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10/22/09 - PRENSA LATINA - ENGLISH NEWS CAST (PM)



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Evening Transmission

Thursday, October 22, 2009

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CUBA-NATIONAL NEWS CUBA

Cuban Journalists on US Blockade

Cuban Diplomat Expects New Win at UN

Jose Marti Society Opens New Venue in Cuba



INTERNATIONAL NEWS

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Honduras Liberals vs Polls without Democracy

Mexico: Electricians Oppose Privatization

Sellers Shoot Dominican Antidrug Agents

Brazil to Guarantee Olympics Security

US Wants a Defenseless Venezuela

Manu Chao to Perform in Chile Soon

Paramilitary Forces Threaten Venezuela

100 Thousand Computers for Venezuelan Kids

Belize Hails Trade Pact with Guatemala

Chavez Decries Move to Satanize Venezuela

CentAm School Games Take-off in Mexico





US, CANADA, EUROPE

German Wenders to Film Pina Bausch Movie

Defender Rafa Marquez Recovers

UNESCO Adopts Follow-up on Honduras



AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Ethiopia Needs 120 M Dollars in Food

Israel Bombs Gaza, Denies Goldstone



ASIA AND AUSTRALIA



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CUBA-NATIONAL NEWS CUBA

Cuban Journalists on US Blockade



Havana, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The only ethical thing to do would be
that the US lifts the blockade imposed on the Cuban people, said the Cuban
Journalists Union (UPEC).



All Cuban life spheres still suffer that permanent hostility, pointed
an UPEC declaration, expressing the practice of journalism also confronts an
ideological war with the US and its mainstream media.



The blockade is also a barrier to communication, and limits the right
to have modern technology to develop printed and digital press, such as
radio and television, said the text.



The White House was urged by almost 60 states to finish measures
against Cuba 16 years ago; and last year this number set a record of 185
out of 192 of UN member countries.



Once again, the UN General Assembly will vote a resolution against
American blockade this October 28.



According to conservative calculations made until December 2008,
Cuban losses amount to 96 billion dollars, which would rise until 236
billion, if the calculations had been done with current dollar prices.

ef gpm ro



Cuban Diplomat Expects New Win at UN



Buenos Aires, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Ambassador to Argentina
Aramis Fuente predicted that the Island will achieve a new victory at the UN
over the US blockade in force for nearly half a century.



We expect another majority voting in favour of Cuba on October 28,
when the UN General Assembly will examine for eighteenth consecutive time a
resolution on the need to put an end to the aggressive measure, he said.



In remarks to Telesur network, Fuente recalled that last year 185 out
of 192 UN member countries condemned the genocidal US policy, the highest
figure since the issue started to be discussed in 1992.



The United States has been absolutely isolated, as it has
systematically ignored the UN opinion and insisted on maintaining the
economic, financial, commercial blockade against Cuba, he stressed.



The Cuban diplomat denied that the current administration led by
Barack Obama has taken any step to relax or lift the blockade.

ef rma mpm



Jose Marti Society Opens New Venue in Cuba



Havana, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The President of the Jose Marti
Cultural Society, Armando Hart inaugurated the new venue of that
institution, founded 14 years ago as part of the activities to mark National
Culture Day.



The opening ceremony unveiled a new plaque with a welcoming message
placed at the entrance of the building.



The artistic show also included an exhibition with 14 works and a
serigraphy by Ecuadorean painter Oswaldo Guayasamin, with one of the
portraits he made to the Leader of Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro included.



Cuban composer Sergio Vitier, son of the recently deceased poet
Cintio Vitier, paid homage to his father, founder of the society and one of
the experts in the work of Marti.



The performances of the Spanish dance company Habana Compas and a
culinary performance gave closure to the inaugural ceremony.

ef gdb alb ag







INTERNATIONAL NEWS



LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Honduras Liberals vs Polls without Democracy



Por Raimundo Lopez, Special Correspondant



Tegucigalpa, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) Honduras' Liberal Coordinating
Committee against the Coup ratified on Thursday that it will refrain from
taking part in elections of November 29 unless democracy is restored in the
country.



