Radio Havana Cuba-19 October 2000 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 19 October 2000 . *US LEGISLATORS WHO OPPOSE BLOCKADE ADMIT THE HARDLINERS WON *IBERO-AMERICAN WOMEN ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS JOIN GIGANTIC MARCH IN HAVANA *BRITISH PARLIAMENTARIANS VISIT CUBA *FOREIGN STUDENTS IN CUBA CONDEMN NEW US BLOCKADE LEGISLATION *FOREIGN MILITARY BASES VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW: INT'L JURISTS *CUBAN CULTURE PRIZE AWARDED TO IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES AND INSTITUTIONS *NEW CUBAN GEOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY LAUNCHED IN HAVANA *Viewpoint: MORE THAN ONE MILLION CUBANS PROTEST NEW CONGRESSIONAL ANTI-CUBA MANEUVERS . *US LEGISLATORS WHO OPPOSE BLOCKADE ADMIT THE HARDLINERS WON Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- U.S. Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan has asserted that the hardliners won, in reference to Wednesday's Senate approval of legislation that many falsely claim has eased the restrictions on the sale of medicine and food to Cuba. House Republican leaders, at the behest of two Republican Cuban-American lawmakers, have definitively pushed through legislation that originally was a step in the right direction. In an overwhelming 86 to 8 vote, the Senate approved legislation in which the ultra-right wing on Capitol Hill had added stiff restrictions. The original measure had lifted sanctions on food and medicine outright and had received a large, bipartisan vote in the Senate. A similar bill was also initially approved by wide margins in the House of Representatives. Reacting to approval of legislation with restrictions that Cuba has called discriminatory and humilliating, Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd said: "Wait until these farmers, who think that they were given a great new market to deal in... wait until they try to get a visa to go there or try to get financing. They're going to be furious." While calling the bill 'a crack in the door,' Van Yeutter, of the large commodities firm Cargill Incorporated, admitted that -- in his words -- "the fact of the matter is that it's going to be a difficult road in putting together business." Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts said supporters of easing the blockade against Cuba will return to the issue next year when presidential campaign politics won't get in the way. Approval of the measure, contained in a 78 billion dollar agriculture spending bill -- and which President Bill Clinton has promised to sign despite reservations -- came on the heels of a massive demonstration in Havana yesterday, denouncing the anti-democratic maneuvers that killed an original measure which had widespread support not only in Congress, but also among U.S. public opinion. Cuba says it will not stoop to buy one aspirin or one grain of rice under those conditions. *IBERO-AMERICAN WOMEN ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS JOIN GIGANTIC MARCH IN HAVANA Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- Delegates to the 4th Ibero-American Meeting of Women Architects and Engineers took part in Wednesday's huge march, condemning Washington's latest leglislative aggressions against Cuba. The delegates resumed their meeting on Thursday in the Cuban capital, where they examined the role of Ibero-American architects and engineers on threshold of the new millennium. The meeting, which is being held for the first time in Cuba, winds up on Friday. *BRITISH PARLIAMENTARIANS VISIT CUBA Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- British parliamentarians from the House of Commons' Health Commission met on Thursday in Havana with their Cuban counterparts and discussed the work of the island's National Asembly Commissions. The British lawmakers will visit Havana's Latin American School of Medicine, where students from different regions study medicine free-of-charge as part of the Cuban government's scholarship program. The British delegation will also meet with Cuban government officials and visit the provinces of Pinar del Rio and Matanzas. *FOREIGN STUDENTS IN CUBA CONDEMN NEW US BLOCKADE LEGISLATION Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- Representatives of the nearly 700 foreign students from 47 countries, attending schools in the eastern province of Camaguey, condemned new U.S. legislation that tightens Washington's blockade against Cuba. The young people also thanked the Cuban government for extending them the opportunity to study in Cuba. The students issued a statement in a meeting at the Cuban Institute of Friendship Among the People (ICAP) in Havana on the occasion of the organizations's 40th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the International Work Brigades: "Friends With Cuba." *FOREIGN MILITARY BASES VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW: INT'L JURISTS Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- The presence of foreign military bases, maintained against the will of the countries' affected, was analyzed on Thursday by Cuban expert Dr. Olga Miranda during a meeting of the American Jurists Association and the International Democratic Jurists Association which is meeting in the Cuban capital. Dr. Miranda, who is also an official from the island's Foreign Ministry, pointed out that such military bases violate international