Στρασβούργο, 7 Ιουλίου 2010

Περισσότεροι από 5.5 εκατομμύρια νέοι κάτω των 25 ετών στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση είναι άνεργοι, αριθμός που ισούται με ποσοστό 21.4%, το οποίο και είναι υπερδιπλάσιο του συνολικού ποσοστού ανεργίας. Το ζήτημα της απασχόλησης των νέων αποτελεί μια από τις, πλέον, σημαντικές προκλήσεις, που αντιμετωπίζει η Ευρώπη των 27, σε συνάρτηση με το δημογραφικό πρόβλημα, το θέμα της διατηρησιμότητας των ταμείων κοινωνικής ασφάλισης και κατ' επέκταση των δημοσίων οικονομικών. Σε αυτό το πλαίσιο, υιοθετήθηκε χθες, με μεγάλη πλειοψηφία, από την Ολομέλεια του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου Έκθεση Πρωτοβουλίας, σχετικά με την προώθηση της πρόσβασης των νέων στην αγορά εργασίας, την ενίσχυση του καθεστώτος περιόδων άσκησης, πρακτικής και μαθητείας, μέσω της οποίας αναδεικνύεται η πραγματική διάσταση του αποκλεισμού των νέων από την αγορά εργασίας και προτείνονται συγκεκριμένες πρωτοβουλίες, προκειμένου να αντιμετωπιστεί το εν λόγω ζήτημα τόσο σε εθνικό, όσο και σε ευρωπαϊκό επίπεδο, όπως:

·   η ενίσχυση της επιχειρηματικότητας των νέων και πρόσβαση των νέων σε πιστώσεις και αντίστοιχες συμβουλευτικές υπηρεσίες,

·   η καταπολέμηση των διακρίσεων έναντι των νέων στην αγορά εργασίας (συμβόλαια πρώτης απασχόλησης – ρυθμίσεις αμοιβής κατώτερη της κατώτατης προβλεπόμενης) και η ενίσχυση της μαθητείας, άσκησης και πρακτικής – σε εκπαιδευτικό πλαίσιο και επί πληρωμή που να διασφαλίζει μια αξιοπρεπή διαβίωση,

·   η καταπολέμηση της εκμετάλλευσης των συστημάτων μαθητείας, άσκησης και πρακτικής με σκοπό την κάλυψη θέσεων εργασίας με χαμηλότερο κόστος για τον εργοδότη,

·   η καταπολέμηση της πρόωρης σχολικής εγκατάλειψης, η πρόσβαση σε δωρεάν παιδεία – κίνητρα συνέχισης στην ανώτατη εκπαίδευση και η σύνδεση της εκπαίδευσης με ανάγκες της αγοράς εργασίας

·   η εκπαίδευση για νέους ανέργους, έπειτα από 4 μήνες ανεργίας και αξιοπρεπή επιδόματα ανεργίας.

Στο τελικό κείμενο της Έκθεσης ενσωματώθηκαν, συγκεντρώνοντας την υποστήριξη της πλειοψηφίας των πολιτικών ομάδων, τροπολογίες του Ευρωβουλευτή Κ. Πουπάκη, που προασπίζονται τα δικαιώματα των νέων έναντι διακρίσεων, με σκοπό την καταπολέμηση του κοινωνικού αποκλεισμού, του κατακερματισμού της αγοράς εργασίας και την ενίσχυση της πρόσβασής τους σε αυτήν καθώς και την ενδυνάμωση της συμμετοχής τους στη γνώση και τον κοινωνικό διάλογο. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, ο Κ. Πουπάκης υποστήριξε:

·   τη δημιουργία ποιοτικών θέσεων εργασίας για τους νέους όσο και τη συνεχή κατάρτιση και αναβάθμιση των δεξιοτήτων τους, κατά τη διάρκεια της απασχόλησης,

·   την ενίσχυση της πρακτικής διάστασης των σχολικών προγραμμάτων, με σκοπό την καταπολέμηση της πρόωρης σχολικής εγκατάλειψης,

