Radio Havana Cuba-06 June 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba - News Update - 06 June 2002 . *CUBA DELIVERS DONATION OF MENINGITIS B VACCINE TO URUGUAY *SOCIALIST CUBA LEADS THE WAY IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION *SOUTH AFRICA: "OUR DREAMS AND IDEAS CANNOT BE DESTROYED" *COMPAY SEGUNDO TO PERFORM AT CARIBBEAN SON FESTIVAL IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC *MILLIONS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA ON THE BRINK OF STARVATION *US PLAN TO PHOTOGRAPH, FINGERPRINT ARABS AND MUSLIMS ENTERING US CALLED RACISM *ARGENTINA: FRUSTRATION OVER IMF'S RELUCTANCE TO LEND HELPING HAND *FMLN BLASTS SALVADORAN ASYLUM FOR VENEZUELAN COUP LEADER *Viewpoint: TALKING ABOUT LIES... . *CUBA DELIVERS DONATION OF MENINGITIS B VACCINE TO URUGUAY Montevideo, June 6 (RHC)-- Cuba has delivered 800,000 doses of meningitis B vaccine to Uruguay -- despite the fact that Montevideo recently broke diplomatic relations with Havana. Added to an earlier delivery of the vaccine, the donation brings the total to one million 200,000 doses. Cuban authorities assured the Uruguayan people that they would provide the vaccine free-of-charge, in response to an outbreak of meningitis in that South American country. Solidarity activists welcomed the Cubana Airlines flight bringing the donation, which arrived yesterday afternoon at Montevideo's Carrasco International Airport. Waving Cuban flags, the crowd held signs and banners expressing their appreciation for the island's solidarity with the Uruguayan people. One sign read: "Thank you, Cuba, for helping to save our children." *SOCIALIST CUBA LEADS THE WAY IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Havana, June 6 (RHC)-- A number of events were celebrated across the island to mark World Environment Day -- commemorated yesterday, June 5. At the main activity in San Antonio de los Baños, just outside of Havana, the island's Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment -- Rosa Elena Simeón -- affirmed that socialism has allowed Cuba to develop environmental protection programs that are unparalleled in today's world. Cuba's top environmental official pointed to recent achievements in reducing water contamination and increasing "green belts" in urban areas. Noting that public awareness is key, Rosa Elena Simeón said that the Cuban Revolution has educated its people about the importance of living in harmony with nature. Experts confirm that Cuba is carrying out a number of sustainable development and environmental programs, such as a system for coastline and watershed management -- which regulates production, tourism and protected areas. Environmental licenses that control coastal activities such as dredging, oil exploration, tourism and tree cutting are among the aspects included in those plans. Cuba insists on combining the island's economic development with efforts to preserve the environment. Clean technologies have permitted important reductions in environmental concentrations of lead, organic components, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide, as well as other hazardous particles. The sustainability of forest eco-systems, elimination of sources that contaminate rivers, the production of organic fertilizers and the use of clean technologies are some of the basic premises of the Cuban Revolution's environmental programs. *SOUTH AFRICA: "OUR DREAMS AND IDEAS CANNOT BE DESTROYED" Havana, June 6 (RHC)-- "Our dreams and ideas cannot be destroyed," affirmed the president of the Youth League of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. Malusi Gigaba delivered a lecture yesterday at the University of Havana to some 500 students. The leader of the ANC delegation visiting the island condemned the legacy of colonialism in Africa and the difficulties faced by underdeveloped nations. He noted that today's essential task is to radically change the international economic order -- making it possible for a world where social justice and equality prevail. During their visit to Havana, the South African youth delegation toured a number of political and social places of interest, including the Latin American School of Medicine, located on the outskirts of the Cuban capital. They also spoke with medical students from several African countries who are studying medicine free-of-charge with only one condition: that they return to their countries as doctors and help improve the health of their people. Invited by Cuba's Union of Young Communists (UJC), the African National Congress youth delegation wrapped up their official visit to the island on Thursday. *COMPAY SEGUNDO TO PERFORM AT CARIBBEAN SON FESTIVAL IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Santo Domingo, June 6 (RHC)-- Internationally renowned Cuban singer-songwriter Compay Segundo will perform at the 5th Caribbean Son Festival in the Dominican Republic, scheduled for late June. According to organizers of the Festival, Compay Segundo will begin a series