Radio Havana Cuba-25 July 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 25 July 2001 . *BOOK BY ONE OF THE PRISONERS IN MIAMI PUBLISHED IN HAVANA *UNITED STATES REJECTS BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS TREATY *UN TRIES TO STOP USE OF HERBICIDE BY US IN COLOMBIA *YOUNG DEMONSTRATOR KILLED BY ITALIAN POLICE IS BURIED IN GENOA *HARRY BELAFONTE TO RECORD CD WITH CUBA'S PABLO MILANES . *BOOK BY ONE OF THE PRISONERS IN MIAMI PUBLISHED IN HAVANA Havana, July 25 (RHC)--A day before the giant July 26th march and rally set for Thursday in Havana, a book written by one of the five Cubans imprisoned in Miami was published in Spanish and English. President Fidel Castro and well-known Cuban writers and intellectuals attended the publication party in Havana for "Desde Mi Altura" (literally "From My Altitude") and containing poems written by Antonio Guerrero. Guerrero's companion, US citizen Margaret Louise Becker, traveled to Cuba for the publication ceremoney in an offical hall next to the Jose Martí moment in Havana's Revolution Square. Escorted by the Cuban prisoner's mother, Mirta Rodríguez, Becker expressed her satisfaction with the publishing of the poems. In her preface to the book, Becker wrote that it was only now that she had become aware of "the fragility of freedom" and "the myth of privacy." All the letters that she and Antonio exchanged were reviewed by a US intelligence agent operating "in a clandestine world searching for compromising material." she said. *UNITED STATES REJECTS BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS TREATY Geneva, July 25 (RHC)--The United States today refused to adopt a draft protocol enforcing a l972 international treaty prohibiting plans and production of biological weapons for 30 years. U.S. ambassador Donald Mahley made the announcement in Geneva, where the document has been under discussion since Monday. He claimed that Washington opposes the agreement because the verification protocol "places national security and confidential information at risk" and he flatly stated that the United States cannot support the text that is the result of six years of negotiations. The original 1972 Convention on Biological and Toxic Weapons, ratified by nearly 140 nations including the United States, lacks control mechanisms on its application. The discussions in Geneva centered on introducing the appropriate controls, including inspections of factories and laboratories and controls on the export of materials for civilian and military use. Barbara Rosenberg, president of a working group on biological weapons of the American Federation of Scientists, was an observer to the negotiations. She said that Washington's refusal to back the protocol is based on ideology, and charged that the United States, the world's only superpower, does not want its hands tied by any multilateral treaties, since it feels it has enough economic and military might to achieve what it wants without any type of limitations. The FAS scientist noted that U.S. biotechnology and pharmeuctical transnationals have been lobbying against the protocol claiming that the inspections could be used by other countries to steal trade secrets, while the European companies, many of them are subsidiaries of U.S. corporations, have made no such claims. Rosenberg dismissed the U.S. explanation, noting that the protocol offers more confidentiality than the Convention on Chemical Arms, which Washington ratified in l997. Many European Union diplomats share that view, commenting that the Bush administration appears bent on rescinding any multilateral cooperation that could prejudice its interests. *UN TRIES TO STOP USE OF HERBICIDE BY US IN COLOMBIA Bogota, July 25 (RHC)--Tensions are mounting over the United States' use of the chemical gliosata to fumigate coca crops in Colombia. On Wednesday, the United Nations recommended suspending use of the herbicide glifosato until the harmful effects of the chemical on human beings, plants and animals can be assessed. There have been complaints that the chemicals have caused serious problems including the death of animals and the loss of food crops. The United Nations seeks to create an investigative commission staffed by WHO and other international agency experts to mediate between Washington and South American nations. The decision by the U.S. Congress to dedicate $670 million to the fumigation effort in Colombia has complicated the UN's effort to delay the spraying until a proper study has been completed. The White House and Colombian officials claims that glifosato is the only method to halt drug dealing and it will continue despite domestic and foreign opposition. Colombian lawmakers are warning about a general protest against the so-called "chemical rain" and have introduced a number of bills which seek to protect farm workers from the herbicide's harmful effects. *YOUNG DEMONSTRATOR KILLED BY ITALIAN POLICE IS BURIED IN GENOA Genoa, July 25 (RHC)--Thousands of Italians bid farewell today to the young man killed by Italian police last week during anti-G8 demonstrations in Genoa. The casket of Carlo Giuliani was covered with flag of his favorite soccer team. A huge crowd of young people gathered in front of Genoa's Staglieno Cemetery where the victim of the police shooting was remembered with poems, songs or simple words of goodbye to Carletto, as he was known to his friends. The young man's father, Giuliano Giuliani, a former labor leader, called on people not to judge the young by their attire or hairstyles, saying that he knew many who wear tattered jeans and have body piercing, but who are kind, generous and idealistic. Guiliani asked that money be donated to a fund against AIDs in South Africa, a project that Carlo had been working on. *HARRY BELAFONTE TO RECORD CD WITH CUBA'S PABLO MILANES Havana, July 25 (RHC)--Singer, actor and director Harry Belafonte plans to record a CD with one of Cuba's and Latin America's most popular singer-songwriters. Belafonte will soon begin work on a CD with Cuban Pablo Milanes, singer, songwriter and founder of Cuba's "New Song Movement." The announcement was made in Havana on Wednesday by the U.S. entertainer's wife, Julie Belafonte, who has been in Cuba with her husband attending attend a Caribbean music festival in the eastern city of Santiago. She said that Belafonte is overwhelmed by the richness of Milanes' music and has been carefully studying his songs. (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-11561 2001-Jul-25 23:51:55