibration Syndrome is common in soldiers who have been
submitted to frequent bomb attacks without proper protection. That is
what has occurred with Vieques residents whose home has been used as
a shooting range for the last 60 years by the U.S. Navy.
Protests against the dangerous war games have increased recently by
Puerto Ricans who are outraged over the damage caused to Vieques'
9,000 residents. The new Puerto Rican governor, Sila Maria Calderon,
based her electoral campaign in large part on the issue and civil
disobedience actions have been stepped up including demonstrators
entering the most dangerous areas of the firing range in order to
halt the bombings.
U.S. president, Bill Clinton, who in a few days will turn over the
Oval Office to Republican George W. Bush, promised to convene a
referendum in November so that Vieques residents could express their
opinion on the controversy. Evidently that was just a move to gain
time and calm the island's residents, who will now have to deal with
Bush.
Governor Calderon has stated that she will try to met quickly with
Bush to determine his position on the Vieques question Meanwhile, the
bombings continue, a humiliating reminder of the Puerto Ricans lack
of sovereignty.
*VENEZUELAN STUDENTS EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE
The 261 Venezuelan university students invited to Cuba by President
Fidel Castro, returned to their country last weekend, having enjoyed
a warm welcome from the Cuban people wherever they went. Their
program here took them to other Cuban provinces as well as Havana,
where they had the opportunity to have direct contact with Cubans and
exchange ideas, ask questions and see for themselves the benefits of
the Cuban Revolution.
Here they experienced the truth and not the distortions put out by
Cuba's enemies.
They visited various universities where they met with thousands of
Cuban students, and also Science Centers where they witnessed the
Trojan work done by the workers with the minimum of resources, not
only for the benefit of this country, but with a view to aid and
support other nations enmeshed in poverty and ignorance because of
those who are manipulating so called democracy for their convenience
and gain.
The young Venezuelans took part in the televised round table whose
daily transmissions informs Cubans about what is happening in Cuba
and the rest of the world.
There they could air their opinions and their experiences which they
got in Cuba in such a little time. They referred to the past
situation in their own country where traditional governments had been
the imitators of the politics and culture of the minority which left
80 per cent of the population in a state of poverty and extreme
inequality. Now there is a great popular offensive to change this
situation similar to what has been done in Cuba.
They will not repeat the process of national liberation for the
same ideological causes as the Cubans because the circumstances are
different, but surely they will begin a shorter and truer way to take
the Venezuelan people out of the apathy into which they have been
plunged by those who followed the imperialist route and who have been
unmasked by the people of this Latin American country.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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rhc-eng-1726 2001-Jan-17 01:29:46 " jc
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