·   την ανάγκη προστασίας των νέων από εργοδότες -δημόσιους και ιδιώτες- που μέσω προγραμμάτων απόκτησης εργασιακής εμπειρίας, μαθητείας ή και άσκησης καλύπτουν καίριες και βασικές ανάγκες με χαμηλό ή μηδαμινό κόστος εκμεταλλευόμενοι τη θέληση των νέων για μάθηση, χωρίς καμία μελλοντική προοπτική πλήρους ένταξης των εν λόγω νέων στο εργατικό τους δυναμικό,

·   την ένταξη των προγραμμάτων μαθητείας, άσκησης και απόκτησης εργασιακής εμπειρίας στα συστήματα κοινωνικής ασφάλισης,

·   την καταπολέμηση της μονομερούς υιοθέτησης της πολιτικής της ευελιξίας χωρίς επαρκή ασφάλεια, ως μέσο καταστρατήγησης των εργασιακών και ασφαλιστικών δικαιωμάτων των νέων,

·   την ενεργοποίηση των κοινωνικών εταίρων και την ενίσχυση της συμμετοχής τους στις πολιτικές πληροφόρησης των νέων, στα σχέδια δράσης για ενίσχυση της πρόσβασής των νέων στην αγορά εργασίας και την ενδυνάμωση της συμμετοχής της νέας γενιάς στα συνδικαλιστικά όργανα και κατ' επέκταση στον κοινωνικό διάλογο, καθώς και

·   τη σημασία πρόσβασης στο ολοήμερο σχολείο, στο πλαίσιο συμφιλίωσης της επαγγελματικής και οικογενειακής ζωής.

"Η ανεργία των νέων αποτελεί σοβαρό κοινωνικό και οικονομικό πλήγμα. Σε μια Ευρώπη, που συνεχώς «γερνάει», πρέπει επιτέλους να αποδείξουμε έμπρακτα, ότι εργαζόμαστε για ένα καλύτερο αύριο. Οι νέοι, βρίσκονται στο περιθώριο τόσο της αγοράς εργασίας, όσο και της κοινωνίας. Απαιτούνται, λοιπόν, στοχευμένες και υπεύθυνες πολιτικές, προκειμένου να ενδυναμωθεί η πρόσβασή τους στην απασχόληση και την κατάρτιση και όχι μέτρα περιστολών σε εργασιακά και μισθολογικά τους δικαιώματα, όπως αυτά που προωθούνται στη χώρα μας " δήλωσε σχετικά ο Κ. Πουπάκης.

Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες:

Κωνσταντίνος  Πουπάκης                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Γραφείο Τύπου Κ.Ο. ΕΛΚ

Βουλευτής του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       τηλ: +32 22 83 20 01

τηλ: +32 2 28 45 260  - φαξ: +32 2 28  49 260                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 e-mail: theodoros.georgitsopoulos@europarl.europa.eu

e-mail: konstantinos.poupakis@europarl.europa.eu

            As I was writing every one of my previous Reflections, and a catastrophe was quickly zeroing in on humanity, my major concern was to fulfill the primary duty to inform our people.

            Today, I feel more relax than 26 days ago. As the situation evolves, I can reiterate and expand on the information to the national and international public.

            Obama has committed to attend the quarterfinals match on July 2, if his country’s team makes it to that stage. He supposedly knows better than anyone that the quarterfinals will not be contested because very serious developments will take place before that; or at least he should know.

            Last Friday, June 25, an international press agency known for the attention to details in its reports, published a statement by the «…Navy Commander of the elite Corps of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution General Ali Fadavi…,» warning «…that if the United States and its allies inspect Iranian ships in international waters ‘they will have their response in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.’»

            The information was taken from the local news agency Mehr of Iran.

            According to the press dispatch, said news agency reported that «Fadavi added that ‘the Navy of the Revolutionary Guardians currently has hundreds of vessels equipped with missile launchers.’» 

            The information, produced approximately at the same time of what Granma published or perhaps before, seemed at some points an exact copy of the Reflections elaborated on Thursday June 24th and ran by that paper on Friday 25th.

            The coincidence can be explained by the simple use of a logical reasoning. I was completely unaware of what the Iranian local agency had published.

            I have absolutely no doubt that as soon as the American and Israeli warships are deployed –alongside the rest of the American military vessels positioned off the Iranian coasts– and they try to inspect the first merchant ship from that country, there will be a massive launching of missiles in both directions. At that moment exactly the terrible war will begin. It’s not possible to estimate how many vessels will be sunk or from what country.

