CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA October 27, 1997 rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taken from RADIO HAVANA CUBA's International Shortwave Service in English for Monday,October 27, 1997. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO RECEIVES VISITING REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE VATICAN, JOAQUIN NAVARRO VALLS 2.- CUBAN AND BENIN BEGIN IN HAVANA 3RD SESSION OF MIXED COMMISSION ON COOPERATION 3.- NEW MINISTER OF SUGAR INDUSTRY APPOINTED 4.- JUDICIAL AUTHORITIES IN HONDURAS ANNOUNCED INVESTIGATION INTO CONNECTION OF SALVADORAN TERRORIST RAUL ERNESTO CRUZ LEON, ARRESTED IN HAVANA, TO ULTRA RIGHT WING IN MIAMI 5.- CUBAN VICE PRESIDENT CARLOS LAGE CALLS ON LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO BETTER PREPARE FOR BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGAINST THE ISLAND 6.- INTERNATIONAL FOOD DAY FROM HAVANA. 7.- CUBA'S YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP. 8.- ANTHROPOLOGICAL DOCUMENTARY ON THE EXHUMATION OF THE REMAINS OF CHE GUEVARA ATTRACTS THE ATTENTION OF THE PUBLIC AND CRITICS AT ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL. 9.- FORMER CUBAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. COOPERATES WITH BRITISH T.V IN A DOCUMENTARY ON THE MISSILE CRISIS. 10.-RUSSIA WINS THE WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP 11.-HAVANA TO BE PART OF A WORLD FISHING CIRCUIT BY THE YEAR 2,000 CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO RECEIVES VISITING REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE VATICAN, JOAQUIN NAVARRO VALLS Havana, October 27(RHC)-- The chief spokesperson for the Vatican, Joaquin Navarro Valls, was received Sunday by Cuban President Fidel Castro shortly before the delegation wrapped up its visit to the island. In statements to the press following an extensive interview with the Cuban leader, Valls said that he was quite satisfied with his first visit to the island, and left assured that Cuban authorities are willing to do everything necessary so that Pope John Paul II's January visit to Cuba becomes a special moment of a religious character and historic value. Valls also expressed his admiration for what he called President Castro's sensitivity and intellectual versatility with respect numerous issues of international importance. Also before leaving, Valls and the Vatican's head of protocol, Joaquin Navarro participated with Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega -- the Archbishop of Havana -- in the 7th of 12 open-air masses designed to prepare the way for the upcoming visit of Pope John Paul II. Sunday's mass took place in San Antonio de Los Banos, on the outskirts of Havana. CUBAN AND BENIN BEGIN IN HAVANA 3RD SESSION OF MIXED COMMISSION ON COOPERATION Havana, October 27(RHC)-- Cuba and Benin began today in Havana the 3rd session of their mixed commission on cooperation, following the arrival in Havana Sunday of Benin's Foreign Minister, Pierre Osho. On the Cuban side, the gathering is presided over by Jorge Bolanos, First Vice Minister of Foreign Relations, who explained to the Benin delegation Cuba's economic recovery efforts since the crisis in Eastern Europe and the tightening of Washington's blockade against Cuba. Benin's foreign minister, for his part, expressed his satisfaction for being able to visit what he called "the Pearl of the Caribbean", referring to the necessity to relaunch the ties of friendship and solidarity between the two nations. Cuba and Benin maintain diplomatic relations since 1974. Between 1977 and 1991, Cuba has sent 346 experts in diverse fields to than African nation, of them 185 health specialists. To date, Cuban educational institutions have graduated 310 youths from Benin, of them 100 in higher education. 43 are studying on the island. NEW MINISTER OF SUGAR INDUSTRY APPOINTED Havana, October 27(RHC)--The Cuban Government has announced the appointment of a new minister in charge of the sugar industry. A note in Granma newspaper Saturday says that upon the request of the Political Bureau of the Cuban Communist Party, the Council of State agreed to relieve Nelson Torrez Perez of his responsibility as Minister of the Sugar Industry, and to appoint Division General Ulises Rosales del Toro to that post. Until his designation, Rosales del Toro was Chief of Staff of the Cuban Armed Forces and Second in Command to Cuban Defense Minister, Raul Castro. After several years of decline, the Cuban sugar industry grew close to 30 per cent in 1996. But production fell again in the 1997 harvest, when the Island fell short of its targeted 3.5 million tons of sugar. Despite the boom in tourism of the last few years, sugar production continues to be Cuba's number one economic activity. JUDICIAL AUTHORITIES IN HONDURAS ANNOUNCE INVESTIGATION INTO CONNECTION OF SALVADORAN