CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA December 16, 1997 rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org >> Due to technical problems at our Internet Provider, the 16 Dec. << >> news report is being distributed a day late. We regret the delay.<< The following items are taken from Radio Havana Cuba's news service for Tuesday, December 16, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- UNICEF'S ANNUAL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS CUBA'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INFANT MALNUTRITION 2.- RECORD CIGAR PRODUCTION IN 1997 3.- FOUR MINOR TREMORS SHAKE SANTIAGO DE CUBA 4.- WARSAW INTERESTED IN INCREASING RELATIONS WITH HAVANA 5.- UNESCO'S DIRECTOR GENERAL ARRIVES IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL 6.- CUBAN WRITERS AND ARTISTS UNION DEFENDS THE ISLAND'S CULTURAL POLICIES UNICEF'S ANNUAL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS CUBA'S ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INFANT MALNUTRITION Paris, December 16(RHC)-- The Annual Report of the United Nations Children Fund -- UNICEF -- highlighted today the achievements of Cuba in the fight against infant malnutrition as well as efforts to reduce infant mortality rates. UNICEF's "State of the World's Children -- 1998," released today in Paris, was based on the statistics of 191 countries, of which only 32 surpassed Cuba in the mortality rate of children up to five years of age. UNICEF placed Cuba at ten deaths of new borns up to five years of age out of every one thousand live births. The combined average of Latin America and the Caribbean is 43 per every one thousand live births -- with the Caribbean far ahead of Latin America. Behind Cuba came Jamaica with 11, Barbados with 12 and Chile with 13. Although as a consequence of Washington's stepped-up blockade of the island, there was a increase in the number of Cuban children with low birth weight, Cuba's statistics still outstripped the averages of other Third World regions. Between 1990 and 1994, according to UNICEF, Cuba registered an eight percent increase in underweight births. That increase was ten percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, 17 percent in the Middle East and northern Africa, 20 percent in eastern Asia and the Pacific, 30 in Sub-saharan Africa and 51 in Southeast Asia. Upon presenting the report, UNICEF Director General Carol Bellamy called infant malnutrition "a silent emergency". Of the nearly 12 million children under age five who die each year from curable diseases, said Bellamy, more than six million of those deaths are a direct or indirect result of malnutrition. She said this statistic can only be compared to the scourge of the bubonic plague in centuries past -- noting that unlike the bubonic plague, malnutrition is not an infectious disease. RECORD CIGAR PRODUCTION IN 1997 Havana, December 16(RHC)-- The Vice President of the Cuban Cigar Company Habanos S.A., Manuel Garcia, says cigar production will bring in revenues worth 179 million dollars by year's end. So far this year, the cigar industry has produced revenues worth 150 million dollars, surpassing the 115 million dollar record obtained in 1991. In the following years, with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the important economic area went through a crisis due to the lack of foreign financing. By the end of 1997, Cuba will have exported some 102 million cigars, two million more than the expected goal. The Habanos S.A. executive said that the prospects for 1998 are promising since gross revenues are expected to be around 240 million dollars while the production of cigars will rise to 160 million. That growth, said the official, is based on an increase in tobacco yields and supplies for the crops. The Cuban cigar industry's sustained growth program includes the production of some 200 million cigars for the year 2000. Garcia stated that in February, Habanos S.A will launch a new brand -- the "Trinidad." For that event, Habanos S.A. has already invited numerous outstanding Cuban and international figures who admire the excellence of the best tobacco and cigars in the world. This is the fourth new Habana cigar brand launched by the island's cigar industry after the triumph of the Revolution. "Trinidad" has been preceded by the famous Cohiba in the late 1960's, the Coaba in 1996 and the Vegas Robaina this year. FOUR MINOR TREMORS SHAKE SANTIAGO DE CUBA Santiago de Cuba, December 16(RHC)-- Four minor earthquakes were felt in eastern Santiago de Cuba yesterday during a 38 minute span, according to the National Seismological Research Institute. The first tremor had a magnitude of 3.5 on the Richter scale, the second registered three, the third between 3 and 3.5 and the fourth had a magnitude similar to the previous one. The four tremors were felt in all Santiago de Cuba municipalities except for Mella. There were no reported injuries or