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Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 02:41:29 -0400 (EDT)
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 06 June 2001
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*GLOBALIZATION: AN EVER-GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT - FIDEL
*CUBA HONORS LATIN AMERICAN FILM-MAKERS
*A LITTLE EXTRA SERVICE FROM CUBAN TAXI COMPANY
*CUBA'S INTERIOR MINISTRY CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY
*SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA
*FLORIDA FISHERMAN WHO SAVED ELIAN GONZALEZ TO REUNITE WITH BOY
*OAS CLOSES ASSEMBLY WITHOUT CONSENSUS
*FORMER ARGENTINe ARMY CHIEF ARRESTED IN ARMS DEALING SCANDAL
Viewpoint:
*THE OAS, VIEQUES, AND THE FTAA
.
*GLOBALIZATION: AN EVER-GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT - FIDEL
Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro has asserted that free
market globalization constitutes an ever-growing threat to the environment.
On the occasion Tuesday of World Environment Day, the Cuban leader delivered
the keynote speech as Havana served as co-site, along with the Italian city
Turin, for the first international commemoration of this date.
President Castro affirmed that the indispensable conditions for human life
on our planet diminish daily, with -- for example -- one in four persons
deprived of clean drinking water. He lashed out at the model of consumption
that industrialized nations impose on developing countries through their
propaganda and publicity, which he insisted only leads to the waste of
natural resources. And, said the Cuban leader, the increasingly gigantic
transnational firms -- along with the governments that serve their interests
-- show no concern.
Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program,
participated in the event, awarding the organization CUBASOLAR with the
Global 500 prize for the promotion of renewable sources of energy. The UN
agency also awarded Cuba's Jose Marti Pioneers Children's organization for
its outstanding labor in the recuperation of raw materials and in the
promotion of a culture of respect regarding the environment.
Cuban Environment Minister, Doctor Rosa Elena Simeon, presented the National
Environment Award to President Castro for his outstanding efforts in the
construction of a just and environmentally sound revolutionary society that
struggles to achieve a sustainable economic model.
*CUBA HONORS LATIN AMERICAN FILM-MAKERS
Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro yesterday awarded the
F�lix Varela Order to three Latin American film makers: Mar�a Rojo from
Mexico, Fernando Pino Solanas, from Argentina, and Jorge Sanjin�s from
Bolivia.
The awards, which were granted in conjunction with the Second International
Congress on Culture and Development currently in session here in Havana,
were for the huge contribution and emancipation each of the filmmakers had
given to the Latin American film industry.
Rojo is famous for her films "Mar�a de mi Coraz�n," "Danz�n" and "La Tarea";
Solanas for "Sur" and "Tangos, el Exilio de Gardel"; and Sanjin�s for his
"Ukamau," "Yawa Malku" and "El Coraje del Pueblo."
In the name of all three, Rojo thanked the Cuban president for the award,
saying that Cuba has a place in the hearts of all of those filmmakers who
are not "Hollywood," and that people here knew how to laugh and sing. She
said that although Latin America had not yet achieved the dream of Simon
Bol�var, the duty of filmmakers such as herself was to keep that dream
alive.
*A LITTLE EXTRA SERVICE FROM CUBAN TAXI COMPANY
Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Base number 21 of the Havana Taxi Company has been
providing a little extra service to certain clients, reports Granma today.
The taxi drivers and their supporting staff all agreed a few years ago to
offer free service to any of the six hospitals in the area they serve for
anyone requiring kidney dialysis .
The Secretary General of the taxi driver's union, Gerardo D�az, reported to
Granma that last year alone, 4,592 trips were made by dialysis patients in
Base 21 taxis without charge by any of its 79 drivers. He said that credit
should be given to the entire staff of 163 men and women who make up the
base.
In Cuba, it is usual for workers' unions to help others out in special
programs taken on by each work center. This could take the form of blood
donation drives or the kind of services Base 21 offers the population. For
its efforts, the base this year received an award in recognition from the
Cuban Worker's Federation.
*CUBA'S INTERIOR MINISTRY CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY
Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Its motorcycle police may stop you and give you a
ticket, its national identity card service may keep you waiting in line for
hours, but its fire brigade saves hundreds of lives a year, and its coast
guard helps to keep regional drug traffickers off our shores.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Interior Ministry, better known
by the population as MININT, and of its constant battle to protect Cuba and
its Revolution from four decades of CIA assassination plots, biological
warfare, invasion attempts, bombings, sabotage and economic blockade.
MININT personnel have discovered bombs planted on civilian planes; they have
the dangerous task of infiltrating terrorist groups; they have aborted
attempted hijackings and its special forces have guaranteed Cuba's national
peace and stability in the face of continued attempts at disruption.
*SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA
Havana, June 6 (RHC)--The 10th Latin American Scientific Conference on
Special Education began here on Tuesday and will run through Friday, June 8.
The event, taking place in the city's Pedagogical Convention Center, is
being attended by some 300 professionals from 14 nations.
The annual conference is also commemorating 10 years of intense work by the
Latin American Reference Center for Special Education (CELAEE), as well as
celebrating the 40th anniversary of special education in Cuba.
During the inauguration ceremony, the national director of special education
in Cuba, Rafael Bell Rodriguez, recalled that many professionals from
different parts of the world have gathered year after year for these
conferences because further education is an integral process in the quality
of one's life and culture.