Secretary General of the Committee Rasel Tome told Prensa Latina that
under the de facto regime conditions it is impossible to hold free,
transparent polls with full guarantees.



The Committee was created in mid August in a meeting attended by more
than 5,000 delegates of the Liberal Party who reject the break in democratic
legality by the putschists on June 28.



Tome said that for the elections to be recognized by the people and
the international community, an indispensable requisite is the restitution
of constitutional order and of legitimate President Manuel Zelaya.



The position of this sector of the liberals, one of the two largest
parties in Honduras, is shared by Democratic Unification (UD), Innovation
and Social Democratic Unity (PINUD-SD) and independent candidate Carlos
Humberto Reyes.



It is a position similar to that of the National Front against the
Coup grouping these political forces along with popular, union, rural,
female and student organizations, among others.



The Front, which has led the people's resistance for 117 days,
announced in August that it will not recognize results of the election
unless democratically-elected Zelaya is reinstated.



Tome said that on Saturday the liberals against the coup will hold
their third great assembly to coordinate their strategy to restore
democratic legality to the nation.



In their previous meeting, they agreed to expel president of the de
facto government Roberto Micheletti and members of the Central Board for
their participation in the coup against national Liberal Leader Zelaya.



They decided to refuse to recognize the party's presidential
candidate Elvin Santos for his support to constitutional order and betrayal
of history and of the organization's anti-coup principles.



Tome and President of the Committee Carlos Eduardo Reina remain since
September 21 in the Brazilian Embassy along with Zelaya, who returned to
Honduras unexpectedly that day to call for dialogue.

ef rma rl



Mexico: Electricians Oppose Privatization



Mexico, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The Senate of the Republic received the
leadership of the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) to discuss their
complaints about an eventual privatization of the fiber optic network, it
was known Thursday.



The upper chamber presidency, led by Carlos Navarrete, from the
Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), received SME Secretary General Martin
Esparza to discuss the situation in the wake of liquidation of the Luz and
Fuerza del Centro (LFC) firm, which supplied electricity to the capital.



Navarrete vowed to intercede so that the federal government and the
union renew talks, abandoned a few days ago due to lack of agreement and
viable executive proposals, as stated then by Esparza.



The union leaders denounced that behind the liquidation decree of LFC
there are pro-Fox (former President Vicente Fox) former officials'
interests, as they have the intention to monopolize the fiber optics
network.



The Senate proposed that the electricians should present the LFC's
productivity agreement and the study about the fiber optics network to have
more arguments for the analysis.



Esparza is urging the government to re-establish the discussion table
with attendance from secretaries of Energy, Treasury and Interior.



Privatizing and monopolizing a network of over 621 miles of fiber
optics, meaning businesses worth millions with communication giants, is the
political background of this conflict, said Esparza.



The abolition of LFC leaves more than 40,000 workers unemployed. The
government is offering them compensation to accept the liquidation, with
most of them opposing to it and declaring themselves on permanent assembly
and social demonstration.



The Mexican Executive maintains that public LFC will not be
privatized and their functions will be transferred to the Federal
Electricity Commission.

ef rma fa ggr



Sellers Shoot Dominican Antidrug Agents



Santo Domingo, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) An official of the National Drug
Control was hospitalized owing to a shoot received in a clash with hooded
men that attacked him, in San Francisco de Macorís (North)



The operation chief of the National Drug Control, Colonel José
Bautista, was impacted by a shoot that fractured him the left hand when the
strangers blocked and shot against the vehicle where he travelled.



The use of hired assassin to eliminate antidrug officials is
something generalized in the last period in this small Caribbean country.



A big shoot interchange fallows the attempt that forced the
neighbours to clear the streets by fair of been injured, said a spokesman of
the antidrug agency.



The strangers escaped, stressed the report, which talk about a
similar incident, relevant by its high level of violence, in the Capotillo
district of this capital.



In the second clash was injured in the arm one of the agents, by a
drug seller that shot him, according to a version distributed by the press.



