Radio Havana Cuba, July 20, 1999 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit 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, July 20, 1999. Today's stories: 1.- BIOLOGICAL WARFARE HIGHLIGHTED DURING ON-GOING TRIAL AGAINST U.S. GOVERNMENT FOR 40 YEARS OF AGGRESSIONS AGAINST CUBA 2.- CUBAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MEETS WITH VENCEREMOS BRIGADE 3.- UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION SIGNS FOUR YEAR COOPERATION PROGRAM WITH CUBA 4.- SIXTH SESSION OF CUBA-SAHARAWI JOINT COOPERATION COMMISSION CONTINUES IN HAVANA 5.- THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING 6.- DELEGATES TO SECOND INTERNATIONAL ENCOUNTER OF PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION PRAISE CUBAN TEACHERS BIOLOGICAL WARFARE HIGHLIGHTED DURING ON-GOING TRIAL AGAINST U.S. GOVERNMENT FOR 40 YEARS OF AGGRESSIONS AGAINST CUBA Havana, July 20(RHC)-- Havana has accused Washington of biological warfare in the on-going trial against the U.S. government for 40 years of aggressions against Cuba. Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres testified today concerning the 1981 hemorrhagic dengue epidemic that affected some 350,000 Cubans -- killing 158 -- including 101 children. Dotres, who at the time of the epidemic was the head pediatrician in Havana Province, stated that only biological aggression can explain the rapid and explosive nature in which the disease entered Cuba after having only been known in Asia and the Pacific regions. He said its appearance in Cuba was the first in the Americas. The Cuban health minister said that given the extremely lethal nature of the illness, 45,000 Cubans could have died, but that Cuba's colossal efforts -- and the earmarking of tens of millions of dollars to confront the epidemic -- allowed for its control and eradication in just four months. He said, nevertheless, that more than 10,000 Cubans were hospitalized, many in critical condition. Dotres also stated that Cuba had to overcome great obstacles to acquire medicine due to Washington's blockade of the island, at times having to buy pharmaceutical products as far away as Europe and Japan. During court proceedings Monday afternoon, experts from Cuba's Interior Ministry testified concerning the 637 assassination attempts against Cuban President Fidel Castro, based on declassified CIA documents and the 1975 investigative hearings held by U.S. Senator Frank Church. According to the witness, those efforts continued into this decade, including the 1997 plot to kill the Cuban leader at Venezuela's Margarita Island -- which led to the arrest of members of the Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation. The Cuban newspaper Granma today accused the U.S. Senate of minimizing the CIA conspiracies against Cuba, charging that only a little over one percent of those plots have been investigated. According to the newspaper, many more CIA documents should be declassified. CUBAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MEETS WITH VENCEREMOS BRIGADE Havana, July 20(RHC)-- The President of the Cuban Parliament Ricardo Alarcon met with members of the Venceremos Brigade on Monday at their work camp on the outskirts of Havana. Alarcon offered a detailed account of the lawsuit presented by Cuban grassroots organizations against the U.S. government for human damages over the past 40 years. The Cuban official also discussed the topics of democracy, human rights and other aspects of daily life in Cuba. He particularly addressed the anti-Cuba propaganda campaign in the U.S. and the manner in which the mass media manipulates news and disseminates misinformation. Members of the 30th Contingent of the Venceremos Brigade arrived in Havana on Sunday. In addition, brigadistas of the Juan Rius Rivera Brigade from Puerto Rico and a solidarity group from Japan are also in Cuba to do voluntary work. Following several days of work, the brigadistas will take part in the July 26th activities in Matanzas and Cienfuegos, as well as visit places of historic and social interest. UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION SIGNS FOUR YEAR COOPERATION PROGRAM WITH CUBA Havana, July 20(RHC)-- The United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Cuban government have signed a four-year cooperation program valued at over five and a half million dollars. The agreement, which was signed by the General Director of the UN agency Carlos Alfredo Magarinos and Cuba's Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz, includes cooperation in a number of fields, including support in the organization of industrial policies and energy efficiency. The project also includes the transfer of technology for the protection of the environment and assistance in the agro-industrial sector, mainly food and textiles. The UN Industrial Development Organization has been offering technical assistance to the island since 1977, with the creation of 153 projects through 1995. SIXTH SESSION OF CUBA-SAHARAWI JOINT COOPERATION COMMISSION CONTINUES IN HAVANA Havana, July 20(RHC)-- The Sixth Session of the Cuba-Saharawi Joint Cooperation Commission continues in Havana with the participation of Cuba's Health Minister Carlos Dotres. Observers at the meeting reported that since 1976, Cuba has sent more than 350 health professionals and other technicians to work in liberated territory of the Arab nation. In addition, more than 1200 Saharawi students have graduated in Cuba and 50 scholarships are ready for the next school year, 20 of them in the higher education sector. The work of the joint commission is scheduled to conclude on Thursday after the head of the Saharawi delegation, Education Minister Salek Bobih, meets with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING Moscow, July 20(RHC)-- Cuba's ambassador to Russia, Carlos Palmarola, told reporters in Moscow that nearly 13,000 Russian tourists visited the island in 1998 -- 2000 more than the previous year. Palmarola stated that even greater numbers of Russians would visit Cuba if more realized how inexpensive it is to travel to the Caribbean island. Havana's diplomat in Moscow said the cost of the flight to Cuba is competitive with trips from the Russian capital to nearby Western European countries. The Cuban ambassador added that during the island's economic crisis, Cuba's tourism industry became one of the island's most important sources of income. DELEGATES TO SECOND INTERNATIONAL ENCOUNTER OF PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION PRAISE CUBAN TEACHERS Havana, July 20(RHC)-- Over 400 participants to the recently-held Second International Encounter on Pre-School Education in Havana sent a letter of congratulations to Cuban teachers for their outstanding work, despite Washington's nearly 40 year-old blockade against the island. Participants to the event recognized Cuba's advances in education and ratified the need for a political commitment to face the neo-liberal tendencies prevailing in Latin America, which impede development in the region. [c] 1999, 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 rhc-eng-21076 1999-Jul-20 19:16:50