Radio Havana Cuba-21 July 2000 22:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 21 July 2000 22:00 *TENTH PASTORS FOR PEACE CARAVAN ARRIVES IN HAVANA *CARNIVALS TO BEGIN FRIDAY NIGHT IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL *YOUNG PEOPLE MUST PARTICIPATE IN THEIR COUNTRY'S SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT *CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH OLYMPIC ATHLETES *CUBA HAS CREATED 124,000 JOBS DURING FIRST 6 MONTHS OF THIS YEAR *Viewpoint: MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT ON WASHINGTON'S OUTDATED CUBA POLICY *TENTH PASTORS FOR PEACE CARAVAN ARRIVES IN HAVANA Havana, July 21 (RHC)-- The 10th Pastors for Peace caravan is in the Cuban capital, bringing with it friendship and solidarity from the people of the United States to the people of Cuba. Arriving Friday afternoon at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, nearly 100 caravanistas began a one-week program here on the island. Among the activities during their stay: visits to hospitals, churches, schools and other places of social and historic interest -- as well as meetings with religious and government leaders. The Reverend Lucius Walker, founder and director of Pastors for Peace, held a brief news conference in the protocol room, just minutes after the group touched down at the airport. He told reporters that 25 tons of humanitarian aid is on its way to the port of Havana from Tampico, Mexico and is scheduled to arrive within the next two weeks. The aid -- which includes computers, medical equipment, several school busses and an ambulance -- was loaded aboard a Cuban ship in Tampico by Mexican longshoremen, who donated their time free-of-charge. Shortly after the caravanistas arrived in Havana, they held a meeting with the president of the Cuban Sports Institute, Humberto Rodriguez. One of the principal focuses of this year's caravan is sports -- with athletic equipment, baseballs, gloves and bats making their way to Havana. Friday evening's meeting took place at the Sports City Complex and was attended by many of the athletes who will represent Cuba at the Olympics next month in Sydney. Members of the 10th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan will return to the United States next Saturday, the 29th. *CARNIVALS TO BEGIN FRIDAY NIGHT IN THE CUBAN CAPITAL Havana, July 21 (RHC)-The Havana Carnival is scheduled to begin on Friday night, along the famous Malecon Sea Side Drive, with the participation of thousands of Havana residents and visitors that will enjoy floats, dancing groups and great Cuban music. At 9:00 Friday night the carnival officially begins, after the traditional cannon shot over the San Pedro de la Cabana fortress dating back to the Spanish colonial period. On Sunday afternoon, a children's carnival will be held also at Havana's Malecon Sea Side Drive. *YOUNG PEOPLE MUST PARTICIPATE IN THEIR COUNTRY'S SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Havana, July 21 (RHC)-The First Secretary of Cuba's Young Communist League, Otto Rivero, criticized neoliberal policies that serve to limit the active participation of young people in social development. His commentary took place on Thursday during the 10th Youth Conference, which is contributing to the preparations of the Ibero American Summit to be held in Panama at the end of the year. The Cuban youth leader added that neoliberalism continues to have negative results for the majority of Latin Americans and stymies popular participation in institutional development. Rivero also analyzed the current situation in Latin America, exploring the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, as a product of privatization trends associated with neoliberal adjustment sweeping over the region as part of U.S. designs for a regional block. *CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH OLYMPIC ATHLETES Havana, July 21 (RHC)-Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque met on Thursday in Havana with a group of Cuban athletes that will represent the island in the upcoming Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The Cuban Foreign Minister told the athletes the they have a very important competition ahead of them and that the Cuban people will support them regardless of the outcome. The Cuban official added that more important than winning medals is to compete with dignity and honor. He commented that the Cuban people felt indignation when they heard that the Canadian press reported on a mock contest to guess how many Cuban athletes would defect to Canada during the 1999 Winnepeg Pan American Games. *CUBA HAS CREATED 124,000 JOBS DURING FIRST 6 MONTHS OF THIS YEAR Havana, July 21 (RHC)-Cuba created 124,000 new jobs during the first semester of this year, according to Alfredo Morales, Minister of Labor and Social Security. Morales pointed out that of the the nearly 200,000 new jobs planned for the year 2000, over a third are destined for the eastern provinces. The Cuban official expressed, however, the need to create more permanent jobs--especially for women. *Viewpoint: MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT ON WASHINGTON'S OUTDATED CUBA POLICY It's universal practice that parliament members are elected by their constituents to represent them in national law-making bodies and that legislators are vested with powers to legislate within national boundaries. However, on Capitol Hill, in Washington DC, this practice has been abandoned, since some of the U.S.'s elected officials have decided that they ought to legislate for the rest of the world. A case in point is the Helms-Burton law, enacted in 1996 to further reinforce the U.S. blockade against Cuba, and order a Cuban transition to "democracy", US-style. One of the absurd provisions of the internationally decried legislation, is to force sovereign nations to join the U.S.'s anti-Cuba bandwagon by preventing their companies from investing in Cuba. Title Three of the law seeks sanctions against foreign investors who allegedly "traffic with confiscated property" in Cuba, a euphemism to describe investment in Cuban facilities located on property that belonged to U.S. firms before the Revolution. According to the anti-Cuba legislation, the U.S. president may waive application of Title Three, thus preventing former U.S. firms from suing in U.S. courts the executives of the companies investing in Cuba, a scenario that would cost millions to U.S. tax-payers, and would clog the U.S. judicial system. For nine consecutive quarters, the Clinton Administration has waived the application of Title Three of the Law. And, as is customary, when it happens the issue of Cuban confiscations resurfaces. During the early years of the Revolution, Cuban authorities confiscated property in full compliance with international law. Nations like France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Canada, Spain and the United States, were affected by the measure. To date, all these nations but the United States have received compensation from Cuban authorities. Cuba opportunely offered to indemnify U.S. companies whose land holdings, industries and other assets were nationalized. U.S. authorities, certain that they would be able to overthrow the Cuban Revolution, rejected the Cuban offer. Had they heeded the Cuban proposal, and had the blockade not been implemented, U.S. nationals affected by the nationalizations would have received compensation. However, Washington has spared no efforts in investing billions in trying to destroy the Cuban Revolution, causing the Cuban people innumerable calamities in its quest to starve the island into submission. The U.S. Cuba policy has not only been a failure, but has strengthened national unity and sovereignty. Despite the shortages and limitations, the Cuban people have been able to achieve social and economic gains unheard of in other Third World nations. How much more would Cuba have achieved without the blockade? Cuba poses no threat to its powerful neighbor to the North. The United States currently has normal relations with Asian socialist countries, like China, Viet Nam and North Korea. But it remains intent on defeating Socialist Cuba. Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill remain oblivious to the overwhelming support that Cuba is receiving from all corners of the world, as well as to the United Nations General Assembly vote for the past seven consecutive years calling for an end to the blockade. They also seem intent on remaining deaf to the growing clamor inside the USA itself for a change in Washington's failed and discredited Cuba policy. (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-18848 2000-Jul-22 05:13:20