From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 05:42:56 -0500
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Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-09 January 2002
Radio Havana Cuba-09 January 2002
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 09 January 2002
.
*EVERY CHILD IN CUBA VACCINATED AGAINST HEPATITIS B
*WASHINGTON DENIES PERMISSION FOR AGRIBUSINESS GROUP TO VISIT CUBA
*FIRST COMMERCIAL SHIPMENT OF US WHEAT IN 40 YEARS ON ITS WAY TO CUBA
*INTERNATIONAL ENCOUNTER OF ECONOMISTS SLATED FOR FEBRUARY IN HAVANA
*US: BUSH ADMINISTRATION BEING PULLED INTO THE ENRON SCANDAL
*BUSH TAKES TIME OFF FROM WAR TO ASSAULT ENVIRONMENT
*JITTERY ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT POSTPONES CURRENCY EXCHANGE OPERATIONS
*SPAIN'S POLITICAL OPPOSITION CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY WITH ARGENTINA
*GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS AGREE TO PLEA BARGAN IN STAR WARS PROTEST CASE
*Viewpoint: McCARTHYISM IS ALIVE AND KICKING IN WASHINGTON
.
*EVERY CHILD IN CUBA VACCINATED AGAINST HEPATITIS B
Havana, January 9 (RHC)-- One hundred percent of all Cuban children
are vaccinated against hepatitis B. According to a front-page article
in Wednesday's edition of the daily Granma, the vaccination program
began in 1992 and reached its peak last year.
By 1998, the island's health authorities reported that the
vaccination campaign had been extended to all newborn children. The
program's success over the past several years has now lead to the
announcement that all Cubans under the age of 21 are immunized
against hepatitis.
Havana's Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center produces the
highly effective vaccine, allowing massive and systematic doses to be
distributed to hospitals and clinics across the island. Babies are
given their first dose at birth, followed by two more: at 30 days and
six months.
Cuban health officials noted that the incidence rate of hepatitis B
has been reduced by 98 percent in children under the age of 15.
According to the World Health Organization, between five and eight
percent of the world's population is affected by the virus -- which
hits nearly 500,000 people in Latin America each year.
*WASHINGTON DENIES PERMISSION FOR AGRIBUSINESS GROUP TO VISIT CUBA
Washington, January 9 (RHC)-- The U.S. Treasury Department has
denied travel licenses for an Illinois-based agribusiness group that
asked permission to take a delegation to Cuba.
According to reports from the U.S. capital, the delegation would have
included former Agriculture Secretaries Mike Espy and Dan Glickman,
both of whom served in the Clinton administration. It would have also
been made up of several executives from major farming corporations
and agribusiness representatives from more than a dozen states.
The group had planned to visit small farms and meet with Cuban
agricultural officials to discuss ways to improve Cuba's farming
operations. Other members of the delegation were planning to
distribute medicines to hospitals and clinics across the island.
The delegation announced in Washington that they are reapplying to
the Treasury Department for licenses to visit Cuba. Under U.S. law,
citizens wishing to travel to the island are required to obtain
advance permission from their government.
*FIRST COMMERCIAL SHIPMENT OF US WHEAT IN 40 YEARS ON ITS WAY TO CUBA
Galveston, January 9 (RHC)-- The first commercial shipment of U.S.
wheat to Cuba since Washington's blockade was imposed on the island
40 years ago is on its way to Havana. According to reports from
Galveston, some 30,000 metric tons of grain left the Texas port on
Wednesday. The 600-foot-long Turkish ship, the MVH Ismael Kaptanoglu,
is slated to arrive in the Cuban capital on Saturday.
In a one time cash-only deal, Cuba purchased food and other products
from U.S. companies to replenish its reserves, depleted by Hurricane
Michelle in November.
The shipment of wheat -- from Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma -- is a
venture between Archer Daniels Midland Company, based in Decatur,
Illinois and Farmland Industries, based in Kansas City, Missouri.
U.S. business companies have openly expressed their hopes that such
commercial transactions will lead to others in the future -- opening
Cuba as a new market. One business executive from Archer Daniels
Midland noted that Cuba represents a market of 700 million dollars
for U.S. companies.