The violence of the response by the drug trafficker before the
increasing action of the National Drug Control, exposed questions about a
so-called mexicanization of the Dominician Republic, where the intern drug
trafficking and the re-exportation have alarming levels.

ef cgm msl



Brazil to Guarantee Olympics Security



Athens, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) Brazil will find the way to guarantee
security for the 2016 Olympic Games, stated today Jaques Rogge, president
of International Olympic Committee (COI).



Security preparations for the Olympics have always been difficult, we
trust Brazilians will find the proper way to do it, said Rogge from Greek
city of Olympia.



Comments are about a wave of violence in Rio de Janeiro, where 33
people were killed as a result of drug trafficking band clashes.



"We still have 7 years to prepare for Olympics; we are also going to
take advantage of the 2014 World Cup, that's why we should trust
Brazilians", pointed out Rogge.



According to experts these horrible events will be forgotten soon and
Rio will be an excellent venue, as it was in 2007 Pan American Games.

ef yrc lp



US Wants a Defenseless Venezuela



By Waldo Mendiluza



Caracas, Oct 21 (Prensa Latina) Rear admiral Luis Cabrera said
Thursday that the US wants Venezuela to be defenseless and considered it a
threat to neighboring nations,

generating a good reason to attack it.



He told Prensa Latina the US refusal to supply them fighter planes
F-16 spare parts and to give them military technology, together with
accusations of triggering an arms campaign, when President Hugo Chavez
announced he would buy Russian equipment are parts of the same strategy.



According to the expert, Washington ploys aim to leave this country's
natural resources vulnerable.



They want to see us motionless before so many resources to protect,
he pointed in a conference about military issues before the Latin American
Parliament.



According to Cabrera, the US also wants to discredit Venezuela and
shows it as an outlaw and an evil state, interested in having weapons with
malicious purposes.



This is a blatant ploy because we are one of the countries which buy
less arms. We only use one percent of our gross domestic product to this
end, while Colombia uses six percent and has 400 thousand troops, he
affirmed.



The retired rear admiral said the White House wants to increase The
Pentagon' presence in Colombia, having seven military bases more.



The fighting against drug traffic is dismissed. The real purpose is
to finish with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and concentrate on
Venezuela later, he alerts.



The deputy of the Latin America Parliament Carlos Wimmer shares the
same opinion of the expert, and said such views justify Chavez decision to
buy defense equipment.



We want to live in peace and solidarity, but the real situation does
not point at it, so we have to be prepared, he explained to Prensa Latina.

ef gpm wmr



Manu Chao to Perform in Chile Soon



Santiago, Chile, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The outstanding Franco-Spanish
artist Manu Chao, working on a tour all around France, Cuba, Argentina and
other countries, will perform in Santiago de Chile on Nov. 26, the
organizing committee confirmed Thursday.



The musician, who acted for the first time in Chile in 2006, will
present his latest Album "La radiolina", promoting its first single "Rainin'
in paradize" at the Velodrome of the National Stadium, same sources said.



In 2006, after his first concert at the cultural centre Mapocho,
demanded a free concert at La Pintana, a commune of Chile, with 4,000
Chilean attending.

ef gdb jl



Paramilitary Forces Threaten Venezuela



Caracas, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) Colombian paramilitary forces are
buying land in the border state of Tachira to create a penetration corridor
and threaten Venezuelan sovereignty, President of Andean Parliament Victor
Hugo Morales denounced on Thursday.



According to Hugo, the Andean Parliament is holding meetings with
mayors and the Legislative Council of Tachira to coordinate an investigation
to counteract that military advanced party.



A few days ago, Andean legislators Hugo, Yul Jabour, Luis Antonio
Bigott and Antoni Bracho, and national legislator Israel Sotillo attended a
conference on US military bases in Latin America and paramilitarism in San
Cristobal, the capital of Tachira.



In his opinion, these conferences, to be held in all border states,
are oriented to students, community councils and the people in general so
they can remain on alert in this situation affecting us to protect our
sovereignty.



