From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 05:28:18 -0400
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Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-19 October 2001
Radio Havana Cuba-19 October 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 19 October 2001
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*FIDEL ADDRESSES CLOSING SESSION OF FIRST CONGRESS OF YOUNG ARTISTS
*CUBA UNANIMOUSLY ELECTED FULL MEMBER OF CARIFORUM
*ART EXHIBIT IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC COMMEMORATES CUBAN CULTURE DAY
*PAHO TO CELEBRATE 100th ANNIVERSARY WITH ACTIVITIES IN CUBA
*"VILLAGE VOICE" POINTS TO ANTHRAX-WHITE SUPREMACIST CONNECTION
*ACTIVISTS SAY FREE MARKET GLOBALIZATION IS DAILY TERRORISM
*CHAOS ON AFGHAN-PAKISTANI BORDER AS THOUSANDS FLEE US BOMBING RAIDS
*ISRAEL: "HA'ARETZ" BLASTS PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON'S POLICY OF VENGEANCE
*ARGENTINE PRESIDENT DE LA RUA UNDER INCREASING FIRE FROM FOES AND FRIENDS
*ZIMBABWE: ROBERT MUGABE SAYS NO MORE DEALS WITH IMF
*UN SECURITY COUNCIL RECEIVES REPORT CHARGING PORTUGAL IS BASE FOR UNITA
TERRORISTS
*Viewpoint: AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE COMMUNITY
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*FIDEL ADDRESSES CLOSING SESSION OF FIRST CONGRESS OF YOUNG ARTISTS
Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro addressed the
closing session of the First Congress of the Hermanos Saiz
Association last night. The three-day event, which brought together
dozens of the island's best cultural workers, ended Thursday evening
at Havana's International Convention Center.
The leader of the Cuban Revolution praised the work of the cultural
organization, which also celebrated its 15th anniversary yesterday.
Fidel Castro emphasized that culture is directly linked with
understanding and knowledge, noting that the Cuban people have a very
high level of education. And he expressed confidence that the
island's educational system will guarantee that Cubans will be one of
the most highly educated people in the world.
The Cuban leader said that cultural development will continue to
adopt new forms, specifically pointing to the example that "if we can
accept and enjoy the ballet and other dance expressions from Europe,
how can we reject rap, which comes from the oppressed, Black
communities in New York?"
Fidel Castro noted that there has been an "explosion of talent" by
new, young artists in recent years. He told delegates to the First
Congress of the Hermanos Saiz Association that while old prejudices
will take time to erase, they should not be discouraged. "No one
should think that this [prejudice against rap or other new forms of
expression] can be resolved overnight or in two weeks -- because we
are not talking about purchasing a guitar or a sound system but
changing mentalities."
During the Congress, rap artists, rock musicians, dancers, theatrical
performers and actors discussed the promotion of culture in Cuba.
They agreed that while acceptance of some new forms of expression has
been slow, they have considerable made progress.
The Hermanos Saiz or Saiz Brothers Association takes its name from
Luis and Sergio Saiz, two Cuban teenagers who were killed in 1958 by
Batista's police forces. The two brothers were young writers and
poets and were involved in the struggle against the dictatorship.
*CUBA UNANIMOUSLY ELECTED FULL MEMBER OF CARIFORUM
Castries, October 19 (RHC)-- Cuba has been unanimously elected as a
full member of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM). During the 11th
Ministerial Meeting of CARIFORUM, held in Castries, the capital of
Saint Lucia, foreign ministers of the 15 countries making up the
organization all expressed their support of Havana's membership.
Speaking on behalf of the Cuban delegation present at the meeting in
Saint Lucia, Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas thanked the
member-nations of CARIFORUM for their decision. Cabrisas said that
Cuba is not only a part of the Caribbean due to its geographical
location, but also because of its customs, culture, history and
traditions.
The Cuban minister stated that with this vote, Havana has once again
received the support of its neighbors -- requiring "a commitment to
redouble our efforts to broaden and strengthen political and economic
cooperation with our sister nations of the Caribbean."
