RHC Weekend-23/24 March 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - Weekend News Update - 23/24 March 2002 . *CUBA ACCUSES US OF PRESSURING MEXICO TO EXCLUDE FIDEL CASTRO FROM MONTERREY CONFERENCE *PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT *THE US MAKES A HUGE MISTAKE BY REJECTING CUBA'S COOPERATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS - VICE PRESIDENT JOSE RAMON FERNANDEZ *DANISH SOLIDARITY GROUP REJECTS ANTI-CUBA CAMPAIGN AT UN RIGHTS COMMISSION *HEAD OF THE UN INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM APPLAUDS SUCCESS OF COOPERATION WITH CUBA *PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS TO MEET AGAIN SUNDAY AMID ON-GOING VIOLENCE *6,000 CHILDREN DIE EVERY DAY DUE TO DIRTY WATER, POOR SANITATION *US CONGRESS TAKES FIRST AIM AT WHITE HOUSE IN ENRON SCANDAL . *CUBA ACCUSES US OF PRESSURING MEXICO TO EXCLUDE FIDEL CASTRO FROM MONTERREY CONFERENCE Havana, March 23, (RHC)--Cuba has accused the United States of pressuring Mexico to exclude President Fidel Castro from the UN-organized Funding for Development Summit that just ended in Monterrey. In statements to the press in Monterrey, the president of the Cuban National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón, said late Friday that it was due to those pressures on Mexico that Cuban President Fidel Castro decided to abandon the summit at noon Thursday. Alarcón, who remained as head of the Cuban delegation after President Castro's departure, asserted that "high authorities" in the Mexican government had informed Cuba of Washington's pressures on Mexico aimed at keeping Fidel Castro from attending the summit, and more specifically from leading the Cuban delegation there. But Cuba attached so much importance to the summit, said Alarcón, that President Fidel Castro decided to come, speak on behalf of Cuba, and then leave, to avoid conflicts. In explaining his denunciation of the US pressures against Mexico, Alarcón indicated that Cuba had been forced to react after Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda had denied the existence of any pressure, and after the head of the Cuban delegation had also been excluded from what was called the Retreat of the Presidents, a private, closed-door meeting of the dignitaries that was held at the summit Friday. The President of the Cuban Parliament said that in his opinion, the situation arose because the US administration is presently going through "a period of intoxication and arrogance with George W. Bush at the head." *PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA BEGINS OFFICIAL VISIT Havana, March 23 (RHC)--The President of the Republic of Botswana, Fetsus G. Mogae, has arrived in Havana for an official visit at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart President Fidel Castro. Upon arriving at the Havana José Martí International Airport, the African leader said that the aim of his visit is to strengthen bilateral ties with the Caribbean island. During their stay, which runs through March 27th, the Botswanan president and his delegation will have a packed agenda that includes talks with the Cuban president and other high-ranking officials, as well as visits to centers of economic, social and cultural interest. Cuba and Botswana established diplomatic relations in December 1977. This is the second visit to Cuba of a Botswanan head of state. Four years ago, Qett Ketumile Masire -- predecessor of the current president -- paid an official visit to Havana. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Cuba and Botswana have signed four agreements, among them a protocol establishing the mixed Cuban-Botswana intergovernmental cooperation commission. Other bilateral accords are in the areas of trade and the granting of visas, and a fourth one aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation ties between both nations' foreign ministries. As part of Cuba's cooperation with Botswana, a contingent of 50 Cuban experts is currently offering their services in the sister African nation. The contingent includes health professionals as well as sports trainers in different sports disciplines such as boxing, volleyball, basketball and athletics. *THE US MAKES A HUGE MISTAKE BY REJECTING CUBA'S COOPERATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS - VICE PRESIDENT JOSE RAMON FERNANDEZ Havana, March 23 (RHC)--Cuban Vice President José Ramón Fernández said that the island has in place a highly reliable program to fight drug trafficking and stressed that the United States makes a huge mistake by refusing to sign a cooperation agreement in the fight against this scourge. In statements to the press accredited in Havana, Fernández reiterated Havana's willingness to cooperate with Washington in areas such as drug interdiction and expressed his hope that, some day, common sense rather than stubbornness would prevail in Washington. *DANISH SOLIDARITY GROUP REJECTS ANTI-CUBA CAMPAIGN AT UN RIGHTS COMMISSION Havana, March 23 (RHC)--The Denmark-Cuba Friendship Association has issued a communiqué rejecting Washington's anti-Cuba campaign at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The statement, made public during the organization's recently held annual meeting, calls on the Danish government not to give in to pressures by the United States to vote in favor of the annual U.S. resolution condemning Havana for alleged human rights violations. Solidarity activists within the Denmark-Cuba Friendship Association said they would watch closely the unfolding of the 58th session of the Geneva-based UN human rights commission to reject any anti-Cuba maneuver on the part of the United States or others following US dictates. The document also notes that the United States is once again intent on using the UN human rights commission to impose its own interests, primarily in its crusade against the Caribbean island. Finally, the communiqué issued by the Denmark-Cuba Friendship Association affirms that the anti-Cuba campaign in Geneva is in the framework of Washington's desperate attempts to justify its blockade against the island - calling the blockade a genocidal, obsolete policy that for ten consecutive years has been strongly rejected by the vast majority of the international community at the United Nations General Assembly. *HEAD OF THE UN INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM APPLAUDS SUCCESS OF COOPERATION WITH CUBA Havana, March 23 (RHC)--The Head of the United Nations Industrial Development Program, Carlos Alfredo Magariños, praised the success of its organization's cooperation program with Cuba. The UN official concluded a two-day work visit to Cuba Saturday, during which he examined with high-ranking Cuban officials the state of implementation of various cooperation projects. Over the past