Radio Havana Cuba-24 November 2000 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 24 November 2000 . *CUBA DONATES HEALTH SERVICES IN 13 COUNTRIES *ITALIAN CULTURE WEEK BEGINS IN CUBA *CUBA IMPLEMENTS COMBINED-DRUG THERAPY FOR HIV VIRUS *TIMES CLIPPER 2000 REGATTA CEREMONY ON SATURDAY *CUBAN MENTAL HEALTH ADVANCES WIN PRAISE *THE LONG TERRORIST CAREER OF LUIS POSADA CARRILES *Viewpoint: AFRICA - FROM LIFE TO DEATH . *CUBA DONATES HEALTH SERVICES IN 13 COUNTRIES Havana, November 24 (RHC)-- Cuban health professionals are offering their services free-of-charge in 13 nations, as part of a comprehensive program that includes more than 2400 doctors, nurses and health technicians. Speaking in the eastern province of Las Tunas, Health Minister Carlos Dotres noted that Cuban cooperation has helped to improve health conditions in those nations, especially in the reduction of infant mortality rates. The Cuban health minister also stressed that Cuban's recent health indicators are on the same level as those in the developed world. Nevertheless, Cuban doctors continue working to maintain and improve health services on the island. *ITALIAN CULTURE WEEK BEGINS IN CUBA Havana, November 24 (RHC)-- The 5th Annual Italian Culture in Cuba week, officially opened on Thursday in Havana. The inauguration was held in Havana's colonial section, in the restored Basilica of San Francisco de Assisi. Attending the ceremony were the mayor of the Neapolitan City of Nola, Giuseppe Sarpico and Italian ambassador in Cuba, Giuseppe Moscato. The event, which winds up next Friday, December 1st, includes conferences, concerts, plays and other activities aimed at expanding cultural exchange between Cuba and Italy. *CUBA IMPLEMENTS COMBINED-DRUG THERAPY FOR HIV VIRUS Havana, November 24 (RHC)-- Cuban Hygiene and Epidemiology official, Dr. Rigoberto Torres, has announced that Cuba is ready to implement two-drug therapy treatment for people infected with the HIV virus. Dr. Torres told reporters in Havana that within the first few months of next year, Cuba will also begin to use a triple therapy program, which is considered to be one of the most effective treatments in prolonging the lives of those infected with the virus. The Cuban health stated that there is hope that within a decade a preventative vaccine the HIV will be developed. Until then, the only way to prevent the spread of AIDS is to maintain a stable relationship, and always use condoms. Since its emergence in the 1970's HIV/AIDS has killed more than 18 million people worldwide. In Cuba, 3145 people have been diagnosed as HIV positive, of which 1138 have developed the disease and 825 have died. *TIMES CLIPPER 2000 REGATTA CEREMONY ON SATURDAY Havana, November 24 (RHC)-- Six of the eight British vessels that are participating in the Times Clipper 2000 Regatta have arrived in Havana. Other boats are expected to sail into the capital's Marina Hemingway in the coming hours. An awards ceremony will be held tomorrow, Saturday, at the Marina. Early next week, after its short stay in Havana, the regatta will set out for Panama. *CUBAN MENTAL HEALTH ADVANCES WIN PRAISE Havana, November 24 (RHC)-- The president of the Cuba-French Psychology and Psychiatry Association, Annette Tevenot, has highlighted Cuba's advances in the area of mental health. The French specialist said that the island is doing noteworthy work, not only in medical assistance, but also in community and social work. Tevenot stressed that the Association's recently concluded 3rd meeting promoted expanding exchanges between specialists of the two countries to encourage scientific cooperation, through visits between the staffs of psychiatric hospitals in Cuba and France. The 3rd meeting of the Cuban-French Psychology and Psychiatry Association is underway in the eastern province Santiago de Cuba. Professionals from Cuba, Martinique and Canada are participating in the event. *THE LONG TERRORIST CAREER OF LUISE POSADA CARRILES The long terrorist career of Luis Posada Carriles, which Cuba has consistently condemned and which the world is slowly discovering, was discussed on Cuban television last night in a program covering an interview given by President Fidel Castro to The New York Times in 1998. New York Times writer Tim Golden retraced Posada Carriles counter-revolutionary activities back to the Bay of Pigs invasion, his involvement at Fort Benning better known as the School of Assassins, as well as the Cubana Airlines bombing of 1976 and the Havana hotel bombings in 1997. Further attacks included those on Cubana offices in foreign countries. The terrorist's connections with the CIA and special forces in the USA were also explored in Golden's discussion with Fidel Castro. Posada Carriles was shown to be involved in drug running and currency fraud from Colombia to Miami via Venezuela. At all times he maintained his contacts with US intelligences services. Posada Carriles