Officials with Farmland Industries would not disclose the sale price
for the wheat, but said it was worth over three million dollars on
the open market.
*INTERNATIONAL ENCOUNTER OF ECONOMISTS SLATED FOR FEBRUARY IN HAVANA
Havana, January 9 (RHC)-- The 4th International Encounter of
Economists on Globalization and Development Problems will be held in
Havana from February 11th through the 15th.
The meeting, which will be attended by more than 600 experts from 30
countries, will be aimed at finding viable economic alternatives as
well as developing an action plan that promotes equitable
development.
Some of the international organizations that will take part in the
upcoming event on globalization and development problems include
regional bodies such as the Economic Commission for Latin America
(CEPAL), the Latin American Industrial Development Association
(ALADI), the Latin American Economic System (SELA) and the Andean
Community.
Also present will be representatives from the Inter-American
Development Bank, the World Bank, representatives of renowned
universities and, for the first time, representatives of the
International Monetary Fund.
Among the outstanding personalities that have confirmed their
participation are Nobel Prize laureates James J. Heckman and Joseph
Stiglitz, and Javed Burki, Vice President of the World Bank.
*US: BUSH ADMINISTRATION BEING PULLED INTO THE ENRON SCANDAL
Washington, January 9 (RHC) -- A US Congressional inquiry into the
dramatic collapse of the Enron energy giant is slowly but surely
pulling the George W. Bush administration further into the loop. The
House Government Reform Committee affirmed Tuesday that on January
3rd, the White House sent the committee a written memo admitting that
Enron representatives met six times with Vice President Richard
Cheney or his staff involved in designing energy policy.
Ranking committee member, California Democrat, Representative Henry
Waxman, said the admittance raises additional questions about the
extent to which Enron may have influenced the administration's energy
policies or provided information about its own operations. Waxman
said the Enron contacts with the White House were extensive, and that
the last came in October, just days before the controversial firm's
spectacular collapse.
The California representative had written the White House last month
asking about the nature and extent of contacts Cheney and his energy
task force had with Enron in developing an energy plan for more oil
and gas drilling and a revived nuclear power program. The White House
had previously rebuffed requests for information about the task force
meetings.
In his reply to the administration, Waxman noted that the day after
the meeting between Cheney and top Enron executive Kenneth Lay, the
vice president told a reporter he opposed the imposition of price
controls on wholesale energy sales in California - something that,
Waxman observed, Enron also strongly opposed. The lack of controls
allowed Enron to make a killing, while costing the state of
California billions of dollars.
The largest bankruptcy filing in US history left thousands of Enron
employees jobless and cheated out of their retirement savings by the
firm's top executives. Waxman also told the White House that the
information sent to his committee on January 3rd was not enough.
He asked for a full accounting with details such as names of persons
attending the meetings and any Enron requests for changes in
policies, as well as any telephone, e-mail or other contacts with
Enron and White House officials. The White House gave no indication
it planned to provide further information.
Environmentalists have noted that Bush's energy plan was drafted by a
vice president who is himself a former oil man, who previously headed
the Halliburton Corporation - the world's number one oilfield
services company. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a
lawsuit last month against the Energy Department for not turning over
records on who participated in discussion on the White House energy
plan.
Comptroller General David Walker, head of the General Accounting
Office - which oversees government business - is considering a
similar lawsuit. Some observers are noting that though it's still not
a Watergate, the Enron scandal is suddenly shaping up as big trouble
for George Bush, whose family has had close personal and financial
ties to the bankrupt giant.
*BUSH TAKES TIME OFF FROM WAR TO ASSAULT ENVIRONMENT
Washington, January 9 (RHC) -- US President George W. Bush has not
allowed the so-called war on terrorism to hinder his assault on the
environment, but he's coming up against stiff resistance. Attorneys
general from several northeastern states Tuesday told the Bush
administration that it can expect a fight in court if it attempts to
relax clean-air standards for power plants.
