From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2001 23:55:24 -0400 (EDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CubaNews] Radio Havana Cuba-04 July 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 04 July 2001
.
*PASTORS FOR PEACE DEMANDS RETURN OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SIEZED BY U.S.
*CUBAN MEDICAL SCHOOLS PREPARE TO RECEIVE 3,700 NEW STUDENTS THIS YEAR
*ECUADOR'S HEALTH MINISTER THANKS CUBA FOR HELP FIGHTING DENGUE FEVER
*TOURISM ON THE RISE: ONE MILLION VISITORS TO CUBA SO FAR THIS YEAR
*CUBAN PARLIAMENT TO CONVENE IN EARLY AUGUST
*FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT CARLOS MENEM INDICTED IN ILLEGAL ARMS
TRAFFICKING
*COLOMBIAN PRISON RIOT LEAVES 10 DEAD, 15 WOUNDED, AND STATE OF EMERGENCY
*HANOI, US AGREE TO CONFERENCE ON EFFECTS OF AGENT ORANGE
Viewpoint:
*EL SALVADOR'S DOLLARIZATION SIX MONTHS LATER
*NAFTA: A WAR AGAINST MEXICO'S FARMERS
.
*PASTORS FOR PEACE DEMANDS RETURN OF MEDICAL EQUIPMENT SIEZED BY U.S.
Mexico, July 4 (RHC)--The U.S. solidarity organization Pastors for Peace has
demanded the return of medical equipment and medicines destined for Cuba
that were confiscated late Tuesday by the U.S. Treasury Department.
While the more than 80 members of the Pastors for Peace Friendshipment
Caravan to Cuba crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas without problems on
Tuesday, U.S. authorities confiscated humanitarian donations from the 20
Canadian caravan members attempting to cross the U.S.-Canada border in the
state of Maine.
>From Tampico, Mexico, Pastors for Peace leader Reverend Lucius Walker told
Havana's Prensa Latina news agency that the Treasury Department confiscation
two cardio-vascular machines and anesthetics.
Reverend Walker said this equipment and medicine saves lives, calling the
U.S. government's decision cruel and cowardly. From Tampico, the solidarity
activists will arrive in Cuba today with tons of humanitarian donations,
including radiology equipment, mobile shops for bicycle repairs and solar
panels for remote rural communities.
*CUBAN MEDICAL SCHOOLS PREPARE TO RECEIVE 3,700 NEW STUDENTS THIS YEAR
Havana, July 4 (RHC)--Some 3,700 new students of medical sciences will be
admitted to Cuban schools and universities this year, of which 1,600 will
seek careers as doctors, reports the Ministry of Public Health.
A further 1,700 will study nursing and 200 dentistry. Approximately 130
foreign students will be among those entering full medical degree programs
in the seven medical schools on the island. They represent a total of 34
countries.
Dr Aracelis Montero Casimiro, head of Admissions at the Ministry of Public
Health, said that this year some 3,000 students were expected to graduate in
various disciplines within the medical field. Currently, 16,900 students are
studying medical sciences in a country which maintains a doctor to
population ratio of 1:169.
*ECUADOR'S HEALTH MINISTER THANKS CUBA FOR HELP FIGHTING DENGUE FEVER
Havana, July 4 (RHC)--The Ecuadoran health minister, Patricio Jamriska
J�come, has expressed his sincere thanks to Cuba for sending a medical team
to his country in the wake of heavy rains that caused devastating floods and
severe disease risk.
In a letter forwarded to Ecuador's ambassador to Cuba, Ileana D�az
Arguelles, the Ecuadoran minister congratulated the Cubans for their
dignified response to his country's needs and their tireless voluntary
efforts not only in Ecuador, but many other Latin American countries.
The team returned to Cuba last Saturday after helping to arrest a dengue
fever epidemic in the coastal areas of the South American country. According
to the leader of the team, Dr Eric Mart�nez, most of the work was
concentrated around the city of Guayaquil where the outbreak was the most
serious after the floods. Some 2,800 dengue tests were carried out with the
Cubans participating in a fumigation campaign and training 2,500 Ecuadoran
health workers in techniques to stem the epidemic. The team also donated
diagnostic medical equipment to the Guayaquil children's hospital.
At the request of the Ecuadoran Ministry of Health, three doctors will
remain in Guayaquil for a further two weeks to help out with public health
issues in the marginal neighborhoods of the city's El Basti�n district.
In related news, more than 700,000 people have been treated by the Cuban
medical team that has been operating in Venezuela since December, 1999.
The 178 members of the team have been working in the states of Vargas, Lara
and Barinas, with other Venezuelan states requesting Cuban help after heavy
rainfall devastated large areas of the country in late 1999. Most of the
Cubans are working in remote areas where access to medical assistance is
very difficult for the rural population, many of whom simply were not able
to see doctors until the Cuban team arrived.
Applying preventive medicine techniques, the Cuban medical personnel have
vaccinated and directly advised more than 45,000 Venezuelans, and visited in
excess of 152,000 homes, especially in the badly hit state of Vargas.
