subject: Radio Havana 5 Feb. Foreign Debt blocks. Czechs' treatment
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 05 February 2001
.
*SIXTH ORBIS OPHTHAMOLOGY PROJECT BEGINS IN CUBA THIS WEEK
*THE REVOLUTION WILL CONTINUE AFTER FIDEL CASTRO: ALARCON
*COMPAY SEGUNDO SENDS MEXICANS DANCING INTO THE STREETS
*HUGE EDUCATORS' CONGRESS BEGINS IN HAVANA
*INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS IN ECUADOR SUSPEND NEGOTIATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT
*LEGISLATORS IN PERUVIAN LEGISLATORS SAY
*PERU: US CIA REFUSES TO HELP CAPTURE FUGITIVE SPY-CHIEF, SAY
LEGISLATORS
*SWISS BANKS TO RESTORE FUNDS CONFISCATED FROM JEWS BY NAZIS
*Viewpoint: FOREIGN DEBT CONTINUES BLOCKING DEVELOPMENT
.
*SIXTH ORBIS OPHTHAMOLOGY PROJECT BEGINS IN CUBA THIS WEEK
Havana, February 5 (RHC)-For the sixth time the U.S. based Orbis
Project has sent a team of ophthalmology experts to Cuba to supply
the island's doctors with state of the art equipment for the
treatment of cataracts, glaucoma, infections of the cornea, and
reconstructive eye surgery. Orbis sends a DC-10 around the world with
the equipment on board ready for immediate use.
Under the direction of Elizabeth Robinson from England,
representatives from 12 countries will work for one week out of a
hospital in the city of Camagüey alongside a rotation of 5,000 Cuban
ophthalmologists, nurses, anesthesiologists, and technicians.
Last year the chartered plane carrying the equipment flew to the
Cuban cities of Matanzas and Holguín.
*THE REVOLUTION WILL CONTINUE AFTER FIDEL CASTRO: ALARCON
Havana, February 5 (RHC)-The president of the Cuban parliament,
Ricardo Alarcón, said last week that the death of President Fidel
Castro would not in any way signify the end of the Cuban Revolution.
In statements to the Brazilian daily Jornal do Brasil, Alarcón said
that while Cuba would lose the intelligence, brilliance and moral
authority of the island's leader, his country would maintain its path
and further develop the socialism it currently practices.
Referring to the end of socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern
Europe, Alarcón said that Cuba had the advantage of seeing what
happened to those nations and can thus avoid making errors.
Ricardo Alarcón participated in the World Social Forum in Porto
Alegre, Brazil, last week which was designed as a Third World answer
and challenge to the First World forum being held concurrently in
Davos, Switzerland. The Brazilian forum proved to generate a great
deal of international support and solidarity for Cuba.
*COMPAY SEGUNDO SENDS MEXICANS DANCING INTO THE STREETS
Havana, February 5 (RHC)-On Sunday the Cuban performer who is
synonymous with the Buena Vista Social Club, offered a free concert
to the people of Mexico City on their most famous square, the Zócolo.
Compay Segundo unleashed the rhythm of Afro-Cuban son on the Mexican
capital to the delight of those present. In spite of a light rain and
the cold, the 94 year old musician got couples across the square to
move to the old sounds of danzón before moving their bodies to rumba
and bolero.
The event took place after Compay Segundo presented his album "Las
Flores de la Vida" or Flowers of Life in the Hard Rock Live nightclub
the night before. He is on a whirlwind tour of Latin America with
Argentina his next stop.
*HUGE EDUCATORS' CONGRESS BEGINS IN HAVANA
Havana, February 5 (RHC)- Some 5,000 delegates from 33 different
countries along with 1,000 Cuban delegates are taking part in
Havana's huge congress entitled Pedagogía 2001 which began on Monday.
The five day event which will focus on the difficulties and
challenges faced by teachers across the globe includes some 600
Venezuelan teachers as special guests.
The World Education Forum that took place in Dakar, Senegal last
April, reported that more than 113 million children lack access to
primary education on the planet and 880 million adults are
illiterate.
The lack of instruction of human values and the aspirations of
students will also be addressed in different sessions during the
week.
Cuba's gains in the field of education are legendary and many of
the countries attending will be further studying the island's
pedagogical system.
