Radio Havana Cuba-06 June 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 06 June 2001 . *GLOBALIZATION: AN EVER-GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT - FIDEL *CUBA HONORS LATIN AMERICAN FILM-MAKERS *A LITTLE EXTRA SERVICE FROM CUBAN TAXI COMPANY *CUBA'S INTERIOR MINISTRY CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY *SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA *FLORIDA FISHERMAN WHO SAVED ELIAN GONZALEZ TO REUNITE WITH BOY *OAS CLOSES ASSEMBLY WITHOUT CONSENSUS *FORMER ARGENTINe ARMY CHIEF ARRESTED IN ARMS DEALING SCANDAL Viewpoint: *THE OAS, VIEQUES, AND THE FTAA . *GLOBALIZATION: AN EVER-GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT - FIDEL Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro has asserted that free market globalization constitutes an ever-growing threat to the environment. On the occasion Tuesday of World Environment Day, the Cuban leader delivered the keynote speech as Havana served as co-site, along with the Italian city Turin, for the first international commemoration of this date. President Castro affirmed that the indispensable conditions for human life on our planet diminish daily, with -- for example -- one in four persons deprived of clean drinking water. He lashed out at the model of consumption that industrialized nations impose on developing countries through their propaganda and publicity, which he insisted only leads to the waste of natural resources. And, said the Cuban leader, the increasingly gigantic transnational firms -- along with the governments that serve their interests -- show no concern. Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, participated in the event, awarding the organization CUBASOLAR with the Global 500 prize for the promotion of renewable sources of energy. The UN agency also awarded Cuba's Jose Marti Pioneers Children's organization for its outstanding labor in the recuperation of raw materials and in the promotion of a culture of respect regarding the environment. Cuban Environment Minister, Doctor Rosa Elena Simeon, presented the National Environment Award to President Castro for his outstanding efforts in the construction of a just and environmentally sound revolutionary society that struggles to achieve a sustainable economic model. *CUBA HONORS LATIN AMERICAN FILM-MAKERS Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Cuban President Fidel Castro yesterday awarded the Félix Varela Order to three Latin American film makers: María Rojo from Mexico, Fernando Pino Solanas, from Argentina, and Jorge Sanjinés from Bolivia. The awards, which were granted in conjunction with the Second International Congress on Culture and Development currently in session here in Havana, were for the huge contribution and emancipation each of the filmmakers had given to the Latin American film industry. Rojo is famous for her films "María de mi Corazón," "Danzón" and "La Tarea"; Solanas for "Sur" and "Tangos, el Exilio de Gardel"; and Sanjinés for his "Ukamau," "Yawa Malku" and "El Coraje del Pueblo." In the name of all three, Rojo thanked the Cuban president for the award, saying that Cuba has a place in the hearts of all of those filmmakers who are not "Hollywood," and that people here knew how to laugh and sing. She said that although Latin America had not yet achieved the dream of Simon Bolívar, the duty of filmmakers such as herself was to keep that dream alive. *A LITTLE EXTRA SERVICE FROM CUBAN TAXI COMPANY Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Base number 21 of the Havana Taxi Company has been providing a little extra service to certain clients, reports Granma today. The taxi drivers and their supporting staff all agreed a few years ago to offer free service to any of the six hospitals in the area they serve for anyone requiring kidney dialysis . The Secretary General of the taxi driver's union, Gerardo Díaz, reported to Granma that last year alone, 4,592 trips were made by dialysis patients in Base 21 taxis without charge by any of its 79 drivers. He said that credit should be given to the entire staff of 163 men and women who make up the base. In Cuba, it is usual for workers' unions to help others out in special programs taken on by each work center. This could take the form of blood donation drives or the kind of services Base 21 offers the population. For its efforts, the base this year received an award in recognition from the Cuban Worker's Federation. *CUBA'S INTERIOR MINISTRY CELEBRATES 40th ANNIVERSARY Havana, June 6 (RHC)--Its motorcycle police may stop you and give you a ticket, its national identity card service may keep you waiting in line for hours, but its fire brigade saves hundreds of lives a year, and its coast guard helps to keep regional drug traffickers off our shores. Today is the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Interior Ministry, better known by the population as MININT, and of its constant battle to protect Cuba and its Revolution from four decades of CIA assassination plots, biological warfare, invasion attempts, bombings, sabotage and economic blockade. MININT personnel have discovered bombs planted on civilian planes; they have the dangerous task of infiltrating terrorist groups; they have aborted attempted hijackings and its special forces have guaranteed Cuba's national peace and stability in the face of continued attempts at disruption. *SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION UNDERWAY IN HAVANA Havana, June 6 (RHC)--The 10th Latin American Scientific Conference on Special Education began here on Tuesday and will run through Friday, June 8. The event, taking place in the city's Pedagogical Convention Center, is being attended by some 300 professionals from 14 nations. The annual conference is also commemorating 10 years of intense work by the Latin American Reference Center for Special Education (CELAEE), as well as celebrating the 40th anniversary of special education in Cuba. During the inauguration ceremony, the national director of special education in Cuba, Rafael Bell Rodriguez, recalled that many professionals from different parts of the world have gathered year after year for these conferences because further education is an integral process in the quality of one's life and culture. The General