CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA May 13th, 1997 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Tuesday, May 13th, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO MEETS WITH CHINESE DEPUTY PREMIER LI LANQING, AS BOTH COUNTRIES SIGN IMPORTANT BILATERAL ACCORDS 2.- CUBA REJECTS SPAIN'S INVITATION TO `OBSERVE' IBEROAMERICAN PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE, TO WHICH CUBA IS A FULL MEMBER 3.- CUBA WILL CONVENE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THRIPS PALMI 4.- PASTORS FOR PEACE READY TO CROSS INTO CANADA ON WEDNESDAY 5.- HEART TRANSPLANTS MAKE NEWS AGAIN IN CUBA 6.- HAVANA BECOMES LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN TOURISM CAPITAL 7.- ARGENTINIAN SENATE'S LEADER ARRIVED TUESDAY IN HAVANA 8.- RICE HARVESTING GROWS CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO MEETS WITH CHINESE DEPUTY PREMIER LI LANQING, AS BOTH COUNTRIES SIGN IMPORTANT BILATERAL ACCORDS Havana, May 13(RHC)-- Chinese Deputy Premier Li Lanqing met with Cuban President Fidel Castro and signed several investment and cooperation accords shortly before wrapping up his official visit to the island. Lanqing's delegation, comprised of 35 business representatives, signed the first agreement on Chinese investment in Cuba's thriving tourism industry. The two countries will form a joint enterprise for the construction of a hotel and a Chinese restaurant at the island's Varadero Beach resort. In agriculture, another Cuba-China joint venture will be launched in the planting of more than 12,000 acres of rice in Cuba. China will also increase its supply of fuel to Cuba. And in order accords, China extended a 6 million dollar line of credit to the island and donated 50 diesel engines and a digital telephone center with 10,000 lines to the special municipality of the Isle of Youth, including technical assistance. The Chinese deputy premier said that both large and small countries have the same rights in the struggle for development. Lanquing's visit comes on the heels of a visit to Cuba by high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official Huang Ju, who met with President Castro on two occasions during his 6-day visit. Deputy Premier Lanqing continued his Latin American tour today, which will also include Colombia, Chile and Argentina. CUBA REJECTS SPAIN'S INVITATION TO `OBSERVE' IBEROAMERICAN PARLIAMENTARY CONFERENCE, TO WHICH CUBA IS A FULL MEMBER Havana, May 13(RHC)-- The President of Cuba's Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, has rejected an invitation from Spain to participate as an observer in an upcoming Iberoamerican Parliamentary Conference. In a letter to the leaders of Spain's Lower House and Senate, Alarcon recalled that in previous such conferences, Cuba participated as a full member. Alarcon reminded his Spanish counterparts that Cuba is no longer a colony of Spain, and Spain is no longer a colonial metropolis. The head of Cuba's National Assembly also pointed out that in none of the 6 previous conferences was Spain, nor any other country, given the authority to decide who will participate and in what quality. Alarcon said that assuming this authority constitutes an arbitrary act and a unilateral appropriation of responsibilities that have nothing to do with the spirit of Iberoamerican solidarity, and much less with democracy. Cuba's top lawmaker said that to quietly accept such an invitation would be equivalent to accepting an insult against the Cuban people, adding that Cuba will adopt the pertinent measures. Relations between Cuba and Spain have deteriorated since the election of right wing Popular Party leader Jose Maria Aznar. CUBA WILL CONVENE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THRIPS PALMI Havana, May 13(RHC)-- Cuba will soon hold an international conference on the Thrips Palmi, an insect which destroys agricultural crops and which was recently detected in western areas of the island. According to the Cuban Minister of Agriculture Alfredo Jordan, the conference will be held later this month with the participation of experts from all of the countries where the plague has been discovered. Jordan told journalists that the aim of the conference will be to discuss common methods to confront the destructive insect, which attacks numerous crops. Last week, Cuba revealed that the Thrips Palmi had been purposefully introduced on the island by the United States. Accusing Washington of biological warfare, Cuba denounced the U.S. for introducing the plague, which had never before been detected on the island. PASTORS FOR PEACE READY TO CROSS INTO CANADA ON WEDNESDAY Buffalo, May 13(RHC)-- The U.S. religious/solidarity group Pastors for Peace is poised on the border with Mexico and Canada... ready to deliver aid to Cuba for the island's children. The group will cross from San Diego, California into Mexico and from Buffalo, New York into Canada. The Canadian border crossing is set for tomorrow, Wednesday. In San Diego -- where the group will cross into Mexico on Friday, the 16th -- the caravanistas have been receiving threats from the ultra right-wing Cuban American organization Alpha 66, who have picketted the church where the Pastors are staying and have made threatening phone calls. Ellen Burnstein, an organizer and spokesperson for Pastors for Peace, told reporters that the threats "will not stop the group from delivering medicines, computers, school supplies, toys, a mobile library, more than 50,000 eyeglasses and hundreds of musical instruments to the children of Cuba." HEART TRANSPLANTS MAKE NEWS AGAIN IN CUBA Havana, May 13(RHC)-- After a two-year pause due to economic reasons, the Cuban heart-transplant program is back on track. 