*INDIGENOUS ACTIVISTS IN ECUADOR SUSPEND NEGOTIATIONS WITH
GOVERNMENT
Quito, February 5 (RHC)-- Indigenous activists in Ecuador have
suspended negotiations with the government that began Sunday
following repression of a protest that left three activists dead and
nine wounded by gunfire. According to Ecuador's Permanent Human
Rights Assembly, soldiers opened fire onindigenous and campesino
activists blocking a bridge some 120 kilometers south of the capital,
Quito. There are also unconfirmedreports of several indigenous
activists wounded by gunfire in anotherprotest.
The Ecuadorian Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities had begun
talks with government after yielding in their demand that recent
price hikes in transportation, fuel and domestic gas be immediately
repealed. Confederation vice president Ricardo Ulcuango, at the head
of the indigenous commission that was negotiating with authorities,
stated that the protesters are willing to discuss a revision of the
price hikes -- though without specifying what kind of revision.
Indigenous leader Antonio Vargas accused the government of wanting to
provoke a civil war.
Meanwhile, some 5000 indigenous activists continue occupying the
private Polytechnic Salesian University in the capital, Quito, while
road blockages continue in many regions in the south, north and
center of the country -- which have sparked an acute shortage of
basic products. And Ecuador's United Workers Front, grouping all the
country's trade unions -- along with student and grassroots
organizations -- have vowed to massively take to the streets on
Wednesday to protest the price hikes.
*PERU: US CIA REFUSES TO HELP CAPTURE FUGITIVE SPY-CHIEF, SAY
LEGISLATORS
Lima, February 5 (RHC)-- The president of Peru's Congress, Carlos
Ferrero, has accused the U.S. CIA of refusing to collaborate in the
capture of fugitive, former national intelligence chief Vladimiro
Montesinos. Pointing toMontesinos' well-documented close ties with
the Central Intelligence Agency, Ferrero charged that a sector of the
U.S. intelligence apparatus doesn't want him freely talking.
Over the weekend, Peruvian legislator Robinson Rivadeneyra asserted
that the CIA used Montesinos in an illegal weapons trafficking
operation from Jordan tothe leftist rebels of the Colombian
Revolutionary Armed Forces. He said the CIA's active participation in
the trafficking operation was aimed at justifying Washington's
military aid to the Colombian government in the program called Plan
Colombia.
Montesinos' close ties with the CIA date back to at least the mid-
1970s when he was an official guest of the U.S. government, met with
high-ranking CIA officials and gave a talk at Washington's Inter-
American Defense College.
*SWISS BANKS TO RESTORE FUNDS CONFISCATED FROM JEWS BY NAZIS
Havana, February 5 (RHC)--Banks in Switzerland have begun the process
of restoring hundreds of millions of disinherited dollars from bank
accounts of Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. A list of 21,000
such accounts was published today on the Internet, according to Paul
Volcker -- who investigated the Swiss banks. Volcker said the
reconciliation process following the 1998 agreement between the banks
and the international organization Claims Conference.
According to that agreement, the banks will have to pay a total of
$1.25 billion to Holocaust victims and their family members. Slave
workers in Swiss firms in Germany during the Third Reich will also be
compensated.
At a press conference in New York, Volcker described the
difficult investigation process that preceded publication of the
list. It began with the gathering of information concerning some four
million bank accounts that dated from the period 1933 to 1945.
*Viewpoint: FOREIGN DEBT CONTINUES BLOCKING DEVELOPMENT
Two major economic powers -- the United States and the European Union
-- are struggling for control of the world market. Unrestricted free-
market globalization is really nothing more than the beginning of a
movement to gain economic control as a prelude to political
domination over the countries that have the most natural resources.
The direct effects of that policy have begun to be manifested in
Latin America in the so-called NAFTA or North American Free Trade
Agreement.
The process in this hemisphere is the result of a conspiracy to
definitively annex Latin America. That is the opinion of Professor
Hans Dietrich Guenscher, of Mexico's Autonomous University. Professor
Dietrich Guenscher told the Cuban press in an interview, that there
is an annexation process underway, but it is dollars that is fueling
it rather than military might. However, he stressed, the process
ignores the region's pressing problems.
