Radio Havana Cuba-19 March 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 19 March 2002 . *PERU: LAWMAKERS URGE GOVERNMENT NOT TO VOTE AGAINST CUBA IN GENEVA *VICE PRESIDENT CARLOS LAGE WRAPS UP VISIT TO GERMANY *CHILE'S SOCIALIST PARTY REJECTS WASHINGTON'S ANTI-CUBA CAMPAIGN *CUBA AND BELGIUM SIGN EDUCATIONAL AGREEMENTS *HAVANA WILL HOST INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH CONVENTION IN MAY *KOFI ANNAN SAYS US, EUROPEAN AID FOR DEVELOPMENT INSUFFICIENT *TOP US BRASS ANNOUNCE END OF CONTROVERSIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN AFGHANISTAN, CLAIM "WORLD IS NOW A SAFER PLACE" *ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS EXPANDING AT UNPRECEDENTED RATE: PEACE NOW *AUTHORITIES IN COLOMBIA NOW BELIEVE ASSASSINATION OF ARCHBISHOP CARRIED OUT BY DRUG TRAFFICKERS *GLOBAL WARMING CAUSES COLLAPSE OF GIGANTIC ICEBERG IN ANTARCTIC Viewpoint: *MONTERREY: CLOSING THE DOOR ON 80% OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION . *PERU: LAWMAKERS URGE GOVERNMENT NOT TO VOTE AGAINST CUBA IN GENEVA Lima, March 19 (RHC)--Fifty Peruvian lawmakers -- nearly half the 120-strong Congress -- have urged the government not to back a vote against Cuba at the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Peru, which hosts US President George W. Bush in Lima this weekend, said Monday it had not decided where it stood on a possible anti-Cuba resolution in Geneva - though claiming that it wasn't under US pressure to give its support. A recent televised round table discussion on Cuban national TV noted that the foreign minister of the Czech Republic, Jan Kavan -- whose country sponsored a motion to censure Cuba last year that was passed by 22 votes to 20 amid what was called a diplomatic tussle -- was in Lima last week and said Peru was conducting "informal negotiations" on the matter. Peruvian lawmakers noted that Peru has never voted against Cuba and should not condemn the Caribbean island now, while also pointing out that Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela and Ecuador had already announced their intention to not join the anti-Cuba bandwagon. Peruvian Foreign Minister Diego Garcia Sayan recently stated that his country was going to act in good measure in coordination and in line with its Latin American brothers. He also said Peru would not make decisions "based on pressure, from whatever quarter" and that the subject of Cuba was not on Bush's agenda. *VICE PRESIDENT CARLOS LAGE WRAPS UP VISIT TO GERMANY Berlin, March 19 (RHC)--Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage has wrapped up a four-day working visit to Germany. During his stay, Lage held meetings with government officials and attended the 26th Annual International Tourism Fair in Berlin. Speaking with reporters at a news conference in the German capital, the Cuban vice president announced that Havana and Berlin are ready -- within the next few weeks -- to sign an agreement on fighting drug-trafficking and other criminal activities. Carlos Lage said that during his last full day in the country, he met with German Interior Minister Otto Schilly, with whom he discussed the bilateral accord. Over the weekend, during his visit to Berlin's International Tourism Fair, the Cuban vice president held talks with Germany's Minister of Economy Werner Muller. He also met with nearly 100 business representatives from the German Industrial Federation. *CHILE'S SOCIALIST PARTY REJECTS WASHINGTON'S ANTI-CUBA CAMPAIGN Santiago de Chile, March 19 (RHC)--The Central Committee of the Chilean Socialist Party has unanimously rejected Washington's anti-Cuba campaign at the UN Human Rights Commission, now underway in Geneva. According to Prensa Latina News Agency in Santiago de Chile, the Socialist Party has called on the government of President Ricardo Lagos not to give in to pressures by the United States to vote in favor of the annual resolution condemning Havana for alleged human rights violations. In statements to Prensa Latina, Juan Bustos, a Chilean lawmaker and leader of the country's Socialist Party -- a major member of the ruling government coalition called the Concertacion -- "Latin America is in debt to Cuba." Bustos said that the Chilean government should not only refuse to jump on Washington's bandwagon, but should work to broaden relations with Havana. Last week, a delegation from the Chilean Socialist Party handed a letter to Cuba's Ambassador to Chile, Alfonso Fraga, in which the political party expressed its solidarity with the people and government of Cuba. *CUBA AND BELGIUM SIGN EDUCATIONAL AGREEMENTS Havana, March 19 (RHC)--The governments of Cuba and Belgium have signed a cooperation agreement among universities of both countries. The accord, which extends for five years and is renewable, includes provisions for joint investigative studies, student exchange programs and post-graduate projects. The bilateral agreement was signed in Havana by the Belgian Secretary of State for Cooperation, Eddy Boutmans, and Cuba's Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas. On Tuesday, the Belgian official wrapped up his four-day official visit to Cuba -- having met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Cuba's Minister of Public Health, Carlos Dotres. During his stay, he also visited Havana's Latin American School of Medicine, where nearly 5000 students from Asia, Africa and Latin America are studying to become doctors on free scholarships offered by the Cuban government. *HAVANA WILL HOST INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH CONVENTION IN MAY Havana, March 19 (RHC)--Delegates from Latin America, Europe, the United States and Canada have already confirmed their participation at the International Public Health Convention 2002, which will take place in Havana from May 1st through the 4th. According to organizers of the conference, a number of parallel meetings will be taking place