Radio Havana Cuba-12 January 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 12 January 2001 . *CUBAN DOCTORS TO REMAIN IN GUATEMALA DESPITE DEATH THREATS *CUBA'S PEACE MOVEMENT CONDEMNS NATO'S USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS *VIETNAMESE DELEGATION TO ATTEND 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF OSPAAAL *CUBAN JOINT VENTURES INCREASE, DESPITE WASHINGTON'S ECONOMIC BLOCKADE *CUBA AND FINLAND TO STRENGTHEN BILATERAL RELATIONS *CUBAN, AMERICAN YOUTHS PAINT UNITY MURAL Viewpoint: *CUBA PREPARED TO SURVIVE YET ANOTHER U.S. ADMINISTRATION . *CUBAN DOCTORS TO REMAIN IN GUATEMALA DESPITE DEATH THREATS Havana, January (RHC)-- Cuban doctors offering medical services free- of- charge in Guatemala will continue their mission, despite death threats, according to Dr. Rosa Lemus, head of the Cuban medical brigade in that Central American nation. On Thursday before leaving for Guatemala, Dr. Lemus said in Havana that the Cuban health professionals, who are working in the country's most remote areas, have re-opened 337 health posts and rural hospitals that had been closed before their arrival. The head of the medical contingent told Prensa Latina news agency that the 476 Cuban health professionals have reduced infant mortality of children under a year old by up to 50 per cent. Cuban President Fidel Castro recently sent a letter to the Cuban doctors in Guatemala praising their willingness to stay on working in the face of death threats, as an example of the nobleness of their profession and of their country. *CUBA'S PEACE MOVEMENT CONDEMNS NATO'S USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS Havana, January 12 (RHC)--Cuba's Peace Movement has strongly condemned the use of NATO ammunitions containing depleted uranium used during the war in Kosovo and charges that the effects continue to plague the population. In a statement issued on Thursday in Havana the Peace Movement criticized NATO's political committee, especially the United States' rejection of an Italian request to evaluate the consequences of the ammunition. The Cuban Peace Movement has denounced the U.S.'s war policy which they charge was responsible for the use of ammunition containing depleted uranium. The organization has asked peace organizations to call for a peaceful and just world. *VIETNAMESE DELEGATION TO ATTEND 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF OSPAAAL Havana, January 12 (RHC)--A delegation from Vietnam's Communist Party will participate in Havana in activities for the 35th anniversary of the Organization in Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America, OSPAAAL. The Vietnamese group is headed by the Vice- President of the Asian country's Foreign Relations Department, Phaan Van Truong. When OSPAAAL celebrated its first Tri Continental Congress in Havana in 1966, the international solidarity movement was working strongly to support the resistance of the Vietnamese people against U.S. aggression against their country. *CUBAN JOINT VENTURES INCREASE, DESPITE WASHINGTON'S ECONOMIC BLOCKADE Havana, January 12 (RHC)--There are currently 392 joint ventures from 46 countries operating in Cuba, despite Washington's economic blockade against the island, according to Ernesto Sentic, First Deputy Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Minister. Speaking at a year-end Ministry evaluation meeting in eastern Guantanamo province, Sentic explained that foreign investment in Cuba is only permitted as a complement to development in sectors which lack resources to develop on their own. He added that in addition to joint ventures, a number of cooperative production and management contracts have also been established in Cuba constituting a new way to attract foreign capital. *CUBA AND FINLAND TO STRENGTHEN BILATERAL RELATIONS Havana, January 12 (RHC)--Cuba and Finland have expressed an interest in strengthening bilateral relations. In a meeting on Thursday in Havana, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Angel Dalmau and the President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Finnish Parliament Lisa Yoakonasaari examined ways to expand relations. The Finnish Parliamentary leader arrived on Wednesday in Havana accompanied by 8 lawmakers on the invitation of Cuba's National Assembly. The group from Finland met with the President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricarado Alarcon and will visit a UNICEF project in the Cuban capital. *CUBAN, AMERICAN YOUTHS PAINT UNITY MURAL Havana, January 12 (RHC)--Cuban and American youths painted a mural in the central province of Sancti Spiritus as an example of unity and comprehension between the peoples of both countries. The US brigade, made up of 17 youngsters, mainly from New York City, spent 11 days in Sancti Spiritus doing voluntary work in agriculture and construction. The group is part of a project of the New York-based Center for Cuban Studies and is hosted on the island by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People's, ICAP. Viewpoint: *CUBA PREPARED TO SURVIVE YET ANOTHER U.S. ADMINISTRATION When European socialism collapsed in l990, few political experts thought that the Cuban Revolution would survive. Right-wing Cuban Americans began packing their bags for a triumphant return to Cuba to claim what they had left behind more than 30 years before. For years Cuba's enemies had been claiming that the island was nothing more than a satellite of the then powerful Soviet Union. the truth is that they had been misinformed by the torrents of negative propaganda put out by the United States around the world in its campaign to discredit Cuba internationally. None of Cuba's enemies had taken into account the political, economic and social achievements of the Cuban Revolution in its first three decades. That was also a mistake made by 9 successive U.S. governments which maintained an irrational economic and political battle against the island which has lasted 40 years. The explanation of this historic resistance is that Cuba and its people are consistently underestimated by the powers that be. In a few days, the next U.S. government will be sworn in. And it appears that it will continue to allow the country to be manipulated by a small, but powerful anti-Cuba mafia based in the state of Florida which was decisive in giving the election to Republican candidate, George W. Bush. Cuba is prepared to meet any new aggressions and difficulties that are placed in its path. It is important to remember that the Cuba of today is not the Cuba of l959, or even that of the days of the collapse of socialism in Europe. The Cuban people, shamelessly blockaded, accosted and defamed by their powerful enemies, today have more international prestige than their powerful northern neighbor which has been isolated by its antiquated anti-Cuba policies in the United Nations General Assembly and most international organizations and even by the American people themselves. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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