CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA October 17, 1997 rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Friday, October 17, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- IMMENSE MORAL STATURE OF CHE GUEVARA IS GROWING EVERY DAY; FUNERAL CEREMONIES FOR CHE AND HIS COMRADES IN SANTA CLARA 2.- PRENSA LATINA NEWS AGENCY LAUNCHES NEW CD-ROM ON CHE 3.- WASHINGTON'S HELMS-BURTON LAW FAILS TO INTIMIDATE FOREIGN COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS IN CUBA 4.- CUBA BLASTS ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION AT UNITED NATIONS 5.- CUBA EXPANDS ACCESS TO INTERNET ACROSS THE ISLAND 6.- CHINESE PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION HEADS TO CUBA IMMENSE MORAL STATURE OF CHE GUEVARA IS GROWING EVERY DAY; FUNERAL CEREMONIES FOR CHE AND HIS COMRADES IN SANTA CLARA Santa Clara, October 17(RHC)-- In his keynote address during the final funeral ceremony in Santa Clara for Ernesto Che Guevara and his comrades-in-arms, Cuban President Fidel Castro said we have not gathered here to see them off, but rather, to receive them. In a moving speech before tens of thousands of people at the Ernesto Che Guevara Plaza de la Revolucion, the Cuban leader said Che's "immense moral stature is growing every day." That stature, said Fidel Castro, will continue to grow in the same measure that injustice, poverty, hunger and exploitation continue on the rise -- in the same measure that there is more ignorance, disease and marginalization -- as more demagogic and corrupt politicians determine the destinies of nations and peoples. The leader of the Cuban Revolution said Che's sense of honor and dignity will continue growing as there are more cowards, opportunists and traitors on this planet. He said Che's example will continue to grow particularly in the Third World, which provided the slave labor and the wealth now enjoyed by Western nations, and as those nations continue wasting in luxuries the wealth produced by working men and women. President Castro said Che always demanded of himself what he demanded of others, and was always willing to give his life for his dreams. Had those dreams come true, said the Cuban leader, the world would be a much better place. Fidel Castro said that those who thought that by killing Che they could kill his ideas -- particularly, he said, those in Washington-- were terribly mistaken. The Cuban leader thanked Che for his history and example, and for coming back to Cuba to strengthen the Revolution in these difficult times, to save the very ideals for which Che fought and died. Fidel Castro said Che will always be remembered for his contribution to Cuba's defeat of U.S. imperialist designs on the island, and for his contribution to Cuba's capacity to resist in the face of Washington's blockade. The Cuban leader said that Che is part of Cuba's victory, and one of the reasons why Cuba continues carrying the banner of socialism. Fidel Castro said together with Che and his fallen comrades, Cuba will continue struggling for a better world. The central ceremony for the 30th anniversary of Che's death in battle in Bolivia opened with a solemn tribute to Che with the voices of a children's choir, poetry readings and a song by Silvio Rodriguez, dedicated to Ernesto Che Guevara. Afterwards, the funeral cortege of jeeps carrying the seven coffins slowly filed past military formations as it headed for the special mausoleum, were the remains were deposited in alcoves in the presence of Fidel Castro, other leaders of the Cuban Revolution and the family members of Che, Cubans Alberto Fernandez Montes de Oca, Rene Martinez Tamayo, Carlos Coello and Orlando Pantoja, Bolivian Simeon Cuba and Peruvian Juan Pablo Chang Navarro. In the special mausoleum, there are another 31 alcoves waiting for the remains of the rest of the 38 internationalist combatants who fell in Bolivia. Over the next few months, the remains of 12 other combatants are expected to be exhumed and identified. The ceremony concluded with a military review through Santa Clara's Ernesto Che Guevara Plaza de la Revolucion, followed by a 21-gun salute, and wound up with the sounds of sirens and whistles at Cuban factories and work centers nationwide for a period of 60 seconds. Here in Havana, people could hear the rumblings of the canons at the capital's Morro Castle, overlooking Havana Bay. PRENSA LATINA NEWS AGENCY LAUNCHES NEW CD-ROM ON CHE Santa Clara, October 17(RHC)-- Prensa Latina News Agency has launched the CD-ROM "Che Por Siempre" or "Che