miércoles, 15 de abril de 2009

Regional Leaders to Demand End of US Blockade of Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, April 15 (acn) Cuba could become one of the main topics of the 5th Summit of the Americas that will take place in Trinidad and Tobago next weekend.

In this regard, Nicaraguan Deputy Foreign Minister Manuel Coronel told reporters in Managua that President Daniel Ortega will introduce the topic of Cuba and will demand the end of the US blockade of the Caribbean archipelago during the meeting.

According to Granma news daily, other leaders of the region have also expressed their intention to emulate Ortega's proposal.

"We can not accept that the United States continues violating Cuba's rights. This is a matter of honor," said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently.

Meanwhile, his Bolivian counterpart, Evo Morales, announced that he would present a resolution in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, demanding the end of Washington's almost fifty-year-old economic, financial and trade blockade of Cuba.

Elsewhere, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorin regretted the absence of any references to the situation of Cuba in the draft of the final declaration of the 5th Summit of the Americas and stressed that the exclusion of Cuba from the inter-American system "is an anomaly that
should be corrected."

In this sense, Colombia has said that it hopes bilateral relations between Cuba and the United States enter a "phase of opening and dialogue" after the summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

Cuba was arbitrarily excluded from this kind of meetings in 1994 by Washington.

In the meantime, a group of 47 US Congress members announced that theywill send President Barack Obama a letter recommending ten steps to normalize relations with Cuba.

Representative Sam Farr, a Democrat from California and author of the document, explained that "it is clear that our policy towards Cuba hasfailed and that it is time to look somewhere else."

(Cuba, punto ineludible en la Cumbre de las Américas)

Cuba Increases Citrus Exports through Matanzas Port

HAVANA, Cuba, April 13 (acn) Cuba exported over 14,000 tons of citrus juices through western Matanzas port this year, mainly to Holland.

This port, in just its fourth shipment in 2009, was able to upload 4,200 tons of the produce, which met all the quality requirements, in 45 hours of continuous work, according to a report published by Radio Rebelde in its website.


This fast upload was made possible thanks to a modern cold store elonging to the Victoria de Giron citrus company, located in the Jagüey Grande municipality, which commercializes the Cubanita brand.

The management of this Cuban entity, the largest of its kind in the Caribbean nation and with a production potential that easily exceeds 15,000 hectares, said that this cold store lower costs of transportation.

At this moment, close to the end of the current citrus harvest in Matanzas province, estimates show the possibility of surpassing the 200,000 tons mark.


A factory of this enterprise extracts juices and essential oils at a rate of approximately one ton of final product from every 19 processed, at the same level as the best international results in this field.

(Mas exportaciones de citricos por puerto matancero)

Days that cannot be forgotten

FORTY-EIGHT years ago, mercenary forces in the service of a foreign power invaded their own homeland, escorted by a U.S. squadron, including an aircraft carrier and dozens of fighter planes. That date cannot be forgotten. The superpower to the North could apply the same prescription to any Latin American country. It has already occurred on many occasions throughout history in our hemisphere. Is there any declaration where it has been promised that such an action is never to be repeated in a direct form or via their own armies, as was the case in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and other countries?

The cunning and surprise Girón attack [Bay of Pigs] cost us more than 150 lives and hundreds of severely wounded. We should like to hear some self-criticism from the powerful country and the guarantee that it will never happen again in our hemisphere.

Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of the failed coup d’état against the Revolution in Venezuela.

For the good of democracy and human rights, a voice is needed to tell us from Washington that the School of the Americas, which specializes in coup d’états and torture, is to be closed down for ever.

We cannot forget that this April, the leader of ARENA, an oligarchic ally of Bush in the Iraq genocide, is still governing in El Salvador. With a million human lives sacrificed, there is sufficient blood to drown all the accomplices.

I am maybe offending in recalling this, or is it also prohibited, in the name of decency, ingenuity, and complicity, to mention the subject?

The measure to ease restrictions on travel is positive in itself, although minimal. Many others are needed, including the elimination of the murderous Cuban Adjustment Act, which is applied exclusively to just our country. We would like a response to the question as to whether the immigration privileges utilized to combat the Cuban Revolution and divest it of human resources might be also conceded to all Latin American and Caribbean peoples. But everything in Port of Spain will be secret. Prohibited to listen to the debate and the pronouncements of heads of state and government. In any event, what each one of them states will become known.

I do not wish to hurt Obama in the slightest degree, but he will be president for one or two terms. He has no responsibility for what has happened and I am convinced that he would not commit Bush’s atrocities. After him, however, someone similar to or worse than his/her predecessor could come along. Humans pass; peoples endure.

There are other extremely grave problems such as climate change, and the current president of the United States has decided to cooperate in that problem which is vital to humanity. We should acknowledge that.

Enough for today. I do not wish to add another word.

Fidel Castro Ruz

April 14, 2009

11:15 a.m.