            Knowing the truth timely is the most important thing for our people.

            It doesn’t matter if almost everybody, I’d dare say 99.9% or more of my compatriots, instinctively cling to hopes and agree with my sincere wishes to be wrong. I have talked to people close to me, and I have also received news from many noble, selfless and hardworking people who have read my Reflections and do not challenge my considerations in the least but rather absorb, believe and swallow my reasoning through a dry throat; however, they immediately go back to the tasks to which they devote their energies.

            That is precisely what we expect of our compatriots. But it would be worse to suddenly become aware of extremely gave events without having heard as much as a news about such possibility. Then there would be confusion and panic, and that would be unworthy of our heroic Cuban people, which was very close to becoming the target of a massive nuclear strike on October 1962, and still did not hesitate for a second in discharging its duty.

            Our brave combatants and the military chiefs of our Revolutionary Armed Forces taking part in heroic internationalist missions were close to becoming the victims of nuclear strikes against the Cuban troops deployed close to the Angolan south border from where the South African racist forces –at the time positioned on the Namibian border– had been expelled after the battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

            The Pentagon, with the consent of the President of the United States, supplied the South African racists through Israel with about 14 nuclear bombs, more powerful than those dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as we have indicated in previous Reflections.

            I am neither a prophet nor a fortune teller. Nobody told me a word of what was to happen. It has all been the result of what I today describe as a logical reasoning.

            We are neither new to this complicated issue nor are we meddlesome.

            It is possible to predict what will happen in the rest of the Portuguese and Spanish speaking Americas during the nuclear post crisis.

            Under such circumstances, it will not be possible to talk of capitalism or socialism. A stage will open that will see the management of the available goods and services in this part of the continent. Certainly, every country will continue being ruled by those who head the governments today, some very close to socialism and others euphoric over the opening of the world market to fuels, uranium, copper, lithium, aluminum, iron and other metals being sent to the developed and rich countries today that will suddenly disappear.

            An abundance of food exported now to that world market will also disappear abruptly.

            In these circumstances, the most basic products needed for life: food, water, fuels, and the resources found in the hemisphere south of the United States will suffice to preserve some of the civilization whose unbridled advance has led humanity into such a disaster.

            Nevertheless, there are still some uncertainties. Will the two mightiest nuclear powers, the United States and Russia, be able to refrain from using their nuclear weapons against each other?

            There is no doubt, however, that from Europe the nuclear weapons of Great Britain and France, allied with the United States and Israel, –the same that enthusiastically imposed the resolution that will inevitably unleash the war, which for the abovementioned reasons will immediately become nuclear– are threatening the Russian territory even though this country and China have done everything within their capabilities to prevent the conflict.

            The economy of the superpower will fall to pieces like a house of cards.  The American society is the least prepared to endure a catastrophe like the one the empire has created in the same territory where it started.

            We don’t know which will be the effect on the environment of the nuclear weapons that will unavoidably explode in various parts of the world, and that in the least serious variant will happen in abundance.

            As for me, to advance a hypothesis would be pure science fiction.

Fidel Castro Ruz

June 27, 2010

2:15 PM    

            As I was writing every one of my previous Reflections, and a catastrophe was quickly zeroing in on humanity, my major concern was to fulfill the primary duty to inform our people.

            Today, I feel more relax than 26 days ago. As the situation evolves, I can reiterate and expand on the information to the national and international public.

            Obama has committed to attend the quarterfinals match on July 2, if his country’s team makes it to that stage. He supposedly knows better than anyone that the quarterfinals will not be contested because very serious developments will take place before that; or at least he should know.

            Last Friday, June 25, an international press agency known for the attention to details in its reports, published a statement by the «…Navy Commander of the elite Corps of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution General Ali Fadavi…,» warning «…that if the United States and its allies inspect Iranian ships in international waters ‘they will have their response in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.’»

            The information was taken from the local news agency Mehr of Iran.

            According to the press dispatch, said news agency reported that «Fadavi added that ‘the Navy of the Revolutionary Guardians currently has hundreds of vessels equipped with missile launchers.’» 

            The information, produced approximately at the same time of what Granma published or perhaps before, seemed at some points an exact copy of the Reflections elaborated on Thursday June 24th and ran by that paper on Friday 25th.

