From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 22:38:53 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-18 May 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 18 May 2001
.
*FIDEL CASTRO RETURNS HOME FROM 12-DAY TOUR 0F ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST
*LET CUBA BE CUBA: SENATOR SCHUMER WARNS "CUBA IS NOT POLAND"
*DEMONSTRATORS IN ARGENTINA REJECT GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-CUBA VOTE
*CUBA OFFERS NEARLY 1500 SCHOLARSHIPS TO FOREIGN STUDENTS
*REPORT FROM ORTHOPEDICS, HEMATOLOGY CONFERENCES
*BUSH UNDER FIRE FOR ECOCIDAL ENERGY PLAN
*CARNAGE ESCALATES IN PALESTINE
Viewpoint:
*HALT NEOLIBERALISM NOW! IMMEDIATE ACTION CRITICAL
.
*FIDEL CASTRO RETURNS HOME FROM 12-DAY TOUR 0F ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST
Havana, May 18 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro has returned home
following a 12-day tour of six nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Before arriving in Havana early Friday morning, the Cuban leader paid a
brief private visit to Portugal, where he held talks with Portuguese Prime
Minister Antonio Guterres and President Jorge Sampaio.
Following the gathering he had a lively conversation with news
correspondents in Lisbon. Journalists questioned President Castro concerning
his reaction to new legislation in Washington to fund so-called "dissidents"
in Cuba.
The Cuban leader said that it demonstrates that Washington continues making
mistakes with respect to Cuba. But, he added, the more mistakes they make
the weaker is Washington's position, and the more just is the Cuban cause.
Castro was also asked about his reaction to Panama's refusal to extradite
the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. He said Panama is a small country that
is frightened and pressured by the United States and the Cuban-American
mafia in Miami.
President Castro's foreign trip, which began May 5th, included official
visits to Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, Qatar, Syria and Libya.
*LET CUBA BE CUBA: SENATOR SCHUMER WARNS "CUBA IS NOT POLAND"
Washington, May 18 (RHC)--Referring to Washington's plans to finance
so-called "dissidents" in Cuba, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has warned that
Cuba isn't Poland. The New York senator's comment was in reference to the
Ronald Reagan administration's financing of Poland's Solidarity labor union
before the collapse of eastern European socialism.
Senator Christopher Dodd said the plan, proposed by Senators Jesse Helms,
Robert Torricelli and Joseph Lieberman, to provide the small and dispersed
opposition in Cuba with $100 million makes no sense and is destined to fail.
Dodd said that the best way to help the Cuban people is to lift Washington's
blockade of the island and its restrictions on travel to Cuba.
Sally Grooms Cowall, president of the recently created Cuba Policy
Foundation, stated that of the measure is approved, those sponsoring it can
feel good about themselves, but it won't change a thing. She said it will be
like Washington's TV Marti, which no one in Cuba sees.
*DEMONSTRATORS IN ARGENTINA REJECT GOVERNMENT'S ANTI-CUBA VOTE
Buenos Aires, May 18 (RHC)--In what is considered an act of making amends to
Cuba, hundreds of public figures in Argentina participated last Thursday in
a demonstration to protest their government's anti-Cuba vote in Geneva.
Journalists, artists, politicians, representatives and leaders of human
rights and grassroots organizations crowded into the offices of the
Argentine Communist Party to express their solidarity with the Caribbean
island and their rejection for the Argentine government's position at the UN
Human Rights Commission.
The General Secretary of the Argentine Communist Party, Patricio Echegaray,
said that his government's decision to side with Washington and against Cuba
disappointed and offended millions of Argentines. He added that in light of
such a shameful act on the part of their government, the people of Argentina
felt the need to hold this demonstration to show their support to the Cuban
people. Echegaray described Argentina's anti-Cuba vote as a stab in the back
and an act of high treason against Argentina's national interests and the
very political platform of the ruling Radical Civic Union Party.
On hand during the demonstration were Cuban Ambassador to Argentina
Alejandro Gonzalez and other members of the island's diplomatic mission.