simultaneously, including the 5th National Congress on Hygiene and Epidemiology, a symposium on the Integral Health Program in Central America and Africa and a gathering of epidemiologists from the United States and Canada with their counterparts in Cuba. The preliminary program of the upcoming International Public Health Convention includes discussions on health care reform, the fight against infectious diseases and an analysis of neo-liberal economic policies and their impact in the field of health care. The spread of AIDS, malaria and dengue in the Third World will also receive particular attention by convention delegates. *KOFI ANNAN SAYS US, EUROPEAN AID FOR DEVELOPMENT INSUFFICIENT New York, March 19 (RHC)--United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has asserted that US and European Union foreign aid will be insufficient to meet commitments made at the Millennium Summit. In an article published by The New York Times, Annan affirmed that studies have demonstrated that to achieve the Millennium Development Objectives, an extra 50 billion dollars a year will be necessary - double the current level of development aid. Published on the second day of the International Conference on Funding for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, Annan said more than one billion people go to bed hungry each night and that these are the people who would concretely benefit from adequate aid. He nevertheless expressed optimism, asserting that in the post-Cold War era rich nations are understanding that we all share the planet, that no one can feel comfortable while others are suffering and that the inequities between rich and poor are on the rise. In related news, A United Nations agency has accused Washington and the International Monetary Fund of watering down the agenda at the Conference on Funding for Development. Brazilian Rubens Ricupero, secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, charged that the US government and the IMF have refused to discuss the possibility of implementing significant changes in the structure of the international finance system. He said the only reason the US delegation is in Monterrey is because there will be no debate on the financial and monetary crises that have erupted in numerous countries since 1994. *TOP US BRASS ANNOUNCE END OF CONTROVERSIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN AFGHANISTAN, CLAIM "WORLD IS NOW A SAFER PLACE" Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, March 19 (RHC)--Announcing the end of a controversial US military operation in Afghanistan, General Frank Hagenbeck claimed that the world is now a safer place. While the commander of the joint forces that participated in Operation Anaconda, in Afghanistan's eastern mountains, claimed that hundreds of Taliban and Al Qaida fighters had been killed, Afghan commanders in the battle continue insisting that only several dozen enemy bodies have been counted. Hagenbeck himself admitted that thousands of Taliban and Al Qaida fighters remain fugitive. Despite initial Pentagon estimates of between 500 and 700 enemy killed, military commanders have recently avoided announcing specific numbers amid numerous press reports doubting the veracity of US versions of the military campaign. Last week, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Pentagon "doesn't do body counts," adding that he didn't want to repeat the errors of the Vietnam War when body counts were oftentimes more than exaggerated. But military experts in diverse countries affirmed that body counts were necessary for a precise evaluation of enemy losses, which in turns gives an indication of their future operative capacity and the nature and direction of future military campaigns. Operation Anaconda began on March 2nd with some 2,000 American and Afghan soldiers with considerable air support. But no Taliban or Al Qaida leaders have been found or confirmed killed. *ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS EXPANDING AT UNPRECEDENTED RATE: PEACE NOW Jerusalem, March 19 (RHC)--The Israeli organization Peace Now has denounced the creation of 34 new Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon assumed office in February of last year. Most of the settlements have been erected in land claimed by Palestinians for their independent state, charged the organization, while 8 of them were built in the last 2 months. The public enemy number one of Jewish settlers charged that additional Palestinian land has been stolen in an unprecedented manner. The new report on Jewish settlements comes as Israel angrily rejects harsh criticism of its human rights record in occupied territories at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, and also coincides with a new Amnesty International report released Tuesday in Jerusalem accusing Tel Aviv of "deeply alarming" abuse in the Palestinian cities recently occupied by Israeli troops. Amnesty International executive director Curt Goering released the report after sending a delegation to 4 of those cities. The delegation found that dozens of innocent Palestinians have died in recent days due to Israeli attacks on ambulances, Israeli heavy artillery fire in densely populated residential areas, military check points that prevent sick and wounded Palestinians from receiving hospital care and the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes and other basic infrastructure on which the population's survival depends, among other forms of abuse. The organization accused Israeli soldiers of perpetrating "brutal vandalism" with the wanton destruction of bathroom installations, TVs and videos, copies of the Koran and even the dolls of children in the houses searched by the troops - calling it a method to humiliate and degrade the civilian population. In reference to the visits to the region by US Vice President Richard Cheney and mediator Anthony Zinni, Amnesty International said neither has tied the issue