Radio Havana Cuba-16 January 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 16 January 2001 . *CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER SIGNS AGREEMENTS WITH GREEK AUTHORITIES *CZECH "TOURISTS" ARRESTED FOR COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES *SOUTH AMERICAN BRIGADE BEGINS VOLUNTARY WORK IN HAVANA *CUBA'S EASTERN COFFEE PLANTATIONS DECLARED UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES *CUBAN, FOREIGN DELEGATES PLAN MEETING ON GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT *OSPAAAL CELEBRATES 35th ANNIVERSARY *PINOCHET FACES 206 CHARGES, BUT HE MAY YET WALK FREE *ON 10th ANNIVERSARY OF GULF WAR, IRAQ BARS UN INSPECTORS, DENOUNCES BOMBING Viewpoint: *RESIDENTS OF VIEQUES SUFFER FROM ACOUSTIC VIBRATION SYNDROME *VENEZUELAN STUDENTS EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE . *CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER SIGNS AGREEMENTS WITH GREEK AUTHORITIES Athens, January 16 (RHC)-- Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has wrapped up an official visit to Greece, signing several important agreements in the areas of agriculture, tourism, sports and bilateral exchange. Cuba's top diplomat met last night with his Greek counterpart, Yorgos Panadreu. Following their meeting, the Greek official told reporters that Havana and Athens will strengthen relations as a result of Perez Roque's visit. Cuba's Foreign Minister will begin an official visit to Turkey on Wednesday. *CZECH "TOURISTS" ARRESTED FOR COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES Havana, January 16 (RHC)-- Two citizens from the Czech Republic are under arrest for violating Cuba's immigration laws and carrying out counterrevolutionary activities. According to Tuesday morning's edition of the daily Granma, the two Czech citizens had entered the country on Monday, January 8th, from Cancun, Mexico on tourist visas. Jan Bubenik and Ivan Pilip were arrested on Friday, January 12th, in Ceigo de Avila. The two reportedly were planning to leave Havana today, the 16th, and travel to Miami and Washington before returning to Prague, the Czech capital. According to Granma, preliminary investigations show that the two "tourists" were acting as contacts with counterrevolutionaries in Cuba -- supplying them with information and resources. Granma says that both Czech citizens had contacts with anti-Cuban groups in Miami and were connected with the ultra right-wing organization "Freedom House." Pilip, a deputy in the Czech Parliament's lower house and a former minister in the government, and Bubenik, a former student leader in the counterrevolutionary movement in Czechoslovakia, will be charged with violating Cuban immigration laws. *SOUTH AMERICAN BRIGADE BEGINS VOLUNTARY WORK IN HAVANA> Havana, January 16 (RHC)-The 8th South American voluntary work Brigade got started Tuesday on the outskirts of Havana as a gesture of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution. The 350 brigade members will take time out from their work in the fields and on construction sites to participate in conferences on the reality of the Cuban Revolution and they will also visit places of social and political interest. *CUBA'S EASTERN COFFEE PLANTATIONS DECLARED UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES Havana, January 16 (RHC)---The colorful ruins of 6 French Coffee plantations dating from the first part of the 19th Century, are an added attraction to the natural beauties of the lush Sierra del Rosario Mountain Range in the westernmost province of Pinar Del Rio. French farmers fled to Cuba from Haiti after that country's revolution in 1789 and planted coffee in the rich mountain areas of the south eastern portion of the island as well as in Pinar del Rio. After three centuries, the vestiges of French farming society remain in the coffee plantations of Buenavista, Santa Serafina, La Victoria, San Pedro, Santa Catalina and La Union. Visitors can see the remains of antique agricultural techniques, European architecture, homes, slaves' quarters and other structures. The ruins of another 191 French coffee plantations are found in the eastern provinces of Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba where 32 estates have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. *CUBAN, FOREIGN DELEGATES PLAN MEETING ON GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT Havana, January 16 (RHC)-Over 300 Cuban and foreign delegates will participate in February in the 3rd International Meeting on Globalization and Development Problems. Delegates, among them renowned figures in the economic and academic sphere, will participate in some 70 workshops on current issues like finance and trade, competitiveness and technological innovations. *OSPAAAL CELEBRATES 35th ANNIVERSARY Havana, January 16 (RHC)-The Executive Secretariat of the Organization in Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America, OSPAAAL is holding a special session on Tuesday and Wednesday in Havana on the 35th anniversary of the organization. Renowned political personalities will be on hand to discuss ways to contribute to forging unity, solidarity and integration of revolutionary, progressive and democratic forces. As part of the program the Mehdi Ben Barka solidarity order is to be awarded to a group of distinguished personalities from a variety of solidarity organizations. Delegates from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Angola, North Korea, Vietnam, Palestine and South Africa are in the capital for the event. *PINOCHET FACES 206 CHARGES, BUT HE MAY YET WALK FREE Santiago de Chile, January 16 (RHC)-- Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is now facing 206 legal charges for human rights abuses. The new case was brought before a Santiago de Chile court by attorney Francisco Bravo. It involves Sergio Requena, a civil engineer who was arrested by Pinochet's secret police, the DINA, in September 1975 and tortured for more than a year in a clandestine prison. Requena, who now resides in London, is requesting that the former dictator be tried for crimes against humanity. Chilean Judge Juan Guzman Tapia now has a long list of charges against Pinochet, whose defense attorneys insist he is medically unfit to stand trial. On Tuesday, it was announced that official results of the medical examinations will not be released for several days. But attorneys for the plaintiffs said that the former dictator has been diagnosed with senility and slight coordination and speech problems. Political observers believe that while the results will show that the 84-year-old Pinochet is physically and mentally able to stand trial, he will probably be allowed to walk free. *ON 10th ANNIVERSARY OF GULF WAR, IRAQ BARS UN INSPECTORS, DENOUNCES BOMBING Baghdad, January 16 (RHC)-- The government of Iraq has rejected any possibility that a United Nations inspection team enter the Arab country without at least first discussing the current situation. According to an Iraqi statement issued in Baghdad, authorities will not give in to pressures from Washington and the UN Security Council for new inspections of its defense systems. Recent claims by the United States and its military and political allies that Iraq is producing so-called weapons of mass destruction have been flatly denied by Baghdad. Iraq says that the U.S.