From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 03:01:31 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-01 Aug 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 01 August 2001
.
*FIDEL CASTRO ATTENDS GRADUATION AT NEW SOCIAL WORK SCHOOL
*ONE DEAD, SEVEN MISSING AFTER SMUGGLER'S FLORIDA-BOUND BOAT CAPSIZES
*CESSNA LIGHT AIRCRAFT FROM FLORIDA CRASH LANDS IN COJIMAR
*COMMISSION ON PUBLIC HEALTH REVIEWS QUALITY OF LIFE, CAUSES OF DEATH
*CUBA WELCOMES NEW BRITISH AMBASSADOR
*US POLITICIANS BLAST BUSH'S PLAN TO BOYCOTT CONFERENCE ON RACISM
*ITALIAN PARLIAMENT TO INVESTIGATE POLICE BRUTALITY AT G8 SUMMIT
*COLOMBIAN COURT ORDERS AN END TO HERBICIDE SPRAYING OF CROPS
Viewpoint:
*ISRAEL WAGES A BARBARIC WAR ON PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS
.
*FIDEL CASTRO ATTENDS GRADUATION AT NEW SOCIAL WORK SCHOOL
Havana, August 1 (RHC)--Cuban president Fidel Castro, Tuesday attended the
second graduation ceremony of the new network of social workers that the
island has been training to confront some of the social problems brought
about by Cuba's decade-long economic crisis.
A total of 565 graduates were congratulated by the Cuban leader who also
thanked them for the work they will be putting into their jobs in the
future. The primary focus of these new social workers will be on children
from disadvantaged families who live in overcrowded conditions and thus
spend much of their time on the streets. The total number of workers in this
field now number 1,078 across the nation, with more students being trained
at the school, located in the Havana suburb of Coj�mar.
Fidel Cuban president also presented diplomas he had signed, and copies of
Che Guevara's "Bolivian Diary" to the most outstanding graduates.
*ONE DEAD, SEVEN MISSING AFTER SMUGGLER'S FLORIDA-BOUND BOAT CAPSIZES
Havana, August 1 (RHC)--An overloaded boat smuggling Cubans to Florida
capsized in stormy waters early Wednesday morning, with one confirmed death
and seven missing passengers, including two children, according to reports
from Miami.
Reuters news agency said that twenty-one passengers were rescued by a
passing vessel and the US Coast Guard, which then began a search for the
missing. A Coast Guard officer, Luis Diaz, said that everyone had known for
the past 48 hours that weather conditions would be bad, which makes the
smugglers "negligent, irresponsible, greedy -- you name it," he said.
Attracted by large sums -- up to $10,000 a head -- paid by relatives of
Cuba's illegal migrants, the smugglers are using faster boats that can
outrun US Coast Guard cutters and are increasingly difficult to intercept,
US authorities say. A full boat can bring as much as a quarter of a million
dollars.
The traffickers also reportedly treat their cargo like cattle, forcing
passengers to swim ashore to avoid problems if they are seen, and even
throwing Cubans overboard to slow down any pursuing Cuban Coast Guard boats
that seek to prevent the trade in human beings.
The Cuban Coast Guard works in close contact with the US Coast Guard in an
effort to stem the trade, and those caught smuggling are severely punished.
Per the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, any Cuban migrant landing on US dry land
is entitled to legally remain. The US returns illegal migrants apprehended
at sea to Cuba where, if they are not sought by the island's authorities for
previous crimes, they are processed and released.
This enticement has resulted in the deaths of many Cubans, including the
mother of Eli�n Gonz�lez, and is a major source of conflict between both
nations. In 1998 a smuggler's speedboat broke up in rough seas off Miami,
killing 14 people aboard. Six people have died in smuggling operations so
far this year, with many others injured in rough seas or from beatings by
the smugglers.
