Radio Havana Cuba-24 January 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 24 January 2001 . *CUBAN CATHOLIC CHURCH DENIES VATICAN CLAIMS OF MEDICAL DISCRIMINATION *PAINTING BY CUBAN ARTIST WIFREDO LAM SELLS FOR $1 MILLION *TOURISM AND AGRICULTURE CREATE MORE JOBS ON THE ISLAND AS UNEMPLOYMENT DROPS *DUTCH RADIO TO HIGHLIGHT BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB IN SERIES OF PROGRAMS *CUBA'S PRIMA BALLERINA ALICIA ALONSO ON PERFECTION AND PAINTING *PLOT TO ASSASSINATE VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ REVEALED *FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO VENEZUELA NAMED WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR ON LATIN AMERICA *Viewpoint: CUBA'S REVOLUTION ENDURES BECAUSE THE PEOPLE SUPPORT IT . *CUBAN CATHOLIC CHURCH DENIES VATICAN CLAIMS ON MEDICAL DISCRIMINATION Havana, January 24 (RHC)-The Catholic Church in Cuba has denied reports from the Vatican that Cuban doctors were forbidden to prescribe medicines to Catholics on the island. The Vatican agency Fides recently reported that Catholics in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba and the central province of Cienfuegos were refused needed medicines on the instructions of the Cuban Health Ministry for the simple reason that they were Catholics. They were reportedly told to seek the medicines from the Catholic Church directly. However, the bishop of Cienfuegos, Emilio Aranguren, told the press that no such a prohibition existed. He added that, as in many other countries, the Catholic Church in Cuba runs an aid agency called Caritas from which it dispenses medicines. But these medicines are not earmarked for Catholics only, just as the state pharmaceutical system does not discriminate against anyone based on race, religion, gender or sexual preference. It transpired that the reports emanated from disaffected elements associated with an opposition group calling itself the Democratic Solidarity Party. Cuban Ministry of Public Health officials reminded the press that the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba is directly responsible for the shortage of medicines across the nation. *PAINTING BY CUBAN ARTIST WIFREDO LAM SELLS FOR $1 MILLION Havana, January 24 (RHC)-A painting by one of Cuba's most famous artists, Wifredo Lam, has been sold in Miami for $1 million. The canvas, entitled "The Ascension" was sold to an anonymous buyer during the Art Miami fair that takes place in Miami every year. The painting dates back to 1947 and is recognized as one of Lam's masterpieces. Wifredo Lam, who was born in 1902, is considered to be the best exponent of Afro-Cuban style in contemporary Latin American art. He died in 1982. A number of his works have been copied in recent years in well-known attempts to defraud galleries across the region. One of Cuba's main art centers in Old Havana is named after the world famous artist. *TOURISM AND AGRICULTURE CREATE MORE JOBS ON THE ISLAND AS UNEMPLOYMENT DROPS Havana, January 24 (RHC)-The rapidly growing economic sectors of tourism and agriculture were responsible for the addition of 170,000 more jobs on the island last year. In statements to the press, the Cuban Labor Ministry reported this week that of the island's 11 million inhabitants, 4.3 million were employed. This considerable increase over previous years was principally the result of important growth in tourism, which at $2 billion represented 53% of Cuba's hard currency income in 2000. In statements to the Cuban daily Granma, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Alfredo Morales, said that there was a vast labor pool to draw from as a consequence of unemployment due to the difficult years of economic decline known as the Special Period. With the annual increase in the country's gross national product and the resulting slow but sure economic recovery, the island's unemployment rate has decreased to 5.5%, he said. *DUTCH RADIO TO HIGHLIGHT BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB IN SERIES OF PROGRAMS Havana, January 24 (RHC)-The now legendary Cuban music group known as the Buena Vista Social Club will be spotlighted on a Dutch radio series of 10 programs that will be broadcast across Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain. In an interview with the press, the general director of Radio Netherlands, Lodewijk Bouwens, said that the Buena Vista Social Club is anything but a group of elderly musicians playing old Cuban nostalgic songs. The group's music is a symbiosis of classical and modern, he said, representing the past and the present. He added that he personally felt the Buena Vista Social Club was the voice of Cuba. The group's phenomenal international success represents the enormous interest in Cuba in the past decade. Their CD by the same name grouped 11 different themes present in Cuban music - from son, to guaracha to bolero and trova. Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, who leads the Buena Vista Social Club, said that the group represents a point of departure in the recuperation of Cuban music. He thanked all Cuba's musicians that with their combined talents promote the island's rhythms and said he was particularly happy with the evident resurgence of traditional Cuban music incorporated by young musicians into contemporary orchestras and groups. *CUBA'S PRIMA BALLERINA ALICIA ALONSO ON PERFECTION AND PAINTING Havana, January 24 (RHC)-Cuban prima ballerina Alicia Alonso says that her greatest defect was to not be perfect, but that we are born into this world to create life and should always be honest with ourselves. In an interview published by the Cuban magazine "Mujeres," one of the island's most famous public figures said that although she was always optimistic that perfection was a possibility we are simply not born to be perfect. "I was