Radio Havana Cuba-27 September 2001 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 27 September 2001 . *41st ANNIVERSARY OF COMMITTEES FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE REVOLUTION *GOVERNOR GENERAL OF JAMAICA WRAPS UP OFFICIAL VISIT *MEXICAN POLITICAL LEADER ARRIVES IN HAVANA *WORLD TOURISM DAY CELEBRATED IN CUBA *COLOMBIA: COCA COLA FIRM CONTINUES REPRESSION, INTIMIDATION - UNION *CINCINNATI: JUDGE ACQUITS COP WHO GUNNED DOWN UNARMED YOUTH *ITALIAN PM BERLUSCONI'S RACIST STATEMENTS CAUSE INTERNATIONAL UPROAR *COLOMBIAN RIGHT-WING PARAMILITARIES THREATEN RENEWED PEACE PROCESS *WASHINGTON: FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT COMMENTS ON UNBALANCED PRESS RESTRICTIONS *Viewpoint: THE FORGOTTEN REGION . *41st ANNIVERSARY OF COMMITTEES FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE REVOLUTION Havana, September 27 (RHC)--Millions of Cubans across the island are attending neighborhood block parties tonight -- waiting for 12 midnight to welcome in another anniversary of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). Tomorrow, September 28th, marks the 41st anniversary of the creation of the neighborhood committees -- formed on September 28, 1960. The announcement of vigilance committees came during a speech in Havana 41 years ago by the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro. Having just returned from the United Nations, Fidel was addressing a rally at the Plaza de la Revolucion when several bombs exploded nearby. Reassuring the crowd that the young Revolution would be defended, the Cuban leader said block committees would be formed in every corner of the island. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution not only guard against criminal activities -- similar to neighborhood watch organizations -- but also organize clean-up campaigns, recycling programs, blood donation drives and many other activities. *GOVERNOR GENERAL OF JAMAICA WRAPS UP OFFICIAL VISIT Havana, September 27 (RHC)--The Governor General of Jamaica, Sir Howard Cooke, wrapped up his official four-day visit to Cuba on Thursday. During his stay, the distinguished Jamaican visitor met with Cuban President Fidel Castro and other top government leaders. He also toured a number of social and economic places of interest, including the International School of Sports and Physical Education. On Wednesday, the governor general of Jamaica visited tourist facilities at the beach resort of Varadero. Sir Howard Cooke met on Thursday with members of the Jamaican community residing in Cuba. Speaking with journalists in the Cuban capital, Sir Howard Cooke praised Fidel Castro and other leaders of the Cuban government -- expressing his appreciation for Cuba's assistance to the Third World, especially the underdeveloped nations of the African continent. Political observers say that the official visit of the Jamaican governor general greatly contributed to the ties of friendship between the two island nations. *MEXICAN POLITICAL LEADER ARRIVES IN HAVANA Havana, September 27 (RHC)--The President of the Worker's Party of Mexico, Alberto Anaya Gutierrez, arrived in the Cuban capital on Wednesday to begin an official visit to the island. During his stay in Cuba, the Mexican political leader plans to visit schools, hospitals and agricultural areas. On Thursday, the president of Mexico's Worker's Party met with Deputy Foreign Minister Fernando Remirez de Estenoz. Over the next several days, Anaya Gutierrez will also meet with Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón and other high-ranking government officials. *WORLD TOURISM DAY CELEBRATED IN CUBA Havana, September 27 (RHC)--Today, September 27, is World Tourism Day. Marking the occasion, Cuba's Tourism Minister, Ibrahim Ferradaz, told reporters in Havana that the number of visitors to the island increased by nine percent over the first eight months of this year. Ferradaz added that the Cuban tourist sector continues to achieve efficiency and plans to open new tourist resorts next year. He noted that tourism has played a dynamic role in the Cuban economy over the past decade. It has generated a large number of new jobs in a relatively short period of time and has contributed to the recovery of other important economic sectors that were hard hit by the acute crisis that faced the island over the past decade. The Cuban official specifically referred to the increasing amount of products manufactured on the island for the important industry. In the 1990's, only 12 percent of those products were made for the island's hotels and other tourist facilities, noting that 67 percent of those items are now being made locally. Cuba's tourism minister said that he was happy to see the participation of the light industry, the food industry, agriculture, fishing and many other Cuban economic sectors. Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz reported that Cuba has more than 36,000 hotel rooms in different tourist resorts and hotels located throughout the island. He noted that a record number of two million tourists would visit the island by the end of this year. Visitors come from all over the world, with European countries and Canada leading the way. Cuba's tourism minister said that the recent tragic events that took place in the United States have caused some to postpone their travel plans for now -- bringing about a decrease in the number of visitors to many of our nations in the Caribbean or other parts of the world. But, he emphasized, Cuba's tourism industry is confident of a bright and promising future. *COLOMBIA: COCA COLA FIRM CONTINUES REPRESSION, INTIMIDATION - UNION Bogotá, September 27 (RHC)--Labor leaders in Colombia have called on Washington and the Coca Cola firm to put a stop to the repression of Colombian bottling factory workers. The National Food Industry Workers Union charged that since 1994 eight of its members have been assassinated by paramilitaries in the employ of Coca Cola, that no one has been brought to justice and that the cases have been shrouded in silence. The labor union denounced the case last July in a US District Court in Florida, with the support of the Washington-based non-governmental organization International Labor Rights Fund. Since then, the US embassy in Bogotá reportedly began an investigation, but the National Food Industry Workers Union stated that the threats against its members engaged in union organizing have continued. International Labor Rights Fund member and attorney Terry Collingsworth recently stated that there is no question that Coke knew about and benefits from the systematic repression of trade union rights at its bottling plants in Colombia. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are claiming US jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows non-US citizens the right to file suit against Americans for violations of international law. A federal court in Miami is expected to rule on jurisdiction in the coming days or weeks. *CINCINNATI: JUDGE ACQUITS COP WHO GUNNED DOWN UNARMED YOUTH Cincinnati, September 27 (RHC)--A judge in the US city of Cincinnati has absolved a police officer who earlier this year gunned down an unarmed African-American youth. The shooting sparked an uprising last April in the city's black community, which led to the declaration of a state of emergency and curfew. Officer Steven Roach, who killed 19 year old Timothy Thomas was only charged with negligent homicide, which carries a maximum 9 month prison sentence. Judge Ted Winkler, without convening a jury trial, said Roach was justified because the victim did not stop or put his hands up when ordered to do so. Roach reportedly gave several different versions of the shooting, which the district attorney's office called an obstruction of justice. Cincinnati religious leader in the black community, Reverend Damon Lynch, called the verdict "an atrocity," while at the same time urging for calm and peace in the community. Roach, nevertheless, could still face disciplinary action by the police department, while the victim's family is considering filing a civil rights lawsuit against the officer and city authorities. Following announcement of the verdict police sent additional forces into the streets fearing a violent reaction from Cincinnati's 332,000 black inhabitants - constituting 43 percent of the city's population. In the past year or so, some 15 black youths in Cincinnati have been shot to death by police, most of them unarmed. *ITALIAN PM BERLUSCONI'S RACIST STATEMENTS CAUSE INTERNATIONAL UPROAR Cairo, Brussels, September 27 (RHC) -- Racist statements pronounced by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have caused an international uproar. Arab nations are calling for an official apology from Berlusconi, who asserted that western civilization is superior to Islam. Arab League secretary general, Egyptian Amro Musa, expressed indignation following the Italian Prime Minister's affirmation that the values of western civilization are superior to the values of Islam. Musa termed as mistaken affirmations concerning the superiority of any culture over another. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, whose country currently presides over the European Union, called Berlusconi's statements inadmissible and unacceptable, expressing his total condemnation. The Italian Prime Minister's statements came during a joint press conference in the Egyptian capital, El Cairo, together with Michel. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, termed as dangerous Berlusconi's affirmation in the measure that it could lead to sentiments of humiliation in the Arab world. The European Commission said Berlusconi's words hardly constitute a message of tolerance. *COLOMBIAN RIGHT-WING PARAMILITARIES THREATEN RENEWED PEACE PROCESS Bogotá, September 27 (RHC)--Right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia have asserted that they will continue their death squad campaigns even if there is a truce and cease-fire agreement between the government and leftist rebels. The statement came just 24 hours after the Committee of Personalities - designated by the government to accompany the peace process with the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces - came up with several proposals that many observers say could reactivate peace talks. The committee proposed a bilateral truce with international supervision that can be extended or annulled every 6 months. The committee also proposed an end to the recruitment of minors in the civil war, an end to attacks against towns and the country's electricity and oil sectors, an end to the use of non-conventional weapons and government financing of the guerrillas as long as the truce lasts. Observers and diplomats are terming as particularly significant the proposal to include in the peace process the National Liberation Army, Colombia's second largest insurgency. The Colombian personalities - Communist leader Carlos Lozano, academic Alberto Pinzon, and former Constitutional Court president Vladimiro Naranjo - stated that the truce would give the government an opportunity to engage in a sustained offensive against right wing paramilitaries - who say the committee is comprised of guerrilla sympathizers. Pastrana's cabinet, his High Commissioner for Peace Camilo Gomez, the United Nations' special representative in Colombia Jan Egeland and rebel leaders have called the proposal "very positive." *WASHINGTON: FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT COMMENTS ON UNBALANCED PRESS RESTRICTIONS Washington, September 27 (RHC)--Washington Deutsch Press correspondent Maria Isabel Rivero complains that recent restrictions on the freedom of speech and press are not balanced. In a news cable entitled "Freedom of Press and Expression in Times of War," datelined Washington, September 27, Rivero notes that conservative Bill Maher's satirical program "Politically Incorrect" lost its two main sponsors, Sears and FedEx, after Maher said that firing a cruise missile from a distance of 2,000 miles was cowardice, while remaining in an airplane about to crash is not. White House spokesman Ari Fleishcer called Maher's statement terrible and unfortunate. The Deutsch Press correspondent also recalled that the State Department attempted to prohibit an interview with the leader of Afghanistan's Taliban regime carried out by the US government's Voice of America, though anti-immigrant and anti-Arab statements by some commentators have not been criticized. Rivero noted that radio commentator Michael Savage received no slap on the wrist when he came out in favor of deporting all immigrants and Arabs in the United States, claiming that this "human scum," in his words, didn't deserve to benefit from human rights or civil liberties. Savage called the notion of tolerance "stupidity." *Viewpoint: THE FORGOTTEN REGION Central America is now considered the area with the lowest standard of living on the continent. According to official statistics, 80% of the region's inhabitants live in poverty, cut off from the most basic opportunities. The truth is that this miserable existence claims as many victims as Central America's wars have over the past three decades; conflicts that left hundreds of thousands dead and more than a million displaced. In l998 Hurricane Mitch, called the worst natural disaster in 200 years, slammed into the region devastating Honduras and Nicaragua. On top of all this, Central America has mortgaged its present and future with a soaring foreign debt making effectively blocking every attempt at development. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, known as CEPAL, Central America's combined debt has spiralled to more than 18.5 billion dollars and the interest necessary to service those loans represents some 55% of the region's entire Gross Domestic Product. The nations hardest hit by debt are Nicaragua, which owes more than six billion dollars and Honduras, with a 3.5 billion dollar debt. The governments of Managua and Tegucigalpa have been calling unsuccessfully for a their debtors to partially or completely forgive their debts. So it should come as no surprise that the Central American region is considered to be highly dangerous; a place where crime has spun out of control. For example, El Salvador now boasts the highest homicide rate in Latin America, with more than 90 for every 100,000 people. Also registering an extremely high rate of killings are Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The sharp rise in violence over the past ten years is considered to be the result in large part, of the proliferation of drug trafficking and all the social problems that go along with it. The most dramatic fact however, is that in the absence of radical change, there is no hope for a brighter future, just more uncertainly as a result of the official insistence on stumbling down the same disastrous path of neoliberal policies and the spectre of an international economic collapse looming ever closer on the horizon. (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-17673 2001-Sep-28 02:27:18