Radio Havana Cuba-31 August 2000 23:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 31 August 2000 23:00 *CUBA DEMANDS THE U.S. FULFILL ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AS UN HOST COUNTRY *ALARCON REFUSED U.S. VISA, MISSES MEETING OF INTERPARLIAMENTRY UNION *CHINA'S PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT CONDEMNS WASHINGTON'S WITHHOLDING VISAS *CUBA NOW HAS MODERN EQUIPMENT TO STUDY EARTHQUAKES ON THE ISLAND *18TH-CENTURY SUGAR MILL IS DISCOVERED IN EASTERN CAMAGUAY *CUBAN BOXERS PROMISE TO DELIVER A KNOCK-OUT AT THE OLYMPICS *RESPONSE TO U.S. CLAIM THAT CUBA "FORCES" PEOPLE TO MIGRATE ILLEGALLY *U.S. BLOCKS CONFERENCE OF PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS *CUBA DEMANDS THE U.S. FULFILL ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AS UN HOST COUNTRY Havana, August 31 (RHC)-- Cuba has called on the United States to live up to its responsibilities as host country of the United Nations. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, speaking at a news conference in Havana on Thursday, called on Washington to grant the visas requested by members of the Cuban delegation, which plan to attend the Millenium Summit in New York next week. The Cuban foreign minister also stated that Cuba maintains diplomatic relations with the Czech Republic, although political ties between Havana and Prague are at the lowest level ever. He affirmed that despite the services rendered by the Czech Republic to Washington's policy of aggression against the island, the Cuban government has not changed its relations with Prague. Cuba's top diplomat recalled that the Czech representatives presented an anti-Cuba resolution before the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Commission in April -- charging Cuba with violations of human rights. Perez Roque said it was unfortunate and shameful that an independent country such as the Czech Republic would bow down to the dictates of the United States. During another part of the news conference, held Thursday at the Foreign Ministry, Felipe Perez Roque said that three Swedish citizens -- detained in Havana on Tuesday -- would be expelled from the country. The Cuban foreign minister noted that the three entered the country under the cover of tourists and were involved in subversive activities against the Cuban government. *ALARCON REFUSED U.S. VISA, MISSES MEETING OF INTERPARLIAMENTRY UNION Havana, August 31 (RHC)-Cuban legislators who were to participate in the Inter-parliamentary Union meeting in New York, were unable to attend because Washington has refused to issue them visas. The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that it would not issue entry visas to Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon and his personal assistant Miguel Alvarez, but that they would issue visas for two Cuban legislators, Ramon Pez Ferro and Ada Martinez to attend the meeting that got underway on Wednesday at UN headquarters. However, by late Thursday neither of the two Cuban parliamentarians had received the promised entry permits. Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Anders Johnson, expressed frustration over Washington's decision to refuse to issue a visa to the President of the Cuban Parliament and recalled that the meeting begins with the participation of the world's Parliament presidents. And in Uruguay, newspapers published Cuba's condemnation of the US government's decision. *CHINA'S PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT CONDEMNS WASHINGTON'S WITHHOLDING VISAS Beijing, August 31 (RHC)-The President of China's National Assembly, Li Peng, said in New York that all the world's Parliament Presidents have the right to participate in the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting currently underway at the United Nations. Asked about Washington's refusal to issue the president of Cuba's Parliament a visa to participate in the UN meeting, the Chinese official said that each of the leaders of the world's legislative bodies has the right to attend all meetings and conferences. *CUBA NOW HAS MODERN EQUIPMENT TO STUDY EARTHQUAKES ON THE ISLAND Havana, August 31 (RHC)-Cuba's National Seismologic Station's seven centers now boast the most modern equipment to study earthquakes that shake the island. According to the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, the 7 stations that make up the national network are capable of recording earth movements on the island as well as earthquakes around the world if they if they registrar five points or more on the Richter scale. The state-of-the-art technology will allow the stations to guarantee more rapid and reliable statistics. The National Center of Seismologic Research is located in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. The center's specialists are currently doing research on that eastern city's geology and infrastructure in order to determine the levels of danger and vulnerability of communities built in high risk areas. The last strong earthquake felt in Cuba was reported on May 25th, 1992. Registering 6 on the Richter scale, the quake shook the eastern province of Granma and was felt in another ten central and eastern provinces. *18TH-CENTURY SUGAR MILL IS DISCOVERED IN EASTERN CAMAGUAY Havana, August 31 (RHC)-Ruins of a 18th century Cuban sugar mill "Santa Rosa de Baino" have been discovered by a group of speleologists in the eastern province of Camaguey. The ancient sugar