            The coincidence can be explained by the simple use of a logical reasoning. I was completely unaware of what the Iranian local agency had published.

            I have absolutely no doubt that as soon as the American and Israeli warships are deployed –alongside the rest of the American military vessels positioned off the Iranian coasts– and they try to inspect the first merchant ship from that country, there will be a massive launching of missiles in both directions. At that moment exactly the terrible war will begin. It’s not possible to estimate how many vessels will be sunk or from what country.

            Knowing the truth timely is the most important thing for our people.

            It doesn’t matter if almost everybody, I’d dare say 99.9% or more of my compatriots, instinctively cling to hopes and agree with my sincere wishes to be wrong. I have talked to people close to me, and I have also received news from many noble, selfless and hardworking people who have read my Reflections and do not challenge my considerations in the least but rather absorb, believe and swallow my reasoning through a dry throat; however, they immediately go back to the tasks to which they devote their energies.

            That is precisely what we expect of our compatriots. But it would be worse to suddenly become aware of extremely gave events without having heard as much as a news about such possibility. Then there would be confusion and panic, and that would be unworthy of our heroic Cuban people, which was very close to becoming the target of a massive nuclear strike on October 1962, and still did not hesitate for a second in discharging its duty.

            Our brave combatants and the military chiefs of our Revolutionary Armed Forces taking part in heroic internationalist missions were close to becoming the victims of nuclear strikes against the Cuban troops deployed close to the Angolan south border from where the South African racist forces –at the time positioned on the Namibian border– had been expelled after the battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

            The Pentagon, with the consent of the President of the United States, supplied the South African racists through Israel with about 14 nuclear bombs, more powerful than those dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as we have indicated in previous Reflections.

            I am neither a prophet nor a fortune teller. Nobody told me a word of what was to happen. It has all been the result of what I today describe as a logical reasoning.

            We are neither new to this complicated issue nor are we meddlesome.

            It is possible to predict what will happen in the rest of the Portuguese and Spanish speaking Americas during the nuclear post crisis.

            Under such circumstances, it will not be possible to talk of capitalism or socialism. A stage will open that will see the management of the available goods and services in this part of the continent. Certainly, every country will continue being ruled by those who head the governments today, some very close to socialism and others euphoric over the opening of the world market to fuels, uranium, copper, lithium, aluminum, iron and other metals being sent to the developed and rich countries today that will suddenly disappear.

            An abundance of food exported now to that world market will also disappear abruptly.

            In these circumstances, the most basic products needed for life: food, water, fuels, and the resources found in the hemisphere south of the United States will suffice to preserve some of the civilization whose unbridled advance has led humanity into such a disaster.

            Nevertheless, there are still some uncertainties. Will the two mightiest nuclear powers, the United States and Russia, be able to refrain from using their nuclear weapons against each other?

            There is no doubt, however, that from Europe the nuclear weapons of Great Britain and France, allied with the United States and Israel, –the same that enthusiastically imposed the resolution that will inevitably unleash the war, which for the abovementioned reasons will immediately become nuclear– are threatening the Russian territory even though this country and China have done everything within their capabilities to prevent the conflict.

            The economy of the superpower will fall to pieces like a house of cards.  The American society is the least prepared to endure a catastrophe like the one the empire has created in the same territory where it started.

            We don’t know which will be the effect on the environment of the nuclear weapons that will unavoidably explode in various parts of the world, and that in the least serious variant will happen in abundance.

            As for me, to advance a hypothesis would be pure science fiction.

Fidel Castro Ruz

June 27, 2010

2:15 PM    

Reflections by comrade Fidel

I WOULD SO MUCH LIKE TO BE WRONG

            When these lines are published in the Granma newspaper tomorrow, Friday, the date of July 26, when we proudly remember the honor of having resisted the imperialists’ attacks, will be felt distant, despite the fact that it is only 32 days away.

            Those who determine every step of humanity’s worst enemy –the US imperialism, a combination of miserable material interests, contempt and underestimation of the other peoples who inhabit this planet—have calculated everything with mathematical precision.

            In the Reflection of June 16, I wrote: «The diabolic reports slide down little by little in between matches of the Football World Cup, so that nobody takes notice.»

