CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA November 7, 1997 rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taking from Radio Havana Cuba's news service for Friday, November 7, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO ARRIVES AT VENEZUELA'S MARGARITA ISLAND FOR 7TH IBEROAMERICAN SUMMIT 2.- AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, CUBAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT RICARDO ALARCON SAYS US BLOCKADE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WORD DEMOCRACY 3.- MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLIES TO NOMINATE CANDIDATES FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS 4.- COLLISION OF TRAIN WITH PUBLIC BUS IN HOLGUIN PROVINCE, CLAIMS MORE THAN 50 LIVES. 5.- THE TIGHTER THE US BLOCKADE, THE MORE FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES ATTEND HAVANA INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR, SAYS CARLOS LAGE 6.- NEW HOTEL OPENS ITS DOORS IN CAYO COCO, JAPANESE TRAVEL AGENCY OPENS OFFICE IN HAVANA 7.- LATIN AMERICAN PARLIAMENT PERMANENT COMMISSIONS WILL MEET IN HAVANA NEXT WEEK CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO ARRIVES AT VENEZUELA'S MARGARITA ISLAND FOR 7TH IBEROAMERICAN SUMMIT Margarita Island, November 7(RHC)--Along with other regional leaders and invited guests, Cuban President Fidel Castro arrived today at Venezuela's Margarita Island to participate in the 7th Iberoamerican Summit. The arrival of presidents and heads of state came amid intense security measures, with the island's international airport closed to commercial aircraft, Venezuelan warships ringing the island and army troops stationed throughout the streets and highways. Representing 520 million people in Iberoamerica, the heads of state and government will wind up their gathering on Sunday with a final document centered fundamentally on ethics, democracy, development and cooperation. Interesting to note in the final document is the exclusion of support for the Summit of the Americas, slated for next March in Chile, due to Cuba's absence from that forum. It's also expected that the Iberoamerican leaders will include in the final document an even more explicit condemnation, with respect to last year, of Washington's blockade of Cuba and the Helms-Burton Law. Other issues on the agenda include poverty, equality of opportunities for men and women, narco trafficking, terrorism and the arms race. Iberoamerican leaders, including President Fidel Castro, will deliver brief speeches on Saturday, which will also see the beginning of the official, closed-door sessions. In other news, labor representatives of Latin America, Spain and Portugal have drawn up a document demanding that the Iberoamerican Summits establish a forum of social dialogue with the participation of labor -- just as occurs with the Iberoamerican forums of business leaders. In a gathering at Margarita Island organized by the Regional Interamerican Workers Organization and the Venezuelan Workers Federation, labor leaders stressed that the process of economic integration cannot advance without the participation of workers. AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, CUBAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT RICARDO ALARCON SAYS US BLOCKADE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WORD DEMOCRACY New York, November 7(RHC)--At a press conference late Thursday at United Nations headquarters, Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon insisted that Washington's blockade against Cuba began when the term democracy was a bad word in the US's ruling circles. At that time, said Alarcon, Washington was organizing and supporting military coups in Latin America and providing ample financial support for the region's repressive military regimes. For that and many other reasons, said the Cuban official, Cuba does not have to make any concessions to the United States for an end to criminal and illegal anti-Cuba policies. Alarcon, who on Wednesday presented Cuba's anti-blockade resolution before the UN General Assembly, commented on the report distributed that same day by special rapporteur, Swedish Carl-Johan Groth, calling it a manipulation, based on bad faith, while at the same time questioning the coincidence of the report's circulation and the overwhelming vote against the blockade. Asked if Cuba would accept another, more responsible special rapporteur, Alarcon insisted that there are no reasons justifying the designation of a special human rights observer for Cuba. He recalled Cuba's invitation to Geneva's human rights commission to visit the island, after which the commission reported that there was no reason to adopt special procedures with respect to Cuba. Alarcon said he didn't know if Carl Johan Groth was an agent or if he was being paid, but, he added the special rapporteur certainly deserves to be on Washington's payroll. In response to a question concerning charges of persecution in Cuba against the right of freedom of expression, Cuba's top legislator and former Foreign Relations Minister pointed to the external financing provided to small groups in Cuba called dissidents. Alarcon said that it was in Washington where the decisions were made concerning the support of and financing for these groups. As an example, the Cuban official said the US congress is currently studying the possibility of annually providing 2 million dollars for these groups. He said any country in the world would call these ill- named dissidents agents of a foreign power. If the situation were reversed, pointed out Alarcon -- if Cuba or any other country were to finance groups inside the US for the purpose of undermining US society, the US Congress could implement close to a dozen existing laws to punish those persons. In reference to the overwhelming General Assembly vote against the blockade, Alarcon pointed out that Cuba's resolution received the support of all regions of the planet, all economic and sub-regional groups --including close US allies like Japan, which last year abstained but this year voted in favor of ending the blockade. In response to Washington's insistence on maintaining the blockade despite universal condemnation, Alarcon pointed to many other