Radio Havana Cuba-04 June 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 04 June 2001 . *A DIFFERENT MODEL FROM CONSUMER SOCIETIES IS POSSIBLE - FIDEL *CONFERENCE ON CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN HAVANA *PEDIATRICS 2001 MEETING SET FOR NEXT WEEK *BUSH WANTS MORE AGENTS ON THE MILITARIZED MEXICAN BORDER *NEW REPORT SHOWS UNEMPLOYMENT A HUGE WORLDWIDE PROBLEM *NEW "ADHESIVE GUNS" WILL GLUE PROTESTORS IN PLACE *UN CENTER PREDICTS MASSIVE MIGRATION TO CITIES, AND MORE POVERTY . *A DIFFERENT MODEL FROM CONSUMER SOCIETIES IS POSSIBLE - FIDEL Havana, June 4 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro has called for the creation of a society that serves as a model of justice, culture, education and spiritual richness for the world. Closing a workshop on higher education, the leader of the Cuban Revolution said he was optimistic regarding what Cuba do for the world, even for industrial nations. The Cuban leader said that the island has shown it is capable of resisting, and now more and more people in the world are turning to Cuba for its example. Fidel Castro attributed Cuba's capacity to resist the crisis that ensued after the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union to the work of social justice done by the Cuban Revolution. The president said that widespread social justice created the subjective and cultural conditions that made it possible for Cuba to resist. The Cuban leader said that the country now has a major a role to play for humanity and the duty to do so. Fidel Castro also said there is much that Cuba can do for other countries, including those of the developed world. Among the tasks ahead for Cuba, he said, is working against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. He said Cuba could also help with medical assistance, fighting AIDS, and defending just causes at international forums. But above all, Fidel Castro said, Cuba's contribution will be to show show that a model different from the one advocated by consumer societies IS possible. The Cuban president noted those coming to Cuba will not only find natural tourist attractions but also an impressive cultural life in a country that is doing wonders with very little. He added that Cuba's achievements are only due to the kind of social justice system that the Revolution has been building for over 40 years. *CONFERENCE ON CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT BEGINS IN HAVANA Havana, June 4 (RHC)--The Second International Conference on Culture and Development will open in Havana today at the city's Convention Center. A performance arts gala will close the day at the National Theater. Six hundred delegates will attend the Conference, which will be in session through Thursday the 7th June and will discuss issues pertaining to cultural policies, community programs, mass media and communication, and the creation of human resources for development programs. Arriving for the conference, Mexican parliamentarian and movie producer Maria Rojo said that the event was a wonderful opportunity to seek to protect Third World films for future generations. Others attending are Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu from Guatemala, and Spanish film director Manuel Gutierrez Aragon. *PEDIATRICS 2001 MEETING SET FOR NEXT WEEK Havana, June 4 (RHC)--The Cuban Ministry of Public Health and the National Council of Scientific Societies are the main sponsors of Pediatrics 2001, an international event that will be held at Havana's Convention Center from June 11th to the 15th. The meeting, which intends to be a summary of what has been done on this field over the 20th century, will be attended by some 600 delegates from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Aruba, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and of course Cuba. Doctors, professors, and researchers have been invited to the gathering, such as Dr. Susan Niermeyer, from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Niermeyer will help teach a course to Cuban doctors on neonatal reanimation. The course has been scheduled for June 12th, at Havana's Ramon Gonzalez Coro Hospital. The president of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics and the head of the organizing committee, Dr. Enzo Dueñas, told the press in a news conference that all the topics of pediatrics will be covered in the event's seminars, conferences, and round tables. These topics will range from surgery, intensive care, and neonatology to community pediatrics and children's psychiatry. He also said that the gathering will serve foreign delegates to learn more about the development of pediatrics in Cuba, and that all participants would learn from each other's experiences. The event will include the 24th National Congress of Pediatrics, the 5th National Congress on Pediatric Surgery, the 5th National Congress on Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care, the 3rd International Congress on "The Health of the 5 years Olds", and the 2nd Congress on "The Health of Caribbean Children in the Beginning of the 21st Century." Cuba ended the year 2000 with an infant mortality rate of 7.2 per every 1,000 live births. *BUSH WANTS MORE AGENTS ON THE MILITARIZED MEXICAN BORDER Washington, June 4 (RHC)--U.S. President George W. Bush has asked Congress for a 10% increase in the number of border patrol agents on its border with Mexico over the next two years. According to reports from Capitol Hill, the presidential request -- which would be included in the Federal budget for the year 2003 -- would increase the number of border agents to more than 11,000. The figure is double the number that were on the U.S.