viernes, 8 de mayo de 2009

Int'l Forum in Canada Condemns US Anti-Cuba Policy

HAVANA, Cuba, May 8 (acn) Discussions at an international conference on the significance of the Cuban Revolution, sponsored by the Canadian University of Queens, focused on the failure of the US policy of isolation towards Cuba.

"The best example of the failed policy is that the United States will soon be the only country in the western hemisphere without diplomatic ties with Havana," announced the head of the Cuban Foreign Ministry's North America Division, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro.

According to Prensa Latina news agency, the Cuban official said that as soon as the new government of El Salvador establishes relations with Cuba, as announced by president-elect Mauricio Funes, the defeat of Washington's isolationist policy against the Caribbean nation could be
formally announced.

Canadian professor John Kirk, who has dedicated some of his books to Cuba, said that the fact that only three countries voted last year at the UN General Assembly in favor of the blockade, shows the lack of international support for the US policy.

Meanwhile, Robert Pastor, National Security Advisor for Latin America during the US Administration of James Carter, said that the blockade did not achieve its goal and added that almost 50 years after it was implemented there have been no changes in Washington's stance towards Havana.

The opinion of panelists was shared by the audience while an activist of the Canada-Cuba Friendship Association noted that the existence of revolutionary processes in Latin American countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia, as well as the creation of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) bloc for regional integration and cooperation, also show the failure of the US anti-Cuba policy.

The University of Queens is in Kingston, a city located on the eastern side of Lake Ontario, Canada.


(Foro en Canadá condena política anticubana de EE.UU.)

Camagüey sinks to Popular Exercise Meteor 2009

Camagüey, may 8. - Under the premise that to prevent is the best way to avoid considerable damages, the county of Camagüey prepares to carry out the Popular Exercise Meteor 2009, to be carried out - like in the whole country - the days 16 and 17 of the current May.

The days foreseen for the review of the address organs and of control and of the population to face extreme situations of disasters, it will allow to diminish the vulnerabilities and to execute the measures of protection of the resources of the economy and of people and their goods.

In reason of it, on Saturday 16, the actions will head to the evaluation of the dangers of more impact in the different sectors and communities and to conclude the upgrade of the plans for cases of disasters; as long as on Sunday 17 will be materialized, among other, works of repair of housings and entities affected by the step of the hurricanes by our territory.

The Popular Exercise “Meteor 2009” for which already gets ready the territory of Camagüey will be the colophon of the Week of Reduction of Disasters, period in the one that works of general sanitation will also be developed. ( Tay Toscano Jerez)

Washington Fines Oil Drilling Company for Violating US Blockade of Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba. The US Government has fined oil drilling manufacturer Varel Holdings US$ 110,000 for exporting technology to Cuba in violation of the US blockade against the island.

According to the Granma newspaper, which quotes Mexican news agency Notimex, this is the second fine imposed by the US State Department under the administration of Barack Obama in the current fiscal year, which began last October, and his administration's first against an oil
drilling company.

Last March, Washington fined Lactalis USA, a New York-based dairy producer, for US$ 20,950.

According to a recent report from the US Treasury Department's Foreign Assets Control Office (OFAC), Varel Holdings agreed to pay the fine after admitting to violating US blockade laws by way of a foreign subsidiary.

These latest fines take place at a time when oil exploration in the deep waters to the North of Cuba has begun to attract the interest of several international consortiums.

The United States has fined three other oil companies in recent years for similar violations. In 2006, OFAC fined the Dresser-Rand Group with US$ 171,300; in 2007, PSL Energy Services had to pay US$ 164,006; and Platte River Associates is facing a legal process that could cost the company upwards of US$ 1 million.


(Multa EE.UU a petrolera por violar bloqueo a Cuba)

Cuban Communities Benefited from ALBA Program

JAGUEY GRANDE. Communities in this territory of central Matanzas province are benefited from the doctors' training program incorporated in the Bolivarian Alternative for The Americas (ALBA).

The Sofiel Riverón faculty-policlinic, in which over 360 doctors-to-be from Venezuela are studying with highly trained teachers, offers primary ealth care services to residents in the town of La Isabel, in Jovellanos municipality.

The institution, equipped with advanced technology, also offers medical assistance to students from the neighboring Luis Alfonso Pre-University Institute, while the doctors-to-be practice the community medicine program that will later on apply in their country.

This faculty-policlinic offers consultation, ultrasound, clinical laboratory, observation room, dentistry and infirmary services, while its staff also visits patients in their homes and carry out campaigns to prevent non-transmissible diseases, like diabetes mellitus.

The teaching clinic’s dean, Dr. Rosa María Téllez, told ACN that one of the greatest advantages of this modality of study is that from the first year of their career, the students are in direct contact with patients along with their professors, which contributes to a more humanistic training.

In the municipality of Jagüey Grande, 160 kilometers southeast of Havana, there are some 25 such health facilities, including policlinics, general hospitals, multi-purpose centers, and an eye hospital, in which over 5,700 medical students from some 20 nations are studying and training.


