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From: NY Transfer News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 23:53:59 -0400 (EDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [CubaNews] NY Transfer's RHC News Update-14 Sept 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 14 September 2001
.
*IN HAVANA, VISITING US PHYSICIANS SPEAK OF COMPASSION OF CUBAN PEOPLE
*CUBAN MUSICIANS DONATE BLOOD IN LOS ANGELES
*TELEVISED ROUNDTABLE EXAMINES TERRORIST ACTIONS
*RICARDO ALARCON MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF BURKINA FASO
*CUBA SENDS MORE DOCTORS TO NIGER
*PRESIDENT OF MALI CONTINUES VISIT TO THE ISLAND
*ATTACKS AND THREATS INCREASE AGAINST ARAB-AMERICANS AND US MUSLIMS
*AFGHANISTAN BRACES FOR POSSIBLE US RETALIATION FOLLOWING ATTACKS
*INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN PAKISTAN OPPOSE
COOPERATION WITH US
*Viewpoint: ECONOMIC RECOVERY, BUT NOT AS FAST AS CUBA WOULD LIKE
.
*IN HAVANA, VISITING US PHYSICIANS SPEAK OF COMPASSION OF CUBAN PEOPLE
Havana, September 14 (RHC)--In Havana on Friday, a group of prominent
US medical experts highlighted Friday the attitude of compassion and
sympathy shown by the Cuban population with regard to the tragedy in
the United States. The visitors also condemned Washington's blockade
against Cuba.
The team of US doctors, five eminent physicians, including two former
surgeons general, travelled to Havana accompanied by Bob Schwartz,
executive director of the New York-based Disarm Education Fund, an
organization that has brought over $65 million worth of humanitarian
aid to the island over the past few years.
Schwartz told RHC he was deeply impressed by the reaction of the
Cuban population with regard to the tragedy the US people are now
living.
"I think all of us, this entire delegation, was overwhelmed by the
concern that all of the Cubans, not just the doctors, not just the
health officials, everybody in Cuba has expressed to us, whether it's
a taxi driver, a hotel employee -people on the street come up to us.
And everyone is shocked by what they've seen on television, hearing
on the radio, and they're all very concerned, they're all very
sympathetic, Schwartz said.
The director of the Disarm Education Fund also told RHC that he's
shocked about the events in the U.S., but has mixed feelings:
"I have very mixed feelings about what I see. I'm watching the
television and I'm shocked at what has happened in the United States.
But I also think about the way the embargo, over the past 40 years,
has created so much need and suffering and death in Cuba. I think
it's a time while we're looking at how disasters affect the United
States we should also be looking at the impact that embargoes -- it's
not just the Cuban embargo, it's all embargoes. They kill just as
surely as bombs and bullets and we need to end embargoes."
*CUBAN MUSICIANS DONATE BLOOD IN LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles, September 14 (RHC)--Cuban musicians in Los Angeles,
California, have donated blood for the injured victims of Tuesday's
tragic events in New York City and Washington.
The island's nominees for the Latin Grammy Awards -- including
internationally renowned pianist Chucho Valdes and singer Isaac
Delgado -- went to a local pediatric hospital to donate their blood.
They told reporters in Los Angeles that they unanimously decided to
take this action in solidarity with those killed and injured in the
recent terrorist attacks.
The Latin Grammy Awards ceremony, originally scheduled to take place
in Los Angeles Tuesday evening, was indefinitely postponed following
the events of that morning.
*TELEVISED ROUNDTABLE EXAMINES TERRORIST ACTIONS
Havana, September 14 (RHC)--For the second consecutive night, Cuban
radio and television carried in-depth coverage on Thursday of the
recent terrorist attacks that took place in the United States.
On Thursday the roundtable discussion -- broadcast live each night
-- analyzed the latest events in New York City and Washington, DC, in
light of Tuesday's attacks. It was emphasized that there have been
increasing reports of threats against Arab-Americans in a number of
U.S. cities.
Cuban journalists and experts in international affairs noted that the
principal suspect, according to Washington, is Osama Bin Laden -- who
was trained in terrorist activities by the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency, the CIA. Panelists pointed out that it was not ironic that
the presumed attackers would have CIA training, noting that even the
suspected pilots received their training in the United States.
Another warning was issued by participants of Thursday's roundtable,
stressing that the U.S. military was gearing up for a major action in
response to the recent attacks inside the United States. Panelists
reiterated that additional violence would only mean the loss of more
innocent lives and generate even more violent reactions against
Washington.
*RICARDO ALARCON MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF BURKINA FASO
Ouagadougou, September 14 (RHC)--Cuban Parliament President Ricardo
Alarc�n has met with the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore.
Alarc�n is in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, leading the
island's delegation to the 106th Conference of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union, the IPU.
