Radio Havana Cuba-04 February 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 04 Febuary 2002 . *MEXICAN PRESIDENT VICENTE FOX WRAPS UP ONE-DAY VISIT TO CUBA *NEW PHASE IN DENGUE CAMPAIGN BEGINS THIS WEEK *CUBANS RETURNED BY US COAST GUARD AFTER BEING STRANDED AT SEA *VEGETARIANISM SLOWLY GAINING GROUND IN CUBA *KENNETH LAY OF SCANDAL-RIDDEN ENRON REFUSES TO TESTIFY BEFORE US SENATE *ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT SUSPENDS JUDICIAL ACTION AGAINST BANK ACCOUNT FREEZE *IN ISRAEL, CRITICISM ON THE RISE AGAINST TEL AVIV'S OCCUPATION POLICY *ACTIVISTS AT WORLD SOCIAL FORUM IN BRAZIL TAKE AIM AT GEORGE W. BUSH . *MEXICAN PRESIDENT VICENTE FOX WRAPS UP ONE-DAY VISIT TO CUBA Havana, February 4 (RHC) - Mexican President Vicente Fox has wrapped up a brief 24-hour visit to Cuba as the 100th anniversary of uninterrupted bilateral relations between the countries approaches. Both the visiting dignitary and Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque - who accompanied him to Havana's Jose Marti International Airport - agreed that the visit was important and has strengthened and stabilized those relations. During a tour of Old Havana on Sunday, Fox told news correspondents that Cuba and Mexico reached further agreements in the areas of tourism, trade and investment. Among other places of interest, the Mexican president visited the Cuban-Canadian energy plant Energas, with state-of-the-art technology, and Cuba's advanced International Neurological Restoration Center, which has several Mexican patients. The Mexican delegation expressed confidence in an increase in the current 350 million dollars in annual trade between the two nations, down from 400 million in 1995. Some 500 Mexican firms trade with and invest in the island, 50 of which have offices or representations in Havana. Within the political context of the visit, Fox said that Mexico has no intention of sponsoring or co-sponsoring any resolution on Cuba in the United Nations Human Rights Commission, slated to gather next April in Geneva. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the Mexican president's visit is a demonstration of sovereignty and independence, noting that many of the region's leaders would not be willing to do so. Fox became the 7th Mexican president to visit Cuba since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution 43 years ago. *NEW PHASE IN DENGUE CAMPAIGN BEGINS THIS WEEK Havana, February 4th (RHC)-As a new week begins in the Cuban health authority's massive campaign to eradicate the dengue fever mosquito, the focus is now on covering all water tanks. When dengue hit the island a few weeks ago, the Cuban civil defense network kicked in with thousands of volunteers organized into brigades that have been treating stored water to prevent the hatching of eggs, fumigating all buildings and streets on a weekly basis and collecting all garbage from dumping areas. Havana residents have been cleaning out cellars and attics to ensure maximum cleanliness. This week the health authorities are providing covers throughout the city for any water tanks that need them. To date, some 16,350 covers have been placed on rooftop tanks and 53,344 on interior tanks. Workers responsible for making the covers have been laboring overtime to meet the demand. Over 1,500 people have been infected with the virus so far, with two deaths. Most are being treated at home but a number have had to be hospitalized at the city's Tropical Medicine Institute. International health organizations have praised the manner in which the Cuban government has attacked the problem, saying that there would have been many more infections and deaths had not the island put into place the mammoth precautions it has taken. *CUBANS RETURNED BY US COAST GUARD AFTER BEING STRANDED AT SEA Havana, February 4th (RHC)-In spite of the well-publicized risks involved, another 34 Cubans have been picked up at sea after leaving the country without correct documentation for economic reasons. The speedboat that had come to pick them up from Florida found itself in difficulties on the return trip and stalled in the high seas. Its occupants were lucky enough to be picked up by the US Coast Guard before they were swamped by waves. The US authorities arrested the two human traffickers who had organized the trip, the occupants paying them up to $10,000 each. So far this year, the US Coast Guard, which works closely with the Cuban Coast Guard to ensure the safety of those caught at sea as well as maintaining constant vigilance against drug traffickers, has returned 51 Cubans. The returnees are given medical checks and then released to their families. Cuba consistently condemns the US Cuban Adjustment Act, which gives any Cuban national