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Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2001 00:01:16 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] Radio Havana Cuba-23 July 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 23 July 2001
.
*PRESIDENT CASTRO INAUGURATES TOURIST COMPLEX IN CIEGO DE AVILA
*AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI'S GRANDSON BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA
*CUBAN LABOR LEADER DISCUSSES DAMAGING EFFECTS OF NEO-LIBERALISM
*SOLIDARITY ACTIVISTS IN MADRID MARCH IN SUPPORT OF CUBA
*US IS ISOLATED AT CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN BONN
*EUROPEAN MEDIA COVER G-8 SUMMIT -- WITH SCORN
*HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FAVORS REPARATIONS FOR VICTIMS OF SLAVERY, RACISM
Viewpoint:
*BATTLE OF GENOA ENDS WITHOUT GLORY, AND WITHOUT HELP FOR THE POOR
.
*PRESIDENT CASTRO INAUGURATES TOURIST COMPLEX IN CIEGO DE AVILA
Ciego de Avila, July 23 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro inaugurated the
hotel complex El Senador (the Senator) in the famous Jardines del Rey
tourist location, north of the central province of Ciego de Avila.
Addressing participants in the inaugural ceremony, Fidel praised the
excellent work done by workers from the Antonio Maceo, Ho Chi Min and Frank
Pais construction contingents, from the Cuban Construction Ministry.
The new five-star tourist complex with 690 hotel rooms is comprised of two
hotels El Emperador or the Emperor with 262 hotel rooms and Laguna Azul or
Blue Lagoon with 428, built at a cost of over 60 million dollars. It is a
joint venture between Cuba and the group Thibault, Messier, Savar et
Associes (TMSA) from Quebec, Canada.
The leader of the Cuban revolution called for a better understanding among
peoples, regardless of their different ideologies and social systems and
stressed that the new tourist site in Ciego de Avila is further evidence of
that.
In another part of his speech, President Fidel Castro recalled the days when
the first causeway that joined Turiguano Island and Cayo Coco was built. It
marked the beginning of tourism development in that area. He explained that
everything was done with extreme caution not to harm the environment. "We
can enjoy nature without destroying it," he said.
The Red Deer Management Company from the Bahamas manage and promote the new
tourist facility. The complex operates under the all inclusive system. The
opening of the new tourist complex brings the number of hotel rooms in the
location of Jardines del Reyes to more than 3,200.
*AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI'S GRANDSON BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA
Havana, July 23 (RHC)--Hojjatolislam Haajj Seyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson
of the Leader of the Islam Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
began an official visit to Cuba on Monday, invited by Cuban President Fidel
Castro.
During his stay on the island Khomeini and his delegation will have a packed
agenda including talks with Cuban authorities and visits to centers of
social, economic, cultural and historical interest.
The visit underlines the excellent friendship and cooperation links that
exist between the governments and peoples of the Republic of Cuba and the
Islamic Republic of Iran.
*CUBAN LABOR LEADER DISCUSSES DAMAGING EFFECTS OF NEO-LIBERALISM
Caracas, July 23 (RHC)--Pedro Ross Leal, General Secretary of the
Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) pointed out in Caracas, the Venezuelan
capital, that our planet would be a silent world if we were to observe one
minute of silence for each victim of neo-liberalism. Ross Leal, who is also
a member of the Cuban Communist Party's Political Bureau, pointed to the
thousands of people who die every day from starvation, malnutrition or other
causes resulting from the application of neo-liberal policies.
The Cuban union leader participated in the First Regional Workers Meeting
against Neo-liberalism and the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas,
which concluded on Monday in the Venezuelan capital.
The Cuban labor leader recalled that today's neoliberal globalization has
only resulted in more exclusion for millions of people, who have been
deprived of their very right to live.
Director of the Cuban Center for Studies on the World Economy, Osvaldo
Martinez, termed the FTAA a new attempt by the United States to impose its
economic domination over the rest of the Western Hemisphere.
*SOLIDARITY ACTIVISTS IN MADRID MARCH IN SUPPORT OF CUBA
Havana, July 23--Hundreds of Cuba's friends marched in the main streets of
Madrid to commemorate July 26th, the historical date marking the beginning
of the final phase of Cuba's struggle for total independence and
sovereignty.
On July 26th, 1953, The Cuban rebel army lead by Fidel Castro attacked the
Moncada and the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks, stronghold of the
Batista dictatorship in eastern Cuba.
Participants held signs and posters with messages in support of Cuba and
against Washington's blockade against the island. Statements were read in
the name of friendship organizations in Madrid, among them the Ernesto Che
Guevara Corredor de Henares-Cuba Friendship Association, the Bartolome de
las Casas Spanish-Cuban Friendship Association and the Pablo de la Torriente
Brau Cultural Association.
*US IS ISOLATED AT CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN BONN
Bonn, July 23 (RHC)--The surprising agreement at the United Nations
Conference on the Climate in Bonn has been interpreted as a major political
defeat for the United States -- the only country that opposed the Kyoto
Protocol on global warming. Jennifer Morgan, director of the World Wildlife
Fund's climatic changes campaign, said that what occurred in Bonn
constitutes a geopolitical earthquake. Morgan characterized as immensely
significant, in a political sense, that in order to obtain an agreement it
was necessary to disobey the United States -- a country, she added, whose
insensitivity in environmental matters has led to its total isolation.
According to Greenpeace, the European Union has been capable of countering
Washington's influence, surprisingly pulling into the Kyoto Protocol not
only Japan and Russia, but also Australia and Canada -- the four countries
that numerous observers believed would follow in the US's footsteps.
