CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taken from Radio Havana Cuba's news service for Tuesday, March 24, 1998. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO ATTENDS MEETING OF PROVINCIAL PRESIDENTS IN HAVANA PROVINCE 2.- SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS PRIME MINISTER DENZIL DOUGLAS ARRIVES IN CUBA FOR OFFICIAL VISIT 3.- CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER ROBERTO ROBAINA SAYS CUBA HAS NOTHING TO DISCUSS WITH HYSTERICAL MAFIA IN MIAMI 4.- U.S. JOURNAL OF COMMERCE CALLS ON WASHINGTON TO LIFT THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA 5.- HAVANA ARCHBISHOP CARDINAL JAIME ORTEGA CALLS U.S. HUMANITARIAN AID BORDERING ON OFFENSIVE HANDOUT 6.- U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT VISITS VATICAN 7.- DAUGHTER OF LEGENDARY GUERRILLA ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA CONDEMNS WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA 8.- CHINESE FOREIGN TRADE DELEGATION CURRENTLY IN HAVANA 9.- MEXICO'S ROTARY CLUB COLLABORATES WITH CUBAN ANTI-POLIO VACCINATION CAMPAIGN CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO ATTENDS MEETING OF PROVINCIAL PRESIDENTS IN HAVANA PROVINCE Havana, March 24(RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro attended a meeting of provincial presidents of the National Assembly of People's Power in Havana province yesterday. At the meeting, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage urged government leaders to work harder to face the challenge of the country's limited resources. During the gathering, Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez read a report on the current status of the Cuban economy and outlined this year's favorable prediction. Rodriguez pointed out that an improvement is projected despite the island's economic difficulties and delays in sugar production. The economy minister added that the success of the Cuban economy lies in increasing agricultural production, tourism and construction as well as stabilizing electrical consumption. During the meeting of provincial presidents, Minister of Agriculture Alfredo Jordan, Justice Minister Roberto Diaz and the head of Social Security and Labor, Salvador Valdes, also delivered their respective reports. SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS PRIME MINISTER DENZIL DOUGLAS ARRIVES IN CUBA FOR OFFICIAL VISIT Havana, March 24(RHC)-- The Prime Minister of the Caribbean island of St. Christopher and Nevis, Denzil Douglas, arrived today in Cuba for an official visit at the invitation of Cuban President Fidel Castro. Cuba established relations with St. Christopher and Nevis (commonly known as St. Kitts-Nevis) in May 1995. This Caribbean nation's territory is only 262 square kilometers, with a little less than 50,000 inhabitants. St. Christopher and Nevis is a producer and exporter of sugar. This small nation is attempting to end its total dependence on sugar through agricultural diversity, while also facing the problems of scant industrial development and few jobs. Cuba has expressed a commitment to make whatever modest contribution necessary to help this sister nation. CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER ROBERTO ROBAINA SAYS CUBA HAS NOTHING TO DISCUSS WITH HYSTERICAL MAFIA IN MIAMI Moscow, March 24(RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, currently on an official visit to Russia, said Tuesday that Cuba has nothing to discuss with what he called "the hysterical, right-wing mafia in Miami." In a conference delivered by Robaina on Cuban foreign policy before professors, students and diplomats at Moscow's Institute of Foreign Relations, the Cuban foreign minister said that the island "maintains a commitment to normal relations with rational Cuban-Americans." But, he said, "since the right-wing in Miami and the U.S. Congress have vowed to take the heads of Cuban leaders if they were to return to the island, Cuba obviously has nothing to discuss with them." The Cuban foreign minister said that despite the recent measures announced by Washington to lift some of the restrictions contained in the blockade of the island, the U.S. government apparently did not hear the message of Pope John Paul II. He said Cuba, however, is willing to wait for as long as it takes to establish normal relations with its powerful neighbor to the North, adding that "this will probably not happen in the short term." Robaina said U.S. policies increasingly respond less to a strategy of collective co-existence. Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina reiterated Cuba's steadfast determination to not allow Washington to shove down Cuba's throat its concept of democracy or to infringe upon the island's sovereignty and independence. He said the Cold War not only remained cold for Cuba, "but got so cold that it froze." In reference to the expanding relations between Cuba and members of the international community, Robaina recalled that 40 years ago, his country had diplomatic ties with 50 nations. In 1989, that number had risen to 112, while Cuba now has diplomatic relations with 163 of the 193 nations recognized by the international community. "This is the Cuba," he said, "that is called `an isolated country.'" The Cuban foreign minister said that along with the growing ties between its neighbors in the Caribbean and Latin America, "also growing in this region is Cuba's political and moral authority." Robaina said he came to Russia to reconstruct Havana-Moscow relations on a new basis. The Cuban foreign minister has met with numerous high-ranking members of the Russian Executive and Legislature and will visit the autonomous Russian Republic of Tatarstan tomorrow. The region is an important area, rich in oil and minerals. U.S. JOURNAL OF COMMERCE CALLS ON WASHINGTON