Radio Havana Cuba-23 July 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 23 July 2001 . *PRESIDENT CASTRO INAUGURATES TOURIST COMPLEX IN CIEGO DE AVILA *AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI'S GRANDSON BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA *CUBAN LABOR LEADER DISCUSSES DAMAGING EFFECTS OF NEO-LIBERALISM *SOLIDARITY ACTIVISTS IN MADRID MARCH IN SUPPORT OF CUBA *US IS ISOLATED AT CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN BONN *EUROPEAN MEDIA COVER G-8 SUMMIT -- WITH SCORN *HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FAVORS REPARATIONS FOR VICTIMS OF SLAVERY, RACISM Viewpoint: *BATTLE OF GENOA ENDS WITHOUT GLORY, AND WITHOUT HELP FOR THE POOR . *PRESIDENT CASTRO INAUGURATES TOURIST COMPLEX IN CIEGO DE AVILA Ciego de Avila, July 23 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro inaugurated the hotel complex El Senador (the Senator) in the famous Jardines del Rey tourist location, north of the central province of Ciego de Avila. Addressing participants in the inaugural ceremony, Fidel praised the excellent work done by workers from the Antonio Maceo, Ho Chi Min and Frank Pais construction contingents, from the Cuban Construction Ministry. The new five-star tourist complex with 690 hotel rooms is comprised of two hotels El Emperador or the Emperor with 262 hotel rooms and Laguna Azul or Blue Lagoon with 428, built at a cost of over 60 million dollars. It is a joint venture between Cuba and the group Thibault, Messier, Savar et Associes (TMSA) from Quebec, Canada. The leader of the Cuban revolution called for a better understanding among peoples, regardless of their different ideologies and social systems and stressed that the new tourist site in Ciego de Avila is further evidence of that. In another part of his speech, President Fidel Castro recalled the days when the first causeway that joined Turiguano Island and Cayo Coco was built. It marked the beginning of tourism development in that area. He explained that everything was done with extreme caution not to harm the environment. "We can enjoy nature without destroying it," he said. The Red Deer Management Company from the Bahamas manage and promote the new tourist facility. The complex operates under the all inclusive system. The opening of the new tourist complex brings the number of hotel rooms in the location of Jardines del Reyes to more than 3,200. *AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI'S GRANDSON BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT TO CUBA Havana, July 23 (RHC)--Hojjatolislam Haajj Seyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the Leader of the Islam Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, began an official visit to Cuba on Monday, invited by Cuban President Fidel Castro. During his stay on the island Khomeini and his delegation will have a packed agenda including talks with Cuban authorities and visits to centers of social, economic, cultural and historical interest. The visit underlines the excellent friendship and cooperation links that exist between the governments and peoples of the Republic of Cuba and the Islamic Republic of Iran. *CUBAN LABOR LEADER DISCUSSES DAMAGING EFFECTS OF NEO-LIBERALISM Caracas, July 23 (RHC)--Pedro Ross Leal, General Secretary of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC) pointed out in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, that our planet would be a silent world if we were to observe one minute of silence for each victim of neo-liberalism. Ross Leal, who is also a member of the Cuban Communist Party's Political Bureau, pointed to the thousands of people who die every day from starvation, malnutrition or other causes resulting from the application of neo-liberal policies. The Cuban union leader participated in the First Regional Workers Meeting against Neo-liberalism and the so-called Free Trade Area of the Americas, which concluded on Monday in the Venezuelan capital. The Cuban labor leader recalled that today's neoliberal globalization has only resulted in more exclusion for millions of people, who have been deprived of their very right to live. Director of the Cuban Center for Studies on the World Economy, Osvaldo Martinez, termed the FTAA a new attempt by the United States to impose its economic domination over the rest of the Western Hemisphere. *SOLIDARITY ACTIVISTS IN MADRID MARCH IN SUPPORT OF CUBA Havana, July 23--Hundreds of Cuba's friends marched in the main streets of Madrid to commemorate July 26th, the historical date marking the beginning of the final phase of Cuba's struggle for total independence and sovereignty. On July 26th, 1953, The Cuban rebel army lead by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada and the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks, stronghold of the Batista dictatorship in eastern Cuba. Participants held signs and posters with messages in support of Cuba and against Washington's blockade against the island. Statements were read in the name of friendship organizations in Madrid, among them the Ernesto Che Guevara Corredor de Henares-Cuba Friendship Association, the Bartolome de las Casas Spanish-Cuban Friendship Association and the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Association. *US IS ISOLATED AT CLIMATE CONFERENCE IN BONN Bonn, July 23 (RHC)--The surprising agreement at the United Nations Conference on the Climate in Bonn has been interpreted as a major political defeat for the United States -- the only country that opposed the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Jennifer Morgan, director of the World Wildlife Fund's climatic changes campaign, said that what occurred in Bonn constitutes a geopolitical earthquake. Morgan characterized as immensely significant, in a political sense, that in order to obtain an agreement it was necessary to disobey the United States -- a country, she added, whose insensitivity in environmental matters has led to its total isolation. According to Greenpeace, the European Union has been capable of countering Washington's influence, surprisingly pulling into the Kyoto Protocol not only Japan and Russia, but also Australia and Canada -- the four countries that numerous observers believed would follow in the US's footsteps. There were numerous ovations for delegates and political leaders in Bonn, where only the United States was booed down. Conference participants jeered at the head of the US delegation, Paula Dobriansky, when she claimed that her country takes climatic changes very seriously, while at the same time stating that the segregationist nature of the accord frees Washington from any financial commitments that Kyoto nations have promised to help poor countries develop alternative energy sources. The European Union