Radio Havana Cuba-13 July 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 13 July 2001 . *US SEIZES CUBAN HUMANITARIAN DONATION CARRIED BY PASTORS FOR PEACE *CUBA USES AFRO-CUBAN RELIGION SANTERIA TO HELP STEM HIV/AIDS *US GENETIC RESEARCHER PRAISES CUBA´S BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY *CUBAN NEUROSURGERY EFFECTIVE IN TREATING PARKINSON'S DISEASE *RUSSIA SAYS NEW ARMS RACE ALREADY IN PROGRESS WITH US STAR WARS PLAN *EUROPEAN UNION GIVES BUSH A QUIET WARNING ON HELMS-BURTON TITLE III *Viewpoint: HEALTH CARE - A MORAL DEBT . *US SEIZES CUBAN HUMANITARIAN DONATION CARRIED BY PASTORS FOR PEACE Mexico City, July 13 (RHC)--US Customs agents have seized a Cuban humanitarian donation for the American people from the solidarity organization Pastors for Peace. Thirty pounds of Biorat, a Cuban-made organic rat poison, to be used in New York, was confiscated at a US Border Patrol checkpoint after the 12th Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba had returned to the United States and successfully crossed the US-Mexico border. The material was siezed well inside Texas. Earlier this month Pastors for Peace brought to Cuba close to 80 tons of humanitarian donations, mainly medicines, medical equipment and school supplies. For the first time, the solidarity activists carried out a reverse caravan, taking back the Cuban-made organic rat poison for US cities, and a solar panel for the Hoopa Indian reservation in Northern California, which does not have electricity. Customs officials in Washington said they are investigating whether Pastors For Peace violated anti-smuggling and public health laws by failing to declare the pesticide at the border crossing. Pastors for Peace leader, the Reverend Lucius Walker, insisted in a telephone interview that he and his group told US Customs agents they had the rat poison and that the agents neither searched for nor seized it. *CUBA USES AFRO-CUBAN RELIGION SANTERIA TO HELP STEM HIV/AIDS Havana, July 13 (RHC)--In efforts to bring HIV-AIDS education to every level of Cuban society, the island's public health authorities are sponsoring a small group of activists who are using Santeria to combat the virus. Santería is the conglomeration of the West African Yoruba religion with Catholicism. African slaves brought to Cuba determined that the only way they would be able to worship their own deities would be to meld them into the images of the saints of their Spanish overseers. This synchronicity, as it is called here, enabled the slaves to carry on their cultural heritage while appearing to be good Catholics. Carlos Alejandro Díaz Martín is an HIV-positive Santería believer who leads the group Afro Ashe, which is targeting others who practice the religion to inform them about HIV-AIDS prevention. Díaz Martín says that many people who become infected seek solace in religion, and those who practice Santería are no exception. The group works under the auspices of the national Center for the Education and Prevention of HIV-AIDS. The AIDS activist added that the Santero community tends to legitimize machismo and therefore be less concerned about protecting themselves. One of the Santería legends is that of Babalú-ayé -- a promiscuous god who was punished by contracting a venereal disease. Díaz Martín said that he and other educators use this legend to teach safer-sex practices and the use of condoms. At the very least, said the young Santero, he can teach other followers of Santeria to respect and accept those afflicted with HIV-AIDS in their communities. *US GENETIC RESEARCHER PRAISES CUBA´S BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY Mexico City, July 13 (RHC)--Frederick Frank, a top US geneticist and member of the National Genome Project, said here yesterday that Cuba's advances in these fields was fascinating and warranted more extensive cooperation from other countries. Frank is attending an international conference in Mexico City on technological innovation for human development. He is considered to be one of the leading figures in genetic research in the United States, and is also a vice president and director of Lehman Brothers, Saying that he had had the occasion to see for himself Cuba's biotechnological advances, Frank told Prensa Latina news services that there was ample opportunity for Cuba to work with European and Asian interests. The US scientist added that he found it remarkable that Cuban researchers -- with all the financial limitations they suffered -- were able to maintain such an excellent level of work and dedication. *CUBAN NEUROSURGERY EFFECTIVE IN TREATING PARKINSON'S DISEASE Havana, July 13 (RHC)--Some 70% of all patients with Parkinson's Disease in Cuba have responded well to treatment administered at the island's International Center for Neurological Restoration, or CIREN. CIREN's Dr. Lázaro Alvarez said that over the past six years, neurosurgery has reduced the effects of Parkinson's in more than two-thirds of those receiving treatment, with a concomitant reduction in the need for medication. Cuba is a world pioneer in surgery involving the part of the brain that controls basic movements. The Parkinson's Disease procedure involves great precision and is still in its experimental stage, with some 54 patients involved in the five-year program. Parkinson's Disease, which involves involuntary movements of the body, afflicts 1% of the island's population over 50 years of age, and 2% to 3% of those over 70. *RUSSIA SAYS NEW ARMS