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subject: Radio Havana Cuba-14 March 2001. Cuba leads way in AIDS treatment
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 14 March 2001
.
*GOVERNOR OF VENEZUELAN STATE OF BARINAS CONTINUES HIS VISIT TO CUBA
*THIRD INTERNATIONAL CUBA MARITIME CONFERENCE WINDS UP IN HAVANA
*U.S. SCIENTIST RECEIVES CUBAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MEDAL
*INCREASE IN HIV INFECTION SLOWING, ACCORDING TO CUBA'S HEALTH
MINISTRY
*CUBA AND CAMEROON BEGIN CONTACTS AT FOREIGN MINISTRY LEVEL
*ZAPATISTAS BLAST MEXICO'S PROPOSAL FOR LIMITED TALKS WITH
LEGISLATORS
*ENVIRONMENTALISTS CONDEMN US PRESIDENT'S ABOUT-FACE ON GAS EMISSIONS
*PINOCHET RELEASED ON BAIL FOLLOWING SIX WEEKS OF HOUSE ARREST
*Viewpoint: CUBA LEADS THE WAY IN AIDS PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
.
*GOVERNOR OF VENEZUELAN STATE OF BARINAS CONTINUES HIS VISIT TO CUBA
Havana, March 14 (RHC)-- The Governor of the Venezuelan state of
Barinas, Hugo de los Reyes Chavez, visited Havana's Latin American
School of Medicine on Wednesday.
The father of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Havana on
Monday to strengthen cooperation agreements in the field of sports,
health, education, culture, tourism and agriculture.
The Venezuelan official is also scheduled to visit the International
Sports School where foreign students are studying sports free-of-
charge.
*THIRD INTERNATIONAL CUBA MARITIME CONFERENCE WINDS UP IN HAVANA
Havana, March 14 (RHC)-- The 3rd International Cuba Maritime
Conference ended Wednesday in Havana, after three days of sessions
with participants from some 20 countries from Latin America, Asia and
Europe.
More than 230 business executives analyzed vital issues for the
development and modernization of merchant ships, as well as the
consequences of globalization and competitiveness in the maritime
sector.
The event coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Merchant
Navy and was sponsored by Cuba's Merchant Association, whose
membership includes firms specializing in cargo transport.
Maritime transportation is of vital importance for Cuba, whose waters
are used by over 20,000 ships annually destined for Cuban ports, the
Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean or the Pacific Ocean via the Panama
Canal.
*U.S. SCIENTIST RECEIVES CUBAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MEDAL
Havana, March 14 (RHC)-- U.S. scientist Richard Levins has been
awarded the Academy of Sciences Medal.
The U.S. scientist has been cooperating with Cuban institutions for
the past three decades. In 1999, he received an Honorary Doctorate
from the University of Havana.
Levins gave a lecture about Cuba's fauna, describing the island's
unique environment and its great ecological diversity.
*INCREASE IN HIV INFECTION SLOWING, ACCORDING TO CUBA'S HEALTH
MINISTRY
Havana, March 14 (RHC)-- Nearly 2385 Cubans are currently HIV
positivem nearly 75% of them men, according to a report from the
Director of the Health Ministry's Epidemiology Department, Manuel
Santin.
The Cuban health official added that prevention and education have
been two of the key elements included in the island's preventative
program strategy to halt the increase of the disease.
Santin said that the rate of new infections is slowing, with fewer
new HIV cases last year than previously.
*CUBA AND CAMEROON BEGIN CONTACTS AT FOREIGN MINISTRY LEVEL
Havana, March 14 (RHC)-- Cuba and Cameroon began contacts at
foreign ministry level aimed at strengthening ties between the two
nations.
Cameroon's Foreign Minister, Augustin Kontchou welcomed Cuba's
Deputy Foreign Minister Jose A. Guerra Menchero who expressed Cuba's
willingness to continue its specialized cooperation in the field of
health and sports.
Both sides agreed that the problems of the Third World are due to
neoliberal globalization and must be fought with strength and unity.
The Cuban official presented a letter from Cuban President Fidel
Castro to his Cameroon counterpart, Paul Biya.
*ZAPATISTAS BLAST MEXICO'S PROPOSAL FOR LIMITED TALKS WITH
LEGISLATORS
Mexico City, March 14 (RHC)-- The Zapatista leadership in Mexico City
has refused a proposal to debate legislation on indigenous rights and
culture, calling the proposal humiliating. At a press conference late
Tuesday, rebel commander Marcos stated that the offer to the
Zapatistas to meet with ten House Deputies and ten Senators is
unacceptable and reflects a triumph of the hard-line sectors in the
Mexican Congress.
