CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA June 24th, 1997 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Tuesday, June 24th, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT RICARDO ALARCON ADDRESSES UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, EARTH SUMMIT II 2.- SPANISH FOREIGN MINISTER ABEL MATUTES SAYS RELATIONS BETWEEN SPAIN AND CUBA ARE ON BACK ON COURSE 3.- CUBA-SPAIN CULTURAL AND BILATERAL RELATIONS ARE UNBREAKABLE 4.- CUBA'S EXPO-CARIBE INTERNATIONAL FAIR IN FULL-SWING 5.- CUBA'S AIRPORT EXPANSION COULD DOUBLE AIR PASSENGER- CAPACITY 6.- INTERNATIONAL DELEGATIONS PREPARE FOR THE 14TH WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH AND STUDENTS CUBAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT RICARDO ALARCON ADDRESSES UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, EARTH SUMMIT II New York, June 24(RHC)-- Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon denounced the efforts of rich nations aimed at forcing the international community to abandon the agreements reached during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. During an address before the special United Nations General Assembly aimed at revising Rio's Agenda 21 -- also called Earth Summit II -- Alarcon said that "if Rio emerged as a dangerously late awakening of universal consciousness, the aftermath has only demonstrated the limitations of selfishness and a capitalist system that is capable of sacrificing all for the benefit of a few." The Cuban Parliament president said five years after Rio, "environmental problems are worse and the ranks of the poor -- poorer today than five years ago -- continues swelling." Alarcon recalled that the developed nations have not complied with the meager offer to earmark 0.7 percent of their gross national products to development aid which, on the contrary, continues diminishing. "Interest payments on the Third World's foreign debt," stated Alarcon, "is triple the amount of that aid." He went on to say that this reality reflects nothing more than the continued existence of colonialism, "which cannot be hidden by the deceitful rhetoric surrounding globalization." What's more, added the Cuban Parliament president, "for those nations whose wealth is the result of the exploitation of the Third World, it is not a question of aid, but rather of restoring a part of that which was stolen." The Cuban Parliament president said the developed nations also have an obligation to pay their ecological debt due to their major responsibility in the deterioration of the environment resulting from irrational models of consumerism and waste. "It is absurd to try to cure the damages by blindly worshiping the market economy, with more selfishness and more capitalism." Cuba's top legislator said that if sustainable development is a difficult goal for the Third World, for Cuba --subjected to the U.S. economic war against the island -- that goal is even more difficult. "In spite of this difficulty, we are determined to reach sustainable development amid the political, economic and even biological warfare that the United States continues to wage against Cuba, violating our people's right to live, ignoring U.N. General Assembly resolutions, violating international law and the sovereignty of other nations." Alarcon said the powerful should realize that they share the same planet with their victims. "And if they insist on destroying the world, their children as well as the children of the poor, will inevitably suffer the same fate." SPANISH FOREIGN MINISTER ABEL MATUTES SAYS RELATIONS BETWEEN SPAIN AND CUBA ARE ON BACK ON COURSE Madrid, June 24(RHC)-- Spain's Foreign Minister Abel Matutes said today that relations between his country and Cuba are on their way back to normal. In an address to the Spanish Parliament, Matutes said that links between the two countries are good. The foreign minister added that everything is ready for the designation of a new Spanish ambassador in Havana, which should take place "in a few months." CUBA-SPAIN CULTURAL AND BILATERAL RELATIONS ARE UNBREAKABLE Madrid, June 24(RHC)-- Cuban Culture Minister Abel Prieto told journalists in Madrid that bilateral and cultural relations between Cuba and Spain are "unbreakable because our two people are tied together by a strong historical past." A Cuban government delegation is in Madrid to attend a meeting of Iberoamerican culture ministers. The gathering will analyze the expansion of joint publishing and film-making. Culture Minister Abel Prieto said Cuba's cultural policy is principally aimed at preserving the island's national identity. CUBA'S EXPO-CARIBE INTERNATIONAL FAIR IN FULL-SWING Havana, June 24(RHC)-- A panel on patents and trademarks was the main attraction Tuesday at Expo-Caribe '97, underway in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. Experts from Colombia, Cuba and Mexico took part in discussions. Also on today's agenda were seminars, bilateral contacts and visits to local industries and tourist resorts. This 6th edition of Expo-Caribe -- the island's second largest international trade fair -- has gathered together more than 500 firms from over 30 countries. During a meeting on Tuesday with foreign entrepreneurs, Cuba's Foreign Trade Minister Ricardo Cabrisas said that Cuban exports have grown 17 percent over the past three years. Cabrisas told Caribbean business representatives that the island plans to greatly increase trade with the region before the year 2000. According to the foreign trade minister, Cuba has 300 entities authorized to participate in foreign trade. Among them are state companies, anonymous associations and joint ventures. Cabrisas also referred to the presence of more than 500 branches of foreign companies which "positively influence foreign trade." In reference to tourism, Cabrisas said that in a short period of time, the island should have gross revenues totaling some two billion dollars annually. CUBA'S AIRPORT EXPANSION COULD DOUBLE AIR PASSENGER-CAPACITY Havana, June 24(RHC)-- Cuba could double passenger-capacity with the enlargement of its two main international airports this year. In an interview with Prensa Latina News Agency, the President of Cuba's Civil Aeronautics Institute, General Rogelio Acevedo, said that with the completion of renovations at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport and Varadero's Juan Gualberto Gomez Airport, the island's capacity to provide services to travelers will increase by four million passengers a year. The two airports handle 80 percent of the island's air traffic, which is carried by Cubana de Aviacion and thirty other foreign airlines. Havana's International Airport -- handling half of all foreign visitors to the island -- is being enlarged with a 50 million dollar investment that could be recuperated within three years. Current work underway at Jose Marti International Airport includes a three kilometer-long, four-lane highway; a new, huge waiting room and a larger parking lot. Havana's airport provides services to 2.5 million passengers a year while the Varadero airport has an annual passenger-capacity of 700,000. INTERNATIONAL DELEGATIONS PREPARE FOR THE 14TH WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH AND STUDENTS Havana, June 24(RHC)-- France, Germany, Spain and North Korea will bring the largest delegations to the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, slated to take place in Havana from July 28th to August 5th. The North Korean delegation will bring 500 Cuban flags of different sizes, two giant balloons and 5000 small balloons, as well as 10,000 pencils and 800 cassettes. In related news, more than twenty musicians will make up the Brazilian delegation to the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students, among them, famed singer and song-writer, Chico Buarque. [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. We welcome your comments and suggestions. For further information, contact us at: Postal Address: Radio Havana Cuba P.O.Box 6240 Havana, Cuba Telephone: (53) (7) 791053 Fax: (53) (7) 795007 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org WWW: http://www.radiohc.org