From mail.infocom.etecsa.cu!radiohc@mail.infocom.etecsa.cu Mon Mar 17 17:55:50 1997 Return-Path: mail.infocom.etecsa.cu!radiohc@mail.infocom.etecsa.cu Received: from dns2.infocom.etecsa.cu ([169.158.64.1]) by nyxfer.blythe.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id RAA13638 for ; Mon, 17 Mar 1997 17:55:41 -0500 Received: by dns2.infocom.etecsa.cu (Smail3.1.28.1 #3) id m0w6lJR-0002MDC; Mon, 17 Mar 97 17:55 EST Received: from manati.in.etecsa.cu by dns2.infocom.etecsa.cu with SMTP id XXXXXXXX-Xa03340; Mon, 17 Mar 97 17:55 EST Received: by manati.in.etecsa.cu (Smail3.1.28.1 #3) id m0w6lHb-0001CPC; Mon, 17 Mar 97 17:53 EST Message-Id: Subject: RHC for March 17, 1997 To: reg.cuba@conf.igc.apc.org Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 17:53:35 -0500 (EST) From: "Lic. Jorge L. Ruiz" Cc: nyt@blythe.org, cubaseccion@igc.apc.org, radiohc@mail.infocom.etecsa.cu (Lic. Jorge L. Ruiz) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL13] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 10240 Status: RO CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA Monday, March 17, 1997 The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Monday, March 17, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO REITERATES THAT CUBAN REVOLUTION WILL NOT DISARM 2.- CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO RETURNS HOME AFTER ATTENDING FUNERAL OF FORMER JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER MICHAEL MANLEY 3.- WORKERS FROM CUBAN RADIO AND TELEVISION INSTITUTE ATTEND PUBLIC HEARING ON THE HELMS-BURTON LAW 4.- 120 NATIONS SHOW INTEREST IN ATTENDING THE 14TH WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH AND STUDENTS IN CUBA. 5.- FRENCH COMPANY TO REFURBISH HOTEL IN HAVANA 6.- CUBA'S UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION HOLDS INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO REITERATES THAT CUBAN REVOLUTION WILL NOT DISARM Havana, March 17(RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro delivered Saturday the closing speech in a ceremony commemorating the 119th anniversary of the Baragua Protest. On March 15th, 1878, a group of Cuban Mambi independence fighters -- led by General Antonio Maceo -- refused to accept peace without independence from Spain, following a 10 year anti-colonial war. The ceremony included the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces' Declaration of the 20th Century Mambises, handed over to the Cuban leadership -- a reaffirmation of the willingness to defend at any cost Cuba's sovereignty and independence. In an implicit reference to Washington's so-called "democratic transition program" for Cuba, President Castro said that the island is being offered exactly what it was offered 119 years ago: peace without independence, without honor, without dignity, without equality and without justice. He said that today, however, Cuba's powerful enemy would have to come up against millions of armed men and women who are well aware of the cause they are defending, and who know how to defend it. The Cuban leader recalled that the first step taken by Washington in 1898, following the second war of independence, was to disarm the Mambises --after having intervened in the war against Spain when Cuban independence forces had virtually won. President Castro said the Cuban people will never again be disarmed. He recalled the 1960 terrorist bombing of a ship transporting weapons for Cuba from Belgium. President Castro called it another effort to prevent Cubans from arming themselves, asserting that one day the details of that terrorist attack may be revealed in declassified CIA documents. In pointing to Washington's dirty war against revolutionary Cuba, he also recalled how the US government bombed and strafed the island in the early 1960s with aircraft carrying the insignia of the Cuban air force, asserting in the United Nations that the Cuban Air Force had risen up against the Revolution. The Cuban president asked what type of transition could maintain Cuba's 250 to 300 teachers, 62,000 doctors -- and those to graduate. "What," he asked, "would become of the land in the hands of the island's campesinos, of Cuban workers and pensioners, of Cuba's independence?" President Castro said "a transition would probably leave Cuba worse than Puerto Rico, a Yankee colony for the past 100 years where even the Spanish language is threatened with extinction." In terms of transitions, the Cuban leader pointed to Albania, Bulgaria, Russia and other former Soviet Republics, asserting that Cuba will never chose that path. CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO RETURNS HOME AFTER ATTENDING FUNERAL OF FORMER JAMAICAN PRIME MINISTER MICHAEL MANLEY Havana, March 17(RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro returned early Monday from Jamaica where he took part in the funeral services of late Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley. Some 20 thousand Jamaicans, along with dignitaries from 40 countries, paid their last respects to one of the most popular and charismatic leaders of the English-speaking Caribbean. This was President Castro's second visit to Jamaica. The first was in 1977, invited by then-Prime Minister Michael Manley. In the late 1970s, Manley's government faced a destabilization campaign orchestrated by Washington because of his socialist ideas and