From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2001 01:39:51 -0400 (EDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC news Update-24 August 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 24 August 2001
.
*FIDEL CASTRO RECEIVES VISITING BELGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER LOUIS MICHEL
*"LENNON" SCULPTOR UNVEILS STATUE OF COMEDIAN TIN TAN IN MEXICO
*US TOUR COMPANY TO BEGIN FLIGHTS TO CUBA OUT OF FT LAUDERDALE
*LEGENDARY CUBAN JAZZ PIANIST FRANK EMILIO FLYN DIES
*VENEZUELA'S FOREIGN MINISTER IN CUBA TO FURTHER CONSOLIDATE TIES
*ROCHE HOPES TO PERSUADE BRAZIL NOT TO ABROGATE ITS AIDS DRUG PATENT
*NGOs DEMAND RECOGNITION OF SLAVERY, COLONIALISM AS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
*IMF BAILOUT CALMS ARGENTINE FINANCIAL MARKETS, BUT NOT SOCIAL UNREST
*Viewpoint: LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN: THE MOST EXPLOITED OF THE EXPLOITED
.
*FIDEL CASTRO RECEIVES VISITING BELGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER LOUIS MICHEL
Havana, August 24 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro received visiting
Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel late Thursday evening. Shortly before
beginning the closed-door session with the visiting dignitary, the Cuban
leader briefly answered two questions from news correspondents.
In response to a question concerning bilateral relations between Belgium and
Cuba, President Castro said they were good but could be better. And in
response to perspectives concerning relations between Cuba and the European
Union, he said that Cuba hopes for the best, not only for Cuba, but also for
Europe and the rest of the world.
The Belgian Foreign Minister also currently presides over the European
Union's Council of Ministers and is accompanied by several EU officials,
sparking abundant media speculation concerning the stalemated EU-Cuba
political dialogue. Media reports are calling the strength of European
investment in Cuba ironic, since Cuba is the only Latin American nation that
does not have a cooperation accord with the EU. Reuters news agency, in a
cable datelined Havana, August 24, noted that Spain, Italy, Germany, France,
Great Britain and Holland, among other European nations, are seeking an
increasingly solid presence in investment and commerce in Cuba.
*"LENNON" SCULPTOR UNVEILS STATUE OF COMEDIAN TIN TAN IN MEXICO
Havana, August 24th (RHC)--The Cuban sculptor who created a statue of John
Lennon that sits on a park bench in Havana has done the same for Mexican
comedian Germ�n Vald�s, known by his nickname, Tin Tan.
Jos� Villa Sober�n, who was born in 1950 in Santiago de Cuba, has just
finished his statue of Tin Tan which now sits on the side of a fountain in
the Plaza de Armas of the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez staring at the
Cathedral opposite with a Cuban cigar stuck into the side of his mouth.
In comments to Granma news daily, Villa Sober�n said that he was privileged
to have been selected to do the sculpture of a man who was a mythic figure
in Latin American stage and screen comedy. He said his style of sculpting
places his representations in among the people of the city in direct contact
with everyone. In Havana, one can sit next to his life-size bronze statue of
John Lennon, as one can in Ciudad Juarez next to Tin Tan.
The Cuban artist has been asked by other cities in Italy and the United
States to copy his statue of Lennon, but he has declined, saying that he
prefers his statues to be unique. He was helped in Ciudad Juarez by Cuban
sculptor Rafael G�mez.
Villa Sober�n, who is president of the Plastic Arts Association of the Cuban
Union of Writers and Artists, is currently working on another project
requested by the Havana City Historian's office. It is a portrayal of a man
who epitomized Havana for many years and was known as the Gentleman from
Paris. Jos� L�pez Lled�n originated in Spain and lived and walked the
streets of Havana for many years before he ended up in the city's
psychiatric hospital at his own request. He was always well dressed, if
dirty, refused handouts, and was as gracious and polite as the old-fashioned
knight he purported to be. The people of Havana loved him and he was treated
with great respect up to the day he died.
*US TOUR COMPANY TO BEGIN FLIGHTS TO CUBA OUT OF FT LAUDERDALE
Havana, August 24th (RHC)--The U.S.-based tour company Tico Travel is
poised to begin charter flights to Cuba from the Florida city of Fort
Lauderdale later this year, announced its co-owner earlier this week.
