Radio Havana Cuba, January 3, 2000 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 Monday, January 3, 2000. Today's stories: 1.- DELEGATION OF U.S. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES ARRIVES IN HAVANA, SUPPORTING CUBA'S DEMAND THAT ELIAN GONZALEZ BE IMMEDIATELY RETURNED 2.- CUBA CONDEMNS DROPPING OF COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY PROPAGANDA OVER HAVANA 3.- SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN INTERNATIONALIST WAR VETERANS DEMANDS RELEASE OF ELIAN GONZALEZ 4.- CUBA'S INTEGRAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM FOR CENTRAL AMERICA: AN EXAMPLE OF HUMAN SOLIDARITY 5.- CUBAN SUGAR MINISTRY SEEKS FOREIGN PARTNERS 6.- WASHINGTON IS CHALLENGED TO EQUAL CUBA'S INFANT MORTALITY RATE DELEGATION OF U.S. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES ARRIVES IN HAVANA, TO SUPPORT CUBA'S DEMAND THAT ELIAN GONZALEZ BE IMMEDIATELY RETURNED Havana, January 3(RHC)-- A delegation of the U.S. National Council of Churches has arrived in Havana to support Cuba's demand that Elian Gonzalez be immediately returned to his family here on the island. The delegation, which arrived Sunday, is headed by the organization's secretary general, the Reverend Joan Brown Campbell. Before heading to Havana, the distinguished leader of the National Council of Churches -- representing 35 orthodox and Protestant denominations with 52 million members -- stated that many U.S. citizens believe that Elian should be returned to his father. She said she hoped that her visit will become a vehicle to speed up the process of the child's return. Reverend Joan Brown Campbell said the National Council of Churches wants to become the spokesperson in the United States of the child's family in Cuba, noting that his family has no voice in her country. The religious leader visited Elian's father today in his hometown of Cardenas, located in Matanzas Province. The visit comes as residents of Santa Clara are marching in another massive street demonstration to protest Elian's retention in Miami by distant relatives supported by the ultra-right wing in Florida and on Capital Hill. On Tuesday afternoon, tens of thousands marched past that city's monument to Cuba's Heroic Guerrilla, Ernesto Che Guevara. CUBA CONDEMNS DROPPING OF COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY PROPAGANDA OVER HAVANA Havana, January 3(RHC)-- Cuba has condemned the scattering of counterrevolutionary propaganda over Havana by an small aircraft that took off from the Opalocka Air Force Base in Florida. A front-page article in Cuba's weekly newspaper Trabajadores reported that early Saturday morning, January 1st, the aircraft flew at a low-altitude over the Cuban capital, dropping tens of thousands of leaflets. The leaflets called on Cubans to organize a general strike, to rise up and to unleash an internal war -- an act that the newspaper said would not be tolerated in the airspace of the U.S. capital. The aircraft flew over the Melia-Cohiba Hotel on the Malecon, continued west over residential neighborhoods and circled back over downtown Havana, flying near the Hotel Nacional. The article in this morning's edition of the Cuban daily reported that the plane also passed over Havana Bay and the Naval Hospital in East Havana, before leaving the island's territorial airspace and returning to the north. The Cuban government stated that on this occasion, the aircraft was not piloted by Cuban-born mercenaries, who have engaged in similar provocations with the support or tolerance of U.S. authorities, but rather by an American citizen of Vietnamese origin. The individual, according to the article, was "a member of the puppet South Vietnamese army that, together with the United States, murdered four million Vietnamese men, women and children." After pointing out that the aircraft could have easily dropped explosives or viruses and bacteria over a country that -- amid a brutal and criminal blockade -- has just achieved the feat of reducing its infant mortality rate to 6.4 for every one thousand live births, the Cuban government insisted that this was not an individual act. The condemnation published in today's news weekly asserted that this madness is "the product of a sick, corrupt system that encourages activities aimed at destabilizing the Cuban Revolution" and is then incapable of controlling those activities. Authorities in Havana predicted that the individual may be detained by U.S. authorities for several hours -- won't even be sent to a psychiatrist -- and will then be set free. The farce of any eventual legal process, states Trabajadores, "will wind up like the shameful trial in a banal and corrupt U.S. federal court" in Puerto Rico that exonerated Cuban-American terrorists who attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro. The article states that an official diplomatic protest from Havana would be "a waste of time." SOCIETY OF RUSSIAN INTERNATIONALIST WAR VETERANS DEMANDS RELEASE OF ELIAN