From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 04:45:39 -0500
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-10 January 2002
Radio Havana Cuba-10 January 2002
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 10 January 2002
.
*40th ANNIVERSARY OF CUBA'S UNIVERSITY REFORM: TURNING DREAMS INTO REALITY
*CUBANS REMEMBER REVOLUTIONARY EXAMPLE OF JULIO ANTONIO MELLA
*TOURISM CONTINUES TO LEAD THE ISLAND'S ECONOMY
*COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT HALTS THREE-YEAR PEACE PROCESS WITH REBEL FARC
*SOCIAL UNREST ON THE RISE AGAIN IN ARGENTINA
*U.S. JUSTICE DEPT ANNOUNCES CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF ENRON COLLAPSE
*Viewpoint: FLOWERS, BUT NOTHING TO CELEBRATE
.
*40th ANNIVERSARY OF CUBA'S UNIVERSITY REFORM: TURNING DREAMS INTO REALITY
Havana, January 10 (RHC)-- Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon
delivered a lecture at the University of Havana on Wednesday to
commemorate the 40th anniversary of the island's University Reform.
Alarcon noted that while the Cuban Revolution eliminated private
universities and turned them into public institutions in January
1961, it was not until one year later that the educational methods
and content of scholastic materials were radically transformed.
The president of the Cuban Parliament recalled the struggles of
university student leaders in the past -- noting that the measures
taken in 1962 were turning the dreams of Julio Antonio Mella and
others into reality. Ricardo Alarcon said the reforms were designed
to break down the differences between intellectuals and the working
class.
During a special roundtable discussion to commemorate the 40th
anniversary of University Reform -- broadcast live on Cuban radio and
television -- the president of the island's legislative body said
that such steps could never have been carried out without a true
revolutionary process.
Another panelist on the roundtable discussion was Armando Hart
Davalos, who served as the island's minister of education during the
first years of the Cuban Revolution. The former head of the Cuba's
education ministry said that the University Reform of 1962 -- leading
to new teaching methods and textbooks -- converted education into a
political and social experience.
Armando Hart Davalos -- who has also served as Cuba's minister of
culture -- pointed out that by opening universities to the people,
the children of workers, Blacks and other ethnic minorities were able
to attend classes for the first time in Cuba's history.
*CUBANS REMEMBER REVOLUTIONARY EXAMPLE OF JULIO ANTONIO MELLA
Havana, January 10 (RHC)-- Today, January 10th, marks the 73rd
anniversary of the assassination of Cuban student leader and
revolutionary Julio Antonio Mella. On this date in 1929, the founder
of the Federation of University Students was gunned down on the
streets of Mexico City, where he lived in self-exile -- shot by hired
killers of the Gerardo Machado dictatorship.
All across the island, school students paid tribute to Julio Antonio
Mella, who also founded the first Marxist-Leninist Party of Cuba. In
addition, a delegation of 12 student leaders is in Mexico to take
part in activities to commemorate the life and work of the young
Communist.
The President of the Cuban Federation of University Students, Hassan
Perez, is leading the delegation during their three-day stay in the
Mexican capital. Upon their arrival, Perez told reporters that the
group would visit historic places of interest related to Julio
Antonio Mella's life in Mexico City.
*TOURISM CONTINUES TO LEAD THE ISLAND'S ECONOMY
Holguin, January 10 (RHC)-- Tourism continues to develop in Cuba and
the tourist industry in Holguin is no exception. Experts expect
tourism to grow by over eight percent this year in the eastern Cuban
province.
Tourism officials in Holguin are making plans to welcome 150,000
visitors during 2002, which translates into 100 million dollars. Last
year, the province received more than 130,000 visitors and brought in
83 million dollars from the tourist industry.
Holguin also hosts hundreds of Cuban vacationers every year. Local
tourism will contribute more than 15 million Cuban pesos to the
economy during 2002.
*COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT HALTS THREE-YEAR PEACE PROCESS WITH REBEL FARC
Bogota, January 10 (RHC)-- Colombian President Andres Pastrana has
announced an end to peace talks with the Colombian Revolutionary
Armed Forces. And though he left the door ajar for a resumption of
the peace process within 48 hours, leftist guerrillas were hurriedly
abandoning the demilitarized zone they controlled for three years as
government troops anxiously awaited the order to enter that zone.
With air support, government troops are preparing to enter the area
on Saturday at 20:00 hours GMT.
Rebel leaders who participated in peace negotiations Thursday were
quickly gathering their computers, archives and cellular telephones
as hundreds of rebel troops headed back into the depths of the
country's impenetrable mountains and jungles. Two additional
rebel-government encounters this week, following two last week,
failed to overcome differences that put the peace process on hold
more than two months ago.
The rebels continued insisting on the easing of military controls
around and overflights above the demilitarized zone, while government
negotiators continued insisting that this issue was non-negotiable.
Government Peace Commissioner Camilo Gomez claimed that the rebels
cast aside his proposals and walked away from the negotiation table,
but the guerrilla organization called Gomez a liar.
On Tuesday, the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces published a
series of letters to national and international personalities and
entities blaming the government for a possible collapse of the peace
process and predicting that an end to the talks would lead to all-out
war.
*SOCIAL UNREST ON THE RISE AGAIN IN ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires, January 10 (RHC)-- Social unrest is back on the rise
in Argentina as authorities again postpone foreign currency exchange
operations and announce further restrictions on bank withdrawals.
For the second consecutive day, Buenos Aires and several Argentine
provinces have been the scenes of pot-banging protests, road
blockages and street demonstrations as President Eduardo Duhalde
again warned of an imminent blood bath. Duhalde said those who have
been marginalized and excluded are beginning to consider all members
of the political apparatus their adversaries and enemies, in a speech
at the presidential palace before members of non-governmental
organizations.
Doctors and health workers Thursday surrounded the congressional
palace warning of the scarcity of medicines. Public workers in San
Juan - located more than 1000 kilometers from Buenos Aires -- blocked
roads and traffic demanding salaries that haven't been paid since
November and December and protesters were gearing up to march to the
Supreme Court to demand that all the justices step down. Similar
protests were reported in Neuquen, Viedma and Rio Negro.
Pressured on all sides by banks, foreign companies and an angry
public, the Argentine Central Bank again put off the devalued peso's
trial by fire.
At the same time, Economy Minister Jorge Remes apologetically told
the desperate nation Wednesday evening in a televised address that it
would be difficult to lift a partial freeze on bank deposits. On
Thursday, he confirmed that the withdrawal of US dollars from bank
accounts won't be allowed until next year, while the limited
withdrawal of pesos will begin in March. The bank withdrawal limits
has been one aspect of the country's financial and social crisis that
has most infuriated Argentineans.
*U.S. JUSTICE DEPT ANNOUNCES CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF ENRON COLLAPSE
Washington, January 10 (RHC)-- The US Justice Department has
announced the beginning of a criminal investigation into the bankrupt
Enron energy giant, involved in a major financial scandal that is
also entangling the George W. Bush administration.
The investigation of Enron, which stole its employees' life savings
while greasing the hands of its executives right before declaring
bankruptcy, is focusing on whether the company defrauded investors by
deliberately concealing crucial information about its finances. The
Justice Department action is being called a new escalation in a
many-sided investigation of Enron. Four congressional committees, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Labor Department have
begun separate investigations.
On Tuesday, the House Government Reform Committee announced that
after a number of inquiries, the White House finally responded to
questions concerning Enron's influence in designing Washington's
expanded oil drilling, gas extraction and nuclear power energy
program.
Ranking committee member, Representative Henry Waxman, said the White
House's admittance that Enron executives met with the head of
Washington's energy task force, Vice President Richard Cheney, on six
occasions raises additional questions concerning Enron's influence in
the Bush administration. Waxman has demanded more information, 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 between the bankrupt giant
and White House officials.
Additionally, a host of civil lawsuits have been filed against
current and former Enron executives and directors and its accounting
firm by attorneys for the firm's former employees, investors and
retirees who lost billions of dollars.