CARIFORUM is part of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group and was
established in 1992. The organization coordinates and monitors
regional projects financed by the European Development Fund.
With Cuba's incorporation into the organization, CARIFORUM now has 16
members. Havana joined the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group as a
full member in December last year.
*ART EXHIBIT IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC COMMEMORATES CUBAN CULTURE DAY
Santo Domingo, October 19 (RHC)-- An art exhibit was inaugurated
Thursday evening in the capital of the Dominican Republic to
commemorate Cuban Culture Day -- celebrated tomorrow, Saturday.
Forty-three works are on display at the Nader Gallery of Art in Santo
Domingo, including paintings by Rene Portocarrero and Wilfredo Lam.
Havana's Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Miguel Perez Cruz,
said that Cuban culture is a synthsis of contributions from Africa
and Europe, as well as other parts of the world. For that reason, the
art exhibit is entitled: "Cuba All Mixed Up" -- based on a piece by
Cuba's National Poet Nicolas Guillen, called "Cuba Todo Mezclado."
*PAHO TO CELEBRATE 100th ANNIVERSARY WITH ACTIVITIES IN CUBA
Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- The Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) is gearing up to celebrate its 100th anniversary with
activites in Cuba. According to the representative of PAHO in Havana,
Doctor Patricio Yepez, a series of events will be organized to
commemorate the centennial in Decemeber 2002.
Dr. Yepez told reporters in Havana on Thursday that Cuba is one of
Latin America's most active countries in regard to PAHO's health
cooperation programs. He praised the island's national health system,
which he said prioritizes health care.
The representative of the Pan American Health Organization anounced
that PAHO, together with the Cuban Ministry of Health, will sponsor a
contest called "Celebrating 100 Years of Health." Participants in the
competition will include radio, television and print journalists
across the island.
Havana will also be the site of a photo exhibit to commemorate the
organization's centennial anniversary.
*"VILLAGE VOICE" POINTS TO ANTHRAX-WHITE SUPREMACIST CONNECTION
New York, October 19, (RHC) -- As US authorities admit that thus far
there is no evidence connecting the anthrax attacks to Osama Bin
Laden, the "Village Voice" is one of the few publications that has
looked into the possibility of a white supremacist connection.
An article in this week's edition of the publication, entitled "Aryan
Nations Follower Had Anthrax, Bubonic Bacteria," recalled that Aryan
Nations follower and participant in the racist Christian Identity
Church activities - microbiologist Larry Wayne Harris - was arrested
in the late 1990s with vials of bacterium that cause bubonic plague.
He also reportedly told a major magazine that he had "recovered"
anthrax, according to the article. The article's author, James
Ridgeway, wrote that for now speculation about the recent anthrax
scares centers on Muslim extremists, but that white supremacists
cannot be ignored - particularly since abortion clinics around the
country report receiving letters containing suspicious powder.
According to Ridgeway, some of those letters make reference to
domestic terrorists like the Army of God. The article recalled a
September, 1997 interview with "US News and World Report" in which
Harris said that it is not at all difficult to create biological
weapons, and that he recovered anthrax in just 10 days after
discovering where cows were buried during a 1950s outbreak in Ohio.
*ACTIVISTS SAY FREE MARKET GLOBALIZATION IS DAILY TERRORISM
Berlin, October 19 (RHC) -- The Association for the Taxation of
Financial Transactions to Help Citizens has asserted that the 100,000
people who daily die of malnutrition constitutes terrorism. Known by
its acronym ATTAC, the anti-globalization group is gearing up for its
international congress this weekend in Berlin.
Created a little over a year ago, ATTAC affirmed that the criticism
of neoliberal globalization constitutes a therapy for the roots of
terrorism. One of the participants, Swiss sociologist and United
Nations Human Rights Commission representative Jean Ziegler, called
the current process of globalization "daily terrorism", adding that
each person who dies of hunger constitutes an assassination.
