Radio Havana Cuba-05 June 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 05 June 2002 . *THREE-QUARTERS OF HOUSING DAMAGED BY HURRICANE MICHELLE REPAIRED *ECUADORIAN SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN USA'S CUBA POLICIES *JOSE MARTI CULTURAL CENTER IN MEXICO CELEBRATES 26th ANNIVERSARY *THREE NEW HOTELS GOING UP ON VARADERO BEACH *DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT: HOW SERIOUS ARE NATIONS ABOUT FIGHTING POVERTY, POLLUTION? *GEORGE BUSH DISDAINS US GOVERNMENT REPORT ON GLOBAL WARMING *TWO FORMER SALVADORAN MILITARY LEADERS TO FACE SECOND US ATROCITY TRIAL *US AIR FORCE COLONEL RELIEVED OF DUTY AFTER SCATHING LETTER ABOUT BUSH *PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE CASES DOG MEXICAN PRESIDENT *Viewpoint: BUSH SAYS LIVE WITH IT, BUT WE'LL PROBABLY DIE FROM IT . *THREE-QUARTERS OF HOUSING DAMAGED BY HURRICANE MICHELLE REPAIRED Sancti Spiritus, June 5 (RHC)-- Only seven months after Hurricane Michelle slammed into Cuba, three-quarters of all housing damaged by the devastating storm has been repaired. During a tour of areas hard hit by the worst hurricane seen in more than 50 years, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage praised the efforts of construction workers and local residents in Sancti Spiritus. The Cuban vice president noted that nearly 124,000 homes throughout the island affected by last November's storm have been completely repaired. Carlos Lage said that construction plans are on schedule -- confirming that the Cuban government will follow through on its promise to replace all homes destroyed and repair all housing damaged by November 4th: the first anniversary of Hurricane Michelle. In Villa Clara province, it was reported over the weekend that 27,000 homes have been repaired of the 38,000 that were damaged -- a completion rate of 72 percent. *ECUADORIAN SOLIDARITY ORGANIZATIONS CONDEMN USA'S CUBA POLICIES Quito, June 5 (RHC)-- The 6th National Encounter of Ecuadorian Committees in Solidarity with Cuba recently wrapped up in Esmeralda, located northwest of Quito, the capital. More than 280 delegates representing 98 grassroots organizations, trade unions, student organizations and religious groups from around the country met to discuss ongoing solidarity work in Ecuador. Participants signed the "Esmeralda Declaration" -- strongly condemning Washington's economic war against Havana and calling for the creation of local committees to support the five Cuban political prisoners being held in the United States. The final declaration also expresses rejection of the U.S.-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas, as well as Washington's attempts to bribe Latin American governments to go along with its imperialist policies in the region. The Ecuadorian solidarity encounter concluded: "Cuba is an example of dignity, heroic struggle and resistance." *JOSE MARTI CULTURAL CENTER IN MEXICO CELEBRATES 26th ANNIVERSARY Mexico City, June 5 (RHC)-- The Jose Marti Cultural Center in the Mexican capital is celebrating its 26th anniversary with a workshop called "Culture Without Borders." Attending the opening of the event was the president of the Center, Luis Echeverría; the Cultural Secretary of Mexico City, Enrique Semo; and Havana's Ambassador to Mexico, Jorge Bolaños. The anniversary celebrations -- which will continue through June 15th -- include a conference series on Cuba's National Hero, José Martí, as well as an historical look at the Mexican institution which bears his name, founded in 1976. A debate on the reflection of Mexican reality in cinema -- with special screenings of the films "Y tu Mama También," "De la Calle," "Amores Perros," and "Perfume de Violetas" -- will take place at Mexico City's Museum. And music concerts featuring modern and traditional Cuban and Mexican music will also be held at the José Martí Cultural Center. *THREE NEW HOTELS GOING UP ON VARADERO BEACH Varadero, June 5 (RHC)-- Construction workers will soon start building three new hotels in the Cuban coastal resort of Varadero, as part of an investment program designed by local tourist authorities. According to tourism officials, land is being cleared at the site where the Iberostar Palace -- a five-star, 400-room, all-inclusive hotel -- will be built. The Iberostar will be managed as a joint venture with Cubanacán, in an area known as Rincón Francés. Another hotel will be the five-star, 460-room Gran Lido SuperClubs, which will be constructed in Punta Hicacos by the group Gaviota and will be under the management of the Jamaican firm SuperClubs. The construction of the third hotel -- the four-star, 340-room Blau Varadero, one of the tallest buildings in the region -- will begin later this summer near the Gran Hotel. By year's end, Varadero will have 14,173 rooms in 48 hotels -- more than 50 percent of the integrated development program for the Hicacos Peninsula, where 26,000 rooms will be ready by 2010. *DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT: HOW SERIOUS ARE NATIONS ABOUT FIGHTING POVERTY, POLLUTION? Bali, Indonesia, June 5 (RHC) -- Concern over a failure in efforts to draw up a viable plan of action for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa continued on the rise as more than 110 Environment Ministers joined those efforts. Taking place at the Indonesian resort island of Bali, many participants involved in preparations for an international gathering to fight poverty while protecting the environment believe that the project will turn out to be too spread out and will lack clear objectives and mandates. As United Nations undersecretary general Louise Frechette told government ministers that the gathering will be