Echegaray, who is also a deputy to the Buenos Aires Assembly, accused the
government of commodifying and commercializing education and health care. He
explained that the current government has put both sectors up for sale to
the highest bidder, the large monopolies that care much about profit and
nothing about the well-being and the educational and professional training
of the Argentine people.
After the demonstration Cuban Ambassador Gonzalez referring to numerous
demonstratuions of solidarity in the country, said that all Cubans
understand that Argentina's vote in Geneva did not reflect the will of the
people of Argentina.
*CUBA OFFERS NEARLY 1500 SCHOLARSHIPS TO FOREIGN STUDENTS
Havana, May 18 (RHC)--Cuba will offer 1,489 scholarships to foreign students
for the next school year, 2001-2002. The offer was announced Thursday by the
island's Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Deputy Minister Pedro N�nez and the Head of the International
Cooperation Department, Dr. Yiliam Jimenez, explained that the offer
includes more than 30 university faculties and technical courses in various
fields. The scholarships will be granted to foreign youth up to 25 years of
age in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The scholarships are in line with the Cuban government's policy since the
triumph of the Revolution, to cooperate with other sister Third World
nations. Since 1961, just two years after the revolutionary triumph on the
island, 39,283 foreign students from 120 nations have graduated from
educational centers here in Cuba.
This year alone, a total of 626 foreign students from 48 nations will
graduate from Cuban schools. Of these, 548 will return to their countries of
origin with a university degree granted by Cuba's prestigious universities.
While studying here in Cuba, the foreign students enjoy the same advantages
of the island's educational system as their Cuban counterparts, including
access to scientific research and free entrance to cultural and sports
activities. Those students also receive school materials, as well as medical
and food assistance free of charge.
*REPORT FROM ORTHOPEDICS, HEMATOLOGY CONFERENCES
Havana, May 18 (RHC)--The International Orthopedics Conference 2001
concluded on Friday at Havana's Frank Pais Orthopedics Complex. The event,
sponsored by the Cuban and Italian Societies of Orthopedics and
Traumatology, gathered 100 experts from around the world.
During the closing session, participants attended a master conference
presented by renowned Cuban orthopedist Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez Cambras.
As part of the conference's program, professors Mario Pasquali and Aldo
Maiotti, members of the Italian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology,
received the key to the City of Havana in recognition of their 20-year
collaboration in the development of surgery for Cuban patients with
scoliosis.
Also on Friday, Hematology-2001, a four-day international gathering of
experts from more than 25 countries, wound up at Havana's Convention Center.
Hematology-2001 was dedicated to voluntary blood donors from around the
world. The congress devoted many of its sessions to the significance of
blood donations and to the work carried out internationally in this regard.
This year has been declared International Year of Voluntary Blood Donors by
the International Federation of Red Cross Societies. In Cuba over half a
million people donate their blood voluntarily each year through the work
carried out by our island's largest mass organization, the Committees for
the Defense of the Revolution, the CDRs.
Other themes debated by The delegates also discussed other issues in
hematology, immunology and transfusion medicine. Of special interest was a
new form of treatment for patients suffering from a promielocitic anemia, a
type of acute leukemia. Cuba is the fourth country in the world to introduce
this therapeutic treatment, which has also been approved by the United
States, France and China.
Scientific sessions on hemophilia, nutritional anemia, pediatric hematology,
transplants, and immunotherapy were also part of the agenda.
*BUSH UNDER FIRE FOR ECOCIDAL ENERGY PLAN
Washington, May 18 (RHC)--The European Commission has blasted the emergency
energy plan announced Thursday by U.S. President George W. Bush, calling it
short-sighted. Democratic legislators and environmental activists are up in
arms over Bush's plan to authorize oil drilling, for the first time, in
Alaska's vast arctic natural reserve, to build 1300 new contaminating
electricity plants, and to lay thousands of kilometers of new oil pipelines.
Following the announcement, Greenpeace unloaded five tons of coal and empty
oil barrels in front of the residence of Vice President Dick Cheney,
charging that the announcement is not an energy plan, but rather, an energy
swindle. The ecology activists said the plan was drawn up by the oil, coal
and nuclear industries.
