Radio Havana Cuba-14 May 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 14 May 2001 . *FIDEL CASTRO HOLDS OFFICIAL TALKS WITH QATAR'S EMIR *UNEMPLOYMENT CAUSED BY NEED FOR DOLLARS, NOT LACK OF WORK *A BUMPER CROP FOR CUBA'S CITRUS INDUSTRY *YOUNG CUBANS WILL CONTINUE THE REVOLUTION, SAYS RAUL CASTRO *COCA PRODUCTION IN COLUMBIA INCREASES DESPITE THE DRUG WAR *GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT UNWILLING TO DEAL WITH ABUSES: UN ENVOY *Viewpoint: VOTER FRAUD IS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE UNITED STATES . *FIDEL CASTRO HOLDS OFFICIAL TALKS WITH QATAR'S EMIR Doha, May 14 (RHC)--In the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, visiting Cuban President Fidel Castro Monday held official talks with that country's leader, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Both leaders reportedly concentrated on the search for further sectors in which the two nations can enhance bilateral cooperation and trade. While Qatar has the world's largest natural gas reserves, Cuba is offering more cooperation in medical assistance and pharmaceuticals. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1989, although Cuban doctors arrived in Qatar as early as 1977. In 1999, Qatar and Cuba began to cooperate in the field of sports, with Cuban boxing and volleyball trainers traveling to the Arab nation. That same year, Qatar inaugurated a Cuban House of Habano cigar shop, Cuba's first commercial presence in the Persian Gulf region. Following talks with the Emir, President Castro toured the natural gas installations of Ras Laffan in northern Qatar. His first visit to Qatar is in response to an invitation from Sheik Hamad, who visited Cuba last September to sign several cooperation and trade accords. *UNEMPLOYMENT CAUSED BY NEED FOR DOLLARS, NOT LACK OF WORK Havana, May 14 (RHC)--The newspaper Tribuna de la Habana Sunday affirmed that the problem of unemployment in Cuba is not so much one of lack of jobs as the need to conciliate "interest with necessity." Although some 45,000 people are currently seeking work in Havana, the Tribuna reports that there are nevertheless many opportunities in the capital including, among others, 900 openings in computer technology; 2,000 in accounting; 2,000 in guard or night watch work; 1,500 in masonry; 800 in carpentry and 800 in plumbing. The issue is not only one of finding the right skill to match the job, but also changing the mentality of the average worker who is seeking the best-paid job in an economy where the average wage is very low. Rather than seek work in their field, many workers are going for jobs in tourism because they can substantially supplement their incomes with tips. They would rather wait until such a job opportunity comes up. Thus last year, says the Tribuna, 79,020 offers of work were recorded in Havana for only 66,472 people seeking placements. This situation is not the same in the rest of the country, however, with the eastern provinces especially suffering the most from unemployment, of which the national average is 5.5 percent. The government is focusing on the growing service industry to cater to people seeking work outside Havana, but the process is slow. While the economy is slowly recovering, the island is still in an enormous financial crunch. Cuban Economics Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez says an across-the-board salary increase is under consideration. However, with the island's industrial production unable to support such an increase, there are concerns that such action will cause inflation. *A BUMPER CROP FOR CUBA'S CITRUS INDUSTRY Cienfuegos, May 14 (RHC)-- All indications are that this year will produce a record crop for the island's citrus industry. With Cuba's main citrus industry producing oranges and grapefruit, records have been reached at the Victoria de Giron plant in Jaguey Grande. According to the firm's director, Omar Gonzalez, the harvest season will end within this week with a total yield of 31,500 tons, which translates to 23 tons per hectare. This is the highest yield ever reached by the Cuban citrus industry. With Cuba's grapefruits famous for their sweetness, some 6,600 tons are destined for export, primarily to the European Union, with another 18,000 tons to be converted into fruit juice concentrate. The remainder will be consumed by the island's population. The increased production is being attributed to the introduction of modern technology over some 55 percent of the island's cultivated area for citrus. These techniques have also resulted in an overall six percent savings of fuel, as energy efficiency has increased. *YOUNG CUBANS WILL CONTINUE THE REVOLUTION, SAYS RAUL CASTRO Havana, May 14 (RHC)--Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro has responded once more to questions raised as to the course Cuba will take when his brother President Fidel Castro dies. There "will be no problem" with the continuity of the Revolution, he said in an interview with the news daily, Juventud Rebelde, "We all hope that Fidel will live many more years but immortality is not possible." However, said the Cuban Defense Minister, although all the nation's revolutionaries will