            The famous sports contest is now in its most exciting moment. For 14 days, the teams with the best players from 32 nations have been competing to advance to the stage of quarter-finals, semi-finals and then the final competition.

            The sports enthusiasm grows constantly attracting hundreds of millions or perhaps even billions of people worldwide.

            But, we should be wondering how many are aware that from June 20 US warships, including the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, escorted by one or more nuclear submarines and other warships carrying missiles and cannons more powerful than the old battleships used during the last World War between 1939 and 1945, have been moving towards the Iranian coasts via the Suez Canal.

            This movement of the Yankee naval forces is accompanied by Israeli military ships, carrying equally sophisticated weaponry, intended to supervise any vessel involved in the import or export of commercial products required by the Iranian economy for its operations.

            Following a US proposal supported by the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the UN Security Council passed a tough resolution which was not vetoed by any of the five countries with the right to do it.

            Another tougher resolution was adopted by the US Senate.

            Later, a third and even tougher resolution was approved by the member countries of the European Community. All of this happened before June 20, which motivated French President Nicolas Sarkozy to make an urgent trip to Russia –according to press reports– to meet with the head of Sate of that powerful country, Dmitri Medvedev, in hope of negotiating with Iran and preventing the worst from happening.

            Now, it’s a matter of calculating when the American and Israeli naval forces will be deployed off the coasts of Iran joining there the aircraft carriers and other US military ships already on watch in the region.

            It is still worse that, the same as the United States, Israel –its gendarme in the Middle East—has state-of-the-art fighter planes and sophisticated nuclear weapons supplied by the United States, which have turned it into the sixth nuclear power on Earth, in terms of its fire power, and one of eight such powers that include India and Pakistan.

            The Shah of Iran was overthrown by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 without firing one shot. But then the United States imposed on that nation a war with chemical weapons whose components it supplied to Iraq along with the information required by this country’s combat units; such weapons were used against the Guardians of the Revolution. Cuba knows this because, as we have said before, our country chaired the Non- Aligned Movement at the time. We know very well the damage done to the populations. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, currently the head of State of Iran, was chief of the sixth army of the Guardians of the Revolution and chief of the Guardians Corps in the western provinces, which carried the bulk of that war.

            Today, in 2010, thirty-one years later, both the United States and Israel underestimate the one-million men that make up Iran’s Armed Forces and their fighting capacity on the ground as well as the air, sea and ground forces of the Guardians of the Revolution.

            These forces are compounded by 20 million men and women, ages 12 through 60, selected and systematically trained by their various armed institutions, from the 70 million people who live in that country.

            The US administration worked out a plan to promote a political movement that based on capitalist consumerism would divide the Iranians and overthrow the government.

            Such hope is now harmless. It’s simply ridiculous to think that the US warships and Israeli forces combined could win the sympathies of even one Iranian citizen.

            I initially thought, as I analyzed the current situation, that the conflict would start at the Korean peninsula, where the second Korean War would break out, and that another war would immediately follow; the one that the United States would impose on Iran.

            Now, we are witnessing a different turn of events: the war in Iran will immediately spark off that of Korea.

            The leadership of North Korea, which was accused of sinking the ‘Cheonan’ and which knows only too well that said ship was sunk by a mine attached to its hull by the Yankee intelligence services, will not miss a second to act as soon as Iran is attacked.

            It is only fair that football fans freely enjoy the competitions of this World Cup. I simply fulfill my duty of informing our people, as I think mostly of our youths, full of life and hopes, especially our wonderful children, so that the developments do not catch them by surprise.

            It hurts to think of the dreams conceived by human beings and the amazing things they have created in barely a few thousand years.

            At a time when the most revolutionary dreams are coming true and our homeland is firmly on the path to recovery, I would so much like to be wrong!

Fidel Castro Ruz

June 24, 2010

9:34 P.M.

http://emba.cubaminrex.cu/grecia

CUBA NEWS 24.06.10

Esteban Lazo Arrives in Ecuador for the ALBA Summit Conference

HAVANA, Cuba, June 24 (acn) Esteban Lazo, vice-president of the Cuban Council of State, arrived on Thursday to Quito to participate in the Summit Conference of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA).

After being received at the Mariscal Sucre Air Base by Leonardo Arizaga, undersecretary for Multilateral Relations of the Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry, Lazo sent greetings to the Andean people and said he was happy to participate in the important meeting.

