Radio Havana Cuba-23 May 2000 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 23 May 2000 -FIDEL CASTRO RECEIVES VISITING GERMAN FEDERAL MINISTER -RICARDO ALARCON SAY PRESSURE AGAINST BLOCKADE IS GROWING INSIDE THE USA -SPANISH BUSINESS DELEGATION ON A VISIT TO CUBA -NEW COOPERATION PROJECT BETWEEN CUBA AND UNDP -HEALTH COOPERATION PROGRAM BETWEEN CUBA AND EQUATORIAL GUINEA -SECOND SEMINAR ON ITALIAN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE IN HAVANA -"CUBAVSBLOQUEO.CU," NEW CUBAN WEBSITE, COVERS US BLOCKADE -Viewpoint: RIGHT WING UP IN ARMS OVER ELIAN'S SCHOOL UNIFORM FIDEL CASTRO RECEIVES VISITING GERMAN FEDERAL MINISTER Havana, May 23 (RHC)-- Cuban President Fidel Castro met Monday evening with visiting German Federal Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. The German official, who heads the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, wrapped up a four-day visit to Cuba on Tuesday. During her stay on the island, the German federal minister signed a bilateral cooperation accord with her Cuban counterpart, Marta Loma, establishing a 1.5 million dollar project to fight against drought and soil erosion. The three-year joint Cuban-German program will be carried out in the western provinces of Granma and Holguin. According to the agreement, the project could be extended for a total of 12 years and German investment could reach more than five million dollars. Before leaving Havana for Brazil, her next stop on a Latin American tour, the German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development told reporters that her visit to Cuba was productive and had special words of praise for the island's health care and educational systems. She expressed particular interest in Havana's Latin American School of Medicine. The German federal minister stated that her government will continue to work with Cuban authorities to renegotiate the island's debt, adding that Cuban businesspeople can count on future credits and investment from Bonn. RICARDO ALARCON SAY PRESSURE AGAINST BLOCKADE IS GROWING INSIDE THE USA Havana, May 23 (RHC)-- Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon has affirmed that there is growing pressure from U.S. public opinion to put an end to Washington's economic blockade of Cuba. Speaking to activists from the U.S.-Cuba Sister City Association, meeting here in the Cuban capital, Alarcon also pointed to the overwhelming sentiment in the U.S. to return Elian Gonzalez to the island. The Cuban Parliament president noted that despite prohibitions on doing business with Cuba, increasing numbers of U.S. companies have expressed an interest in trade with Havana. He said that business representatives are applying maximum pressure on Washington to open the way for them to invest on the island. Ricardo Alarcon also referred to renewed efforts by U.S. congressional representatives to lift restrictions on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba, stating that the possibilities for such legislation are now greater than ever. At the same time, the president of the Cuban Parliament said that Havana is not overly optimistic, noting that the draft bill could be sabotaged by right wing forces on Capitol Hill. Concerning the case of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez, the president of the Cuban Parliament condemned the delays and obstacles being placed in the way of his return. Alarcon stated that after six months of illegal and criminal actions, Elian's kidnappers are still free, walking the streets of Miami. SPANISH BUSINESS DELEGATION ON A VISIT TO CUBA Havana, May 23 (RHC)-- A visiting business mission from Spain began bilateral contacts with Cuban authorities on Monday, aimed at strengthening investment and trade relations between the European nation and the Caribbean island. The Spanish mission is made up of business executives from some 25 member companies of Madrid's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, representing sectors such as the pharmaceutical, food and textile industries, as well as construction, transportation and tourism. Bilateral negotiations are underway between Spanish and Cuban authorities to open a branch office of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce here in the Cuban capital. NEW COOPERATION PROJECT BETWEEN CUBA AND UNDP Havana, May 23 (RHC)-- A new cooperation project between Cuba and the United Nations Development Program -UNDP- is to be implemented, beginning in the year 2001. UNDP representative in Cuba German Valdivia stressed that the 4-year program is aimed at supporting efforts by Cuban authorities to guarantee nutritious food to the Cuban people, primarily children, pregnant women, the elderly and the disabled. The new program will benefit people in