of concerts at a hotel in downtown Santo Domingo on June 21st. On the 24th, Francisco Repilado -- the real name of the 94-year-old Cuban artist -- will perform at Cibao's Grand Theater in Santiago de los Caballeros, located northeast of the Dominican capital. *MILLIONS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA ON THE BRINK OF STARVATION Johannesburg, June 6 (RHC)--A United Nations aid agency has again warned that millions of people in southern Africa are on the brink of starvation. The World Food Program made the warning in Johannesburg, where international aid agencies, donor governments and humanitarian organizations are meeting to discuss ways of alleviating the situation. With crop failures across the region due to drought, floods and political turmoil, the impact of food shortages over the next 12 months - particularly on people with AIDS - will also be discussed. Officials are faced with the dilemma of how to overcome the serious logistical challenges of delivering huge amounts of food quickly to millions of hungry people in places with little or no infrastructure like adequate roads and storage facilities. Hundreds have already died in Malawi but Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Swaziland and Lesotho are also badly hit. The World Food Program stated that the crisis of enormous dimensions worsens with each day. The region reportedly needs 1.2 million tons of emergency aid and about 4 million tons to make it through the year. While thousands of hungry people are facing malnourishment, experts say that thousands will begin to die of starvation within the next few months when reserves are expected to run out. *US PLAN TO PHOTOGRAPH, FINGERPRINT ARABS AND MUSLIMS ENTERING US CALLED RACISM Washington, June 6 (RHC) -- Washington has been accused of taking a major step down the road to racial profiling following the Justice Department's announcement that some 100,000 Arabs and Muslims entering the United States will be photographed and fingerprinted. Congressman John Conyers, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, stated that rather than helping to protect US citizens, the registration rules will only serve to further alienate the American Muslim community and the US's Muslim allies abroad - which he called "two crucial allies" in the fight against terrorism. Criticism also came from the Arab American Institute, the Council of Islamic-American Relations, the American Civil Liberties Union and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. Asked about the US move, Robinson told the BBC that some countries were going too far in curtailing civil liberties in the war against terrorism - also expressing concern about what she called the "clamping down on legitimate political dissent." ACLU legislative counsel Timothy Edgar said the Bush administration is "step by step isolating Muslim and Arab communities," asserting that "this latest move needs to be seen in the larger context of all the actions targeted at people of Middle Eastern descent since September 11. Earlier this week, the American Civil Liberties Union launched lawsuits against American, Continental, United and Northwest airlines after five men were ejected from flights because of what the civil-rights group maintains were "the prejudices of airline employees and passengers and for reasons wholly unrelated to security." *ARGENTINA: FRUSTRATION OVER IMF'S RELUCTANCE TO LEND HELPING HAND Buenos Aires, June 6 (RHC) -- After bending over backwards to please the International Monetary Fund, the government of Argentina is expressing frustration over the credit institution's on-going reluctance to bail out the country's economy. Cabinet chief Alfredo Atanasof called for "prudence" on the part of IMF director-general Horst Koehler, who publicly stated that he was "irritated" by Argentina's slow pace in getting the country's 24 provinces to sign a drastic spending cutback program. Atanasof stated that there are many things that cause irritation in this global world, and much of them are more irritating than Argentina. Thus far, only 14 of the provinces have signed the economic shock package, but the cabinet chief said that if the IMF wants authorities to move faster, then the credit institution should move faster in helping Argentina. He also said that, contrary to local media reports, the IMF is not going to make further demands on Argentina - though the credit institution itself implied otherwise. IMF spokesman Thomas Dawson stated Thursday that talks to renew lines of credit to Argentina will begin soon, but that there are several more monetary and fiscal demands that still must be negotiated. The Argentina-IMF tug of war coincided with another devastating revelation about the poverty hitting the South American nation. A private consulting and survey firm has found that in the past five months some 5 million mostly middle class Argentines have fallen below the poverty line, bringing to 19 million the ranks of the poor -- without counting