Robert Hodel said that Tico Travel's clients were having a hard time finding
space on flights out of Miami to the island and that he also wanted to be
ready for the inevitable -- the lifting of travel restrictions to Cuba by
Washington.
Hodel said that initially the flights will be twice weekly and will carry
173 passengers apiece on A-320 jets. He is awaiting Cuban government
approval for landing rights. Charter flights currently authorized by the
U.S. Treasury Department leave out of Miami, Los Angeles and New York.
The U.S. blockade of Cuba prevents most people traveling to the island.
Those who would be permitted to take the flights under current restrictions
would be Cuban-Americans visiting families in Cuba, journalists, musicians
and athletes and any others authorized by the Treasury Department. Some
150,000 people annually travel from the U.S. to Cuba on such licenses.
Another 50,000 travel to the island illegally. These are among those that
Hodel will be targeting once the travel restrictions are lifted, he said.
In comments to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel he added, "Product knowledge
is what has made us successful in Central America, and you're going to have
to know your product in Cuba to succeed there, too."
*LEGENDARY CUBAN JAZZ PIANIST FRANK EMILIO FLYN DIES
Havana, August 24th (RHC)--Cuban pianist Frank Emilio Flyn, who epitomized
latin jazz for more than half a century, has died in Havana at the age of
80.
>From the age of 13, when he became blind, Frank Emilio -- as Cubans always
called him -- showed a precocious ability on the piano and before long,
without any formal musical education, became highly proficient. He was
already playing in a national orchestra using just his ear, before learning
how to read music via Braille.
He went on to play in hotels and clubs as well as the Tropicana cabaret. He
was famous for his jazz jam sessions in the 1950s. He was the composer of
the classic, "Mondongo, Sandunga y Gandinga." He played to the end of his
life, appearing last year at the New York's Lincoln Center with a group
called "Los Amigos."
*VENEZUELA'S FOREIGN MINISTER IN CUBA TO FURTHER CONSOLIDATE TIES
Havana, August 24th (RHC)--The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Luis Alfonso
Davila, has arrived in Cuba for a three-day official visit designed to
consolidate the already strong relations enjoyed between both nations.
Alfonso Davila's agenda includes meetings with Ricardo Alarc�n, the
president of Cuba's National Assembly or Parliament, Ernesto Senti, the
Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment and Cooperation, and government
minister, Ricardo Cabrisas.
Affairs between Caracas and Havana have gone smoothly since the election of
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in February 1999, and his immediate social,
political and economic rapprochement with Cuba. Venezuela is now Cuba's main
trading partner, outstripping Spain and Mexico in only a few months.
Venezuela has defended Cuba against the U.S. imposed economic blockade and
has worked hard to see Cuba integrated into a Latin American and Caribbean
trade block. Hugo Chavez and Cuban president Fidel Castro are personal
friends. The Cuban leader has just returned from the South American nation
having spent his 75th birthday there and clearly showing that he had enjoyed
his stay with Chavez and his people enormously.
*ROCHE HOPES TO PERSUADE BRAZIL NOT TO ABROGATE ITS AIDS DRUG PATENT
Rio De Janeiro, August 24 (RHC)--The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche has
requested an audience with Brazilian health authorities following the South
American nation's decision to disregard the firm's patent rights on an AIDS
medication.
Roche president Ernest Egli Thursday announced his intention to meet with
Brazilian Public Health Minister Jose Serra, though with Serra travelling
abroad the meeting will not take place until next week. Brazil announced
Wednesday that the country will no longer respect Roche's patent right on
the AIDS drug nelfinavir, charging that the transnational firm refused to
significantly reduce the price of one of the medications forming part of the
AIDS cocktail of drugs.
Brazil demanded Thursday a 40 percent reduction in the price, but Roche has
thus far only been willing to implement a 13 percent reduction. Brazilian
health authorities say they can produce the medication in a state
pharmaceutical laboratory at a cost 40 percent less than its current price.
Paulo Teixeira, director of Brazil's highly praised anti-AIDS program, said
his country is not opposed to patents, but that when prices are abusive
authorities are forced to divert funds from other health necessities like
tuberculosis, malaria and leprosy. Teixeira said Brazil's decision is the
product of the country's emergency AIDS situation.
