Radio Havana Cuba, july2, 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 Friday, July 2, 1999. Today's stories: 1.- CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO RETURNS HOME AFTER PARTICIPATING IN BRAZIL'S LATIN AMERICA-CARIBBEAN-EUROPEAN UNION SUMMIT 2.- U.S. TRAVEL BAN AGAINST CUBA UPHELD 3.- 9th IBEROAMERICAN MEETING OF EDUCATION MINISTERS CONCLUDES 4.- PARAGUAYAN DELEGATION TO 9th IBEROAMERICAN MEETING OF EDUCATION MINISTERS DONATES SCHOOL SUPPLIES 5.- ISLAND'S ECONOMY GREW SIX PERCENT DURING FIRST HALF OF 1999 CUBAN PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO RETURNS HOME AFTER PARTICIPATING IN BRAZIL'S LATIN AMERICA-CARIBBEAN-EUROPEAN UNION SUMMIT Havana, July 2(RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro is back in Havana after participating in Brazil's Latin America-Caribbean- European Union Summit. Following a jam-packed, four-day agenda, the Cuban leader's last activity took place Thursday night in Belo Horizonte, in the State of Minas Gerais, where he spoke before thousands at the 46th Congress of the Brazilian National Students Union. This important organization -- which was at the center of resistance to Brazil's 1964 to 1985 military dictatorship -- proclaimed Fidel Castro as its Honorary President. In a two-hour speech Thursday evening, President Fidel Castro reiterated one of the central themes of recent speeches and press conferences -- stating that free market globalization is condemned to death. He had already elaborated on this theme in interviews with the Argentinean news dailies "El Clarin" and "La Nacion," which were published on Friday. The Cuban leader said that "the diabolical invention called `consumer society' makes the current world order unsustainable." He pointed to the impossibility of universalizing the consumer habits of Europe and the United States. President Castro predicted the collapse of capitalism, stating that it will occur sooner rather than later -- and that it will begin in the United States. The leader of the Cuban Revolution said U.S. citizens "save less than anyone in the world and only buy, buy, buy" -- predicting that this trend will eventually sink U.S. society. He also pointed out that during the Great Depression of 1929, only five percent of Americans invested in the stock market, while today some 50 percent have the bulk of their wealth in the stock exchange -- asserting that the coming crisis will be the worst ever. During his speech at the Brazilian National Students Union Congress, Fidel Castro termed as a "good beginning" the Euro- Latin American Summit, because it opens the doors to an economically bipolar world. He said this is the first time that Europeans and Latin Americans come together to discuss trade and investment without the presence of the United States. The Cuban leader also spoke of Latin American integration and Washington's anti-Cuba Helms-Burton Law as the thousands of Brazilian students applauded and chanted slogans of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. U.S. TRAVEL BAN AGAINST CUBA UPHELD Washington, July 2(RHC)-- U.S. citizens are still unable to legally travel to Cuba without government approval, following congressional rejection of legislation designed to lift restrictions. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, was defeated by 55 votes against and 43 in favor. Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill after the vote, Senator Dodd criticized Washington's efforts to isolate Cuba, pointing out that after 37 years, the U.S. has little if anything to show for its policies. The Democratic senator from Connecticut stated that he had hoped to allow freer travel for U.S. citizens, who are currently restricted by law from spending U.S. currency on the island. 9th IBEROAMERICAN MEETING OF EDUCATION MINISTERS CONCLUDES Havana, July 2(RHC)-- The 9th Iberoamerican Meeting of Education Ministers -- attended by education ministers, deputy ministers and high-ranking officials from 20 nations as well as representatives from 12 international organizations -- concluded this morning with the signing of the Declaration of Havana. The Declaration includes issues such as equitable and good quality education, emphasizing the need to eradicate illiteracy in the region, to carry out programs which eliminate inequalities with regard to access to education and to expand opportunities for minority groups. The document also supports rural education programs, preserving indigenous cultures, pointing out the importance of strengthening primary education. It also reiterates the commitments made at the Convention on the Rights of Children, as agreed at the World Children's Summit, and the need to create Iberoamerican networks of social information in order to support the technological and professional training of teachers. During the closing ceremony of the 9th Iberoamerican Meeting of Education Ministers, Cuban Education Minister Luis Ignacio Gomez said "it is sad that on the threshold of the 21st century, we have to admit that millions of people are still illiterate -- people who can't read a newspaper or a good book, who are limited when they go to vote because they don't know how to read or even write their own name and have to use an `X.'" The Cuban education minister stated that "it deeply hurts us that millions of children cannot go to school because either schools or teachers -- or both -- simply do not exist." He added that when they do exist, they lack books, notebooks and other necessary school materials. "It deeply hurts us to know that some of those children don't go to school simply because they live on the street or have to spend their childhood working for their families." On Friday afternoon, following the closing ceremony, delegates to the 9th Iberoamerican Meeting of Education Ministers visited Havana's Latin American School of Medicine -- where Central American and Caribbean young people are studying to become doctors. PARAGUAYAN DELEGATION TO 9th IBEROAMERICAN MEETING OF EDUCATION MINISTERS DONATES SCHOOL SUPPLIES Havana, July 2(RHC)-- The Paraguayan delegation to the 9th Iberoamerican Meeting of Education Ministers donated school supplies to Havana's Republic of Paraguay Junior High School. On hand at the presentation ceremony, organized by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), were Paraguayan Education Minister Oscar Nicanor Duarte, the General Consul to Paraguay's Embassy in Cuba, Dalmacio Salinas, as well as representatives from Cuba's Foreign Ministry and the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party. The school's principal, Ana Berta Lopez, said the donation was an expression of solidarity between the two countries. ISLAND'S ECONOMY GREW SIX PERCENT DURING FIRST HALF OF 1999 Havana, July 2(RHC)-- Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage has revealed that the island's economy grew six percent during the first six months of the year. Speaking with journalists in the Cuban capital, Lage stated that the economic growth was achieved despite obstacles imposed by Washington in its attempts to destroy the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban vice president pointed out that tourism is the most dynamic sector of the Cuban economy -- growing by 25 percent -- while the sugar industry, which has had difficulties recently, increased production over last year's harvest by half a million tons. FOREIGN INVESTMENTS CONTINUE TO INCREASE ON THE ISLAND Havana, July 2(RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz stated that 30 new economic associations with foreign capital have begun operations on the island so far this year. The Cuban official said that the increase of joint ventures is higher compared to the same period of time last year -- a clear example that foreign business executives are confident in their investments on the island. The foreign investment and economic cooperation minster added that there are currently 360 associations operating in 34 economic sectors, mainly related to the prospecting and drilling of oil, mining and tourism. 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