mill was built in the 18th century near a town called Banao, which was the region's principal settlement at the time. The mill was destroyed during the first independence war against Spanish colonialism in 1868. The researchers discovered the sugar mill ruins buried beneath a forest after studying ancient documents and speaking with local residents. The experts also found various types of ceramics in the ruins prompting the theory that indigenous peoples had inhabited the site before construction of the antique sugar mill. *CUBAN BOXERS PROMISE TO DELIVER A KNOCK-OUT AT THE OLYMPICS Havana, August 31 (RHC)-- Boxing has always harvested medals for Cuba in international competitions and, according to the island's boxing officials that should hold true in next month's Sydney Olympic Games. Some 50% of Cuba's Olympic titles have been in boxing according to the president of the Cuban Boxing Federation, Jose Barrientos. He added that Cuba would be pleased to see judo experts, cyclists and wrestlers, along with track and field and other sports provide medals for the island in the individual categories, but once again, boxing promises to contribute at least half of the medals. Barrientos recalled that out of the 40 gold medals won by the island in Olympic games since the triumph of the Revolution in l959, 23 have been won by boxers. He explained that of the silver medals awarded during summer games, 13 of them went to boxers, and Five bronze medals out of Cuba's 31 were taken by boxers. The best performance ever of Cuban boxers was registered in Barcelona in the 1992 games, with seven gold and two silver medals. Four years later, the island took 8th place in the overall medal standings, in Atlanta with a count of 9-8-8, in which boxing was in the four top places. Cuba will participate in Sydney with a complete team. 91-kilo division Olympic and World Champion, Felix Savon. If Savon wins gold this time, it will be his third consecutive Olympic title, matching legendary boxers Teofilo Stevenson of Cuba and Laszlo Papp from Hungary. The Cuban Boxing Federation official said Savon stands a good chance of winning the medal. Barrientos also had words of praise for Maikro Romero in the 48-kilo division. Romero walked away with the gold in Atlanta. Cuban athletes, who are not considered to be prospects for medals in these games, hope to finish among the top ten nations in the world. The island is taking its largest delegation ever to an Olympic Game with some 240 athletes. *RESPONSE TO U.S. CLAIM THAT CUBA "FORCES" PEOPLE TO MIGRATE ILLEGALLY Havana, August 31 (RHC) -- The Cuban Foreign Ministry received last Monday, August 28th, two documents: one at its offices in Havana and one at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. Curiously, neither was identical. The communiqué from the US State Department - numbered 241/19 - was one of two versions of the same document that were simultaneously delivered to the press and to which this response is directed. The same day, August 28th, the spokesperson of the State Dept, Philip Reeker, made some statements that should also be addressed in this response. These statements by Mr. Reeker were shameless publicity stunts suspiciously coinciding with a visit to Miami of the presidential candidates who both vie for the financial and political support of the terrorist right wing Cuban-American groups there. The text of the State Department document lacks all sincerity in its attempt to falsify irresponsible conduct carried out by its government that openly and systematically violates the migratory accords between Cuba and the United States. The only item of truth in the document is that the laughable allegations it contains were indeed brought up by US representatives during bilateral migratory talks. On each occasion the Cuban delegation to these talks has provided appropriate responses and demonstrated the superficial nature of the US allegations. Of this, the State Department document does not speak. In his most picturesque declarations, State Department spokesperson Philip Reeker made reference to the charges made by Cuba against the Cuban Adjustment Act, making it sound as if our government has only just begun to address the problem. Nothing could be further from the truth. This law and the politics it espouses, as well as the necessity to put an end to the misery it creates, has always been one of the central issues presented by Cuban delegations attending the bilateral migratory talks that resulted in the accords of 1984, 1994 and 1995. On the 19th April 1999, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner, Doris Meissner, circulated a memo among her employees explaining that the 1996 immigration law did not apply to Cuban immigrants, regardless of how they arrived in the U.S. Unlike any other nationality, Cubans would be authorized to remain in the U.S. in accordance with the Cuban Adjustment Act. One week later, the INS reiterated this decision in a communiqué to the press. Cuba strongly protested the decision through diplomatic channels, calling it a grave violation of not only the letter, but the very spirit of the migratory accords adopted in 1994 and 1995. On the 2nd June 1999 the issue of the Cuban Adjustment Act was one of the main issues in bilateral talks that took place in New York City. Our delegation specifically challenged their US counterparts to explain the significance of Commissioner Meissner's policy and how it undermined and