From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-11 May 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 11 May 2001
.
*FIDEL RECEIVED IN MALAYSIA WITH 21-GUN SALUTE
*US FAILS TO CONVINCE RUSSIA TO SUPPORT STAR WARS
*BUSH'S TRADE NEGOTIATIONS "FAST TRACK" WIDELY CONDEMNED
*ECOLOGISTS ALARMED BY ENVIRONMENTAL NEGLIGENCE OF US
*TOURISM 2001 CONVENTION COMES TO AN END IN HAVANA
*FRANK DISCUSSION OF PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS IN LAS TUNAS
*OPEN TRIBUNAL SLATED FOR BAHIA HONDA IN PINAR DEL RIO
*Viewpoint: US TWISTS ARMS IN THE UNITED NATIONS
.
*FIDEL RECEIVED IN MALAYSIA WITH 21-GUN SALUTE
Kuala Lumpur, May 11 (RHC)--In Malaysia, visiting Cuban President Fidel
Castro was received Friday with a 21-gun salute. Following the official
reception, the Cuban leader was received by Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad, in what President Castro called an encounter of two
non-conformists.
The Malaysian Prime Minister has been highly critical of free market
globalization and international credit agencies. His government was the only
one in Southeast Asia that did not seek aid from the International Monetary
Fund during the region's 1997 financial crisis.
Instead, Kuala Lumpur adopted measures strongly criticized by western
nations, including rigid controls on the movement of finance capital. In
this way, Malaysia was able to emerge from the crisis in 1999 and register
an 8.5% growth of its Gross Domestic Product in the year 2000.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Sayed Hamid Albar told local media that the
Castro-Mohamad gathering, during which important cooperation and trade
accords were signed, was warm and productive. He pointed out that both
leaders have their doubts regarding globalization and are in favor of a more
just and equitable world order.
Afterwards President Castro delivered a 45-minute speech at the Malaysian
Foreign Ministry and gave a press conference lasting almost 3 hours, during
which he spoke of globalization and the history of US intervention in Cuba.
Cuba and Malaysia, he said, favor a just globalization, not the kind that
only benefits the powerful and that implemented without debate in documents
quickly agreed to behind closed doors.
Recalling that only Venezuela and Brazil questioned the Free Trade
Association of the Americas talks in Quebec last month, the Cuban leader
said Latin America needs more leaders with the rebellious spirit of
Malaysia's. He called globalization a new and more dangerous form of
neocolonialism, evidenced by the continually growing gap between rich and
poor nations.
Responding to a question from a correspondent with Germany's Reuters news
agency concerning the alleged rigid political controls on the press in
Malaysia and Cuba, President Castro said that the Cuba media are in the
hands of the people, not in the hands business executives and
transnationals. And, he added, Cubans are very well informed.
*US FAILS TO CONVINCE RUSSIA TO SUPPORT STAR WARS
Moscow, May 11 (RHC)--A U.S. delegation in Moscow Friday was unable to
convince Russian authorities to support Washington's deployment of a
space-based anti-missile system.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said the 18-member
delegation, headed by US Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, provided
more questions than answers.
In a reference to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Yakovenko said
Washington's arguments had little weight, and did not convince the Kremlin
that the United States has a clear vision on how to resolve international
security problems without destroying weapons treaties already in place. The
spokesman said that talks will continue in Washington between Russian
Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
*BUSH'S TRADE NEGOTIATIONS "FAST TRACK" WIDELY CONDEMNED
Washington, May 11 (RHC)--Democrats in the U.S. Congress, environmental
activists and labor leaders have blasted President George Bush's petition
for "fast track" power in trade negotiations, predicting that he's not
likely to receive approval.
Democratic leader Dick Gephardt said that for a long time now his party has
called for trade negotiations and deals that contain environmental, human
rights and labor provisions. David Waskow, of Friends of the Earth, said
Bush has failed to deal with the specific threats in trade regulations that
are capable of eliminating environmental legislation.
Upon presenting his proposal, Bush claimed that he was offering his fast
track critics a tool box with 17 instruments to promote the good behavior of
countries in trade matters. But Democratic Representative David Bonior and
AFL-CIO labor federation leader David Smith said the tool box contains
nothing new and doesn't have a hammer to impose sanctions to protect labor
rights and the environment.
Daniel Seligman, of the Sierra Club, said Bush's proposal will cost tax
payers billions of dollars, pointing to a Canadian firm that has used
regulations in the North American Free Trade Agreement to legally challenge
a California law on clean water and to demand a multi-million dollar
compensation.
*ECOLOGISTS ALARMED BY ENVIRONMENTAL NEGLIGENCE OF US
Havana, May 11 (RHC)--Environmental protection and the preservation of
bio-diversity are key issues that must be immediately addressed, according
to a panel of experts appearing on Thursday's broacast roundtable
discussion. They asserted that the United States is one of the main
violators of international conventions designed to protect the planet's
environment.
Doctor Dalia Salabarria, head of the Environmental Agency of the Cuban
Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA), pointed to the
reprehensible exploitation of the Earth's natural resources by the United
States. She stressed that US corporations are interested only in profits,
taking from the Third World without giving anything in return.
Another panelist, Doctor Pedro Perez Alvarez, Director of the Ecological
Institute of CITMA, noted that Cuba is extraordinarily rich in natural
resources, with the largest biological diversity in the Greater Antilles.
There are more than 6500 species of plants on the island, 52% of them unique
to Cuba.