always my worst critic," she added. She said that the virtue she most respected was honesty and the self-knowledge that comes from being honest with oneself. Thus she was able to implant that honesty into her dancing, she added. Alicia Alonso, who though blind and advanced in years regularly attends the ballet in Havana where her entrance into the Garcia Lorca Theater always prompts a standing ovation. She said that she not only appreciates ballet but also literature, music and particularly painting. "When I could see I would often paint" she explained to Mujeres magazine, "but now I unfortunately have lost my eyesight." Although she said she wasn't necessarily a good painter she would dance by day and then relax before a canvas at dusk. She enjoyed using her hands in whatever creative manner she could devise - including making her own ballet accessories. "I love painting because it has a lot to do with choreography," the Cuban prima ballerina said, "Painters have a great sense of balance. Looking at a canvas is like looking at a ballet scene." *PLOT TO ASSASSINATE VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ REVEALED Caracas, January 24 (RHC)-- A plot to kill Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been unveiled in Miami. The head of the Venezuelan political party The New Democratic Generation, Guillermo Garcia Ponce, told reporters in Caracas that plans are underway to assassinate Chavez -- with contacts between right wing Cuban-Americans in southern Florida and Venezuelan politicians closely tied to the oil industry and Colombian paramilitary groups. Garcia Ponce stated that the plans include using a hit-team armed with sophisticated weapons. He said the terrorists also hope to recruit members of the Venezuelan military, provoking an armed uprising against Hugo Chavez. The leader of the New Democratic Generation warned the opposition in Venezuela, stating that Chavez has wide support among the armed forces and solid ties with the people. And he emphasized that the conditions for a military coup do not exist in the Latin American country. The Venezuelan political leader urged President Hugo Chavez to take increased security measures and called for a full investigation into the assassination plot being planned in Miami by anti-Cuban forces. *FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO VENEZUELA NAMED WHITE HOUSE ADVISOR ON LATIN AMERICA Miami, January 24 (RHC)-- The former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, John Maisto, has been named the White House advisor on Latin America under the new Bush administration. The announcement was made in Miami, where the 61-year-old career diplomat is currently the political advisor to the U.S. Army's Southern Command. John Maisto served as Washington's ambassador to Nicaragua during the administration of Bush's father and was in place in Managua at the time of the 1990 electoral defeat of the Sandinistas. The U.S. diplomat was ambassador to Venezuela until last year, when he was named to the Southern Command in Miami. According to media reports from Washington, John Maisto will also serve the new administration as Director of Inter-American Affairs of the National Security Council. Political observers believe that the new Republican administration will make Latin America a priority. Noting that Venezuela is the main source of oil for the United States, observers say that future relations between Washington and Caracas could become stormy. *Viewpoint: CUBA'S REVOLUTION ENDURES BECAUSE THE PEOPLE SUPPORT IT Among the principals of the Cuban Revolution has always been to improve the human condition, both on the island and in the Third World as a whole. Though Cuba is among the few Latin American countries without a recent history of forced disappearances, political assassinations, systematic torture, or government attacks on mass demonstrations, western press agencies consistently distort the truth when reporting on the island. Or they simply don't bother to report important events here at all. Over the past 42 years Cuba has gained the respect of the majority of the international community as well as their support in the island's struggle against the economic blockade imposed upon it by the United States. Many thousands of visitors from around the world who have taken the opportunity to experience Cuba for themselves are surprised to see that Cubans live much like others around the world, though are more well-educated and healthier than those living in other Third World nations. Visitors are also often surprised to learn that most of the negative publicity about Cuba is simply not true. Of course, Cuba has many problems, but what country doesn't? However, it manages to feed, clothe, educate, house, provide healthcare for and entertain its population, a claim that can be made by few underdeveloped countries, with many industrialized nations woefully unable to adequately provide for their citizens in those areas. If much of what is said abroad about Cuba were true, it would be impossible for such a government to survive. Where is the anti-government graffiti? Where are the mountain guerilla groups resisting the so-called repression? This is why Cuba's social program is each day more respected as people come here to see for themselves. The island has survived for 42 years in the face of a vicious propaganda campaign launched against it by the most powerful nation in the world and it would certainly solidly resist even military intervention. The entire might of the U.S. war machine was unleashed on the small country of Viet Nam for a decade and in the end the U.S. left humiliated and defeated, proving that when a people truly believes in what it defends, it can triumph against all odds. (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-9369 2001-Jan-25 10:11:10