US officials report that the smugglers are mostly Cuban Americans, without
any concern about politics or human beings, many of them fugitives or former
drug traffickers. Some hold their passengers captive until the families pay
up and they are not averse to killing them if the money is not forthcoming.
*CESSNA LIGHT AIRCRAFT FROM FLORIDA CRASH LANDS IN COJIMAR
Havana, August 1 (RHC)--Cuban civil aviation authorities are investigating
the unauthorized crash landing of a light aircraft which originated at the
airport in Marathon, Florida.
The Cessna 172, with just the pilot aboard, landed on a rough road along the
coast near Cojimar east of Havana. The pilot, identified in US press reports
as Milo John Reese, 55 years old, survived the forced landing and was taken
into custody by Cuban authorities who transported him to a hospital
immediately where he was treated for light injuries.
Reese was apparently making his first solo flight in a rented aircraft when
he suddenly flew south toward the Cuban coastline. As he landed at 16:52
local time, a tire burst and the plane flipped over.
*COMMISSION ON PUBLIC HEALTH REVIEWS QUALITY OF LIFE, CAUSES OF DEATH
Havana, August 1 (RHC)--The National Assembly commission charged with
reviewing the island's public health care program and the quality of life of
the population, heard Tuesday that a large number of infectious diseases had
either been eradicated or substantially reduced by Cuba's primary health
care system.
The commission, which is chaired by Vice-President Carlos Lage, learned that
the primary causes of death on the island in the nation has moved from
infectious diseases to non-transmittable chronic illness such as heart
disease, malignant tumors and accidents. Each of these were affected by
behavioral conditions and habits. Bad diet was primarily responsible for
those who suffered cardiovascular difficulties, along with smoking, which is
estimated to be responsible for 30% of all cancer deaths in Cuba. The
commissioners were told that 36.8% of the island's population are smokers.
The Cuban Health Minister, Carlos Dotres, reported that educational programs
are in place to tackle the health issues associated with smoking,
alcoholism, sedentary lifestyles, eating habits, air and water quality and
workplace stress. These programs especially target children before they
become addicted to cigarettes and alcohol. The National Assembly commissions
are currently reviewing every aspect of Cuban life in a process that brings
to account those responsible for industry, education, health care, tourism,
the judiciary etc. prior to a general meeting of the entire Assembly.
*CUBA WELCOMES NEW BRITISH AMBASSADOR
Havana, August 1 (RHC)--The vice-president of the Cuban Council of State,
Juan Almeida Bosque, along with deputy Foreign Minister, Angel Dalmau
Fern�ndez, Tuesday received the new British Ambassador to Havana, Paul
Webster Hare.
After the new ambassador had presented his credentials, he laid a floral
wreath at the base of the Jos� Mart� monument in the capital's Plaza de la
Revoluci�n.
*US POLITICIANS BLAST BUSH'S PLAN TO BOYCOTT CONFERENCE ON RACISM
Washington, August 1 (RHC)--Several members of the United States Congress
have blasted the Bush administration for threatening to boycott the upcoming
International Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa.
In a heated debate late Tuesday, African-American representative from
Georgia, Cynthia McKinney, stated that considering the fact that 30 percent
of the US population is of color and all Americans have had to directly
confront racism, the Bush administration is either politically simple-minded
or ill-intentioned to ignore the Conference.
McKinney, a member of the House Subcommittee on Human Rights, asked whether
it was simply a question of a White House full of latent racists.
California Democrat Barbara Lee noted that the United States as a nation has
still not responded to problems intimately tied to racism and economic
inequality, adding that Washington's non-participation in the Durban
conference and unwillingness to respond to those problems would send a
sinister message to the international community.
Donald Payne, democratic representative from New Jersey, said the US
government's refusal to participate would constitute a disaster.
*ITALIAN PARLIAMENT TO INVESTIGATE POLICE BRUTALITY AT G8 SUMMIT
Rome, August 1 (RHC)--Italy's lower house of Parliament has agreed to set up
a commission to investigate the violence that erupted during the G-8
gathering in Genoa, but the Senate has refused to approve a motion to
censure Interior Minister Claudio Scajola.
