From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001 03:37:17 -0400 (EDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CubaNews] Radio Havana Cuba-07 September 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 07 September 2001
.
*IN DURBAN, CUBA CALLS FOR AN END TO RACIST EXPLOITATION
*EU MINISTERS TO EVALUATE CUBA's INCLUSION INTO ACP GROUP
*MORE STUDENTS ARRIVE ON ISLE OF YOUTH IN CUBAN STUDY PROGRAM
*FEAST OF CUBA'S PATRON SAINT TO BE CELEBRATED THIS WEEKEND
*CUBA/JAPAN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP CLOSES IN HAVANA
*CHILEAN GENERALS PLANNED 1973 COUP AT BRAZILIAN EMBASSY
*UNITA FORCES CONTINUE THEIR TERRORIST RAMPAGE IN ANGOLA
*VENEZUELA SENDS FOOD AND MEDICINE TO GUATEMALA
*Viewpoint: DURBAN - STANDING UP FOR THIRD WORLD RIGHTS
.
*IN DURBAN, CUBA CALLS FOR AN END TO RACIST EXPLOITATION
Durban, September 7 (RHC)--The Havana-based Organization of Solidarity with
the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL) has called for "the
doors of the rich and powerful to open to the poor and victims of racist
discrimination."
Speaking before a plenary session of the World Conference Against Racism in
Durban, South Africa, the Secretary General of OSPAAAL, Juan Carretero,
stated that Blacks and other peoples of color have been subjected to cruel
and inhumane exploitation for centuries -- and that the legacy of racism is
reflected in poverty, illiteracy, disease and other social problems.
The head of OSPAAAL noted that more than four and a half billion people in
Asia, Africa and Latin America have pinned their hopes on the UN Conference
Against Racism, confident that their demands for apologies and reparations
will be taken seriously.
Juan Carretero said that Third World peoples have come to the conference in
peace, asking for recognition of the crimes committed for centuries against
our peoples and to seek the financial and technological resources necessary
to develop. He added that his group was not demanding that the
industrialized countries give up their luxurious lifestyles, but that they
at least share part of their comfort and economic resources with those who
are suffering injustice and exploitation.
*EU MINISTERS TO EVALUATE CUBA's INCLUSION INTO ACP GROUP
Brussels, September 7 (RHC)--According to reports from Brussels, this
weekend European Union foreign ministers will evaluate the possible entry of
Cuba into the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of nations, also known as
the Cotonou Accord.
The Belgian foreign minister, Louis Michel, will give an account of his
meeting with Cuban officials during his visit to the island last month and
then ask the other foreign ministers if they agree to Havana's entry into
the ACP group. Michel will also ask if his colleagues are ready for a more
open political dialogue with Cuba; upon an affirmative response he will ask
Havana to initiate the dialogue.
Cuba is the only country of the African, Caribbean and Pacific nations that
is not a member of the Cotonou Accord. Last year Havana withdrew its
candidacy in protest after the EU supported a Czech Republic attack on Cuba
before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
The European foreign ministers will also discuss the process of peace in the
Middle East, the conflict in Central Africa and the crisis in Macedonia.
*MORE STUDENTS ARRIVE ON ISLE OF YOUTH IN CUBAN STUDY PROGRAM
Havana, September 7 (RHC)--A group of 290 young people from north Africa
have arrived in Cuba to follow a study program initially set up between the
two nations in 1977. They will be studying on the Isle of Youth in a special
school designed for the purpose.
As of the end of last year, 36,000 young people from 36 nations had studied
on the Isle of Youth, which was renamed from the Isle of Pines in 1978
during the 11th World Youth Festival.
In statements to the press Ram�n S�nchez, who is responsible for education
on the island, commented that the program had been going for 24 years in
which he had seen many young people grow into adulthood with an education
that would much improve their lives back home. "We never interfere in our
student's religions or customs," he said. The school takes special measures
to accommodate those celebrating Ramadan and other such religious ceremonies
and events.
There are currently 11,689 foreign students studying on the Isle of Youth.
Cuba is expecting to end the year with an additional student population of
1,489 from Latin America, Africa and Asia.
The Latin American School of Medicine in Havana and the International Sports
School also receive many foreign students for their programs in which
everyone studies free of charge.