In statements to the Prensa Latina news agency, he said that the objective of the Summit is to hold exchanges with the authorities of the indigenous peoples and Afro-descendents of the countries in the region.

Lazo will travel to the city of Otavalo, the venue on Friday of the top level segment of the meeting, and there, along with the heads of state from Venezuela, Hugo Chavez; Bolivia, Evo Morales, and other heads of delegations, he will be received by the Summit’s host, President Rafael Correa.

The Cuban delegation to the meeting is also made up by Marcelino Medina, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Rogelio Sierra, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Benigno Perez, Cuban ambassador to Ecuador, and Orestes Perez, an official from the island’s Foreign Ministry. (AIN)
 

Paintings by Antonio Guerrero at the Social Forum in Detroit

HAVANA, Cuba, June 24 (acn) Paintings by Antonio Guerrero are on display at the Virgil H. Carr Cultural Center, as part of the activities of the 2nd Social Forum, underway in the US city of Detroit, Michigan.

This exhibition by Guerrero, one of the Five Heroes incarcerated in the United States for monitoring the activities of Miami-based terrorist groups, is composed of works he has made throughout his almost 12 years in prison.

The exhibition, an initiative by the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five in the United States, has the objective of bringing participants in the event closer to this cause and of breaking the silence imposed by some media outlets, the Prensa Latina news agency reports.

The Forum, in session under the slogan "Another World is Possible", is aimed at reflecting the right to self-determination of oppressed communities and peoples, adds the source.

Gloria La Riva, one of the most active promoters of solidarity with The Five in the United States, told the IPS news agency that these heroes "are men who did something that really deserves support", the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s Web site reports.

La Riva pointed out that they sacrificed their lives to defend their people and any other possible victim of terrorism, so they should have never been sent to prison.

The screening of documentaries, like "Mission against Terror", on the case of the five heroes; "The day diplomacy died", on relations between Washington and Havana; and "Health", on the island’s cooperation in this field with nations from the South, have also been included as part of the Forum.

The exhibition, organized by the Solidarity-with-Cuba Network in the United States, joins a group of workshops on the countries that are members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) and on the role of the Caribbean island in the struggle for a better world.

Information on the case of Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez, the five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned in the United States since September 12, 1998, will be distributed among participants in the Forum.(AIN)
 

Silvio Rodriguez’ U.S. Tour Successfully Wraps Up

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 24 (acn) Cuban singer songwriter Silvio Rodriguez concluded his first tour of the United States in 30 years, with a concert in the city of Orlando, in the southeast of Florida, on Wednesday.

According to Telesur, the concert in the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center of Orlando opened with Angel del Rocio, followed by Papalotes and Sueño con serpientes, which the public sang along.

Silvio Rodriguez, 63, thanked the audience for attending his concert and told them he was pleased for having shared a little bit of their lives with him; meanwhile, the nearly 2,000 fans chanted slogans in favor of the Cuban Revolution.

Rodriguez also sang Violeta Parra, Corazon desangrado and he dedicated Canción del elegido to the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters imprisoned in the United States, a gesture received by an ovation from the public.

Orlando, New York, Los Angeles and Washington were stages visited by Silvio Rodriguez on his tour.

The singer songwriter, one of the founders of the Cuban Nueva Trova, was granted a visa to travel to the U.S. after the permit had been denied several times until May of 2009.  (AIN)

Terrorist Brags in Miami while Cuban Five Remain in Prison

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 24 (acn) Well-known terrorist Guillermo Novo Sampoll walks the streets of Miami saying he will not give up on violence and not asking for forgiveness on the crimes he has committed, while the five Cuban antiterrorists remain unjustly incarcerated in the United States.

Novo Sampoll made those statements to CubaNews, a specialized bulletin coming out from Wheaton (Maryland), reported Granma newspaper.

He was, along his brother Ignacio, Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo, Pedro Remón, Dionisio Suárez, Virgilio Paz, Luis Posada Carriles and others, one of the bloodthirsty murderers the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used against Cuba and other Latin American nations.

