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Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 04:23:57 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News-24 July 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 24 July 2001
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*MORE THAN A MILLION PEOPLE EXPECTED TO MARK CUBA'S ANNIVERSARY
*ANC'S GENERAL SECRETARY TOURS SANTIAGO DE CUBA
*ITALIAN CRUISE COMPANY TO BRING TOURISTS TO CUBA
*EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY BRIGADE VISITS CENTRAL PROVINCES
*INDONESIA: NEW PRESIDENT HAS HER WORK CUT OUT FOR HER
*PALESTINIANS' INCOMES CUT IN HALF SINCE NEW INTIFADA BEGAN
*SYRIA DOES NOT RULE OUT WAR IN RESPONSE TO ISRAELI AGGRESSION
*ECUADOREAN INDIGENOUS WILL TAKE TO THE STREETS AGAIN
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*MORE THAN A MILLION PEOPLE EXPECTED TO MARK CUBA'S ANNIVERSARY
Havana, July 24 (RHC)--In Havana, more than a million people are expected to
march before the US Interests Section this Thursday to protest an
intensification of Washington's hostility toward Cuba. An editorial in
Cuba's official Granma news daily today asserted that the protest will
gather more than one million residents of both Havana City and the
surrounding Havana province.
The march will mark the 48th anniversary of the July 26th, 1953 attack on
the military barracks of Moncada and Carlos Manuel de C�spedes in eastern
Cuba, an action that signaled the beginning of the island's final struggle
for independence. On July 26th, 1953, Fidel Castro and a group of young
followers stormed the Moncada barracks, in Santiago de Cuba, in an effort to
unleash a nation-wide struggle that would bring self-determination to
island. Though failing in its objective of occupying the military fortress,
the action proved effective in stirring a national pro-independence
sentiment.
The march and protest to mark the revolutionary anniversary will also demand
the release of the five Cuban nationals presently incarcerated in the US
falsely accused of spying. Cuba has asserted that the five are Cuban
patriots who were working to prevent terrorist actions against Cube by
groups in South Florida.
*ANC'S GENERAL SECRETARY TOURS SANTIAGO DE CUBA
Havana, July 24 (RHC)--The visiting General Secretary of South Africa's
African National Congress, Kgalema Montlane, laid a floral wreath Tuesday in
Santiago de Cuba in honor of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti. Montlane was
accompanied by the First Secretary of the Communist Party in the province,
Juan Carlos Robinson.
With a membership of over 10 million, the African National Congress is at
the center of political and social transformations taking place in South
Africa, particularly in the areas of education, health care and justice.
The South African leader visited factories and other economic centers in
Santiago de Cuba where he was briefed on efforts to increase economic
efficiency and production. In statements to reporters, Montlane said he was
pleased to be in Santiago and in touch with the history of that heroic city.
He thanked the Cuban government for having contributed to the training of
thousands of African youths in Cuban universities, calling these educational
institutions "ambassadors of solidarity" between the island and Africa.
Montlane described relations between the African National Congress and Cuba
as solid and strengthening day by day. On Tuesday, the ANC leader toured a
soya processing plant, a center for medical biophysics and other research
facilities, and met with students from Haiti and Mali who take courses at
the Caribbean Medical Faculty in Santiago de Cuba.
Before returning home on Wednesday, Kgalema Montlane will take part in
official activities marking the 48th anniversary of the attack on the
Moncada Barracks.
*ITALIAN CRUISE COMPANY TO BRING TOURISTS TO CUBA
Havana, July 24 (RHC)--Two ships from the Italian Cruise Company FESTIVAL,
which operates in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean Sea, and northern Europe
will be making five stops a week in Cuban ports during the next winter
tourist season.
The arrangement is the result of a cooperation protocol signed between the
Cuban Transportation Ministry and the Italian cruise line. The cruise ships
Mistral and Bolero will dock at Havana, Punta Frances and Cienfuegos ports,
from where tourists will return home by plane.
The itinerary of the cruise ships offers tourists a unique opportunity of
visiting the Cuban capital, the exclusive beaches at the Isle of Youth,
Grand Cayman and the Maya ruins in Mexico. The agreement also provides for
professional training of Cuban personnel on board, the use of local
shipyards to fix Festival cruise ships, and supporting local tourist resorts
with cruise-related activities.
The president of the Italian Company, Umberto Ferraro, said that Festival
hopes to add a third ship for the 2002-2003 season. The Italian executive
said he enjoyed working with Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean
which, he said, offers the European tourist a quality option. Some 185,000
tourists have come to Cuba on board 20 cruise ships over the past two years.
*EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY BRIGADE VISITS CENTRAL PROVINCES
Santa Clara, July 24 (RHC)--The European brigade in solidarity with Cuba
that arrived in Havana three weeks ago is currently on a tour of the
island's central provinces. The group, made up of 480 people from nine
countries, visited the Ernesto Che Guevara Memorial in Santa Clara on
Monday, where they paid tribute to the legendary guerrilla hero.
