CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA April 30, 1997 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Wednesday, March 30, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBA GEARS UP FOR INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY 2.- MAIN DOCUMENT OF COMMUNIST PARTY CONGRESS SOON TO BE DISCUSSED BY PARTY MEMBERS AND CUBANS OF ALL WALKS OF LIFE 3.- U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SPEAKS OUT ABOUT WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA 4.- SPANISH BUSINESSMAN STILL SITS IN MIAMI JAIL 5.- CUBA AND BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS 6.- EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE WILL BE PROVIDED AT PRIMARY LEVEL IN 14 MUNICIPALITIES IN HAVANA 7.- LEADER OF VENEZUELAN STATE OF NUEVA SPARTA VISITS HAVANA CUBA GEARS UP FOR INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY Havana, April 30 (RHC)-- Cuba is gearing up for what could turn out to be the biggest celebration ever for International Workers Day. The Cuban Workers Confederation estimates there will be at least one million people in tomorrow's march through the Plaza de la Revolucion. Four hundred invited foreign guests have already arrived in Havana. This year, International Workers Day will also remember the 30th anniversary of the death in combat of Ernesto Che Guevara, killed in Bolivia in 1967. Perhaps the central theme will be what Cuban government and labor leaders are calling "a triple plebiscite:" the patriotic ratification of Cuba's opposition to the Helms- Burton Law; the Cuban people's support of the island's anti- Helms-Burton legislation, "The Dignity and National Sovereignty Law;" and support for the "Declaration of the Twentieth Century Mambises," rejecting a transition to capitalism in Cuba. MAIN DOCUMENT OF COMMUNIST PARTY CONGRESS SOON TO BE DISCUSSED BY PARTY MEMBERS AND CUBANS OF ALL WALKS OF LIFE Holguin--April 30(RHC)--From June 1st to July 15th, Cuban Communist Party members and the rest of the population will study And debate the document that will be the basis for the 5th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party slated for October 8th through the 10th. According to Party Political Bureau member Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, the Communist Party needs people's opinions about the Party, and the island's legislature, known as the National Assembly of the People's Power. The Communist Party official added that the document defines the basis of the island's political system and democracy. Machado Ventura charged that sometimes there are attempts from abroad to impose upon Cuba models of democracy established in other countries, but he stressed, Cubans think for themselves. The Political Bureau member noted that the 3-day October congress should not be expected to solve all the island's problems, but rather, to reafirm that Cubans are working very hard attempting to find new formulas that will allow the country's economic insertion in the international market and curbing the economic crisis in the midst of difficult conditions, including Washington's Helms Burton legislation U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN SPEAKS OUT ABOUT WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA Havana, April 30 (RHC)-- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed hope that the U.S. blockade against Cuba is lifted in the not-too-distant future. Annan spoke Tuesday before an international forum in Atlanta, Georgia entitled The Inter-American Conference Agenda 2000 -- organized by the Carter Center and Cable News Network. The U.N. Secretary General said that after more than 30 years of blockade, Cuba continues governing itself. He pointed out that every year for the past five years the U.N. General Assembly has voted against the blockade. Last year, only the United States, Israel and Uzbekistan voted against Cuba's anti-blockade resolution. SPANISH BUSINESSMAN STILL SITS IN MIAMI JAIL Washington, April 30 (RHC)-- The Spanish businessman arrested in the U.S. and charged with violating Washington's blockade against Cuba is still sitting in a Miami jail. According to Spain's Foreign Minister Abel Matutes, following a nearly two hour breakfast-meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington, the U.S. official said she would try to resolve the case of Javier Ferreiro, the Spanish citizen who was arrested earlier this month. Ferreiro was arrested last April 1st, accused of buying U.S. products and shipping them to Cuba through third countries. To date, U.S. authorities have considered the case an internal matter, in which the legal process should follow its normal course. The Socialist opposition in Spain -- as well as sectors from the business community -- have strongly criticized President Jose Maria Aznar's government for not playing a more active role in the matter and for refraining form issuing a condemnation of Ferreiro's arrest. CUBA AND BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA ESTABLISH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS Havana, April 30 (RHC)-- Cuba and Bosnia-Herzegovina have established diplomatic relations, according to the island's daily newspaper Granma. The accord was signed on Tuesday in Vienna by the two countries' ambassadors in Austria. With this accord, Cuba now has diplomatic relations with all the states that arose from the former Yugoslavia, with the exception of the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Cuba and Macedonia are also currently studying the establishment of diplomatic relations. EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE WILL BE PROVIDED AT PRIMARY LEVEL IN 14 MUNICIPALITIES IN HAVANA Havana, April 30(RHC)-- An emergency system developed in Cuba's primary level of medical care has been extended to 14 municipalities in the city of Havana, as well as to 15 other localities nationwide. Implemented in Old Havana in 1995, the system consists of a central policlinic connected to a health care network that provide emergency services to neighborhood residents just a few blocks from their homes. 24 hours emergency services include specialized medical attention, laboratory tests, X rays, electrocardiograms acupuncture, an observation ward, transportation and communications. The emergency system has already provided services to more than a million people in the capital. Meanwhile, deputy health minister Julian Garate announced that ten special ambulances from Canada will begin operations within the emergency system next July. The new service will be specially useful in cases of heart attacks and traumatic injuries. LEADER OF VENEZUELAN STATE OF NUEVA SPARTA VISITS HAVANA Havana, April 30(RHC)-- The President of the Legislative Assembly in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Sparta, on the Margarita Island, Luis Rodriguez Gamaero, arrives in Havana Wednesday for the official visit at the at the invitation of the Cuban parliament. During his 6 day visit Rodriguez and his delegation will meet with the president of the Cuban parliament's Foreign Relations Commission, as well as with other cuban officials from the ministries of health, foreign affairs and foreign investment and economic cooperation. The island of Margarita will be the site in November of the summit of Iberoamerican Heads of state and governments. For the complete RADIO HAVANA CUBA NEWSCAST and other features, please write for our daily broadcast schedule. We welcome your comments and suggestions. 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