Radio Havana Cuba-13 February 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 13 February 2001 . *CUBAN CIGAR COMPANY HABANO S.A. COMPETES INTERNATIONALLY WITH 34 BRANDS *DELEGATION FROM THE MEXICAN STATE OF ZACATECAS WINDS UP OFFICIAL VISIT *4th CUBA-ECUADOR JOINT COMMISSION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA *UN WORLD FOOD PROGRAM WILL STUDY FOOD ASSISTANCE TO EASTERN CUBA *5th INTERNATIONAL CUBADISCO 2001 FAIR TO BE HELD IN MAY *UNPRECEDENTED CONVICTION OF COLOMBIAN ARMY GENERAL *ECUADOR IS "OVERWHELMED" BY COLOMBIAN REFUGEES Viewpoint: *CUBAN-AMERICAN MIAMI MAFIA OPEN PSEUDO "EMBASSY" IN WASHINGTON . *CUBAN CIGAR COMPANY HABANO S.A. COMPETES INTERNATIONALLY WITH 34 BRANDS Havana, February 13 (RHC)-- The vice president of Cuba's Habano S.A. cigar company, Manuel Garcia, says that his company's main objective is to consolidate Cuba's 34 cigar brands and promote them in the world market. Garcia told the press Monday in Havana that last year the island produced close to 118 million cigars valued at some 150 million dollars. The Cuban cigar executive explained that at the moment Habano cigars is not introducing any new lines but rather prioritizing sales of existing brands. He said the island's bet selling cigars are Montecristo, Romeo and Juliet, Partagas, Quintero and Cohiba. The Vice President of Habano S.A. listed as principal buyers Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and Britain. *DELEGATION FROM THE MEXICAN STATE OF ZACATECAS WINDS UP OFFICIAL VISIT Havana, February 13 (RHC)-- A Mexican delegation from the state of Zacatecas winds up an official visit on Tuesday after touring places of economic, social and historic interest in La Habana and Villa Clara provinces. On Sunday members of the Mexican delegation participated in a solemn ceremony in which they awarded Cuban President Fidel Castro an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Autonomous University of Zacatecas. The Havana municipality of Old Havana and Zacatecas became sister cities in a move to increase cooperation between the two countries in the social, cultural and economic sectors. Zacatecas Governor, Ricardo Monreal, stated that the delegation's visit was productive and he said the he was of the opinion that ties between Mexico and Cuba will become stronger after the visit. *4th CUBA-ECUADOR JOINT COMMISSION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA Havana, February 13 (RHC)-- The 4th Cuba-Ecuador Joint Commission began sessions on Monday in Havana headed by the Executive Director of Ecuador's International Cooperation Institute, Juan Salazar Sancisi and Cuban Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Roberto Rivas Lopez. During the inauguration of the Joint Commission, the head of the delegations praised bilateral relations and expressed interest in increasing those ties. There are currently 177 Ecuadorian students in Cuba of which 121 are studying at Havana's Latin American School of Medicine with the others in universities and colleges throughout the island. At the end of the Cuba-Ecuador Joint Commission meeting the two sides will sign a final document which will include issues of common interest in science, technology and the environment and education, culture and trade. *UN WORLD FOOD PROGRAM WILL STUDY FOOD ASSISTANCE TO EASTERN CUBA Havana, February 13 (RHC)-- The UN World Food Program announced on Monday that it will study a food assistance project valued at 22 million dollars for the eastern part of Cuba which has been hard hit by drought and floods. The food assistance will be aimed at serving some 631 thousand people over a four-year period in the health and education sector, including pregnant women and those who are breastfeeding, children under two years of age and primary school students. The World Food Program thus far contributed some 209 million dollars in development programs and in emergency initiatives in Cuba, according to UN statistics. *5th INTERNATIONAL CUBADISCO 2001 FAIR TO BE HELD IN MAY Havana, February 13 (RHC)-- The 5th International Cubadisco 2001 music Fair will run from May 16th to the 20th in Havana. This year's fair will be dedicated to the music of Brazil. During the event, renowned international musicians will be honored for their prestigious musical career. The five-day music fair will feature live presentations by outstanding Cuban musicians and top quality shows and the opportunity to meet record dealers, editors, collectors, designers, editors of specialized magazines and musical industry managers in general. *UNPRECEDENTED CONVICTION OF COLOMBIAN ARMY GENERAL Bogota, February 13 (RHC)-- For the first time ever, a Colombian army general has been convicted and sentenced in connection with right-wing paramilitary activity. General Jaime Humberto Uscategui has been sentenced to three years and four months for not having prevented the infamous, 1997 Mapiripan Massacre in which death squads brutally murdered some 30 people suspected of collaborating with leftist guerrillas. Many of the victims bodies were incinerated or decapitated. Colombian military justice found that Uscategui did not intervene in the massacre despite denunciations of death squad presence in the region, in