The General Secretary of the Association of Latin American and Caribbean
Teachers, Felix Herrera, thanked those people who have committed themselves
to Special Education, calling them visionaries.
During the opening ceremony, delegates paid homage to Agustina Esteban Lara,
director of the Cuban Department of Special Education, which was founded in
1962.
Currently there are some 427 special education schools attended by more than
55,000 children on the island. The schools work with the family, community
and especially with different associations of disabled people.
Among the major topics for discussion are the need to raise the level of
education in the schools, the training and improvement of professionals, and
a more diversified approach to special educational needs.
*FLORIDA FISHERMAN WHO SAVED ELIAN GONZALEZ TO REUNITE WITH BOY
Havana, June 6 (RHC)--The U.S. fisherman who rescued Cuban child, Eli�n
Gonz�lez, then 5 years old, from the waters off the coast of Florida on the
November 25, 1999 will soon be back with the boy. Sam Ciancio is in Havana
to participate in the Ernest Hemingway Marlin Fishing Tournament and will
visit Eli�n after the event.
The fisherman proved himself to be the most decent person of all those who
came into contact with the Cuban child, advocating for his return to his
father and refusing to profit from the media frenzy accompanying the boy's
plight.
Along with his 18-year-old son, Brandon, Ciancio will remain in Cuba for two
weeks before returning to Florida.
*OAS CLOSES ASSEMBLY WITHOUT CONSENSUS
San Jose, June 6 (RHC)--The Organization of American States 31st General
Assembly found no consensus for the approval of a Democratic Charter project
and a budgetary increase of its Human Rights system. Both projects were at
the top of the agenda at the OAS meeting, which wound up Tuesday in San
Jose, Costa Rica.
The Democratic Charter, which came up as a mandate of the latest Summit of
the Americas held in April, is a kind of behavior code which stipulates
sanctions for OAS member nations that break the organization's
constitutional charter.
But the rejection by Caricom countries of some aspects of the draft document
did not allow for consensus or approval of the charter previously adopted by
the OAS permanent council.
OAS General Secretary Cesar Gaviria established next October as a deadline
for the OAS countries to study ways aimed at strengthening financing of the
OAS Court and Interamerican Human Rights Commission.
Costa Rica hoped to obtain a 10% budget increase for both OAS bodies by the
year 2006. But Gaviria said that resources are not yet available, a reason
stated by several OAS member nations as a response to the Costa Rican
proposal.
*FORMER ARGENTINe ARMY CHIEF ARRESTED IN ARMS DEALING SCANDAL
Buenos Aires, June 6 (RHC)--Former Argentine army chief Martin Balza has
been arrested in connection with a gun-running scandal during the
administration of former president Carlos Menem.
A federal judge Wednesday ordered the arrest of retired Lieutenant General
Martin Balza as he was to be questioned concerning his role in the
trafficking of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador when those two countries were
at war.
Balza is the third official during Menem's presidency to be arrested in the
case, following the incarceration of former Defense Minister Antonio Erman
Gonzalez and former presidential advisor Emir Yoma, who is also Menem's
brother-in-law. Menem himself has been called in for questioning Thursday.
He has requested a postponement but judicial authorities have yet to
respond.
Media outlets in Argentina are speculating that the former president could
also be arrested. During a TV program this past weekend, Menem charged that
it was the United States government that suggested he sell weapons to
Croatia -- a charge that the U.S. State Department quickly denied.
.
Viewpoint:
*THE OAS, VIEQUES, AND THE FTAA
A group of non-governmental agencies gathered in San Jose, Costa Rica, have
called on the Organization of American States to condemn the presence of
U.S. troops in Vieques and to demand an end to the US Navy war games that
are harming the health and tranquility of residents. The group signed a
document that additionally demands an OAS statement against the violation of
the sovereign rights of Puerto Rico and respect for the conventions that
protect those rights.
There has also been criticism of countries, such as the United States, that
have refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol on reducing noxious gas emissions
that are seriously damaging the atmosphere and affecting the climate
worldwide. The 21st OAS General Assembly is being held in the Costa Rican
capital in a hotel guarded by more than a thousand security force personnel.
In fact, the OAS has done very little to deal with the problems that are
truly plaguing the region. Many believe this is because the United States,
which controls the organization, is obsessed with implementing a continental
foreign policy that goes against the interests of most Latin Americans.
Washington is working feverishly toward the incorporation of all of Latin
America and the Caribbean, except Cuba, into the Free Trade Area of the
Americas, and is moving forward with neoliberal globalization projects that
are aimed at pushing the entire region into the FTAA with the United States
as the reigning power.
US president George Bush has met with additional difficulties since his
Republican party lost its majority in the Senate, something that could
negatively affect his plans to engulf all of Latin America into the FTAA. It
is possible that a Senate controlled by Democrats will be more reluctant to
approve the "fast track" that Bush needs in order to negotiate the entry of
each country into the new economic block.
The peoples of the region should be clear about the huge operation that has
been planned without consultating them, which carries with it great danger
to the identity and sovereignty of nations. Before taking such a drastic
step, each country should hold a plebiscite to allow the people to express
their opinion. The people who will be most affected by the Free Trade Area
must have the opportunity to be heard.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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