CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA June 2, 1997 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Monday, June 2nd, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBA DENOUNCES NEW U.S. MEASURES AT THE UNITED NATIONS 2.- MEXICO LASHES OUT AT EFFORTS TO TIGHTEN HELMS-BURTON LAW 3.- NEW U.S. LEGISLATION WILL IMPOSE TAXES ON BUSINESSES THAT OPERATE IN U.S. AND HAVE INVESTMENTS IN CUBA 4.- CUBAN TRADE UNION LEADER SPEAKS AT LABOR SUMMIT IN DENMARK 5.- CUBA CELEBRATES 50th ANNIVERSARY OF UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION 6.- CUBA CONDEMNS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA'S INTERPRETATION OF GRASSROOTS DEBATE SURROUNDING FIFTH COMMUNIST PARTY CONGRESS 7.- CUBA'S MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SET UP JOINT VENTURES FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS ON THE ISLAND 8.- JAMAICAN MINISTER OF HEALTH PETER PHILLIPS ON A VISIT TO CUBA 9.- CUBA AND RUSSIA HOLD FIRST MEETING OF BILATERAL MIXED-COMMISSION FOR ECONOMIC AND TRADE COOPERATION 10.- CUBA'S TOP SALSA MUSICIANS TO JOIN EUROPEAN AND WORLD TOURS CUBA DENOUNCES NEW U.S. MEASURES AT THE UNITED NATIONS New York, June 2(RHC)-- Cuba has further denounced new U.S. measures to tighten the U.S. economic blockade against the island, taking its case to the United Nations over the weekend. In a letter addressed to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Cuba's Ambassador to the United Nations, Bruno Rodriguez, asked that the international organization distribute the denunciation released at last Friday's news conference by Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon. Cuba's U.N. ambassador also officially presented copies of the document to representatives of the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement. According to the new denunciation, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed ten legislative drafts earlier this month, designed to widen the effects of the Helms-Burton Law. The document points out that rather than modifying Helms- Burton to clean-up the extraterritorial character of several of its provisions -- as promised to the European Union in exchange for dropping its challenge at the World Trade Organization -- these new measures working their way through Congress will actually tighten legislation against third countries doing business with Cuba. MEXICO LASHES OUT AT EFFORTS TO TIGHTEN HELMS-BURTON LAW Lima, June 2(RHC)-- Mexican Foreign Minister Jose Angel Gurria says Mexico is deeply concerned over recent U.S. legislative attempts to further tighten Washington's Helms-Burton Law. The U.S. legislation is aimed at further strengthening the U.S.'s more than 35-year-long blockade against Cuba. In a speech delivered at the 27th Session of the Organization of American States General Assembly, Gurria said that Cuba is a subject still pending on the American continent and stressed that the island's return to the organization should not be postponed anymore. The Mexican foreign minister said that there is "enough evidence and many recent examples showing that dialogue, communication and the free flow of trade and investments" are better alternatives than what he called "isolation, embargos and sanctions." He thanked the timely work done by the Interamerican Judicial Committee, a committee of the OAS, which declared the basis and the eventual application of Helms-Burton are not in line with international law. The Mexican diplomat expressed concern over recent attempts to tighten the Helms-Burton Law and broaden its application and expressed his hope that those efforts will not succeed for what he termed "the sake of inter-American relations." NEW U.S. LEGISLATION WILL IMPOSE TAXES ON BUSINESSES THAT OPERATE IN U.S. AND HAVE INVESTMENTS IN CUBA Washington, DC, June 2(RHC)-- The co-author of a law designed to strangle the Cuban economy has announced that he is preparing new legislation to tighten the screws on foreign firms doing business with the island. Representative Dan Burton, a Republican from the U.S. State of Indiana, told reporters on Capitol Hill that his legislative project will impose taxes on businesses that operate in the United States and have investments in Cuba. Burton, of course, is the Burton of "Helms-Burton" -- the infamous anti-Cuba legislation passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law last year by U.S. President Bill Clinton. According to the ultra-right wing, so-called "representative" of the people of Indiana, the `trafficking' of property nationalized by the Cuban Revolution in 1959 -- property that used to belong to U.S. companies -- has cost those companies millions of dollars. The Burton of Helms and Burton expressed his anger that, hadit not been for the Cuban Revolution, U.S. corporations would still be raking in millions -- perhaps billions -- made from the sweat and tears of Cuban workers. CUBAN TRADE UNION LEADER SPEAKS AT LABOR SUMMIT IN DENMARK Copenhagen, June 2(RHC)-- The head of Cuba's trade union confederation, Pedro Ross, is in Copenhagen at the World Labor Summit organized by the Workers Confederation of Denmark. Speaking before nearly 700 trade unionists from more than 50 countries, Ross said that the United States is working night and day to deny the Cuban people their right to a different social model. The Cuban trade union leader called Washington's actions "brutal, illegal and immoral," pointing to the latest maneuvers by the U.S. Congress to further tighten the economic blockade against the island. Pedro Ross also referred to the poverty and unemployment which grips most of Latin America, and called for a united front against pressures to jump on the neoliberal bandwagon. CUBA CELEBRATES 50th ANNIVERSARY OF UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION Havana, June 2(RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro received a special diploma over the weekend in recognition for his support of Cuban foreign policy on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban United Nations Association. At a ceremony to commemorate Saturday's 50th anniversary, Ariel Francais, the representative in Cuba of the United Nations Development Program, emphasized the growing role played by Cuba in promoting the activities of the international body. The United Nations Association in Cuba is one of the oldest associations in Latin America and has functioned continuously since its creation on May 31, 1947. CUBA CONDEMNS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA'S INTERPRETATION OF GRASSROOTS