-promoted sanctions imposed against the country by the UN Security Council for ten years must be lifted before UN inspections are once again allowed. A special inspection team was expelled from the Arab country in 1998, charged with espionage. Baghdad has long considered the United Nations sanctions and accusations that it is building major weapon systems to be a direct violation of its national sovereignty. According to official statistics from UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, every month for the past nine years, the economic embargo has cost the lives of more than 4500 children under the age of five. In related news, the Iraqi Civil Defense Agency revealed on Monday that during the Persian Gulf War ten years ago, the U.S. and its allies used explosives with the capacity of nearly seven Hiroshima atomic bombs. The U.S.-supported strikes against Iraq -- which became known as "Desert Storm" or the "Gulf War" -- began 10 years ago today, on January 16th 1991. The civil defense agency says that during five weeks of constant bombings, more than 140,000 tons of explosives were dropped on Iraq. It was also noted that nearly 3000 war planes carried out 112,000 bombing missions -- including the use of more than 800 Cruise missiles. In statements to reporters in Baghdad, the Director General of the Iraqi Civil Defense Agency, Qassim Nuri, stated that more than 14,000 anti-tank missiles were fired - each containing depleted uranium. And Nuri told journalists that over the past ten years, Iraqi authorities have deactivated more than 390,000 unexploded bombs scattered across the country. Iraq joins other nations affected by U.S. bombings and has demanded a full investigation into the effects of depleted uranium, pointing to the dramatic increase in cancer cases among Iraqi citizens following the U.S.-led Gulf War. . Viewpoint: *RESIDENTS OF VIEQUES SUFFER FROM ACOUSTIC VIBRATION SYNDROME Amidst recent charges of serious health problems caused to various Balkan populations by NATO bombing during the recent aggression against Yugoslavia, another similar case has come to the fore: that of Puerto Rico. The Caribbean island's new governor, Sila Maria Calderon, has revealed a new study which shows that U.S. war games on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques are affecting residents with "acoustic vibration syndrome" which hardens the delicate membranes around the heart. The sobering study confirms that 49 out of every 50 residents of Vieques who were examined demonstrated symptoms of the problem. Acoustic Vibration Syndrome is common in soldiers who have been submitted to frequent bomb attacks without proper protection. That is what has occurred with Vieques residents whose home has been used as a shooting range for the last 60 years by the U.S. Navy. Protests against the dangerous war games have increased recently by Puerto Ricans who are outraged over the damage caused to Vieques' 9,000 residents. The new Puerto Rican governor, Sila Maria Calderon, based her electoral campaign in large part on the issue and civil disobedience actions have been stepped up including demonstrators entering the most dangerous areas of the firing range in order to halt the bombings. U.S. president, Bill Clinton, who in a few days will turn over the Oval Office to Republican George W. Bush, promised to convene a referendum in November so that Vieques residents could express their opinion on the controversy. Evidently that was just a move to gain time and calm the island's residents, who will now have to deal with Bush. Governor Calderon has stated that she will try to met quickly with Bush to determine his position on the Vieques question Meanwhile, the bombings continue, a humiliating reminder of the Puerto Ricans lack of sovereignty. *VENEZUELAN STUDENTS EXPRESS SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE The 261 Venezuelan university students invited to Cuba by President Fidel Castro, returned to their country last weekend, having enjoyed a warm welcome from the Cuban people wherever they went. Their program here took them to other Cuban provinces as well as Havana, where they had the opportunity to have direct contact with Cubans and exchange ideas, ask questions and see for themselves the benefits of the Cuban Revolution. Here they experienced the truth and not the distortions put out by Cuba's enemies. They visited various universities where they met with thousands of Cuban students, and also Science Centers where they witnessed the Trojan work done by the workers with the minimum of resources, not only for the benefit of this country, but with a view to aid and support other nations enmeshed in poverty and ignorance because of those who are manipulating so called democracy for their convenience and gain. The young Venezuelans took part in the televised round table whose daily transmissions informs Cubans about what is happening in Cuba and the rest of the world. There they could air their opinions and their experiences which they got in Cuba in such a little time. They referred to the past situation in their own country where traditional governments had been the imitators of the politics and culture of the minority which left 80 per cent of the population in a state of poverty and extreme inequality. Now there is a great popular offensive to change this situation similar to what has been done in Cuba. They will not repeat the process of national liberation for the same ideological causes as the Cubans because the circumstances are different, but surely they will begin a shorter and truer way to take the Venezuelan people out of the apathy into which they have been plunged by those who followed the imperialist route and who have been unmasked by the people of this Latin American country. (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-1726 2001-Jan-17 01:29:46