the country's southern Meta Department. Colonel Hernan Orozco was sentence to three years and two months in the same case. Although the Colombian military systematically denies any ties with right-wing death squads, last week the Attorney General's office announced the arrest of a police captain and several military officers in connection with last December's failed assassination attempt against a prominent labor leader. The administration of Colombian President Andres Pastrana has dismissed at least four army generals suspected of providing support to the death squads. *ECUADOR IS "OVERWHELMED" BY COLOMBIAN REFUGEES Quito, February 13 (RHC)-- The government of Ecuador today announced that authorities have been overwhelmed by the unexpected magnitude of Colombian refugees arriving in the country fleeing violence and the fumigation of illicit crops near the border between the two countries. Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alfonso Lopez said his country did not expect such a high number of displaced persons, while the country's Civil Defense authorities stated that they do not have the resources to confront the situation. Though there are no official figures, human rights organizations estimate in several thousand the number of Colombians crossing the border and being taken to camps set up by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Red Cross. Last week several hundred Ecuadorian indigenous residents joined the refugees after receiving death threats from presumed Colombian right-wing paramilitaries. Local Ecuadorian media outlets are publishing testimony from residents in the border area who are asserting that the wind is carrying residue from the aerial fumigations of drug crops to their communities, causing nausea, vomiting and skin problems -- particularly among children. In other Colombia news, another prominent human rights activist has been assassinated. Former governmental Human Rights Commissioner Ivan Villamizar Luciani was riddled with bullets Monday evening by 10 gunmen traveling in two automobiles and two motorcycles in Cucuta, capital of the northeastern Norte de Santander Department. The attorney and university professor worked as governmental Human Rights Commissioner until late last year. In 1999, he was threatened by right-wing paramilitaries due to his investigations of massacres committed in the region. Two of his body guards and his chauffer were wounded. Since 1997 more than 25 governmental human rights officials have been murdered, while more than 40 have fled the country under threats. . Viewpoint: *CUBAN-AMERICAN MIAMI MAFIA OPEN PSEUDO "EMBASSY" IN WASHINGTON The ultra-right wing Cuban American National Foundation has brazenly named its new headquarters in Washington D.C., the "Embassy of a Free Cuba, " illustrating once again, how out of touch the Miami mafia is with reality. Sources say that no U.S. officials attended the inauguration of the new office, confirming that even they understand the line between evil and ridiculous. There is an old proverb that says "Rome pays traitors, but despises them." These extreme right-wing elements, until now based in Miami, are thrilled over the appointment of Republican George W. Bush as president -- an event in which they played an important role. Now, right wing extremists from South Florida expect their payback for making it possible for the Republicans to steal the presidency. That is how mafias operate. Their so-called "embassy" is nothing more than a den of criminals aimed at more effectively pressuring those who have always hired them according to the unwritten law of honor among thieves under which organized crime operates. The new "embassy" is also an agency to bribe rather than convince those who are corrupt or willing to be corrupted by money. There is no doubt that money is powerful, but perhaps not as powerful as the Miami mafias thinks. If it were, the Cuban people would have given up long ago and would not have sacrificed so much for their independence and sovereignty. Cubans have resisted incessant attacks from the most powerful nation in the world for more than four decades. The establishment of an "Embassy of a Free Cuba" is as offensive to Cubans as naming the U.S.'s anti-Cuba radio and television transmissions after Cuban national hero, Jose Marti. But the Cuban-American mafia is not content with their pseudo diplomatic mission in Washington, D.C., they are demanding official recognition, even though it is unnecessary, just as it was unnecessary for the mercenaries who invaded Cuba in l961 and who suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Cuban people. Right wing extremists are dreaming of appropriating the island;, of marching in behind the U.S. Marines and taking control of everything Cubans have made in 42 years of Revolution. Perhaps the Miami mafia doesn't remember the name of Cuban independence hero Antonio Maceo, who said that anyone who attempts to seize Cuba will take the land drenched in blood, if they don't perish in battle. It is time that the Cuban American National Foundation and its supporters take those words to heart. (c) 2001 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-24024 2001-Feb-14 03:20:57