From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 16:44:32 -0700
To: "CubaNews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [CubaNews] Fidel on World Environment Day
jun6fidelFidel Denounces threats Against
the Survival of the Planet
Havana, June 6 (AIN) The necessary conditions for life diminish day by
day in the planet, denounced the Cuban President Fidel Castro at the closing
of the central activity for the World Day of Environment, that took place at
the Conventions Palace in Havana.
Celebrated for the first time internationally, this event had two
sites, one in Havana, Cuba, and the other in Turino, Italy by decision of
the United Nations Program for the Environment, whose executive director
Klaus Toepfer also intervened in the meeting.
The Cuban President Fidel Castro spoke of the gravity of the problem
of preserving the environment and insisted in the need to educate youngsters
to this respect.
In commenting the prizes given by the PNUMA and the Cuban Ministry for
Science, Technology and the Environment (CITMA) admitted his surprise when
he was included.
After praising the work of art delivered to the prize receivers
carried out by a 21 years old Cuban ceramist he said that if they accuse him
of having carried out a Revolution he would accept it, but if they give him
a prize he sees it as a gentle deed and pointed out that someone who has
done a lot in this sense has been Rosa Elena Sime�n, Minister of CITMA.
Fidel said that this is a theme about which not much has been spoken
about, such as globalization of which not many had been heard about twenty
years ago. We are in front of an invasion of one time over another, he said.
It is not necessary to be a mathematician or to have a computer to
understand the phenomena in front of objective data of the latest years.
I would want them to be unreal, he affirmed.
He explained how up to the first years of last century the planet was
inhabited by one thousand 400 million people, in 100 years more they were
six thousand 100 million and 50 years later they�ll oscillate between eight
thousand 500 and 9 thousand million people.
After explaining the associated phenomena, Fidel said nobody could be
surprised that the number of the poor constantly increases.
Only in Latin America they are 44 percent and in the Third World as a
whole they are between 75 and 80 percent, precisely in the areas where the
population is increasing more and the levels of development are farthest
away.
Fidel recalled that a long time ago the need to reduce that difference
was much talked about and paradoxically today the list of those who live
with less than a dollar will continue increasing too.
The Cuban President reiterated that phenomena like the reduction of
woods, the growing of the desserts and the contamination of waters will keep
multiplying, a thing which he illustrated by saying that one out of four
people today don�t have access to fresh water.
He also criticized the levels of consumption transferred to the
underdeveloped nations by means of propaganda and publicity while they try
to mold our way of thinking.
In today�s world they try to tell us which cloth to use, how to feed
ourselves. Those-he remarked- is aspects of cultural invasion, of a culture
that is not within the reach of all. He asked if the world could follow that
road.
Then Fidel spoke about AIDS problem which could exterminate the whole
population of Sub-Saharan population of Africa.
He touched the theme of medicines to fight the illness, which are sold
at ten or twelve thousand dollars and are not destined to cure it but to
enlengthen life and reiterated his conviction that they could be produced at
a cost 20 times lower.
Of the Cuban struggle against AIDS he commented that sick people are
given all the medicines necessary and that Cuba has been six years without
seeing a mother contaminated with AIDS to transfer the virus to her son.
Fidel spoke about US rejection of the Kyoto agreements by saying that
it would not ratify them in the year 2002.
He recalled the magnitude of the evils such as the energetic resources
the sum of the carbon dioxide and other contaminants causing great draughts,
violent cyclones, excessive rains and the reduction of woods. He explained
that those thoughts were aimed only at giving an idea of the threats against
humanity and that transnational and governments don�t worry about them but
only that which serves their interests.
Despite all that we cannot feel disappointed because the forces
defending the environment are every day more..
It is not only poverty and hunger but the survival of mankind, said
Fidel adding that in Europe there is much more conscience in favor of the
environment than in the United States, but said that there interest is
increasing on this subject.
Fidel reiterated that Cuba is an outright enemy of neo liberal
globalization and that only a different globalization would be an
alternative to save a chaotic world under the hegemonic domination of only
one nation.
He reaffirmed the vitality of the struggle against the blockade and
the assassin law of Cuban Adjustment, recalling that as in the case of Elian
this people multiplied its forces.
He explained the need to transmit these ideas to thousands and
millions of people because that will multiply the possibilities of an
alternative.
We are not pessimists about the real capabilities of man ,everyday we
have conscience of the problems and we have worked in the direction of
creating a culture and education of the environment. That has been our
merit, if we have any, he said.
Today the tree is being sown and for that we have to think about woods
that could be exploited rationally. That�s what "sustainable "means, said
the Cuban President.
Fidel recalled the growth of the wooded area from 14 percent at the
triumph of the Revolution to 21 percent in 1999, but he suggested that it
could be increased in a better way. Not only wood trees are being sown but
also fruit trees are being sown in houses and small parcels, some with an
increasing productivity per hectare.
Concerning the environment he also mentioned the plans of
socioeconomic development in the mountains, the Manati and Turquino Plans
and the multiplication of the educational centers which contributed a lot to
the transformation of those regions.
The protection of the environment implies the production of important
economic resources such as the increase of tourists interested in those
areas.
Fidel equally referred to the prospecting and exploitation of oil
fields in Varadero and the use of accompanying gas in plants with an
investment that could be recovered in four years, including interests.
http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/english/jun6fidel.htm
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