The attorneys general are complaining that they've been left out of
decision-making on the issue, while energy lobbyists - some with
close financial ties to the administration - have been allowed in.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the Bush
administration is telling the northeast to drop dead. The White House
has been re-evaluating requirements mandating that when power
companies upgrade their existing plants they must put in place more
stringent pollution controls.
The Energy Department recently released a report arguing that Clean
Air Act requirements for carbon dioxide emissions from power plant
would cost companies billions of dollars. Northeastern states and
environmentalists say pollution from power plants in the Midwest
drifts eastward, fouling the air and water and exacerbating health
problems like asthma.
They are already suing 11 companies and 51 power plants for not
complying with Clean Air Act requirements. According to
environmentalists, Northeast wilderness areas are declining fast from
smog and acid rain damage that any relaxation of the standards would
make worse.
*JITTERY ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT POSTPONES CURRENCY EXCHANGE OPERATIONS
Buenos Aires, January 9 (RHC) -- Argentina's central bank has
suspended foreign currency exchange operations that were to begin
Wednesday, saying that it needs more time to work out the country's
new and complex trading rules. The reopening of foreign exchange
markets is expected to put the new currency system to the test.
With some retail prices already increasing, many believe that the new
currency devaluation and exchange rate will set in place a vicious
circle of inflation that will force the currency further and further
down. Meanwhile, Argentineans are camping through the night in
blocks-long lines outside the Spanish and Italian embassies hoping to
get passports to escape feared economic chaos.
And the country's Catholic Church has issued a scathing criticism of
Argentina's political leaders. The country's Catholic Bishops Tuesday
called on Argentina's successive ruling circles to publicly recognize
their serious errors and to change their mentality and amend their
behavior. The prelates said political leaders not capable of doing
this should step aside, affirming that Argentina has been suffering a
moral disease spread by corrupt and insensitive leaders.
*SPAIN'S POLITICAL OPPOSITION CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY WITH ARGENTINA
Madrid, January 9 (RHC) -- The political opposition in Spain has
accused the government of hypocrisy and a lack of solidarity in its
reaction to the situation in Argentina. The leader of Spain's United
Left coalition, Gaspar Llamazares charged that President Jose Maria
Aznar's conservative Popular Party is only obsessed with the
speculative benefits that it receives from Argentina's privatized
firms.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, secretary general of the Spanish
Socialist Workers' Party, affirmed that the benefits obtained by
Spanish investors who bought the privatized Argentinean firms were
obtained while taking advantage of the South American nation's crisis
and using some of the most corrupt Argentinean leaders. He said Spain
should demonstrate more solidarity instead of worrying solely about
reducing its financial losses.
President Aznar has been calling on Argentina to find a solution to
its problems that satisfy both Argentina and its creditors. Madrid
has also questioned Argentina's new economic program and currency
devaluation, calling it unconvincing. During the 1990s Spanish firms
massively invested in Argentina amid the Carlos Menem
administration's privatization frenzy.
Spanish investment in the South American country is to the tune of
approximately 40 billion 500 million dollars. Many Spanish investors
obtain half of their profits from that investment. The package of
measures announced Monday by Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde
sparked panic in Madrid's stock exchange, where large Spanish firms
lost 8 billion 500 million dollars Monday alone.
*GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS AGREE TO PLEA BARGAN IN STAR WARS PROTEST CASE
Los Angeles, January 9 (RHC) -- In a case that raised eyebrows
around the world, judicial authorities in the United States decided
to offer a plea bargain to 17 Greenpeace activists arrested last
summer during an anti-Star Wars protest. The 17 accepted a bargain
that will keep them out of jail.
They pleaded guilty to a minor trespassing charge after having
initially faced serious felony charges with the prospect of several
years behind bars. They were arrested last July after penetrating the
Vandenberg Air Force base in California, delaying the launch of a
test missile to draw attention to their opposition to Star Wars,
which Greenpeace says will destabilize the world rather than improve
security.
The case attracted attention because of the perceived harshness of
the defendants' treatment, prompting accusations that the United
States was not abiding by its commitment to the right to peaceful
dissent. The activists are expected to receive three years' probation
but no other sanction. The case, however, has involved Greenpeace in
heavy legal costs.
