Radio Havana Cuba-12 July 2000 23:30 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 12 July 2000 23:30 *CUBAN TV ROUNDTABLE CONTINUES DISCUSSION OF HELMS-BURTON LAW *HOTEL NACIONAL PAYS HOMAGE TO JOSEPHINE BAKER AND NAT KING COLE *HONDURAN PRESIDENT PLEASED BY RELATIONSHIP WITH CUBA *SECOND CUBA-NIGERIA JOINT COMMISSION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA *IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO CUBA DENOUNCES WASHINGTON'S AGGRESSIONS *CUBAN WORKER RETURNS 28,000 DOLLARS TO ARGENTINEAN TOURIST *Viewpoint: CUBA'S SPIRIT OF DIGNITY AND INDEPENDENCE *CUBAN TV ROUNDTABLE CONTINUES DISCUSSION OF HELMS-BURTON LAW Havana, July 12 (RHC)-Tuesday evening's roundtable discussion broadcast on Cuban TV, continued its focus on the Helms-Burton law within the context of the U.S. blockade against Cuba. The panel, composed of Cuban government officials, economists, and legal experts, including National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcón. The panel began by summarizing the 4 main facets of the law, including the return of all nationalized property to the original owners prior to the Revolution, a more comprehensive internationalization of the blockade, increased espionage and funding for counterrevolutionary organizations both inside and outside of Cuba, and finally the outline and logistical framework for a post-Castro transitional government. The roundtable opened with the question of property rights integral to the composition of the Helms-Burton Law. It was noted that back in the early sixties, while firms and individuals from all other countries negotiated compensation for expropriated properties within the framework of international law, the U.S. refused to even consider negotiations with the new revolutionary government. The Helms-Burton Law, according to the panel, stipulates that not only must all confiscated properties must be returned to their previous owners, but that any foreigner residing in, or conducting business from former U.S. or Cuban-American properties is prohibited from both doing business with and entering the United States. Panelists pointed out that these restrictions, in conjunction with the elimination of economic relations with U.S. subsidiary firms in third countries as, stipulated under the Torricelli Law, tightens the blockade by further internationalizing its penalties against foreigners. Panelist and Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón tied the international dimension to the domestic portion of the Helms-Burton Law. He stated that yearly congressional reports on Cuba are distributed to the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to funds earmarked for anti-Cuban terrorist groups both in the U.S. and Cuba. Moreover, money is allocated to right wing propaganda campaigns designed to penetrate Cuban airwaves through CIA-sponsored TV and Radio Marti outlets in Miami. Alarcón stated that the intensification of the 40 year old U.S. blockade against Cuba, strengthened by the legal framework of the Helms-Burton Law, is designed to bring about a transitional government in Havana. The transitional government, according to panelists, would then be required to implement neoliberal reform and dismantle the socialist polity, in order for the U.S. to consider normalizing diplomatic relations with the island. Alarcón affirmed that socialism and independence are two sides of the same coin for Cuba, and that the Cuban people had already seen the face of capitalism including institutionalized racism, abject poverty, homelessness, landlessness, exclusive privilege for health care and education, forced disappearances and the systematic slaughter of political opponents. He contended that the Helms-Burton Law - a logical extension of the blockade - intends to enslave the Cuban people to U.S. imperialist designs for a country devoid of independence, sovereignty, equality, and social justice. *HOTEL NACIONAL PAYS HOMAGE TO JOSEPHINE BAKER AND NAT KING COLE Havana, July 12 (RHC)-- Havana's Hotel Nacional is paying homage to Josephine Baker and Nat King Cole as part of the hotel's activities for its 70th anniversary. Both renowned personalities were barred from staying at the Hotel Nacional due to racism and discriminatory policies enforce before the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, actor Buster Keaton and other celebrities like Ava Garner, Mexican actors Cantinflas and Maria Feliz, Errol Flynn, Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayward all stayed in the hotel. Before 1959, the Hotel Nacional was home to U.S. mafia figures like Meyer Lansky and Santos Traficante, who controlled the casinos which were destroyed after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Among some of the activities commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Hotel Nacional are tributes to Cuban musicians, the official opening of the Habano Smoker's Club and the unveiling of painting exhibitions. Included on the list of invited guests to the celebrations are U.S. singer Natalie Cole and the granddaughter of Winston Churchill. *HONDURAN