He said the indigenous rebels want to speak to the full floor of
Congress, and not in some far corner of the legislature. The
conservative ruling National Action Party and former ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party joined forces to prevent the
Zapatistas from addressing the full floor, as supported by the
center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution.
Marcos accused President Vicente Fox of imposing that decision,
noting that Fox has conditioned the dismantling of another three
military installations in Chiapas to the outcome of a limited
gathering between the Zapatistas and a handful of legislators.
Several analysts have asserted that the objective of the Congress is
to entangle the Zapatistas in legal complexities, to undermine the
rebels' image, in order to accuse them of being inflexible. According
to these observers, the incipient negotiation process in under
the gun.
*ENVIRONMENTALISTS CONDEMN US PRESIDENT'S ABOUT-FACE ON GAS
EMISSIONS
Washington, March 14 (RHC)-- Environmental organizations have
launched an avalanche of criticisms against U.S. President George
Bush, who has reneged on his campaign promise to promote obligatory
reductions in harmful gas emissions.
After promising to declare carbon dioxide a contaminating gas,
Tuesday Bush made an about-face -- stating the CO2 is not a
contaminant, as specified by the U.S.'s Clean Air Act.
Greenpeace said that with two leaders in the White House who have
close ties to the oil industry, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney,
the decision is extremely unfortunate but not surprising. M. Fred
Krupp, president of the organization Environmental Defense, said that
once again scientific uncertainty is blandished, despite the opinions
of experts from around the world.
David Doniger, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, pointed to
the recent conclusion by hundreds of experts from numerous countries
to the effect that global warming is alarming and much worse than
previously believed. Bush's announcement comes just four months
before renewal of the Kyoto Conference on Global Warming, slated for
Bonn, Germany.
*PINOCHET RELEASED ON BAIL FOLLOWING SIX WEEKS OF HOUSE ARREST
Santiago de Chile, March 14 (RHC)-- Former Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet has been released on bail following six weeks of house
arrest. The Santiago Appeals court issued the ruling Wednesday in a
two to one vote four days after judicial authorities reduced the
charges against Pinochet from author offorced disappearances and
summary executions to aiding and abetting.
The former dictator is charged in the Caravan of Death case, in which
more than 70 political prisoners were executed and/or forcibly
disappeared just days after the bloody 1973 coup. Prosecuting
attorneys in the case said they were disappointed but not surprised.
They also termed as significant the fact that one of the three judges
voted against bail.
And they celebrated the fact that Pinochet will still have to take
mug shots and be fingerprinted. Coinciding with the judicial
decision, another two charges were brought today against the former
dictator involving the execution or forced disappearances of seven
people -- including one Governor and several members of the Christian
Left Party. There are now a total of 244 criminal charges against
him.
*Viewpoint: CUBA LEADS THE WAY IN AIDS PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
AIDS remains one of the world's most critical problems, infecting
and killing millions of people and leaving hundreds of thousands of
children orphaned.
Many nations, despite constant efforts, have been unable to implement
an effective program to control the disease. In Sub-Saharan Africa,
for example, some 21 million people of various ages suffer from AIDS
and are not being properly or effectively cared for, making it
necessary for a call to be issued to the international community for
emergency assistance.
In the year 2000, 5.3 million new cases of AIDS in men were reported
and another 4.7 million women were added to the list of AIDS patients
worldwide, along with a nearly a million children.
>From the beginning of the epidemic to date, 22 million people have
died -- almost 18 million men, nine million women and more than four
million children. It is absolutely necessary to stem this tide
of death through adequate prevention policies in every country.
This week, statistics released in Cuba reveal far better control of
the deadly disease, for which it is necessary to administer the
proper medicines, the proper equipment, and to act as quickly as
possible.
Thanks to systematic education and proper treatment, AIDS has not
reached such alarming proportions on the island. At present, there
are 2385 people affected by the disease, 900 of whom are undergoing
outpatient treatment.
AIDS patients in Cuba receive, free-of-charge, the medicines and
medical attention they need. The Cuban government also provides AIDS
patients with other material and social support, to help them live
their lives as normally as possible.
Since 1992, three Cuban institutions have been working to find a
vaccine to prevent AIDS: the Center for Genetics Engineering and
Biotechnology, the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute and the
Research Laboratory for AIDS.
It is necessary for all nations to forge a united front to fight
AIDS, before AIDS ends humanity. Cuba is willing and able to
contribute to that effort.
(c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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rhc-eng-10445 2001-Mar-15 02:08:26 " JC
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