*TOURISM ON THE RISE: ONE MILLION VISITORS TO CUBA SO FAR THIS YEAR
Havana, July 4 (RHC)--Cuba registered an increase in tourism of 10.7% in
the first quarter of this year, up by 7% from the same period last year,
reports Ibrahim Ferradaz, the island's Minister of Tourism.
Tuesday Cuba registered the millionth visitor to the island for 2001. The
country is seeking its two millionth tourist by the end of the year. Canada
continues to be the country sending the most visitors, with Germany, Italy,
Spain, France, Mexico and Argentina following. Tourism from Mexico increased
by 30% over last year and 55% of all visitors originated in Europan
countries.
Havana continues to head the list of eight tourist points most visited, with
places like Varadero Beach and the colonial town of Trinidad following.
Official estimates of the island's total income from tourism calculate $2
billion by the end of the year.
Tourism now counts for 40% of Cuba's income, with 65% of all its needs
provided by Cuban companies, reports Ferradaz. In spite of Washington's
efforts to prevent further investment, the Spanish hotel chain Sol Melia is
the largest foreign investor on the island, maintaining 20 hotels with
another two scheduled to be opened in the next two months.
*CUBAN PARLIAMENT TO CONVENE IN EARLY AUGUST
Havana, July 4 (RHC)--The Cuban Parliament, known here as the National
Assembly of People's Power, has been summoned by its president, Ricardo
Alarc�n, to convene on August 3.
The session will be the first of what is normally two ordinary sessions per
year in the five-year term of the single-house Parliament between elections.
The country currently has its fifth legislature since the Revolution, and
this session will be its seventh since the 1998 general election.
One of the elements expected to be addressed in August will be the issue of
the five Cubans convicted and imprisoned in the U.S. for supposed espionage.
The men were in Florida to gather information on the terrorist attacks that
are frequently planned and carried out against the island by right-wing
groups, with the tacit support of Washington.
Cuba has vowed not to allow the case of its five patriots to fall by the
wayside and is applying as much international pressure as it can muster to
win the release of the five.
The Cuban Parliament has some 600 deputies elected from all walks of life.
The usual procedure for its sessions involves the creation of 10
parliamentary commissions which examine every aspect of government,
receiving reports from members of the country's Council of Ministers or
cabinet.
*FORMER ARGENTINE PRESIDENT CARLOS MENEM INDICTED IN ILLEGAL ARMS
TRAFFICKING
Buenos Aires, July 4 (RHC)--Former Argentine President Carlos Menem has
been formally indicted for illegal weapons trafficking. Federal Judge Jorge
Urso has determined that Menem directed and controlled the sale of weapons
to Croatia and Ecuador. Urso also formally charged former army chief Martin
Balza and Menem's former Defense Minister, Erman Gonzalez, both currently
under arrest.
Menem's former Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella has also been formally
charged, though not arrested. Under house arrest since last June 7, Menem
will now begin the long legal process in which he can file an appeal in
federal courts and later in the Supreme Court, where most of the justices
were appointed by the former president himself. Judge Urso has embargoed
Menem's personal assets to the tune of $3 million.
*COLOMBIAN PRISON RIOT LEAVES 10 DEAD, 15 WOUNDED, AND STATE OF EMERGENCY
Bogot�, July 4 (RHC)--Authorities in Colombia have declared a national
state of emergency in all the country's penitentiaries following another
bloody prison riot that left 10 inmates dead and 15 wounded. In the National
Model Prison in the capital, Bogot�, imprisoned leftist guerrillas faced off
with right-wing paramilitaries and common criminals in a 16-hour battle
between Monday and Tuesday in which both sides used abundant firearms and
explosives.
With the state of emergency, Colombia's National Penitentiary Institute will
be able to transfer inmates without authorization from judicial authorities,
modify internal prison rules, request logistics support from the armed
forces and fire prison officials involved in corruption or other
irregularities. The state of emergency also responds to the recent
announcement from the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) insurgency
that all necessary military methods will be used to free imprisoned leftist
guerrillas.
Just hours after the announcement on June 23rd, a rebel commando attacked
Bogot�'s Picota Penitentiary -- the country's most important. Five inmates
were killed in the assault, while 98 escaped -- among them members of the
FARC and the National Liberation Army. In April of last year, the National
Model Prison was the scene of a bloody battle between right wing
paramilitaries and common criminals that left 25 inmates killed.
*HANOI, US AGREE TO CONFERENCE ON EFFECTS OF AGENT ORANGE
Hanoi, July 4 (RHC)--Vietnam and the United States have reached an
agreement to hold a bilateral conference on the effects of the toxic
defoliant Agent Orange, but some critics are saying that Washington should
provide more than lip service. The U.S. military sprayed the jungles of
Vietnam with 72 million liters of agent orange between 1962 and 1971.
It Is estimated that some one million Vietnamese suffer the effects of the
herbicide, while tens of thousands of Vietnamese children have been born
with congenital malformations as a result. American Vietnam War veteran
Chuck Search said the bilateral agreement is a step in the right direction,
but that Washington should make a greater commitment to alleviate the legacy
of that war.
