Radio Havana Cuba-08 September 2000 22:00 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 08 September 2000 22:00 *AT MILLINNEUM SUMMIT, PRESIDENT CASTRO OFFERS MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR AFRICA *CUBA AUTHORIZES 3 US NEWSPAPERS TO OPEN PRESS OFFICES IN HAVANA *"CUBA: REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGY" LAUNCHED IN HAVANA *DROUGHT CONTINUES IN THE EASTERN PROVINCES *CUBAN CATHOLICS HONOR PATRON SAINT OF THE ISLAND *ALICIA ALONSO NOMINATED FOR MONACO INTERNATIONAL DANCE PRIZE *COMPLETE CUBAN OLYMPIC DELEGATION TO ARRIVE IN SYDNEY NEXT WEDNESDAY *PRESIDENT CASTRO'S STATEMENT OFFERING MEDICAL PERSONNEL FOR AFRICA *PRIMARY TASK OF THE UN: SAVE THE WORLD FROM ECONOMIC CHAOS . *AT UN MILLINNEUM SUMMIT, PRESIDENT CASTRO OFFERS MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR AFRICA Havana, September 8 (RHC)-- At the United Nations Millennium Summit, Cuban President Fidel Castro has offered the world body Cuban medical assistance for Africa. The offer came Thursday at the Summit's Second Round Table discussion. The Cuban leader stated that Africa needs hundreds of thousands of doctors, while Cuba has one for every 168 inhabitants. He said the Cuban offer is based solely on a spirit of cooperation -- that the 2000 Cuban health professionals currently offering their services worldwide do not speak of religion, politics or philosophy and have received a great deal of recognition and respect wherever they've gone. Pointing to the AIDS pandemic in Africa, Fidel Castro said that in the Ivory Coast, spending for education has been reduced by one half because one teacher dies every day from the disease in that country. He said of the 12 million children who have lost their parents to AIDS, 10 million are African. Specialized agencies like the UN AIDS Program, said the Cuban leader, believe that the number of AIDS orphans could reach 42 million in the next ten years. In South Africa and Zimbabwe, added Fidel Castro, it is estimated that between 20 and 25 percent of the adult population is infected with the disease. The leader of the Cuban Revolution called on industrialized nations to contribute with medicine and other resources in the effort to save a continent that is heading towards extinction. He said, however, that AIDS is not Africa's only acute problem -- that urgent measures are needed to contribute to the afflictions associated with malaria, hunger, malnutrition, calamities and wars on the Black continent. A number of countries that participated in the Second Round Table of the Millennium Summit praised the Cuban leader's initiative, including Gambia, Guinea and Syria. *CUBA AUTHORIZES 3 US NEWSPAPERS TO OPEN PRESS OFFICES IN HAVANA New York, September 8 (RHC)-- Cuba has authorized the Chicago Tribune, Sun Sentinel and Dallas Morning News to open press offices in Havana. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque made the announcement after meeting on Thursday with the President of Tribune Co., John Madigan, at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York. CNN television and AP News Agency are currently the only U.S. media offices operating in Havana. *"CUBA: REVOLUTIONARY IDEOLOGY" LAUNCHED IN HAVANA Havana, September 8 (RHC)-- A book entitled "Cuba: Revolutionary Ideology" was launched on Thursday at Havana's Jose Marti National Library. Rolando Alfonso Borges, the Director of the Jose Marti National Library, pointed out that this new book is important for those who want to learn about the ideology of the Cuban Revolution. Borges stated that the book is not only written for researchers and experts, but for general readers around the world. Published by the Editorial Politica Publishing House and written by Dario Machado, the book includes the focus of Marx and Engels on ideology, the development of these ideas by Lenin, Gramsci's ideas and the thinking of Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. *DROUGHT CONTINUES IN THE EASTERN PROVINCES Santiago de Cuba, September 8 (RHC)-- A severe drought continues to affect the eastern part of the island, despite some rain that has fallen in that region. According to current statistics, the drought continues to threaten the eastern provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas. The region's average rainfall of 838 millimeters is currently at 494 and the region's reservoirs are at 40 percent capacity. It is estimated that the current meteorological situation in the region will not change in the near future. The head of the water services in the area, Omar Palacios, told Prensa Latina News Agency that he believes the months of September and October have historically been rainy months due to hurricanes and tropical storms at that time of the year. This situation affects sugar production as well as other crops in the region. It also affects urban agriculture, residential and industrial sectors whose cycles of water supply have been considerably altered. Emergency measures in the eastern part of the island are being taken and the situation is currently under control. *CUBAN CATHOLICS HONOR PATRON SAINT OF THE ISLAND Havana, September 8 (RHC)-- Catholics in Cuba are celebrating the day of the Virgin of Charity - the island's Patron Saint. In Havana, a religious procession was held at our Lady of Charity Church, where a mass will be offered by Havana's Archbishop Jaime Ortega. The