US District Judge Lee Rosenthal in Houston, where Enron was based,
said she may consider freezing the financial assets of 29 current and
former Enron officers and directors if the lawyers for pensioners who
lost their life savings persuade her to do so. Enron was not only a
major contributor to Bush's presidential campaign, but has also been
a fountain of money for politicians of every hue.
Since 1990, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the firm
made campaign contributions to the tune of 5 million 800,000 dollars,
three-quarters of it to Republicans. The biggest single beneficiaries
have been two Texas senators, Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Phil Gramm,
whose wife Wendy sat on the Enron board.
*Viewpoint: FLOWERS, BUT NOTHING TO CELEBRATE
The abrupt closing down of a "maquiladora" industry without paying
its employees, underscores the instability prevailing in El Salvador,
a year after the dollarization of the economy.
The South Korean owners of the "Laitex" maquiladora factory hurriedly
left the country, apparently because of a lack of interest in their
textile products on the part of the United States.
But unfortunately for their employees, they rushed off without paying
some 68 thousand dollars in back wages owed the workers and another
234 thousand due the Salvadoran Social Security Institute.
The rapid decline in the numbers of the so-called "maquiladoras" is
bad news for the Salvadoran government because despite the fact that
they blatantly exploit their workers, the owners of those industries
have helped to keep the lid on a potentially explosive social
situation fueled by a sharp drop in living conditions.
As a consequence of the disaster caused by the earthquakes that
struck El Salvador in January and February of last year, more than
225 thousand people who were not considered to be poor, have now
joined the ranks of the spiraling numbers of the region's indigents,
while another 200 thousand fell even deeper into poverty.
According to the United Nations Development Program, after the
devastating earth tremors, El Salvador's poverty rate shot up from 47
per cent to 51 per cent and those classified as living in "extreme
poverty" rose from 20 to 23 per cent of the population.
Though the international community sent humanitarian aid and
donations to assist the victims of the natural disaster, San Salvador
was harshly criticized for its administration of resources, which in
any case, failed to come close to making up for losses valued at more
than 600 million dollars.
The government was also questioned about dragging its feet in dealing
with the situation of people who had lived in the 200 thousand
dwellings that were destroyed by the earthquakes; extraordinarily
high losses because many homes in El Salvador are made of adobe mud
bricks..
Now, a year after the tragedy, only 31 thousand homes have been
rebuilt and thanks to international donations, thousands of
provisional dwellings. But those who lost their homes are not
satisfied to live in make-shift camps, they are demanding a
definitive solution.
The housing crisis comes on top of the drying up of sources of
employment; a result of the implementation of a neo-liberal economic
programs that favor privatization and reduction of personnel.
Short sightedness is an understatement in describing what the
government has done over the last several months in laying off nine
thousand public employees because, according to president Francisco
Flores, the country will save 89 million dollars in salaries.
Just as everywhere else, September's terrorist attacks in the United
States also affected the job market in El Salvador, where some one
thousand employees of the maquiladora industries lost their jobs.
Though San Salvador only admits to seven per cent unemployment, the
opposition insists that neo-liberal economic policies have pushed the
jobless rate up to 27 per cent.
The Catholic Church has called on President Flores to change his
policies, which they maintain, could well cause widespread
discontent. But Flores insists on continuing to apply the same
economic recipes implemented by the last two administrations of the
extreme right-wing National Republican Alliance Party.
Experts warn that what the Salvadoran economy experienced in the last
decade was false growth, because the country's productive structures
failed to flourish. Though that didn't prevent the president from
dollarizing the economy in January of 2001.
And now, a year after implementing the measure, the government still
has nothing to show for itself because the free market policy has
only widened the gap between the few rich and the ever growing
numbers of the poor and a natural tragedy has forced even more into
poverty. So, while there may still be flowers in El Salvador, there
certainly is little to celebrate.
(c) 2002 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]
=================================================================
nytcari-01.11.02-04:45:22-17240
_________________________________________________
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]
__________________________________________________
