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11/03/09 - Prensa Latina - DIRECT FROM HAVANA (AM)

LATIN AMERICAN NEWS AGENCY, SA
P R E N S A L A T I N A
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Morning Transmission
Tuesday Nov 3, 2009
For up to the minute news: www.plenglish.comCUBA-NATIONAL NEWS CUBA
Mother of One of Cuban 5 Dies
Services Greatly Influence Cuban Exports
Raul Castro Attends Cuban 5 Mother's Burial
EU Normalizing Ties with Cuba, Commissioner
Cuba Looks at Children, Adolescents
INTERNATIONAL NEWSLATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Bolivia President Backs Highland Soccer
Bolivia Raises Hydrocarbon Investments
Uruguay Parties Define Lines for Run-off
DomRep Fights Dengue Epidemic
Ven Considering International Charges Against Colombia
Brazilian President to Visit London
Honduran Women Facing Attacks since Coup
Cotacachi to Host Ecuador, Colombia FM Meeting
Nicaraguans Extol Work by Cuban Docs

ASIA AND AUSTRALIA
China Calls High Growth by Late 2009
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CUBA-NATIONAL NEWS CUBAMother of One of Cuban 5 Dies

Havana, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Carmen Nordelo Tejera, mother of Gerardo
Hernandez, one of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters that has been
unfairly imprisoned in the United States for 11 years, died Monday in this
capital at the age of 76, after a long illness.
According to a note read at the Cuban prime-time television news show,
Nordelo Tejera was born on February 15, 1933, in Canary Islands. She
emigrated to Havana at the age of 17, due to economic reasons.
As a housewife, the mother of Gerardo supported her husband's revolutionary
activities, and supported academic and social development of her three
sons.
Nordelo Tejera had a prominent role in the Cuban people's battle for truth
and justice for the Cuban Five.
Gerardo, as well as Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero,
and Rene Gonzalez were detained on September 12, 1998, when monitoring
terrorist actions by anti-Cuban groups settled in Florida, south of the
United States.
Despite their declared innocence and the demand by the international
community for their release, the Cuban Five are currently serving harsh
sentences ranging from 15 years to double life imprisonment.
iom/iff/dsa

Services Greatly Influence Cuban Exports

Havana, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) The increasing role of services in the Cuban
economy corroborate their ever more important influence on exports, while it
consolidates today as the country's main source of hard currency earner.
That has positively influenced the Cuban balance of trade, Foreign Trade
and Investment minister Rodrigo Malmierca commented.
When inaugurating the 27th International Fair of Havana yesterday,
Malmierca indicated that at the end of the third trimester, the Cuban
exchange of goods dropped by 36 percent, compared to the same period last
year. Imports reached nearly 80 percent of the total, he added.
This edition of the Fair takes place amid complex circumstances, as a
result of the severe economic crisis affecting the world. However, Cuba
continues to be an attractive market for foreign businesspeople, the
Minister said.
Joint work and cooperation between Cuban and foreign businesspeople is the
key to overcome contemporary difficulties, Malmierca pointed out.
Current businesses with foreign capital are mainly in tourism, oil and
by-products, mining, industry, and communications, Malmierca sustained.
The country is immersed in dozens of new negotiating projects with firms
from Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, China, Vietnam, and Russia.
The fair, to close on November 7, is also attended by representatives from
about six chambers of commerce and other related organizations.
mh/dig/rs

Raul Castro Attends Cuban 5 Mother's Burial

Havana, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Raul Castro today headed the
burial ceremony of Carmen Nordelo Tejera, mother of Gerardo Hernandez, one
of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unfairly imprisoned in the United
States.
Nordelo Tejera died Monday afternoon in this capital at the age of 76.
Wreaths of Raul and Fidel Castro, Gerardo and Adriana, her daughter in law,
as well as of Cuban people covered her coffin and grave.
Organizations and personalities from several countries are sending messages
of condolences on occasion of her death.
She was born on February 15, 1933, in Canary Islands. She emigrated to
Havana at the age of 17 for economic reasons.
As a housewife, Gerardo's mother supported her husband's revolutionary
activities, and her three son's academic and social development.
Nordelo Tejera played a prominent role in the Cuban people's campaign for
truth and justice in the case of the Cuban Five.
Gerardo, as well as Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero,
and Rene Gonzalez were detained on September 12, 1998, when they were
monitoring violent anti-Cuban groups in Florida, US which were conniving to
launch terrorist actions against Cuba.
At a biassed trial in Miami, they were condemned to harsh sentences ranging
from 15 years to double life imprisonment.
mh/iff