GONZALEZ Moscow, January 3(RHC)-- The Association of Russian Internationalist War Veterans (Moovvik) has sent an open letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton demanding that six-year-old Elian Gonzalez -- held against his father's wishes in Miami -- be released immediately and sent back to his family in Cuba. In their open letter to President Clinton, the Russian war veterans demand that Washington adopt the necessary measures to guarantee justice as well as respect for the small boy's right to be with his father. Elian was placed on a boat by his mother without his father's permission on November 22nd. She and nine others drowned while trying to immigrate illegally to the United States. The small boy, who survived when the boat capsized, was taken to live with distant relatives who have joined a right-wing anti-Cuba campaign to keep the boy in Miami. Elian's father, all four grandparents and, indeed, the entire Cuban people are demanding that he be returned to the island. The open letter sent to the White House stressed that keeping Elian away from his father following his mother's violent death, shows the kidnappers' total insensitivity to the boy. The letter sent by Moovvik said it was shameful that the United States -- which portrays itself as the pioneer in the protection of human rights -- allows these violations not only of international law but of human morality as well. In that regard, the Association of Russian Internationalist War Veterans emphasize that the only possible solution to this case is the boy's immediate return to his family in Cuba. CUBA'S INTEGRAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM FOR CENTRAL AMERICA: AN EXAMPLE OF HUMAN SOLIDARITY Managua, January 3(RHC)-- The implementation in Nicaragua of the Cuban integral health care program, in line with Cuban President Fidel Castro's strategy, constitutes a universal example of human solidarity. The statement was made by the First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy in Nicaragua, Jose Antonio Solana, during a ceremony marking the 41st anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. In reviewing the work done during 1999, Solana highlighted what Cuban health specialists have accomplished in Nicaragua. He affirmed that Cuban health professionals, working in 22 medical teams located in five Nicaraguan municipalities, have treated over 224,000 patients. The first secretary of the island's embassy in Managua also pointed to the practice of preventive medicine by Cuban personnel in Nicaragua, such as the control and prevention of transmittable diseases. The Cuban diplomat stated that doctors also visit refugee camps and other communities in remote areas where there had never been physicians before. Among the many achievements during 1999 in the Nicaraguan communities where Cuban health professionals continue offering their services, the Cuban diplomat stressed a significant reduction in infant mortality, as well as a reduced death rate due to diseases such as cholera, malaria and acute respiratory diseases. CUBAN SUGAR MINISTRY SEEKS FOREIGN PARTNERS Havana, January 3(RHC)-- The Cuban Sugar Ministry has already formed eight economic associations with the participation of foreign capital from Spain, France, Canada, Italy and Mexico. The main goal, according to sources from the Cuban Sugar Ministry, is to continue promoting and developing associations in areas where foreign investment is most needed, especially in the area of sugar derivatives. In that regard, the island has engaged in a cooperation program with Brazil, with the signing of four agreements to set up bilateral associations in areas such as alcohol production and mechanics. WASHINGTON IS CHALLENGED TO EQUAL CUBA'S INFANT MORTALITY RATE Washington, January 3(RHC)-- A reader of the New York Times has challenged the U.S. government to show infant mortality rates similar to those gained by Cuba. In reference to an article that appeared in the New York Times on December 29th, concerning the island's performance regarding infant mortality, David Barrigan, who resides in Albany, California, noted that not a single word in the entire article referred to the U.S. government's performance in that area of health. Barrigan recalled that the infant mortality rate registered in the United States in 1997 was 7.2 for every 1000 live-births. He added that Cuba -- although a poor, Third World nation -- has continued reducing its infant mortality rate from 7.1 in 1998 to 6.5 in 1999. The New York Times reader wonders how it could possibly be that the United States -- presumably the world's only superpower -- has not been able to compete with Cuba's infant mortality rate. The answer, he says, can be found in the failure by U.S. authorities to develop a national health insurance program as well as the inadequate and insufficient resources earmarked for preventive medicine. [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-11045 2000-Jan-03 18:00:18