*NGOs DEMAND RECOGNITION OF SLAVERY, COLONIALISM AS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Dakar, Senegal, August 24 (RHC)--Just one week before the Durban, South
Africa International Conference Against Racism, some 40 non-governmental
organizations in Africa have reiterated their demand that the slave trade be
recognized as a crime against humanity.
At a press conference Friday in Dakar, capital of Senegal, the coalition of
NGOs said that an international community built on the basis of justice,
equality and the universality of human rights is inconceivable without an
explicit apology from those countries that engaged in and benefited from the
slave trade.
The NGOs have formed a coalition called the Goree Initiative, the name of
one of the principle islands -- off the shores of Senegal -- that served as
a holding place for slaves that were to be shipped to the Americas. Aliun
Tin, coordinator of the Goree Initiative, said that even reparations are
less important than a formal recognition of the crimes committed during
slavery and colonialism.
Tin was joined by the until recently secretary general of Amnesty
International, Senegalese Pierre Sane, who stated that today's governments
must respond to the acts carried out by their predecessors, just as people
must pay the debts of deceased family members. The African NGOs announced
that a failure of the Durban conference is preferable to any concession in
the recognition of the slave trade and colonialism as crimes against
humanity.
*IMF BAILOUT CALMS ARGENTINE FINANCIAL MARKETS, BUT NOT SOCIAL UNREST
Buenos Aires, August 24 (RHC)--The International Monetary Fund's $8 billion
bail-out loan to Argentina has calmed the country's financial markets but
hasn't brought a truce to social conflicts. Argentinean labor activists are
on alert in the face of possible further economic shock programs as a result
of the bailout.
Thousands of workers gathered Thursday before provincial government
headquarters in Buenos Aires to protest Governor Carlos Ruckauf's decision
to pay part of the salaries of public employees with vouchers. Clashes
between protesters and police left some 20 transportation workers and 4
police injured.
Police fired rubber bullets in what is being called a pitched battle. The
demonstration came amid an ongoing teachers' strike that began 3 weeks ago
and was declared illegal.
Next Wednesday Argentina's two most important labor federations, the General
Labor Confederation and the Argentinean Workers Movement, will take to the
streets to protest a 13 percent reduction in the salaries of public
employees, pensioners and retired workers. Protests are occurring daily in
most of the country's public offices. The Association of Public Employees is
planning to meet next Tuesday to discuss a nationwide general strike during
the first week of September.
*Viewpoint: LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN - THE MOST EXPLOITED OF THE EXPLOITED
At least 23,000 women in Latin America die every year due to causes
related to pregnancy and childbirth. A study done by the Pan-American Health
Organization revealed that more than 100 mothers per 100,000 births lose
their lives in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.
The investigation took into consideration serious complications with high
indices of maternal mortality such as infections, hemorrhages, birth
obstructions, miscarriages, and preclampsia, a condition specific to
pregnancy, characterized by high blood pressure.
According to Jerker Liljestrand, a specialist in maternal health, if one
woman dies at 20 years of age from preventable causes, and the child
mortality rate increases, society loses out on 50 potentially productive
years.
At the beginning of the third millenium, Latin American women have been
relegated to the bottom of the social ladder in the majority of the
countries of the subcontinent.
Confined to menial domestic labor and the care of children, very few have
the possibility to develop and demonstrate their skills and talent. And, as
if that's not enough, they and their children are the very victims of
poverty and marginalization aggravated by the neoliberal programs.
It is not by chance that the Latin American and Caribbean women scarcely
occupy any of the political leadership. In the region's parliaments, they
only represent 10%, reduced to 8% in the ministerial functions, in spite of
the fact that women are more than half the population of Latin America.
Interlinked factors exist which explain this reduced participation in
decision-making, a wrong generalized in the model of representative
democracy extended throughout the subcontinent.
In truth, the essence of the problem is structural and it demonstrates the
unequal position of women in the labor force and in society, an inferior
position which cuts out their options of becoming leaders in their own
rightWomen are also virtually excluded from the communication revolution, at
a time which they receive much less money than men for the same work.
With the exception of Cuba, where equality has been achieved, which gives
human dignity, Latin American women are the objects of an unpunished
discrimination, in many cases sanctioned by the laws of their own country.
(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]
__________________________________________________
