From: John Clancy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 06:48:22 -0800
subject: Havana Radio Jan 22. No change from US Admin
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 22 January 2001
.
*CASA DE LAS AMERICAS LITERATURE COMPETITION BEGINS
*2000'S SUCCESSFUL HEPATITIS B VACCINATION CAMPAIGN
*CUBAN TOURISM MINISTER PRAISES PORTUGAL
*VENEZUELAN AMBASSADOR SUPPORTS REGIONAL INTEGRATION
*BRITISH TRADE OFFICIAL CONTINUES VISIT
*TENSIONS ON THE RISE IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
*GLOBAL WARMING ALARM: TEMPERATURE INCREASE MUCH LARGER THAN
PREDICTED
*ISRAEL: ULTRA-RIGHTWING ARIEL SHARON SPARKS ANOTHER POLITICAL STORM
*Viewpoint: NO CHANGE FOR CUBA EXPECTED WITH NEW US ADMINISTRATION
.
*CASA DE LAS AMERICAS LITERATURE COMPETITION BEGINS
Havana, January 22 (RHC)-Some 730 pieces of literature from 22
countries are currently contesting the 42nd Casa de Las Americas
Literary Award.
A special jury has begun deliberations in Havana with the
participation of 1996 Nobel Literature Prize Winner, Nigerian Wole
Soyinka, as a distinguished guest to the event. Soyinka - who is
visiting Havana for the third time - was granted the Honoris Causa
Title on Monday by the University of Havana. A poet and literary
critic as well, he is considered to be one of the best African
writers alive.
This year's contest includes works from Argentina, Chile, Brazil,
Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, Spain, and
Nicaragua among others.
Literary genres such as the novel, short story, play, along with
the historic and social essay, will be among the winners of this 42nd
Casa de Las Americas Literary Award, the results of which will be
released on February 11th.
*2000'S SUCCESSFUL HEPATITIS B VACCINATION CAMPAIGN
Havana, January 22 (RHC)-A massive campaign to vaccinate everyone
under 20 against the hepatitis B virus was completed by the end of
last year.
This significant public health achievement was announced Monday by
the island's Epidemiology Department at the Cuban Public Health
Ministry.
The vaccination strategy began during the past decade following
the discovery and large-scale production by the Cuban Center of
Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology of a recombinant vaccine that
proved very effective against the hepatitis B strain. The campaign
included some 160,000 infants annually, the child and adolescent
population in general, plus others deemed at risk.
Hepatitis B is considered to have similar medical and social problems
as AIDS as it is contracted in the same way and can have catastrophic
health consequences. According to international research bodies, the
virus affects nearly half a million people in Latin America every
year.
World Health Organization records report that between five and eight
percent of the world's population are carriers of hepatitis B.
Doctor Graciela Gomez, head of the Cuban Control and Prevention
Program of Hepatitis Viruses said that in the year 2000 the
immunization strategy also included diabetes patients who depend on
insulin and that all diabetic persons will be the target of a new
anti-hepatitis campaign that will begin in Cuba next February.
*CUBAN TOURISM MINISTER PRAISES PORTUGAL
Havana, January 22 (RHC)-Cuba's Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz has
called his recent official working visit to Portugal extremely
positive.
We have had the opportunity to discuss and share with Portuguese
national authorities both from the government and parliament in a
very friendly ambiance, commented the Cuban Tourism Minister.
During his stay in Portugal, Ibrahim Ferradaz took part in the
inauguration of a Cuban pavilion, which was also attended by
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres.
*VENEZUELAN AMBASSADOR SUPPORTS REGIONAL INTEGRATION
Havana, January 22 (RHC)-Venezuela's ambassador to Havana, Julio
Montes, says that his government seeks the unity of Latin America as
one people with one common economy, and he stressed the importance of
Cuba within the Caribbean context.
In statements to Venezuela's Ultimas Noticias daily newspaper, Julio
Montes said that his government's strategy follows the ideals of
Simon Bolivar and Jose Marti in conceiving of Latin America as only
one nation.
The Venezuelan diplomat reiterated Caracas's opposition to
Washington's economic blockade of Cuba, but rejected speculations of
a possible deterioration of relations between Venezuela and the
United States. He recalled increasing pressure by US economic circles
against the blockade.
Montes asserted that beyond reasons of friendship, Cuba-
Venezuela integration will bring Caracas economic benefits,
particularly the expansion of his country's oil industry into the
Caribbean by means of Venezuela's participation in the Cuban energy
sector.
*BRITISH TRADE OFFICIAL CONTINUES VISIT
Havana, January 22 (RHC)-The Director of the British and Irish
Commonwealth Americas Department, Richard Wilkinson, who is on a
working visit in Cuba, visited Varadero tourist resort Sunday and
will hold talks with Cuban Minister without Portfolio, Ricardo
Cabrisas, Cuba's Central Bank officials and authorities at the
island's Center of Molecular Studies.
Upon his arrival in Havana, the British official said that aside
from tourism, the island offers many possibilities for exchange in
other economic and social fields.
Wilkinson is the highest ranking British trade official to have
visited Cuba since the Vice President of British Trade International
Sir Martin Laing headed a delegation here in November 1999.
*TENSIONS ON THE RISE IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Kinshasa, January 22 (RHC)-- Tensions are on the rise in the
Democratic Republic of Congo six days after the assassination of
President Laurent Kabila. Though there have been no incidents in the
capital, Kinshasa, observers believe that a power struggle could
erupt at any moment. There are rumors ofthe execution of high-ranking
members of the military and civilians accused of conspiring against
Kabila.
