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 Friday, September 18, 1998. Today's stories: 1.- VISITING GUATEMALAN VICE PRESIDENT LUIS FLORES ASTURIAS PLANS TO SIGN SEVEN BILATERAL ACCORDS 2.- NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALIZATION IS SELECTIVE AND DISCRIMINATORY 3.- PRESIDENT OF CATALONIA'S DEMOCRATIC UNION PARTY WINDS UP VISIT TO CUBA 4.- RECENT RAINS BEGIN FILLING DAMS IN WESTERN PINAR DEL RIO 5.- HIGH-RANKING OFFICIAL FROM EQUATORIAL GUINEA CONCLUDES VISIT 6.- INDIA'S AMBASSADOR TO CUBA CALLS FOR FURTHER STRENGTHENING OF BILATERAL TIES 7.- LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN LAWMAKERS MEET IN HAVANA VISITING GUATEMALAN VICE PRESIDENT LUIS FLORES ASTURIAS PLANS TO SIGN SEVEN BILATERAL ACCORDS Havana, September 18(RHC)-- Visiting Guatemalan Vice President Luis Flores Asturias told reporters today in the Cuban capital that he plans to sign seven bilateral accords with Cuba during his five-day official visit. He pointed to the areas of tourism, airline services and investment promotion and protection. The Guatemalan vice president also said that his country could learn a great deal from Cuba in the areas of science and technology, sports and health. He said Guatemala-Cuba relations are "good, but should soon become excellent." Flores Asturias, accompanied by Guatemalan Foreign Minister Eduardo Stein and some 50 Guatemalan business executives, inaugurated on Thursday a formal gathering of Cuban and Guatemalan business representatives. He has already met with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina and other high-ranking government officials. Concerning Washington's anti-Cuba Helms-Burton Law, Flores Asturias said Guatemala's sovereignty should be respected by all countries and that the United States was no exception. This is the first official visit to Cuba of a high-ranking Guatemalan government official in 38 years. Cuba and Guatemala re-established diplomatic relations last January 27th. NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALIZATION IS SELECTIVE AND DISCRIMINATORY New York, September 18(RHC)-- Cuba has denounced the current globalization process sweeping the world, calling it "selective and discriminatory." Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, Dr. Carlos Dotres, Cuba's Minister of Public Health, stated that the economic process has thrown an enormous part of the world into misery. The Cuban representative to a special UN session on the economic, political and social impact of globalization, pointed out that the underdeveloped countries of Africa are a prime example of the unjust nature of neo-liberalism. Dotres emphasized that while industrialized nations benefit from the plunder of the African continent, the people of Africa are only given limited humanitarian aid to deal with massive hunger, drought or when wars break-out. During his address to the special UN General Assembly session, Dr. Carlos Dotres said that although statistics show a certain economic growth in some regions of the Third World, in reality there are immense segments of the population where life below the poverty line is a daily reality. The Cuban minister of public health noted that the enormous disparity between the industrialized North and the impoverished South is demonstrated by the fact that more than 500 million people do not live beyond the age of 40, 800 million lack access to health care and 17 million die each year from such curable diseases as diarrhea or tuberculosis. PRESIDENT OF CATALONIA'S DEMOCRATIC UNION PARTY WINDS UP VISIT TO CUBA Havana, September 18(RHC)-- The President of Catalonia's Democratic Union Party, Josep Duran, spoke at a news conference shortly before leaving Cuba on Thursday. He said he supported an increase in Spain's political, economic and social presence in Cuba and was pleased that relations between Spain and Cuba have returned to normal. Duran, who is also Vice President of the International Christian Democratic Organization, said that he made the visit to get a first-hand look at the island's changes and to make contact with representatives of Cuba's Catholic Church. He told reporters that he had completed both objectives. The Catalonian leader stressed that decisions made by Cuba should be respected "because it is the Cuban people themselves who are the protagonists of their own history." Josep Duran met on Wednesday with Cuban President Fidel Castro, with whom he discussed relations between Spain and Cuba, the upcoming visit to the island of Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes and relations between the European Union and the Caribbean island. RECENT RAINS BEGIN FILLING DAMS IN WESTERN PINAR DEL RIO Pinar del Rio, September 18(RHC)-- The rains that have fallen over Cuba's western region have increased the water supply in reservoirs in the province of Pinar del Rio by 109 million cubic meters. Although the province's hydraulic systems are still operating at 49 percent of their capacity, the recent rains have ended the most severe drought known in recent history in Pinar del Rio. According to the head of Pinar del Rio's water system, over the past 72 hours, 187 millimeters of rainfall has been recorded -- equal to 94 percent of the province's wettest September. Pinar del Rio has 31 reservoirs with a storage capacity of 905 million cubic meters. HIGH-RANKING OFFICIAL FROM EQUATORIAL GUINEA CONCLUDES VISIT Havana, September 18(RHC)-- The Delegate-Minister of Education, Science and French civilization from Equatorial Guinea, Teresa Aboro, has wound up a visit to Cuba. The high- ranking African official termed her visit as "very positive." During her stay, Aboro toured cultural and scientific institutions. In statements to reporters, she praised Cuba's education system as "one of the most comprehensive in the world." Aboro announced that eight Cuban professors will visit her country soon to teach mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology in secondary schools. As a result of her visit to the island, the Equatorial Guinea official signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with her Cuban counterpart, Education Minister Luis Ignacio Gomez. INDIA'S AMBASSADOR TO CUBA CALLS FOR FURTHER STRENGTHENING OF BILATERAL TIES Havana, September 18(RHC)-- India's new ambassador to Cuba, Ramiah Rajagopalan, has come out for further strengthening of relations between the two countries. During a meeting marking the 34th anniversary of a trade and economic cooperation program financed by India's Foreign Ministry, the diplomat invited Cuba to take full advantage of a plan through which India grants Cuba 20 annual scholarships. Speaking at the ceremony, Cuban Foreign Ministry official Fredesman Turro thanked the International Trade and Economic Collaboration Organization for its permanent cooperation in training Cuban professionals. In other news, Cuba has stressed the historic bonds of friendship and solidarity between the two countries during the 17th Congress of India's Communist Party underway in New Delhi, the country's capital. Addressing the congress, Cuban Communist Party official Raul Valdes Vivo highlighted the Cuban Revolution's decision to resist and win and spoke of the need to replace current neo- liberal globalization with socialist globalization. LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN LAWMAKERS MEET IN HAVANA Havana, September 18(RHC)-- The Second Regional Forum of Parliamentarians for the Habitat of the Continent got underway at Havana's Palco Hotel with a presentation by the President of the Cuban National Assembly's Productive Activity Commission, Leonardo Martinez. The meeting winds up tomorrow, Saturday. Topics being debated are the sustainable development of human settlements and the need for proper housing for all. Cuba's housing policy was praised by Mexican Senator Oscar Lopez Velarde, who is the Executive President of the World Group of Parliamentarians for Habitat. On Thursday, some one hundred lawmakers from 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries who are taking part in the gathering toured Havana's scale model, the Pan American villa and Las Guasimas community. [c] 1998, 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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