Novo Sampoll lives in Miami, benefiting from the impunity status granted to him by the FBI to Cuban American terrorists. He regretted they haven’t been able to kill the Cuban Revolution leaders, a feat they have tried for half a century, which he described as a «failure»

In other statements, the murderer dubbed as «weak» the so-called «dissidents movement» within Cuba which is sponsored by the CIA through the USAID

«They are kind of confusing, living under a constant brainwashing and have no exposure to other ideas» pointed out Novo Sampoll, who immigrated to the United States when he was 15, to rapidly enrol in anti-Cuba terrorist organizations.

In 2004, he and Posada Carriles, along two other terrorist were caught when trying to blow up a Panamanian theater full of students and social movements members that were there to attend a speech by the Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro. They were charged on terrorism. Later he was paroled by former Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso under pressures from the US government.

Gillermo and Ignacio Novo Sampoll made an unsusceful bazooka shot againstthe UN headquarters in New York while Cuban Argentinean guerrilla Che Guevara was addressing the UN General Assembly.

He was also involved in the murder of former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier on September 1976 in Washington DC, and also in dozens of criminal actions against Cuba throughout the world. He also killed two Cuban diplomats in Argentina as part of the Condor Plan.

While this terrorist walks freely in the US, René González, Ramón Labañino, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González have been unjustly incarcerated since 1998.

These Cuban patriots were monitoring precisely Florida-based anti-Cuba terrorist groups that for over five decades have caused the death to thousands of Cubans and damages for millions of dollars to Cuban economy.

Their job was to alert Cuba of these criminal actions to prevent these groups from bringing death to both the Cuban and American peoples.(AIN)

The WTO, and US Misappropriation of Cuban Trade Mark

Geneva, June 23—The United States was once again criticized at the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for violating basic principles related to commercial activities and for allowing the misappropriation of Cuban trade marks.

During the session of the WTO body, the delegations from Cuba and other countries strongly denounced the illegal and immoral Section 211, which violates the rules stipulating respect for intellectual property.

In an effort to keep on their line, the US delegates presented a short situational report, numbered 91, reiterating that their government is currently working with the Congress to meet the recommendations of the WTO body.

The countries that urged the United States to take urgent actions aimed at settling the old conflict included Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, China, Venezuela, Mexico, India, Vietnam and the European Union.

In all cases, the speakers reiterated that Washington should meet its obligations once and for all, respect the fast fulfillment principle and abolish section 211, in force since 1998.

The advisor to the Cuban Permanent Mission in Geneva, Fidel Ortega, said that the United States has not explained about the alleged efforts that country has made to meet what has been agreed to, and he urged Washington to give details in this direction.

Ortega pointed out that the US attitude calls the system into question and he stressed that one of the countries, which is most interested in the appropriate operation of intellectual property rules turns a deaf ear to the decisions adopted by the Dispute Settlement Body.

The background of the conflict is directly linked to the use of the Havana Club Rum trademark by the Bacardi Company. The action was disapproved by the World Trade Organization but no response or positive steps were given by the US government to meet the demand of the international community.(PL)

Applying Science to Agriculture

MARTA HERNANDEZ

Santa Clara, June 22. — Providing seeds of high genetic quality for farmers in Cuba is at the center of the work of scientists at the local Tropical Roots Research Institute (INIVIT).

All 159 seed farms in the country—one in each rural municipality—get genetically pure clones generated and designed on the basis of specific climate, soil and rainfall pattern of each area of the island, said Sergio Rodriguez Morales, director of the institution.

The center has collections of 650varieties of sweet potato, 512 of cassava, 327 of plantain and bananas, among others, which guarantee Cuba’s agricultural sovereignty, he explained.

This institute, located in the municipality of Santo Domingo, Villa Clara, also provides instructions for producers in the use of the new seedlings and obtain quality crops, said Rodriguez.

Scientist-grower interaction and widespread use of the new techniques are among the achievements of the agriculture of Villa Clara. (AIN)

Paradigm in Prevention and Cardiac Rehabilitation

June 23th, 2010

Cuba is a world paradigm in the prevention and cardiac rehabilitation said Eduardo Rivas, Professor and Senior Researcher and Director of the Rehabilitation Center of the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery of Havana.

Invited to speak at the recently completed 2010 World Congress of Cardiology, held in Beijing from 16 to 19 June, Rivas said that the international community of cardiologists recognizes the country's progress in this field, reported Prensa Latina.

