From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 02:22:13 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-28 May 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 28 May 2001
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*RAINS PUT AN END TO ONE OF CUBA'S SMALLEST SUGAR HARVESTS IN DECADES
*CUBAN CHILDREN MAKE GEORGE BUSH THEIR PEN PAL
*TWO SPANISH HOTEL CHAINS ANNOUNCE INCREASED INVESTMENT IN CUBA
*CUBAN WRITER AWARDED ITALIAN LITERARY PRIZE
*SANDINISTAS CONFIRM CANDIDATES FOR NOVEMBER'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
*VENEZUELAN DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS OPPOSITION WANTS US INTERVENTION
*ARGENTINE POLICE, GOVERNMENT ACCUSED IN TORTURE ATTACK
.
*RAINS PUT AN END TO ONE OF CUBA'S SMALLEST SUGAR HARVESTS IN DECADES
Havana, May 28 (RHC)--In a further blow to this year's sugar harvest in
Cuba, heavy May rains have prevented work being carried out in the fields or
transportation of sugar cane to the mills.
Already affected by unseasonable rains earlier this year, the normal
rainfall that comes in May seems to have put an end to last-ditch efforts to
bring in the remainder of the crop. By this time of year the sugar harvest
has normally come to an end, but production has been so low in 2001 that the
industry decided to work to the last minute to improve yield.
To date, only five of thirteen sugar-producing provinces have achieved
production levels set for this year. Yield has been 3.5 million tons so far,
compared with 4.06 million tons last year. Sugar officials now say that it
will be virtually impossible to make up the shortfall, although efforts are
still being made in Holguin, Las Tunas and Camaguey provinces. One local
official said that if the cane cannot be transported to the mills by truck
it will be taken by oxen. In Granma and Guantanamo provinces, harvesting has
ground to almost a complete halt.
Sugar is Cuba's second largest source of income and a mainstay of the
island's economy. Some three million tons of this year's sugar harvest will
be exported.
*CUBAN CHILDREN MAKE GEORGE BUSH THEIR PEN PAL
Havana, May 28 (RHC)--Following his recent statements in which he
erroneously quoted Cuba's national hero, Jose Marti, US President George
Bush has been receiving thousands upon thousands of letters written to him
on the subject by Cuban children across the island.
Cuban authorities have already forwarded some 150,000 letters after Cuban
President Fidel Castro accused Bush of misquoting the 19th century figure.
He said that the US leader had invented a quotation from Marti used at the
recent Summit of the Americas in Quebec, Canada. Fidel Castro said that he
could even send Bush some free study materials on Marti if he wished, and
mentioned that Cuban children would no doubt be able to redress the mistake.
Thousands of Cuban schoolchildren took the Cuban leader's words literally
and have made efforts to enlighten George Bush with their letters. The
letters are courteous and friendly, often asking after the US president's
health and inviting him to the island, before telling him about the 19th
century writer and soldier who was a major inspiration behind the
independence movement against Spain.
*TWO SPANISH HOTEL CHAINS ANNOUNCE INCREASED INVESTMENT IN CUBA
Madrid, May 28 (RHC)--Two Spanish hotel chains will be investing some $200
million in Cuba in a project that will extend tourism to the area of
Bacunayagua between the cities of Havana and Matanzas.
Sol Melia and Bahia del Duque have formed a society with the Cuban company
Cubanacan with the object of building five hotels with a total of 1,150
rooms, two 18-hole golf courses, and a marina catering to water-sports. The
project will incorporate environmental protection of the area and offer all
aspects of rural tourism as well. The hotels will be low-rise and maintain
the architectural integrity of the area in which they will be built.
Construction is expected to begin late this year.
Sol Melia, which is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, has one of
the most important levels of investment in the island's tourism sector. It
has consistently resisted pressure from Washington to cease doing business
with Cuba, maintaining more than a dozen hotels on the island.
*CUBAN WRITER AWARDED ITALIAN LITERARY PRIZE
Havana, May 28 (RHC)--The Cuban writer and poet, Roberto Fernandez Retamar,
who is also the director of the island's Casa de las Americas, has been
awarded the Italian Ferone Literary Prize.
In a ceremony that will be conducted in Rome tomorrow, Retamar will receive
the award as the very first Latin American ever to be granted what is
considered the most prestigious prize of its kind in Italy. Ten Ferone
Literary prizes have been granted to date.
