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Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2002 11:02:40 -0500
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Subject: Radio Havana Cuba-04 January 2002
Radio Havana Cuba-04 January 2002
Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit
Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 04 January 2002
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*CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO MEETS WITH VISITING US SENATORS
*STRUGGLE AGAINST WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE A PRIORITY FOR 2002
*CUBA COMMEMORATES 40 YEARS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION
*WORLD FOOD PROGRAM CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN CUBA
*CUBANS BREAK OUT THEIR COATS AS COLD WAVE SWEEPS THE ISLAND
*ARGENTINE GOVT BRACES FOR MORE PROTESTS AFTER DEVALUATION ANNOUNCEMENT
*COLOMBIA: RESUMED REBEL-GOVERNMENT TALKS FAIL TO REVIVE PEACE PROCESS
*UN CONFIRMS SUNDAY'S CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN AFGHANISTAN;
MORE INNOCENT DEATHS REPORTED
*US GUN-CONTROL ADVOCATES CLAIM SIGNIFICANT VICTORY
.
*CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO MEETS WITH VISITING US SENATORS
Havana, January 4 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro met Thursday
evening with visiting U.S. Senators Arlen Specter and Lincoln Chafee.
Following a more than six-hour gathering, the two legislators offered
a press conference to reveal some of the themes that were discussed.
They included U.S.-Cuba cooperation in the war on drugs.
"He started the conversation and we talked at length about the drug
issue. He said he had made last year an unconditional, total offer for
cooperation on drug interdiction, asking nothing in return. And he
repeated that again, using the expression 'asking nothing in return.'
Senator Chafee and I talked to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is
also, in effect, the Drug Czar, and we talked about quite a number of
items.
"We talked about the high-powered, speedboats which the traffickers
use, we talked about the long coastline of Cuba, about the three air
channels where they do not have state of the art radar to detect these
planes, and that there is a great deal which could be done. We all
know that the United States faces an enormous problem with the
importation of drugs from Latin America.
"It affects the young people all the way down to the grade school
level and materially affects crime in America. Seventy to 80 percent
of the people arrested have either alcohol or drugs in their system.
And I think that it is unconscionable for the House of Representatives
not to take him up on that offer."
That was visiting U.S. Senator Arlen Specter speaking in Havana about
his lengthy conversation with Cuban President Fidel Castro. Besides
Senator Specter and Senator Lincoln Chafee, several other U.S.
legislators traveled to Havana this week, along with former U.S.
ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal, president of the Cuba Policy Foundation
-- an outspoken opponent of Washington's blockade of the island.
*STRUGGLE AGAINST WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE A PRIORITY FOR 2002
Havana, January 4 (RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
says that the main priority for the New Year will be the struggle
against Washington's economic blockade of the island.
In an exclusive interview published by the magazine Bohemia, Cuba's
top diplomat emphasized that the fight to preserve the island's
self-determination and defend itself from U.S. attacks will also be
high on Cuba's agenda during the year 2002. Felipe Perez Roque
affirmed that Cuba is not only carrying out this struggle for itself,
but also as a contribution to rest of the world.
The Cuban foreign minister announced that Havana would soon host
another meeting of Cubans who have emigrated from the island --
further proof of the government's interest in maintaining good
relations with Cubans who live abroad.
In the international arena, Cuba's top diplomat said that Havana will
take an active role in the Summit of Non-Aligned Nations, scheduled
for Jordan later this year, and will also participate in the 12th
Ibero-American Summit in the Dominican Republic.
Reviewing the achievements of the past year, Foreign Minister Felipe
Perez Roque noted that at the end of 2001, Cuba had diplomatic
relations with 171 countries. And he said that Havana would receive
more than 500 foreign delegations and at least 13 heads of State
during the New Year.
*CUBA COMMEMORATES 40 YEARS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION
Havana, January 4 (RHC)-- Today, January 4th, marks the 40th
anniversary of the establishment of Special Education by the Cuban
Revolution. More than 55,000 young people with learning disabilities
receive special attention at 428 schools across the island -- and over
1220 children who are unable to attend classes are taught in their own
homes.