three years, the United Nations Industrial development Program has been very instrumental in efforts to increase efficiency and the competitive capacity of the Cuban industrial sector. The UN agency provided the funds for the creation of the website of the Cuban industrial sector, which has resulted in a major success. The head of the United Nations Industrial development Program termed as excellent his contacts with Cuban officials, including Vice President Carlos Lage, the Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas, Minister of Technology and the Environment, Rosa Elena Simeon and Food Industry Minister Teresa Tejo. During his stay, the UN official also met with ambassadors and diplomats from donor nations accredited in Havana, to whom he explained in detail his organization's cooperation strategy on the island, as well as the opportunities for foreign investment in the Cuban industrial sector. *PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS TO MEET AGAIN SUNDAY AMID ON-GOING VIOLENCE Ramallah, Tel Aviv, United Nations, March 23 (RHC)--Israelis and Palestinians have agreed to resume cease-fire negotiations on Sunday, despite another suicide bombing Friday, on-going Israeli attacks that Saturday claimed 9 Palestinian lives, and an inability to get beyond the first stage in talks on how to silence the weapons. Israel is reportedly reluctant to make any significant pullbacks from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As Israeli troops continued Saturday armed incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat stated that without a visible political horizon in the negotiations, it would be impossible to restrain potential suicide bombers. The Washington Post reported Saturday that the potential pool of suicide bombers seems far from exhausted among Palestinians who due to Israeli occupation believe they have no future and no control over their lives. The news daily interviewed Palestinian public health workers who are finding large numbers of Palestinian youths suffering from sleeplessness, an inability to concentrate, trembling, headaches and temperamental outbursts because they can visualize no better future than their current miserable lives. One child development expert told the Post that it is frightening that so many very young Palestinians are increasingly convinced that the best they can do is end their lives, noting that if you don't value your own life, how can you value that of others. In related news, the United Nations has estimated that Israeli military attacks in the West Bank and Gaza have destroyed some 22 million dollars worth of Palestinian infrastructure financed by the world body and the European Union - and is considering asking Israel for compensation. The losses include damage to or destruction of refugee camps, health clinics, broadcasting facilities, schools, health laboratories, homes and the Gaza airport. Peter Hansen, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, said the estimate of the destruction does not include much more needed for the future social and health needs of a severely traumatized refugee population. UN officials have admitted that traditionally Israel has never responded to requests for compensation for damages caused to the organization's property. Since 1996, the Israelis have refused to pay some 1.7 million dollars in damages for the destruction of a UN military compound in Lebanon where Lebanese civilians were taking shelter. More than 100 of the civilians were killed, along with 3 UN peacekeepers from the Fiji Islands. *6,000 CHILDREN DIE EVERY DAY DUE TO DIRTY WATER, POOR SANITATION London, March 23 (RHC)--As many criticize what is widely considered a failed International Conference on Funding for Development, two British charities have revealed that 6,000 children in poor countries are dying every day because they have no clean water and no clean toilet to go to. On the occasion of the United Nations World Water Day Friday, the British charities Water Aid and Tearfund released a document entitled The Human Waste Report, which asserts that over the next 10 years twenty million children will die in the developing world from diseases arising from poor sanitation unless it is improved. According to the report, 2.4 billion people - nearly half the world's population - are without adequate sanitation, while people suffering from water-borne diseases occupy half the world's hospitals. The study found that poor sanitation is killing two-and-a-half times as many people in India, China and Indonesia as HIV/AIDS, noting that the situation in India and Bangladesh is worse than it is in many African countries. Joanne Green, Tearfund's water policy officer, stated that world governments have virtually ignored the provision of sanitation for the world's poorest people when setting goals for poverty reduction, but that if they agreed to spend 15 billion US dollars a year - the same amount that Americans and Europeans spend on dog food, she added - water-related disease around the globe could be halved. The report insists that the preventable death of so many children "is a silent tragedy made worse by a scandalous lack of political will among governments to tackle the issue of poor sanitation. *US CONGRESS TAKES FIRST AIM AT WHITE HOUSE IN ENRON SCANDAL Washington, March 23 (RHC)--The US congressional probe into the scandal-ridden Enron firm has for first time turned to the White House, according to the Saturday edition of The Washington Post. A Senate committee reportedly issued 29 subpoenas Friday to the company and its accountants to see what role Enron had in creating the Bush administration's energy policy, expanding the investigations to examine not only the firm's corporate failings but also its political contacts. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, has already sued the administration for records on Vice President Richard Cheney's energy task force also in an effort to determine how much Enron and other giant energy corporations influenced the White House's controversial energy plan. Environmentalists charge that the plan essentially consists of less pollution controls and more oil and gas drilling - even in special parks and reserves that have thus far remained protected. As an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council recently stated, the energy plan was payback to the corporate polluters that donated to the Bush campaign. The Washington Post reported that the move by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee escalates Congress's challenge to the Bush administration, since the various committees examining Enron had not looked at the company's interactions with the White House. (c) 2002 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-7102 2002-Mar-24 22:36:12