(Comunidades cubanas beneficiadas con programa del ALBA)

Increase artificial breeding of calves in Camagüey

Camagüey, may 8. The artificial upbringing of calves will allow to this territory, that of more importance in the cattle production of Cuba, to increase the delivery of milk considerably to the industry.

In the whole country this experience is recaptured with the use of a milky supplement, rich in vitamins and salts, which allows to substitute and to recover for the industry about four liters for each female, which also shortens the time of incorporation to the reproduction with the quickest appearance in the zeal.

The municipality Camagüey is one of the most successful in the recovery of this program in the territory of the same name and outstanding peasants as Abilio Conde, bigger producing of Cuba, and Ricardo Linares, one of the most efficient in the parameters at provincial level, sustain that in spite of the advantages it becomes necessary a special conditioning of the breeding ships and an exquisite handling of the mass.

“Many heads are not allowed to milk therefore without the calves it is necessary to work in different way with some and in the ships should separate the calves according to their age. It is not to simply use the powdered supplement but of dosing other food, the water and the grass to give him continuity in their growth and not to lose animals. It is made a little difficult at the beginning but if one works well, we are totally sure that it is the road to increase our production”, Linares declared.

Some 100 thousand assisted calves this way in the country during the year 2009, will allow to increase the volume of the important food with the same quantity of females in milk and in the specific case of Camagüey, of their plan of 90 millions, 3 of them depend on the correct implementation of the system. (Oreidis Pimentel Pérez)

Cuban Female Volleyball Team Departs for Peru

HAVANA, Cuba. Cuban youth female volleyball team departs this Thursday to Peru to get some training before the world championship of the category to be played between July 23rd and August 1st in Baja California.

The squad is made up of attackers Rosanna Giel, Heidy Rodríguez, Dairlis Cruz and Daneille Castañeda and passers Lilianni Marcillán and Yamila Hernández.

The other team members are Yunieska Robles, Yudit Pumariega, Anay Hernández, Yenifer Álvarez, Daimara Lescay and Regla García, and libero Grethel Valladares as well.

The Cuban squad will be in the South American country till next 16th, a period when they will train and play matches in Cuzco, Iquitos and Lima cities.
At the Peruvian capital they will participate in a three-team event, with Colombia and the host country, in order to correct their faults before the world championship.

The youth squad won its ticket to Baja California in the North, Centro America and the Caribbean (NORCECA) tournament held in 2008 in Saltillo, Mexico, where they finished third.

(Voleibolistas juveniles buscarán fogueo en Perú)

Youth Organizations Demand Release of Cuban Five

HAVANA, Cuba. The release from prison of the Cuban Five, unjustly incarcerated in the US, will be demanded by youth organizations during the 2nd International Meeting of Solidarity, to be held in this city from on May 11 and 12.

So far, a total of 170 delegates from 57 youth groups in 55 countries have confirmed their attendance to the event, said Iosvanny Barrueta, member of the National Bureau of the Young Communists League, on Thursday.

On May 11, participants will meet with relatives of Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and René González, during which they will be updated on the latest development in their legal case.

The meeting will serve to assess the actions of solidarity carried out thus far in support of Cuban Five, who were imprisoned for trying to prevent terrorist actions against their country.
The event includes an international interactive forum in real time, to be hosted by the Cubasi portal, where delegates will share their experiences in Cuba.

Social workers, children, members of University and High School students federations, and youths in general will be represented at the meeting, which will take place at Cojimar Convention Center east of Havana.

(Organizaciones juveniles exigirán libertad de Los Cinco)

Youth Organizations to Demand Release of Cuban Five

HAVANA, Cuba. The release from prison of the Five Cuban antiterrorist fighters unjustly incarcerated in the US will be demanded by youth organizations during the 2nd International Meeting of Solidarity, to be held in this city on May 11 and 12.

So far, a total of 170 delegates making up 57 youth groups from 55 countries have confirmed their attendance to the event, affirmed in Havana Iosvanny Barrueta, member of the National Bureau of the Young Communists' League.

On May 11, participants will meet with relatives of Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and René González, during which they will be updated on the latest developments in their legal case.

The meeting will serve to assess the actions of solidarity carried out so far in support of these prisoners, thrown in jail for trying to prevent terrorist actions against their country.

The event includes an international interactive forum in real time, to be hosted by the Cubasi portal, where delegates will share their experiences in Cuba.

Social workers, children, members of the University and High School students federations, and youths in general will be represented at the meeting, which will take place at Cojimar Convention Center east of Havana.

(Organizaciones juveniles exigirán libertad de Los Cinco)

Cuba Continues Hurricane Recovery

More than 6,600 families in central Villa Clara province whose homes were damaged by the passage of three hurricanes in 2008 have benefited from restoration works carried out during the first months of 2009.

Director of the Provincial Housing Institute Francisco Hernández told ACN news agency that his organization's main goal is to repair damage caused by the hurricanes to some 18,000 houses in the territory.

He said that the main problems reside in the roofing with 15,000 houses affected, most with partial damage. Forty percent of these have been repaired so far, and Hernández said that the rest will be repaired during the first half of 2009.