PRESIDENT PLEASED BY RELATIONSHIP WITH CUBA Tegucigalpa, July 12 (RHC)-- Honduran President Carlos Flores has expressed his satisfaction with the current relations between his country and Cuba. Speaking with reporters in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran president outlined the important work of Cuban doctors in remote areas of the Central American nation. He also praised the dedication and solidarity of the Cuban government in training health professionals to aid Honduras, which is one of the poorest nations in Latin America. *SECOND CUBA-NIGERIA JOINT COMMISSION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA Havana, July 12 (RHC)-- The Second Cuba-Nigeria Joint Commission was inaugurated in Havana on Tuesday, headed by Cuba's Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas, and Nigerian Foreign Minister Dubem Onyia. Both ministers stressed the excellent relations between the two countries and expressed their hopes to extend bilateral cooperation in the fields of scientific research, the sugar industry and sports. During the inaugural session, participants were briefed on the current health services Cuba is offering to that African nation. Cuba, meanwhile, has offered 100 scholarships to Nigerian students who will study at Havana's Latin American School of Medicine. *IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO CUBA DENOUNCES WASHINGTON'S AGGRESSIONS Havana, July 12 (RHC)-- The Iraqi Ambassador to Cuba, Mohammed Majmoud, has strongly denounced the aggressions suffered by his country at the hands of the United States. The Arab official spoke on the occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the Iraqi Revolution. He said that Washington is still attacking the Iraqi people, imposing an economic blockade that has killed hundreds of thousands over the past ten years. *CUBAN WORKER RETURNS 28,000 DOLLARS TO ARGENTINEAN TOURIST Havana, July 12 (RHC)-- An honest Cuban worker returned 28,000 dollars that belonged to an Argentinean tourist who had forgotten his napsack in a Havana pharmacy. According to news reports, 72-year-old Jesus Fernandez, a security guard at the pharmacy, received praise and a reward for his honesty. The tourist said that this was his first trip to Cuba and that he would definitely be back. He added that now he understands exactly why the legendary Ernesto Che Guevara loved Cuba so much. *Viewpoint: CUBA'S SPIRIT OF DIGNITY AND INDEPENDENCE Over the decades the United States colonialist attitude toward Cuba has ensured that the island retain its rebellious nature in defense of its sovereignty and independence. Among the most recent and clearest examples of this imperial colonialism is the Helms-Burton Law, which was approved in March 1996, following an incident in which two small planes from the United States violated the island's territorial airspace and dropped subversive leaflets over the country's capital. The planes were shot down and four right wing Cuban-American mercenaries were killed. This incident took place after numerous warnings by Cuban authorities, stressing that severe measures would be taken if violations of the nation's air space continued. No sovereign and independent country on earth would have ignored such acts, and the United States - which is accustomed to taking similar measures with far deadlier results - would not have been an exception. After the incident, the immediate reaction of the Clinton administration was to sign the Helms-Burton Bill into law. It had already been approved by the U.S. Congress and was designed to reinforce Washington's economic war against the Cuban people. A superficial reading of this legislation quickly reveals its extraterritorial character. As Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón recently said during a televised roundtable discussion, the Helms-Burton Law is a clear attempt to hand down a death sentence against an independent foreign country -- threatening the rest of the world with punitive sanctions if they do not go along with the ruling. The Helms-Burton Law even includes conditions regarding the type of government that the Cuban people must adopt in order for the United States to establish normal relations with the island. It is difficult to think of something more unacceptable and offensive for the national dignity of a truly independent people. The international community has constantly rejected the Helms-Burton Law, arguing that it constitutes a dangerous precedent that threatens the national sovereignty of all nations. However, the Helms-Burton Law is not the only law the US has enacted against Cuba. There is also the Torricelli Law, passed by Congress in 1992, as well as many legislative amendments included in other laws by anti-Cuba right-wing representatives on Capitol Hill. The aim of all these laws is to tighten Washington's economic stranglehold on the island, but their objectives will never be achieved. The Cuban people's spirit of dignity and independence can only be erased by destroying every last one of them. (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-29609 2000-Jul-13 05:33:05