TERRORIST RAUL ERNESTO CRUZ LEON, ARRESTED IN HAVANA, TO ULTRA RIGHT WING IN MIAMI Tegucigalpa, Ocotober 27(RHC)--The chief District Attorney of Honduras, Edmundo Orellana, announced today that local authorities are investigating the possible connection of Salvadoran Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon -- recently arrested in Havana on charges of terrorism -- in terrorist attacks against Honduran President Carlos Reina. Orellana said judicial authorities are looking into the possible connection between Cruz Leon and Cuban-Americans Mario Delamico a known weapons trafficker, and Luis Posada Carriles, a veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion and one of the terrorists behind the bomb that destroyed a civilian airliner in Barbados in 1976, killing of its 73 passengers. Last September 18th, the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald implicated Delamico and Posadas in a terrorist campaign against President Reina, supported by the Honduran military. The campaign was reportedly launched due to armed forces resentment against Reina, who has restricted the institution's power by implementing voluntary military service and placing control of the national police in civilian hands. The ultra right in Miami reportedly targeted Reina for his alleged sympathies with Cuba. On January 28th, 1995, a hand-grenade exploded just 100 meters from where the Honduran president was inaugurating a new hotel. On March 26th, 1996, another grenade destroyed the garage at Reina's private residence in the capital, Tegucigalpa. CUBAN VICE PRESIDENT CARLOS LAGE CALLS ON LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO BETTER PREPARE FOR BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGAINST THE ISLAND Havana, October 27(RHC)--Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage has stressed the importance of an integral and efficient system of health surveillance in the face of biological warfare launched by the US government against the island. In a gathering over the weekend with officials from Cuba's health and agriculture ministries, Lage said that the Thrips Palmi insect -- which Cuba accused Washington of having sprayed last year over the central regions of the island -- has led to the loss of 20 thousand tons of agro produce in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas and Pinar del Rio. Cuba's National Center for Plant Hygiene said that 80 percent of these losses correspond to potato crops, and that agro producers across the national territory are participating in seminars and workshops on how to best defend the crops. Cuba has launched an important planting drive for this winter, the most important season for Cuban agriculture since many crops can't tolerate the island's intense heat during the summer. Alfredo Vidal Novoa, director of the National Center for Plant Hygiene, called the Thrips Palmi plague the worst ever for Cuba. Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage also pointed to the recent appearance of other plagues affecting rice and citrus crops as another example of the permanent biological aggression that Cuba is suffering. INTERNATIONAL FOOD DAY FROM HAVANA. Havana, October 27(RHC)-- The magic of television bridged thousands of miles and an 8-hour time difference between Havana and Rome Sunday, with a giant concert celebrating World Food Day. Habaneros gathered in the La Piragua square -on Havana's sea-side drive or Malecon- to enjoy the music of Cuban salsa stars Los Van Van, singers Amauri Perez and Augusto Enriquez and several Italian bands. At the same time in Rome, a concert featured famed Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso, US pop star Jackson Brown and Italian and Cuban musicians. The simultaneously televised concerts were aimed at raising money for international projects of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization -the FAO- in culture, livestock production and the introduction of low cost production technology. This is the second time Cuba has hosted a simultaneous "Telefood" -as the event is called-in honor of United Nations' World Food Day, October 16th. CUBA'S YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP. Havana, October 27(RHC)-- The National Bureau of Cuba's Young Communist League has elected two new leaders. First Secretary Victoria Velazquez and Second Secretary Luis Alberto Gonzalez have been replaced by Otto Rivero, and Julio Martinez, both members of the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party. The former UJC leaders, Velazquez and Nieto, will enroll in Cuba's National Defense School, one of the island's most prestigious institutions where outstanding young leaders are trained for future government posts. ANTHROPOLOGICAL DOCUMENTARY ON THE EXHUMATION OF THE REMAINS OF CHE GUEVARA ATTRACTS THE ATTENTION OF THE