was known by Cuban intelligence to have made contact with the CIA and the Cuban exile community to blow up the plane carrying the Cuban president and his entourage back to Havana from Panama after the recent Ibero-American Summit. This prompted the press conference given by Fidel Castro shortly after his arrival in Panama. In 1976, information was received by Cuban authorities to warrant concern that Posada Carriles was planning the downing of a Cuban airliner. Messages were intercepted in Miami in which the possibility was openly discussed by anti-Cuba groups and Posada Carriles. In spite of warnings to regional governments about this very real possibility of sabotage, no one tightened security as a result and on October 6, 1976, a Cubana flight loaded with the island's youth fencing team was blown up in mid-air shortly after take-off from Barbados. Fidel Castro commented to New York Times journalist Tim Golden that he felt that the CIA - although having said that it had broken ties with Posada Carriles - was actually in constant touch with him. The CIA was the only organization capable of providing the type of assistance needed to carry out these tasks and to hold together the different right-wing exile groups in Miami. The Cuban-American National Foundation was the principal member of these groups and was in continuous communication with Posada Carriles over the many terrorist attacks he planned and carried out against Cuba. The information provided by the Cuban leader's discussion with the New York Times, while not new to Cubans, published details for that many Americans read for the first time. The level of knowledge as to the movements and history of this dreadful man Luis Posada Carriles. When two of his associates in the bombing of the plane in 1976 in which the entire youth fencing team of Cuba lost their lives, were asked in the safety of Miami if they had indeed blown the plane up they responded, "Yes we did, and what of it?" The extradition of Posada Carriles has been requested by Cuba, which has promised an open, fair and public trial. The folks at CIA headquarters in Langley must be biting their nails down to the quick in fear of what their agent may reveal if he begins to talk. Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso must be under enormous pressure from Washington. But, whatever the outcome, the dirty tricks played by this man in the pay of the Central Intelligence Agency need to be aired for all to hear. For the people of the U.S. to finally know what has actually been happening in their name and with their money for so many years. Viewpoint: *AFRICA - FROM LIFE TO DEATH Scientific studies indicate that the human species first appeared in Africa more than a hundred and forty thousand years ago. U.S. researcher Peter Underhill from the Laboratory of Population Genetics of Stanford University in California asserts that the first men and women from whom present humans descended all lived in Africa. And paradoxically, in the African continent humans are deprived of their basic human rights more than in any other part of the world. Directly resulting from four centuries of pillage and humiliation, imposed by Western civilizations, Africa inherited poverty and division. According to the United Nations, thirty-three out of the forty-eight poorest countries in the world are on the African continent, where some fifteen million people survive on less than a dollar a day. Continuous internal wars, which are largely caused by the arbitrary delineation of borders imposed by European colonial powers, only make the situation worse. Colonizers turned Africa into a big source of cheap, raw materials by unrestrained plundering of its natural resources. This explains the weakness of the continent's current economic base, thus excluding most African nations from the process of economic and technological globalization. Neoliberal policies widen the gap, forcing African nations to deregulate their national markets to the benefit of the First World. The Organization for Economic Cooperation (OEC), which groups the richer nations across the globe, annually destines some three hundred billion dollars to agricultural subsidies to the enormous detriment of African products. The OEC's fund for their own farmer's subsidies equals the sum of the GNP of all African nations put together. The Northern developed nations impose high tariffs and trade limitations on Africa that cost the continent more than twenty billion dollars every year. This grossly unfair order explains why African exports represent a mere two percent of world trade, in spite of the continent's large natural wealth. Thus, it naturally follows that the number of investments in Africa can be counted on one hand. With such policies and precedents, Africa -- the land where humanity began-- is destined to servitude and a slow death. 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