Radio Havana Cuba-11 March 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 11 March 2002 . *11th INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR ENDS IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA *BRAZILIAN MEDIA PRAISE CUBA'S EFFORTS IN FIGHT AGAINST DENGUE *GUATEMALAN LABOR CALLS FOR RESISTING US PRESSURE ON UN RIGHTS COMMISSION *WORLD REACTS WITH ANGER AND HORROR TO US NUCLEAR STRATEGY *ISRAEL LIFTS ARAFAT'S HOUSE ARREST, CONTINUES ATTACKS ON PALESTINIANS *ARGENTINA PLEADS FOR INTERNATIONAL AID; DISCREDITED POLITICIANS FEAR WALKING THE STREETS OF THE CAPITAL *COLOMBIA: TRADITIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES UPSTAGED IN SUNDAY ELECTIONS *VIETNAM, USA SIGN AGREEMENT ON JOINT DIOXIN RESEARCH *CHINA ISSUES REPORTS ON US HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS . *11th INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR ENDS IN SANTIAGO DE CUBA Santiago de Cuba, March 11 (RHC)--The 11th International Book Fair came to a close today in Santiago de Cuba, after having toured 19 cities throughout the island. The Book Fair began in Havana over one month ago and ran for ten days in the capital. Over 230,000 people visited the Fair in Havana, which was held at the San Carlos de La Cabaña Fortress, and purchased more than one million books. >From Havana, the International Book Fair traveled to other cities across the island -- including Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Santa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Avila and Camagüey. The giant fiesta of books ran for one week in Santiago de Cuba. According to organizers of the Book Fair, following last year's successful event, people across the island requested that their cities and towns be included. The Cuban Book Institute and the Ministry of Culture decided to take the Fair on the road for the first time in its eleven-year history. A popular attraction at every stop was the area devoted to children's books. Young people enjoyed cultural presentations aimed at promoting the importance of reading. The little ones could be seen scurrying from one booth to another, with children's books tucked under their arms. Visitors to the Fair said that many of the books were offered in national currency at very inexpensive prices. Some books that would easily sell for 15 or 20 dollars in any other country of the world can be purchased for as little as 50 cents or one dollar in Cuba. During the 11th International Book Fair, nearly five million books were sold to Cuban readers. *BRAZILIAN MEDIA PRAISE CUBA'S EFFORTS IN FIGHT AGAINST DENGUE Rio de Janeiro, March 11 (RHC)--Brazilian media are praising Cuba's efforts in the fight against dengue -- an epidemic which is dramatically affecting Rio de Janeiro and other cities and towns of the South American country. A full-page article in this morning's edition of the daily Jornal do Brasil takes a close look at the current campaign in Cuba to rid the island of the dengue carrier, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. The article includes an interview with a Cuban biologist, Grisel Montero Lago, who is on a working-visit to Brazil. The Jornal do Brasil notes that Montero Lago has been a researcher with the Cuban pharmaceutical and biological laboratory Labiofam for more than 30 years. She has specifically been working on ways to control and eliminate the mosquito-carrier of dengue since 1974. The Cuban biologist said that her visit to Rio de Janeiro is aimed at examining the current dengue epidemic in that Brazilian city and other areas of the country. She emphasized that the problems confronting Brazil with the Aedes Aegypti are quite common throughout Latin America. Noting that the mosquito develops a resistance to chemical insecticides, Grisel Montero Lago said that special biological agents must be applied to kill the dengue carrier. The Cuban researcher said that a new biological substance, known as Griselesf, would be used on an experimental basis in Brazil. She said that another biological product, produced in Cuba by the pharmaceutical laboratory and proven effective, is called Bactivec. And she emphasized that the formulas developed by Cuba are not harmful to human beings or hazardous to animal health. The Cuban biologist told Jornal do Brasil that she was very pleased to report that tests in one area of Brazil eliminated the larvae of mosquitoes by 90 to 100 percent. *GUATEMALAN LABOR CALLS FOR RESISTING US PRESSURE ON UN RIGHTS COMMISSION Guatemala City, March 11 (RHC)--Guatemalan labor activists have called on their government not to give in to pressures by the United States at the upcoming UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Edwin Ortega, a spokesman with the National Labor Coordinating Committee, told reporters in Guatemala City that Washington is putting heavy pressure on Latin American governments to join its anti-Cuba campaign in Geneva and condemn Havana for alleged human rights