Villa Clara was one of the provinces with the smallest amount of homes damaged by the hurricanes, with only 500 destroyed, as compared to the western and eastern regions of the country that suffered direct hits from Gustav, Ike and Paloma.

Provincial housing plans for the year in Villa Clara include 640 new homes.

The hurricane season in the Caribbean officially begins June 1 and ends November 30.

(Avanza reparación de viviendas dañadas por huracanes)

Young Cuban Collectors Awarded at World Philately Exhibition

HAVANA, Cuba. The prizes received by Young Cuban collectors Adrián Fernández Guzmán, Carlos Galguera Solís and Adrián Nazco Urrutia at the World Philately Exhibition recently held in China have been described as extraordinary.

Adrián Fernández, 18, received the Youth Grand Prize and the Large Vermeil Medal; Carlos Galguera obtained the Large Vermeil Medal; and Adrián Nazco, 17, walked away with the Vermeil or Golden Silver Medal, second in the event's categories. They all live in the Cuban capital.

The President of Cuba's Philately Federation, José Raúl Lorenzo, noted that it was the largest exhibition of its kind ever held in the world, and took place in the city of Louyang, Juventud Rebelde newspaper reports.

The Cuban official explained that more than 2 million collectors from 84 nations participated in the event, who presented over 1,000 collections of great value. Visitors to the exhibition had the opportunity of enjoying 12 of the planet's 14 most important philately jewels.

Adrián Fernández obtained the Youth Grand Prize for his collection titiled Marcas postales prefilatélicas de Cuba, which includes 130 covers or letters from the first half of the 19th century, before postage stamps began to be used in Cuba in 1855.

Carlos Galguera received the Large Vermeil Medal for his collection Primeros vuelos de Cuba, while Adrián Nazco won with his Barco al agua, que el viento sopla, a large diversity of postal material on sail navigation from the 19th century to date.

Cuban adults awarded Golden Silver Medals on this occasion were Pedro Intento Echeverria (El telégrafo) and Ignacio Granados Fernandez (El fascinante séptimo arte).

(Jóvenes cubanos con premios en exposición filatélica mundial)

Cuban Farmers Urged to Increase their Productive Potential

A call for an increase in theirproductive potential was made to farmers by Orlando Lugo Fonte,President of Cuba’s National Small Farmers Association, whileacknowledging their advances.

At a meeting with leaders and members of this sector, Lugo Fonte said that there are still resources to exploit , using as an example the importance of bringing farmers closer to the end results of theirproduction.

Lugo praised the effort made this year with the tomato harvest, whichhas allowed the country to process and produce over 100,000 metric tonsof tomato pastes.

With regard to cattle raising, the head of the association, pointed outthat the birth rate has reached 58 percent and should increase to 80,which would translate to more milk per cow, and more savings for theCuban economy (approximately 40 million dollars over the past year) dueto the high prices of powdered milk in the international market.

Lugo Fonte also encouraged them to increase the use of organicfertilizers since the prices of the inorganic ones are around a thousanddollars per ton.

He also added that all cooperatives should produce their own rice, beans andother food products to become self-sufficient without neglecting their sales commitments to the government.

(Necesario elevar el potencial productivo de los campesinos)

Saharan FM Demands Lifting of US Blockade against Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba. Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, Foreign Affairs
Minister of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, demanded in this
capital the lifting of the US economic, financial and commercial
blockade against Cuba.

The US blockade against the Cuban people is unfair, illegal and violates
international law, said the Saharan FM this Thursday at his meeting with
Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez Padilla, at the ministry of Foreign
Affairs.

The African diplomat said that the international community must insist
that the White House end its economic siege on the Cuban nation, which
has cost the Caribbean country over 93 billion dollars or approximately
224 billion at today’s rate.

He also thanked Cuba for its support to his country’s liberation and
self- determination causes, as well as the important cooperation it
offers his country in the areas of education and health .

Meanwhile Rodriguez Padilla ratified Cuba’s invariable position of
support to the Saharan cause and dubbed as fructiferous the bilateral
collaboration in several fields.

The Cuban FM also highlighted Mohamed Salem’s performance ahead of his
country’s delegation at the Ministerial Meeting of the Non Aligned
Movement Coordination Bureau, which was held successfully in this city
recently.

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Cuba Increases Forest Fire Control

HAVANA, Cuba. Cuba has stepped up its monitoring of fire-risk areas during the ongoing drought season which has seen 307 forest fires so far this year (all extinguished), reported the local press today.

Raul Gonzalez, head of the fire control unit of the Cuban National Forest Rangers, told Granma newspaper that since January 7,573 hectares have been damaged by fire, mostly in the provinces of Camaguey, Sancti Spiritus, and Las Tunas, and in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.

The period of highest probabilities of fire is from January 1 to May 31, known as the drought season.

Gonzalez said that monitoring and control measures in high-risk areas have been tightened with increased patrols flying over the forests, equipped with fire extinguishers.

In addition, the Cuban Institute of Meteorology has an early alert system in place to help prevent fires, while other institutions collaborate through the Protected Areas System.

(Cuba aumenta vigilancia ante amenaza latente de incendios forestales)