material damage. WARSAW INTERESTED IN INCREASING RELATIONS WITH HAVANA Havana, December 16(RHC)-- The Director for the Americas of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Maciej Koztowski, says Poland is very interested in broadening political, economic and trade relations with Cuba. Proof of that assertion, said the Polish Foreign Ministry official, is the fact that an important group of entrepreneurs from that country is visiting the island to promote such links. The Foreign Ministry official, currently visiting Cuba, is accompanied by the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry's Cuba desk and Poland's Ambassador to Cuba, Jan Janiszewski. During their visit to the island, the Polish official and his delegation have met with officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Foreign Trade, Economy and Planning and the National Bank. Koztowski said many visits by Polish officials and business executives have taken place this year and that this trend will continue in the future. He said Cuban officials and entrepreneurs will also visit Warsaw. The Polish official took the opportunity to reiterate his government's rejection of Washington's more than 35 year blockade against Cuba and the anti-Cuba Helms-Burton Law, aimed at tightening and internationalizing the U.S. blockade against the Caribbean island. UNESCO'S DIRECTOR GENERAL ARRIVES IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL Havana, December 16(RHC)-- The Director General of UNESCO, Federico Mayor, and the President of UNESCO's General Conference, Eduardo Portella, arrived in Cuba to attend the international colloquium "Ethics and Emancipation in Felix Varela's Thinking," which gets underway Wednesday in the Cuban capital. Mayor was received at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport by Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto, with whom he will discuss cultural and educational projects sponsored by UNESCO. The international colloquium, which meets until the 20th, will deal with the ideas of Catholic priest Father Felix Varela, whose canonization is currently being discussed at the Vatican. Father Varela's ideas are at the very heart of the island's liberation ideals and of the generations that followed his teachings, including Cuban National hero Jose Marti. The event is sponsored by UNESCO, the University of Havana's Fernando Ortiz House and the Office of Havana's Historian. The Catholic priest's remains are laid at a monument in the University of Havana's Master Lecture Hall under the slogan "The Man Who Taught Us How to Think." Father Varela died on February 25th, 1853 in San Agustin, Florida. Father Felix Varela is considered a pioneer in the teaching of experimental physics in Cuba. While in exile in New York for 30 years, Varela founded churches and schools for children. CUBAN WRITERS AND ARTISTS UNION DEFENDS THE ISLAND'S CULTURAL POLICIES Havana, December 16 (RHC)-- The first session of UNEAC's National Council has come out for defending the Cuban Revolution's cultural policies against the distortion of the market. During the first day of the council, which is currently meeting in Havana, Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto and UNEAC's President Jose Loyola stressed the need to find solutions to ensure the continued development of the island's spiritual life. The two high-ranking cultural officials stated that Cuba will need material support achieved through the efficiency and maturity of the island's cultural industries and enterprises. UNEAC stressed, however, that those solutions must not be associated to mediocrity or ethical concessions, nor practices that can jeopardize the ethical image of the island's culture. UNEAC said that the best way to socially promote Cuban cultural values is through a number of community projects currently underway in Cuba and sponsored by the Cuban organization. The session cited those carried out in Havana, others currently underway at La Bruja in eastern Ocujal del Turquino and another directed by Cuban actor Manuel Porto at the head of the Korimakao project at the Zapata Swamp in Matanzas province. The organization stressed that one of the most important projects sponsored by UNEAC is the Educational and Cultural Development Fund which financed the printing of books and publications, including 50 titles by Ediciones Union Publishing House, La Gaceta and Union magazines and the introduction of the Cuban Music Magazine. [c] 1997. Radio Habana Cuba All rights reserved Articles cannot be reproduced, reprinted or published in any system without the consent of RHC. This prohibition includes the distribution of this material via Usenet News, "bulletin board" services, e-mail lists, print media, radio and television. For the complete RADIO HAVANA CUBA NEWSCAST and other features, please write for our daily broadcast schedule. 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