Celebrated economists debated this and other issues at the
recently concluded International Conference on Globalization and
Problems of Development, which was held in Havana. The experts took a
close look at statistics supplied by the World Bank, which show that
in l996 the 41 poorest nations had a foreign debt of some $205
billion, which by last year had risen to $215 billion. In Latin
America alone, the total is nearly a trillion dollars, a sum equal to
the combined personal wealth of the 400 magnates who control most of
the world's riches -- the majority of them from the United States.
The figures clearly demonstrate that neo-liberal policies
are counterproductive. Debt servicing fees -- that is, the annual
interest payments -- hit 25% last year. Debtor countries must spend
more each year on debt payments than they invest in social and
economic development. As long as nations must pay such huge chunks of
their GDP on debt payments, they will never have the chance to
advance or improve.
If neo-liberal globalization continues, the United States will
swallow up most of the Western Hemisphere to be used as a reservoir
of U.S. production necessary to compete with the European Union.
And once again, solutions to the plethora of problems plaguing the
Third World will be left aside.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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rhc-eng-21887 2001-Feb-06 07:30:44 " JC
*********
MINREX on Treatment of Czechs Arrested in Cuba
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Jan 29, 2001 (rec'd Feb 5, 2001)
FROM CUBA'S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
ON THE TREATMENT OF THE CZECH CITIZENS ARRESTED IN CUBA
Ever since the detention in Cuba of Czech citizens Ivan Pilip and
Jan Bubenik, speculations, confusing information and even ill-
intentioned distortions have been promulgated regarding the treatment
that they have received. Therefore the Ministry of External Relations
has considered it necessary to clarify the following:
On January 12, the division of Special Diplomatic Affairs of the
Department of Protocol in the Ministry of External Relations
communicated to the Chargé d´Affairs of the Cezch Republic, Mr. Josef
Marsiceck, about the dentention of these citizens.
On January 13 and 14, the Chief of the Czech Mission in Havana held
meetings with the two detainees at the detention centre of the
Department of Immigration, a fact that was recognized by the Vice
Minister of External Relations of the Czech Republic, Hynek Kmonicek,
and in Diplomatic Note No. 101751/2001 of the Czech Ministry of
External Relations presented to the Cuban Chargé d´Affairs in Prague,
dated January 16, 2001.
Between then and January 28, the Diplomatic Representation in Havana
has carried out 5 consular visits to the detainees.
In addition, the wife of Ivan Pilip and the brother of Jan Bubenik
arrived in Cuba on the evening of Saturday, January 20, after
receiving their respective visas in an expeditious manner. They
carried out their first family visit the day following their arrival,
on Sunday January 21, for a duration of more than 3 hours.
Further, the relatives of the detainees have been able to visit them
on a daily basis, for one hour daily from January 22 to January 26,
and for two hours on January 27 and again on January 28.
Furthermore, upon the interest indicated by the wife of Ivan Pilip
regarding a possible trip to her country and later returning to Cuba,
the Cuban authorities have assured that the entry visa will be
granted again.
On January 17th the Czech Red Cross requested from its Cuban
counterpart information on the health conditions of the two detainees
and received a rapid and positive reponse from the Cuban Red Cross.
Upon a request by Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Archbishop of Havana, a
visit by a priest was also authorized, which took place on Wednesday,
January 24.
In addition, the Cuban Government has given its agreement to a visit
by a delegation of the Czech Parliament. This visit was authorized
immediately, granting courtesy visas to the six members of the
delegation and those that will accompany them. They have not yet
travelled, as they are waiting for a visit by the Interparliamentary
Union.
The Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Union, expressing
an interest in the case, requested to travel to Cuba, and the
National Assembly of Popular Powers of Cuba replied that he could
travel whenever he wished. This visit will take place soon.
Finally, the President of the Council of State of Cuba invited the
President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Mr. Petr Pihtar, to
visit our country following receipt of a letter from him. The visit
by Mr. Pihtar and the delegation that will accompany him will take
place next week.
Ministry of External Relations (MINREX) Havana, January 29, 2001
[NOTE: The President of the Czech Senate visited Cuba during the
first days of February and included meetings with Cuba's Foreign
Ministry staff, the Cuban National Assembly, and President Fidel
Castro. See related items in this newsfeed for reports on the visit.
-- NY Transfer]
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Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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nytcari-02.06.01-02:48:17-12687 " JC
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