Radio Havana Cuba-01 April 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 01 April 2002 . *GRANMA PROVINCE PRODUCES 200,000 TONS OF SUGAR *SUGAR INDUSTRY TO RETREAD 100,000 TIRES *GREECE AND CUBA STRENGTHEN RELATIONS *MOTHER'S DAY CARDS GO ON SALE NEXT WEEK *ARAB GOVERNMENTS BARELY ABLE TO CONTROL PROTESTS OVER ISRAEL AND USA *ISRAELI TROOPS FIRE ON PEACE ACTIVISTS IN WEST BANK; 7 FOREIGNERS WOUNDED *ANGOLA: DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CONTRADICT USA's OFFICIAL STORY *57 ISLAMIC CONFERENCE NATIONS ACCUSE ISRAEL OF STATE TERRORISM *VIEQUES: 5 ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AS US NAVY RESUMES BOMBING *Viewpoint: VIEQUES - THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES . *GRANMA PROVINCE PRODUCES 200,000 TONS OF SUGAR Bayamo, April 1 (RHC)--The sugar industry in the eastern province of Granma has completed 75 per cent of its plan for the current harvest. Provincial industry officials report that the province produces sugar at the least cost in the country. Other provinces reporting good results are Ciego de Avila, Santiago de Cuba and Sancti Spiritus. According to a recent analysis made by the island's Sugar Ministry, Granma is among the regions with the best possibility of meeting their production plans, and even superceding it. The report notes that Granma has all the necessary raw materials, excellent efficiency, and an enthusiastic work force at all levels. Regarding fuel, the province has not used petroleum in sugar milling for several years because it now makes use of bagasse, and other sugarcane byproducts as natural fuels saving the country substantial hard currency. *SUGAR INDUSTRY TO RETREAD 100,000 TIRES Havana, April 1 (RHC)--Cuba's sugar industry will retread 100,000 tires this year, saving the country millions of dollars in imports. According to Grandma newspaper, the industry will rehabilitate 14,000 more tires than last year. The paper singles out Havana, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanmo as doing the most outstanding work in the sector. The island's Sugar Ministry and the Basic Industry Ministry's Poligom company, which manages five tire re-treading plants around the country, work together to collect repairable tires in good condition. The rehabilitation of more than 86,000 truck, tractor and automobile tires in 2001 made an important contribution to that year's sugar harvest and saved the national economy $5.6 million by substituting expensive imports. Tires can be recapped as many as three times. A new truck tire costs $160; the truck tire retreads cost between $35 and $50 each. *GREECE AND CUBA STRENGTHEN RELATIONS Athens, April 1 (RHC)--Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Angel Dalmao has met in Athens with European Union associate foreign minister Tasos Yanichis, in order to strengthen economic, political and cultural ties. The Cuban official stressed the importance that the European Union holds for the Cuban economy as the island's largest trading partner. The two leaders discussed Havana's interest in expanding cooperation in tourism with Greece since the tour industry is Greece's number one source of income as it is in Cuba. Cuba and Greece both have some eleven million inhabitants, which according to Dalmao, should serve as an example for Cuba to continue to develop the sector. The Cuban official noted that relations between the two nations have traditionally been good and Athens and Havana are constantly looking for new areas of cooperation, especially in the maritime sector and in doing away with double tariffs. The Greek associate foreign minister for the European Union said that the image of Cuba is slowly but surely changing internationally as it maintains relations with more and more countries. He stressed that Greece offers Cuba its support in this and other endeavors as a EU member nation. Referring to the holding of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Dalmao said that Cuba is willing to contribute with its experience in sports. For his part, Yanichis commented that he favors increasing relations between Cuba and the European Union. The Cuban deputy foreign minister, who is visiting Greece as part of a tour of European capitals, also met with Greek deputy foreign minister, Andreas Loverdo. *MOTHER'S DAY CARDS GO ON SALE NEXT WEEK Havana, April 1 (RHC)--Next week Correos de Cuba, the Cuban Postal Service, will start selling eight and a half million Mother's Day postcards to the millions of Cubans who want to congratulate their mothers on Mother's Day. Post Office vice-president, Ruben Otano announced today that this year there are 50 different pictures to chose from, the result of a coordinated effort between the national design industry and postcard printers. The Post Office official declared that the deadline for mailing the cards is May 7, because any later than that Correos de Cuba cannot guarantee the punctual delivery of the cards on Mother's Day. For the first time this year many of the colorful Mother's Day postcards have been locally printed, reducing the cost. It is a tradition on the island to drop Mother's Day postcards into the mail for personal delivery, at no extra cost, on Mother's Day itself. Correos de Cuba also offers the service to all Cuban medical personnel working abroad as well as to their family members. *ARAB GOVERNMENTS BARELY ABLE TO CONTROL PROTESTS OVER ISRAEL AND USA El Cairo, Amman, April 1 (RHC)--Arab governments have been barely capable of controlling the anti-Israeli rage in the streets of their countries. Hundreds of thousands of political leaders, students, intellectuals and labor activists from