-Mexico border only six years ago. During the administration of former President Bill Clinton, the nearly 3000-kilometer-long border between the US and Mexico was militarized, with high-tech and logistical support by the armed forces. Official statistics reveal that nearly 500 illegal immigrants were killed or died from exposure to the elements during last year alone. In response to the request for more troops on the border, Wayne Cornelius, an expert on immigration matters at the University of California-San Diego, stated that he could not understand what Bush meant by "humanizing" the border region. Cornelius noted that the U.S. president made that statement during his electoral campaign, essentially promising to find new ways to "humanize" the border patrol. The professor from California told reporters in San Diego that if the United States continues the militarization of its border with Mexico, the number of dead immigrants killed by U.S. Border Patrol agents will increase accordingly. *NEW REPORT SHOWS UNEMPLOYMENT A HUGE WORLDWIDE PROBLEM Geneva, June 4 (RHC)--Unemployment is one of the major problems of the world, according to a new report by the International Labor Organization, the ILO. The General Director of the ILO, Juan Somavia, told reporters in Geneva that he will officially present his report to the organization's 89th Conference on Tuesday. The annual ILO Conference will run through June 21st. Labor ministers, business representatives and trade union leaders from 175 countries are slated to attend the meeting. Somavia said that the report released tomorrow will show that official figures on worldwide unemployment are greatly underestimated. Rather than 160 million people without a job -- the real figure is closer to one billion jobless around the world. He added that while 6% of workers on the planet are unemployed, another 16% barely earn one dollar a day. The ILO report also shows that more than 250 million children are forced to work in poor conditions around the world -- and that the number of child labor cases is increasing annually. Nearly 3000 workers die each day due to work-related accidents or illnesses contracted on the job, according to the ILO. *NEW "ADHESIVE GUNS" WILL GLUE PROTESTORS IN PLACE London, June 4 (RHC)--A new crowd-control weapon will soon be available for police use: pistols and rifles that fire adhesive bullets that prevent demonstrators from moving. Reports from London say the new guns have been fitted to shoot adhesive bullets that, once fired, grow 30 times in size, sticking to demonstrators' legs and bodies and preventing them from moving. Demonstrations against the current economic world order have been growing internationally in recent months, with protesters becoming ever-more active in their denunciations, and police forces using more aggressive measures in response. *UN CENTER PREDICTS MASSIVE MIGRATION TO CITIES, AND MORE POVERTY New York, June 4 (RHC)--Neo-liberal economic globalization is greatly widening the gap between rich and poor -- especially in urban areas. According to a report issued by the United Nations Center for Human Settlements, the so-called free trade economic policies being implemented around the world leave little or no protection for vulnerable, poor urban residents. The new Executive Director of the UN Center for Human Settlements, Anna Kamujulo, who is from Tanzania, stated that the study shows a wide range of problems for housing throughout the world. According to the report, experts estimate that by the year 2020, Asia and the Pacific will have the largest urban populations -- and nearly half of the projected world population of 4.3 billion will be living in the cities. The report also shows that Latin America and the Caribbean will be the most urbanized regions of the world, with 75% of their populations crowded into their largest cities. The UN Center for Human Settlements warns that the tendency to migrate from the countryside into cities that are overcrowded and unprepared for the onslaught have resulted in at least one billion people living in poor or inadequate housing -- the immense majority of them in underdeveloped countries. The report shows that as of last year, 19 cities in the world have over ten million inhabitants; 22 cities have a population of between five and ten million; and 370 urban areas have more than one million inhabitants. Among the problems related to overcrowded urban areas: unemployment, environmental problems, the lack of urban services, the deterioration of existing infrastructures and the lack of access to adequate housing. (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-5728 2001-Jun-04 23:58:54