From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 27 April 2001
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*CONFEDERATION OF CUBAN WORKERS (CTC) GEARS UP FOR 18th CONGRESS
*ARGENTINE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER ON CUBA'S SOLIDARITY WITH THIRD WORLD
*COSTA RICAN PERSONALITIES LEND THEIR SUPPORT TO CUBA
*PARAGUAYAN MINISTER SAYS CUBA IS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR THE WORLD
*CUBAN DOCTORS AND MEDICAL PERSONNEL PERFORM "MIRACLES" IN AFRICA
*AFRICAN NATIONS ADOPT CONCRETE MEASURES TO FIGHT AIDS PANEMIC
*INTERNATIONAL COALITION CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY & OPENNESS IN IMF, WORLD BANK
*Viewpoint: MASS MIGRATION - A MODERN DILEMMA
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*CONFEDERATION OF CUBAN WORKERS (CTC) GEARS UP FOR 18th CONGRESS
Havana, April 27 (RHC)--The 18th Congress of the Confederation of Cuban
Workers, the CTC, gets underway tomorrow, Saturday, here in the Cuban
capital.
Delegates to the 18th Congress will meet over the weekend to discuss a wide
range of topics of interest to the Cuban working class. As many as 53 issues
are slated to be discussed, in addition to those that come up during plenary
sessions and debates. According to observers, one topic of particular
interest is the issue of social inequalities that have arisen since the
island opened to joint ventures and tourism.
The General Secretary of the Confederation of Cuban Workers, Pedro Ross
Leal, told reporters on Friday that the inequalities caused by recent
economic reforms are contrary to the socialist values of the Cuban
Revolution. He said that while it is generally agreed that reforms are
inevitable and even necessary, delegates to the CTC Congress will discuss
ways to alleviate the social inequalities and contradictions produced by
those reforms.
The 18th Congress of the Confederation of Cuban Workers runs through Monday.
On Tuesday, May 1st, hundreds of thousands of Cuban workers will take to the
streets to celebrate International Worker's Day.
*ARGENTINE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER ON CUBA'S SOLIDARITY WITH THIRD WORLD
Havana, April 27 (RHC)--An editorial appearing in this morning's edition of
the daily Granma is entitled "Cuba: The Revolutionary Island, Between Love
and Hate." Written by the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Adolfo Perez
Esquivel, the editorial states that despite Washington's attempts to destroy
the Cuban Revolution for more than 40 years, the island's socialist project
is alive and well.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner emphasizes that Cuba has always demonstrated
its solidarity with the Third World, particularly noting its decision to
offer free scholarships to medical students -- while, at the same time,
other countries are actually closing schools and universities.
Adolfo Perez Esquivel writes that while the United States and the enemies of
the Cuban Revolution talk about democracy, they violate its essential
principles -- using as an example the recent kidnapping in Miami of Elian
Gonzalez and the attempt to extort his father. The Nobel Peace Prize winner
points to the example of resistance shown by Elian's father, a humble man
who turned down offers of millions by the Miami mafia. Esquivel notes that
the enemies of Cuba put a price on everything -- except values.
The Argentine human rights activist criticizes his own government for its
position in favor of Washington's anti-Cuba resolution at the UN Human
Rights Commission. He says that Buenos Aires was unable to resist the
threats and pressures by Washington and finally bowed to promises of a huge
economic package from the International Monetary Fund, which will only
subject the Argentine people to more poverty.
Finally, Adolfo Perez Esquivel says that Cuba has been able to overcome many
difficulties despite the aggressions and economic blockade imposed on the
island by its powerful neighbor to the North. The Nobel Peace Prize winner
writes that Cuba has the right to defend the type of society it wishes to
construct: a socialist society.
*COSTA RICAN PERSONALITIES LEND THEIR SUPPORT TO CUBA
San Jose, April 27 (RHC)--Outstanding personalities in Costa Rica have
expressed their support for Cuba and condemned the recent vote of their
country at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
Daniel Camacho, former Coordinator and currently a leading member of the
Costa Rican Human Rights Committee, has sent a letter of solidarity to
Havana. Camacho strongly condemned his country's decision to vote in favor
of Washington's anti-Cuba resolution.
He added that he was a proponent of the Geneva-based Human Rights
Commission, but that the UN organization was being manipulated by the United
States for its own political interests.
Freddy Pacheco, a professor at the Autonomous University of Costa Rica in
San Jose, also sent a message to colleagues in Havana -- stating that it was
necessary to create a more democratic and tolerant world, in which the
existence of different political and economic models is respected -- whether
or not the United States agrees with those models.
Journalist Oscar Lepiz Villega strongly criticized his country's position,
saying that Costa Rica was truly behaving like "a Yankee colony" and had
bowed to the interests of the major powers -- when San Jose should have
stood up and defended the interests of national sovereignty and
self-determination.
*PARAGUAYAN MINISTER SAYS CUBA IS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR THE WORLD
Havana, April 27 (RHC)--Particularly during these times of neo-liberal
globalization, Cuba is a source of inspiration for the rest of the world
says Adrian Castillo, the Deputy Minister of Paraguayan Youth, adding that
the Cuban people are providing an example of resistance and perseverance in
the face of capitalist aggressions.