Khartoum to Damascus took to the streets to protest the Israeli aggression in Palestinian territories, to demand that their governments break all relations with Tel Aviv and to denounce Washington's expressed "comprehension" of the Israeli military action. Official newspapers in moderate Arab nations like Egypt have begun to publish articles with an anti-American tone, while Egyptian police have been ordered to tolerate even demonstrations that have not been officially authorized. More than 50,000 Egyptians participated Monday in diverse protests around the country, some of which led to clashes with police. Thousands of Egyptian students in the capital, El Cairo, totally destroyed a US Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food restaurant. In Jordan, hundreds of thousands responded to a call for a 6-hour work stoppage amid rumors that Jordanian authorities are considering a break in diplomatic relations with Israel. Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher told the Israeli ambassador in his country that if Israeli troops don't withdraw immediately drastic actions would be taken. *ISRAELI TROOPS FIRE ON PEACE ACTIVISTS IN WEST BANK; 7 FOREIGNERS WOUNDED Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jerusalem, April 1 (RHC)--Israeli troops opened fire Monday on protesting peace activists near Bethlehem, wounding seven foreign citizens and one Palestinian. A 26-year-old Australian woman was wounded in the stomach with shrapnel, while a 54-year-old French activist was wounded in the head. Two British, two American and one Japanese citizen were also wounded. The wounded Palestinian was part of an Associated Press TV crew. Some 500 mostly European peace activists are present in diverse regions of Israeli-occupied territory, including some 60 Italians currently holed up in Ramallah's general hospital which is surrounded by Israeli tanks. The activists, along with Palestinian doctors and nurses, have reportedly formed a human barrier to prevent the tanks from entering the installation. Renowned French farmers' leader and anti-globalization activist Jose Bove, along with 10 other foreign activists arrested Sunday by Israeli troops, were taken to Jerusalem awaiting deportation. The activists had defiantly entered a two-room office where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been confined, despite warning shots fired by Israeli soldiers. The group delivered medicine to Arafat and his aids under siege inside the compound. And according to reports, there are still 35 French peace activists from the France-Palestine Solidarity Association who say they will form a human shield around Arafat if he's attacked. Meanwhile, members of a growing Israeli military rebellion have again publicly called on army reservists to refuse to serve in occupied territories. In an ad published by the Israeli news daily Haaretz, they said the new reoccupation of those territories is not in defense of Israeli interests or national borders, and will only result in the loss of more innocent lives and an increase in Palestinian suicide attacks. The rebellion that began with an open letter from 52 Israeli army reservists condemning Israel's policies in occupied territories has now grown to includes more than 400 soldiers. *ANGOLA: DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CONTRADICT USA's OFFICIAL STORY Washington, April 1 (RHC)--Recently declassified US documents on Angola have overturned Washington's official explanation of its involvement in this African nation's more than 25-year conflict. The New York Times reported Sunday that coinciding with the recent death of Washington's longtime rebel ally in Angola, Jonas Savimbi, the documents show conclusively that the United States intervened in Angola weeks before the arrival of any Cuban troops, and not afterward as Washington claimed. They also reportedly demonstrate a broad collaboration between the US and then-apartheid South Africa, which Washington also strongly denied at the time. Piero Gleijeses, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the Times that when the United States decided to launch a covert intervention in Angola to prevent a progressive government from coming to power, US authorities and the CIA weren't even thinking about any Cuban presence in that nation. Compared with these documents, he added, reports on Angola that the US government presented to the Senate in December, 1975 constitute nothing less than the rewriting of history. The history professor's research reportedly shows that the Cuban intervention came in response to a CIA-financed covert invasion from neighboring Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa's simultaneous drive on Luanda, using troops who posed as Western mercenaries. The United States gradually switched its support to Savimbi's terrorist UNITA movement, and continued to support it intermittently during nearly two decades of warfare. Documenting significant coordination between the US and apartheid South Africa, Gleijeses's research also bluntly contradicts the memoirs of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. He found that though Washington typically portrayed Cuban troops as foot soldiers for Soviet imperialism, Cuba intervened in Angola without seeking Soviet permission. The academic's conclusions were endorsed by Kissinger's then-assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Nathaniel Davis, who resigned the post in July, 1975 over the Angola intervention. *57 ISLAMIC CONFERENCE NATIONS ACCUSE ISRAEL OF STATE TERRORISM Kuala Lumpur, April 1 (RHC)--Islamic nations have charged that Israel's violent reoccupation of