CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA
                           May 7th, 1997               
                       E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org
  

The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's
International Shortwave Service in English for Wednesday, May
7th, 1997. Today's stories:

1.- CUBA REITERATES CHARGES THAT WASHINGTON ENGAGED IN         
    BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGAINST THE ISLAND

2.- IN GENEVA, CUBA REITERATES DETERMINATION TO MAINTAIN       
    HEALTH CARE STANDARDS DESPITE EFFECTS OF US BLOCKADE

3.- SWISS COMPANY BEGINS OIL PROSPECTION IN CUBA

4.- CHINESE COMMUNIST LEADERS ARRIVED IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA

5.- ALCOHOL INTOXICATION RELATED TRAFFICK ACCIDENTS ON THE     
    RISE IN CUBA

6.- SPANISH AND CUBAN EXPERTS CONDUCT RESEARCH ON              
    OPHTHALMOLOGICAL SURGERY

7.- CUBA TO RESEARCH ON HYDROGENE AS A SOURCE OF ENERGY


CUBA REITERATES CHARGES THAT WASHINGTON ENGAGED IN BIOLOGICAL
WARFARE AGAINST THE ISLAND

Havana, May 7(RHC)-- Cuba reiterated today its accusation that
the US government unleashed biological warfare against the
island.  An extensive front page article in today's edition of
the official Granma newspaper provided a map of US State
Department aircraft's trajectory over Cuba last October 21st,
the date of the first appearance of the Thrips palmi insect
plague in western and central Cuba, and the dates of Cuba's 
official note of protest to the US Interests Section in Havana
as well as the response to that protest.  On February 12th of
this year -- almost 2 months after the official Cuban
government protest -- the US Interests Section asserted that
the SR2 aircraft, with State Department registration, turned
on its smoke generator to warn a nearby Cuban commercial
airliner of its presence in the region.  

The Granma article points out, however, that the SR2 used by
the State Department for the fumigation of drug crops is known
to have two dispersion systems:  one for aerosols and liquid
particles, and another for the launching of solid particles,
but is not known to carry a smoke generator.  The article also
referes to the observations of the Cuban pilot who spotted the
aircraft, and who has experience in fumigation.  The pilot
said that the US aircraft did not launch smoke, but rather a
substance.  Cuba's Nation Vegetable Hygiene Center first
detected the Thrips palmi last December 18th.  

The findings of Cuban experts indicated that the plague dated
back to 3 or 4 generations, which, in accordance with the
insects reproductive cycle, would date its introduction into
Cuba specifically in October.  Also suspcious, says the Cuban
newspaper, is the region where the plague first began.  Taking
into consideration that this insect has been found in Haiti,
the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, the plague should have
appeared in Cuba's eastern regions -- and not in the west and
central part of the island, some 600 kilometers from those
infected Caribbean nations.  

The Cuban daily wrote that costly pesticides have had little
effect, and that a document recently elaborated by the
American Scientists Federation includes the Thrips among the
invertebrates that could be included in the Biological Weapons
Convention.

IN GENEVA, CUBA REITERATES DETERMINATION TO MAINTAIN HEALTH
CARE STANDARDS DESPITE EFFECTS OF US BLOCKADE

Havana, May 7(RHC)--  Cuba reiterated Tuesday its
determination to maintain its health care standards despite
the limitations imposed by the US blockade. In an address
before the 50th Municipal Health Assembly in Geneva, Cuban
Health Minister Carlos Dotres, said that regardless of
the economic difficulties, not a single hospital had been
close on the Island, and efforts continued to upgrade the
quality of health care services.

In his address before the Geneva conference, Minister Dotres
wondered whether the epidemics affecting the world today could
be erradicated when in most developed countries patients are
refered to as ostumers, and doctors as providers. The Cuban
health minister noted that the higher life expectancy demanded
by the World Health Organization could not be attained under
the present circumstances.

SWISS COMPANY BEGINS OIL PROSPECTION IN CUBA.

Stockholm, May 7(RHC)--  The Swedish company Taurus Petroleum
will soon begin oil prospecting in Cuba. A company
spokesperson said Wednesday in Stockholm, the Swedish capital,
that this was Taurus Petroleum's most important international
ever.

Taurus Petroleum announced that oil prospecting in Cuba will
extend for 45 days, adding that confidence on the company's
effectiveness by the Stockholm Stock Exchange has resulted in
an additional five million dollar fund for expanded activities
in the Cuban program.

CHINESE COMMUNIST LEADERS ARRIVED IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA.

Santiago de Cuba, May 7(RHC)--  The eastern city of Santiago
de Cuba welcomed Tuesday a visiting delegation from the
Chinese Communist Party. Upon their arrival in Santiago de
Cuba, the Chinese delegation laid afloral wreath before the
Jose Marti memorial at the city's cemetery.
The head of the Chinese delegation, Huang Ju, a member of the
Chinese Communist Party's Political Bureau and the first
secretary of the Party in Shangai, had words of praise for
Santiago de Cuba's historic and revolutionary traditions.
Huang Ju announced that a Chinese delegation will participate
for the first time at the Expocaribe trade fair in June in
Santiago de Cuba.

The Chinese Communist Party delegation arrived in Cuba on
Monday, at the invitation of the Cuban Communist Party.

ALCOHOL INTOXICATION RELATED TRAFFICK ACCIDENTS ON THE RISE IN
CUBA.

Havana, May 6(RHC)-- In Havana, alcoholic beverages remain as
enemy number one for drivers and pedestrians, where car
accidents increased this past April.  The Traffick Department
of the National Police has released a report saying that in
the last two weeks of April four peole died in the Cuban
capital as a result of car accidents caused by alcohol
beverages.

The report says that only on Saturday April 26th 15 drivers
were arrested for drunk driving.
Transit police reinforced patrolling operations on Havana's
major thoroughfares, particularly near beach ressorts.  Havana
has the island's highest record of car accidents, which were
the fourth cause of death on the island in 1996.  Last year
traffick accidents left more than a hundred people dead and
some eight hundred injured only in Havana.

SPANISH AND CUBAN EXPERTS CONDUCT RESEARCH ON OPHTHALMOLOGICAL
SURGERY.

Spain, May 7(RHC)--  The Ophthalmological Institute of
Alicante in Spain and the University of Havana will join
efforts and talents in ophthalmological research. Spanish and
Cuban experts study the replacement of traditional suture for
adhesive devices in ophthalmological surgeries. The two-year
joint research project is expected to come up with high
quality products that cause no side effects to the eye. 
Adhesive devices as an alternative to suture in eye
operations are biocompatible, meaning they either dissappear
or are replaced by normal tissue.

Ophthalmological adhesive devices simplify operations, and
easier to tolerate than traditional suture.

CUBA TO RESEARCH ON HYDROGENE AS A SOURCE OF ENERGY

Havana, May 7(RHC)-- A special group has been set up in Cuba
for the study of hydrogene as a renewable source of energy.
The group is expected to accelerate research on this important
chemical element. Hydrogene is seen as a likely candidate to
replace oil as the energy source for the coming century. The
Cuban hydrogene research group will direct initial efforts to
gather information on the practical uses of hydrogen
world-wide. It will also continue research on the use of solar
energy as an inexpensive way of generating power for hydrogene
obtention through the chemical decomposition of water.


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