36 hours after receiving a "new" heart at the Havana-based Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, 34 year-old mechanic Pablo Miranda, is reported in estable condition. The transplant was performed by professor Noel Gonzalez, the first surgeon who conducted such an operation on the island in 1985. The patient suffered from a heart condition that progressively led to the loss of his heart's pumping capacity and the only possible cure was through a transplant. Santa Clara's surgical hospital -in central Cuba- played a most important role in the success of the operation, it guaranteed the speedy shipment to Havana of the donated organ. >From 1985 to 1994, 94 heart transplants were performed in Cuba. The island's economic crunch sparked by the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe and the reinforcement of Washington's blockade against the island prompted the interruption of heart transplants, operations that are performed internationally at an average cost of 250 thousand dollars. Heart transplants as the rest of surgical operations and treatments are free of charge on the island. 15 Cubans are presently living with a transplanted heart, and the Ministry of Public Heath covers the thousand dollar worth of anti-rejection medication that these patients have to take for life. HAVANA BECOMES LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN TOURISM CAPITAL Havana, May 13(RHC)-- With an appeal to regional integration, the 40th congress of the Confederation of Latin American Tourism Organizations or COTAL got underway Monday night in Havana. In his address to the innaugural ceremony, COTAL's president, Alvaro de la Espriella, stressed the organization's role in developing tourism in the region over the past 40 years. For his part, Cuba's Tourism Minister, Osmany Cienfuegos, spoke of the importance of boosting Latin American tourism as a way to better spread our region's cultural wealth. Up next RHC's Damian Rafael brings more details about the convention and COTAL's congress first session today: "Some two thousand five hundred people from 58 countries are taking part in the 18th Cuba 97 Tour Convention and the 40th Congress of Latin American Tour Organizations Confederation here in Havana. Tuesday's session focussed mainly on two special presentations on Cuba's westernmost province of Pinar del Rio and its new tour product the Water Route and on eastern Holguin Province. Special presentations on the King's Gardens or the northern keys of the central Ciego de Avila province, eastern Santiago de Cuba and central Cienfuegos will also be included on the convention's agenda during this week. This tour gathering is focussing this time on promoting Cuba's provinces, their tour potentials and their beauty and infrastructure. The COTAL congress is focussing on internal issues of the organization which will renovate its leadership" ARGENTINIAN SENATE'S LEADER ARRIVED TUESDAY IN HAVANA Havana, May 13(RHC)-- The president of the Argentinian Senate, Eduardo Menem, arrived in Havana Tuesday for a five-day official visit. While in Cuba, Senator Menem, brother of the Argentinian president Carlos Menem will hold talks with the president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, on bilateral parliamentarian relations. Senator Menen will also hold talks with other high ranking government officials like Foreign Minister, Roberto Robaina, and Health Minister, Dr Carlos Dotres. While in Cuba, the Argentinan Senator will visit the Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, the Ministry of Foreign Investment and Cooperation, the office of Havana's Historian and Varadero tourism ressort. Cuba is the first leg of Senator Menem's Latin American tour that includes Venezuela, where he will partipate in a meeting of the Latin Parliament, Parlatino. RICE HARVESTING GROWS Havana, May 13(RHC)-- Cuba's agricultural authorities efforts to boost rice production are yielding result. Agriculture Minister, Alfredo Jordan, has announced the island is in conditions to harvest 2 hundred thousand tons of rice this year, 55 thousand tons more than in 1996. Jordan said the island saw the recovery of rice production in 1995 highly affected by the US economic blockade against Cuba. The revitalization of plantations thanks to European and Chinese financing is the cause behind the promissing results. [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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