Cotacachi to Host Ecuador, Colombia FM Meeting

Quito, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Cotacachi, in the Ecuadorian northern province
of Imbabura, today host the third Ecuador-Colombia Foreign Ministers
Meeting, to look for solutions to the serious dispute that keeps their
diplomatic relations broken since March 2008.
Both countries' delegations are led by Ecuadorian and Colombian Foreign
Ministers Fander Falconi and Jaime Bermudez, respectively.
There will be also delegations acting as observers from the Organization of
American States (OAS) and the Carter Center.
The meeting will tackle the military attack launched by Colombia on March
1, 2008 against a camp of the Colombia Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) in
Angostura, killing 26 people, one Ecuadorian among them.
The aggression President Rafael Correa condemned as a serious violation of
Ecuador sovereignty led to a breaking-off of relations, and Quito's
government has stated several conditions for its clarification for the talks
to move on.
As a result of the lawsuit brought by Ecuadorian Justice against Colombian
troops for alleged homicide, the judges ordered arrest warrant to ex defense
minister Juan Manuel Santos and the chief of his troops General Freddy
Padilla.
The director of the Colombian Police, General Oscar Naranjo, and Ex Army
Commander of that country General Mario Montoya were also involved in the
case in the last few days, although the latter did not receive any arrest
warrant.
The Cotacachi meeting takes place amidst denunciations by Venezuela that
the Colombian intelligence is carrying out espionage operations against
Venezuela, Ecuador and Cuba.
President Correa called such actions are very serious if they are proved to
be true.
mh/abo/lac/prl

EU Normalizing Ties with Cuba, Commissioner

Havana, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Belgian Karen De Gucht, European Commissioner
for Development and Humanitarian Aid, stated Tuesday in this capital that
most of the European Union (EU) member countries seek normalization of
relations with Cuba.
"We are searching for common spaces to normalize links with Havana," said
the diplomat, who met with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and
Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca.
De Gucht, who termed Monday's meetings interesting, also attended the
opening of the European Commission's stand at the 27th Havana International
Fair, the first since 2001.
This is the third EU representative that visits Havana this year, after his
predecessor Louis Michel, and EU Commissioner for External Relations and
Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
iom/iff/ro

Cuba Looks at Children, Adolescents

Havana, Oct 3 (Prensa Latina) The rights of children and adolescents will be
analyzed as of Tuesday in the capital, during the Third International
Meeting for the Legal Protection of Children's Rights.
The meeting, taking place at the Havana's Conference Center until November
6, is sponsored by the Republic of Cuba's General Attorney's Office, and the
United Nations Children's Fund.
Issues as violence, the role of family, child abuse, sexual exploitation,
and children's legal capacity will be discussed in the event, the organizing
committee said.
This forum will allow experts and researchers strengthening collaboration
relations, favoring solutions to concurrent problems in their respective
countries.
The previous event of this kind was held in 2003, in the presence of
outstanding experts from different countries, and due to topicality of the
issues discussed, the meeting has turned into a prestigious Ibero-American
scientific forum.
iom/iff/joe

INTERNATIONAL NEWSLATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEANBolivia President Backs
Highland Soccer

La Paz, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Bolivian President Evo Morales stated that he
would support any Federation of Football Associations (FIFA)'s attempt to
defend official high altitude soccer games.
Morales made this statement after his meeting with a FIFA delegation at the
Government Palace, where they discussed the high altitude factor and
Bolivian soccer crises.
"I am going to be a defender of FIFA and its philosophical principles,
which say in the federation's statutes that soccer is universal and does not
discriminate," Morales told press.
He said to be willing to prove, based on scientific studies that it is not
in highlands where the largest number of lives has been lost for practicing
soccer and sports in general.
He also said that FIFA expressed its willingness to help improve the
Bolivian national sport.
Bolivian President was one of the promoters of a world campaing in 2007
against FIFA's decision to forbid soccer games in stadiums located over 1640
feet high, which barred Bolivians from practicing in their main national
soccer fields. That banning also affectes Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
iom/yrc/por

