Radio Havana Cuba-06 September 2000 22:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 06 September 2000 22:00 *FIDEL CASTRO CALLS FOR RADICAL REFORMS IN THE UNITED NATIONS *DELEGATION OF PARLIAMENTARIANS VISITING CUBA FROM MALI *IBERO-AMERICAN MEETING ON PHARMACEUTICAL QUALITY CONTROL *CUBAN SCIENTISTS SEARCH FOR NEW SPECIES OF WOODPECKERS *IBERO-AMERICAN SONG FESTIVAL TO TAKE PLACE IN HAVANA *CUBAN BASEBALL TEAM GETS READY FOR SYDNEY OLYMPICS *CUBAN ROWERS ARRIVE IN SYDNEY FOR THE GAMES *THE MILLENNIUM SUMMIT: A NEW HOPE FOR CHANGE *FIDEL CASTRO CALLS FOR RADICAL REFORMS IN THE UNITED NATIONS New York, September 6 (RHC)-- Calling for an end to the unequal distribution of wealth and the urgent need for radical reforms in the United Nations, Cuban President Fidel Castro delivered a hard-hitting speech at the Millennium Summit on Wednesday. The leader of the Cuban Revolution addressed more than 160 heads of state and government at the summit, which got underway Wednesday morning in New York City. Stating that Cuba will never accept the rule of one hegemonic power in the world, Fidel Castro lashed out at the main causes of current conflicts - namely poverty and underdevelopment. The Cuban leader stated that the current state of affairs in the vast majority of world is the result of conquest, colonization, slavery and plunder by colonial powers. He also condemned what he called the bloody wars fought to carve up the world according to imperialist powers. Cuban President Fidel Castro told the Millennium Summit that the former colonial powers have the moral obligation of indemnifying the Third World for the damage they have inflicted over the centuries. And he condemned the squandering of vital, non-renewable resources, wasted on luxury and vanity -- while millions are threatened with extinction, many suffering from curable diseases. In his six-minute speech before the United Nations-sponsored summit, the Cuban leader called for radical reforms of the world body, calling it an antiquated institution that must be transformed into an organization that truly represents the interests of all the peoples of the world. Fidel Castro emphasized that the UN Security Council must be subordinated to the General Assembly -- stressing that the anti-democratic veto right, held by a small group of rich industrialized nations, must be eliminated. International media were quick to react to the Cuban president's speech. Agencia France Press, AFP, the Italian News Agency, ANSA, and the Spanish News Agency, EFE, all carried stories on the reaction to Fidel Castro's words -- noting that the speech received long, sustained applause by the participants at the Millennium Summit. In a cable released shortly after the Cuban leader finished his speech, ANSA reported that Fidel Castro is the only world leader to depart from the diplomatic niceties and deliver a strong critique of the United Nations. *DELEGATION OF PARLIAMENTARIANS VISITING CUBA FROM MALI Havana, September 6 (RHC)-- Cuban Communist Party leader Jose Ramon Balaguer has met with the President of Mali's Parliament, Ali Nojum Dialo, and his delegation. The African legislator thanked the Cuban people for their solidarity and expressed interest in the further development of bilateral cooperation. The Mali lawmakers met with Cuban parliamentarians and visited the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, ICAP. *IBERO-AMERICAN MEETING ON PHARMACEUTICAL QUALITY CONTROL Havana, September 6 (RHC)-- A Cuban medical delegation will participate in the 4th Ibero-American Meeting of Medicine Quality Controllers scheduled to begin on Friday in San Jose, Costa Rica. Cuban Health Ministry official, Rafael Perez Cristia, pointed out the need to guarantee controls on the quality of medicine and its use, announcing that Cuba will propose a protocol for the control of its medicines in Ibero-America and for the control of Ibero-American medicines in Cuba. The Cuban health expert explained that the objective of the upcoming event is to strengthen pharmaceutical regulation in all countries. *CUBAN SCIENTISTS SEARCH FOR NEW SPECIES OF WOODPECKERS Havana, September 6 (RHC)-- An expedition of Cuban scientists will travel to the eastern provinces of Guantanamo and Holguin to search for the Royal Woodpecker which is in danger of extinction. The last time the woodpecker was seen in the area was in 1986. A local radio station said that the bird is the most colorful woodpecker in the region. The Royal Woodpecker has disappeared from Mexico and the United States and it is believed that some species can still be found in the eastern mountains of Cuba. The Cuban experts who are from the Ecology Institute of the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment, will include the region of Cupeyal del Norte in eastern Guantanamo as part of theirresearch. Cupeyal del Norte is considered to be one of the country's best conserved nature areas and with a large number of endemic flora and fauna found in the Alexander Von Humboldt National Park. Four similar expeditions have led to the discovery of various new species of woodpecker, which were once thought to have disappeared. *IBERO-AMERICAN SONG FESTIVAL TO TAKE PLACE IN HAVANA Havana, September 6 (RHC)-- Two internationally-known Cuban cultural institutions are sponsoring an exciting song festival this month in the Cuban capitol. From September 11th through the 16th, Havana's Casa de las Americas cultural institution -- which promotes exchange among Latin American nations -- and the Song for All Center, directed by Cuban folk singer and songwriter Vicente Feliu, will offer the Ibero-American Song Festival. The event will gather folk song writers, performers and singers from twelve Ibero-American countries under the