Angola, the Congo's military ally, has announced that it will
dispatch more troops to Kinshasa and the southeastern city
Lubumbashi, while the United States government is urging its citizens
to leave the African nation. At the same time, rumors continue
concerning the motive that led one of Kabila's bodyguards to murder
the president, while no one believes that the assassin acted alone.
According to the weekly publication "East African," Kabila was
planning to overhaul his military command and cabinet in an effort to
adopt a new strategy of struggle against rebel forces supported by
Ruanda and Uganda. Angola, Nambia and Zimbabwe have decided to
maintain their military support of Kabila's son, who will be sworn in
as president after his father's funeral service on Tuesday. Hundreds
of thousands of people in Kinshasa have reportedly flocked to the
casket where Kabila's remains lay.
*GLOBAL WARMING ALARM: TEMPERATURE INCREASE MUCH LARGER THAN
PREDICTED
Shanghai, January 22 (RHC)-- Scientists from around the world have
sounded the alarm on global warming, insisting that the rise in
temperatures is going to be much more intense than previously
estimated.
The United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic
Changes, grouping 123 scientists from 99 nations, stated today in
Shanghai, China that temperatures could rise this century by as much
as 5.6 degrees Centigrade, as opposed to the previous estimate of a
3.5 degree maximum.
Following a three-year study considered the most complete ever on
global warming, a 1000 page report stated that unless humanity
changes its contaminating behavior, there will be devastating
consequences. The scientists said humanity must advance in clean
energy technologies and prepare itself for a catastrophic rise in
ocean levels and change in rain patterns. They said that there is new
evidence that global warming is almost exclusively the result of
human activity andthat the concentration of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere is greaterthan during the last 420 thousand years -- and
probably greater than during the past 20 million years of
this planet's history.
One of the scientists stated that even a minimal rise in temperature
is sufficient to destroy ecosystems, noting that a one degree rise in
the temperature of the ocean is enough to kill coral reefs. A rise in
ocean levels, stated the scientists, will displace tens, perhaps
hundreds of thousands of people in India, China or Bangladesh. The
new warning comes just two months after the failure of the Climatic
Change Conference at The Hague, mostly the result of the U.S.
opposition to any significant reductions in contaminating gas
emissions. And the new U.S. administration of George Bush, whose
family has close ties to the oil industry, has already expressed its
hostility to any accord in that direction.
*ISRAEL: ULTRA-RIGHTWING ARIEL SHARON SPARKS ANOTHER POLITICAL STORM
Tel Aviv, January 22 (RHC)-- Statements from ultra-right wing
Israeli legislator Ariel Sharon have sparked another political storm.
Sharon called Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "a liar and a
murderer," characterizing as "absurd" the idea that there can ever be
a peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians.
The statements were made last November in an interview with the
U.S. magazine New Yorker and reproduced Monday in the Israeli news
daily Maariv. Supporters of out-going Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who
will face Sharon as an underdog in new elections next February 6th,
rushed to state that for those who thought the ultra-conservative
leader had changed, he has taken off his mask and shown his true
face.
Veteran political leader Shimon Perez stated that he hoped these
statements will prevent Sharon from getting elected. Arab-Israeli
legislator Ahmed Tibi stated that this type of attitude will drag the
Middle East into a regional war.
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv has announced that it refuses to cooperate with
an international investigation commission looking into the origin of
the violence in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory. On Sunday,
Israel notified that it will refuse cooperation allegedly in protest
of the commission's unauthorized trip to the holy site in East
Jerusalem where a highly controversial visit by Ariel Sharon sparked
the violence. The commission was agreed upon in peace talks in Egypt
last October. Headed by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, it
alsoincludes political personalities from Europe and the Middle East.
*Viewpoint: NO CHANGE FOR CUBA EXPECTED WITH NEW US ADMINISTRATION
The White House Oval Office now has a new occupant after a
questionable victory in which election fraud and influence peddling
paved the way for George W Bush to become the 43rd president of the
United States. The irony, of course, is that the US consistently
represents itself as the paradigm of representative democracy and
sends monitors around the world to oversee other nation's elections
to combat the kind of fraud that occurred right in its own front
yard.
The swearing-in ceremony on Saturday was marred by protests
throughout the nation and the dark cloud of illegitimacy that hangs
over Bush. And many were those present whose anti-Cuba policies are
well known. The new cabinet has caused consternation among many in
the US and abroad who are dismayed by it's right wing and reactionary
content. And right up there in the prow is the extreme right wing
element of the Cuban-American community in Florida which put a lot of
money and energy into getting Bush into the White House and will be
seeking a payback in no time at all. The Cuban American
National Foundation was desperate to regain some of the ground it
lost during the debacle of the Elian Gonzalez affair and it is now
likely that the new president's policies toward Cuba will stiffen
rather than relax the 40-year blockade.
In the face of this likely turn of events, the resolution of the
people of this island will also stiffen rather than relax. For as
long as the independence and sovereignty of Cuba is not respected by
Washington; for as long as the 11th US administration in succession
fails to respect the choice of government of its neighbors and the
social project they embarked upon 42 years ago; for as long as US
laws entice naive youngsters to risk and lose their lives to reach US
territory with the false promises of a supposedly democratic system
that has shown its worst flaws in this last election fiasco, Cuba
will fight to maintain the path it took to change the destiny of its
people for the better.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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