Children with special educational needs include those with physical or
psychological problems, as well as those who are visually impaired.
Rafael Bell, director of Special Education -- part of Cuba's Ministry
of Education -- told reporters that despite four decades of notable
accomplishments, the island's special education system continues to
develop new and imaginative programs.
Educational experts point out that Cuba's achievements in special
education are a model for Third World countries.
*WORLD FOOD PROGRAM CONCLUDES SUCCESSFUL YEAR IN CUBA
Havana, January 4 (RHC)-- The United Nations' World Food Program ended
the year 2001 with the promotion of projects linked to nutritional
support. According to the UN agency, more than 600,000 people daily
benefit from a food supplements program in Cuba -- primarily school
children, senior citizens and women.
One such project, carried out in five eastern provinces of the island,
began a pilot phase in September. Over the next four years, the UN
World Food Program will supply 22 million dollars -- combined with
funds provided by the Cuban government -- to distribute
vitamin-enriched crackers and canned seafood.
The UN agency announced that a project operating since 1997 has
benefited farmers in the eastern province of Granma. As a result of
the combined project sponsored by United Nations World Food Program
and the Cuban government, milk production has notably increased, along
with meat and a higher yield of agricultural products.
Over the past 40 years, the UN agency has channeled more than 200
million dollars into programs for emergencies and development
projects.
*CUBANS BREAK OUT THEIR COATS AS COLD WAVE SWEEPS THE ISLAND
Havana, January 4 (RHC)-- Residents in the Cuban capital are feeling
the chills of winter, as the island is being hit with the first cold
wave of the New Year.
Meteorologists predict that overnight lows could drop down to ten
degrees Celsius, as a storm system sweeps across the island from the
north. Weather experts noted that a cold front brought snow and sleet
as far south as the U.S. State of Georgia on Wednesday and that
snowflakes fell over northern Florida on Thursday.
Here in Cuba, temperatures have never dropped below freezing -- or
zero degrees Celsius -- but it has gotten rather cold. The record low
was set in February 1998 just outside of Havana, when thermometers
registered a low of 0.6 degrees Celsius.
*ARGENTINE GOVT BRACES FOR MORE PROTESTS AFTER DEVALUATION ANNOUNCEMENT
Buenos Aires, January 4 (RHC)-- Discredited political leaders in
Argentina were braced Friday for a strong, popular backlash following
the announcement of a major devaluation of the peso. With most experts
agreeing that the devaluation will force thousands of middle class
households and small businesses into bankruptcy, the move is a
last-ditch effort to avert a total collapse of the financial system.
Leading up to the announcement, one of Argentina's few popular
political leaders, independent Elisa Carrio, said it's going to be a
deeply traumatic devaluation. She said the new Eduardo Duhalde
government is not going to be able to return people their money, as
uncertainty continued regarding the decision on limited bank
withdrawals.
The limitation, which is expected to remain at least partially in
effect for the next six months, has been one of the major detonators
of protests that toppled four presidents in two weeks. Details of the
plan may not be revealed until next week, after being subjected this
weekend to Congressional debate. Friday afternoon, meanwhile, saw the
first reports of new protests as the devaluation sparks price hikes
and shortages.
The Argentine Pharmaceutical Confederation charged that laboratories
are not delivering medicines, leading some drug stores to close shop.
The Buenos Aires Association of Diabetics has denounced a scarcity of
insulin on the local market. Association president Nestor Loreto said
the scarcity is not due to a lack of insulin, but rather, due to
hoarding for speculative purposes.
The rage directed at prominent politicians in Argentina has been so
strong that a former justice minister and a former economics official
in the previous administration of Fernando de la Rua had to recently
flee two Buenos Aires shopping malls, hounded by people calling them
crooks.
*COLOMBIA: RESUMED REBEL-GOVERNMENT TALKS FAIL TO REVIVE PEACE PROCESS
Bogotá, January 4 (RHC)-- Leftist rebels and government negotiators in
Colombia Friday wrapped up talks after a two-month suspension of the
peace process, but differences between the two sides remained glaring.