the 7 million extremely poor who are suffering hunger. That translates into almost 75 percent of Argentina's 36 million people facing some form of poverty. *FMLN BLASTS SALVADORAN ASYLUM FOR VENEZUELAN COUP LEADER San Salvador, June 6 (RHC) -- The opposition in El Salvador has blasted the government's decision to grant asylum to one of the Venezuelan military officers who staged an attempted coup against President Hugo Chavez. The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front termed as a sham Venezuelan Rear Admiral Carlos Molina Tamayo's allegation that he is politically persecuted, noting that the navy officer -- like all of those involved in the plot -- have had an opportunity to hire legal counsel and to defend themselves before the Venezuelan Congress in public hearings broadcast to the entire nation. The FMLN also expressed concern that El Salvador will once again be used as a platform to destabilize other countries, as occurred with terrorist of Cuban origin Luis Posada Carriles. FMLN general coordinator Salvador Sanchez recalled that Posada Carriles plotted against Cuban President Fidel Castro until he was arrested in Panama with a false Salvadoran passport in connection with an assassination plot against the Cuban leader. Colombia recently granted asylum to Venezuelan business leader Pedro Carmona, who became the country's dictator-for-a-day following President Chavez's brief arrest. News agencies have noted that Colombia and El Salvador were the only countries that immediately recognized Venezuela's short-lived de facto government. *Viewpoint: TALKING ABOUT LIES... Sooner or later, all lies are exposed, one way or another. That is what has happened in the case of US State Department officials who recently made outlandish claims about Cuba in a vain attempt to try and negatively influence the visit to the island of former US president, Jimmy Carter. As is now well known, US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, John Bolton, came up shortly before Carter's visit to Cuba with the absurd unsubstantiated claim that Cuba was developing a program for the production of biological weapons and exporting that technology to other nations which Washington considers as enemies. Now, after a special session in a congressional commission, it has been revealed that, in fact, the United States has absolutely no proof to back such accusations. What it does have is some indirect information about what it calls Cuba's capability to eventually begin such research. It wasn't even Bolton who attempted to defend the administration's position to members of Congress; rather, he sent one of his underlings by the name of Carl Ford, who had to admit that his department, once again, had put its foot in its mouth -- but few believe it was just a simple mistake. Behind this colossal lie is the clear political intention to damage Cuba's image in an area in which it has international prestige: medical and biotechnological knowledge and research. Since he had no evidence, Mr. Ford tried some State Department double talk mumbling something about how the United States is concerned about Cuba's advanced scientific and medical resources which, according to him and to those who sent him, is reason enough to accuse a country of carrying out research on weapons of mass destruction. It is immediately obvious that Ford totally lacks the slightest knowledge about two cardinal questions related to Cuba's behavior: in the first place, the ethical and humanist nature of Cuban scientists, which makes it impossible for them to use such knowledge to the detriment of humanity -- which does occur in the United States where science has been and continues being used to develop more efficient ways to kill. In the second place, the accusation ignores the facts on how the results of Cuban scientific knowledge are used. That is something well known by the tens thousands of indigenous peoples, peasants and other poor people of the region who have benefited from Cuban medical assistance. The hundreds of thousands of Uruguayan children who receive a Cuban anti-meningitis vaccine free of charge also know it. For all those reasons, we are, at least this time, in agreement with US Senator Christopher Dodd, who presides over the commission formed to investigate the State Department charges against Cuba, that Washington must stop its political opportunism on the issue. We also agree with Senator Dodd that the government must have better things to do than spread the lies invented by its officials. There has been a notable lack of enthusiasm on the part of some media outlets to spread such tales. Could it be that they are reluctant to admit that once again the Cuban government is telling the truth? If so, we would recommend that they look up the word "objective" in a dictionary, as well as "ethics" and "professionalism" and see if it would be possible to incorporate such principles in their work. (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-06.07.02-03:41:05-1778