Radio Havana Cuba-09 December 2000 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 09 December 2000 . *USA'S MAJOR ELECTORAL SCANDAL OCCURS IN TERRITORY OF RIGHT-WING EXILES *FIDEL CASTRO, RICARDO ALARCON ATTEND UNVEILING OF JOHN LENNON STATUE *CARLOS LAGE MEETS IN HAVANA WITH DELEGATION FROM FRENCH SENATE *PEREZ ROQUE RETURNS FROM HONDURAS VISIT *DAY FIVE AT HAVANA FILM FESTIVAL *GRANMA EDITORIAL ON SUSPENSION OF CUBA-US TELEPHONE SERVICE . *USA'S MAJOR ELECTORAL SCANDAL OCCURS IN TERRITORY OF RIGHT-WING EXILES Havana, December 9 (RHC)--Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told Notimex News Agency yesterday that it is very significant that the US State of Florida, where the majority of right-wing Cuban exiles live, is the site of the first major electoral irregularity in the history of the USA. Perez Roque added that Cuba has offered the US some unsolicited advice regarding the holding of clean elections. The Foreign Minister pointed out that Miami-Dade county and the Miami area have the largest number of powerful ultra-rightwing Cuban exiles, who -- even before the triumph of the Revolution -- were already corrupt. They had previous experience of electoral manipulation before arriving in Miami and now they effectively control the city. Perez Roque mentioned that George W. Bush is putting a great deal of emphasis on the support received by Cuban voters in Miami, ignoring the fact that only 170,000 Cubans cast their vote compared with the total of 6.5 million voters in Florida. However, they are very influential and have money to finance electoral campaigns. The Cuban Foreign Minister recalled that Vice Presidential candidate and Democrat, Joseph Lieberman, has also received large sums of money from the rightwing Cuban American National Foundation. Perez Roque paid a short visit to Honduras on Friday and met with President Carlos Flores and the Honduran Foreign Minister Roberto Flores. Perez Roque signed several cooperation agreements with the Central American nation covering culture, education and migratory issues. *FIDEL CASTRO, RICARDO ALARCON ATTEND UNVEILING OF JOHN LENNON STATUE Havana, December 9(RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro attended the unveiling yesterday of the statue of John Lennon on Friday in a Havana park. The President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, spoke to the crowd gathered to mark the historic occasion. The ceremony took place on the 20th anniversary of Lennon's murder. He was shot to death in New York City on December 8th, 1980. Ricardo Alarcon said that John Lennon is best remembered for his efforts on behalf of world peace and tolerance. The President of the Cuban Parliament stated that John Lennon is especially popular in Cuba, where many musicians acknowledge his influence in their work. Lennon Park sits in the center of the city, in the tree-lined Vedado neighborhood. The statue of Lennon, sitting cross-legged on a park bench next to where others may sit, is a striking likeness of the legendary British singer and songwriter. Friday night at Havana's Jose Marti Anti-Imperialist Tribunal, a group of Cuban singers and songwriters performed Beatles songs in a free, open-air concert. The concert ended with the enthusiastic crowd singing along on such classics as "Imagine" and "Hey Jude." *CARLOS LAGE MEETS IN HAVANA WITH DELEGATION FROM FRENCH SENATE Havana, December 9(RHC)-- Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage met in Havana on Friday with the president of the French Senate, Cristian Poncelet. Lage told the press that relations between Cuba and France are at a good moment, especially on a parliamentary level, and he made reference to the possibility of extending these relations to other sectors. The Cuban Vice President affirmed that the parliamentary links between the two nations opened up commercial relations between France and Cuba, and he praised the position of the French government against Washington's blockade of Cuba. Lage also reported that despite the increase in oil prices, the Cuban economy has managed to overcome the crisis generated by that situation -- so much so, he added, that it has been able to maintain its growth, which should be some 5.6 percent by the end of the year. The Cuban leader, who also heads the Executive Committee of the Cuban Council of Ministers, pointed out that tourism continues to be the island's most important hard currency sector. He added that the island's oil industry is also doing very well due to increases registered in the island's oil and gas production. On Saturday, a cooperation accord was signed between Cuban Parliament President, Ricardo Alarcon, and the President of the French Senate, Cristian Poncelet. *PEREZ ROQUE RETURNS FROM HONDURAS VISIT Havana, December 9th(RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has returned to Havana after a short working visit to Honduras. During his stay in the Central American country, Perez Roque met with top Honduran authorities and Cuban doctors who are volunteering their services in that country. Honduran President, Carlos Flores, met with Perez Roque who presented Flores with personal message from Cuban President Fidel Castro. Bilateral cooperation between the