law and the principles of soverignty and self-determination as defined in the UN Charter. The Cuban international law expert noted that the U.S. naval base in Cuba's eastern province of Guantanamo, which has been occupied by Washington since the early 1900's, is a perfect example. Dr. Olga Miranda reiterated the island's solidarity with the Puerto Rican people's struggle to end U.S. military maneuvers on Vieques and with the Japanese people's opposition to U.S. military presence in Okinawa. *CUBAN CULTURE PRIZE AWARDED TO IMPORTANT PERSONALITIES AND INSTITUTIONS Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- The Cuban prize for Community Culture was awarded to ten cultural personalities and five institutions and projects on Wednesday in Havana. The award is in recognition for exceptional contributions to national culture, the conservation of traditions and the promotion of the most significant cultural values islandwide. City of Havana Historian Eusebio Leal said that Wednesday's massive march down the Malecon was an example of community culture. The jury gave special recognition to the Cuban Young Communist League for its important contribution to the series of televised "Open Tribunes" and "Roundtables" as well as its promotion of national culture. A meeting on Community Culture wound up on Wednesday, with the participation of delegates from across the island. Delegates discussed ways to promote culture throughout the country. *NEW CUBAN GEOGRAPHIC DICTIONARY LAUNCHED IN HAVANA Havana, October 19 (RHC)-- A Cuban Geographic Dictionary was launched on Thursday in Havana, as part of celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the National Commission on Geographic Names. The new book is a detailed reference of Cuba's geographical topography, providing statistics on tourism and information on culture in different regions of the island. The 400-page Cuban Geographic Dictionary has over 60 colorful illustrations, including drawings of the island's main cities, in addition to maps of each of the provinces. Viewpoint: *MORE THAN ONE MILLION CUBANS PROTEST NEW CONGRESSIONAL ANTI-CUBA MANEUVERS Headed by Cuban President Fidel Castro and other leaders of the Revolution, more than one million Cubans marched past the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on Wednesday to protest new maneuvers in the U.S. Congress, designed to further strengthen Washington's blockade against the island. Cubans from all walks of life marched down Havana's sea-side drive, known as the Malecon, to express their strong rejection of an amendment attached to the U.S. Agricultural Bill which modified a former project to authorize the sale of food and medicine to Cuba. The approved agricultural bill stipulates the lifting of restrictions on the sale of food and medicine to five countries that were previously included under U.S. sanctions, including Cuba. The anti-Cuba amendment in question, prohibits the use of public or private U.S. funds to finance any trade operations with the island, preventing any such operations from actually being carried out. Under this new piece of legislation, U.S. farmers can freely sell their products to or trade with North Korea, Sudan, Iran and any of the countries that were previously subjected to unilateral U.S. sanctions, except for Cuba. From this very moment on, Cuba is the only country in the entire world that will remain under Washington's sanctions. Wednesday's patriotic march was also held to denounce the theft of over 160 million dollars -- Cuban funds frozen in U.S. banks since the triumph of the Revolution. Washington has publicly announced its intention hand over the stolen funds to anti-Cuba terrorist groups in Miami. Media outlets accredited in Havana described Wednesday's massive march as further evidence of the Cuban people's support for Fidel and the Revolution. They pointed to the enthusiastic participation of students, workers, house-wives and retired people -- raising their voices to once again denouce the genocidal blockade as well as all U.S. anti-Cuba legislation. Participants in the protest carried Cuban flags and placards with the images of Cuba's National Hero Jose Marti and U.S. President Abraham Lincoln -- symbols of a double protest in the name of both the Cuban and the U.S. people. Passed last week by the House of Representatives and yesterday, Wednesday, by the U.S. Senate, the bill also includes provisions turning into law current restrictions on the travel of U.S. citizens to Cuba, depriving U.S. nationals of their constitutional right to travel freely around the world. The French news agency France Press particularly emphasized Cuba's point that the agricultural bill approved by the U.S. Congress, far from easing the blockade, is actually aimed at further tightening it. The Mexican news agency Notimex, for its part, pointed specifically to the Cuban people's strong rejection of the congressional decision to turn the more than160 million dollars of Cuban funds frozen in the U.S. over to the anti-Cuba Mafia in Miami. The Cuban response to these new maneuvers in the U.S. Congress is clear: to maintain its refusal to carry out any transactions with the United States within the context of such discriminatory and humilliating restrictions, which are totally and morally unacceptable. (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-19538 2000-Oct-19 22:21:57