More Nicaraguans Benefit from ALBA Health Program

HAVANA, Cuba, April 15 (acn) Over 100,000 Nicaraguans have benefited, since May 2008, from the opening of the High Tech Center donated to Nicaragua by Venezuela, which works with the supervision of Cuban technicians.

The Center, created as part of the cooperation programs of the Bolivarian Alternative for The Americas (ALBA), is provided with modern equipment for magnetic resonance, two ultrasounds, a tomographer, electrocardiogram equipment, and a tele-command for special studies,
among other devices.

Cuban radiologist David Leyva told Prensa Latina news agency that the Center provides a free services for Nicaraguans of scant economic resources from around the country.

Leyva, who is also a radiology professor and instructor for Nicaraguan students, commented that advanced studies on Neurocysticercosis, a parasite that uses humans and swine as temporary hosts and that affects the central nervous system, are already being carried out at the Center.

This ailment, which can be detected thanks to the technology available at this institution, produces convulsions, headaches and other symptoms that invalidate patients from the social and labor points of view.

The Cuban expert said that 124 of the 1,000 patients studied from September to November 2008 were diagnosed with the disease, when this figure didn’t even reach a dozen in previous years, due to the lack of these advanced techniques.

Although the authorities don’t intend to measure the economic effects of these actions carried out by way of the solidarity between ALBA members, the resulting statistics in terms of health for the people show over three million dollars in savings for the population.

(Programa de salud del ALBA beneficia a más nicaragüenses)

Bolero Featured in Caribbean Music Congress

HAVANA, Cuba, April 15 (acn) Cuban musicians have been invited to the 3rd Congress on Music, Identity and Culture in the Caribbean, to be held in Santiago de los Caballeros, the Dominican Republic.

The event, the main theme of which will be The Bolero in Caribbean
Culture and its Universal Projection, will begin on Friday and will extend until Sunday, April 19, at the city’s León Jimenez Center, with the participation of countries from The Americas, Europe and other continents.

The largest delegation will come from Latin America and the Caribbean, with creators from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Chile, among other countries.

Cubans César Portillo de la Luz, Omara Portuondo, Martha Valdés, Pablo Milanés and José Loyola have been invited to the Congress, and the participation of José Feliciano and Danny Rivera from Puerto Rico, and Mexicans Armando Manzanero, Marco Antonio Muñiz and Rafael Basurto (leading voice of Los Panchos Trio), are also expected.

The meeting will include a theoretical section as well as the artistic, and intends to validate the bolero as the genre that has adapted the most to modern times, by combining it with rhythms like jazz, el son and salsa.

The Congress has been organized by the Institute for Caribbean Studies, the State Secretariat for Culture, and the Eduardo León Jiménez Cultural center, for the purpose of assessing the cultural impact of the bolero in cinema, literature, visual arts and theater, as well as in other
spheres.

(Validarán impacto del bolero en la música del Caribe María Elana Balán)

Increasing Interest in Europe and the Americas for Cuban Zeolite

SANTA CLARA, Cuba, April 15 (acn) The export of over 550 tons of the mineral zeolite to Canada, Brazil, Italy and Spain in March shows the growing interest for the Cuban mineral in Europe and The Americas.

The director of the stone processing plant from Tasajera in central Villa Clara province, Diógenes Carballo, told AIN that the contracts signed by the industry indicate considerable increases in sales abroad, which could become the highest over the last ten years.

The workers at the Central Geo-mining Enterprise will complete some 275 tons in April destined for the international market, which is part of their commitment to supply some 4,500 tons this year to countries in the Old Continent and Canada.

According to Carballo, commitments to national clients were fulfilled during the first trimester, as well as the amount planned for the Cuban joint venture Agrisel, which commercializes this export item enriched with other chemical elements to Spain.

The Cuban zeolite is among the best in the world, and there are abundant reserves and plants for their exploitation in Villa Clara, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba provinces.

The Tasajera-Piojillo deposit, on the center of the archipelago, has only prospected 0.8 of its 25 kilometers, which guarantees its present and future use.

(Ascendente interés por zeolita cubana en Europa y América)

Cuba Reaffirms Support for Bolivian Leader Evo Morales

HAVANA, Cuba, April 15 (acn) Cuba’s support of the Bolivian people and its leader, Evo Morales, was reaffirmed on Tuesday in this capital during the presentation of the latest issue of Tricontinental Magazine, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

The secretary of the Organization for Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL), Alfonso Fraga, highlighted that Morales will win in his just stance in defense of the interests of his people.

The presentation of the 166th edition of Tricontinental Magazine took place at Havana’s International Press Center, and was attended by Jorge Risquet, member of the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party, and by representatives from the diplomatic corps accredited on the archipelago.

Risquet underlined the importance and quality of the magazine, published by OSPAAAL, which has brought readers closer to the knowledge of international political and social processes for many years.

Moreover, he praised the graphic design of the present edition, which highlights the figure of the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, and the 50 years of existence of the Cuban revolutionary process, considered a momentous event in the world in the 20th century.


(Ratifican apoyo de Cuba a líder boliviano Evo Morales)