Speaking to reporters, several members of the brigade spoke warmly of the
Cuban peoples' hospitality, as well as the island's education and public
health systems and, particularly, the work of the thousands of Cuban health
professionals who are currently saving lives in many countries of Africa,
Asia and Latin America.
After doing voluntary agricultural work in Havana province during the first
three weeks of their stay in Cuba, the group is now visiting the tourist
resort of the northern coast of Villa Clara. The brigade will also visit the
Escambray mountain range where they will be able to learn about the social
advances in that region since the triumph of the Revolution.
Finally, they will meet with students of the Manuel Ascunce School of Arts
Instructors, one of the projects currently being developed to further
improve the cultural knowledge of the Cuban people.
*INDONESIA: NEW PRESIDENT HAS HER WORK CUT OUT FOR HER
Havana, July 24 (RHC)--Indonesia's new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri,
today began to form a coalition government following the removal yesterday
of her predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid for corruption and abuse of power.
Indonesian police have arrested eight high-ranking officials in what is seen
as a clean-up operation of those involved in scandals that have been rocking
the nation for many months.
The new president has her work cut out for her, say political observers. She
has to govern the fourth largest nation in the world, with 210 million
people spread over an immense network of islands, and deal with the violence
surrounding the separatist province of Aceh, which is undergoing a veritable
war between the Indonesian army and Islamic guerrillas.
She also has to revitalize a shaky economy and re-establish political
stability to enable her to gain the confidence of the International Monetary
Fund, upon which her nation relies to refinance its enormous debts. The
nation's stock market rallied after the new president's installation, with
the rupia gaining 10% against the dollar.
Observers have been surprised by the lack of violence in the transfer of
power. All the principal Asian nations of the region have offered their full
support to Magawati Sukarnoputri and the coalition government she is
currently forming.
*PALESTINIANS' INCOMES CUT IN HALF SINCE NEW INTIFADA BEGAN
Havana, 24 July (RHC)--The average income of Palestinian families living
in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has been reduced by half since the
beginning of the current Intifada in September of last year, according to
the Israeli news daily "Haaretz."
More than two million of the three million Palestinians living in the
territories -- representing 64.9% of all families -- are suffering major
hardship as a result of Tel Aviv's virtual blockade of the divided
Palestinian land. The average West Bank income of $750 a month has dropped
to some $300; in the Gaza Strip, the pre-Intifada average of $475 in the
Gaza Strip has fallen to $250.
The Palestine National Authority established a 2001 poverty level of $400 a
month which signifies that 56.6% of West Bank inhabitants and a full 79.9%
of all Gaza Strip inhabitants are living below the poverty line, reports
"Haaretz." Since the Intifada began on September 28th last year 100,000
Palestinians have been denied access to their jobs in Israel.
*SYRIA DOES NOT RULE OUT WAR IN RESPONSE TO ISRAELI AGGRESSION
Teheran, July 24 (RHC)--Syrian authorities have warned that they will not
rule out war with Israel following recent threats by Tel Aviv directed at
Damascus and Beirut.
The statement was made by Syrian vice-president Abdel Halim Jadam on an
official visit to Iran this week, where he is meeting with his counterpart,
Hassan Habibi. The Syrian leader said that his country is ready for any
eventuality and that Israel as well as Syria would pay a high price for any
war between them. He added that it was easy to start wars but very hard to
end them.
Earlier this month Israel bombarded a Syrian military position located in
Southern Lebanon. Damascus retains some 30,000 troops in Lebanon with the
blessing of Beirut. They were sent into the country in 1976 to end the civil
war that was raging in Lebanon at that time. Both Syria and Lebanon have
received threats from Tel Aviv pertaining to their government's support of
the militant Islamic movement, Hezbollah.
In welcoming Jadam, the Iranian vice president said that his country joined
with Syria to condemn Israeli aggression against the people of Palestine.
*ECUADOREAN INDIGENOUS WILL TAKE TO THE STREETS AGAIN
Quito, July 24 (RHC)--After a pause of four months, Ecuador's National
Indigenous Confederation has decided to the streets again, in the face of
what it says is the government's inability to keep its promises.
The Confederation president, Antonio Vargas, said that his people would
protest the government's privatization of the nation's electricity grid as
well as demand improved salaries for the country's workers. The indigenous
organization had previously opposed Quito's conversion of the nation's
currency to the US dollar and brought about the downfall of the previous
president, Jamil Mahuad, in January of last year.
In comments to the press, Vargas said that he also opposes the participation
of Ecuador in the US-sponsored "Plan Colombia," billed by Washington as an
effort to combat Colombia's illicit drug industry but which is seen as a
militarization of the region by critics. The government of President Gustavo
Noboa also has come under fire for allowing the opening of a US base on
Ecuadorean territory.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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