He also denounced that "opposition governor of Tachira state, Cesar
Perez Vivas, is an accomplice in this situation and allows paramilitary
incursion in the economic and social system of this Andean state."



Legislator Victor Hugo urged national government to thoroughly
investigate Perez Vivas.

ef rma rsm



100 Thousand Computers for Venezuelan Kids



Caracas, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The Venezuelan government will
distribute 100 thousand computers next November 1 to first grade children of
public schools to teach them computing, stated today Jesse Chacon, Minister
of Science and Technology.



According to Chacon this amount will be distributed in two thousand
schools and are added to the 50 thousand distributed in the first phase of
Educative Canaima Project, launched on September 21 by President Chavez.



Chacon announced at the Bolivarian University at Caracas that another
100 thousand PCs will be added on January 2010.



"Educative Canaima will allow us to form new generations to work with
these tools, to allow them to use the new advantages of the free software",
he stated.



According to him this program is the tool of Venezuelan liberating
education.



Canaima computers were acquired by Venezuela through an agreement
with Portugal. In that European nation those computers are known as
Magalhaes.

ef yrc rsm



Belize Hails Trade Pact with Guatemala



Belmopan, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) Belize signed a bilateral trade pact
with Guatemala involving 75 products it regards as key for bilateral ties
and domestic production.



The agreement involves tariff-free exports of rice, grains, beef,
citrus fruits, wood, iron, oils, poultry and fisheries. It even boosts
investments and creates more jobs.



For Belize, the 2006 accord paves the way for future negotiations and
fosters closer ties as neighbors despite near 200-year territorial dispute.

ef emw ymr



Chavez Decries Move to Satanize Venezuela



Caracas, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) President Hugo Chavez denounced that
the The New York Times' article on the nuclear issue is a maneuver to
satanize Venezuela.



The US daily linked the Venezuelan government with Argentinean
physicist Leonardo Mascheroni, detained in Nuevo Mexico by the Federal
Bureau of Investigations for alleged espionage charges (delivery of
strategic laser technology).



They are well conceived calumnies to create the idea that "we are a
government of atom bombs," Chavez said during a session of the Council of
Ministers.



According to him, the daily's accusations that an alleged Venezuelan
representative offered 800,000 dollars to the scientist to get information
are poorly serious.



In fact, he added, the US is the first nuclear government, as it has
sufficient arsenal to destroy the planet.



Alleged accusations that the country intends to produce arms of mass
destruction in alliance with Iran began right after the existence of uranium
in Venezuela was disclosed.



Chavez has repeatedly stated the use of the mineral will be strictly
peaceful.

ef dig wmr



CentAm School Games Take-off in Mexico



Puebla, Mexico, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The 2nd Central American and
Caribbean School Games began in Puebla, Mexico, with student-athletes from
12 countries.



President Felipe Calderon addressed the opening ceremony at Ninos
Heroes de Chapultepec School of these Games to involve 21 disciplines to
compete until October 28.



The guests will represent Costa Rica, Colombia, Dominican Republic,
Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Panama, Puerto Rico, El
Salvador and Mexico.

ef emw fa

























US, CANADA, EUROPE

German Wenders to Film Pina Bausch Movie



Berlin, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) German filmmaker Wim Wenders confirmed
he will begin the shooting of the film about the life of Pina Bausch, the
choreographer who passed away in June at the age of 68, who was one of his
most intimate friends.



Bausch, who paved the way for dance-theater with an style that also
influenced other arts, had previously been preparing the film project with
Wenders, which was to be the first dance film shot in 3-D and to be entitled
"Pina".



As she suddenly died victim of a devastating cancer, Wenders then
hesitated before going into filming, but at the end he finally decided to do
it but like a posthumous homage to the deceased artist.



The sets of the full-length film will be at Wuppertal Dance Theater,
in the western part of Germany.



The film will be centered in three of her choreographies created
between 1978 and 2006: "Cafe Muller", "Full Moon" and "Rite of Spring".

ef gdb ag



Defender Rafa Marquez Recovers



Madrid, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) Mexican defender Rafa Marquez stated
today he has to recover himself as soon as possible to catch up with his
team fellows of Spanish team FC Barcelona.