*FEAST OF CUBA'S PATRON SAINT TO BE CELEBRATED THIS WEEKEND
Havana, September 7 (RHC)--Thousands of Cubans will be celebrating the
feast of the El Cobre Virgin of Charity, the island's patron saint, this
weekend.
Havana's Archbishop, Jaime Ortega, will be officiating in a procession here
in the capital that will involve thousands of Catholics. The procession,
which winds through the streets of Central Havana, is the most important
Christian religious event of the year in Cuba.
In the provinces of Santa Clara, Camag�ey, Ciego de Avila, Bayamo-Manzanillo
and Holgu�n, similar processions will occur. In Santiago, Archbishop Pedro
Meurice will preside over a mass at the Church of the Virgin of Charity,
where the saint's image is kept.
Those who are believers of the island's Santaria religion will also be
celebrating by dressing and dancing in yellow, which is the color,
associated with Och�n, the Santaria equivalent of the El Cobre Virgin of
Charity. As African slaves were forbidden to worship their gods, they
cleverly synchronized their gods with the images of the Catholic faith of
their Spanish overlords. Thus they were able to worship their own gods by
seeming to worship Catholic saints. Both religions exist side by side in
Cuba with no friction between them.
*CUBA/JAPAN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP CLOSES IN HAVANA
Havana, September 7 (RHC)--Cuban and Japanese academics gathered this week
in the Cuban capital to hold the 7th Cuba-Japan International Workshop.
The event, which included analysis of Japan's relations with the island and
its almost 100-year presence here, served to share experiences on the state
of relations between both countries, particularly in the cultural field.
Topics such as the immediate future of bilateral relations, the Japanese
community in Cuba, the learning of the Japanese language, and Japanese
relations with other Asian nations, among others, were discussed during the
event.
The conference itself was an important meeting of Cuban and Japanese
culture. During Friday's sessions, Professor Kyuji Yoshikawa, Director of
the Afro-Asian Institute of Japan said that the workshop was the very best
one he had attended.
*CHILEAN GENERALS PLANNED 1973 COUP AT BRAZILIAN EMBASSY
Rio de Janeiro, September 7 (RHC)--The military coup that overthrew
constitutionally elected Chilean President Salvador Allende was planned at
the Brazilian embassy in Santiago de Chile. According to Rio de Janeiro's
Mayor Cesar Maia, the coup leaders met at the embassy on September 7th -- 28
years ago today -- to work out details of the military action that would be
carried out four days later, on September 11, 1973.
In an article published by the daily "Jornal do Brazil," Rio's mayor said
the meeting constituted an assault on Brazil's honor and dignity. He
explained that at the same time a reception was being held upstairs, Chilean
military leaders plotted every detail of the coup in the embassy's patio.
Cesar Maia -- who lived in exile in Chile from 1964 to 1985 -- said he and
all Brazilians are ashamed of the way their country's embassy was used to
plan the murder of thousands of Chileans, including President Salvador
Allende. He said that such use of the Brazilian embassy in Chile violated
the tradition of non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro also revealed that during Allende's Popular
Unity government, the rich -- fearing that their wealth and property would
be confiscated -- used the Brazilian embassy to hide their valuables. With
the electoral victory of Allende in 1970 until the military dictatorship
took power in 1973, the upper class used the safes and vaults of the embassy
in Santiago de Chile as if it were a bank -- storing valuable jewels,
expensive paintings and fur coats.
Calling the use of Brazil's embassy "a horrible crime that cannot be
erased," the mayor of Rio de Janeiro stated that after 28 years, he is not
looking for revenge or even punishment of those involved. But, he said,
authorities should investigate the facts in order to set history straight.
*UNITA FORCES CONTINUE THEIR TERRORIST RAMPAGE IN ANGOLA
Luanda, September 7 (RHC)--UNITA terrorists in Angola continue on their
rampage with the brutal murder of 47 innocent civilians over the past two
days.
Angola's news agency, ANGOP, reported on Friday that UNITA forces attacked
the village of Bongo, located in the central province of Huambo, killing 24
people, including a 12-year-old boy. Before leaving the area, troops under
the command of Jonas Savimbi stole household items and set fire to many of
the houses.
