Radio Havana Cuba-11 July 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 11 July 2001 . *PASTORS FOR PEACE FRIENDSHIPMENT CARAVAN BEGINS TRIP HOME TO US *GERMAN ECONOMICS MINISTER ENDS TRADE VISIT TO CUBA *UNIVERSITY FOR ALL CONTINUES EXPANDING CURRICULUM *UNDP OFFICIAL HAILS CUBA AS A LEADER IN TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT *HONDURAN INDUSTRIAL GROUP CALLS FOR FULL RELATIONS WITH CUBA *CHAVEZ, OPENING DEBT SUMMIT, DECRIES LACK OF COMMITMENT TO END POVERTY *ISRAEL TO CONTINUE DESTROYING HOMES, DESPITE INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY *WARY CALM IN JAMAICA FOLLOWS 4 DAYS OF VIOLENCE *Viewpoint: GERMANS NOTE CUBA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH . *PASTORS FOR PEACE FRIENDSHIPMENT CARAVAN BEGINS TRIP HOME TO US Havana, July 11 (RHC)--Members of the Pastors For Peace Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba have begun their return trip home to the United States. A farewell ceremony for the solidarity activists was organized Tuesday evening at Havana's Institute of Friendship with the Peoples. Calling the 12th Friendshipment Caravan the best ever, Pastors For Peace leader Reverend Lucius Walker said the activists will be bringing back to the United States products that Cuba is donating to the American people. Cuba's organic rat poison Biorat, manufacutered by the Cuban company labiofam, will be used against the proliferating rat population of New York. The solidarity activists will also be taking back a Cuban-produced solar panel and a radio with batteries powered by solar energy to be donated to the Hoopa Indian Reservation in Northern California, which does not have electricity. Walker also reiterated his organization's plans to campaign for the return of life-saving medical equipment for Cuba, donated by the Let Cuba Live coalition in the U.S. state of Maine but confiscated by the U.S. Treasury Department as it was about to be transported across the Candian into Quebec and from there travel to Havana. Early Wednesday morning the caravanistas flew to Tampico, Mexico, to begin a 10-day drive to Reynosa on the Mexico-U.S. border. They will cross the border at McAllen, Texas. *GERMAN ECONOMICS MINISTER ENDS TRADE VISIT TO CUBA Havana, July 11 (RHC)--Following his opening of a $14 million joint German-Cuban industrial gas venture, visiting German Minister of Economics and Technology, Werner Muller, was hosted by Cuban President Fidel Castro on Monday night in a dinner that lasted into the small hours of Tuesday. In comments to the press yesterday, Muller said that the Cuban leader was in the best of health and that he had a very good sense of humor. He said that Fidel Castro had contributed many ideas to world development over the last 40 years. Their discussion focused on Europe's relationship with Latin America, with the German minister suggesting further economic reforms that would stimulate German investment in Cuba. Muller stated that all 15 of the European Union's countries are ready to intensify their commercial relations with Cuba. He added that such relations should be promoted without any attached conditions and that the EU firmly rejected the US economic blockade of the island. Muller, who headed a trade delegation of 30 German business representatives and officials, returned to Germany at the end of the day yesterday. *UNIVERSITY FOR ALL CONTINUES EXPANDING CURRICULUM Havana, July 11 (RHC)--After nine months on the air, the University for All Cuban TV program is ready to begin a new course in Theater Appreciation. The course follows on the heels of other cultural classes offered by the university such as Literature, History, Fine Arts, Music and Dance appreciation. The new course -- which begins this Saturday and will comprise a total of 26 hours -- covers the rise and development of the stage from ancient classical Greek theater to the Renaissance; Shakespeare and Elizabethan Theater; the Golden Century of the Spanish stage and classical French plays by Racine and Moliere; 19th and 20th century theater with a focus on Latin America as well as modern drama. The course will also cover scenery, lighting and sound techniques; theatrical language; the staging of tragedy and comedy; the relationship of theater with poetry and music; and various theatrical forms such as opera, operetta, musical comedy, variety shows and Cuban zarzuela, a cross between operetta and light play. A 32-page low-cost supplement to support the program has already gone on sale at street newspaper kiosks across the country. The University for All concept began with classes in Writing, English and Cuban Geography. It has become so popular that courses have rapidly expanded to many other areas, including a new French language course that has just begun. *UNDP OFFICIAL HAILS CUBA AS A LEADER IN TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT Mexico City, July 11 (RHC)--Cuba has the potential to become a leader in the technological development of Latin America and the Caribbean and is an example for other countries, said the United Nations Development Program administrator Mark Malloch in Mexico City yesterday. In an interview with Prensa Latina news service, Malloch said that policies applied by the Cuban government to promote technology, and its support for research institutions, make the island a likely regional leader in the area, along with Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica. A UNDP report earlier this year categorizes Cuba as a nation that has been successful in orienting research toward the solution of concrete problems, such as the extensive development of biotechnology for health. The island boasts 18 pharmaceutical and biomedical research centers and has been on the cutting edge of technological advances for some years. Cuba was also praised for its computerized medical system called INFOMED which provides online medical assistance and updates to the most remote areas of the country. *HONDURAN INDUSTRIAL GROUP CALLS FOR FULL RELATIONS WITH CUBA Havana, July 11 (RHC)--In Honduras, the National Industrial Association has called on the government to re-establish full relations with Cuba. In a declaration made public Wednesday, the Association said that coming close to Cuba would be a way of expressing gratitude for Cuba's sincere