Among the topics discussed by Cuba's legislative leader and the
African head of state were the tragic events that have taken place in
the United States in recent days. Both leaders issued a strong
condemnation of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York City and
Washington, DC.
Alarc�n and the President Blaise Compaore also expressed their
determination to work for greater cooperation between the two
countries. It was noted that the Seventh Mixed Commission between
Cuba and Burkina Faso, held in Havana in July, concentrated bilateral
relations in the areas of health and sports.
Addressing delegates to the 106th Conference of the
Inter-Parliamentary Union on Wednesday, Alarc�n called for a greater
representation from the African continent in the legislative
organization, pointing out that there has been a marked increase in
African members to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
The Cuban legislative leader also called on the IPU to express its
solidarity with the Palestinian people and condemn the continued
occupation of Arab territories by Israel.
*CUBA SENDS MORE DOCTORS TO NIGER
Havana, September 14 (RHC)--Cuba and Niger have signed an agreement
to increase the island's integral health program to the African
nation. The accord will provide 30 additional doctors and medical
personnel in the coming days.
According to the agreement -- signed in Havana on Thursday by Cuba's
Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Marta Lomas
and Niger's Foreign Minister Nassirou Sabo -- bilateral relations
will be increased in the areas of health care, education, sports,
culture and tourism.
Wrapping up an official visit to the island, Niger's foreign minister
expressed his satisfaction with the Third Session of a Mixed
Commission on Economic, Scientific-Technical, Cultural and Commercial
Collaboration between the two countries.
Foreign Investment Minister Marta Lomas told reporters in Havana that
there are presently 25 doctors from the island voluntarily donating
their services in Niger. She said that, including the additional 30
doctors who would leave shortly for the African nation, this number
could increase to 90 over the coming weeks and months.
*PRESIDENT OF MALI CONTINUES VISIT TO THE ISLAND
Havana, September 14 (RHC)--The president of the African nation of
Mali, Alpha Oumar Konare, continues an official visit to the island
at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro.
On Friday, the visiting African leader toured the International
School of Sports and Physical Education and the Museum of Fine Arts.
Speaking with reporters, the president of Mali said he was extremely
pleased with his visit so far, particularly his talks with Cuban
President Fidel Castro.
During his four-day official visit, which will run through Saturday,
the African president and his accompanying delegation have visited
areas of economic, scientific and historic interest.
*ATTACKS AND THREATS INCREASE AGAINST ARAB-AMERICANS AND US MUSLIMS
Washington, September 14 (RHC)--Reports of anti-Arab attacks in the
United States have continued. Someone who apparently mistook a law
office in San Francisco's Mission District for an Islamic Community
Center hurled a bag filled with blood at the building's door. The
name Osama bin Laden, a Saudi fugitive linked by authorities to the
terror attacks in New York and Washington, was scrawled on the bag.
In northern California's Afghani neighborhood in Fremont, residents
say they feel a growing sense of unease and fear at the prospect of
becoming scapegoats. After threats were made on the Granada Islamic
School in Santa Clara, California, its 400 students were quickly sent
home. The school will remain closed for the rest of the week.
In Bridgeview, Illinois, police turned back 300 marchers waving
American flags and shouting "USA" as they tried to march on a mosque
in the Chicago suburb. Also in Chicago, a firebomb was tossed at an
Arab-American community center, with no injuries reported.
In Chicago's Palos Heights suburb, a man was charged with a hate
crime for attacking a gas station attendant he believed was Arab with
the blunt end of a machete.
On Thursday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown against the side of the
Islamic Society of Denton, Texas, causing an estimated $2,500 woth of
in damage. The building was empty and there were no injuries.
In Huntington, New York, a 75-year-old man who was drunk tried to run
over a Pakistani woman in the parking lot of a shopping mall. The man
then followed the woman into a store and threatened to kill her for,
in his words, "destroying my country."
A man in a ski mask in Gary, Indiana fired an assault rifle at gas
station attendant Hassan Awdah, a US citizen born in Yemen.
Tamara Alfson, an American working at the Kuwait embassy in
Washington, is reportedly counselling frightened Kuwaiti students
attending schools across the United States.
Abu Nahidian, director of the Manassas Mosque in Virginia, said his
congregation has been the target of insults and hate messages left on
the office answering machine. A mosque in Lynnwood, Washington, was
vandalized and no one showed up for afternoon prayers at the Islamic
Center in Spokane.
In East Lansing, Michigan, a shot was fired into the home of a Muslim
family next door to the Islamic center, while windows were broken at
the Muslim Students Association office at Wayne State University in
Detroit, Michigan. In Dearborn, Michigan, Issam Koussan told "The
Detroit News" that he bought large US flags to fly in front of his
home and outside his supermarket after men pulled into his parking
lot and yelled threats and racial slurs at his customers.
Anti-Arab sentiments, however, are not confined to the United States.