According to the newspaper "Jornal de Angola," another attack took place on
the highway between Saurimo and Mulonda in the province of Lunda Norte.
UNITA forces ambushed civilian vehicles along the road, massacring at least
23 people and wounding more than a dozen others.
These latest terrorist actions have received international condemnation. On
Thursday, the European Parliament approved a resolution strongly denouncing
"the terrorist acts by UNITA," calling for an immediate end to the violence
and implementation of the 1994 Lusaka Accords. It was pointed out that
nearly one million Angolans have been killed over the past 25 years, while
more than a quarter of a million have been displaced and are living as
refugees.
*VENEZUELA SENDS FOOD AND MEDICINE TO GUATEMALA
Caracas, September 7 (RHC)--The Venezuelan government has sent a shipment
of 15 tons of food, medicine and clean drinking water to Guatemala, to help
alleviate the drought conditions in that Central American country.
On Friday, a huge C-130 cargo plane from the Venezuelan Armed Forces took
off for Guatemala City with the donated shipment. Authorities told reporters
that a second cargo plane with another 15 tons is also scheduled.
In addition, a group of Venezuelan doctors has volunteered to travel to
Guatemala to evaluate health conditions in the areas most affected by the
drought. According to reports from Guatemala, at least 41 people have died
in the past few weeks as a result of malnutrition.
The UN World Food Program estimates that at least 3,000 tons of food will be
necessary to meet the level of crisis in Guatemala, hardest hit of all the
Central American countries suffering from a severe drought. The UN agency
notes that more than 63,000 Guatemalans have lost their corn and bean crops.
Some 600,000 coffee workers are also idle due to a combination of the
drought and the plummeting price of coffee on the world market.
*Viewpoint: DURBAN - STANDING UP FOR THIRD WORLD RIGHTS
The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and
Related Intolerance has closed in Durban, after participation and input from
the youth, NGOs and governments of 160 countries representing all five
continents.
Unfortunately, if the conference is anything to go by, the problems
addressed are far from being diminished. It is also becoming clearer that
Third World unity should not be postponed much longer.
This third UN gathering against racism -- 23 years after the fiasco of the
first conference held in the Swiss city of Geneva -- demonstrates that the
wealthy, who are now much wealthier, are still not interested in making
reparations to the Third World, which has been the principal source of their
riches.
Today's world is more unequal than ever. The South, where the planet's
misery, illiteracy and sickness is concentrated, has 4.5 billion
inhabitants. Africa, the site of this conference, has 17 million people
dying of AIDS and 23 million others who are HIV positive -- three times more
than the rest of the world.
The foreign debt of Africa, a continent where millions of people were
kidnapped from their countries by the European slave traders, is close to
$360 billion.
Many Africans cannot view the Durban conference, because there are less than
three computers per one thousand inhabitants on the continent, and the total
population, including wealthy Africans, own only 2.5% of the world's
televisions.
In Durban, they spoke about moral and material reparation for genocide and
slavery, with many delegates condemning the terrorism and racism of the
Zionist regime in Israel and the racism and violence of US society -- the
two governments that led an attempt to sabotage the conference by walking
out on its proceedings.
The wealthy, capitalist, developed countries that today participate in the
imperial system of economic order imposed on the world have no policy of
genuine international cooperation, nor are they motivated by feelings of
solidarity. As Cuban president Fidel Castro pointed out in Durban, they have
a philosophy of egoism, brutal competition and economic blockade to force
their will on the world.
At the end of this historic meeting, we are left searching for the answer to
three questions asked by Cuba:
Will there be any capacity to understand the gravity of the problems of the
real world, governed by rules of unsustainable development and inequality
and the colossal power and interests of the transnationals, which are
getting bigger, more uncontrollable and more independent?
Will they understand the chaos and universal rebellion that will inevitably
arise?
Will they be able, even if they wanted, to bring an end to racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia in all its forms?
We can share the optimism of President Fidel Castro when he affirmed that in
the end, justice and right will prevail. But this will only be after
wringing concessions out of rich nations in order to advance the spirit of
the Conference's Final Declaration and Plan of Action.
(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]
__________________________________________________