Washington's assault on the environment isolated the U.S. delegation at the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development gathering that wound
up Thursday in Paris. Sweden's environment minister said it is shameful that
the most powerful country in the world unilaterally withdraws from a global
effort to protect the environment, in reference to Washington's decision to
not participate in the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
France's economy minister said the world's dominating power cannot ignore
global problems that demand global solutions. Glenn Hubbard, the head of the
U.S. delegation in Paris and Bush's principal economic advisor, reportedly
could not hide his anger at the persistent attacks against Washington's
posture.
*CARNAGE ESCALATES IN PALESTINE
Brussels, May 18 (RHC)--As violence in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian
territories continues to escalate, the International Red Cross has
characterized Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements in the territories a
war crime. Rene Kosirnik, chief of the International Red Cross delegation in
Israel and the Palestinian territories, said Jewish colonization runs
contrary to Article 49 of the Geneva Convention concerning the obligations
of occupation forces.
Meanwhile, the European Union has abandoned its habitual reticence regarding
Israel's occupation policies, stating that enough is enough. Countries which
until now have refrained from criticizing Israel, including Holland and
Denmark,
have joined the swelling chorus condemning the Ariel Sharon government. Only
Germany has remained silent, for evident historical reasons.
At the same time, the right wing in Tel Aviv has threatened to bring down
the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon if he agrees to limit the
expansion of Jewish settlements as Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has
proposed. Peres has called for construction only within current settlements,
and opposes the ongoing confiscation of Palestinian land for new
construction.
In related news, Palestinian leaders have criticized Washington's reaction
to the report of a special commission, headed by former U.S. Senator
George Mitchell, on the causes of the Intifada. According to the New York
Times, Washington is not willing to support Mitchell's recommendation that
construction of Jewish settlements be stopped.
The debate rages on in the aftermath of another Palestinian suicide bomb
attack that killed six Israelis and wounded one hundred near a Jewish
settlement northwest of the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Palestinians also
opened fire on an automobile outside the city, killing one settler and
wounding another. In reprisal, Israel massively bombarded Gaza and the West
Bank, using F-16 fighter-bombers for the first time in the attacks. At least
seven Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded.
*Viewpoint: HALT NEOLIBERALISM NOW! IMMEDIATE ACTION CRITICAL
The 21st Century has begun with an extreme right-wing government in the
United States that seeks to continue consolidating international domination
through neo-liberal globalization. Neo-colonialism entered the new
millennium by way of economic control that absorbs entire countries and
regions through progressive economic centralization controlled by
transnationals. Countries are then thrust into the capitalist market without
first attending to the problems that are plaguing their societies.
Gigantic corporations are today absorbing everything, relegating governments
to directing national policy, and insuring that the fates of nations are
determined by the stock market and insatiable market capitalists.
Leaders attempt to keep popular unrest in check, by claiming that after a
period of economic adjustment and reorganization, true access to economic
development will be achieved, allowing export of domestic products and
permitting imports of needed international commodities.
>From the outside, it doesn't sound bad. But those who are at the helm of
world power, given their excessive accumulation of money and investment
capital, take what they need from the people and then cast them aside.
One only has to look around to see the millions of illiterate, unemployed
and underemployed people whose numbers are growing daily. They lack
sufficient education and health care to live a decent life. It obvious that
this new world they are being promised is not really for them. And yet it is
they who suffer -- the three-quarters of humanity who are living in poverty.
While poverty, ignorance and AIDS destroy people around the globe, those who
hold the reins of the international economy are busy creating a world in
which national sovereignty, independence and hope for true progress for all
is quickly disappearing under sales counters and computers.
The Free Trade Area of the Americas is set to go into effect in the year
2005. It will be the beginning of a so-called "new world" in which the
majority of humankind will have nothing, to be governed by those who will
suck every last drop of their blood.
The battle lines are forming now and people can still make a difference by
demanding that their governments hold plebiscites to allow them to voice
their true opinions about a process that has been forced upon them by the
powerful.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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