the right to residency in the US if they manage to reach US territory. This promotes many risky ventures and has caused large numbers of deaths at sea. Although Washington allows 20,000 Cubans to legally emigrate to the US every year, the procedure is complicated and long and many Cubans seek alternate means to escape the economic problems they are facing - many of which are ironically a direct result of the US blockade, maintains the Cuban government. *VEGETARIANISM SLOWLY GAINING GROUND IN CUBA Havana, February 4th (RHC)-More and more Cubans are embarking on vegetarian diets in a society that is still as meat and potatoes as any English country squire. Havana's new state vegetarian restaurant, Pekin, which serves 40 different vegetable plates, has been so popular that authorities are planning to open others in major provincial towns. A major article on the success of the restaurant appeared in Monday's issue of Granma newspaper. The restaurant used to serve Chinese fare, hence its name. It is situated on Calle 23 across from the famous point where Fidel Castro declared the socialist nature of the Revolution in the hours prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. The vegetarian restaurant in the city's botanical gardens is the best known to date. Called Ecorestorán it serves food that most Cubans have never heard about, let alone seen - salads with edible flower petals being an example. The man who helped to set up Ecorestorán, Tito Nuñez, also set up a vegetarian section in Havana's famous gourmet La Ferminia restaurant and converted the canteen of the Finlay Medical Institute to vegetarian fare - what most thought would be an impossible task. *KENNETH LAY OF SCANDAL-RIDDEN ENRON REFUSES TO TESTIFY BEFORE US SENATE Washington, February 4 (RHC) -- The former top executive of the scandal-ridden, bankrupt US firm Enron has abruptly refused to appear before a Senate panel for questioning. Kenneth L. Lay canceled the much-anticipated appearance in the wake of a scathing report on the management failures and stock-option profiteering that led to his company's spectacular collapse. Key members of Congress stated Sunday that the bankrupt energy trader may have engaged in securities fraud. Senator Byron Dorgan, a member of the Senate panel that was to question Lay, stated that this was almost a culture of corporate corruption, warning that some people are going to be in real trouble. Lay was to testify voluntarily, but now that he has refused, lawmakers may subpoena him - though he can invoke his Fifth Amendment right to keep silent. With a Justice Department criminal inquiry into the biggest bankruptcy in US history, an increasing number of witnesses are refusing to testify before congressional committees. Meanwhile, President George W. Bush is coming under increasing scrutiny following revelations that Lay - Bush's close friend and top campaign contributor - gave the White House a list of his personal recommendations for key federal posts and two of the people on his list were appointed. According to news reports, the revelation is likely to increase pressure on the Bush administration to open the books on its contacts with Lay and his associates, which would bring the Enron scandal to the heart of the White House. While Vice President Richard Cheney finally admitted in early January that he met with Enron officials on six occasions to discuss energy policy, he is declining to give details of those conversations to the general accounting office, which has indicated it will go to court to force the White House to identify which energy industry figures Cheney met with. The Enron collapse put thousands out of work and wiped out life savings and retirement funds as the firm's top executives secretly made millions in insider trading - knowing that Enron was about to come crashing down. *ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT SUSPENDS JUDICIAL ACTION AGAINST BANK ACCOUNT FREEZE Buenos Aires, February 4 (RHC) -- The government of Argentina has decreed a 6-month suspension of judicial actions against the freezing of bank accounts. The decision was in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of an individual demanding the return of the money in his bank account. Argentine authorities feared that the ruling would lead to an avalanche of similar court actions. According to local media outlets, there are currently 2,250 similar court cases, and the number was expected to increase significantly as a result of the ruling. Experts have been warning that any eventual run on banks would collapse Argentina's financial system. The presidential decree will also put on hold any eventual court actions against the government's decision Sunday evening to convert all dollar