General Assembly resolutions resisted by certain nations that later became reality, including the 20 years it took to recognize China's full rights in the world body, the resolutions against the South African apartheid system and those in favor of the independence of the former Portuguese colonies like Angola and Mozambique. Sooner or later, said Ricardo Alarcon -- and hopefully sooner, he added -- the blockade will have to be lifted. MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLIES TO NOMINATE CANDIDATES FOR GENERAL ELECTIONS Havana, November 7(RHC)-- The Cuban Council of State, has issued an instruction on the nomination of candidates for delegates to the provincial assemblies, and deputies for the National Assembly of the People's Power--the island's parliament. According to the ordinance, Municipal assemblies will meet on November 28th in an extraordinary session to evaluate the proposals made by each municipality's slate-making commissions on the candidates for the municipalities representation at the provincial government and the national parliament. Slate making commissions are made up of trade union representatives, students, women, and campesino organizations. The Cuban communist party is not involved in the nomination of candidates at any level of the island's electoral process. General elections are slated to take place on the island on January 11. COLLISION OF TRAIN WITH PUBLIC BUS IN HOLGUIN PROVINCE, CLAIMS MORE THAN 50 LIVES. Holguin, November 7(RHC)-- A tragic traffic accident has claimed the lives of more than 50 people in the Eastern Cuban province of Holguin. The Thursday morning disaster,-being described as one of the worst of its kind in Cuba in the last 20 years- occurred when bus driver Juan Carlos Santos, fail to heed a railroad crossing stop sign, and the bus was smashed by a passing 16-car Havana- Santiago train. The initial death toll was of 56, including two children. Immediately after the accident, dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the scene, and the injured were taken to the Vladimir Ilich Lenin provincial Hospital of Holguin, where several are being reported in critical condition. Funeral services for the victims were held Friday morning, provincial party leaders from Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas were on hand to express their condolences to relatives of the diseased, most of whom were bus passengers from the municipality of San German, in Holguin Province. The Ministries of Transportation and the Interior are currently investigating the causes that led to the catastrophe. THE TIGHTER THE US BLOCKADE, THE MORE FOREIGN REPRESENTATIVES ATTEND HAVANA INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR, SAYS CARLOS LAGE Havana, November 7(RHC)-- Cuban vice President Carlos Lage says that the tighter the US blockade against Cuba, the greater the foreign participation in the International Havana Trade Fair. Lage made the statements as he toured Canada's pavilion at the ExpoCuba Exhibit grounds, site of the event. The Cuban leader noted that Havana's International Trade Fair is a demonstration of the island's efforts to curb the economic crisis. Referring to Cuba-Canada relations, the Executive Secretary of the Council of Ministers, stressed that they are not short-termed or junctural, but the accumulation of more than 52 years of uninterrupted ties. Canada, he explained is currently Cuba's third most important trading partner, and that bilateral exchange has increased 18% this year. He added that Canada is actively involved in the island's economic opening, participating in 41 mixed enterprises and economic associations, 14% of the amount of such entities operating in the country. Meanwhile, Canada's Ambassador to Cuba, Keith Christie noted that this is Canada's greatest participation in Havana's International Trade Fair, with more than 80 companies , and he stressed that Cuban entrepreneurs can rely on their Canadian counterparts. Thursday, Cuban Foreign Trade minister Ricardo Cabrisas signed a commercial agreement with Henry Kajura, Uganda's Minister of Trade and Industries. The Cuban Chamber of Commerce also signed cooperation agreements with Uganda and South Korea. The 15th Havana International Trade Fair is conferring its prizes Friday evening. The event, being attended by more than 1900 companies from 61 countries will wind up Sunday. NEW HOTEL OPENS ITS DOORS IN CAYO COCO, JAPANESE TRAVEL AGENCY OPENS OFFICE IN HAVANA Cayo Coco, November 7(RHC)--A new 270 room hotel will open its doors in Cayo Coco, a newly developed resort, off the coast of the eastern province Ciego de Avila. The 5-star Sol Club Hotel is the 5th hotel to open on Cayo Coco key and is property of the Cuban Gran Caribe hotel chain. It will be managed by the Spanish firm Sol Melia. Currently, there are 1,400 rooms available in the emerging Cuban resort. In other tourism related news, the Japanese travel agency Transorbit, has opened an office in Havana. The move is expected to bring more Japanese tourists to the Caribbean island. In the opening ceremony Shigeru Kuriki, President of Transorbit, pointed out that some 2 thousand Japanese are currently visiting the island annually, and there are expectations that number will increase in the near future. The Japanese businessman praised Cuba's natural beauties, its people's hospitality and its rich historical and cultural heritage, all good reasons, he said, to encourage the Japanese tourists to visit the island. LATIN AMERICAN PARLIAMENT PERMANENT COMMISSIONS WILL MEET IN HAVANA NEXT WEEK Havana, November 7(RHC)-- Seven permanent commissions of the Latin American Parliament -Parlatino- will be sessioning in the Cuban capital next week. More than one hundred lawmakers are expected to be on hand for the meetings of the commissions of Political Affairs, Emerging Economies, Labor Affairs, Energy and Mines, Youth and Health and Tourism. In the meeting's final session, lawmakers will assess their countries' contribution to the drafting of a Latin American Law on tourism. [c] 1997. Radio Habana Cuba All rights reserved Articles cannot be reproduced, reprinted or published in any system without the consent of RHC. 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