[NYTr] Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Sep 13, 2007
 
Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 05:59:26 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Progreso Weekly - Sep 13, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=145&Itemid=1

Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Sept 13, 2007
A service of Radio Progreso Alternativa's Havana bureau

* Cuba honors its patron saint; Archbishop speaks on radio
* Labor unions criticize management
* ALBA ministerial meeting 
* Cuba and the LASA conference
* A Book about The Five
* Canada and Cuba Expand Trade

* Cuba honors its patron saint; Archbishop speaks on radio

On Sept. 8, Cubans paid tribute to Our Lady of Charity, the island's
patron saint. Carrying yellow candles and flowers, the faithful visited
the churches at every diocese in the country to pay homage to their
patron saint, who in the syncretic religion [Yoruba] bears the name of
OchC:n and is the goddess of rivers, kindness and love.

At the Church of Charity in the municipality of Centro-Habana, the
faithful filled the temple, despite constant rain. And in the town of
El Cobre, in eastern Santiago de Cuba province, where the original
image of the virgin is on display, a multitude of believers offered
their prayers, vows and pleas.

The tributes to the patron saint were not limited to the churches.
Along the streets of numerous cities and towns, the faithful staged
processions, carrying statues of the virgin on their shoulders. 

Monsignor Juan de la Caridad GarcC-a RodrC-guez, Archbishop of the
eastern province of CamagC<ey, said during an address on the "Noontime"
program of Radio Cadena Agramonte that the faithful "are invited to
walk with the Virgin Mary of Charity during the processions we shall
stage in the various municipalities: Friday the 7th in the evening, in
Sola and SibanicC:. Saturday the 8th at night, in CC)spedes, Florida,
Vertientes, GuC!imaro, Esmeralda, Nuevitas, Minas, Cuatro Caminos en
Najasa, CamagC<ey and Santa Cruz del Sur."

A similar radio announcement was made by Monsignor Clvaro Beyra Luarca,
Bishop of the Diocese of Bayamo-Manzanillo in eastern Granma province.

* Labor unions criticize management

On Sept. 6, the daily Granma reported on the role of the workers'
movement in the analyses and discussions of the Economic Plan for 2008.
It also stressed the importance the government has given to the
proposals emanating from those assemblies.

The newspaper did not shy away from reporting that in some assemblies
the workers criticized administrative reports "with indicators that are
not sufficiently clear and precise to enable the workers to identify
problems and propose solutions."

There is also "a lack of priority (which is needed for the task at
hand) and insufficient coordination, preparation and participation of
the administrative cadres and the [labor] union structures,
particularly in the sector of budgeting, which is on the table for the
first time in these deliberations."

All the labor union chapters in the country have been asked to
participate openly and critically, not only in regard to the economic
plan for 2008 but also in a free discussion of the speech made on July
26 by the acting president, Army Gen. RaC:l Castro Ruz. (See Progreso
Semanal blog for Sept. 7, 2007, "Changing within socialism.")

* ALBA ministerial meeting 

The second ministerial meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance for the
Americas (ALBA) will be held in Havana Sept. 20-21, announced Cuban
Foreign Minister Felipe PC)rez Roque.

The agenda for the meeting includes the creation of the secretariat for
the integrationist organization and a common bank. Both proposals were
made by the President of Venezuela, Hugo ChC!vez FrC-as.

ALBA is an integration project based on cooperation and stressing the
social aspect and complementation in the fields of production and
services. It is formed by Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua. 

* Cuba and the LASA conference

Solidarity with Cuba was the central theme of the speech delivered by
Ricardo AlarcC3n, president of the National Assembly of the People's
Power (Parliament), to 400 participants in the 27th Congress of the
Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Cuba's National Information
Agency reported.

Charlie Hale, president of LASA, described the steps taken by his
organization to enable Cuba to be present at the meeting in
Montreal,Canada. Numerous academicians, intellectuals and professionals
from the island were in attendance.

Wayne Smith and Elsa Falkenburger, U.S. members of the Cuba Section,
explained the legislative situation in their country and the
initiatives that are being promoted against the U.S. blockade and the
prohibition of travel to the island for academic purposes.

The 135 Cuban delegates to the LASA 2007 Congress, along with the U.S.
members of the Cuba Section, learned about the work of the departing
board of directors and voted to elect a new board that will direct the
association next year.

Several works written by Cuban academicians, researchers and
intellectuals were presented during the session. They dealt with the
nation's culture and reality, in the present context of Latin America
and the Caribbean.

About 6,000 academicians and intellectuals from the U.S., Canada and
Latin American and Caribbean countries attended the meeting, which
ended on Saturday, Sept. 8.

* A Book about The Five

The story of five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned in the United States
since 1998 appears in a book about the 25 most-censored topics in the
American press during the past year, several international news
services reported.

Alicia Jrapko, a member of the International Committee for the Release
of the Five Cubans, says the legal case deserved one entire chapter in
the book, compiled by the Project Censored group of Sonoma State
University in California.

Every year, the group collects hundreds of news stories on various
topics that are analyzed and classified (in terms of importance) by a
team a students and journalism professors, Jrapko says.

RenC) GonzC!lez, Gerardo HernC!ndez, RamC3n LabaC1ino, Fernando GonzC!lez and
Antonio Guerrero were arrested in 1998 while they collected information
about terrorist groups operating against Cuba from South Florida.

The author of the section devoted to the five Cubans, Jeffrey Huling,
was unaware of the story before doing his research, which enabled him
to open his eyes "to the hypocrisy and lies of the U.S. government."

bAs a studied the details of the case, I felt terribly frustrated when
I saw the weakness of justice, overrun by political corruption,b Huling
said. His work will appear on the group's Web site.

Among the personalities who select (and have selected) the stories are
Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Norman Solomon, Erna Smith,
and Mike Wallace.

* Canada and Cuba Expand Trade

International news agencies report that Cuban exports to Canada from
January to June of this year grew by 144.3 percent when compared with
the same period in 2006.

Cuba has exported products valued at $684 million and has imported
Canadian products worth $214 million, for an increase of 2.3 percent. 

 
                                 *
=================================================================
.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
.  List Archives:      https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
.  Subscribe:    https://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================