Radio Havana Cuba-4 July 2000 23:30 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 4 July 2000 23:30 *CUBA TO PUBLISH BOOKLET ENTITLED "ELIAN IS BACK HOME" *ROUNDTABLE DELVES INTO BILL ON MEDICINE AND FOOD SALES TO CUBA *COMMERCIAL RELATIONS BETWEEN CUBA AND RUSSIA ARE IMPROVING *CONGRESS ON BANKING SECURITY KICKS OFF IN HAVANA *CUBAN GRADUATES DEMAND AN END TO WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE *SANTIAGO: CULTURAL WORK OF "THE CARIBBEAN HOUSE" WINS PRAISE *Viewpoint: IN STRUGGLE FOR ELIAN, SUPPORT OF US PEOPLE WAS VITAL *CUBA TO PUBLISH BOOKLET ENTITLED "ELIAN IS BACK HOME" Havana, July 4 (RHC)-A 32 page booklet entitled "Elian is back home" will soon be published in the Cuban capital. The booklet is expected to feature the seven months in which six year old Elian Gonzalez was kidnapped in the United States and the 207 days of struggle of the Cuban people, his father Juan Miguel and his family. The document includes the principal events that ocurred over the past seven months concerning to Elian Gonzalez, comments on Juan Miguel, the grandmothers' trip to the United States, and comentaries about the kidnappers and the psychological damage inflicted upon the child. It also includes a chronology of judges and legal processes, and evaluates the Cuban TV roundtable discussions, and mass rallies, known as "open tribunes," held on the island in the same time period. "Elian is back home" also features a interviews with the President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, who was Juan Miguel Gonzalez' advisor, and Jose Imperatori, the Cuban diplomat unjustly expelled from the United States on alledged charges of spying for the island. The booklet ends up with Cuban President Fidel Castro's message to the open tribune, held last Saturday, urging Cubans to get involved in a new stage of the struggle to end the Cuban Adjustment Act and the US blockade against the island. *ROUNDTABLE DELVES INTO BILL ON MEDICINE AND FOOD SALES TO CUBA Havana, July 4 (RHC)-A TV roundtable discussion is currently underway here on the US congressional measure allowing the sale of food and medicine to Cuba. The project is being presented to the US and world public opinion as a measure that would supposedly ease Washington's 40 year stranglehold on the Caribbean island. On hand are oustanding Cuban economists, jurists and experts in international politics. *COMMERCIAL RELATIONS BETWEEN CUBA AND RUSSIA ARE IMPROVING Havana, July 4 (RHC)-Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas today expressed that commercial relations between Cuba and Russia are developing within a more stable and constructive dynamic consisting of improved contacts between business executives and major communications. This commentary by Cabrisas is from an interview with Cuba's Radio Rebelde, and refers to a commercial exchange accord, good for a period of four years, signed during the recently concluded joint bilateral talks. The accord, which previously included an exchange of sugar for oil, will now include fertilizers, pesticides and other products. The Cuban official added that, during the meeting, issues were discussed and letters of intent were signed in the field of tourism. Sources from the Cuban Foreign Trade Ministry revealed that the current commercial exchange between Cuba and Russia is estimated at some 400 million dollars. *CONGRESS ON BANKING SECURITY KICKS OFF IN HAVANA Havana, July 4 (RHC)-The 15th Latin American Congress on Banking Security has kicked off on Tuesday in Havana with the participation of some 200 experts from 24 countries. The event will facilitate professional exchange among participants and explore current banking security techniques. The meeting will also involve the assistance of prestigious European institutions like Holland's ING Barings Bank and France's General Society of Investment Banking. *CUBAN GRADUATES DEMAND AN END TO WASHINGTON'S BLOCKADE Havana, July 4 (RHC)-Over four thousand Cuban technical students and graduates this Tuesday accused the US government of maintaining a criminal economic blockade against the island for almost 40 years. During the graduation ceremony, which was held at the Jose Marti Anti Imperialist Tribune along Havana's Malecon Seaside Drive, graduates stated that US laws and amendments affect the development of their studies, demanding an end to Washington's blockade against the Caribbean island. *SANTIAGO: CULTURAL WORK OF "THE CARIBBEAN HOUSE" WINS PRAISE Santiago de Cuba, July 4 (RHC)-Foreign personalities participating in the Caribbean Festival praised the work of the Caribbean House, based in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, for its excellent cultural work. The President of the National Folklore Institute from the Dominican Republic, Dagoberto Tejeda, and Angola's Deputy Culture and Education Minister, Frederic Dos Santos, agreed that the prestigious cultural institution, created in 1982, successfully unites the cultural identity of Caribbean nations of African origin. The Caribbean Festival began on Monday, including the participation of 600 of the region's artists. *Viewpoint: IN STRUGGLE FOR ELIAN, SUPPORT OF US PEOPLE WAS VITAL The Cuban people's struggle for the return of six year old Elian Gonzalez would have been prolonged and even more difficult without the support of the American people. The people of the United States, so closely linked to the history of Cuba, have been systematically lied to by Washington's anti Cuba propaganda over the last 40 years. Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Washington has pursued a unilateral anti-Cuba policy, during 9 consecutive US administrations, with the primary objective of painting the revolution as evil. Even a decade after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. government has tightened its economic stranglehold on the island, justifying its aggressive policy as "pro-democratic." For over 40 years, the U.S. mass media, representing the interests of the upper classes and, hence, catering to Washington on ideological issues, has done everything within its power to misinform the American people on the Cuban revolution. Washington has had to justify its unjust economic and political aggressions against Cuba, to both its domestic constituency and the international community, as a means of provoking an internal revolt that would, in theory, eliminate the revolution and bring the US model of so called democracy to the island. The people of the US have been saturated, for decades, with the lie that Cuba has been a threat to its northern neighbor. But the situation of six year old Cuban Elian Gonzalez, illegally detained by ultra right wing forces in Miami, dispelled many of the lies which the US people have been subjected to by the country's most reactionary forces and its companions based in Miami. The American people witnessed how the ultra right wing in Miami threatened the mental health of the six year old with the objective of making the child stay in the Untied States against his father's will. The political exploits of this case, and extremism, by the fanatical element of the Miami Cuban-American community, helped to break down a number of barriers between the U.S. and Cuban peoples. Numerous surveys conducted in the United States, during the detention of Elian Gonzalez, revealed that the majority of the American people were overwhelmingly in favor of the return of Elian and his father to Cuba. American support for Elian's reunion with his immediate family, who has cared for him over the last 6 years with love represents a beautiful example of how humanity ultimately triumphs over the extremist intentions of a small but powerful right wing community. For this, the American people should be congratulated on their day of independence, this July 4th. (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-4698 2000-Jul-05 01:46:24