Panelists credited the Cuban Revolution with maintaining a strong program to
protect and preserve the environment in order to safeguard it for future
generations. The roundtable ended with excerpts from Cuban President Fidel
Castro's address to participants at the Rio Summit in 1992. The Cuban leader
told those gathered at the international meeting on environmental issues
nearly ten years ago, "Tomorrow will be too late to do what we should have
done a long time ago."
*TOURISM 2001 CONVENTION COMES TO AN END IN HAVANA
Havana, May 11 (RHC)--Tourism 2001, Cuba's largest tourism convention to
date, has come to an end after a successful week in Havana. This year's
convention attracted the largest number of participants ever: more than 2500
delegates from 43 nations exhibited their products at 107 stands.
Speaking to reporters in the Morro-Caba�as historical park, Tourism Minister
Ibrahim Ferradaz said that the event had surpassed all expectations.
Regarding Cuba's performance in the sector, he predicted the arrival of two
million visitors on the island by the end of 2001. He added, however, that
much work is still to be done in order to diversify the markets, including
China, Japan and Russia, from which more than 17,000 tourists are expected
this year.
Ferradaz pointed out that by the end of April 748,000 visitors had arrived
on the island, a 12% percent increase compared with the same period of 2000.
He emphasized the importance of tourism for all of the country's economic
sectors, saying that during the first three months of 2001, domestic
production accounted for 66% of supplies used by the tourist industry.
*FRANK DISCUSSION OF PROBLEMS AND PROGRESS IN LAS TUNAS
Las Tunas, May 11 (RHC)--Members of the Cuban Union of Young Communists are
holding one of their periodic evaluations in the eastern province of Las
Tunas.
Addressing participants at the meeting, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, a
leading member of the Cuban Communist Party, stated that as an organization,
the UJC is doing well. Machado Ventura said that the latest indices of the
youth organization show a marked improvement over the past two years.
Delegates agreed that the work of the Union of Young Communists has
improved, but noted that there are still many problems to be resolved. One
delegate to the evaluation meeting in Las Tunas complained that some members
of the UJC do not attend regular, monthly meetings. She noted that many
absences are justifiable, but other absentees have no good excuse.
For his part, the First Secretary of the Union of Young Communists, Otto
Rivero, stated that "we are living in new times that require new answers."
He said he was very pleased that delegates were expressing their real
feelings and was confident that this honesty would contribute to resolving
many of the organization's problems.
*OPEN TRIBUNAL SLATED FOR BAHIA HONDA IN PINAR DEL RIO
Havana, May 11 (RHC)--More than 20,000 people are expected to gather
Saturday morning in the municipality of Bahia Honda, located in the province
of Pinar del Rio, for a mass demonstrations that will be broadcast live on
Cuban radio and TV.
The Open Tribunal in Bahia Honda will call for the release of US political
prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Saturday, May 12th, is the International Day of
Solidarity with Mumia. Falsely accused on trumped up charges of murder, the
African-American leader has been on death row in the U.S. State of
Pennsylvania for nearly 20 years.
The demonstration will also provide yet another opportunity to call for an
end to Washington's genocidal economic blockade against the island. In
addition, the rally is expected to denounce the recent decision by the
Panamanian government not to extradite Luis Posada Carriles and his
accomplices to Cuba for trial.
*Viewpoint: US TWISTS ARMS IN THE UNITED NATIONS
The United States has once again resorted to blackmail in the United
Nations. This time Washington is conditioning payment of its gigantic debt
on its reinstatement in the Human Rights Commission and the International
Narcotics Control Board.
The US House of Representatives has proposed that the government suspend
payment of some $244 million to the UN until the United States manages to
regain the human rights seat it lost last week in a secret vote by members
of the Economic and Social Commission. The House measure must still be
approved in the Senate.
While it deals only with a final payment, due in 2001, and does not threaten
payment this year of $582 million toward the total US debt, passage of the
measure would still be a serious blow to the New York-based international
organization. One of the first projects that will be seriously affected by
lack of funding will be peace-keeping operations, because the UN owes a
large amount of money to a group of countries that contribute troops to its
peace-keeping effort.
But the UN's financial problems are of little concern to the White House.
The US, which likes to consider itself the world's gendarme in these
matters, sees its exclusion from the UN rights body as an irreparable loss
and it is furious over what it considers an "affront."
Some representatives, like Republican Henry Hyde, are urging the US State
Department to launch a crusade against use of the secret vote in the United
Nations. Washington wants to force members to reveal how they are voting on
all issues, so that the most vulnerable delegates will give in to US
pressures. These pressures traditionally come in the form of threats to cut
off desperately needed financial assistance.
And what are the true interests of the United States? To change the United
Nations and its organizations, among them the Human Rights Commission and
the International Narcotics Control Board, into platforms to be used at
their pleasure.
The United States had already turned the Human Rights Commission into a
politicized, selective body that sits in judgment against the Third World,
with little or no mention of human rights violations occurring in the
industrialized world.
The government of George W. Bush refuses to see that his country's exclusion
from UN commissions and boards came about because of its unpopular
international positions, such as refusing to sign the Kyoto Treaty on the
control of noxious gases and its blind support of Israel. But the arrogance
of US government officials blinds them to this reality. Their angry
response, threatening to withhold payment of what the US rightfully owes the
United Nations, is being seen as nothing more than the temper tantrum of a
giant after losing fair and square to his diminutive opponents.
(c) 2001 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]
=================================================================
_________________________________________________
KOMINFORM
P.O. Box 66
00841 Helsinki
Phone +358-40-7177941
Fax +358-9-7591081
http://www.kominf.pp.fi
General class struggle news:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Geopolitical news:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
__________________________________________________
