CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA November 26 , 1997 rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taking from Radio Havana Cuba's English language service for Wednesday, November 26, 1997. Today's stories; 1.- CUBAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH RELIGIOUS REPRESENTATIVES FROM EVANGELICAL, PROTESTANT AND JEWISH CHURCHES 2.- W.H.O. DIRECTOR HIROSHI NAKAJIMA CALLS ON OTHER COUNTRIES TO LEARN FROM CUBA'S EXAMPLE IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR 3.- CUBA ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT OF F.A.O. COUNCIL 4.- 89 ELECTORAL DISTRICTS SET UP FOR UPCOMING GENERAL ELECTIONS 5.- VISITING CUBAN FIRST VICE PRESIDENT AND DEFENSE MINISTER RAUL CASTRO VISITS CHINESE CENTRAL PROVINCE OF CANTON 6.- CUBA WILL NOT ALLOW ITS CITIZENS TO OPEN CAPITALIST ENTERPRISES ON THE ISLAND, SAYS ARTICLE IN WEDNESDAY'S EDITION OF GRANMA 7.- CUBAN OIL SHIPPING COMPANY WILL CONTRIBUTE EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS TO THE CUBAN ECONOMY. 8.- 1997 NATIONAL LITERATURE PRIZE GRANTED TO CUBAN POET CARILDA OLIVER LABRA 9.- MORE MEXICAN TOURISTS TO VISIT CUBA THIS YEAR 10. TWELVE HOURS OF NON-STOP MUSIC AGAINST THE US BLOCKADE CUBAN PRESIDENT MEETS WITH RELIGIOUS REPRESENTATIVES FROM EVANGELICAL, PROTESTANT AND JEWISH CHURCHES Havana, November 26(RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro held talks Tuesday with 70 representatives from the 54 Evangelical, Protestant and Jewish churches operating in Cuba. For over 10 hours, the Cuba leader conversed with the religious representatives on current church-state relations and construction and refurbishing efforts being undertaken in various churches on the island. Church leaders expressed to the Cuban president their fellowship's commitment to support the Revolution and national unity and also evaluated the progress made since the first such encounter was held in 1990. At the end of the meeting, Reverend Oden Marichal, President of the Cuban Council of Churches, presented the Cuban leader with a valuable and unusual edition of the bible. Its dedication included a thought by Colombian priest-guerrilla fighter Camilo Torres: Being a christian and not being revolutionary is living in mortal sin. W.H.O. DIRECTOR HIROSHI NAKAJIMA CALLS ON OTHER COUNTRIES TO LEARN FROM CUBA'S EXAMPLE IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR Havana, Nov. 26th (RHC) -- In Havana, the director of the World Health Organization, Doctor Hiroshi Nakajima, has called on other nations to follow the example and experience of Cuba in the development of an integral health care system. Speaking before the 6th International Seminar on Primary Health Care, Nakajima said that especially those countries whose health care systems are trapped in a process of deterioration should carefully study the Cuban experience and the reasons why Cuba has had so much success. He said top among those reasons has been the political commitment of the Cuban government. The WHO director said Cuba planned an all-embarking infrastructure and health system that guarantees free and universal access to its services, from the family doctor to highly specialized attention comparable -- and in many cases superior -- to those existing in developed nations. Doctor Nakajima also asserted that health reforms are too frequently based on spending cutbacks aimed at saving. This, he said, runs the risk of defining efficiency only in monetary terms, while forgetting social equity. The director of the World Health Organization also recognized what he called Cuba's noteworthy efforts to reform its own health care system, in line with the island's recent macroeconomic measures, without jeopardizing human equity and solidarity. CUBA ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT OF F.A.O. COUNCIL Rome, November 26(RHC)-- Cuba will chair one of the vice- presidencies of the Food and Agriculture Organization's Council, after being elected unanimously by the organization's 114 member countries. Juan Nuiry, Cuban Ambassador to the international body, will represent the island on the council. Japan and Cameroon were chosen to occupy the other two vice- presidencies. Indonesian Minister of Agriculture, Sjarisudin Baharsyah, will be presiding over FAO's Council activities. 89 ELECTORAL DISTRICTS SET UP FOR UPCOMING GENERAL ELECTIONS Havana, November 26(RHC)-- The National Electoral commission is taking measures to guarantee smooth voting in January's General Elections. A total of 89 electoral districts have been set up to operate in 29 municipalities. According to a Council of State decree adopted in October, electoral districts are created in areas where the population exceeds 100 thousand inhabitants. Meanwhile next Friday, Municipal Assemblies will be meeting in extraordinary sessions to nominate candidates for delegates to the provincial assemblies and deputies for the national parliament. Delegates to the municipal assemblies will approve their area's final electoral slates for provincial and national elections, based on proposals made by slate-making commissions. Delegates to provincial assemblies and deputies to the national parliament will serve for a 5-year term. VISITING CUBAN FIRST VICE PRESIDENT AND DEFENSE MINISTER RAUL CASTRO VISITS CHINESE CENTRAL PROVINCE OF CANTON Havana, Nov. 26th (RHC) -- In the continuation of his official visit to China, Cuban First Vice President and Defense Minister Raul Castro visited today an industrial exposition in the central province of Canton. The exhibit took place in Shenzhen, Canton's special economic zone, where the First Vice President of Cuba's Council of State will also visit