from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
subject: Radio Havana March 9. Cuba-strong opponent of drug traffic
Radio Havana Cuba-09 March 2001
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 09 March 2001
.
*SECOND CUBA-US CONFERENCE ON EMERGENCY MEDICINE UNDERWAY IN HAVANA
*TREASURE-HUNTERS SEEK RICHES OFF THE CUBAN COAST
*FAME OF CUBAN ATHLETES INCREASES TOURISM TO ISLAND
*CUBAN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL BEGINS IN STYLE
*COLOMBIAN REBELS PROPOSE 5-YEAR MORATORIUM ON INTEREST PAYMENTS
ABROAD
*AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF ALL ZAPATISTA PRISONERS IN CHIAPAS
*HUMAN RIGHTS MORE IMPORTANT THAN DRUG PATENTS
Viewpoint:
*CONTRARY TO US CLAIMS, CUBA A STRONG OPPONENT OF REGIONAL DRUG
TRAFFIC
.
*SECOND CUBA-US CONFERENCE ON EMERGENCY MEDICINE UNDERWAY IN HAVANA
Havana, March 9 (RHC)--Cuban and U.S. physicians are participating in
the second Cuba/U.S. Encounter on Emergency Medicine, being held at
Havana's Ministry of Public Health on Friday and Saturday.
The event - which was held for the first time last year - is aimed
at exchanging knowledge and expertise in the fields of pre-hospital
and hospital practices. The focus will be on traumatism and
cardiovascular problems, among other aspects.
The U.S. specialists are members of university medical centers in
Boston, Baltimore, and Los Angeles, and the conference will be
dealing with themes such as head and chest trauma, the development of
a trauma system, trauma airway management, congestive heart failure
and an update on advanced cardiac life support.
During a news conference in Havana on Thursday, Dr. Alvaro Sosa,
the national director of the Integrated System for Emergency Medicine
and coordinator of the Cuba/U.S. encounter, announced that the System
of Emergency Medicine will be implemented in the Cuban capital as of
May 30th.
*TREASURE-HUNTERS SEEK RICHES OFF THE CUBAN COAST
Havana, March 9 (RHC)--Two Canadian salvage firms are among those
battling to be the first to discover important treasure troves on the
seabed skirting the Cuban coast.
Researchers all agree that an important number of wrecked ships are
to be found amidst the island's reefs where many went down during
storms. Because Cuba was the meeting point for gold and silver laden
ships coming from all over the Spanish New World before they set out
for Spain twice a year in huge flotillas, many of the wrecks to be
found carry enormous bounties for salvage firms.
Visa Gold Exploration and Advanced Digital have been the most
successful at finding hidden treasure so far. Both have an agreement
with Cuba that any financial bonanza be evenly split and that
artifacts be given to Cuba for display in museums.
Although there have been concerns about what critics are saying is
the pillaging of Cuba's patrimony, the President of Visa Gold
Explorations, Paul Frustaglio, said that his firm is taking the
utmost care with its finds and are removing them carefully as well as
mapping the wreck. "We're running a business, yes. We expect to
profit, and profit well," he says. "But we are also preserving
history. Part of what we salvage will go to Cuban museums, pieces of
the past recovered for people of our times to ponder." His
company recently discovered a ship containing some 7,000 artifacts -
most of them household items - that have been recovered from a 19th
century Spanish brigantine called the Palemon.
Last year Advanced Digital discovered the USS Maine whose sinking
in Havana's harbor in 1898 sparked the Spanish-American War. The ship
had been raised and then scuttled off the coast of Cuba in 1912 with
its exact resting place unknown. Havana has a monument to the scores
of US sailors who were killed in the explosion that was blamed by
Washington on saboteurs.
Ernesto Tapanes, who runs Advanced Digital, said that he was happy to
have discovered the Maine because it proved the technology his
company is using is effective for seeking out treasure galleons that
went down en route to Havana. He said that he was concentrating on
deep-water finds while Visa Gold Explorations are focusing on
shallower waters. They are using the most advanced equipment to be
found in the world.