title of "Un Canto Para Todos" or "A Song for All." The week will be dedicated to concerts, recitals, workshops and jam sessions at Casa de Las Americas in downtown Havana and at the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Foundation Center in Old Havana. Special performances will be given for students at the Latin American School of Medicine and to children in Havana's Cancer Institute and for Aids patients and workers of the AIDS sanatorium in Santiago de las Vegas, located on the outskirts of Havana. The Ibero-American Song Festival will be a place for folk music artists on the continent to meet and exchange their experience in this musical style that has prevailed throughout Ibero-America. *CUBAN BASEBALL TEAM GETS READY FOR SYDNEY OLYMPICS Sydney, September 6 (RHC)-- The Cuban Olympic baseball team will be directed by Sergio Borges, a current National Baseball Federation official and a long time team headcoach with ample international experience. Cuba will be looking for its third consecutive Olympic title in baseball in Sydney. It was also announced that the first cut in the national draft list will be released September 12th and the final official team will definitely be announced by the inaugural day of the games, September 15th. Cuban baseball players spent time training in Japan and are currently in excellent shape. This is the first time professional players will be on hand for the Olympics and Cuba has a big challenge ahead. However, Cuban players have been carrying out extensive training including the national baseball series which this year has been one of the most exciting and fruitful of the past four years. Another important step taken by baseball federation officials on the island was the introduction of the wooden bat in the national scenario after a 20 year absence, to better adjust to international standards. *CUBAN ROWERS ARRIVE IN SYDNEY FOR THE GAMES Sydney, September 6 (RHC)-- Cuban rower Mayra Gonzalez has arrived in Sydney with high hopes to reach the finals at the upcoming competitions to be taking place in Lake Pernrith, September 17th to the 23rd. Though foreign specialists do not include her among the six athletes fighting for medals, Cuban experts are placing their bets on her possibilities. The president of the Cuban National Rowing Federation, Norge Marrero and the athlete herself are very confident about the upcoming results. If she manages to adjust to the 15 hour difference, her possibilities would increase, said Marrero. Cuban rowers will be competing in four disciplines, three for men and one for women. Mayra Gonzalez believes that her main rivals would be world and Olympic champ Yakaterina Khodotovich from Belarus as well as single experts from Russia, Germany, Bulgaria and China. Viewpoint *THE MILLENNIUM SUMMIT: A NEW HOPE FOR CHANGE The Millennium Summit, inaugurated on Wednesday at the United Nations, opened new expectations for changes with regard to international relations and the possibility of achieving a democratic re-structuring that should strengthen the world body. The vital issues of world interest debated at the Millennium Summit should serve to establish the positions of each of the states and governments represented at the event, the results of which will become the program to face the challenges posed by the 21st century. Humanity has arrived at the end of the 20th century with huge and unfair inequalities between nations, since the progress of a minority has been built upon the exploitation of the vast majority of the world. That majority is demanding a larger and more effective participation in international affairs, for which a truly democratic re-structuring of the United Nations is needed. The majority also demands the elimination of the veto in the Security Council, which is currently in the hands of a small group of dominant powers; a more representative composition of the Council -- where the main decisions are made; and the re-enforcement of the General Assembly's supreme authority, given that it has been reduced to a forum that is merely informed about actions already taken, and lacks real authority in dealing with world issues. The international community's most pressing problems -- such as a more effective maintenance of peace, the struggle against poverty and its serious consequences such as ignorance, the lack of health care and social neglect -- will never be actually resolved if the world continues down the road of neo-liberal globalization. This economic policy is designed by the world's richest powers -- especially the United States --to create a new type of colonialism. That empire hopes to turn the world into a huge farm, ruled by large economic associations, in which the role of the state, as the representative of the peoples' true interests, and will increasingly disappear. In order to successfully face the challenges posed by the new millennium, all nations must enter the 21st century as a powerful united front. Those nations sitting atop political and economic power cannot continue to act with impunity, answering to no one. The 189 member-states of the United Nations need to have their rights protected and guaranteed -- and not allow the world body to be used as an instrument to benefit a small minority. No matter what the final results of the Millennium Summit may be, new possibilities will be opened for greater social justice, not only among people, but also between nations. In the final analysis, a rational and fairer distribution of wealth must be imposed and violence and interference in the internal affairs of other nations -- which have characterized the end of this century -- must be completely eliminated. (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-25739 2000-Sep-07 02:15:47