In Brisbane, Australia, a schoolbus carrying Muslim children was the
target of stone-throwers, while vandals also tried to set fire to a
Lebanese church in that city.
*AFGHANISTAN BRACES FOR POSSIBLE US RETALIATION FOLLOWING ATTACKS
Kabul, September 14 (RHC)--Frightened people in Afghanistan are
reportedly bracing for possible US retaliation, fleeing the capital,
Kabul, or digging trenches on the outskirts of the city. Reuters news
correspondents in Kabul have reported that while it is not clear how
many Arab nationals live in Afghanistan, residents said almost all
had left central Kabul.
Afghan-Arabs -- a term encompassing virtually all non-Afghan Muslim
militants regardless of their origin -- were also reported to have
evacuated their bases elsewhere in the country. Muslim militants from
the Middle East, Philippines, Central Asia and China have long used
Afghanistan as a training base.
With television banned, Reuters reported that Kabul residents could
be seen with small transistor radios pressed to their ears listening
to foreign broadcasts. Diplomats from Australia, Germany and the
United States, in Kabul with relatives of eight Christian aid workers
on trial for promoting Christianity, have reportedly left for
Pakistan.
Afghanistan's Taliban regime, meanwhile, has warned that retaliatory
US strikes would succeed only in sowing hatred in the region and
possibly lead to suicide attacks similar to those that occurred in
New York and Washington.
*INFLUENTIAL CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN PAKISTAN OPPOSE
COOPERATION WITH US
Islamabad, September 14 (RHC)--While the government of Pakistan was
quick to announce support of any US anti-terrorism actions,
authorities in Islamabad reportedly fear the reaction of conservative
religious groups opposed to cooperating with Washington. Pakistani
religious leaders have voiced their opposition to the use of the
country's land or air space for any eventual attack against
Afghanistan.
Pakistan is the principle ally of the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban
regime in Afghanistan currently providing safe haven for Saudi Osama
Bin Laden, the primary suspect in the attacks against New York and
Washington, as well as the 1998 attacks against US embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania. Members of the fundamentalist Jamiat Ulema Islam Party
went as far as to say that an attack against Afghanistan would be
considered a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and a conspiracy
against the country's military and nuclear capacity.
According to press reports, Islamabad understands that allying itself
with Washington against Afghanistan would spark outrage among the
population, while also fearing that to refuse cooperation could bring
about economic sanctions and an inclusion of the country on the list
of terrorist nations.
According to the Friday edition of the English-language Pakistani
daily "The News," the government's concerns are comprehensible given,
what it called Washington's biased policies towards the Muslim world.
Significantly, in 1998 the Pakistani government refused the US
permission to overfly its airspace as Washington sought revenge for
the bombing of its embassies in Africa.
*Viewpoint: ECONOMIC RECOVERY, BUT NOT AS FAST AS CUBA WOULD LIKE
>From the economic and social standpoint, Cuba is not in as bad a
shape as its enemies say. Nonetheless, it is not as good as we would
like.
There is no doubt that today Cubans enjoy better economic welfare
compared with the last decade in which Cuba went through the sharpest
economic crisis ever known in its history. Despite the fact that some
social differences have become more apparent in Cuban society as a
result of the measures taken to tackle the so-called Special Period
or economic crisis, the Cuban economy has steadily recovered.
On Wednesday and Thursday, presidents from municipal governments
around the capital met to analyze the results of work carried out
over the past ten years, as well as review perspectives of the Cuban
economy for the Cuban people.
At the meeting, important issues were evaluated including the
sustainability of economic recovery, associated with a modest
improvement in the economic conditions of the population. In addition
to this, great advances in the electrification of isolated
communities have been registered, as well as the addition of
aqueducts in rural areas. There have also been great advances in the
gasification of Havana and Santiago de Cuba homes.
Since 1989 to the current day, the average salary has increased from
188 to 234 Cuban pesos. The increase occurred over a period in which
the national currency recovered seven times its value, employment
increased and development of agriculture was evident.
However, there are many obstacles left to overcome, such as problems
associated with housing. The area of construction has advanced
slowly, facing problems of financing, investment and the scarcity of
materials. It is also important to achieve an increase in the
production of food through a more efficient management of agriculture
and industry.
Despite all the internal problems we are facing, Cuba is a privileged
country compared with other nations of Latin America and the Third
World, since the Cuban government has the will, desire and interest
in meeting the population's expectations, not only in the fields of
education, health, sports and culture, but also in the most
elementary needs that make up the life of the Cuban people.
During this meeting of presidents from municipal governments, the
executive secretary of the Council of Ministers, Carlos Lage,
highlighted the Cuban people's valor in the construction of a new
society based on unity and solidarity. He said that there are still
major obstacles and limitations on the people that impose great
sacrifices upon them. Nevertheless, the people of this island have
overcome the most difficult moments of the economic crisis, or
Special Period, and the Revolution is now stronger than ever before.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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