>Via NY Transfer News - All the News thjat Doesn't Fit > >Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 29 May 2000 22:00 > > >*MONDAY NIGHT ROUNDTABLE FEATURES ALICE WALKER AND MICHAEL RATNER >*CUBAN PRESIDENT MEETS MAYOR-ELECT OF BUENOS AIRES >*U.S. LEGISLATORS AND RICE FARMERS ARRIVE IN HAVANA >*CALL FOR 2nd INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY ENCOUNTER WITH CUBA >*U.S. DELEGATIONS TOUR CENTRAL CUBAN REGION >*CHINESE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND INFORMATION VISITS CUBA >*PANAMANIAN DELEGATION WRAPS UP VISIT TO CUBA >*DESCENDANTS OF INDIGENOUS CHILEANS TO STUDY MEDICINE IN CUBA >*Viewpoint: NEW! 6-MONTH COURSE IN BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN MIAMI! > "BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU," OR "HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ISOLATE PEOPLE" > > >*MONDAY NIGHT ROUNDTABLE FEATURES ALICE WALKER AND MICHAEL RATNER > >In Cuban TV's ongoing series of roundtables which are designed to update the >population on the latest events concerning the retention of Elian Gonzalez >in the USA and related issues in Cuba's 41 year-old conflict with >Washington, two US citizens offered their opinions on Monday's edition. > >Alice Walker, the African American writer made famous by her book The Color >Purple, told the Cuban audience that the 6 year old child should be returned >to Cuba with his immediate family and that she was one of a majority of >Americans that feel that way. People in the US don't quite understand how >important children are to Cuba's culture, she added. They don't appreciate >the level of love and commitment they have for their youth. If Elian stays >in the USA he will lack this important support network from a society so >dedicated to the wellbeing of its children. > >Michael Ratner, the US Yale University professor of Constitutional Law who >also works at the New York based Center for Constitutional Rights, followed >by saying that the US had violated the constitutional rights of both father >and son in not allowing the child to return to Cuba once he had been taken >from the Miami relatives who had kidnapped him. There is no precedent for >such an act and if any country other than Cuba had been involved this would >never have happened, he said. In talking about the influence of the right >wing elements of the Cuban American community represented by the Cuban >American National Foundation, Ratner stressed that he had never seen >anything worse than their treatment of the 6 year old, taking him to >Disneyland five days after his mother's death, adorning him in gold, and >wrapping him in the US flag. The Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez clearly >violated the child's rights, he added. Now that the boy is happy with his >father instead of spending his days in front of the TV and playing videos, >the law clearly stipulates the boy should return home to Cuba with his >father. > >The roundtable involves a nightly two-hour discussion which Radio Havana >Cuba monitors and analyses for our listeners and website visitors. > >*CUBAN PRESIDENT MEETS MAYOR-ELECT OF BUENOS AIRES > >Havana, May 29 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro met over the weekend >with the newly-elected mayor of Buenos Aires, Anibal Ibarra. The meeting >took place at Havana's Revolution Palace, where both leaders discussed >various issues of common interest. > >During his electoral campaign, Ibarra, the candidate of the ruling alliance >between the Radical Civic Union and the left-center coalition known by its >Spanish acronym FREPASO, expressed his interest in visiting Cuba to see >first-hand the revolutionary process underway on the Caribbean island. > > >*U.S. LEGISLATORS AND RICE FARMERS ARRIVE IN HAVANA > >Havana, May 29 (RHC)-- A delegation made up of lawmakers and rice farmers >from the U.S. state of Arkansas has arrived in Havana to hold talks with >their Cuban counterparts. > >Upon their arrival at Jose Marti International Airport Sunday evening, U.S. >Democratic Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln told reporters that the aim of >their visit is to find ways to provide products and open up trade with Cuba. > >The visit of the 16-member delegation comes as the House of Representatives >examines legislation that would allow food and medicine to be sold to Cuba. >The proposed legislation would also prohibit the U.S. president from >including food and medicine in future unilateral measures against other >countries without congressional approval. > >Another delegation member, David Hillman, president of the Arkansas Farm >Bureau, said that the group's 216,000 members are anxious to sell their >products to Cuba. > >During their stay in Cuba, the visitors will meet with a number of >high-ranking officials, including Cuban Parliament President Ricardo >Alarcon. They will also tour agricultural cooperatives, poultry farms and a >farmer's market. > > >*FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATIONS ISSUE CALL FOR 2nd INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY ENCOUNTER >WITH CUBA > >Bogota, May 29 (RHC)-- Friendship with Cuba groups and associations in >Colombia have issued a call for the Second International Encounter of >Solidarity with Cuba. > >The call was made during a mass demonstration in Bogota, the Colombian >capital, to demand the immediate return to Cuba of six-year-old Elian >Gonzalez and the lifting of Washington's 40-year blockade against the >island. > >Prensa Latina News Agency reported that hundreds of friends of Cuba gathered >at the Leo Tolstoy Theatre in the Colombian capital's downtown neighborhood >of La Candelaria over the weekend. Demonstrators expressed their commitment >to attend the Second International Encounter of Solidarity with Cuba, set >for November here in Havana. > >Those addressing the crowd on Sunday also called on all Colombians to >maintain pressure on the U.S. government to allow Elian Gonzalez to return >home to Cuba. > >In related news, the struggle for Elian's return to Cuba constitutes the >main goal of Nicaraguans making up the Committee of Solidarity with Cuba in >the Nicaraguan city of Masaya. The new group was created just a few days ago >and gathers together members of Christian communities based in that area of >the Central American