CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA July 2, 1997 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Wednesday, July 2nd, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- MIGRATORY TALKS BETWEEN CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES SET FOR NEW YORK CITY 2.- CARICOM LEADERS CALL FOR AN END TO THE REGIONAL ISOLATION OF CUBA 3.- U.S. POLITICAL ACTIVIST ANGELA DAVIS VISITS CUBA 4.- PUCCINI'S LA BOHEME TO COME TO HAVANA'S OPERA HOUSE 5.- SECOND IBEROAMERICAN EDUCATION CONFERENCE BEGINS IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL 6.- REPORT ON MAJOR AUDIT OF CUBA'S TOURISM INDUSTRY MIGRATORY TALKS BETWEEN CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES SET FOR NEW YORK CITY Havana, July 2(RHC)-- Migratory talks between Cuba and the United States are set for July 16th and 17th in New York City. According to Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, who will head the island's delegation to the next round of talks, the migratory accords have been kept according to the previous agreements. Alarcon said that Washington is holding up its end of the agreement by repatriating all illegal Cuban immigrants captured on the high seas or who reach U.S. shores and allowing for at least 20,000 legal immigrants into the United States each year. CARICOM LEADERS CALL FOR AN END TO THE REGIONAL ISOLATION OF CUBA Montego Bay, July 2(RHC)-- Leaders of the 14-member nations of the Caribbean Community -- known as CARICOM -- continue their annual summit today in Jamaica. Meeting in Montego Bay, the presidents and heads of state of CARICOM are discussing regional integration and ways to strengthen their growing ties with Cuba. During yesterday's session, Edward Carrington, the General Secretary of CARICOM, told participants that it was past time to do away with the regional isolation of Cuba. The annual gathering in Jamaica, which ends Friday, comes at a time when increasing numbers of Caribbean countries are expressing their desire to further develop relations with their island neighbor. In recent months, the prime ministers of Jamaica and Grenada have paid official visits to Havana, signing important bilateral agreements with Cuban officials. U.S. POLITICAL ACTIVIST ANGELA DAVIS VISITS CUBA Havana, July 2(RHC)-- U.S. political activist Angela Davis is in the Cuban capital on a private visit. Renowned for her struggle against racism in the United States and her membership in the U.S. Communist Party, she was targeted by police, imprisoned on fabricated charges and eventually released after a massive international campaign for her freedom. Interviewed by journalists on Cuban television last night, Angela Davis spoke about the current anti-immigrant sentiment and racism in the United States: "I would say that the attacks on immigrants and immigrants' rights is very much related to the resurgence of racism, because as a matter of fact, the largest number of `illegal immigrants' in the U.S. are from Europe. But the prevailing ideology would have it that immigrants come into the country from Mexico, from Central America or from Asia and are taking away jobs from U.S. citizens. But in my opinion, this mobilization against immigrants and immigrants' rights is an effort to mobilize the population against a fictitious enemy in order to divert attention from the real problems that exist in the age of global capitalism in the United States. So, instead of recognizing the extent to which multi-national corporations are affecting the lives of people in very dangerous ways -- in creating unemployment, expanding the prison industrial complex -- the immigrants are singled out as the `enemy,' as the problem." Angela Davis will be a special guest of honor at the upcoming 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, to be held in Havana later this month. PUCCINI'S LA BOHEME TO COME TO HAVANA'S OPERA HOUSE Havana, July 2(RHC)-- Opera lovers are lining up to get their tickets for the July 12th performance in Havana of Puccini's La Boheme. The well-known tragic opera will be performed in the capital's Garcia Lorca Theater by renowned singers from Cuba, France and Italy. In addition to the island's Canto Pro Arte Lyrica Opera Company will be Italian soprano Ana Luisa Scano, French tenor of Russian origin Nikola Yovanovich and French baritone, Jacques Perroni as well as other well-known international and Cuban opera stars. La Boheme will be the finale of a cultural series dedicated to various types of artistic performances sponsored by Cuba's Ministry of Culture, the French Embassy in Havana and the Alianza Frances. Opera fans in the provinces of Cienfuegos and Matanzas will also have the opportunity to see Puccini's great work. SECOND IBEROAMERICAN EDUCATION CONFERENCE BEGINS IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL Havana, July 2(RHC)-- The Second Iberoamerican Special Education Conference got underway Tuesday in the Cuban capital. The island's Education Minister, Luis I. Gomez, officially inaugurated the conference, stressing that "the region's nations have the duty to maintain a continuous dialogue in which to share all types of information that can be useful for the teaching of disabled children." The conference, taking place in Havana's International Conference Center, is running parallel to the Sixth Latin American Scientific Conference on Special Education, which runs through Friday, the 4th. Cuban children with various disabilities performed songs and dances before the more than 1000 delegates from 23 nations. The Cuban Education Minister explained that some 55,000 Cuban children with disabilities are attended by more than 14,000 specially-trained teachers. REPORT ON MAJOR AUDIT OF CUBA'S TOURISM INDUSTRY Havana, July 2(RHC)-- A report on an exhaustive audit of Cuba's tourism industry by 38 State agencies took up practically an entire page in today's edition of the Granma newspaper. A meeting in the island's Tourism Ministry led by Vice President Carlos Lage, Communist Party official Jose Ramon Machado Ventura and Tourism Minister Osmany Cienfuegos, examined the impact of tourism on the island's economy and the managing of labor resources. Cuban Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez summarized the extensive report. According to Rodriguez, the audit of more than 2300 tour installations revealed a substantial increase, especially during May and June of this year -- both in terms of hotel occupancy and income in the industry, although the cost of financing was considered high. The audit looked into investments in commercial and productive services. [c] 1997. 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