The visiting Paraguayan leader said that Cuba's example is paramount,
expressing his appreciation that nearly 400 Paraguayan young people are
studying medicine at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana.
Castillo said that while the students will be prepared for a professional
medical career, the most important aspect of their training is in the
formation of moral and ethical principles. He told reporters in Havana that
following their experiences in socialist Cuba, the doctors will return to
Paraguay to practice medicine with a solid sense of humanism.
*CUBAN DOCTORS AND MEDICAL PERSONNEL PERFORM "MIRACLES: IN AFRICA
Diffa, Niger, April 27 (RHC)--Cuban doctors and health experts are
performing medical miracles in Niger and other countries of the African
continent.
According to a special feature published in Thursday morning's edition of
the daily Granma, the Cuban medical brigade in Niger is made up of 64
doctors who provide their services free-of-charge to remote communities of
the African country.
Over the past two and a half years, Cuban doctors and medical personnel have
treated more than 230,000 patients in Niger. Doctor Julio Casta�eda, head of
the medical brigade, told reporters that Cuban doctors have performed 4000
surgeries and have delivered more than 3500 babies.
Before they arrived in the sub-Saharan nation, there were only two doctors
who served the region. And area residents said that those two primarily
carried out administrative tasks.
Doctor Casta�eda stated that one of the first things the Cuban doctors did
was to suggest to local authorities that they establish clinics to treat
women and children -- the most vulnerable sectors of the population. He
explained that the region suffers from many rare diseases that have not been
seen in Cuba for more than 40 years. Most of these diseases are curable with
the application of simple vaccines.
The feature article published in yesterday's Granma concludes by noting that
the Cuban doctors serving in Niger are the most popular members of their
communities. Townspeople greet them everywhere they go and the selfless
doctors are considered to be nothing short of heroes. Perhaps they are.
*AFRICAN NATIONS ADOPT CONCRETE MEASURES TO FIGHT AIDS PANEMIC
Abuja, Nigeria, April 27 (RHC) -- African nations have declared a state of
emergency due to the AIDS pandemic in the country. At a special gathering of
close to 50 African heads of state in Abuja, Nigeria, participants agreed to
support United Nations efforts to mobilize the international community
against AIDS in Africa, reduce their tariffs and other economic barriers on
all products dealing with AIDS treatment and earmark at least 15 percent of
their national budgets in the struggle against AIDS.
The African leaders also called on pharmaceutical transnationals to continue
reducing their prices of AIDS medication, and came out in favor of efforts
to produce low-cost, generic, copy-cat versions of that medication. Thus far
some top-of-the-line pharmaceutical firms have agreed to sell six African
nations anti-AIDS treatment at a reduced price of 300 dollars per year per
patient, but this is still too high for the majority of Africans.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who participated in the gathering, said
that during the special General Assembly session on AIDS in June he is going
to demand that the international community make a firm commitment to the
establishment of an international fund to fight the disease.
*INTERNATIONAL COALITION CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY & OPENNESS IN IMF, WORLD BANK
Washington, April 27 (RHC) -- An international coalition of grassroots and
non-governmental organizations has called on the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund to be more transparent and democratic in their
credit negotiations with Third World countries. The Bank Information Center
has accused authorities of these financial institutions of negotiating deals
behind the backs of the people that lead to sacrifices for millions of
persons.
In a letter to World Bank and IMF executives coinciding with this weekend's
semestral gathering of the two institutions in Washington, the coalition
demanded publication of the content of the commitments they negotiate. John
Sweeney, president of the U.S. labor federation AFL-CIO, said the secrecy of
the two financial entities prevents peoples from adequately defending their
interests.
Independent U.S. legislator Bernie Sanders observed that there is a sharp
contradiction between the World Bank's insistence on the transparency of
governments in the administration of their economies and the secrecy
surrounding the documents that are signed.
*Viewpoint: MASS MIGRATION - A MODERN DILEMMA
Migration has become one of the underdeveloped world's most pressing
problems. Because the countries of the South are unable to offer the
opportunity of a better life to their citizens, a constant exodus of many
thousands of men and women emigrate from these countries in search of work
and better living conditions.
Among those who leave their homes are many good citizens who could have
lived honorable, useful lives in their nations of origin.
For years mass migration has been growing, and many are coming to realize
that immigrants are often shamefully mistreated and exploited. What awaits
an immigrant in his new country? He can expect to be penned in and herded
about like cattle, to be exploited by employers who know that he has no
recourse to labor guarantees since he will always be afraid of being
reported to immigration authorities who will jail and deport him. The
thousands of Mexicans who daily attempt to enter the United States are
treated as criminals and dangerous undesirables, and are the object of
racism and other evils in a society that accumulates great wealth and then
refuses to share it.
The root of the problem lies in the policies of the most developed
countries. The world is growing more and more dependent on those who have
accumulated the most wealth -- those who have taken the most advantage of
their luck and their resources by ruthlessly exploiting the poor obliging
them to make social revolutions to free themselves as Cubans were forced to
do.
Cuba has become a sort of watchtower from which one can observe an ever-more
chaotic world. That is perhaps why the United States has doggedly attacked
the island in every way over the past 42 years. Because as long as Cuba's
revolutionary system exists, it will stand as an example for the rest of the
world's less fortunate, as proof that it is possible to shake off the yoke
of domination and work together to make a better life for the
disenfranchised majority.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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