country. > >The group's leader, Lucia Sabaleta, said that her group would not stop their >activities until Elian is finally returned to his hometown of Cardenas in >the Cuban province of Matanzas. > > >*U.S. DELEGATIONS TOUR CENTRAL CUBAN REGION > >Matanzas, May 29 (RHC)-- A visiting delegation from the U.S. city of >Pittsburgh has made a four-day tour of central Matanzas province, including >the world famous Varadero beach resort and the city of Cardenas. > >The group's leader, Lisa Valenti, told reporters that the vast majority of >people in the United States favor Elian's return with his father and >immediate family to Cuba. > >Valenti, who is the President of the Sister City Project between Pittsburgh, >Pennsylvania and Matanzas, noted that Philadelphia -- another city in >Pennsylvania -- is also hoping to establish this type of sister city >relationship with the central Cuban city of Cardenas. > >She stated that far from simply establishing sister city relations between >cities in Pennsylvania and Matanzas, the aim of the program is to extend >these links to all Cuban and U.S. cities and provinces. The ultimate goal, >she added, is to promote friendship as well as mutual knowledge and >understanding between the peoples of Cuba and the United States. > > >*CHINESE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND INFORMATION VISITS CUBA > >Havana, May 29 (RHC)-- The Chinese Minister of Industry and Information, Wu >Jinchuan, arrived in Havana over the weekend heading a large delegation from >the sister Asian nation. > >Upon arriving in the Cuban capital, Jinchuan told reporters that his visit >is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations with Cuba in areas such as >informatics, communications and radio broadcasting. > >During their stay on the island, the Chinese minister of industry and >information and the delegation accompanying him are scheduled to meet with >high-ranking Cuban government officials, including Vice President Carlos >Lage and Minister of Communications, Ignacio Gomez Planas. > >The delegation's agenda also includes visits to centers of historic and >economic interest. > > >*PANAMANIAN DELEGATION WRAPS UP VISIT TO CUBA > >Havana, May 29 (RHC)-- A delegation from Panama wrapped up a four-day >working visit to Cuba on Monday. > >Headed by Enrique Garrido, President of the Panamanian Parliament, the >legislative delegation was made up of the highest authorities in the >indigenous town of Kuna Yala. > >Members of the delegation visited Havana's Latin American School of >Medicine, where 23 young Panamanians from that indigenous ethnic group are >currently studying on scholarships granted by Cuban authorities to Latin >Americans who wish to study medicine in Cuba. > >During their visit to Cuba, the Panamanian legislators met with high-ranking >Cuban government officials, including the President of the Cuban National >Assembly or Parliament Ricardo Alarcon, First Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge >Bolanos and Cuban Communist Party's Political Bureau member Jose Ramon >Balaguer. > > >*DESCENDANTS OF INDIGENOUS CHILEANS TO STUDY MEDICINE IN CUBA > >Havana, May 29 (RHC)-- Thirty young Chileans, half of them descendants of >the Mapuche indigenous community, have arrived in Cuba to begin studies at >Havana's Latin American School of Medicine. > >Shortly before departing for Havana, the future medical specialists thanked >Cuban authorities for offering them the possibility to make their dreams >come true. They also expressed their commitment to return after graduation >-- offering their services in their home communities. > >The arrival of this latest group brings the number of Chilean students at >the Latin American School of Medicine to 136. > >Gladys Marin, General Secretary of Chile's Communist Party, stated that the >granting of these medical scholarships to Chilean students, free-of-charge, >constitutes a new gesture of solidarity by the Cuban government. > > >Viewpoint: > >NEW! 6-MONTH COURSE IN BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN MIAMI! > "BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU," > OR,,, "HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ISOLATE PEOPLE" > >Since the very beginning of the kidnapping of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez >for political purposes, any person with common sense was able to see that >reactionary Cuban-American groups in Miami were committing a terrible >mistake. > >This illegal and immoral action has revealed the true intentions of the >worst enemies of Cuba, for whom lies and slander have been their principal >weapons in attempts to maintain Washington's hostile policy against the >island. > >They have inhumanely tried to use the case of the six-year-old boy as a >political banner, but have only garnered the repudiation of the vast >majority of the American people, as recent surveys reflect. More than 70% of >the U.S. people are in favor of Elian's return to Cuba. > >Elian's father -- Juan Miguel Gonzalez -- along with Juan Miguel's wife, >Elian's little brother and some of his Cuban classmates have been in >Washington for several weeks now, awaiting the decision of the Atlanta Court >of Appeals. World public opinion is decisively on their side and millions in >the United States hope that this bizarre affair soon comes to a happy >ending. Meanwhile, here in Cuba, the entire nation has been mobilized to >demand the boy's immediate return to the island. > >For forty years, counterrevolutionary Cuban-American groups in Miami have >been able to deceive the majority of those in the United States. Those >groups have served as the instruments of an anti-Cuba policy, carried out by >nine consecutive U.S. administrations and the ultra-right wing in that >country. > >However, now they have turned against that same government -- biting the >hand that has always fed them -- because their irrational behavior has not >been supported. Even more interesting, Washington is officially in favor of >the child's return to Cuba. Although some could describe the view as overly >optimistic, many people are now saying that after the Elian Gonzalez case, a >change in U.S. policy towards Cuba could be on the horizon. > >(c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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