decisive in helping 3 billion people - half the planet's population - who live on less than two dollars a day, several hundred activists protesting near conference headquarters called the pre-summit talks a farce. Later, environmentalists marched through the convention center backwards to exemplify the direction they charge the negotiations have taken. European Union Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom agreed, admitting that thus far there hasn't been much progress. At least in the question of specific timetables and precise commitments, the EU has joined poor nations in the confrontation against countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan that are opposed to well-defined and clear-cut strategies. Wallstrom stated that Johannesburg cannot fail, that in the past 10 years since the Rio Earth Summit world leaders have been unwilling to move forward in something as simple and essential as providing more clean water and energy to the planet's poorest peoples. But according to environmentalists, European leaders have also opposed efforts to demand accountability and transparency from multinational corporations, leading to charges that rich nations in general are using the gathering more to promote globalization than to fight poverty. *GEORGE BUSH DISDAINS US GOVERNMENT REPORT ON GLOBAL WARMING Washington, June 5 (RHC) -- President George W. Bush has called a recent administration report that blames humans for global warming nothing more than a product of government bureaucracy. The disdainful reference to the report was called by the Boston Globe news daily a striking demonstration of how isolated the administration's environmental specialists are from its policy makers. The report was filed Friday by the Departments of Energy and Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, all agencies whose top officials are appointed by the president. The report backed the view of many scientists who believe that global warming is primarily caused by emissions from automobiles, power plants, and oil refineries. Until the report became public, the Bush administration had repeatedly emphasized that there was not enough scientific evidence to link global warming to industrial emissions. The Globe asserted that as the head of the "bureaucracy" that Bush mentioned with disdain, EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman should stand by her staff and use its report to urge the president to bring policy in line with science. But observers believe that such urging will continue to fall on deaf ears, particularly since White House spokesman Ari Fleischer later told reporters that there remained "considerable uncertainty" on the scientific causes of global warming. *TWO FORMER SALVADORAN MILITARY LEADERS TO FACE SECOND US ATROCITY TRIAL San Francisco, California, June 5 (RHC) -- Two former Salvadoran defense ministers will stand trial in the United States for the second time on charges of committing atrocities during the Central American nation's civil war. Former generals Jose Guillermo García, defense minister from 1979 to 1983, and Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, director general of the national guard from 1979 until 1983 when he became defense minister, will stand trial in Florida - where they've been living in exile since 1989. The civil action was brought by Juan Romagoza, who was abducted, detained and tortured at national guard headquarters in late 1980, Neriz Gonzalez, a church lay worker tortured and raped by national guardsmen in 1979, and Professor Carlos Mouricio of the University of El Salvador, tortured at national police headquarters in 1983. It's the result of a long investigation by the San Francisco, California-based Center for Justice and Accountability, the CJA - one of several groups pursuing members of military regimes living in the United States under whose command torture, rape and extra-judicial executions were carried out. García and Vides Casanova were recently acquitted of charges brought against them by the families of four American nuns raped and murdered by the Salvadoran national guard in 1980. But according to the CJA, the difference this time is that the three victims are all alive and will be giving evidence in person. CJA member Chris McKenna stated that "what they have to say will be very powerful." McKenna said the organization's aim was two-fold: to ensure that the US did not become a safe haven for torturers and to bring some belated justice to people in El Salvador unable to pursue such actions because of a general amnesty given to the armed forces in 1993. The CJA has already won a US court order against an Indonesian general to pay 66 million dollars in compensation to the victims of the Indonesian government in East Timor. Actions against people allegedly involved in atrocities in Latin America and in Bosnia have also been investigated. *US AIR FORCE COLONEL RELIEVED OF DUTY AFTER SCATHING LETTER ABOUT BUSH Monterey, California, June 5 (RHC) -- A United States Air Force colonel has been relieved of duty for writing a letter to a local newspaper describing President George W. Bush as a "joke." Lieutenant Colonel Steve Butler said the president knew about the 11 September attacks on America and did nothing to warn the American people. Butler is reported to have written "his dad had Saddam and he needed Osama" because the presidency was going nowhere. The 24-year air force veteran and combat pilot in the 1990 Gulf War also suggested that Bush had not come to power by legitimate means and that the war on terror was merely part of a strategy to improve his position. Butler said "he wasn't elected by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative Supreme Court." His suspension comes under a law dating back to the American War of Independence, which forbids insults directed by military officers against the president or other political leaders. Serving as vice chancellor for student affairs at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, his letter was published in the Monterey County Herald. The military is reportedly considering the possibility of subjecting Butler to a court-martial, as stipulated in Article 88 of the military code of justice. *PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE CASES DOG MEXICAN PRESIDENT Mexico City, June 5 (RHC) -- Despite Mexican President Vicente Fox's pledge to enhance his country's human rights scenario -- and despite claims that Mexico is going through a democratic transition -- the current administration is coming under fire in cases involving a massacre, a forced disappearance by police, and the assassination of a prominent activist. Last weekend's massacre in Oaxaca of 26 indigenous farmers has led to charges that racism and indifference continue characterizing the government's attitude with respect to Mexico's indigenous population. Mexican Environment Secretary Victor Lichtinger has been called to testify before Congress after Oaxaca Governor Jose Murat accused his ministry of partial responsibility for the massacre because it granted logging licenses that incited a land dispute in the area. But the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Center faulted both the federal and state governments for the tragedy, saying authorities failed to protect the people and the environment and did not resolve long standing agrarian and electoral conflicts. Meanwhile, Mexico City's Human Rights Commission has demanded that authorities get to the bottom of charges that judicial police forcibly disappeared a local man last March for not paying them a 20,000 dollar bribe. Commission President Emilio Alvarez Icaza said approximately 13 armed men on March 14 abducted Jesus Gutierrez from the auto parts store where he worked, and that he has not been seen since. Witnesses identified four of the men as judicial police officers. Icaza said the bribe reportedly was in relation to Gutierrez's involvement in a kidnapping ring. Mexico's judicial police -- who work as investigators for local prosecutors -- are notorious for their involvement in kidnapping gangs. Last month, authorities in the State of Mexico announced more than 200 judicial police officers were being prosecuted for participating in kidnappings. At the same time, human rights groups are calling on international forensic experts to reinvestigate the death of renowned activist Digna Ochoa, discarding the local version that she committed suicide. *Viewpoint: BUSH SAYS LIVE WITH IT, BUT WE'LL PROBABLY DIE FROM IT The Final declaration of the Earth Summit, which took place ten years ago in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil put the human race at the center of sustainable development and related concerns. But in spite of national commitments made by countries world-wide at the meeting, tens years later the main environmental indicators continue to deteriorate. On this World Environment Day, Cuba is proud of its efforts during the last decade. The advances achieved include the incorporation of environmental concerns in all government policies, including the economic sphere and tourism. Cuba is expanding the existing forestry area and the distribution of drinking water. The island is recognized internationally as one of the top six Latin American countries bringing water to the population. There is also an emphasis on correcting soil erosion, one of the most pressing problems to be tackled. Today, to celebrate World Environment day, a major event will take place in Havana province, which won this year's award for best environmental results. Among the many reasons that Havana province was selected is the reduction in air pollution, a decrease in the use of combustible domestic fuel and a notable increase in wooded areas. On the other hand, Cuba has continued to modernize its power generating plants, which has diminished dangerous emissions into the atmosphere. Parallel with these developments is a countrywide campaign to educate the population about environmental issues. With these new projects and other important advances in the national environment, Cuba celebrates this 5th June, World Environment Day, with a clear conscience. The issue of environmental protection is one that highlights the ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor of the world. Global warming increases the incidence of flooding and heat waves. Those without proper housing and weather protection are the ones who suffer most. Research is showing that climate changes due to global warming will have everlasting negative effects on unique wild places and wildlife. The main culprit is the burning of fossil fuels that send heat trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A recent report sent to the United Nations by the US administration detailing specific and far-reaching effects of global warming on the American environment, which for the first time were admitted to be man-made, elicited the reply from US President George W. Bush that we will just have to live with it. The problem is that if we continue on the same destructive road we could end up dying from it if governments don't act in accordance with agreed and signed protocols and accords to protect the environment. (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 ================================================================= nytcari-06.06.02-11:45:29-15136