stated that the accord reflects its growing world leadership. Members of the European Parliament noted that despite some painful concessions, the Kyoto child, at age four, is beginning to walk. Among the concessions are modifications in the control of compliance with commitments, an elimination of economic sanctions against those countries that surpass the allowed quantity of contaminating gas emissions and acceptance of the voluntary character of the aid industrialized nations will provide to developing countries without, at the same time, mentioning specific amounts. *EUROPEAN MEDIA COVER G-8 SUMMIT -- WITH SCORN London, Berlin, July 23 (RHC)--European media outlets are terming as weak the results of last weekend's G-8 gathering in Genoa, Italy, asserting that the meeting only demonstrated the uselessness of these types of summits. The British news daily "The Guardian" wrote that while today it's possible to communicate without wasting money, G-8 leaders spent 25 million dollars each for a summit organized in the name of the war against poverty. "The Guardian" called on G-8 leaders to ask themselves why so many people travel from other countries at their own expense to protest these summits. London's "The Daily Telegraph" affirmed that the idea that the lives of African peoples are going to be transformed thanks to the empty talk in Genoa is a cruel joke. Germany's financial news daily "Handelsblatt" wrote that less talk and more substance will be needed if theses summits are going to be successful, while the "Frankfurter Rundschaua" asserted that Seattle, Gothenburg and Genoa are the sites where international institutions and the governments of industrialized countries revealed their scant credibility by insisting that only the poor, and not the rich, should open their markets. *HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FAVORS REPARATIONS FOR VICTIMS OF SLAVERY, RACISM Washington, July 23 (RHC)--The New York-based organization Human Rights Watch has come out in favor of compensating the victims of slavery and racial discrimination. Just 6 weeks before the opening of the International Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa, Human Rights Watch has called for the setting up of national and international commissions to discuss, recognize and evaluate compensation for abuses committed in the past. The organization's executive director, Kenneth Roth, said it's not a question of a gift or an award, but rather, a long-term commitment to correct the damage that has been done. He said the compensation should be based on an enhanced application of the victims' social and economic rights through investment in education, housing and health, job training, the reduction or elimination of foreign debts and a preferential trade treatment on an international level. Compensation is one of the most controversial themes on the agenda of the Durban gathering. US Secretary of State Colin Powell suggested last month before Congress that Washington would not participate in the conference if compensation is one of the principle items on the agenda. But the reparations movement is gaining steam in the United States following compensation to Japanese-Americans forced into concentration camps during World War II and the Jewish victims of the nazi regime. Last March, the Oklahoma Commission on the 1921 Racial Disturbances recommended reparations for victims of a racist massacre that forced the displacement of an entire African-American community. The "Philadelphia Inquirer" news daily recently supported the setting up of a national reparations commission, while the municipal councils of 10 US cities are promoting the idea of a declaration concerning the impact of slavery. Several large US firms have publicly apologized for having promoted or benefited from slavery. A coalition of African-American and non-governmental organizations is currently preparing a court case to demand compensation from the government and businesses that benefited from slave labor. . Viewpoint: *BATTLE OF GENOA ENDS WITHOUT GLORY, AND WITHOUT HELP FOR THE POOR The seven richest countries and Russia, wound up their summit in the Italian city of Genoa, with lots of noise and little action.. The meeting ended without glory for the participants and without alleviating the misery that grips the majority of humanity. In a five-page final document, which says little and contains no concrete pledges, the leaders of the G-8 have attempted to justify the spending of some 25 million dollars for each delegation to participate in a gathering, that paradoxically was aimed at ending poverty. Though praise is in order for the decision to forgive the foreign debts of the world's 23 poorest nations, the significance of that announcement pales when we realize that that money is already lost and will never be recuperated. Perhaps the G-8's real aim was to rid itself of the bother of trying to collect payment on a debt that is impossible to pay. Not a word was spoken of opening markets to emerging countries, cancelling export subsidies, ending non-tariff barriers. Just vague promises of financial assistance to the poorest nations. Regarding protection of the environment, the distinguished gentlemen of the G-8 agreed not to agree. Nor will more money be forthcoming to fight AIDS and other illnesses; the only funds allocated were those already existing; only the name was changed. A young Italian killed by police, a young French woman who died in a tragic automobile accident, hundreds wounded and many others arrested and a partially destroyed city, were the sad results of the Genoa meeting. It is now left to the Genoa's residents to begin the job of cleaning up the rubble, while the Canadians, in particular those who work in the Rocky Mountains tour resort of Kananaskis, begin to worry about how to deal with the next such gathering. And, though it may seem like a bad joke, the G-8 heads of state and government agreed to strengthen ties with civil society. How do they plan on achieving that lofty goal when each time they have to hide more. If today they have to build a wall around a city, their next meeting will be held high up in the mountains. Don't they realize that hundreds of thousands of people, citizens of their own countries, oppose the holding of these failed summits? Perhaps they are open to taking a word of advice and they will chose a more appropriate setting, more in line with their thinking and save the world another tragic show. Our humble suggestion would be that for their next meetings, they should lock themselves into a bank security box and from there, immersed in the pungent smell of money, discuss their affairs. The world will thank them for it. (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-4938 2001-Jul-24 00:00:50