DEBATE SURROUNDING FIFTH COMMUNIST PARTY CONGRESS Havana, June 2(RHC)-- Today's editorial in Cuba's weekly Trabajadores newspaper has deplored interpretations by the international media concerning the analysis and grassroots debate of the document of Cuba's Fifth Communist Party Congress. Trabajadores wrote today that the media, as well as certain international politicians, have called that debate `an empty and merely formal act,' when for Cubans, the editorial says, "it represents an exercise in democracy." The criticism, says the editorial, is "based on bourgeois and neo-liberal criteria that refuses to recognize the unique nature of Cuba's political system." The Cuban weekly asks what capitalist country could call on the people to "study, comment on, debate and enrich the contents of a political platform" designed to guide the nation's strategy. "What bourgeois party in power," asks the editorial, "has been capable of submitting its postulates to universal consultation?" The editorial adds that those capitalist principles generally come in the form of campaign promises and "are usually confusing and demagogic." The editorial goes on to say that "the most perfect democracy in a capitalist nation could never achieve Cuba's level of confidence in the people," because those nations are divided by antagonistic interests. Despite the existence of political pluralism, "the parties that achieve power represent the political consciousness of the dominating class and are not designed to represent the plurality of society" -- calling the multi-party system "a fictitious pluralism." As a result, says the Cuban weekly, the representatives of capitalism loudly complain because the Cuban Communist Party document does not announce political and economic reforms that would be equivalent to dismantling the Revolution. "History has demonstrated that what the enemy likes is not beneficial for Cuba," concludes the editorial in today's edition of Trabajadores. CUBA'S MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SET UP JOINT VENTURES FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS ON THE ISLAND Havana, June 2(RHC)-- The Cuban Ministry of Transportation has announced that new projects are being studied for the establishment of joint ventures that will construct new roads on the island. Under such plans, the money allocated for those investments will be recovered through tolls, collected over a three to four-year period. Tolls were instituted in Cuba a year ago at the Varadero tourist resort and on the road that links Cayo Coco key to the island, on the northern coast of central Cuba. According to Transportation Ministry officials, more than 700,000 dollars and over 2.7 million pesos have been obtained from the tolls. The money collected has been earmarked for the maintenance and modernization of those roads and others across the island. In an interview published by the Cuban weekly newspaper Gramma International, Transportation Ministry officials said that the construction of a ten kilometer road will be considered by the new joint ventures. Its cost is estimated at some thirty million dollars. Cuba plans to install toll booths at 16 locations around the island over the next three years. JAMAICAN MINISTER OF HEALTH PETER PHILLIPS ON A VISIT TO CUBA Havana, June 2(RHC)-- Jamaican Minister of Health Peter Phillips arrived in Havana over the weekend. Minister Phillips is attending the Second International Congress of Municipal Health Authorities, which opened its doors today at Havana's Convention Center. In an interview with Radio Havana Cuba, Minister Phillips said his country is faced with new challenges in the health sector, where authorities are seeking to reorganize the central administration and ensure greater access, allowing Jamaicans to have better health care at a lower cost. The Jamaican minister of health stressed he is also interested in strengthening relations with Cuba in this field. He stated that Jamaica hopes to explore ways to increase cooperation in research, training and the exchange of health care personnel. The Jamaican minister of health added that his country plans to share the results of independent research and possibly develop joint projects with Cuba. CUBA AND RUSSIA HOLD FIRST MEETING OF BILATERAL MIXED-COMMISSION FOR ECONOMIC AND TRADE COOPERATION Moscow, June 2(RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Ricardo Cabrisas arrived in Moscow today to attend the first meeting of the Cuba-Russia Mixed Commission for Economic and Trade Cooperation. According to the Cuban Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Noemi Benitez, the five-day meeting in Moscow seeks to activate bilateral trade between the two nations, making it more flexible. In an interview with Prensa Latina News Agency, Benitez disclosed the possibility of creating joint ventures in the fields of tourism, nickel and oil. The deputy minister said the meeting comes on the heels of last January's visit to Cuba of the Russian Minister of Defense Serguei Shoigu, who will preside over the current meeting of the bilateral mixed-commission. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, the bulk of Russian-Cuban trade exchange was reduced from 8.7 billion dollars in 1990 to 405 million dollars in 1995, and was limited to sugar and oil. CUBA'S TOP SALSA MUSICIANS TO JOIN EUROPEAN AND WORLD TOURS Havana, June 2(RHC)-- Cuba's top salsa groups and singers, including Los Van Van and Adalberto Alvarez, will perform in ten European countries over the next six months as part of the Skuba Salsa Circuit project, sponsored by the LTD Skuba Promotions Company. The Cuban musicians will perform concerts in England, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Switzerland, and will offer an average of 20 performances every month. Other Cuban groups will also perform, including: Isaac Delgado, Manolin, and Paulito FG. The popular Cuban salsa group Charanga Habanera will participate at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy this year and will also tour several African nations. Adalberto Alvarez and his orchestra will perform next June 11th at the Amsterdam Festival and at the International Song Festival slated for Holland. Meanwhile, Los Van Van and Cuban pianist Ernan Lopez will make a series of appearances at London's Ronnie Scott's Club. All of these talented Cuban salsa musicians will cut recordings and promotional videos for the international market. [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. 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