Marquez played regular again in his team last match on Tuesday when
Russian team Rubin Kazan defeated FC Barcelona 2 -1.



"I played regular for the first time and I noticed that it was hard
and is more noticeable while playing with strong opponents like Rubin's
players", said the Mexican. "I know that I have to improve quickly to catch
up with my team partners, which have played more games than I have", added
Marquez, which is recovering from an injury suffered while FC Barcelona was
touring in the USA.



Spanish team regrets Brazilian winger Dani Alves' injury, which can
be recovering for a month and will put team defense in a hurry.

ef yrc lp



UNESCO Adopts Follow-up on Honduras



Paris, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The full session of the 35th General
Conference of UNESCO adopted Thursday the proposal of the Education
Commission of giving a special follow-up to the situation in Honduras, where
the coup government restricts essential rights of the people.



The initiative of including the issue in the meeting of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was in
charge of Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, Jamaica, Venezuela, Bolivia, Guatemala,
Nicaragua and Ecuador.



When setting the unanimous position of the Latin American countries,
UN Cuban ambassador Héctor Hernández Pardo emphasized the efforts to keep
the issue from being debated here.



The diplomat said the idea emerged not only for elementary solidarity
with the heroic pacific resistance of the Honduran people, who is violently
supressed everyday by police and military forces.



Not only but also for the sensitivity of the event for the region,
determined on making democratic and integrationist changes, ó with a near
past of military regimes with fascist characteristics like the one in
Honduras. ó

ef lch ft







AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

Ethiopia Needs 120 M Dollars in Food



Nairobi, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The Ethiopian government will require
more than 120 million dollars to meet the needs of food (basic grains) for
6.2 million people in the last quarter of this year, said an official source
here Thursday.



This means to purchase 160,000 tons of food from the international
community, said Mitiku Kassa, Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development.



Because of the affectations caused by the intense drought in
Ethiopia, the government of Addis Abeba demanded 11 tons of special foods
for children and undernourished women, at the cost of another 9 million
dollars. Another 45 million dollars in non-food humanitarian help will be
also need.



The current food crisis situation occurs 25 years after Ethiopia
suffered one of its worst famines with the death of nearly a million people.



Ethiopia counts on more than 80 million inhabitants and requires the
investment of 1.1 billion dollars ó"almost the entire humanitarian help it
receives financially- to counter the effects of the drought, said
international humanitarian organization Oxfam International.



Scientific predictions say that the drought will be permament in the
so-called African Horn for the year 2034.

ef tac jcd



Israel Bombs Gaza, Denies Goldstone



Gaza, Oct 22 (Prensa Latina) The Israeli air force bombed two tunnels
and a building in Gaza on Thursday, while the government insists on denying
the Goldstone report and seeks support to change international war laws.



Sources of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in this
Palestinian enclave and an Israeli Army spokesman confirmed separately the
air attack executed against Rafah zones, bordering with Egypt and in the
area surrounding this city.



According to reports, the Israeli planes bombed two tunnels, through
which Tel Aviv has asserted that they are smuggling weapons from Egypt into
this territory, and also shot a building they called weapon factory near the
city.



None of the sources said people were wounded during the incursions,
although the Israeli spokesman justified them as a response for launching a
rocket on Negev desert in Israel.



Underground passages in the southern border of Gaza Strip with Egypt
are estimated at over 200 and are used by the Palestinian population to
palliate their shortage, derived from the blockade Tel Aviv has imposed on
this enclave since June 2007.



Israeli newspapers published the wish of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu of undertaking a world campaign, looking for support for changes
in the international legislation on war, after discrediting a UN report.



The Goldstone report accused Tel Aviv of committing crimes of war in
Gaza during the military offensive from December to January, but the Israeli
leaders and the United States said that it was forged and stuffy.



International Institute for Criminal Investigation Chief William
Schabas told the Israeli Army Radio station that Netanyahu's hope of
changing international war laws is not realistic.

iom/abo/ucl







ASIA AND AUSTRALIA



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