main religious service will be held in the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity, located in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. As part of the religious beliefs of the Cuban people, in the Afro-Cuban religion the Virgin of Charity is Oshun. *ALICIA ALONSO NOMINATED FOR MONACO INTERNATIONAL DANCE PRIZE Havana, September 8 (RHC)-- The General Director of Cuba's National Ballet Company, Alicia Alonso, is among more than 25 personalities, companies and choreographers nominated for the Monaco International Dance Prize. The award is in recognition of the most important world dance figures, like Mihail Barishnikov, Maurice Bejart and the River Dance Group. *COMPLETE CUBAN OLYMPIC DELEGATION TO ARRIVE IN SYDNEY NEXT WEDNESDAY Havana, September 8 (RHC) -- With the arrival in Sydney of jumpers Javier Sotomayor and Ivan Pedroso, along with runner Anier Garcia this coming Wednesday, September 13th, the Cuban delegation for the games will be complete. Sotomayor, Pedroso and Garcia each have important competitions in Yokohama, Japan, before the beginning of games. Coming also from that Japanese city, but on different dates, are the free style and the Greco-Roman wrestling teams, judo experts, the women's volleyball team and swimmer Rodolfo Falcon. He will be traveling to Sydney on the 12th, along with the president of the Cuban Olympic Committee, Jose Ramon Fernandez. Finally, the Cuban Olympic delegation will be represented by 239 athletes, as reported by the Cuban news daily Granma. Meanwhile, the official ceremony of hoisting the Cuban flag at the Olympic Villa took place in Sydney on Thursday. Felix Savon, the standard bearer of the Cuban delegation, escorted the national flag, which was raised just minutes after the welcoming words by Olympic officials. Cuban Sports Institute President Humberto Rodriguez was present at the ceremony, as well as athletes, trainers and other Cuban officials. Australian long distance swimmer Susie Maronie, who has been the protagonist of several efforts, including swimming from Havana to Key West and from Cancun to Pinar del Rio, was also on hand. The Cuban delegation is staying in 24 comfortable apartments, located relatively close to the villa's main services. The head of the Cuban delegation, Humberto Rodriguez, says he is satisfied with the friendly atmosphere in the city and the way things are unfolding so far. Rodriguez added there is a will to cooperate and provide the necessary attention to athletes. *PRESIDENT CASTRO'S STATEMENT OFFERING MEDICAL PERSONNEL FOR AFRICA I have been thinking about the seriousness of these topics and other figures, and I realize that we have been debating these themes for more than 40 years but we have not been able to advance. Instead, we have gone backwards. Proof of what I'm saying is that, currently, the income per person in more than 100 countries is lower than what it used to be 15 years ago. Everyone of us has expressed here the ideas we wanted to convey within the limits of allotted time, but I want to add that I'm traumatized by issues related to the unfortunate health care status prevailing in the world, particularly in Third World nations. I don't like to use figures so much, but on this occasion I will. For example, in sub-Saharan African countries, life expectancy hardly reaches 48 years; that is, 30 years less than in developed nations. Almost 99.5 percent of maternal deaths take place in the Third World. While the risk of maternal death in Europe is 1 per 1400 live births, in Africa it is one for every 16. More than 11 million children under five die every year in the Third World due to preventable diseases in most cases; that is, 30,000 every day and 21 every minute. While we speak here, 100 are dying. In Third World countries, two out of five children suffer from growth retardation and one out of three suffer from low weight for their age. Two million girls are forced into prostitution. In underdeveloped countries, some 250 million adolescents under 15 years old are forced to work in order to survive. Many of those who have spoken here brought up the issue of AIDS. Several months ago, after the Durban meeting, I had the impression that the First World had discovered the tragedy of AIDS in Africa. Much was said at the conference about how to reduce the cost of the treatment for a person infected with AIDS, so that he or she survives. As anyone knows, the current cost is 10,000 dollars per infected person. At that meeting, representatives from developed nations --mainly Europeans -- affirmed that new formulas had to be found to reduce costs. Everyone knows that producing those medicines cost some 1000 dollars per patient, and that, using a perfect formula and a perfect cocktail, success can be achieved even with a smaller sum. In addition, some African representatives said that even if they received the medicines free-of-charge, they could do nothing since they don't have the necessary infrastructure to distribute and apply them. Here, I have also heard representatives from industrialized countries such as France, Sweden and Germany express their willingness to help these Third World nations. This is a matter of life and death. And I was thinking to myself: what could we do? I just want to remind you that Cuba is a small and poor country with a blockade imposed for almost 40 years. But, that's not what I want to