Radio Havana Cuba-14 November 2000 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 14 November 2000 . *WORLD SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE WINDS UP IN HAVANA *CUBA TAKES PART IN IBEROAMERICAN SUMMIT *MAYORAL MEETING IN HAVANA *CUBAN ARTIST CLOSES DOMINICAN GUITAR FESTIVAL *CONTINENTAL STUDIES FORUM ON WOMEN UNDERWAY IN HAVANA *PHYSICALLY DISABLED CITIZENS THANK CUBAN GOVERNMENT FOR ATTENTION *Viewpoint: UNITED STATES INCREASINGLY ISOLATED INTERNATIONALLY . *WORLD SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE WINDS UP IN HAVANA Havana, November 14 (RHC)-- After an intense exchange of experiences and ideas, the 2nd World Meeting of Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba, wound up on Tuesday in the Cuban capital. The meeting began on Friday, November 10th, with over 4000 delegates from 117 countries who focused debates on Washington's nearly 40-year economic and financial blockade of Cuba, the distortion abroad of information on Cuba's reality and practical solidarity work. The event, held in Havana's Convention Center and at the Karl Marx Theater, was also attended by some 50 outstanding world personalities in the fields of politics and culture. Among scheduled activities, participants had the opportunity to talk and exchange experiences with Cubans in different Havana neighborhoods. The world gathering also heard presentations on Cuban reality by Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and the president of the island's parliament, Ricardo Alarcon. On Monday evening, delegates took part in a televised round table discussion on the Solidarity with Cuba Movement The event was attended by Cuban President Fidel Castro. On Tuesday morning, delegates participated in a demonstration in front of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, at the Jose Marti International Tribune during which they condemned Washington's hostile Cuba policy. As part of the 5-day solidarity gathering, participants visited various places of interest. *CUBA TAKES PART IN IBEROAMERICAN SUMMIT Havana, November 14 (RHC)-- According to the president of Cuba's Union of Journalists, Cuba will be attending the 10th Iberoamerican Summit of Heads of State and Government proud of its outstanding record on raising healthy, educated children. Tubal Paez made the statements upon his arrival in Panama on Monday to take part in the 7th Iberoamerican Meeting of Journalists, leading up to the Summit. Paez told Prensa Latina News Agency that the island has great experience in working with children, particularly in the fields of education and health. Our children are conscious of their social commitment, said the Cuban journalist,and proof of that is the battle they participated in for the return to the island of Elian Gonzalez. Referring to the Journalists' Meeting, which begins on Wednesday in Panama, Tubal Paez underscored the importance of dealing with children's issues, due to the extreme poverty in which most Latin American children live. The meeting of Iberoamerican journalists precedes the 10th Summit of Heads of State and Government, whose central topic is the situation of the more than 190 million children and adolescents living in Latin America, Spain and Portugal. The topic was chosen at last year's Summit of Heads of State and Government, by the president of this year's host country, Panamian Mireya Moscoso. Media professionals will draft a final document to be submitted to the Heads of State Summit, which will session under the slogan: "United for Childhood and Adolescence, the basis for justice and equity in the new millennium." *MAYORAL MEETING IN HAVANA Havana, November 14 (RHC)-- The 8th Meeting of Mayors and City Officials in Solidarity with Havana's City Hall, begins on Wednesday in the Cuban capital. Cuban city government official, Carlos Franco, told the press that some 400 delegates from the United States, Portugal, Martinique, Ireland, Turkey and Spain are expected to participate in the gathering. The Mayors and City Officials encounter, which will be held in Havana's Convention Center, takes place in the context of celebrations for the 481 birthday of the city of Havana and also celebrates Cuba's recent victory at the United Nations, where an overwhelming majority of UN member nations condemned Washington's economic and financial blockade of the island. City officials and mayors participating in the event arrived in Havana on Tuesday and were welcomed by local authorities and residents of the city's 15 municipalities. The gathering is expected to draft a final declaration condemning the US blockade of Cuba. The list of guests includes, Rosa Aguiar of Cordova in the Spanish province of Andalucia, Paz Fernandez from Asturias, Edite Stlera from Sintra , Portugal and the mayor of Mobile, Alabama in the United States. *CUBAN ARTIST CLOSES DOMINICAN GUITAR FESTIVAL Havana, November 14 (RHC)-- Cuban artist Aldo Rodriguez closed the Dominican Republic's 3rd Guitar Festival on Monday night in Santo Domingo. Among the tunes played by the Cuban guitarist were pieces composed by fellow Cubans, Sindo Garay and Eliseo Grenet, The Cuban musician also played as well as others made by Puerto Rican Rafael Hernandez among other