There were numerous ovations for delegates and political leaders in Bonn,
where only the United States was booed down. Conference participants jeered
at the head of the US delegation, Paula Dobriansky, when she claimed that
her country takes climatic changes very seriously, while at the same time
stating that the segregationist nature of the accord frees Washington from
any financial commitments that Kyoto nations have promised to help poor
countries develop alternative energy sources.
The European Union stated that the accord reflects its growing world
leadership. Members of the European Parliament noted that despite some
painful concessions, the Kyoto child, at age four, is beginning to walk.
Among the concessions are modifications in the control of compliance with
commitments, an elimination of economic sanctions against those countries
that surpass the allowed quantity of contaminating gas emissions and
acceptance of the voluntary character of the aid industrialized nations will
provide to developing countries without, at the same time, mentioning
specific amounts.
*EUROPEAN MEDIA COVER G-8 SUMMIT -- WITH SCORN
London, Berlin, July 23 (RHC)--European media outlets are terming as weak
the results of last weekend's G-8 gathering in Genoa, Italy, asserting that
the meeting only demonstrated the uselessness of these types of summits. The
British news daily "The Guardian" wrote that while today it's possible to
communicate without wasting money, G-8 leaders spent 25 million dollars each
for a summit organized in the name of the war against poverty.
"The Guardian" called on G-8 leaders to ask themselves why so many people
travel from other countries at their own expense to protest these summits.
London's "The Daily Telegraph" affirmed that the idea that the lives of
African peoples are going to be transformed thanks to the empty talk in
Genoa is a cruel joke.
Germany's financial news daily "Handelsblatt" wrote that less talk and more
substance will be needed if theses summits are going to be successful, while
the "Frankfurter Rundschaua" asserted that Seattle, Gothenburg and Genoa are
the sites where international institutions and the governments of
industrialized countries revealed their scant credibility by insisting that
only the poor, and not the rich, should open their markets.
*HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FAVORS REPARATIONS FOR VICTIMS OF SLAVERY, RACISM
Washington, July 23 (RHC)--The New York-based organization Human Rights
Watch has come out in favor of compensating the victims of slavery and
racial discrimination. Just 6 weeks before the opening of the International
Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, Human Rights Watch has called
for the setting up of national and international commissions to discuss,
recognize and evaluate compensation for abuses committed in the past.
The organization's executive director, Kenneth Roth, said it's not a
question of a gift or an award, but rather, a long-term commitment to
correct the damage that has been done. He said the compensation should be
based on an enhanced application of the victims' social and economic rights
through investment in education, housing and health, job training, the
reduction or elimination of foreign debts and a preferential trade treatment
on an international level.
Compensation is one of the most controversial themes on the agenda of the
Durban gathering. US Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested last month
before Congress that Washington would not participate in the conference if
compensation is one of the principle items on the agenda. But the
reparations movement is gaining steam in the United States following
compensation to Japanese-Americans forced into concentration camps during
World War II and the Jewish victims of the nazi regime.
Last March, the Oklahoma Commission on the 1921 Racial Disturbances
recommended reparations for victims of a racist massacre that forced the
displacement of an entire African-American community. The "Philadelphia
Inquirer" news daily recently supported the setting up of a national
reparations commission, while the municipal councils of 10 US cities are
promoting the idea of a declaration concerning the impact of slavery.
Several large US firms have publicly apologized for having promoted or
benefited from slavery. A coalition of African-American and non-governmental
organizations is currently preparing a court case to demand compensation
from the government and businesses that benefited from slave labor.
.
Viewpoint:
*BATTLE OF GENOA ENDS WITHOUT GLORY, AND WITHOUT HELP FOR THE POOR
The seven richest countries and Russia, wound up their summit in the
Italian city of Genoa, with lots of noise and little action.. The meeting
ended without glory for the participants and without alleviating the misery
that grips the majority of humanity.
In a five-page final document, which says little and contains no concrete
pledges, the leaders of the G-8 have attempted to justify the spending of
some 25 million dollars for each delegation to participate in a gathering,
that paradoxically was aimed at ending poverty.
Though praise is in order for the decision to forgive the foreign debts of
the world's 23 poorest nations, the significance of that announcement pales
when we realize that that money is already lost and will never be
recuperated. Perhaps the G-8's real aim was to rid itself of the bother of
trying to collect payment on a debt that is impossible to pay.
Not a word was spoken of opening markets to emerging countries, cancelling
export subsidies, ending non-tariff barriers. Just vague promises of
financial assistance to the poorest nations. Regarding protection of the
environment, the distinguished gentlemen of the G-8 agreed not to agree. Nor
will more money be forthcoming to fight AIDS and other illnesses; the only
funds allocated were those already existing; only the name was changed.
A young Italian killed by police, a young French woman who died in a tragic
automobile accident, hundreds wounded and many others arrested and a
partially destroyed city, were the sad results of the Genoa meeting.
It is now left to the Genoa's residents to begin the job of cleaning up the
rubble, while the Canadians, in particular those who work in the Rocky
Mountains tour resort of Kananaskis, begin to worry about how to deal with
the next such gathering.
And, though it may seem like a bad joke, the G-8 heads of state and
government agreed to strengthen ties with civil society. How do they plan on
achieving that lofty goal when each time they have to hide more. If today
they have to build a wall around a city, their next meeting will be held
high up in the mountains.
Don't they realize that hundreds of thousands of people, citizens of their
own countries, oppose the holding of these failed summits?
Perhaps they are open to taking a word of advice and they will chose a more
appropriate setting, more in line with their thinking and save the world
another tragic show. Our humble suggestion would be that for their next
meetings, they should lock themselves into a bank security box and from
there, immersed in the pungent smell of money, discuss their affairs. The
world will thank them for it.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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