TO LIFT THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA Washington, March 24(RHC)-- Following last week's announcement of a partial lifting of some restrictions in Washington's blockade of Cuba, The Journal of Commerce has added its voice to the call to totally lift the measure. A Journal of Commerce editorial today said that the lifting of several restrictions should be a first step to scraping the entire blockade. The newspaper ridiculed Washington's argument that the blockade should be maintained because Cuba is a threat to U.S. national security. "The idea," said the editorial, "that a small, poor Caribbean nation is a threat to the world's richest country is absurd." Despite this rhetoric, said The Journal of Commerce, "the only threat to the Clinton administration is the vocal minority of Cuban-Americans in Miami." HAVANA ARCHBISHOP CARDINAL JAIME ORTEGA SAYS U.S. HUMANITARIAN AID BORDERS ON BEING OFFENSIVE CHARITY HANDOUT Havana, March 24(RHC)-- The Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, has asserted that Washington's recent offer of humanitarian aid "is nothing more than a palliative, and is almost an offensive charity handout." In statements to the Italian Catholic news weekly Familia Cristiana -- Christian Family -- Ortega termed as "contradictory" the attitude of the United States government. He said that while Washington uses powerful instruments to strangle the Cuban economy and limit its access to resources, at the same it offers assistance. The Archbishop of Havana said that if the humanitarian aid is accepted, it will only be because Cuba has no choice, reiterating that the only way that the Cuban economy can rapidly recuperate is a total lifting of the blockade. Cardinal Ortega said the blockade not only brings about scarcities in food and medicines, which must be purchased in faraway markets at high prices, but that it also prevents Cuba from obtaining loans from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. Without low-interest credits, said the Cuban prelate, the island's economy will remain suffocated. Those who suffer the consequences, he added, are the Cuban people themselves. U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT VISITS VATICAN Rome, March 24(RHC)-- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright paid another visit to the Vatican on Tuesday -- the second such visit in the past two weeks. It is being reported that the main topic of Albright's visit was Cuba. Washington's top diplomat met with the Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano as well as with Monseigneur Jean Luis Tauran, head of Vatican Foreign Relations. Pope John Paul II's spokesperson, Joaquim Navarro Vals, said that the U.S. secretary of state explained Washington's new measures in relation to the economic blockade of Cuba, reiterating the U.S. position that the blockade would remain in full effect. Washington's blockade against Cuba was strongly denounced by Pope John Paul II during his recent visit to the island. DAUGHTER OF LEGENDARY GUERRILLA ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA CONDEMNS WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA Montreal, March 24(RHC)-- The daughter of legendary guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara, currently on a tour of Canada, said that "the nearly 40 year-old U.S. blockade against Cuba is inhumane." Aleida Guevara March pointed out that "the Cuban people's unity and resistance are decisive factors that have maintained and continues to maintain the Cuban Revolution, despite Washington's economic war against the island." The daughter of the Heroic Guerrilla also recognized that international solidarity with the Cuban Revolution has contributed to the fight against the criminal blockade. Aleida told journalists that "without socialism, Cuba runs the risk of disappearing from the face of the earth," adding that to conserve the socialist system, "we must perfect it." CHINESE FOREIGN TRADE DELEGATION CURRENTLY IN HAVANA Havana, March 24(RHC)-- China's Deputy Foreign Trade Minister, Sun Zhenyu, said that his country is interested in increasing commercial trade with Cuba. The Chinese delegation will participate in the 10th Session of the Inter-governmental Cuba-China Commission, where both sides will analyze ways to widen investment cooperation and development between the two countries. The Chinese delegation will also visit the Free Trade Zone and Industrial Park on the outskirts of Havana as well as tourist facilities in Varadero where the first joint Cuba-China tourist firm is located. During an earlier meeting between the two nations, both Cuba and China agreed to continue working together in the fields of education, electronic industries, solar energy and textiles. MEXICO'S ROTARY CLUB COLLABORATES WITH CUBAN ANTI-POLIO VACCINATION CAMPAIGN Santiago de Cuba, March 24(RHC)-- The Director of the National Vaccination Campaign in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, Alberto Duran, thanked Mexico's Rotary Club for helping to finance the campaign against polio. Duran pointed out that this gesture of solidarity, which provides vaccines to children and protects them against paralysis, clearly demonstrates the humane concern of this non-governmental organization. During a ceremony at a health clinic in Santiago de Cuba, the Director of Mexico's Rotary Club, Dr. Rodrigo Gonzalez Perez, said that the achievements of the Cuban health care system inspired his organization to help with the island's vaccination campaign. The Rotary Club of Mexico has been supporting Cuba's vaccination campaign since 1993. [c] 1998, 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) 791053 Fax: (53) (7) 795007 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org WWW: http://www.radiohc.org