Although cardiovascular diseases (CDV) have been for many years the leading cause of death in the world, he said, some rich countries are experiencing a decline in this indicator, while the underdeveloped are showing a rising trend.

Rivas said that the developing nations are managing to reduce infectious diseases and increase their life expectancy, but are now inclining toward the so-called "western model", dominated by a poor diet, lack of exercise and high consumption tobacco.

He noted that beside the genetic aspect, some of the major causes of CVD are hypertension, lipid disorders (cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood), smoking, diabetes, obesity, stress, anxiety, physical inactivity and age.

The programs of prevention and rehabilitation in this field, developed by Cuba, are especially valuable, he stressed, a point he addressed in his lecture on the reality of this issue in Latin America and the Caribbean, at the request of the Organizing Committee.

He explained that in our country there is a national program of cardiac rehabilitation and appropriate cellular prevention, adapted to the conditions of the geographical area where the patient resides and in which the family doctor or primary care centers (clinics) play an important role. (AIN)

Cuba, Vice President of the HRC

GENEVA, June 22, 2010. Cuba was elected on Monday as Vice President of the Human Rights Council, the main UN body specialized in promoting and protecting human rights.

During an annual organizational session, the members of the HRC decided by acclaim the election of Cuban Ambassador to Geneva Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez to the post, in what is considered as recognition of the Island's work in the field.

The election of Cuba to this important post is in recognition of the exemplary work of the Cuban Revolution in favour of the human rights of its people and the world, according to a statement of the Cuban Embassy in Geneva.

It is also an obvious confirmation of respect to our country's committed, active effort, as a founding member of the Human Rights Council, in defense of truth and justice and of respect to its leadership in defending the noblest causes.

"This election constitutes a categorical response of the international community to the brutal anti-Cuban media campaign, stepped up by international reactionary circles in the last few months," adds the text.

Reyes, who will be at the helm of the vice presidency of the Latin America and Caribbean Group (GRULAC), will fulfill his term as member of the Executive Board of the HRC until June, 2011.

Ambassador of Thailand to Geneva Sihasak Phuangketkeow was elected to preside over the HRC in the same period.

According to practice, members of the board should conduct the process of revision of the HRC in the next 12 months.

Cuba is expected to contribute substantially to this work, based on its experience as member of the HRC and of the late Commission on Human Rights, the statement concludes. (Cubaminrex- PL)

Cuba rejects manipulation of fight against transnational organized crime

United Nations, June 22, 2010. Cuba rejected before the United Nations the pretension of using the fight against transnational organized crime as an excuse to impose the concept of limited sovereignty.

He said that these attempts try to overstate the phenomenon, under the argument that it affects the stability and regional or international peace and said this is no responsibility of the Security Council.

Cuba's position was exposed to the General Assembly by Cuban Permanent Representative to the UN, Pedro Nuñez Mosquera, speaking at a high level meeting on Transnational Organized Crime.

The diplomat said that all countries, regardless of their economic power, land area or number of inhabitants, are vulnerable to different forms of crime.

Among these, he mentioned the outrageous financial fraud scandals that have threatened the essence of the international financial system, the human trafficking, smuggling of migrants, money laundering and cyber crime.

Cuban Ambassador said that the first step to be taken in order to fight such acts, particularly Transnational Organized Crime, is the struggle against underdevelopment and the establishment of an international economic order more just and equitable.

He also stressed the importance of international cooperation in that battle, on the basis of full respect for sovereignty, in accordance with national laws and territorial integrity of States.

However, he warned against attempts to use the problem to try to impose the concept of limited sovereignty and rejected the spurious lists of countries that allegedly commit violations related to transnational organized crime.

In this regard he repudiated those made by the United States with clear political purposes, about terrorism, human trafficking and drug trafficking.

These mechanisms operate outside the UN system and are no more than just instruments of political pressure to punish governments that do not accomplish U.S. commands, Nuñez Mosquera said. (Cubaminrex- RHC-PL).

More information:

http://www.cubanews.ain.cu

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu

http://www.granma.cu

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

http://www.cubasi.com

http://emba.cubaminrex.cu/grecia

http://europa.cubaminrex.cu/English/index.htm

http://www.antiterroristas.cu/index.php?tpl=./interface.en/design/home.tpl.html