outstanding composers. The attendance at the Guitar Fstival, held at the Espana Cultural Center in Santo Domingo, also enjoy the performance of Cuban guitarist Ruben Gonzalez, who gave his concert the fist day of the festival last week. Gonzalez played ten pieces composed by outstanding Cuban musicians such as Maestro Leo Brower. Other renown participants at the festival were Spanish guitarist Jorge Orozco and Dominican Rafael Scarfullery. *CONTINENTAL STUDIES FORUM ON WOMEN UNDERWAY IN HAVANA Havana, November 14 (RHC)--Women researchers from Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Chile will gather this week in Havana for the First Continental Studies Forum on Women, scheduled for November 14th through 17th here. The event, organized by the Center of Studies on Women at the Cuban Women's Federation, will gather experts from local programs and scientific centers linked to social research on women, genre and the family and its attendance includes a large Cuban representation. Activities at the event include round table discussions and panels on methodological approaches, perspectives of study for the coming century and multilateral cooperation in those issues. The gathering objective is to exchange on ongoing professional knoledge and work in the social issue. Cuba maintains specialized departments on women at various universities, plus 170 Family and Women's Guidance Centers, whose over-10-year experience constitute a valuable treasure for the systematic assistance of women, children and families. The implementation of these social programs at community levels is one of the studies to be presented by Cuba at the First Continental Study Forum on Women, co-sponsored by the UNICEF office in Havana. *PHYSICALLY DISABLED CITIZENS THANK CUBAN GOVERNMENT FOR ATTENTION Havana, November 14 (RHC)-- Representatives of Cuban associations of physically disabled, visually and hearing-impaired citizens thanked the Cuban government for the special treatment given to their affilated members. A recent analysis by eastern Holguin provincial Government on the situation of some 7000 disabled people proved the constant care of the Cuban state for people needing special assistance. Only 64 of the disabled persons living in Holguin do not work for particular reasons, the rest are linked to the local commercial network through crafts and other facilities where they produce items for domestic use. Disabled people in Holguin as well as in other Cuban territories have received prothesis, wheelchairs and other implements on a regular basis. Many architectual barriers limiting their free movement on streets and other places continue to be removed. The eastern city of Holguin will be the venue of the National Forum of the Cuban Association of the Blind from November 29th through 30th. Viewpoint: *UNITED STATES INCREASINGLY ISOLATED INTERNATIONALLY Participants in the Second World Meeting of Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba that winds up in Havana today have been talking much about two important events: the overwhelming vote in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Washington's blockade against Cuba and the U.S. elections scandal in Florida. Those two factors have served to strengthen world public opinion in favor of Cuba, while considerably weakening the image of its fiercest enemy, the United States, which has spent the last 40 years attempting to discredit the Cuban Revolution. The World movement of solidarity with Cuba has grown tremendously. That growth was demonstrated recently in the record 167 votes of the 189 countries that make up the United Nations, in support of the Cuban resolution condemning Washington's economic blockade. Not even those countries which traditionally have been allies of the United States supported Washington and so the great power stood virtually alone, with only Israel and the Marshall Islands on its side. Nor were any of the major powers among the 4 that abstained in the historic U.N. vote. The landslide vote against Washington's Cuba policy could be considered the United States' most stunning diplomatic defeat in the United Nations ever. The successively higher votes in favor of Cuba over the past 9 years in the United Nations General Assembly, can also be considered an important international victory for a small, Third World country. The U.S. defeat coincides with the country's biggest election scandal ever. Never has the United States been more scrutinized and less defended internationally than at this moment. That great nation, that great world power, has been revealed to be unable to elect a president to govern for the next four years, because of fraudulent elections which have drawn jeers of "banana republic" from the rest of the world. The great North American democracy has just a few days to resolve this enormous scandal since on January 20, the new president is to take office. At this point, no solution will be satisfactory, because the problem is much too profound to be fixed by a simple recount of the votes and will certainly have serious consequence for government in the United States on the threshold of the new millennium. (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-17559 2000-Nov-15 05:32:05