Bolivia Raises Hydrocarbon Investments

La Paz, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Bolivia's state-run Yacimientos Petroliferos
Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) oil company and related firms operating in the
South American nation will invest $5.33 billion in oil prospecting, aimed at
increasing natural gas production until 2015.
Cambio daily reported on Tuesday that YPFB is planning to drill ten
exploratory wells, expected to raise production by nearly 176,572,500 cubic
feet of gas per day, with an initial outlay of $379 million.
The prospecting stage is intended to drill seven additional wells in
Margarita and Huacaya gas fields, and two others in Incahuasi.
The other firms are YPFB Andina ($162 million), Petrobras ($582.6 million),
Repsol ($1.50 billion), YPFB Chaco ($211.5 million), PESA ($24.9 million),
BG ($14.3 million), Total ($1.1 billion), Pluspetrol ($12 million) and
Vintage ($7 million).
On September 10, the Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) granted a $1 billion
extraordinary credit to YPFB.
The company will use nearly 90 percent of resources for hydrocarbon
exploitation, prospecting, industrialization, transportation, refinery,
logistics, and storage.
The YPFB investment plan aims at bringing oil production to 126,000 barrels
per day until 2015, taking into consideration that the current offer is at
nearly 45,000.
The project also includes construction of a new refinery in the country's
western area, with an initial investment of $395 million.
iom/dig/ga

Uruguay Parties Define Lines for Run-off

Montevideo, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Uruguayan government Frente Amplio (FA)
politica force, and the National Party (PN) will implement, starting on
Tuesday, the work lines approved in the campaign for the second election
round on November 29.
The FA political leadership created the work groups for the forthcoming
elections and decided that Jose Mujica-Danilo Astori ticket carried out two
visits to the countryside and promote work with young people.
Left-wing coalition, which runs for a second consecutive term of office on
the last Sunday in November, will visit social organizations and will hold
meetings with the Uruguayan population during those tours.
A group of union leaders agreed to create Pepe D Elia brigade, which is the
name of a late historical labor leader of the South American nation, to
generate a movement oriented to support and promote the vote for FA.
Union leader Juan Castillo said that a proclamation would be published by
the media, with the reasons for the labor organizations to support the
governing ticket.
"It has to do with the promise to workers of defending the unions' rights
and isues negotiated with this government, of keeping improving them, as
salary and resource distribution," said Castillo.
The PN will call its electoral leadership to a meeting on Tuesday to define
the the tour of the countryside to be carried out by Luis Alberto
Lacalle-Jorge Larrañaga for the upcoming elections.
iom/lch/wap

DomRep Fights Dengue Epidemic

Santo Domingo, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) The Health Secretary of the Dominican
Republic has launched a national campaign against the rapid spread of a
dengue outbreak that has already killed 36 persons this year.
The campaign involves ó all sectors of national life, ó said Bautista
Rojas, a health official, who pointed out that a specific and substantial
work rests on the Secretary of Education.
The aim is to prevent and eliminate the sources of reproduction of the
Aedes Aegypti mosquito that transmits the disease.
Fumigation teams have been sent to critical regions of the country while
technicians of the Center of Prevention and Control of Tropical Diseases
have put out leaflets containing control measures to fight the vector.
Some of the taks include cleaning wastelands and home patios where waste
accumulates, particularly tires and other used containers.
After a drop in the death rate in the past two weeks, the number of new
cases have shot up and till Sunday 4,500 sick people were reported.
It is possible that the figure of infected persons is higher since mild
cases tend to be treated at home. It seems they are affected by a strain
that attacks the stomach and disappears in 4 to 6 days.
lgo/msl/avp