violations. He said that Guatemala and Argentina are special targets of the U.S. effort to have other countries sign on to its annual resolution. The Guatemalan trade union activist said that his country should not fall into Washington's trap and become a pawn of U.S. foreign policy. He also said his organization believes that Guatemala should consider all the help given to that Central American country by Cuba, particularly in the area of health care. *WORLD REACTS WITH ANGER AND HORROR TO US NUCLEAR STRATEGY London, Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, Damascus, March 11 (RHC)--Though some nations played down Washington's secret plan to use nuclear weapons, much of the international community reacted over the weekend with anger and horror. "Warmongering lunacy" and a US president who's "power crazy" were some of the phrases heard in political circles and media outlets from Iran and Russia to Great Britain. Alice Mahon, British MP with the ruling Labor Party, stated that "the lunatics have taken over the White House." In Iran, "The Tehran Times" wrote that the nuclear strike plan, revealed Friday in a secret document leaked to "The Los Angeles Times," is an indication of Washington's willingness to wreak havoc on the world to establish its domination. While some European leaders dismissed the project as routine military planning, a former top Russian Defense Ministry official stated that the military blueprint shows that the United States still sees Russia as a geopolitical rival and wants to weaken it. General Leonid Ivashov added that "it's about time Russian politicians realized this and stopped having illusions that Washington wishes Moscow well." While avoiding direct criticism, the governments of Germany and France came out in favor of reducing nuclear arsenals and against the inclusion of nuclear weapons in military strategies. The governments of Russia and China, included in the list of countries Washington believes could be the targets of US nuclear attacks, have demanded an explanation, while Syria says it will issue a formal complaint at the United Nations. *ISRAEL LIFTS ARAFAT'S HOUSE ARREST, CONTINUES ATTACKS ON PALESTINIANS Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Gaza City, March 11 (RHC)--Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has lifted the siege on Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters just hours after helicopter gunships and naval gunboats destroyed the residence. Though this is the second time that Sharon has retreated from his hardline policies in recent days -- after dropping an insistence on seven days of absolute calm before beginning ceasefire talks -- Israeli troops Monday continued their punishing offensive in occupied territories aimed at attempting to pound Palestinians into submission. After two dozen tanks stormed into Bethlehem and two adjacent refugee camps Sunday evening, Israeli military officials said the army was poised to invade more towns in the West Bank. Thirty missiles were fired into Arafat's headquarters, while tractors protected by Israeli troops were destroying orchards and crops outside Gaza City. The on-going violence came after Israeli troops killed another 39 Palestinians on Friday and a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 Israelis in a cafe on Saturday. The Israeli prime minister's decision to release Arafat from virtual house arrest has led the ultra-right wing National Front to abandon the governing coalition - accusing Sharon of veering to the left. Though the defection of the seven National Front legislators does not threaten Sharon's majority, his coalition now depends on the 22 Labor Party members of parliament. If the Labor Party withdraws its support, Sharon will fall. Ceasefire talks amid an unprecedented escalation of violence are slated to begin next Thursday with the arrival in the region of US mediator Anthony Zinni. *ARGENTINA PLEADS FOR INTERNATIONAL AID; DISCREDITED POLITICIANS FEAR WALKING THE STREETS OF THE CAPITAL Buenos Aires, March 11 (RHC)--As the government of Argentina pleads for international help in its economic crisis, a number of news agencies are reporting that the country's discredited politicians are unable to safely walk the streets. Current and former political leaders have been pelted with eggs, spit on and bombarded with shouts of "thieves!" They're reportedly harassed in grocery stores, cafes, gas stations, movie theaters and airports, with some of them walking the streets with bodyguards or in disguise. With Argentines daily charging that government waste, corruption and reckless political spending have left the country's economy in shatters - and demanding that they all step down - the outcry has caught the attention of President Eduardo Duhalde, Argentina's fifth president since December. But Duhalde's promise to eliminate wasteful government spending, reduce the size of government and cut legislator's pay has done little to