Secretary of the Association of Latin American and Caribbean Teachers, Felix Herrera, thanked those people who have committed themselves to Special Education, calling them visionaries. During the opening ceremony, delegates paid homage to Agustina Esteban Lara, director of the Cuban Department of Special Education, which was founded in 1962. Currently there are some 427 special education schools attended by more than 55,000 children on the island. The schools work with the family, community and especially with different associations of disabled people. Among the major topics for discussion are the need to raise the level of education in the schools, the training and improvement of professionals, and a more diversified approach to special educational needs. *FLORIDA FISHERMAN WHO SAVED ELIAN GONZALEZ TO REUNITE WITH BOY Havana, June 6 (RHC)--The U.S. fisherman who rescued Cuban child, Elián González, then 5 years old, from the waters off the coast of Florida on the November 25, 1999 will soon be back with the boy. Sam Ciancio is in Havana to participate in the Ernest Hemingway Marlin Fishing Tournament and will visit Elián after the event. The fisherman proved himself to be the most decent person of all those who came into contact with the Cuban child, advocating for his return to his father and refusing to profit from the media frenzy accompanying the boy's plight. Along with his 18-year-old son, Brandon, Ciancio will remain in Cuba for two weeks before returning to Florida. *OAS CLOSES ASSEMBLY WITHOUT CONSENSUS San Jose, June 6 (RHC)--The Organization of American States 31st General Assembly found no consensus for the approval of a Democratic Charter project and a budgetary increase of its Human Rights system. Both projects were at the top of the agenda at the OAS meeting, which wound up Tuesday in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Democratic Charter, which came up as a mandate of the latest Summit of the Americas held in April, is a kind of behavior code which stipulates sanctions for OAS member nations that break the organization's constitutional charter. But the rejection by Caricom countries of some aspects of the draft document did not allow for consensus or approval of the charter previously adopted by the OAS permanent council. OAS General Secretary Cesar Gaviria established next October as a deadline for the OAS countries to study ways aimed at strengthening financing of the OAS Court and Interamerican Human Rights Commission. Costa Rica hoped to obtain a 10% budget increase for both OAS bodies by the year 2006. But Gaviria said that resources are not yet available, a reason stated by several OAS member nations as a response to the Costa Rican proposal. *FORMER ARGENTINe ARMY CHIEF ARRESTED IN ARMS DEALING SCANDAL Buenos Aires, June 6 (RHC)--Former Argentine army chief Martin Balza has been arrested in connection with a gun-running scandal during the administration of former president Carlos Menem. A federal judge Wednesday ordered the arrest of retired Lieutenant General Martin Balza as he was to be questioned concerning his role in the trafficking of weapons to Croatia and Ecuador when those two countries were at war. Balza is the third official during Menem's presidency to be arrested in the case, following the incarceration of former Defense Minister Antonio Erman Gonzalez and former presidential advisor Emir Yoma, who is also Menem's brother-in-law. Menem himself has been called in for questioning Thursday. He has requested a postponement but judicial authorities have yet to respond. Media outlets in Argentina are speculating that the former president could also be arrested. During a TV program this past weekend, Menem charged that it was the United States government that suggested he sell weapons to Croatia -- a charge that the U.S. State Department quickly denied. . Viewpoint: *THE OAS, VIEQUES, AND THE FTAA A group of non-governmental agencies gathered in San Jose, Costa Rica, have called on the Organization of American States to condemn the presence of U.S. troops in Vieques and to demand an end to the US Navy war games that are harming the health and tranquility of residents. The group signed a document that additionally demands an OAS statement against the violation of the sovereign rights of Puerto Rico and respect for the conventions that protect those rights. There has also been criticism of countries, such as the United States, that have refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol on reducing noxious gas emissions that are seriously damaging the atmosphere and affecting the climate worldwide. The 21st OAS General Assembly is being held in the Costa Rican capital in a hotel guarded by more than a thousand security force personnel. In fact, the OAS has done very little to deal with the problems that are truly plaguing the region. Many believe this is because the United States, which controls the organization, is obsessed with implementing a continental foreign policy that goes against the interests of most Latin Americans. Washington is working feverishly toward the incorporation of all of Latin America and the Caribbean, except Cuba, into the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and is moving forward with neoliberal globalization projects that are aimed at pushing the entire region into the FTAA with the United States as the reigning power. US president George Bush has met with additional difficulties since his Republican party lost its majority in the Senate, something that could negatively affect his plans to engulf all of Latin America into the FTAA. It is possible that a Senate controlled by Democrats will be more reluctant to approve the "fast track" that Bush needs in order to negotiate the entry of each country into the new economic block. The peoples of the region should be clear about the huge operation that has been planned without consultating them, which carries with it great danger to the identity and sovereignty of nations. Before taking such a drastic step, each country should hold a plebiscite to allow the people to express their opinion. The people who will be most affected by the Free Trade Area must have the opportunity to be heard. (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-12118 2001-Jun-07 02:40:46