friendship with Cuba. He traveled to Cuba on several occasions. Manley died last March 6th from prostrate cancer at the age of 72. He had been the island's prime minister on three occasions: two consecutive mandates between 1972 and 1980, and a third that began in 1989, but was cut short in 1992 due to his illness. WORKERS FROM CUBAN RADIO AND TELEVISION INSTITUTE ATTEND PUBLIC HEARING ON THE HELMS-BURTON LAW Havana, March 17(RHC)-- Cuban Radio and Television workers held a public hearing today on the Helms-Burton law and on the island's recently passed anti-Helms-Burton legislation. On hand was Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon, as well as Radio and Television Institute President Enrique Roman. Alarcon described as "manipulated" a recent document by U.S. President Bill Clinton stipulating support for a so-called democratic transition in Cuba. He said that although international media outlets have referred to this document as entailing an international commitment to assist Cuba, the paper recognizes that no international institution or country is in a position to make specific grants or funds available for a hypothetical transition on the island. Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon also lashed out at Washington's attempt to impose its form of democracy in Cuba. He noted that democracy as seen by Washington is not that defined by Plato, Rousseau or Lincoln but one that must be arrogantly certified by the President of the United States. "Clinton's alleged democracy for Cuba," said Alarcon, "is returning the properties legitimately nationalized by the Revolutionary Government to their former owners, many of whom were murderers and criminals under Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship." Alarcon also said that Clinton's recently released anti-Cuba document implies that the island's media would not only have to be privatized but also opened to foreign control, something that is not allowed even in the United States. At the public hearing on the Helms-Burton Law and Cuba's antidote legislation against that U.S. law, radio and TV workers reaffirmed their commitment to the Cuban cause. 120 NATIONS SHOW INTEREST IN ATTENDING THE 14TH WORLD FESTIVAL OF YOUTH AND STUDENTS IN CUBA. Havana, March 17th(RHC)-- The upcoming World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba continues to generate interest abroad. Bolivia and Peru have brought to 120 the number of nations interesting in participating in the gathering. Sources from the festival's organizing committee said in Havana that fifty nations have set up national preparatory committees. In the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, and in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, organizing structures have recently been created. National preparatory committees of the Festival have already been set up in 50 nations with a view to the July 28th to August 5th international youth event in Cuba. Most of these committees are now in the process of raising funds to finance their delegations' trip to Cuba and help cover the expenses of the festival. FRENCH COMPANY TO REFURBISH HOTEL IN HAVANA Havana, March 17(RHC)-- France's FEAL INTERNATIONAL S.A and Cuba's HABAGUANEX S.A companies have agreed to join forces in the refurbishing and exploitation of Havana's Gran Hotel. The French company announced it will invest 26 million dollars in refurbishing operations. Once back to full capacity, the two sides will split profits in half. FEAL INTERNATIONAL's general manager, Patrick Antona, told the press in Havana that the investment was possible thanks to a credit provided by COPAS -France's official entity for investments abroad. Antona said his company's presence on the island was in response to the 25 percent annual increase of French tourists on the island. FEAL INTERNATIONAL S.A is a subsidiary of the Generale Desau group, one of Europe's largest service groups dealing with communications, energy, construction and real estate. HABAGUANEX S.A, the Cuban side in the deal, was set up by the office of the Havana city Historian, to administer tourist facilities in Old Havana. CUBA'S UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION HOLDS INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Havana, March 17(RHC)-- "Latin America and the Caribbean Consider the United Nations" is the title of an international workshop organized by the Cuban United Nations Association. The association will soon be marking its 50th anniversary on the island. Scheduled for October 21st through 24th in Havana, the symposium will be the agency's most important activity of the year, and be the only one of its kind in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is expected to gather foreign ministers, as well as academic, cultural, and political figures from the region. The gathering will look into issues like a redefinition of the U.N.'s global role and its goals for the 21st century. The Cuban United Nations Association was founded in 1947, and together with those of Brazil and Argentina, is one of the oldest in the region. For the complete RADIO HAVANA CUBA NEWSCAST and other features, please write for our daily broadcast schedule. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Postal Address: Radio Havana Cuba, P.O.Box 6240 Havana, Cuba Telephone: (53) (7) 791053 Fax: (53) (7) 795007