friendship and cooperation with Hondurans. The Honduran industrial leaders' organization said it was unfair for their country to join in efforts to isolate Cuba, noting that during hard, painful times for Honduras, such as the devastation left by hurricanes Fifi in 1974 and Mitch in 1998, Cuba had come up with an extraordinary show of human solidarity. This is the first time that a Honduran business organization has asked the government to change its policy towards Cuba. In 1962, Honduras broke diplomatic relations with Havana, after the United States maneuvered Cuba's expulsion from the Organization of American States. *CHAVEZ, OPENING DEBT SUMMIT, DECRIES LACK OF COMMITMENT TO END POVERTY Caracas, July 11 (RHC)--Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has asserted that there is no political commitment to eliminte the poverty and inequality that is laying waste to humanity. Inaugurating the Social Debt and Latin American Integration Summit in Caracas on Tuesday evening, Chavez emphasized his proposal for a regional referendum to declare a social emergency in the Americas and to submit to the consideration of the peoples the establishment of a union of Latin American nations instead of a simple trade zone that has no soul. The Venezuelan president recalled that he first announced this proposal at the Summit of the Americas last April, but that it was not included in the Declaration of Quebec. Chavez criticized the documents signed in gatherings like last September's Millennium Summit, saying that the documents are full of words blown away by the wind. He noted that according to the United Nations Development Program report released on Tuesday, the large majority of nations have not adopted measures to cut poverty rates in half by the year 2015, as agreed to by the participating heads of state and government. Chavez also reiterated his doubts concerning the Free Trade Area of the Americas proposed by Washington, stating that its aim is merely the establishment of a global supermarket. Some 150 government officials, academics, legislators and social, labor and religious leaders from the Americas and Europe are participating in the Social Debt Summit, organized by the Latin American Parliament, which continues through Friday. *ISRAEL TO CONTINUE DESTROYING HOMES, DESPITE INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY Jerusalem, July 11 (RHC)--Israel has refused to cease destroying Palestinian homes, despite unanimous criticism from the international community. The demolition of some 30 Palestinian homes Monday and Tuesday in Gaza and East Jerusalem even sparked a rare strong criticism from Washington, which called the operations "serious provocations." Israel's Minister without portfolio Danny Naveh said that Tel Aviv regretted the criticism but the demolitions will continue. Naveh called the housing constructions illegal and excessive because they haven't been authorized by Israeli authorities. But Israeli authorities haven't authorized any Palestinian construction projects since 1997, despite constant building by Jewish settlers. *WARY CALM IN JAMAICA FOLLOWS 4 DAYS OF VIOLENCE Kingston, July 11 (RHC)--Kingston, Jamaica awoke to a wary calm Wednesday following four days of street violence with heavy political overtones. Jamaican soldiers supported by helicopters and armored vehicles took control of the situation Tuesday evening following clashes with street gangs that officially left 24 people killed, including 3 police officers and one soldier. The outbreak of violence began last Saturday when Jamaican authorities attempted to confiscate weapons in Kingston's Tivoli Gardens neighborhood, reportedly a political stronghold of the conservative Jamaica Labor Party. JLP leader and former Prime Minister Edward Seaga has accused the government of attempting to weaken his political organizations, a charge denied by current Prime Minister Percival Patterson of the ruling People's National Party (PNP). Dozens of people were wounded, with 10 police vehicles torched, reports of looting and the closing of businesses, work centers and schools. *Viewpoint: GERMANS NOTE CUBA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH The official visit to Cuba of German Minister of Economics and Technology Werner Meuller has revealed continuing interest in the European Community to improve trade links with the island. Some 35% of Cuba's trade is with the 15 member nations of the EU, a region that increasingly serves as an important balance to US global hegemony. Cuba's effort to improve trade while maintaining a steady economic growth of some 4% annually did not go unnoticed by the German minister during his brief working visit to Havana. Germany and Cuba have opened a joint industrial gas plant in Havana that will guarantee 70% of the need in Cuba, including its many hospitals. With the opening of this plant, there are now nine Cuban-German joint ventures operating on the island. Meanwhile, the flow of goods between the two countries remains at a moderate level; in 1999 this trade exceeded $146 million. The German minister said his visit was aimed at promoting the Cuban market among German businesses and helping them overcome their excessive prudence regarding Cuba, an attitude that still prevails in the German business world despite the good relations between the governments of Cuba and many of the German Laenders, or states. Meuller may manage to awaken the interest of German business for the Cuban market, especially in the area of power generation using sugar cane biomass, a field that has not yet been widely explored. Germany's contribution with capital, technology, access to its market and efforts to try to boost bilateral cooperation will be supported by the investment promotion and protection agreement that exists between the two countries. Germans are no strangers to Cuba; they travel in increasingly large numbers to the island as tourists. Last year, approximately 250,000 Germans visited Cuba, accounting for about 14% of tourists in Cuba. With its great untapped potential, Cuba can and should prove as suitable and as attractive a place for German investors as it is already proving to be for German tourists. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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