A week after the Italian Parliament's right-wing majority refused to open an
investigation, legislators finally agreed on Monday, when President Carlo
Azeglio Ciampi publicly called on authorities to shed full light on charges
of police brutality. The original refusal to investigate sparked bitter
divisions between the government and the left-of-center opposition.
But in a heated debate in Italy's Senate, legislators voted 180 to 106
against a motion to censure Scajola, whom the opposition has likened to
former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Repression during the G-8 Summit
has also led to a judicial investigation in which Genoa district attorneys
are currently interrogating police officers involved.
Judicial authorities in the Italian city have sent numerous orders to the
national and international press to present audio, video and photographic
material related to the police raid on the school that served as
headquarters for representatives of some 800 anti-globalization groups.
According to eyewitness accounts, Italian police were extremely violent and
out of control during the raid. Agence France Presse, Reuters, Associated
Press and Italy's ANSA news agency have reportedly already received the
judicial order.
*COLOMBIAN COURT ORDERS AN END TO HERBICIDE SPRAYING OF CROPS
Bogota, Washington, August 1 (RHC)--Indigenous communities. environmental
activists and huan rights groups in Colombia have achieved a first victory
against the Colombian government's herbicide program against illicit crops.
Authorities in Bogot� have reluctantly obeyed a federal court order to cease
fumigations in the indigenous communities of Colombia's southern Putumayo,
Caqueta and Guaviare Departments.
The court ruled that the US-made herbicide used in the fumigations is
harmful to human health and the environment. President Andres Pastrana has
insisted, however, on continuing the fumigations in what he calls industrial
illicit crop plantations.
As the controversy continues in Colombia, a group of Colombian members of
Congress, Governors and environmental activists are in Washington, DC to
lobby against the fumigation. Though the US State Department claimed this
week that the herbicide in use is not harmful to human health, the Colombian
delegation has cited numerous specific cases of illnesses related to the
fumigation, as well as the destruction of legal food crops.
*Viewpoint: ISRAEL WAGES A BARBARIC WAR ON PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS
In the worst day of violence since the beginning last September of the
current Intifada, Israeli tanks and troops killed ten Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza Stripon Tuesday. Two of the dead were children.
Thus Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prosecutes his brutal war against
Palestine with total impunity, for although the massacre attracted
world-wide disgust and condemnation -- even including mild words of censure
from Washington -- the international community continues to allow Tel Aviv
to kill Palestinian children because Israel is protected by the United
States.
Sharon continues to violate all the norms of conflict by targeting primarily
civilians, sending out assassination squads, provoking mass violence by
sending troops into sensitive religious areas, and blockading the West Bank
and the Gaza Strip from food and medical supplies. He is slowly and
deliberately starving and impoverishing an entire nation in an overt effort
at genocide.
Sharon's object is clearly to provoke an overall uprising that would be an
excuse to send in the troops to reoccupy all the Palestinian territories.
And the Palestinian people are expected to take it all on the chin? What
nation would not fight off its enemies? What nation would not defend the
right of its people to self-determination and the sovereignty of its
territories? Are Palestinians expected to forget the horrors of Sabra and
Chatilla?
Ariel Sharon took power based on his promise to deal harshly with a
Palestinian Intifada that he himself provoked. His power play was
successful, and his subsequent murders of Palestinians -- he doesn't even
hide the fact that he seeks to assassinate Palestinian leaders -- are all
part of his barbaric agenda.
Sharon is dangerous to the stability of the entire Middle East, and the
unconditional support he receives from Washington must end. The United
Nations and the European Union are finding new voices to resist US hegemony.
They should focus on Israel's US-sponsored war against an entire people and
not beat about the bush -- genocide is genocide. Let them start using the
word.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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