Ziegler said the current world order is diametrically opposed to the
interests of the immense majority of the world's population. Another
of the estimated 2,000 participants in the gathering, Brazilian
Landless Movement leader Joao Batista de Oliveira, pointed to the
glaring poverty and inequality in the distribution of wealth in his
country, while at the same time expressing optimism.
He said the anti-free market globaliization movement is advancing
following the total triumph of a neoliberalism that discredited all
opposition in the 1990s. Other participants include Daniel
Cohn-Bendit, French student leader in the May, 1968 uprising, and
former German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine.
*CHAOS ON AFGHAN-PAKISTANI BORDER AS THOUSANDS FLEE US BOMBING RAIDS
Islamabad, October 19 (RHC) -- Humanitarian workers are reporting
chaos on the Afghan-Pakistani border as thousands of Afghans flee US
bombing raids. Ron Redmond, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, said 3,500 arrived Friday alone in the Pakistani border
town of Chaman - and the influx was continuing.
Redmond told reporters that people are arriving with no food or
belongings and that some families have become separated. He said the
latest arrivals came on top of some 10,000 people who crossed into
the area last week. Many of the Afghans have to pay significant sums
of money to smugglers for transportation, while others are walking as
long as 15 hours across mountains.
Redmond said refugee arrivals were being hampered by changing rules
at the Pakistani border, which, he added, some days is open and
others closed. He also said donors are not coming up with promised
funds, with the agency having received only 12 of the 50 million
dollars needed for a first phase of up to 400,000 arrivals.
The UN spokesman said the agency's worst-case scenario would see it
needing to accommodate one and half million new Afghan refugees in
the wake of US military strikes.
*ISRAEL: "HA'ARETZ" BLASTS PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON'S POLICY OF VENGEANCE
Tel Aviv, October 19 (RHC) -- The Israeli news daily "Ha'aretz" has
blasted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policy of vengeance following
the assassination of ultra right-wing Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi,
calling the policy inept and unsustainable. In an editorial entitled
"Vengeance is not Sound Policy", the news daily said Zeevi's murder
is no excuse for a new wave of selective assassinations of
Palestinian activists that have no political future.
"Ha'aretz" reminded the Israeli government that extradition is
impossible, even in times of peace, and that Tel Aviv's demand that
Palestinian authorities turn over those responsible for the
assassination can only lead to war. In reference to Sharon's numerous
comparisons between the September 11th terrorist attacks in the
United States and the terrorism suffered by Israelis, the editorial
asked whether Tel Aviv believes it should emulate Washington and
launch a full scale war against the Palestine National Authority.
According to the news daily, only an extreme minority believes that
such a total war against the Palestinians is necessary and that
victory is certain. At the same time, the editorial called on
Palestinian authorities to also struggle against terrorism.
*ARGENTINE PRESIDENT DE LA RUA UNDER INCREASING FIRE FROM FOES AND FRIENDS
Buenos Aires, October 19 (RHC) -- The crisis in Argentina's ruling
Alliance government continues deepening following its defeat last
Sunday in legislative elections. As the victorious Justicialista
opposition continues demanding a change of course in the country's
economic policies, so, too, are an increasing number of members of
the ruling Alliance criticizing President Fernando de la Rua and
calling for the dismissal of Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo.
The ruling Alliance Governor of San Juan Province, Afredo Avelin,
went as far as calling Cavallo a "liar who is trafficking with the
hopes of the people." In what is being called the harshest attack
against the Economy Minister, Avelin said Cavallo is responsible for
the hunger, poverty and exclusion in Argentina.
Senator Raul Alfonsin, former Argentinean President and leader of de
la Rua's political party - the Radical Civic Union - also blasted the
administration's refusal to dismiss Cavallo. At the same time, de la
Rua's allies in the center-left FREPASO coalition have confirmed that
they are holding talks to decide whether they will continue in the
Alliance.
In recent months, several FREPASO legislators abandoned the coalition
following last year's resignation of their leader, Carlos Alvarez, as
the nation's vice president. Alvarez publicly clashed with the
president concerning the administration's timid war against
corruption.