Chinese firms using the latest technology. Raul Castro said the progress he's seen in Canton demonstrates the viability of the economic reforms begun by China. His two week visit is slated to wind up next Sunday. CUBA WILL NOT ALLOW ITS CITIZENS TO OPEN CAPITALIST ENTERPRISES ON THE ISLAND, SAYS ARTICLE IN WEDNESDAY'S EDITION OF GRANMA Havana, November 26(RHC)-- An article in Cuba's Granma news daily reiterated today that Cuba will not allow citizens to open capitalist enterprises on the island as part of its economic reforms. Cuban Academic Raul Valdes Vivo wrote that contrary to what some foreign observers suggest, and enemies of Cuba in the United States proclaim, there is no contradiction in Cuba's policy of allowing foreign capital participation in the national economy while prohibiting Cuban nationals from also participating. He said the reasons are not just economic, but also political and ideological. The academic recalled that Cuba was forced to resort to foreign capital investment against its own will, prompted mainly by the need to obtain fresh capital, technology, and access to markets, something that Cuban nationals could not have provided. At the same time, wrote Valdes Vivo, Cuba does not want a return of an exploitative national class that would function on the basis of advice and support from abroad. The article notes that creating economic conditions for the emergence of a national bourgeoisie would be paving the way for the introduction of a social force that sooner or later would serve counterrevolutionary interests. The article quotes President Fidel Castro, who at the recently concluded 5th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party said that " Cuba cannot afford the existence of a new class of rich that would later acquire great power and end up conspiring against Socialism ". But political and ideological considerations aside, says Valdes Vivo, small and medium-sized private companies in Cuba would have to resort to an over-exploitation of labor in order to be profitable. The demand abroad that Cuba adopt a market economy, states the article, is part of a broader strategy to destroy the Cuban revolution. That strategy also includes the demand of a multiparty system to divide the nation and destroy the unity that has allowed it to survive unprecedented challenges and economic aggression. Cuban academic Raul Valdes Vivo concludes his article in the Granma newspaper by noting that accepting the argument that the state could always put limits to private companies if it wanted to, would be tantamount to voluntarily acquiring a disease because there are medications one could take to keep it from becoming worse. CUBAN OIL SHIPPING COMPANY WILL CONTRIBUTE EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS TO THE CUBAN ECONOMY. Havana, November 26 (RHC)-- The Cuban oil shipping company PETROCOST which was set up more than 3 years ago with 14 old tankers, will contribute eight million dollars to the island's economy this year. PETROCOST transports oil and byproducts throughout the island. Though subsidized by the Cuban government, the shipping company has contracted its surplus capacities on the international market to obtain revenues in hard currency to help finance its operations and make profits. PETROCOST Director, Antonio Rodriguez, said that the company's ingenuity helped improve the technical status of the fleet with domestic technical and financial resources. PETROCOST tankers average 17 years of operations. 1997 NATIONAL LITERATURE PRIZE GRANTED TO CUBAN POET CARILDA OLIVER LABRA Havana, November 26 (RHC)-- The National Literature Prize for 1997 was bestowed upon renowned Cuban poet Carilda Oliver Labra in recognition of her literary work and intellectual merit. The Cuban Book Institute's Literature Division said that the prize granted to Oliver represents a fair evaluation of her excellent poetic work and recognizes her profound love for her country's identity, her people and the Revolution. MORE MEXICAN TOURISTS TO VISIT CUBA THIS YEAR Mexico City, November 26 (RHC)-- The flow of Mexican tourists to Cuba will rise to 50 thousand this year, 15 thousand more than in 1996. That represents a 42 percent increase, according to the Cuban Tour Promotion Office in Mexico. Before the Mexican economic crisis, the country sent some 70 thousand visitors to Cuba annually. The Cuban tour office also predicts that a similar number of Mexican tourists will spend their vacations on the sunny Caribbean island next year. TWELVE HOURS OF NON-STOP MUSIC AGAINST THE US BLOCKADE Barcelona (26 Nov) RHC -- In the Spanish city of Barcelona, friends of Cuba are preparing what some call a musical message against a political absurdity. Forty musical groups --from salsa to rock to Latin American music and more-- will take a turn on the stage of the city's Sport's Palace this week-end in a twelve-hour music marathon against the US's blockade against Cuba. The superproduction is being organized by the "Defendamos a Cuba" Spanish solidarity organization, with the support of local trade unions, the Spanish General Workers Confederation, and the Barcelona City Council. Proceeds from the twelve-hour extravaganza will be used to purchase powdered milk for Cuban children. [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. For the complete RADIO HAVANA CUBA NEWSCAST and other features, please write for our daily broadcast schedule. We welcome your comments and suggestions. For further information, contact us at: Postal Address: Radio Havana Cuba P.O.Box 6240 Havana, Cuba Telephone: (53) (7) 814243 Fax: (53) (7) 812927 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org WWW: http://www.radiohc.org