RACE ALREADY IN PROGRESS WITH US STAR WARS PLAN Moscow, July 13 (RHC)--Russia has asserted that a new arms race is already in the making, following the Pentagon's announcement that Washington's Star Wars program will be speeded up. In U.S. congressional hearings Thursday, Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, and the director of the Pentagon's anti-missile defense program, General Ronald Kadish, said that Washington is ready to accelerate the Star Wars program, despite objections from Russia and its allies and despite any violations of the 1972 Anti-Ballistics Missiles Treaty. The two armed forces officials revealed plans to begin the construction next year of test missile silos in Alaska that will be operative between the years 2004 and 2006. Russian Field Marshall Igor Sergueyev, until recently Defense Minister and now advisor to President Vladimir Putin, deplored Washington's refusal to take into consideration the many arguments that Moscow has put forth to convince the U.S. government to desist from its efforts to obtain unilateral nuclear superiority. Sergueyev said the consequences will be catastrophic for the international community in the arena of the proliferation of missile technology. He said the concept of nuclear non-proliferation will not only disappear in Russia, but in numerous other countries. *EUROPEAN UNION GIVES BUSH A QUIET WARNING ON HELMS-BURTON TITLE III Brussels, Washington, July 13 (RHC)--The European Union has reportedly issued a subtle warning to U.S. President George Bush concerning Title III of Washington's anti-Cuba Helms-Burton Law. With just three days remaining before Bush has to make a decision, news agencies are quoting unidentified EU sources as stating that the regional body is ready to take Washington before the disputes panel of the World Trade Organization if European firms are threatened with Helms-Burton sanctions. Title III of the anti-Cuba legislation allows anyone in the United States, despite their nationality, to file a lawsuit against any firm in the world that has invested in property nationalized by the Cuban Revolution -- even if the property is merely an old mansion. The EU agreed to withdraw its challenge in the WTO in May of 1998. In the United State, meanwhile, analysts are predicting that Bush will issue another waver of Title III, despite the risk of angering his Cuban-American supporters and endangering the re-election possibilities of his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush. It's widely believed that the president will accompany his waver with an announcement of new anti-Cuba measures, including efforts to overcome Cuba's interference of Washington's Radio and TV Marti, and greater support for counterrevolutionary elements inside Cuba. Bush has until 12 midnight Monday to make a decision. *Viewpoint: HEALTH CARE - A MORAL DEBT For decades, Cuban doctors, nurses and technicians have been volunteering their experience and knowledge in numerous Third World countries. A new stage in that cooperation, dating from 1963 in Algeria, began three years ago in Central America, after Hurricane Mitch devastated the region. When the first Cuban medical brigades began operating in Central America, Cuba outlined a more ambitious project called the Comprehensive Medical Attention Program for Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Some three thousand highly professional and humanitarian Cuban physicians, nurses and technicians have taken on the gigantic task of improving the shocking health indicators in the 17 countries covered by the plan. And though Cuban personnel are completing tasks previously unimaginable in those nations, they often come up against problems cased by lack of medicines and appropriate diagnostic equipment. Various international press agencies have reported on the work being done remote areas, where misery reigns and where in many cases, local residents have never before been seen by a doctor or benefitted from pharmacies or modern medicines. Cuba has called on the rich countries to contribute financially to help acquire medicines and disposable materials, since the island -- with its limited resources -- is unable to afford such purchases. Although the industrialized North did not respond immediately to the call, Cuban doctors did not abandon their tasks and have worked, as always, to overcome the lack of resources with their dedication and high level of professionalism. Belgium, however, has now indicated that it is willing to work with Cuba in a health project to be implemented in two African countries, most likely Mali and Burkina Faso. In this way, Belgium is assisting an initiative aimed at offering health-care assistance to very poor nations. Another example is Haiti, where French and Cubans are already working together. German authorities are also offering to help Cuban medical brigades currently working in Niger and in Honduras, where Japanese aid is also present. An agreement is now in effect between Havana and Tokyo to improve conditions in San Francisco Hospital in Juticalpa, Honduras. Equipment is to be modernized and medicines and other materials will be provided. This support of material assistance from various countries to Cuban medical personnel working in the field is most welcome, and will help to alleviate the devastating shortages aggravating the sad state of health care in Central America, Haiti and Africa. (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-5715 2001-Jul-14 06:15:47