A similar position was adopted by officials of the Vietnamese Red Cross.
Experts from the U.S. National Institute of Health, the Environmental
Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control gathered Monday and
Tuesday in Hanoi with members of Vietnam's National Science and Technology
Center.
Participants decided to hold the first scientific conference on Agent Orange
early next year in the Vietnamese capital and to carry out medical studies
of the affected population over the coming months.
Viewpoint:
*EL SALVADOR'S DOLLARIZATION SIX MONTHS LATER
The Salvadoran government is euphoric over the latest results achieved by
the country since the implementation of a dollarized economy six months ago.
According to government authorities, the power of the dollar has taken the
national economy out of bankruptcy. This optimism is leading people to
believe finally in a hopeful future for this small and troubled Latin
American nation.
In comments to the press, the President of the nation's Central Reserve
Bank, Rafael Barraza, said that his government had managed to reduce
interest rates, stabilize the local currency, the colon, and create the
proper conditions for investment.
He added that Salvadorans are now more familiar with the presence of the US
dollar and there has been no speculation between currencies as the exchange
rate has remained stable at 8.75 colons to the dollar. The value of the
colon has remained steady despite the earthquakes suffered by El Salvador in
January and February, which caused considerable material losses estimated at
some $2 billion.
In addition, assured Barraza, Salvadoran's savings accounts and salaries are
protected from devaluations such as those which recently occurred in Brazil,
Colombia and Chile.
Paradoxically, however, more than 70% of the Salvadoran population has an
economic perception that is very different from that of the government.
The Salvadoran people clamor for real opportunities, in a nation that ended
a civil war eight years ago, leaving some 80,000 dead and more than one
million who fled the country.
The left-wing deputy, Roberto Lorenzana, president of the Parliament's
Finance Commission, believes the profits that Barraza so greatly praises are
only the virtual benefits of dollarization.
This measure has only benefited the bank owners because depositors end up
bearing the cost of low interest rates of loans, he said.
For the economist Roberto Barraza Candell, the cost of dollarization has
been overwhelming, at $500 million or a full one-fourth of the nation's
international reserves.
An expert of the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean,
CEPAL, estimates that the process of dollarization has in fact not resolved
the severe economic problems of the country, but will actually widen and
reinforce them, since it exposes the vulnerable economy to internal and
external shocks.
El Salvador's trade balance accumulated a deficit of $884 million between
January and May, export of coffee -- a key product of the Salvadoran economy
-- has suffered dramatic drops in the last few years.
Last December, government minister Juan Jos� Daboub, classified the
dollarization of El Salvador's economy as a biblical Noah's Ark, in which it
would rise above the stagnant waters of the past, creating much improved
prosperity. He forgot to clarify that the prosperity would concentrate, as
usual, in the pockets of a chosen few...
*NAFTA: A WAR AGAINST MEXICO'S FARMERS
Apologists for neoliberalism proclaim to the four winds that the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada and
Mexico is ideal for the peoples of the South. Hasn't commercial exchange
between Mexico and the United States increased since the agreement went into
effect in l994, argue free market defenders.
However, one fact should be kept in mind: :ast year the U.S.'s commercial
deficit with Mexico soared to more than $24 billion. The American Union has
become the destination of the majority of Mexico's exports.
Nevertheless, this achievement of NAFTA is a mixed blessing. More than a
century ago, Cuba's national hero Jose Marti warned that excessive
commercial influence from a country becomes political influence. People who
wish to be free, he said, must be free in business, unite with the world,
and not with just one part of it.
The dreams of forming one huge open market from Alaska to Patagonia ignore
or hide some of the negative consequences this new relationship with the
United States has caused Mexico.
For example: More than 15 million Mexican farm workers, or campesinos, had
to give up their lands after the opening of the national border to the
importation of U.S. corn.
According to a study made by the U.S. organization Public Citizen, NAFTA has
dismantled the rural community while unleashing a war against farmers who
are members of the accord.
In the case of Mexico, notes the study, the agreement has bankrupted farmers
and damaged the genetic diversity of corn with the entrance of genetically
modified varieties. Mexico which, until the beginning of the 1990s, exported
corn, now imports five million tons of the grain from the United States.
The Public Citizen analysis, entitled "Seven Years of Free Trade Agreement:
A War Against Farmers," notes that between l994 and l998 the importation of
cheap grain forced one of every six Mexicans to abandon their lands and look
for work in cities in the center and northern parts of the country.
The idea that the elimination of tariffs will guarantee development
conveniently forgets that the road to progress is filled with obstacles. The
resurgence of the mythical dream of El Dorado falls into the same error of
confusing desire and ambition with reality.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
=================================================================
_________________________________________________
KOMINFORM
P.O. Box 66
00841 Helsinki
Phone +358-40-7177941
Fax +358-9-7591081
http://www.kominf.pp.fi
General class struggle news:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Geopolitical news:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
__________________________________________________