Teams from South Africa, Italy, and France have also secured search
rights to Cuban waters, but the Canadians are the most successful to
date.
The Palemon, which went down in 1839, en route to Cuba from France,
was carrying a cargo of fabrics, perfumes, and miscellaneous items
from horse stirrups to billiard balls. Frustaglio said that in spite
of the fact that there was little gold, silver or jewels to be found,
it was still the richest haul in Cuban waters so far.
*FAME OF CUBAN ATHLETES INCREASES TOURISM TO ISLAND
Havana, March 9 (RHC)--The Secretary General of the World
Tourism Organization, Francesco Frangialli, says that the fame of
Cuban athletes is healthy for Cuban tourism.
In comments published in today's edition of Granma newspaper,
Frangialli said that excellent results of Cuban athletes in
international competitions has helped to spur an interest in the
island and has resulted in an increase of foreign visitors.
Francesco Frangialli made the comments in Barcelona, Spain, during
the First World Conference on Sports and Tourism in which
representatives from 105 nations are taking part. He said that Cuba's
objective in bringing in more tourists from Europe this year will
without doubt be reached.
One of the items that has come up at the conference is the fact that
that large international events such as the Olympic Games, which
bring in huge profits to the host nation, should be held in Third
World nations and not exclusively in the First World club. A number
of African nations as well as Cuba have criticized this clubby
atmosphere that ignores the important gains that could be made for
underdeveloped nations that, if assisted with the creation of an
infrastructure, could support such huge international events as well
as permanently benefiting the host country.
In the event that a vote for a Third World country was made to host
the next Olympic Games, said the Secretary General of the World
Tourism Organization, he would without doubt vote for Cuba.
*CUBAN INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL BEGINS IN STYLE
Havana, March 9 (RHC)--Piano greats Herbie Hancock and Chucho Valdez
opened the Caliente International Festival of Music, last night with
a resounding bang.
The Amadeo Roldan concert hall was packed to the gills with a crowd
fully aware of the unique occasion to hear the two world-class
musicians play together.
In statements to the press Hancock said that he had looked forward
to returning to Havana after a visit last year and hoped to
participate in the near future in a music project with students from
the capital's Higher Institute of Art. The US pianist said that he
was surprised at the fantastic level of talent of the Institute's
youth and their lack of fear in seeking to create new directions in
their music.
Tonight, Herbie Hancock will join famed Cuban salsa singer Isaac
Delgado and internationally renowned Los Van Van for a free open-air
concert on the Malecón seafront drive.
*COLOMBIAN REBELS PROPOSE 5-YEAR MORATORIUM ON INTEREST PAYMENTS
ABROAD
Colombia, March 9 (RHC)--The Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces has
called on the international community to declare a five-year
moratorium on Colombia's foreign debt interest payments, as a
concrete contribution to the country's rebel-government peace
process. Rebel commander Alfonso Cano said that in this way the 33
percent of the national budget earmarked for these payments can be
used to invest in national development.
The proposal came during Thursday's gathering between the
guerrilla organization, the Colombian government and diplomatic
representatives of some 25 nations -- including the United Nations
and the Vatican. According to local analysts, during the year 2000
Colombia paid one billion 867 million dollars in foreign debt
interest payments, compared to one billion 600 million the previous
year.
The rebels also proposed three further gatherings with the
international community to discuss the foreign debt issue, illicit
drug crops and agrarian reform. The eight countries forming the so-
called "group of facilitators" -- Spain, France, Sweden, Norway,
Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela and Canada -- have agreed to meet with the
two sides every two months.
Rebel leader Manuel Marulanda, meanwhile, stated that the
guerrilla organization could release some 50 soldiers and police
officers held as prisoners of war before a prisoner exchange
agreement with the government. Several hundred family members of the
POWs converged on the site of gathering, which took place in the vast
demilitarized zone in the south of the country.
*AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF ALL ZAPATISTA PRISONERS IN CHIAPAS
Chiapas, March 9 (RHC)--The governor of Chiapas, Pablo Salazar,
has announced that all Zapatista prisoners in that southern Mexican
state have been released. Late Thursday, Salazar announced the
release of 19 Zapatista prisoners and the annulment of arrest orders
against another seven, bringing to 84 the number of indigenous rebels
released from prison since Vicente Fox assumed the presidency in
December.
The Zapatistas have demanded the release of a little over 100
Zapatistas in several Mexican states as one of three conditions for
their return to peace negotiations. There are reportedly some 20
rebels in prisons in the southern states of Tabasco and Veracruz, and
in central Queretaro.
Salazar's announcement comes as the Zapatista Caravan for Peace and
the Dignity of Indigenous Peoples -- 24 rebel commanders -- rests on
the outskirts of Mexico City following a 3000 kilometer trek through
12 Mexican states. The Caravan is expected to enter the capital on
Sunday, accompanied by thousands of supporters.
*HUMAN RIGHTS MORE IMPORTANT THAN DRUG PATENTS
Paris, March 9 (RHC)--The humanitarian organization Doctors Without
Borders has blasted the pharmaceutical transnationals in South Africa
that are attempting to block Pretoria's efforts to provide AID
medication free of charge. Doctors Without Borders issued a press
release Friday in Paris calling on the transnationals to withdraw
their legal challenge against the South African government, stating
that human rights are more important than intellectual property
rights, and that the pharmaceutical giants are demonstrating a
contempt for human life.
The humanitarian organization said that in the past 3 years 400
thousand South Africans have died of AIDS, the majority with no
access to treatment at a reasonable price. The French Communist Party
-- participating in France's coalition government -- also expressed
indignation, accusing the pharmaceutical transnationals of flagrant
inhumanity.
South Africa's Supreme Court this week postponed hearings on the
legal challenge presented by the transnationals, which requested more
time to study the arguments of the South African government and the
country's non-governmental organization Treatment Action Campaign.
.
Viewpoint:
*CONTRARY TO US CLAIMS, CUBA A STRONG OPPONENT OF REGIONAL DRUG
TRAFFIC
Cuba is missing from Washington's list of 23 countries it will
"certify" as to conduct in the struggle against drug trafficking in
this hemisphere. While the State Department was drafting the list,
U.S. officials stated that Cuba is not an important country in the
transit of drugs to the United States, but that it continues being of
concern to Washington's anti-drug agencies.
That statement, which is an attempt to discount all the island has
done to stem international drug trafficking, disregards even the most
basic geography; because if one simply looks at a map it becomes
clear that Cuba lies between the drug producing nations of the South
and just 90 miles from the world's number one drug consumer nation:
the United States.
The note adds that Washington's concern is based on a lack of
official information on the consumption of drugs inside Cuba and the
possibility that the country is being used for drug trafficking.
However, the United States is certainly well aware that Cuba is
probably the country with the least amount of drug use in the Western
Hemisphere.
Since the triumph of the Revolution, narcotics, which came mostly
from the United States, were practically eradicated and convicted
drug dealers were given harsh sentences, both those who sold to
Cubans and those who sold abroad. Today, there is little use of
illegal drugs in Cuba, but the United States is riddled with drug
addiction and drug-related crime.
U.S. authorities insist on ignoring Cuba's achievements in this area,
just as they ignore the island's other social gains made since the
triumph of the Revolution in l959. That is why they have made so many
mistakes in their relations with Cuba including its more than four
decades of a cruel economic blockade against the island.
Cuba has always been willing to cooperate with the United States in
the struggle against international drug trafficking, but Washington
has refused to sign an agreement with Havana. They claim they don't
have information, but how do they explain the fact that Cuban
officials have voluntarily traveled to the United States to testify
in court cases against drug traffickers arrested by Cuban
authorities. Once again, the U.S. government should look for a more
credible pretext on which to attack Cuba.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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rhc-eng-27366 2001-Mar-09 21:56:47 " JC
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