of human rights to those of justice and peace. *AUTHORITIES IN COLOMBIA NOW BELIEVE ASSASSINATION OF ARCHBISHOP CARRIED OUT BY DRUG TRAFFICKERS Bogotá, March 19 (RHC) -- Following widespread media speculation that leftist guerrillas in Colombia carried out last week's assassination of a Colombian Archbishop, local authorities now believe the crime was probably committed by narco traffickers. Colombian Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio stated Tuesday that he has overwhelming evidence pointing to the perpetrators of last week's murder of Archbishop Isaias Duarte, who had recently denounced the use of drug money in the campaigns of some politicians who were seeking legislative office in March 10 elections. The Colombian Revolutionary Army and National Liberation Front insurgencies have denied any involvement in the crime, while admitting their discrepancies with the prelate who not only criticized organized crime and right wing paramilitaries, but also leftist rebels. Thousands participated in the Archbishop's funeral today, where Colombian President Andres Pastrana was booed down. The spontaneous heckling was due to Pastrana's recent public rejection of the prelate's denunciations of corruption. The Colombian president had demanded that Duarte name the names of those involved in the corruption, telling him not to throw rocks then hide your hands. Meanwhile, the office of the late Archbishop's diocese in Cali has charged that the police department did not provide the victim with special protection that had been requested just hours before the prelate was gunned down. The office had reportedly notified police of the presence of two suspicious-looking young men near the church where he was killed. *GLOBAL WARMING CAUSES COLLAPSE OF GIGANTIC ICEBERG IN ANTARCTIC Denver, Colorado, March 19 (RHC)--US scientists affirmed Tuesday that global warming has produced the most important collapse of a gigantic iceberg in the past 30 years. The Larsen B Iceberg on the east coast of the Antarctic, formed some 12,000 years ago, collapsed in a period of 35 days, according to experts at the University of Colorado. The iceberg has been at the center of scientific attention due to the loss of 5,700 square kilometers of its surface over the past five years. It is now fractured into several thousand smaller icebergs floating in the Weddell Sea. In a recent study published by the Journal of Glaciology, several US scientists warned that Antarctica's glacier platforms are closer to collapsing than formerly estimated, and that the process has a clear and direct relation to global warming. According to the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center, the mass of floating ice constitutes an area of 3,250 square kilometers and contains 720 million tons of ice. Viewpoint: *MONTERREY: CLOSING THE DOOR ON 80% OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION It appears the rich have not taken the United Nations' call to discuss funding development seriously. In a conference taking place in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, they have refused to treat the situation with the urgency it demands when we consider that 80% of world's population have access to just 20% of its wealth. Though the conference is still not over, from the moment preparations began it has lacked a comprehensive focus encompassing all aspects of funding for development, including the mobilization of resources, trade and cooperation. >From the beginning, there were some who naively believed that the tragic events of September 11 in the United States had raised consciousness about the need for funding for development. They thought that the ambiance of uncertainly brought about by the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington would make the financial powers-that-be assume more flexible positions regarding assistance to the impoverished South. But nothing indicates that is the case. In fact, it appears there are even more governments, financial institution executives and enterprises eager to construct a globalized world, unmoved by the fact that the majority of the planet's population lack the most basic living conditions. Despite the fact that the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are participating for the first time in this kind of meeting, there is no guarantee that the UN's International Conference on Funding for Development will help to channel substantial funds to the Third World. It is true that the meeting aims at formulating certain criticisms of trade tariffs imposed by the industrialized nations. It will issue calls for measures to alleviate part of the foreign debts of the poorer countries and to support more participation of the South in the international financial system. But the proposals lack depth and are accompanied by conditions to be placed on those to be benefited. The document states that any financial aid, no matter how little, is to be conditioned on the adoption of what is called "good government," as defined by the traditional colonial powers. Unfortunately, nothing indicates that the First World governments are going to comply with the requirement of earmarking 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Product for Third World development. So it wasn't by coincidence that the Non-Governmental Organizations, which have been meeting since last weekend in Monterrey, criticized the final document as being dominated by neoliberal trends. They complained that the document is like slamming the door in the face of those who aspire to more intelligent and fair models aimed at making life more tolerable for the vast majority. On a planet where the population is expected to double in the next fifty years a technological revolution is necessary that brings dividends to all and not just a tiny minority. (c) 2002 Radio Habana Cuba, NY Transfer News. 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