eventually die, their death is not necessarily implicit in their physical denouement. If the Revolution came to an end, so would our lives, he added. We live for the Revolution. Thus we will all live eternally within the Revolution. Raul Castro commented on the difficulties of the past decade and the fact that Cuba is still -- and probably always will be -- confronted by problems. Nonetheless, he said, the continuity of the Revolution is what interests the nation's leaders. In spite of the fact that the island's enemies are talking all sorts of nonsense about a post-Castro Cuba, the fact is the island's youth is willing and able to carry on the work of the Revolution in his stead. *COCA PRODUCTION IN COLUMBIA INCREASES DESPITE THE DRUG WAR Bogota, May 14 (RHC)-- Illicit drug crops in Colombia have increased by 60 percent, according to the local magazine Cambio. Cambio today published a joint report by the United Nations office in Bogota and Colombia's National Narcotics Agency, which asserted that the more than 250 thousand acres of coca leaf in Colombia at the end of 1999 have grown to more than 400 thousand acres today. The magazine said the statistics were gathered by France's satellite photography service, considered one of the most sophisticated in the world. According to the article, the report has sparked concern and disappointment among Colombian authorities, who now fear that criticism of the U.S.-financed military anti-drug program called Plan Colombia will increase. Cambio quoted a government spokesperson who requested anonymity, saying that the news is a real disaster and proof that authorities have adopted a mistaken anti-drug program. The official said the increase in drug crops is equivalent to amount of those crops fumigated last year. The magazine also quoted the chief of Colombia's anti-drug police, General Gustavo Socha, who said the problem is due in part to the fact that campesinos who stop planting drug crops are given few alternatives, and eventually return to the illicit business, while other campesinos simply return to the same places to plant the crops within 2 months after they're fumigated. *GUATEMALAN GOVERNMENT UNWILLING TO DEAL WITH ABUSES: UN ENVOY Guatemala City, May 14 (RHC)--United Nations special envoy Param Curamaswamy has wrapped up a three-day visit to Guatemala deploring the Guatemalan government's lack of initiative regarding the country's battered system of justice. The special UN representative on judicial independence said that there is generalized sentiment in Guatemala that authorities are not interested in doing away with impunity. Curamaswamy said the Guatemalan government has not complied with the majority of his recommendations during his first visit to the Central American nation in August 1999, while threats and intimidation against judges, lawyers and district attorneys have been on the rise during the past 15 months. During his visit, the UN official stated that he received 47 denunciations of death threats and intimidation that have occurred this year alone, including the murders of seven lawyers and a hand grenade thrown into the home of a judge participating in the trial of those accused of assassinating Catholic Bishop and human rights activist Juan Gerardi. Curamaswamy's visit to Guatemala came at the petition of the Guatemalan humanitarian organization Myrna Mack Foundation, which was backed by hundreds of non-governmental and human rights groups in the country. *Viewpoint: VOTER FRAUD IS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE UNITED STATES Democracy in the United States is in trouble. For many, that's old news. Others, especially those hypnotized by the mythology of "America" -- by whichthey mean the United States -- will be perplexed by the evidence and many will protest that it just can't be true. But the facts leave no room for doubt: a group of U.S. experts testified before a Senate panel that the country's democratic system suffers from a critical illness of which electoral fraud is the most serious symptom. Political expert Larry Sabato notes that it is possible to observe electoral fraud practically everywhere at various levels. Some suggest that it is a "victimless crime," but the victim is democracy. Christopher Bond, Republican senator from Missouri, has demanded that tougher sentences be applied in cases of electoral fraud. At the same time, he revealed that in the city of St. Louis during last November's presidential and legislative elections, 3800 ballots were cast by "dead people and dogs." Senator Joseph Lieberman, Democrat from Connecticut and candidate for the vice presidency in the last elections, told a Senate committee that it is not just last year's elections, or just voting in Florida, but a much larger problem. It is obvious that the democratic ideal, that paradigm of global policy, is in fact a great fallacy. The outrageous fraud detected in the U.S. State of Florida last year has ripped off the mask to reveal a sick, archaic and anti-democratic system -- to the point that the loser of the popular vote is today the president of the United States. (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-32446 2001-May-15 09:30:12