placate noisy protesters posting signs around Congress calling for an end of pension plans for lawmakers and the scrapping of all nine Supreme Court justices. An Associated Press correspondent in Buenos Aires Monday quoted one protester who said the system will never purify itself, which is why they're making life miserable for politicians. Protesters have burned down the house of one congresswoman, while another member of Congress had to be rescued by police from a cafe restroom after a crowd chased him from his seat. Protesters are hanging up "Wanted" posters with the faces of politicians. Former President Carlos Menem has retired to his rural hometown of La Rioja in western Argentina, admitting that walking the streets of Buenos Aires would be a tremendous risk. Others have changed their appearance with new hairstyles or wigs and sun glasses. Amid this scenario, Argentine Economy Minister Jorge Remes Lenicov Sunday said that to overcome the crisis his country needs loans and funds, not just words, from the international community. *COLOMBIA: TRADITIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES UPSTAGED IN SUNDAY ELECTIONS Bogotá, March 11 (RHC)--Colombia's two traditional political parties were upstaged by independents in Sunday's elections, indicating that a hardline, right-wing candidate will probably become the country's next president. Many of the independents back presidential candidate Alvaro Uribe, known for his belligerent stance towards Colombia's leftist guerrillas and already with a massive lead in opinion polls. According to preliminary results, the two political parties that have dominated the national scenario since the 19th century won't have a simple majority in the Senate even if they combine their legislative seats. Leftist independent candidates also took the upper hand Sunday, led by former leftist guerrilla Antonio Navarro Wolff - re-elected to the congressional seat he's held for more than a decade. Observers are calling the elections relatively peaceful despite a call for a boycott by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces insurgency and pressure from right-wing paramilitary death squads. But though the Colombian government and the Organization of American States praised the elections as a victory for democracy and a civic "fiesta," voter abstention is expected to hover around 56 percent. *VIETNAM, USA SIGN AGREEMENT ON JOINT DIOXIN RESEARCH Hanoi, March 11 (RHC)--Vietnam has signed an agreement with the United States on joint research into the defoliant Agent Orange, even though Washington refused to consider assisting Vietnamese victims. Sunday's agreement will pave the way for the first joint government-level investigations into the effects of a substance that Vietnam and US veterans blame for causing birth defects, cancers and other diseases. But such a research program will stretch over many years, leading the Vietnamese foreign ministry to state Monday that anyone with conscience would support their point that while promoting scientific studies, it is necessary at the same time to carry out relief activities to overcome the consequences for the victims. The agreement follows last week's first ever joint conference on the issue in Hanoi, during which Vietnamese health and government officials repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, underscored the need for US assistance in helping Vietnam provide victims with health infrastructure and pharmaceuticals. *CHINA ISSUES REPORTS ON US HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS Beijing, March 11 (RHC)--For the third consecutive year, China has issued a report on human rights violations in the United States in response to Washington's annual reports in which the US is the only country excluded. Released Monday by China's Council of State, the report accuses Washington of once again assuming the role of world judge while closing its eyes to its own problems. Based on official US government documents and reports from international groups like Amnesty International, Beijing slammed the US's violation of basic human rights like adequate health coverage for the poor. The report also addressed issues like homelessness in the US, police brutality, racial discrimination, the social and racial inequities in the country's justice system and violence in the streets and in the media. But it also defined Washington's interventionist foreign policy as a human rights violation, as well as its boycott of international forums like the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, last year's Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, and the conference on restricting transfer of toxic waste to developing countries. According to Beijing, Washington's unilateral attitude is exactly why the US lost its seat last year at the United Nations Human Rights Commission. (c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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