bank savings into pesos - a measure that sparked widespread criticism. The Supreme Court decision is seen as a reprisal against the government since the country's Congress has agreed to look into the possibility of impeaching all the Supreme Court justices. The highest court in the land is considered the most discredited member of the judicial branch and has been targeted with numerous empty-pot banging and street protests by Argentineans who call the institution hopelessly corrupt and totally servile to, particularly, the 10-year administration of former President Carlos Menem. *IN ISRAEL, CRITICISM ON THE RISE AGAINST TEL AVIV'S OCCUPATION POLICY Tel Aviv, February 4 (RHC) -- A growing number of voices inside Israel are criticizing Tel Aviv's policy in occupied Palestinian territories, while the Israeli military is facing a virtual uprising by soldiers and reservists refusing to serve in those territories. Reservist General Ami Ayalon, former chief of Israel's Shin Beth intelligence agency, stated over the weekend that the Israeli occupation could become a disaster for the Jewish state. He said a continuation of the war against the Palestinians is having a high moral cost. In recent days, the president of the Israeli Parliament, Avraham Burg, said an occupying nation runs the risk of being scarred, deformed and corrupted. Last week, 149 Israeli military officers and reservists sent to media outlets an open letter expressing their refusal to serve in Palestinian territories. Israeli authorities have reportedly jailed 600 reserve soldiers in an attempt to halt the growing military rebellion. At least 2,500 reservists have gone absent without leave, while thousands of others have fabricated medical or personal conscientious objector reasons why they should not be called up for duty. According to Did Remez, a spokesperson for the pacifist group Peace Now, opposition to Israeli policy in Palestinian territories began to grow since the destruction in early January of some 50 Palestinian homes in Rafah, the Gaza Strip. Israeli human rights activist Gila Svirsky stated that public opinion was shocked by the Israeli military's claim that the homes had been vacant, leading to criticism not only from the left of the political spectrum, but also from the center. *ACTIVISTS AT WORLD SOCIAL FORUM IN BRAZIL TAKE AIM AT GEORGE W. BUSH Porto Alegre, February 4 (RHC) -- Anti-globalization activists at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, took aim Sunday at US President George W. Bush, accusing Washington of seeking to spread war across the globe in the name of fighting terrorism. While some delegates accused the Bush administration of wanting to control all the world's petroleum, from the Middle East to the Caspian Sea, others blasted Washington's effort to force countries to be with the so-called war on terrorism or to be with terrorism. Noami Klein, the Canadian author of "No Logo" - a best-selling book that has become this year's anti-globalization bible - said the effort is a deadly multiple choice exam in which the only possible answer is none of the above. In reference to globalization, she said instead of a global village, the powers that be are offering global fortresses. Carlos Tiburcio of the organization ATTAC - a group that wants an international tax to stem cross-border capital speculation - accused Washington of trying to impose on the world a single line of thought that also criminalizes anyone who opposes neoliberal globalization. The Social Forum has attracted some 40,000 people this year, more than double last year's attendance. At the World Economic Forum in New York, meanwhile, more than 200 activists were arrested during the 4-day gathering that saw thousands take to the streets to protest. The bulk of the arrests occurred Sunday during a "snake march," a direct-action protest tactic in which activists link arms and dance along streets and sidewalks in an unpredictable route as a way to reestablish public space for free expression. Dozens were reportedly injured by police charging, beating and spraying the demonstrators with mace - in what many witnesses called an overreaction on the part of New York authorities. As the World Economic Forum delegates met inside the Waldorf Hotel, a crowd of between 15 and 20 thousand carried signs decrying the abuse of the environment, the impoverishment of billions of people, the so-called war on terrorism and the intensification of domestic repression. The organization Refuse and Resist, one of the sponsors of the protest action, produced a neon orange sticker worn by 5,000 activists that said "Another World is Possible." (c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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