CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA November 17, 1997 rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taken from Radio Havana Cuba's English language service for Monday, November 17, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN DEFENSE MINISTER AND VICE PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL OF STATE, RAUL CASTRO, ARRIVES IN CHINA FOR OFFICIAL VISIT 2.- LATIN AMERICAN EPISCOPAL COUNCIL AGAIN CONDEMNS WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE OF CUBA 3.- OUTDOOR CATHOLIC MASSES CONTINUE IN CUBA 4.- HAVANA CELEBRATES ITS 478TH BIRTHDAY 5.- GAS-POWERED VEHICLES TO INCREASE CIRCULATION IN HAVANA 6.- STUDENTS FROM MORE THAN 30 COUNTRIES STUDYING IN CUBA HOLD MEETING 7.- CUBAN LABORATORIES CONTINUE DEVLOPING VACCINES 8.- MIAMI HERALD ASSERTS THAT RECENT WAVE OF TERRORIST BOMBINGS IN HAVANA THE WORK OF SALVADORAN CRIMINALS AND CUBAN EXILES IN EL SALVADOR AND MIAMI CUBAN DEFENSE MINISTER AND VICE PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL OF STATE, RAUL CASTRO, ARRIVES IN CHINA FOR OFFICIAL VISIT Havana, November 17(RHC)-- Cuban Defense Minister and Vice President of the Council of State, Raul Castro, arrived Sunday in China for his first official visit to that Asian nation. He first stopped over in the province of Xinjiang, of large deserts, mountains and rich in mineral resources. Xinjiang is also China's largest territory, taking up one-sixth of the country, with borders with 8 nations and populated by 47 ethnic groups. The delegation accompanying the Second Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party includes Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina and Commandante of the Revolution, Ramiro Valdes. During the welcoming ceremony, Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro said that for Cuba and China, nations that build socialism based on their respective realities, friendship and solidarity naturally springs up from the similarity of the two nations' convictions. The Army General said his trip is aimed at broadening and intensifying relations between the two countries in all spheres. Cuba's First Vice President will be officially welcomed Tuesday in Beijing in the Great Palace of the People, where he will meet with Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng. LATIN AMERICAN EPISCOPAL COUNCIL AGAIN CONDEMNS WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE OF CUBA Havana, November 17(RHC)-- At the Vatican, the Latin American Episcopal Council has again condemned Washington's blockade of Cuba, asserting that it is an injustice hitting particularly hard at the poorest sectors on the island. The Council's President, Honduran Archbishop Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga said embargoes are not adequate responses to problems because they make the poor suffer and don't produce the desired effect. He said what should be embargoed is the sale of weapons. The Honduran Archbishop is in Rome for a one month gathering of Bishops from throughout the Americas. The President of the Latin American Episcopal Council said the Church does not defend any particular political system, but rather the freedom of peoples to choose their own system. In reference to the upcoming visit to Cuba of Pope John Paul II, Rodriguez Maradiaga said it constitutes a significant support to Cuba's local church authorities. Democracy is on the agenda of the Bishops gathering in the Vatican, but according to the Honduran Archbishop, a formal democracy that merely derives in periodic elections is not sufficient. What is needed, he asserted, is democratic participation in the diverse spheres of public life, and not just the participation of the state. OUTDOOR CATHOLIC MASSES CONTINUE IN CUBA Havana, November 17(RHC)-- A series of outdoor catholic masses continue in Cuba as part of preparations for the upcoming visit of Pope John Paul II in January. The Sacred Heart Church in the Vibora neighborhood in Havana, was the site of a mass on Sunday attended by more than 5 thousand people. Havana's Cardinal Jaime Ortega said that the mass and paid tribute to the image of the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba's patron saint, currently touring several churches in the Cuban capital. Cardinal Ortega stressed the importance of the Pope's visit and urged believers and non-believers, as well as catholic and non- catholic Cubans, to forge sentiment of fraternity in their hearts to make all Cubans feel like brothers and sisters. Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba is slated to run from January 21st through the 25th, and the Holy father is expected to say mass outdoors in several provinces of the island. HAVANA CELEBRATES ITS 478TH BIRTHDAY Havana, November 17(RHC)-- Havana's 478 birthday was marked over the week-end with concerts, and the premiering of a new lighting system for the Morro Castle, one of the island's most beautiful historic landmarks. The City's Old Havana Section, declared a World heritage site by UNESCO in 1982, is currently undergoing a comprehensive refurbishing process, under the direction of the Office of the City's Historian Eusebio Leal. Colonial mansions, fortresses and squares are gradually recovering their beauty, and more than 3 thousand homes have been repaired thanks to the cooperation of national and international institutions. According to Havana Provincial government officials, the city with 2.1 million inhabitants, one of the most populated in the Caribbean, in the past 4 years has received more than 55 million dollars in donations for cooperation projects. The money has been used to repair schools, health care facilities and to improve the city's ancient sewage system. GAS-POWERED VEHICLES TO INCREASE CIRCULATION IN HAVANA Havana, November 17(RHC)-- Some 300 vehicles operated by state enterprises will soon be circulating in Havana, thanks to the opening of a natural gas filling station for their regular supply, announced