Prior to leaving for Italy, the Cuban writer said that the award was a great
honor for him and for all Cuban writers. He joins the list of others that
include Gunter Grass, Alfonso Sastre and Michel Vito.
*SANDINISTAS CONFIRM CANDIDATES FOR NOVEMBER'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Managua, May 28 (RHC)--Nicaragua's Sandinista National Liberation Front
(FSLN) has chosen Agustin Jarquin, the country's former comptroller general,
as its vice presidential candidate in next November's general election.
Following a meeting of the Sandinista National Assembly on Monday, the FSLN
confirmed that Jarquin, who is a member of the United Social Christian
Party, will be the running mate of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega. The
selection of Jarquin is widely seen as the consolidation of the electoral
alliance between the Sandinistas and the United Social Christian Party.
In a brief statement Monday morning Agustin Jarquin said that, if elected as
the country's vice president, he would work against government corruption
and fight against the poverty affecting the vast majority of the Nicaraguan
people. The former comptroller general stated that the FSLN -- is the best
option for the future of the country, adding that the broad nature of the
party's political platform also makes it the best alternative for
Nicaragua's private sector.
According to the latest voter opinion polls, Daniel Ortega is at least ten
points ahead of his closest rival, Enrique Bolanos, the current vice
president and member of the ruling Liberal Constitutionalist Party.
Meanwhile, the Nicaraguan Catholic Church has announced that at least 6,000
election observers will be in the country for next November's presidential
elections.
Bishop Abelardo Mata, head of the Diocese in the northern city of Esteli
since 1988, told reporters in Managua that the Church has made a special
effort to make sure international observers are watching the electoral
process because "Nicaraguans are not politically mature" and need to be
watched. Bishop Mata went on to say that the people of his country are "very
passionate," implying that they can't be trusted to make intelligent
decisions.
One observer noted that many right-wing religious leaders thought everything
was fine in Nicaragua until it looked like the Sandinistas might win the
upcoming presidential elections. Now, with the real threat of the FSLN
returning to power, they are scrambling to find as many observers as
possible -- hoping to declare the elections fraudulent should Daniel Ortega
be elected president.
*VENEZUELAN DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS OPPOSITION WANTS US INTERVENTION
Caracas, May 28 (RHC)--Sectors of the opposition in Venezuela want US
intervention to help put an end to the democratically elected government of
President Hugo Chavez. According to Venezuelan Defense Minister , some
groups opposed to Chavez are becoming desperate, to the point of hoping for
US military intervention, since everything they have tried so far as failed.
The Venezuelan official told journalists in Caracas that the campaigns of
lies and misinformation generated by the opposition have resulted in nothing
but he warned that the country should be prepared for their desperate
actions.
The defense minister said, however, that military intervention by Washington
was out of the question. He said that the international community would
never accept such an adventure, adding that the United States would be the
first to reject a military move against Venezuela.
The interview with Jose Vicente Rangel, who previously served as the
country's foreign minister, was published in Monday morning's edition of the
newspaper El Nacional.
*ARGENTINE POLICE, GOVERNMENT ACCUSED IN TORTURE ATTACK
Buenos Aires, May 28 (RHC)--Police and government officials in Argentina
have been accused of complicity in an attack suffered by the daughter of
internationally-renowned human rights activist Hebe de Bonafini. A protest
march was held in Buenos Aires Monday morning to call for a full
investigation into the beating and torture of 35-year-old Maria Alejandra.
According to reports from the Argentinean capital, several armed men
tortured the daughter of Hebe de Bonafini -- one of the founders of the
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, a group that works to uncover the whereabouts
of disappeared political prisoners. Hebe has been a leader of the
organization for nearly 25 years and was persecuted during the Argentinean
military dictatorships that ruled the country during the 1970s and 80s.
Both of her other daughters were murdered during the military dictatorships.
Human rights activists told reporters that the daughter of Hebe de Bonafini
answered a knock on her door Friday afternoon and was greeted by several men
carrying identification from the telephone company. They charged that the
only way the men could have known that the family was expecting to have a
telephone installed was if they had connections with the government or
police.
Maria Alejandra de Bonafini said that the men entered her home and
immediately covered her head with a plastic bag, tied her hands with
adhesive tape and then burned her with lit cigarettes. The victim said that
she was beaten until she lost consciousness.
Hebe de Bonafini, who was on a working visit to Brazil, told reporters that
no money and nothing of value was taken from their home. The human rights
activist has demanded a full investigation into the brutal attack on her
daughter.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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