The organization's US chapter reportedly signed a separate agreement
with authorities to pay 150,000 dollars in investigation costs and
fines, not to mention defense fees. And though Greenpeace vowed to
continue its anti-Star Wars campaign, it was also forced to agree to
an injunction stopping activists from trespassing on military bases
either in the United States or on the Marshall Islands in the
Pacific.
The fine for violating the injunction would be 500,000 thousand
dollars. The 17 activists include two journalists from Britain and
Spain, while co-defendants were two other Britons, and protesters
from Germany, Austria, Sweden, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada
and the United States.
*Viewpoint: McCARTHYISM IS ALIVE AND KICKING IN WASHINGTON
Under the now familiar banner of the war on terrorism, U.S.
President George W. Bush has, as the New Year gets under way, more
power than in the wildest dreams of any of his predecessors. And, as
always, with such power comes abuse.
Donna Huanca's art museum in Houston, which exhibited a painting of
Bush, which was deemed as insulting to the president, is a case in
point. She received a visit from the FBI. Thousands of others have
been arrested for the mildest of suspicions. Most of them are of
Middle Eastern or Muslim origin. One man had the misfortune to have
applied for his driver's license in the same center 20 minutes before
one of the September 11th terrorists did the same. Although he had
nothing to do with the attacks, he is Pakistani and is thus a
suspect. He has been held for 3 months on the flimsy excuse that his
residency is in question.
George W Bush has even gone so far as to pass legislation that is
anti-Constitutional in his efforts to consolidate his power. On 19th
November a law was rushed into being restricting employment at the
nation's airports to U.S. citizens only. Thousands of resident
foreigners - almost all of them non-Arabs - were affected as most US
airport security is in the hands of foreign employees. Yet the
September 11th terrorists were nearly exclusively of Arab origin.
Where is the logic in forcing workers from their jobs just to satisfy
a national desire for revenge? Foreigners can't vote and they're
always being blamed for the nation's ills, so they're a safe target
when things are looking bad.
Next we have military tribunals empowered to lock suspected
terrorists up without any concerns about civilian laws of due process
and habeas corpus. Suspects can be hauled before one of these secret
tribunals, before an unnamed judge on the strength of an anonymous
informer and held incommunicado for as long as it sees fit. The
Middle Ages "Upon his majesty's pleasure" comes to mind, when the
king was able to imprison someone he disliked for as long as felt
like doing so.
What with paintings now being considered threats to national
security, and a man who had criticized Bush in a gym in San Francisco
being investigated, First Amendment US scholar David Cole from
Georgetown University in Washington says that the government has
stepped over the line.
Bush has strengthened his father's old agency, the CIA, as well as
the FBI. A college student in North Carolina was questioned for
almost an hour for having a poster in her room criticizing the
president's support for the death penalty.
The White House has clearly taken advantage of post September 11th
fear and loathing to pass legislation that sets back civil rights by
decades. Bush and his Defense Department head, John Ashcroft were
quick to put their new found power in action in Afghanistan,
installing a puppet government that is likely to prove just as bad as
the previous one - if not worse. It should not be forgotten that
Washington has a habit of supporting nasty regimes - from Sukarno, to
Marcos, Batista, Somoza, Mobutu, Pinochet, Duarte, Stroessner, the
Shah, Rios Mott, Papa Doc Duvalier and the Argentine generals. These
were just some of the leaders that perpetrated death, torture and
disappearances on their peoples - others such as D'Aubuisson,
Constantin, Montesinos, Posada Cariles and Bosch were trained by
Washington to carry out the most despicable acts in the name of
"Democracy" and "Liberty". The same words and reasoning are being
used again. Joseph McCarthy appears to have raised his ugly head.
Many fear that, indeed, the country is going into another period of
red-baiting - meaning, in Bush's words, "if you're not with us,
you're against us", and outright repression of those who do speak
out.
As Mme Roland mounted the steps of the guillotine during the height
of the French Revolution she looked at the familiar statue of Liberty
placed near the scaffold and cried out, "Oh, Liberty! What crimes are
committed in your name!"
(c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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