ignored the accords. This was so obvious that the U.S. delegation was unable to respond officially and instead said that this would be done at a later date via diplomatic channels. Over the next six months, in spite of our insistence, the U.S. either couldn't or wouldn't attempt to give us an explanation. It was thus that we then met on the 13th December in talks that essentially duplicated those of June. Cuba condemns the Cuban Adjustment Act and the behavior of the U.S. government that applies an irresponsible and incoherent policy ignoring the migratory accords that have been previously signed by both nations. Another important issue - also brought up in both the June and December talks - was trafficking in human beings. On both occasions, we decried Washington's inaction bordering on tolerance of this growing and abject traffic that places human lives at grave risk for the financial benefit of bands of delinquents organized in the U.S. These people reside and operate out of US territory using U.S. means and resources. We have insisted that the United States has an obligation to pursue and prosecute these criminals and to this purpose in June we provided U.S. authorities with details pertaining to 26 traffickers under arrest here in Cuba. No further action was taken by the U.S. We followed up with the same demand during the December talks when we had a total of 56 detainees for the same crime. Today the number has climbed to 68. When we met in Havana last year we were in a relatively early stage of the kidnapping of the Cuban child Elian Gonzalez. This case was, without doubt, an example of just where this policy by the US can lead. On precisely the day our delegations met, the 13th December, two US bureaucrats were interviewing the boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, at his home in Cuba and received ample proof of his paternal capabilities. If Washington cared for the very minimum of international norms. If the US government had shown the least concern for migratory legalities and brought its own laws to bear in the case, or listened to the feelings of its own people, the affair would have been over at that time. For more than 40 years the United States has cynically manipulated issues of migration as part of its arsenal to destroy the Cuban Revolution. It's conduct has never been guided by humanitarian concerns. Quite the contrary. It has instead pursued a cruel policy that has caused untold suffering and death. The Cuban Adjustment Act is a synthesis of a systematic lack of concern for human life and dignity and should be immediately and permanently repealed. What should be adjusted is the status of millions of Latin Americans who live in the U.S. in an interminable legal limbo, and an abyss of poverty, discrimination, persecution and violation of human rights. These are people marginalized in a society that excludes them from its social and political life - in spite of the fact that they work the hardest. In statements made by the U.S. State Department and in declarations made by its officials, they have made reference to the next round of migratory talks. If the United States is seriously disposed to discussing these issues then they may state a date that best suits them and a Cuban delegation will be there. Viewpoint: *U.S. BLOCKS CONFERENCE OF PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS The United States has done everything in its power to thwart a Conference of National Parliament Presidents that began this past Wednesday in New York. It was expected that the host nation would take steps to facilitate the important meeting in compliance with international norms. However, Washington's denial of entry visas to the President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, and other members of the Cuban delegation to attend the New York meeting is clear evidence of Washington's contempt for the World Inter-Parliamentary Union. The U.S. State Department also denied an entry visa to the President of the Yugoslavian Parliament, Srdja Bozovic, in an attempt to further intensify the international boycott against the Balkan nation. Yet, further evidence of Washington's disrespect for the World Interparliamentary Union, the Congress of the world's only superpower has repeatedly refused to pay its debt to the international legislative organization, amounting to over 900,000 dollars. Furthermore, the lawmakers on Washington's Capitol Hill, did not even bother to respond to the invitation extended by the World Inter-Parliamentary Union to attend the New York meeting. In an attempt to justify this latest political maneuver, Washington claimed that the New York meeting was not under the auspices of the United Nations, though nothing could be further from the truth. It is a well-known fact that the meeting is part of preparations for the Millennium Summit, set for September 6th through the 8th at UN headquarters. With this attempt to obstruct the international conference of parliamentary leaders, the White House reaffirms that the only UN body that it is truly interested in is the Security Council, which Washington has used over the years as a powerful tool to impose its unipolar doctrines on the rest of world. It is now up to the World Inter-Parliamentary Union to decide whether it will remain impassive in the face of the contemptuous actions on the part of a member nation. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= rhc-eng-17981 2000-Aug-31 22:53:07