talk about. Thanks to thorough education programs implemented over many years, today Cuba has an immense and decisive human capital, which I would say is more important than financial capital. If that's the decision of the United Nations, our country has enough medical personnel to cooperate with the World Health Organization and with the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa to organize the necessary infrastructure to fight AIDS in that region. We are not exaggerating. We are talking here about 1000 to 3000 health personnel, including doctors, nurses and paramedics for this program. We cannot wait until millions of children die. Many of the 25 million people infected could survive and avoid increasing the number of orphaned children which now rises to 12 million and in a few years will be 40 million. This is a real tragedy! No country -- whatever its resources might be -- can develop if it has 25 to 30 percent of its population infected with AIDS and millions and millions of orphans. In my opinion, this could mean the extermination of entire nations in Africa. That's the reality. I was in the plenary when I heard you were debating these issues, I then decided to come here and say this. Cuba will offer the necessary medical personnel to the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the peoples of Africa in order to implement programs to combat not only AIDS but also other diseases and train health personnel there. Wherever we go, the first thing we do is to create a School of Medicine. While Africa needs hundreds of thousands of doctors to have one for every 5000 people, our country currently has one doctor for every 168 inhabitants. We have a lot of experience in the health sector. There are now 2000 Cuban doctors and nurses making their contribution in dozens of nations. That's our concrete proposal. We hope that European countries and the industrialized countries present here will take into consideration what I have just said and make efforts to find the medicines and to make them cheaper. The health situation in Africa is worse than the wars currently taking place on our planet. A million people die every year on that continent infected by malaria and 300 to 500 million contract the disease. AIDS has caused the death of two million people and for every two deaths, five people are infected. We are aware of the fact that no much progress has been made in the designing of a vaccine, and no one knows when there will be an effective one. In addition, tuberculosis kills three million people in Africa every year. In short, we are suggesting a program for Africa. We are not exaggerating, as we said before, and we are not looking for any kind of reward. Wherever our doctors go, they don't speak of religion, politics, or philosophy. They have a vast experience and they have gained the respect and the gratitude of the people. I leave this proposal in the hands of this United Nations round table and that's all. Thank you, Mr. President. Viewpoint *PRIMARY TASK OF THE UN: SAVE THE WORLD FROM ECONOMIC CHAOS In his widely acclaimed speech at the Millennium Summit, which concluded on Friday at the United Nations, Cuban President Fidel Castro expressed Cuba's position with regards to the world's main problems. The Cuban leader reiterated that the United Nations must ensure the equal participation of all member nations, so that their rights are protected and guaranteed by the organization. Every nation represented in the international forum should be able to present any problem transcending its national borders and find the needed assistance, without humiliating conditions such as those imposed by the wealthy North on the impoverished South. The United Nations must save the world from the economic chaos towards which neo-liberal economic globalization is driving the entire planet. The imposed neo-liberal model places the independence and sovereignty of nations in the hands of huge transnationals, which are increasingly privatizing basic public services and economic sectors in the underdeveloped world. Will the United Nations -- including the General Assembly, the Security Council and other UN bodies -- be reformed in the future? Or will the United Nations be governed, not by designated representatives of the member nations, but rather by big businesses which have taken away the sovereignty and independence of many nations? Another problem that the leader of the Cuban Revolution said needs urgent attention by the international community is the progressive deterioration of the environment: the depletion of natural resources, the expansion of deserts and air and water pollution. Solving these problems, which threaten the very survival of the human species on our planet, must be a top priority of the United Nations. However, such life and death issues will never be fully addressed until the organization is radically reformed for the benefit of each and every member nation. As the Cuban president reaffirmed during the Millennium Summit in New York, the United Nations must no longer be used by a powerful minority of nations to impose their mandates on the vast majority of humanity. All nations should be able to participate on an equal basis in the decision-making process. That, in essence, is true democratization of the United Nations. (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-12740 2000-Sep-08 21:48:33