Radio Havana Cuba-29 November 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 29 November 2001 . *NEXT ROUND OF US-CUBA MIGRATORY TALKS TO TAKE PLACE IN HAVANA ON MONDAY *QATAR EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE *HOMAGE PAID TO ONE OF CUBA'S MOST BELOVED FOLKLORE PERFORMERS *COPPOLA'S "APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX" TO BE SHOWN AT HAVANA FILM FESTIVAL *WASHINGTON AND LONDON STRONGLY CRITICIZED FOR MASSACRE AT AFGHAN PRISON *US PRESSURES FOREIGN AIRLINES FOR LISTS OF PASSENGERS BEFORE US ARRIVAL Viewpoint: *CUBA PREPARES FOR ANNUAL TOURIST RUSH AFTER HURRICANE MICHELLE . *NEXT ROUND OF US-CUBA MIGRATORY TALKS TO TAKE PLACE IN HAVANA ON MONDAY Havana, November 29 (RHC)-- The Cuban government confirmed today that the bi-annual round of migratory talks with the United States will take place on Monday, 3rd December, in Havana. The meeting's objective is to examine the function and efficacy of the existing migratory agreement between the two countries. However, according to political analysts here in Havana, the meeting will be overshadowed by the recent tragedy in which 30 Cubans, including 13 children, drowned during an illegal human trafficking operation. The migratory agreements of 1994-95 require that the U.S. issue 20,000 visas annually to Cubans and that they will repatriate all illegal immigrants intercepted on the sea or at the Guantanamo Naval Base in the east of Cuba. Havana, for its part, agreed to impede by new dissuasive methods the illegal departures and to socially rehabilitate, without legal consequences, those Cubans returned by the United States. A total of 132,586 Cubans have traveled to the U.S. legally under this agreement. *QATAR EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH THE CUBAN PEOPLE Havana, November 29 (RHC)-- Qatar has expressed its solidarity with the Cuban people. The Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani has expressed his condolences for the human loses and material damages caused by Hurricane Michelle earlier this month. The Emir, in the name of the people and government of Qatar, said that he had decided to donate one million dollars to help with recovery efforts currently underway in Cuba. The assistance will be dedicated to the repair and up-grading of medical equipment at Havana's Almeijeiras Hospital, which was damaged by coastline flooding as the result of Hurricane Michelle. *HOMAGE PAID TO ONE OF CUBA'S MOST BELOVED FOLKLORE PERFORMERS Havana, November 29 (RHC)-- One of Cuba's best loved performers will be honored this weekend for her 55 years as the island's principal exponent of folklore. Cuban experts say that Zenaida Armenteros y Clavo is to Cuban folklore what prima ballerina, Alicia Alonso, is to ballet and Chucho Valdez is to jazz. The rail-thin dancer and singer is best known for her many years of work with Cuba's National Folkloric Company where she performed principal roles both as dancer and singer as well as exhibiting her extraordinary flair for acting. The popular performer, known for her great versatility, was always equally comfortable dancing Afro-Cuban rhythms as performing county and farm dances and songs and is also an acclaimed teacher, praised for her patience and depth. A Gala on Saturday at Havana's Mella Theater to honor Zenaida Armenteros will also inaugurate activities celebrating the National Folkloric Company's 40th anniversary, which will be celebrated in 2002. Saturday's show will feature the National Folkloric Company, Cuba's Spanish Ballet, its National School of Dance, and many other important dancers, singers and groups. *COPPOLA'S "APOCALYPSE NOW REDUX" TO BE SHOWN AT HAVANA FILM FESTIVAL Havana, November 29 (RHC)-- Cuban film enthusiasts are excited over the prospect of seeing the new version of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now -- Apocalypse Now Redux. The U.S. director and producer will present the film on December 11th at Havana's Charles Chaplin Theater as part of the 23rd International Festival of New Latin American Film. As always, Havana's film festival will exhibit movies from around the world, as well as running special homages to distinguished cineastes and actors. German-born director Fritz Lang will featured this year with showings of several of his silent films made in Germany. Lovers of "film noir" will be able to catch the sleazy Orson Wells classic, "Touch of Evil." More than 400 films will be competing for the coveted Coral Awards in the categories of fiction, first works, documentaries, animation, movie posters and unpublished scripts. The movie extravaganza runs from December 3rd through the 13th. *WASHINGTON AND LONDON STRONGLY CRITICIZED FOR MASSACRE AT AFGHAN PRISON Geneva, November 29 (RHC)-- The United States and Britain are facing growing international pressure to explain their role in the deaths of up to 400 Taliban prisoners who were killed by U.S. warplanes and Northern Alliance forces at an Afghan prison. While Washington was forced to apologize for the high death toll, the United Nations said its High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, would question the action during a visit to London. Robinson said she would call for Northern Alliance forces that have abused human rights to be barred from Afghanistan's future government. On Wednesday, Amnesty International called for an urgent inquiry into how the estimated 400 prisoners were killed, after witnesses said they had seen about 50 bodies lying in the courtyard, their hands tied behind their backs. According to the official story, they were killed in an uprising that got out of control. Eyewitnesses reported that when the bombs by U.S. warplanes failed to stop the prisoners, gasoline was poured into the lower chambers of the prison-fortress and set on fire. As the Taliban prisoners of war tried to escape the flames, a tank reportedly mowed them down. Also on Wednesday, Washington admitted that a CIA agent was killed in the fighting and five U.S. Special Forces were injured by U.S. bombs. One report claims that the CIA agent entered a cell with a large number of prisoners to interrogate them, along with another CIA operative. According to survivors, when one prisoner was asked why he was in Afghanistan, he replied: "To kill people like you," and threw himself on his interrogator. The