two countries was among the topics under discussion. After a meeting in the capital OF Tegucigalpa, the Cuban Foreign Minister and the Honduran leader announced to the press that Cuba and Honduras will maintain relations based on joint work and cooperation, and that the lack of formal diplomatic relations will not be an obstacle. During his visit, Perez Roque signed agreements on cultural and education cooperation, a cooperation mechanism and a proposal to come to a migratory agreement. The Cuban official also met with more than 200 members of the Honduras-Cuba Friendship Association, who rejected the tightening of the US blockade against the island and reiterated their support for the Cuban Revolution. *DAY FIVE AT HAVANA FILM FESTIVAL Havana, December 9 (RHC)--The fifth day of the 22nd International Festival of New Latin American Film brings another day of practically non-stop films and documentaries. One of the most important and significant categories is Italian Cinema, not only because the major Italian films of the year are being presented, but also because of Italy's many co-productions with Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and many other Latin American countries. Independent filmmakers from the U.S. like Karin Kusama and Maziu Oldrich, are showing their work here because of the particular ethic of this Festival, which has nothing to with commercialism or bland, globalized culture. Among Saturday's offerings are: "Children of Paradise" from Iran, "Holy Smoke," directed by Jane Campion, an Australia/USA co-production, "La Aventura", Brazil, "A Night with Sabrina Love" Argentina/Italy. Cuban director Rigoberto Lopez is set to show his new documentary "Puerta Principio Mio," made in Haiti. *GRANMA EDITORIAL ON SUSPENSION OF CUBA-US TELEPHONE SERVICE Havana, December 9 (RHC)--Cuba's official daily Granma published an editorial on Saturday on Cuba's announcement that it will suspend direct telephone communications between the island and the United States as of next Friday, December 15th, unless it receives payment of taxes from U.S. telephone companies. Today's editorial says that the right wing Cuban Americans in Miami, supported by the right wing members of Congress pushed ahead a measure in Congress to refuse payment to the island of frozen funds of years of telephone services between Cuba and the United States. The frozen funds, says today's Granma editorial, were re-routed to terrorist groups that have continuously violated Cuban air space and committed all types of attacks against the island. Saturday's editorial goes on to say that the corrupt Florida legal system and that of Mr. King, well-known Miami judge who was an accomplice to the illegal detention of Cuban Elian Gonzalez by the ultra right wing in Miami, was in charge of the dirty and embarrassing lawsuit to attempt to steal the frozen funds that belong to Cuba. The official editorial explains that the Cuban Council of State approved a law last October 25th, in which Cuba established a ten percent tax on all direct telephone calls, totaling the amount of the frozen funds. The total amount that would be recovered would then be used for the island's health care system. Today's editorial adds that after the tax law was approved, Cuba warned that if the tax money of direct telephone calls to the island were not received by a certain date, direct phone services would be suspended. On December 7, the Nuevo Herald, mouthpiece of the right wing Cuban Americans in Miami, announced that US telephone companies would not pay the ten percent tax. In statements published the same day by one of the new magnates of the right wing Cuban American National Foundation, Mr. Dennis Hayes, former State Department official cynically criticized the island by saying that now that Christmas is approaching, Castro is willing to cut direct telephone calls between Cuban families abroad and on the island. Granma asks why Mr. Dennis Hayes is now concerned about Christmas, Cuban families, or even the birth of Christ. He never took these things into account, says the paper, during the almost 40 years when millions of Cuban families were being economically blockaded in an attempt to destroy the elderly, women and children by hunger and disease, when sabotage and terrorism were being committed against Cuba through mercenary attacks, biological aggression and other actions that have cost the lives of thousands of Cuban people. Now, says the newspaper, with the complicity of the US government the right wing is attempting to steal frozen funds that rightly belong to Cuba for over 30 years of telephone service between the Cuban families on the island and abroad. Cuba, says today's editorial, has the right to adopt additional measures until those funds are returned to their rightful owners. Saturday's editorial concludes by saying that what the ultra-rightwing Cuban Americans must do is to take responsibility for their own actions which have provoked the suspension of direct telephone calls between Cuba and the United States. The ultra-rightwingers, says Granma, were dreaming if they thought that Cuba would not respond. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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