Radio Havana Cuba-09 July 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 09 July 2001 . *FIDEL PRESIDES OVER PLENARY SESSION OF 3RD CONGRESS OF PIONEERS *CIA - MONTESINOS CONNECTION IS CLEAR: PERUVIAN NEWSPAPER *ECUADOR SEEKS EUROPEAN HELP TO OFFSET EFFECTS OF PLAN COLOMBIA *UN HAND GUN CONFERENCE: COLOMBIA WANTS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL *FOREIGN MINISTER PEREZ ROQUE ARRIVES IN BELGIUM *GERMAN MINISTER OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE ECONOMY VISITS CUBA *ALARCON HEADS TO LATIN AMERICAN SUMMIT ON SOCIAL DEBT, INTEGRATION *CUBAN FOLKSINGER SANTIAGO FELIU IN CONCERT IN HAVANA Viewpoint: *HANDGUNS, VIOLENCE AND THE WORLD'S CHILDREN . *FIDEL PRESIDES OVER PLENARY SESSION OF 3RD CONGRESS OF PIONEERS Havana, July 9 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro presided over Monday's plenary session of the 3rd Congress of the Jose Marti Pioneer Children's Organization, which groups together Cuba's youngest generation. Fiftenn hundred delegates representing millions of school-age Cuban children island-wide are participating in the event. Under the slogan "United to conquer the future," delegates will discuss issues such as combining classes and work activities and career guidance. They will also look at the best ways to contribute to the battle of ideas being waged for the return of the five Cuban nationals unjustly convicted on false charges in the United States. Cuba's youngest generation took the opportunity to thank the President for the special attention that Cuban authorities pay to children -- the top priority of the Revolution. Cuban pioneer children dedicated their congress to national hero Jose Marti. Marti dedicated a vast amount of his literary work to the children of the world, of whom he wrote, "they are the hope of a better future for all of humanity." As part of the activities of its 3rd Congress, the Jose Marti Pioneer Organization awarded its highest distinction, the Zapaticos de Rosa Order, to personalities who have done outstanding work with children. The Zapaticos de Rosa Order (the Order of the Little Pink Slipper) is named after a story by Jose Marti included in his book "La Edad de Oro" ("The Golden Age"), one of Marti's many literary pieces intended primarily for children. *CIA MONTESINOS CONNECTION IS CLEAR: PERUVIAN NEWSPAPER Havana, July 9 (RHC)--The damage-control efforts of the CIA in the case of Vladimiro Montesinos are suffering, as more and more disclosures are revealed. Montesinos, the former intelligence chief and right-hand man of disgraced ex-President Alberto Fujimori was recently arrested in Venezuela and extradicted to Peru where he was wanted for corruption, drug trafficking, abuse of power, murder, genocide, and illegal arms trading. He fled Peru last September in the wake of Fujimori's fall from power. The newspaper "La Republica" has revealed that the US Central Intelligence Agency provided Montesinos some $10 million over the decade that he ran the Peruvian secret service. An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity in the US has also uncovered proof that the CIA provided the Fujimori administration with equipment to use in spying against opposition leaders and groups. The money and equipment was funneled through the anti-drug section of Montesinos' National Intelligence Service. "La Republica" has also published declassified US documents indicating that Montesinos was in the employ of the CIA for more than three decades, and says that it is now certain he passed on information of vital national importance to the CIA. A 1976 cable to Washington from then-US ambassador to Peru, Robert Dean, called Montesinos -- who was then an army captain -- a "valuable contact." This CIA connection assured Montesinos his place as the most powerful man in the Fujimori administration, says "La Republica." The Peruvian press and public figures had speculated that Montesinos was under CIA protection in the months following his flight from Lima and have demanded an explanation from Washington. Montesinos has also indicated that he wants to talk to the CIA or, he threatened, he will provoke a veritable political nightmare for his country, which he promised would have international repercussions. *ECUADOR SEEKS EUROPEAN HELP TO OFFSET EFFECTS OF PLAN COLOMBIA Madrid, July 9 (RHC)--The foreign minister of Ecuador, Heinz Moeller, today requested help from Spain and the European Union to alleviate the effects of the US-sponsored Plan Columbia. Moeller is in Spain on an official visit, along with Ecuadoran President Gustavo Noboa. Plan Columbia is designed to combat regional drug trafficking, but has been strongly criticized for further militarizing Colombia and destabilizing surrounding countries such as Ecuador. The Plan has also been condemned for providing military aid to Colombia in its fight against guerilla groups. Ecuador, said Moeller at a press conference in Madrid, insists on resisting the regionalization of the Colombia Plan. He added that Ecuador does not produce illicit drugs and that it does not want drug growers to be forced into Ecuador from Colombia as Plan Colombia gears up. The Ecuadorean Foreign Minister accused members of the US State Department as having a "myopic" foreign policy when it came to drug interdiction and called upon Europe to assist his country to avoid exclusive dependence on US aid. *UN HAND GUN CONFERENCE: COLOMBIA WANTS INTERNATIONAL CONTROL United Nations, July 9 (RHC)--The government of Colombia today proposed the creation of a worldwide system to control the spread of small arms across the globe. Colombian vice president Gustavo Bell Lemus and UN Ambassador, Camilo Reyes are heading a delegation to the UN Conference on Hand Gun Trading that began today in New York. The Conference will run through July 20 and includes the participation of more than 70 countries. Bell Lemus said that the commercial trade of handguns has reached global proportions and that all nations confronting the problem at home needed cooperation from the international community to put an end to the traffic. He added that the delegates should ensure that action follows any decisions made during the Conference and asked that a commission be set up to monitor results. Ambassador Reyes added that although handguns may not be the principal cause of armed international conflict, they enable the flow of illicit drugs, which pays for such conflicts. It has been estimated that handguns account for the deaths of over a million people a year. In the first international accord of its kind, a number of nations in the Americas have already signed and ratified the Interamerican Convention against the Manufacture and Trafficking of Firearms, Munitions, Explosives and other Related Materials. The Convention was proposed by Mexico to close the blackmarket arms trade that contributes to violence associated with drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime. In the United Nations, Colombia also exhorted member nations to quickly resolve their differences and, when the time comes, to issue a strong and consensual closing document. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and some 100 heads of state last year came to an agreement to design a strategy to put an end to the illegal trade of pistols, assault rifles and other small arms that are easily transported. In the United States, the ready availability of handguns has contributed to a 2.7 higher possibility of being killed and a 4.8 times greater likelihood of suicide, recent studies report. On an international level, of the half-billion small arms that exist in the world, between 40% and 60% were obtained illegally. Of the 49 major armed conflicts of the 1990s, small arms predominated in 46 of them, resulting in the deaths of four million people-- 90% of them civilians and 80% of those women and children. *FOREIGN MINISTER PEREZ ROQUE ARRIVES IN BELGIUM Brussels, July 9 (RHC)--Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque has arrived in Brussels to build on the mutual willingness of Cuba and Belgium to strengthen bilateral ties. Perez Roque's agenda includes meetings with high-ranking Belgian officials, including Vice Prime Minister Louis Michel, with whom the Cuban foreign minister will discuss the current state of bilateral relations and prospects for strengthened cooperation. *GERMAN MINISTER OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE ECONOMY VISITS CUBA Havana, July 9 (RHC)--The German Minister of Technology and the Economy, Werner Muller, participated Monday in the official ceremony to inaugurate the German-Cuban Company OXICUBA for the production of industrial gas. Also on hand was Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, other Cuban ministers and executives of the new company. OXICUBA represents the willingness of Berlin and Havana to strengthen bilateral ties, particularly in sectors such as trade and the economy. Muller arrived in Havana on Sunday for a three-day official visit, along with a large delegation made up of officials from the ministries of the economy, technology and foreign relations. The visitors also include business executives and German journalists. Muller also met on Monday with Cuban Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz and visited the world famous Varadero beach resort. In addition, the minister plans to meet with representatives of German firms based here in Cuba. *ALARCON HEADS TO LATIN AMERICAN SUMMIT ON SOCIAL DEBT, INTEGRATION Havana, July 9 (RHC)--President of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, is heading the island's delegation to the Latin American Summit on Social Debt and Integration, set to begin Tuesday in Caracas, Venezuela. Alarcon is among the main speakers at the event, organized by the Venezuelan office of the Latin American Parliament, known as Parlatino. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will give the inaugural speech. *CUBAN FOLKSINGER SANTIAGO FELIU IN CONCERT IN HAVANA Havana, July 9 (RHC)--The Astral theatre in Vedado, downtown Havana, attracted more than a thousand Cuban and foreign music lovers on Sunday evening to listen to Cuban folksinger, writer and guitarist Santiago Feliu in concert. Feliu, one of Cuba's Nueva Trova icons, kept the audience enthralled for over three hours listening to the sound of his guitar and vibrant voice. Accompanied by virtuoso guitarist Elmer Ferrer and also by jazz pianist Robertico Carcasses, Feliu sang some 40 songs, from love ballads to the irreverent protest songs that focus on current Cuban social issues. Feliu's lyrics successfully combine poetry with a critical insight into Cuba's reality; his musical influences include Bob Dylan and country music, as well as Celtic, Spanish and Baroque traditions. Viewpoint: *HANDGUNS, VIOLENCE AND THE WORLD'S CHILDREN A child's tiny hand holds a pistol of plastic, wood or cardboard; the child takes aim and fires... a playmate pretends to be hit and falls to the ground. In this disturbed world, violence has become a recurrent theme in children's games. But unfortunately, in thousands or perhaps millions of cases, the weapon is made of steel and the bullets are all-too real. According to the United Nations Children's Organization, UNICEF, in the last ten years, two million children have died from wounds caused by handguns and five million have been mutilated. The statistics are horrifying to hear, as they will also hopefully be to the delegates in the UN Copnference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects. In the United States there are 80 handguns for every one hundred inhabitants, and they have become a principal cause of injury to children at school. In Cuba, the situation is very different. The manufacturers of wartoys have no interests here: no such toys are produced on the island. Nor, indeed, are real weapons. In Cuba, children play and have fun -- sometimes with toy guns -- but they also take seriously the role they play in society. Cuban youngsters are perhaps the only ones in the world who have their own congress, in which they discuss their most pressing problems. They have confidence that they are being listened to and that their ideas will be respected, because Cuban children know they are not thought of as objects, but rather as active participants in building their own future. Delegates to the Third Congress of the Pioneer's children's organization, which winds up on Monday, represent the results from more than 45,000 meetings held nationwide in which children expressed their thoughts on school, work, vocational training, sports, culture and recreation. In this world, which suffers under the effects of unrestrained free market globalization, Cuban children discuss the forming of values, identity and the reaffirmation of personality. Rather than waving guns in their hands, young people in cuba hold pens and pencils and together protest against the aggression that their peers around the world are subjected to, against hunger and disease, and against the random violence that kills so many children. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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