the Juventud Rebelde Weekly newspaper on Sunday. Cuba's Transportation Ministry has introduced natural gas as an alternative to oil based gasoline, due to its sound ecological properties and because it's available in 70% of the island's territory, Osvaldo Garcia executive of the Trans-Eco firm, in charge of the project, told the newspaper. The first ServGas filling station- using British and New Zealand technology, will be located in the coastal town of Guanabo and will sell a cubic meter of natural gas for 0,20 US cents. According to experts, some of the advantages of natural gas is that it extends engine lives, and makes spark plugs and oil last longer. However, gas-powered vehicles will be more limited in their movement than gasoline-powered vehicles. Cuban experts say they will continue working on the improvement of natural gas as a source of power generation. STUDENTS FROM MORE THAN 30 COUNTRIES STUDYING IN CUBA HOLD MEETING Camaguey, November 17(RHC)-- The need to democratize the United Nations and expand the UN Security Council were some of the principal pronouncements made by the 2nd Students World Assembly, concluding its sessions in the Eastern province of Camaguey today. More than a hundred students from some 30 countries who are currently studying on the island, held talks on the prospects for discussions at the United Nations on University reform and the need for students to be represented in UN-related organizations. Jose Luis Bedregal, Executive Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Students organization, stressed to the gathering the need to reorganize the World Students Movement and expressed his organization's opposition to the United States blockade against Cuba. The first event of this type was held in Havana in 1995. CUBAN LABORATORIES CONTINUE DEVLOPING VACCINES Havana, November 17(RHC)-- The Cuban program for the development of new vaccines is going ahead full steam, according to representatives of different Cuban laboratories gathered in Havana at a Scientific exchange over the weekend. According to Gustavo Sierra, head of the experts team of the national vaccination program, the third cycle of trials of vaccine prototypes against cholera have began on human volunteers. So far the vaccinations have proved to be safe, innocuous and have provoked strong reactions to the virus. Sierra praised the cooperation currently existing among the island's institutions working on vaccines, and noted that Cuba is currently one of the world's three manufactures of a recombinant vaccine against Meningitis B. The island, he stressed has the capability to transfer manufacturing technology for the Meningitis B vaccine to other countries. The Deputy director of the renown Havana-based Finlay Institute added that clinical trials on the first preventive vaccine against AIDS continue, as well as on therapeutical variants against this disease and cancer. Meanwhile, Doctor Augustin Lage, Director of Havana's Molecular Immunology center, told the gathering that of the 24 vaccines against cancer being studied worldwide, three are Cuban. Cuban scientists have received international recognition for their work in vaccination development. Cuban children are currently protected against more than 10 common children's diseases, and often fatal illnesses of meningitis and hepatitis B. MIAMI HERALD ASSERTS THAT RECENT WAVE OF TERRORIST BOMBINGS IN HAVANA THE WORK OF SALVADORAN CRIMINALS AND CUBAN EXILES IN EL SALVADOR AND MIAMI Havana, November 17(RHC)-- A front page feature article in the Sunday edition of The Miami Herald asserted that a wave of terrorist bombings in Cuba last Summer was the work of a ring of Salvadoran car thieves and armed robber, and financed by Cuban exiles in El Salvador and Miami. Confirming Cuban authorities assurances of the Salvadoran-Miami- Cuban Maffia connection in the hotel bombings, the Florida news daily said it reached this conclusion after a two-month investigation that involved dozens of interviews with security officials, friends of the bombers, Cuban exiles and others in El Salvador, Miami, Guatemala and Honduras. The ring leader, according to The Miami Herald, is Francisco Chavez, described by the daily as the son of an arms dealer with close ties to Cuban exiles and a pistol-packing ruffian who apparently was in Havana just hours before the first bomb exploded. But, according to the daily, the Salvadorans were only delivery boys for the bombs, paid and taught to assemble the explosives by Cuban-American Luis Posada Carriles -- a veteran of the CIA's secret war against Cuba. Carriles was also described as an explosives expert in his 60s who was the key link between El Salvador and the South Florida Cuban-Americans who raised 15 thousand dollars for the operation. The Herald asserted having obtained police records concerning an investigation into the suspected criminal activities of Chavez, Jose Eduardo Ramirez, Victor M. Palma and Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon --the Salvadoran arrested in Havana last September, accused of planting some of the bombs. The Miami Herald article describes Palma as an indiscreet braggart who was especially open in telling people at a gun range last December that the group was preparing for clandestine trips to Cuba. Salvadoran immigration and airline records, according to the feature article, show that Chavez had tickets to visit Havana last April and last December. On his last recorded trip, reports the news daily, Chavez's ticket had him leaving Havana about 12 hours before the first bomb exploded. The Herald asserted that half a dozen witnesses said Chavez also arranged the two trips that Cruz Leon made to Havana in July and August. The Herald, though fails to charge that the terrorist campaign was financed by Jorge Mas Canosa's ultra-right wing Cuban American National Foundation. [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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