CIA agent reportedly then shot four prisoners dead before being overpowered and killed. The other agent fled and called in U.S. warplanes, as the prisoners overpowered their guards and the revolt began. In other news, the Pentagon is also investigating a Reuters report which said a senior Pashtun commander admitted executing 160 captured Taliban soldiers after a battle last week in the town of Takteh Pol, in southern Afghanistan, in the presence of U.S. military personnel. A Northern Alliance commander is quoted as saying that nearly 160 prisoners were made to stand in a long line and Alliance soldiers used light machine guns on them. The commander added that seven or eight U.S. military personnel, who had been filming the fighting, tried unsuccessfully to prevent the killings. In an unrelated incident, the Pentagon has announced that during a recent drop of humanitarian aid on Afghanistan, a woman and her child were killed when a supply load landed on their house. *US PRESSURES FOREIGN AIRLINES FOR LISTS OF PASSENGERS BEFORE US ARRIVAL Washington, November 29 (RHC)-- Washington has informed foreign airlines that their passengers arriving in the United States will be put through extremely rigorous and lengthy searches if the airlines do not provide manifest lists. According to recently signed legislation, the passenger lists will help authorities identify what they call "potential terrorists." The new aviation security law, signed by President George W. Bush last week, requires foreign carriers to cooperate. Under the law, airlines had two months to begin the electronic transmission of passenger lists for all flights to the United States. But Customs officials have sent letters to the airlines saying that they must comply earlier, by today - Thursday -- or else customs inspectors will search "all hand-carried and checked baggage on every flight arriving in the United States." According to authorities, the searches could add hours to the clearance process for overseas travelers. U.S. Customs sent the ultimatum to 58 carriers, including Saudi Arabian Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Aeroflot and Air China. For more than a decade, U.S. officials have been encouraging airlines to participate in an automated system used to compare biographical data on international air travelers with lists of so-called "suspected terrorists" and criminals. The lists are compiled by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The computer system, operated by the Customs Service, is known as the Advance Passenger Information System. Customs officers have used the system to check the names of 57 million travelers who entered the United States on 387,000 flights last year. Those passengers accounted for 85 percent of the 67 million air travelers arriving in the United States. More than 90 carriers have been voluntarily supplying data on passengers. Airlines collect the information at the time of departure and send it to the Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service while the flight is en-route. Customs authorities check the names against several databases, including the Interagency Border Inspection System and the files of the National Crime Information Center, maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Suspects can be arrested or pulled aside for further questioning after they land in the United States. Under the new aviation security law, airlines no longer have a choice. For each passenger and crew member, they must provide the full name, date of birth, citizenship, sex, the number of the passport and the country where it was Issued, the visa number or green card number and other information as U.S. officials deem necessary to ensure what they call "air safety." Viewpoint: *CUBA PREPARES FOR ANNUAL TOURIST RUSH AFTER HURRICANE MICHELLE The Cuban tourist industry, key in the reactivation of the island's economy, was hit hard by Hurricane Michelle, especially in the center of the country. Tourism installations were especially hard hit in Cienaga de Zapata, a swampy area on Matanzas' southern coast and in the Carnarreos Achipeligo, specifically, one of the island's premier resorts, Cayo Largo del Sur. After evacuating the tourists, a group of local service workers, stayed on braving the storm protect the buildings. At the height of the dangerous Class-4 hurricane they were left essentially incommunicado. Fortunately, no one was injured. After the disastrous passage of Michelle, those workers joined forces with others from different provinces to quickly begin recovery efforts on lovely Cayo Largo, which boasts 25 kilometers of glorious white sand beaches. The ferocious storm almost did away with an ambitious development plan underway on the southern key over the past three years, under which the resort's hotels were to be remodeled. Engineers, architects, technicians and construction workers have so far renovated almost 400 of the key's existing hotel rooms. As part of the plan, a new hotel was to open each year. At the end of the year 2000 the Sol Club Cayo Largo opened its doors, bringing the key's room capacity to a few more than a thousand. By 2003 that figure is expected to triple. Cuban tour officials in Cayo Largo say that bookings for the nine weekly flights to the key are satisfactory. Those flights come mostly from Canada, Germany, Italy and Argentina. Recovery workers are laboring feverishly to re-open facilities in time for the upcoming high season and the first vacationers will most likely be lodged at the Sol Club Cayo Largo, which is operated jointly by Cuba and the Spanish hotel chain, Sol Melia. And even though all the hotels on Cayo Largo were severely damaged, vacationers have already begun arriving on excursions from Havana and Varadero Beach. In that way, a portion of the tour resort can be used immediately: its beaches and its nautical activities, at least until the hotels can open their doors. Despite the serious damage done by Michelle and the undeniable impact of the international economic crisis aggravated by the events of September 11th in the United States, Cuba is working quickly and efficiently to insure that it will be able to cope with tourist demand over the busy winter months. (c) 2001 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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