From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 23:59:33 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-04 June 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 04 June 2001
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*A DIFFERENT MODEL FROM CONSUMER SOCIETIES IS POSSIBLE - FIDEL
*CONFERENCE ON CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN HAVANA
*PEDIATRICS 2001 MEETING SET FOR NEXT WEEK
*BUSH WANTS MORE AGENTS ON THE MILITARIZED MEXICAN BORDER
*NEW REPORT SHOWS UNEMPLOYMENT A HUGE WORLDWIDE PROBLEM
*NEW "ADHESIVE GUNS" WILL GLUE PROTESTORS IN PLACE
*UN CENTER PREDICTS MASSIVE MIGRATION TO CITIES, AND MORE POVERTY
.
*A DIFFERENT MODEL FROM CONSUMER SOCIETIES IS POSSIBLE - FIDEL
Havana, June 4 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro has called for the
creation of a society that serves as a model of justice, culture, education
and spiritual richness for the world. Closing a workshop on higher
education, the leader of the Cuban Revolution said he was optimistic
regarding what Cuba do for the world, even for industrial nations.
The Cuban leader said that the island has shown it is capable of resisting,
and now more and more people in the world are turning to Cuba for its
example. Fidel Castro attributed Cuba's capacity to resist the crisis that
ensued after the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe and the
disintegration of the Soviet Union to the work of social justice done by the
Cuban Revolution. The president said that widespread social justice created
the subjective and cultural conditions that made it possible for Cuba to
resist. The Cuban leader said that the country now has a major a role to
play for humanity and the duty to do so.
Fidel Castro also said there is much that Cuba can do for other countries,
including those of the developed world. Among the tasks ahead for Cuba, he
said, is working against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. He said Cuba
could also help with medical assistance, fighting AIDS, and defending just
causes at international forums.
But above all, Fidel Castro said, Cuba's contribution will be to show show
that a model different from the one advocated by consumer societies IS
possible. The Cuban president noted those coming to Cuba will not only find
natural tourist attractions but also an impressive cultural life in a
country that is doing wonders with very little. He added that Cuba's
achievements are only due to the kind of social justice system that the
Revolution has been building for over 40 years.
*CONFERENCE ON CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN HAVANA
Havana, June 4 (RHC)--The Second International Conference on Culture and
Development will open in Havana today at the city's Convention Center. A
performance arts gala will close the day at the National Theater.
Six hundred delegates will attend the Conference, which will be in session
through Thursday the 7th June and will discuss issues pertaining to cultural
policies, community programs, mass media and communication, and the creation
of human resources for development programs.
Arriving for the conference, Mexican parliamentarian and movie producer
Maria Rojo said that the event was a wonderful opportunity to seek to
protect Third World films for future generations.
Others attending are Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu from
Guatemala, and Spanish film director Manuel Gutierrez Aragon.
*PEDIATRICS 2001 MEETING SET FOR NEXT WEEK
Havana, June 4 (RHC)--The Cuban Ministry of Public Health and the National
Council of Scientific Societies are the main sponsors of Pediatrics 2001, an
international event that will be held at Havana's Convention Center from
June 11th to the 15th.
The meeting, which intends to be a summary of what has been done on this
field over the 20th century, will be attended by some 600 delegates from the
United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Aruba, Argentina, the Dominican
Republic, and of course Cuba.
Doctors, professors, and researchers have been invited to the gathering,
such as Dr. Susan Niermeyer, from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr.
Niermeyer will help teach a course to Cuban doctors on neonatal reanimation.
The course has been scheduled for June 12th, at Havana's Ramon Gonzalez Coro
Hospital.
The president of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics and the head of the
organizing committee, Dr. Enzo Due�as, told the press in a news conference
that all the topics of pediatrics will be covered in the event's seminars,
conferences, and round tables. These topics will range from surgery,
intensive care, and neonatology to community pediatrics and children's
psychiatry. He also said that the gathering will serve foreign delegates to
learn more about the development of pediatrics in Cuba, and that all
participants would learn from each other's experiences.
The event will include the 24th National Congress of Pediatrics, the 5th
National Congress on Pediatric Surgery, the 5th National Congress on
Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care, the 3rd International Congress on
"The Health of the 5 years Olds", and the 2nd Congress on "The Health of
Caribbean Children in the Beginning of the 21st Century."