As the January 20th deadline on a continuation of the peace process
approaches, the government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed
Forces remained at loggerheads over stepped up military patrols around
the rebel-controlled demilitarized zone.
Chief government negotiator Camilo Gomez has indicated that the
military patrols are non-negotiable. The Colombian military, political
leaders and candidates for next May's presidential election insist
that President Andres Pastrana should shut the zone if the rebels
don't negotiate a cease-fire.
But the guerrilla organization continues to insist that negotiations
are impossible due to the security threat posed by government soldiers
patrolling the perimeter of the demilitarized zone and military
aircraft over flying its airspace. Talks may continue on Sunday or
Monday.
*UN CONFIRMS SUNDAY'S CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN AFGHANISTAN;
MORE INNOCENT DEATHS REPORTED
Kabul, January 4 (RHC)-- As new reports of civilian casualties in
Afghanistan surface, the United Nations has joined voices with those
condemning last Sunday's bombardment of a civilian village. While
residents near the village in eastern Afghanistan assert that more
than 100 innocent people were killed, the UN said the air strikes
killed more than 50, half of them children.
In Kabul, UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said all of the wounded and
killed were civilians, while special UN representative in Afghanistan,
Lakhdar Brahimi, expressed "deep concern."
Meanwhile, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press, the AIP, reported
on Friday that according to tribal leader Ghazi Nawaz, at least 32
other civilians were killed by U.S. bombs near the eastern city of
Kost.
And according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, thousands of
Afghans are again fleeing toward the border with Pakistan due to the
Pentagon's renewed bombing campaign. A spokesperson in Islamabad for
the UN office told the AFP news agency that while thousands are
fleeing, thousands more are returning home in the opposite direction
after having fled weeks ago.
The spokesman said he had heard numerous and credible stories from
families and individuals asserting that they were fleeing from the air
strikes, and that the incidents of so-called "collateral damage" are
not isolated.
In a related story, news correspondents covering events in Afghanistan
are commenting that the country's new interim government has been
steadfastly silent over the increasingly embarrassing -- and
potentially destabilizing -- cases of what Washington calls collateral
damage.
Interior Minister Yunis Qanuni is reportedly not available, Foreign
Minister Abdullah Abdullah is reported to have a full schedule and
Defense Minister Mohammad Fahim has nothing to say. Officials at the
gate to the presidential palace tell convoys of cars of tribal
chieftains, who have traveled over mountains and pot-holed roads to
pay their respects, that interim leader Hamid Karzai doesn't have time
to talk.
Some observers believe that civilian casualties threaten to cast a
shadow over Karzai's authority to govern. Reuters news agency, quoting
an anonymous official in Kabul saying that the new government must be
hoping that people will forget as time passes, noted that the
residents of Paktia province say they will not forget.
The news agency quoted a tribal leader who said: "These planes will
not be here forever. We will have a reckoning with the people in Kabul
when the time is right."
*US GUN-CONTROL ADVOCATES CLAIM SIGNIFICANT VICTORY
Washington, January 4 (RHC)-- Gun-control advocates in the United
States have claimed a significant victory after an Illinois appeals
court Thursday ruled that gun makers and dealers could be sued for
creating a public nuisance by flooding markets with cheap weapons. The
ruling could pave the way for a new offensive by city and state
authorities that regard the gun epidemic as one of their biggest
problems.
The gun-control lobby's victory is being called the most important in
recent years. Earlier local government efforts to hold gun makers
responsible for the bloodshed on city streets were mainly based on the
argument that the product is unsafe, but that strategy suffered
numerous courtroom reversals. The "public nuisance" approach focuses
on the distribution of guns and treats them in the same way as
industrial pollutants.
Allen Rostron, of the Washington-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun
Violence, said it's important in the case to prove that the gun
industry acted with intent -- that it wasn't just carelessness -- that
the industry wanted to make money by supplying not just the legal
demand but also the illegal demand for its products.
The Illinois case was filed by the relatives of a Chicago police
officer shot dead in a drug surveillance operation and the families of
four other victims of the criminal use of firearms. Public nuisance
cases against the gun industry are also underway in several California
cities and in Boston.
(c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved.
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