Forever" in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara. The 500-page, multi-media document is the result of research by Radio Havana Cuba reporter Victor Perez Galdos and journalist Jose Bodes Gomez. More than five hundred photos of Comandante Che Guevara and a thirty-minute video with the voice of the guerrilla fighter as well as songs dedicated to him are also part of the CD-ROM. The remains of Comandante Guevara and six members of his guerrilla forces -- including a Bolivian and a Peruvian internationalist -- were laid to rest in Santa Clara this morning. Santa Clara, in central Villa Clara province, was the site of one of the most important battles waged by the troops of Comandate Ernesto Che Guevara against Batista's dictatorship in December 1958. Since that time and until the day he left Cuba for Bolivia in 1965, he maintained close links with the city and its residents. WASHINGTON'S HELMS-BURTON LAW FAILS TO INTIMIDATE FOREIGN COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS IN CUBA Havana, October 17(RHC)-- Foreign companies from more than forty nations have started up operations in Cuba since the passage of the Helms-Burton legislation in 1996. The law, as most of our listeners know, is yet another attempt by Washington to internationalize the blockade. Speaking with a reporter from the French "Lemon" Magazine, Cuba's Foreign Investment and Cooperation Minister, Ibrahim Ferradaz, said that another one hundred and forty new projects to set up joint ventures are being evaluated by Cuban authorities. Cuba's Foreign Investment and Cooperation Minister told the French publication that although it is hard to evaluate the effects that Helms-Burton has had on the Cuban economy, "we can easily say that it has failed to accomplish its main goal: scare countries away from doing business with the island." Among the hardest effects on the domestic economy, the Cuban Foreign Investment and Cooperation Minister noted that Washington is hampering access to foreign financing. Ibrahim Ferradez said that Cuba has been forced to get credit at incredibly high rates of interest -- between 15 and 20 percent. CUBA BLASTS ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION AT UNITED NATIONS United Nations, October 17(RHC)-- Cuba has voiced its rejection of the so-called New World Order. Pedro Nunez, said that globalization and the implementation of neoliberal economic models are making it more and more difficult for the vast majority of the world's population to reach the goals set by the Social Development Summit held in Copenhagen in 1995. Addressing the UN General Assembly's session on the evaluation of agreements reached two years ago in Denmark, the Cuban diplomat pointed to unemployment and the unequal distribution of wealth as two of the most pressing problems of today's world. The Cuban representative at the UN emphasized that industrialized nations have donated less than 0.7 percent of their Gross National Products to underdeveloped nations -- while those states waste more than three percent of their budgets on military weapons of destruction. CUBA EXPANDS ACCESS TO INTERNET ACROSS THE ISLAND Havana, October 17(RHC)-- Cuba has announced plans to expand access to the global information network -- INTERNET. Experts are meeting at the 7th Permanent Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Computer Networks, which is taking place parallel to the International Informatic Congress, also underway in Havana. Experts say telecommunications systems are undergoing a complete updating process and the completion of a digital data-transmission network will guarantee connection to the island's fourteen provinces. Since the island hooked up to INTERNET in 1996, national networks stand at fourteen -- distributed among universities, research centers and others. CHINESE PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION HEADS TO CUBA Beijing, October 17(RHC)-- Chinese government authorities are on their way to Latin America. Cuba is the second and last leg of the high-ranking Chinese mission, headed by the President of the Permanent Commission of Beijing's Parliament, Zhang Jianmin. China's parliamentary leader is expected in Havana on October 21st, at the invitation of Cuba's National Assembly. Also as part of the Chinese delegation are members of Beijing's mayoral office. The purpose of the visit is to further contacts and exchanges between the Asian giant and Latin America. [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. 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