Cuba ended the year 2000 with an infant mortality rate of 7.2 per every
1,000 live births.
*BUSH WANTS MORE AGENTS ON THE MILITARIZED MEXICAN BORDER
Washington, June 4 (RHC)--U.S. President George W. Bush has asked Congress
for a 10% increase in the number of border patrol agents on its border with
Mexico over the next two years. According to reports from Capitol Hill, the
presidential request -- which would be included in the Federal budget for
the year 2003 -- would increase the number of border agents to more than
11,000. The figure is double the number that were on the U.S.-Mexico border
only six years ago.
During the administration of former President Bill Clinton, the nearly
3000-kilometer-long border between the US and Mexico was militarized, with
high-tech and logistical support by the armed forces. Official statistics
reveal that nearly 500 illegal immigrants were killed or died from exposure
to the elements during last year alone.
In response to the request for more troops on the border, Wayne Cornelius,
an expert on immigration matters at the University of California-San Diego,
stated that he could not understand what Bush meant by "humanizing" the
border region. Cornelius noted that the U.S. president made that statement
during his electoral campaign, essentially promising to find new ways to
"humanize" the border patrol. The professor from California told reporters
in San Diego that if the United States continues the militarization of its
border with Mexico, the number of dead immigrants killed by U.S. Border
Patrol agents will increase accordingly.
*NEW REPORT SHOWS UNEMPLOYMENT A HUGE WORLDWIDE PROBLEM
Geneva, June 4 (RHC)--Unemployment is one of the major problems of the
world, according to a new report by the International Labor Organization,
the ILO. The General Director of the ILO, Juan Somavia, told reporters in
Geneva that he will officially present his report to the organization's 89th
Conference on Tuesday.
The annual ILO Conference will run through June 21st. Labor ministers,
business representatives and trade union leaders from 175 countries are
slated to attend the meeting.
Somavia said that the report released tomorrow will show that official
figures on worldwide unemployment are greatly underestimated. Rather than
160 million people without a job -- the real figure is closer to one billion
jobless around the world. He added that while 6% of workers on the planet
are unemployed, another 16% barely earn one dollar a day.
The ILO report also shows that more than 250 million children are forced to
work in poor conditions around the world -- and that the number of child
labor cases is increasing annually. Nearly 3000 workers die each day due to
work-related accidents or illnesses contracted on the job, according to the
ILO.
*NEW "ADHESIVE GUNS" WILL GLUE PROTESTORS IN PLACE
London, June 4 (RHC)--A new crowd-control weapon will soon be available for
police use: pistols and rifles that fire adhesive bullets that prevent
demonstrators from moving. Reports from London say the new guns have been
fitted to shoot adhesive bullets that, once fired, grow 30 times in size,
sticking to demonstrators' legs and bodies and preventing them from moving.
Demonstrations against the current economic world order have been growing
internationally in recent months, with protesters becoming ever-more active
in their denunciations, and police forces using more aggressive measures in
response.
*UN CENTER PREDICTS MASSIVE MIGRATION TO CITIES, AND MORE POVERTY
New York, June 4 (RHC)--Neo-liberal economic globalization is greatly
widening the gap between rich and poor -- especially in urban areas.
According to a report issued by the United Nations Center for Human
Settlements, the so-called free trade economic policies being implemented
around the world leave little or no protection for vulnerable, poor urban
residents.
The new Executive Director of the UN Center for Human Settlements, Anna
Kamujulo, who is from Tanzania, stated that the study shows a wide range of
problems for housing throughout the world. According to the report, experts
estimate that by the year 2020, Asia and the Pacific will have the largest
urban populations -- and nearly half of the projected world population of
4.3 billion will be living in the cities.
The report also shows that Latin America and the Caribbean will be the most
urbanized regions of the world, with 75% of their populations crowded into
their largest cities.
The UN Center for Human Settlements warns that the tendency to migrate from
the countryside into cities that are overcrowded and unprepared for the
onslaught have resulted in at least one billion people living in poor or
inadequate housing -- the immense majority of them in underdeveloped
countries.
The report shows that as of last year, 19 cities in the world have over ten
million inhabitants; 22 cities have a population of between five and ten
million; and 370 urban areas have more than one million inhabitants.
Among the problems related to overcrowded urban areas: unemployment,
environmental problems, the lack of urban services, the deterioration of
existing infrastructures and the lack of access to adequate housing.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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