Palestinian territories is equivalent to state terrorism, as Israeli soldiers are accused of executing several of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite guards. Foreign Ministers from the 57 nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting in Malaysia also charged that Israel's assault is a violation of international norms and laws and a threat to international peace and security that is dragging the region towards an all-out war. The United States government also came under fire, with Islamic leaders accusing Washington of supporting actions by the Israeli government which amount to terrorism despite trying to rally the world to fight terrorism in the wake of September 11. Both friends and foes of the United States criticized Washington for not doing enough to rein in Israel's right-wing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. And participants at the gathering were divided over whether Palestinian suicide bombers should be considered terrorists. While some insisted that any attack against innocent civilians is terrorism, others argued that Israel's terrorism and humiliation of the Palestinian people are the breeders of suicide bombers, and that within this context they shouldn't be called terrorists. Meanwhile, according to the British newspaper Observer of London, in its Sunday edition, Israeli soldiers have executed several members of Arafat's elite guard unit. Reporting from Ramallah, correspondent Peter Beaumont affirmed that he saw four dead Palestinian police officers in a Ramallah office building with gunshot wounds to the temple or throat, fired at point-blank range. *VIEQUES: 5 ACTIVISTS ARRESTED AS US NAVY RESUMES BOMBING Vieques, Puerto Rico, April 1 (RHC)--US military police in Vieques have arrested five members of the Puerto Rican Independence Party who were protesting against the US Navy's renewed target practice in the island-municipality. While hundreds were jailed last year while protesting the bombing exercises, including well-known activists like the Reverend Al Sharpton and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the movement against the war games lost momentum after the September 11 terror attacks. The turnout for a demonstration Sunday in Vieques to protest the new round of exercises has been called meager, with fewer than 100 activists and two dozen cars participating in a cavalcade through civilian areas of the island. But protest organizers blamed the small turnout on the Easter holiday and said their staunchest activists are as ready as before to charge into the 900-acre firing range, even though some are previous offenders who could get up to six months in prison if they do. Puerto Rican Governor Sila Calderon, elected largely because of a promise to force the Navy out immediately, now avoids outright criticism and says she backs a deal endorsed by the White House for a Navy withdrawal by May of 2003. Observers are noting, however, that the deal may be jeopardized by a post-September 11 law allowing the Navy to use Vieques until it finds an alternative. *Viewpoint: VIEQUES - THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES As if the recent demonstrations of power that the United States has shown the world in recent months are not enough, like the bloody and useless war against the people of Afghanistan or the implicit silence with which Washington aids the massacre committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinian people, this Monday brings a new act of provocation. Using its status as owner, which is how the White House interprets the statute of Associated Free State imposed on the people of Puerto Rico, the United States navy starts three weeks of military exercises in Vieques, regardless of the indignant protest that this provokes within this sister island and also in the rest of the world. Numerous people, peace organizations and ecologists have already announced their decision to act as a human shield against the bombing that will take place over an area that comprises a third of Vieques soil, which has already been contaminated, causing serious human, environmental and cultural damage. The US Army insists in its denial that these military practices cause any danger to the health of the 9,000 inhabitants who live in that remote part of the island, in spite of studies that show a notable increase in cancer cases in the other two-thirds, surpassing the average of any other group that lives in normal conditions. They have also ignored the persistent denunciations of the tremendously negative ecological impact that this type of bombardment has on all types of flora and fauna, proved by the isolated cases of contamination already found in the region. To make matters worse, it was announced recently that the detonations are also destroying an important part of the rich cultural life of the Puerto Rican people that lies underwater. Archeological pieces of great importance, like stone ceramics and carved shells, remains of Spanish galleons hidden in the surrounding waters, canoes and other remains of the indigenous culture. On land, haciendas and colonial ranches have been lost forever as a consequence of the bombardments. Vieques has suffered enough and already is a symbol of humanity's struggle against the most aggressive and lethal power in history. The fight against such abuse must not cease and it is our duty as human beings to familiarize ourselves and others with the situation that there and also to let the people of Vieques know that they have support from outside. (c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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