the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Las Tunas and Granma. HEALTH COOPERATION PROGRAM BETWEEN CUBA AND EQUATORIAL GUINEA Havana, May 23 (RHC)-- Cuba will contribute to the creation of a Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony that gained its independence in 1968. Teams of Cuban health professionals will be sent to the small African nation to train medical students at the new school of medicine. There are currently some 2,600 Cuban health specialists offering their services, free-of-charge, in 60 nations in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, as part of a cooperation program put in place by Cuban authorities to help create integral health care systems in Third World nations. The cooperation program also includes scholarships for Third World students who wish to study medicine in Cuba. HAVANA: SECOND SEMINAR ON ITALIAN LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND CULTURE Havana, May 23 (RHC)-- The Second Seminar on Italian Language, Literature and Culture kicked off on Tuesday at the University of Havana with the participation of delegates from Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and Italy. The event promotes advanced training for professionals, as well as strengthening cooperation ties between Italian language study centers in Cuba. "CUBAVSBLOQUEO.CU," NEW CUBAN WEBSITE, COVERS US BLOCKADE Havana, May 23 (RHC)- A new website has been created by Cuba to provide information on the economic and political blockade imposed on the island by the United States for almost four decades. The site - whose address is www.cubavsbloqueo.cu - provides a chronological history of the effects and consequences of the blockade, as well as legislative texts that enforce it such as the Torricelli and Helms Burton Laws. In a statement to the press, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said that the site is designed to counter the US government's disinformation on the subject. www.cubavsbloqueo.cu provides ample documentation of the serious and fatal nature of Washington's blockade and the international condemnation of its genocidal objective. Viewpoint: RIGHT WING UPSET BY PHOTO OF ELIAN WEARING CUBAN SCHOOL UNIFORM Rightwing Cuban-Americans in Miami were up in arms last week over a photo published by the digital edition of the Cuban newspaper Granma. The image of Elian Gonzalez, dressed in his Cuban school uniform and wearing a Pioneer children's organization scarf -- as do all children on the island -- was just too much for them. Elian Gonzalez is living on an estate on Wye Plantation near Washington DC, with his father and other family members -- waiting for the decision of the Atlanta Federal Court of Appeals. Three judges heard arguments by the boy's kidnappers, asking the court to allow Elian to have a political asylum hearing, against the wishes of the six-year-old boy's father. In compliance with U.S. law, the Immigration and Naturalization Service ruled in January that the boy should be sent back to his home, as it has done in thousands of other cases with children from countries other than Cuba. The ruling was backed by the White House and the U.S. attorney general who, after long, drawn-out negotiations with the kidnappers, finally ordered the removal of Elian from the house where he was being illegally held. Since then, Elian -- now re-united with his father and other close family members -- is staying on Carmichael Farm, near Washington DC , waiting for a decision in his case. Since the day Elian was rescued from his kidnappers, extreme right-wing elements in Miami, without support from the American people, have unleashed a campaign of incredible lies in the local press -- attempting to keep the boy in the United States in order to maintain their lucrative business of anti-Cuba propaganda. They are seeing their profits crumble before their very eyes, as they increasingly lose favor with U.S. authorities. These unscrupulous people have revived the worst Cold War rhetoric, falsely believing that such statements still influence the American people. But people in the United States have begun to wake up and have come out consistently in favor of returning Elian Gonzalez to Cuba and his family. Now, The Cuban mafia is trying to create a scandal because the little boy, who is in Washington in the company of his teacher and several classmates from his school in Cardenas, Cuba, is using his school uniform and Pioneer scarf in the United States. Those who maintain that the United States is the "Land of Liberty" should have no reason to oppose how Elian's family chooses to dress him. This latest issue is just another ridiculous smoke-screen, aimed at confusing the U.S. public. (c) 2000 Radio Habana Cuba. 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-31142 2000-May-24 02:37:21