PUBLIC AND CRITICS AT ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL. Trieste, Italy October 27(RHC)-- An anthropological documentary on the exhumation of the remains of Comandante Che Guevara, has caused a sensation at the 12th Latin American Film Festival in Trieste, Italy. The international jury in the video category awarded a special prize to the documentary, "Adios Comandante Che" or "Farewell to Comandante Che" by Argentinean film-maker, Edgardo Cabeza. Cabeza told the Italian press that the documentary is a detailed chronicle on "a week that shook the world" when in July of this year, Cuban and Argentinean experts found, exhumed and identified the remains of guerrilla fighter, Ernesto Che Guevara in the Bolivian locality of Vallegrande. The Argentinean film-maker said that the 52-minute video includes statements by Cuban scientists and anthropologists who conducted the operation. Film-makers also interviewed Bolivian nurse, Susana Osinaga, who cared for Comandate Che's body after his execution on October 9th, 1967 in the Bolivian locality of La Higuera where he was taken with a leg injury after being apprehended by Bolivian soldiers the day before. The author of "Farewell to Comandante Guevara" said that images for the documentary were carefully selected to avoid sensationalism and that respect prevailed among the film- makers. Sources from Italy say that the long lines in front of the theater showing the documentary have forced the organizers of the 12th Latin American Film Festival in Trieste, Italy, to screen the video four times more than was scheduled. FORMER CUBAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N. COOPERATES WITH BRITISH T.V IN A DOCUMENTARY ON THE MISSILE CRISIS. Havana, October 27(RHC)-- Former Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, Carlos Lechuga, appears in the credits of a documentary on the Missile Crisis by the British Jeremy Isaacs Television Production Company. The documentary film-makers -British journalist, Brian Moser, producer and director and Martina Balazova, associate producer- had requested Lechuga's cooperation as an expert on the issue since he was chief of the Cuban mission at the UN during the missile crisis in October of l962. The Missile Crisis -known on the island as the October Crisis, - reached its climax with a naval and air blockade ordered by US President John F. Kennedy against the island on October 22nd of 1962. RUSSIA WINS THE WORLD BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP Havana, October 27(RHC)-- Russia won the 9th edition of the World Boxing tournament which wound up in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday. The victory by points and in the number of medals came in the last day and with the last bout, when Cuban Alexis Rubalcaba, the man that could have turned the tide to favor the island lost to George Kandelaki from Georgia 4-1. By a one point margin, Russia once again gets hold of the world supremacy sending Cuba to the second position.This is the second time Cuba looses the championship at the hands of Russia. First it happened in 1989. Russia with 53 points harvested 4 gold, two silver and one bronze medal. Cuba was second with 52 points and three gold, four silver and three bronze medals. In third place concluded Hungary with two gold, and 21 points. Germany was fourth with one silver and two bronze for 16 points, followed by Ukrania which was 5th with one silver. The other gold medal winners were Rumania, Georgia and Uzbekistain with one gold each. The world tournament is won by points boxers accumulate throughout the championship. For Cubans fans to loose the championship is a tremendous setback, though a second place by nations is still an honor. HAVANA TO BE PART OF A WORLD FISHING CIRCUIT BY THE YEAR 2,000. Havana, October 27(RHC)-- Havana's International Nautical Club, Marina Hemingway, is hoping to be part of a world fishing circuit by the year 2 000. Only 50 places in the world have the honor of being invited to be part of the exclusive circuit. Hemingway's commodore, Jose Miguel Escrich, revealed that one of the measures the marina has taken toward that end is the implementation of "tag and release" rule in international fishing tournaments, in order to protect certain marine species. That makes the island elegible for a number of important activities. Club Hemingway is located in the marina of the same name on the outskirts of Havana and each year hosts the Blue Marlin Hemingway Fishing Tournament, which began in 1950 with the participation of American nobel laurate Ernest Hemingway. >From 1998 to 1999, 50 of the most significant fishing places worldwide will be chosen to hold the world tournament. Esrich says that he hopes that in the future the Marina will host some three hundred nautical events [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