Numerous ruling Alliance and opposition governors and legislators
have termed as intolerable a country in which there are symptoms of
insurrection in the provinces, and unsustainable a government
incapable of guaranteeing social peace.
*ZIMBABWE: ROBERT MUGABE SAYS NO MORE DEALS WITH IMF
Harare, October 19 (RHC) -- The President of Zimbabwe, Robert
Mugabe, has decided to cease implementing the International Monetary
Fund structural adjustment programs begun in 1991, according to the
local news daily "The Herald." Citing government sources, "The
Herald" said authorities don't see any reason to keep the country
chained to economic policies that haven't worked at home or abroad.
The news daily reported that economic liberalization has not allowed
the private sector to benefit from market forces, but rather, has
created a small finance sector that has dishonestly gotten rich. The
Zimbabwean government has reportedly asked a group of influential
economists, industry experts and bankers to help design new economic
policies for the country.
Earlier this week, Mugabe warned that his government is going to
nationalize those firms that shut down operations with an eventual
re-establishment of price controls on basic products. He announced
that he wants to return to the path of socialism.
*SECURITY COUNCIL RECEIVES CHARGES THAT PORTUGAL IS BASE FOR UNITA
TERRORISTS
Luanda, October 19 (RHC) -- The United Nations Security Council has
received a report charging that Portugal is one of the principle
bases abroad of the Angolan terrorist organization UNITA, according
to the news daily "Jornal de Angola." According to the report, UNITA
representatives Jofre Justino, Carlos Morgado and Rui Oliveira freely
carry out their political activities in front offices in Lisbon.
Justino reportedly has contacts with other UNITA representatives in
Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium and Burkina Faso who are considered key
players in the sale of diamonds illegally extracted by the terrorist
organization and clandestinely sold abroad to finance its operations.
A recent report from the Security Council's Angola Sanctions
Monitoring Committee, UNITA continues selling what are called the
"diamonds of blood" to the tune of one million dollars a day, with
the principle market located in Antwerp, Belgium. On numerous
occasions, authorities in Luanda have complained that UN sanctions
against UNITA are not receiving cooperation in much of the
international community.
*Viewpoint: AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE COMMUNITY
In the midst of a decade-long economic crisis, Cuba is promoting 70
government sponsored and financed social and educational programs
because it believes that such projects are an investment in the
future. The country hopes to engage the hearts and minds of some
100,000 young people between the ages of 17 and 30, who have
completed the 9th grade but who left school and who are not
workingSome have lost their bearings, others perhaps have fallen into
idleness, while most are searching for someone, preferably of their
age, to help them decide what to do with their lives.
That will be the work of the island's newly trained army of social
workers, who are participating in an innovative accelerated course
through which they receive quality training. With this week'
inauguration of a new social worker training school in the center of
the island for 1200 youngsters between the ages of 16 and 22 , there
are now four such facilities nationwide.
At this moment some 7,500 students are enrolled in the schools and
upon completion of the ten month course, they will be qualified to
lend support and direction to their peers and to society in general.
Where families fail to exert positive influence, either for lack of
interest or because they are incapable of doing so, or in marginal
neighborhoods where all the benefits of Cuban society have not
arrived, is where the young graduates of these courses will be found.
The social workers will not care for but rather will detect and learn
about each of life's tragedies and problems. That is how Cuban
president, Fidel Castro, defined their mission. And, what's more, the
government is extending a stipend to the young students as they
study.
The idea is not that these young social workers will take over the
work of social institutions, but rather that they will assist their
peers in clarifying and obtaining their objectives in society. Of
course to do so they will have to win the confidence of those who
have been or who are now involved in illegal activities, or those who
don't care to work, but who are waiting for some direction and human
attention in order to re-make their lives.
The new social workers will also visit the elderly in their homes and
find ways to assist them. As well as growing as individuals, the
social workers will be given the opportunity to study eight majors in
the humanities at the university level. In that way, they will not
only bring a ray of hope to society but they will also have the
opportunity to complete their college degrees and become the
country's next sociologists.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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