Ven Considering International Charges Against Colombia

Caracas, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Venezuela considers bringing to international
institutions evidence which prove that two Colombian agents caried out
espionage activities in its territory.
Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said that what is most serious
is that the Colombian government accepted the validity of the documents
introduced for discussion at the National Assembly.
Commenting on the annoyance of Colombian authorities because his country
obtained the implicating papers, Maduro pointed out that they were siezed
last month from two members of the Colombian Security Administrative
Department (DAS) arrested in Venezuelan territory.
The two agents caught red-handed, according to President Hugo Chavez,
revealed DAS was carrying out an espionage operation against Venezuela and
other countries of the region.
Maduro informed the Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV) about the
likelihood of bringing these classified documents to international
institutions since they demonstrate a policy that undermines stability,
peace and democracy of sovereign states.
Referring to the agreement that allows the US to have seven military bases
in Colombia, the Venezuelan FM stated that ó it brings historic shame to
our continent, ó and that it is not even known by the US Congress.
The letter of the pact, he added, has come to the light only through
speculations by the media although it cedes territory and grants absolute
immunity for any crime committed in Colombian soil by US soldiers.
Maduro warned, on the other hand, that there is no guarantee that the bases
will not be used against the territorial of other countries of the continent
or outside of it.
mh/lgo/ml/avp

Brazilian President to Visit London

Brasilia, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) The Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva will travel to London to meet with Great Britain Prime Minister Gordon
Brown, receive a Chatham House award and attend a business seminar.
On Tuesday night, the Brazilian head of State will leave Pernambuco state
capital Recife for London, to arrive on Wednesday and meet the British Prime
Minister to assess the diferet fields of bilateral relations, highlighting
the sports sphere.
In a press conference about Lula's trip to Great Britain, Brazilian
presidential spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said there are real possibilities of
cooperation with Rio de Janeiro in prepararing the 2016 Olympics, because
London will organize those games four years before.
For that reason, a memorandum of understanding about sport cooperation
should be signed, to pass on Great Britain's experience in Olympic Games to
Brazil, the spokesman said.
The presidential spokesman also announced that Lula and Brown would tackle
issues of global interest, as the international financial crisis, the Doha
Round, climate change and the Third Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations,
to be held in Brazil in May, 2010.
They will also analyze other issues as Brazil's candidacy for a permanent
seat at the UN Security Council.
On Thursday, Lula will attend the seminar entitled Investing in Brazil,
sponsored by the Financial Times and Valor Economico dailies and focused on
identifying investment opportunities in that South American nation, said
Baumbach.
On the same day, the Brazilian President will be awarded with the Chatham
House award for his performance in international relations, solution of
regional crisis and establishment of a peace mission in Haiti, including
intensification of brazil's actions in the international arena.
iom/abo/ale

Honduran Women Facing Attacks since Coup

Tegucigalpa, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) Over 400 violations of human rights
against women have been registered in Honduras since the June 28 coup
d'etat, according to reports by women's organizations.
They include insults, threats, persecutions, beatings, dismissals, sexual
attacks and other forms of violence, said the document presented at the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The text stresses that two women were killed because of intoxication with
tear gases during repression by security forces of anti-coup demonstrations.
Seven other women have been raped by army and police soldiers, after being
detained during the curfew.
The de facto regime has tried to dismantle the public institutions that
safeguard women's rights, as the National Institute for Women, where several
employees were threatened and fired.
Other sectors seriously affected by the coup are children and adolescents.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), there are 79
children, the rights of which have been distorted in repressive actions
since the coup d'etat was perpetrated.
Activities demanded that the UN Human Rights Commission issues an urgent
request to the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti to end humanitarian
violations.
iom/iff/car

Nicaraguans Extol Work by Cuban Docs

Managua, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) The Nicaraguan media praised on Tuesday the
humanitarian work by Cuban specialists from the "All with Voice" brigade,
which is conducting a study to detect cases of disabled people in the
country.
Multinoticias television channel 4 referred to aspects of the Cuban
doctors' work in Matagalpa, where they will try to visit all homes with
disabled people in 28 days.
Interviewed locals highlighted the physicians' solidarity, saying they
bring hope to thousands of families in Matagalpa, the second department of
the country, after Masaya, where the study is being conducted.
After 20 days of work in Masaya, the brigade formed by 68 Cubans and a
group of Nicaraguans that graduated from Cuba's Latin American School of
Medicine detected 4,862 people with disabilities. When heading for their new
destination, they corroborated that most of the most critical cases had been
solved.
Once they finish their mission in that mountainous region, the group will
leave for the departments of Chinandega and Leon, northwest from the
capital.
iom/dig/lb

US, CANADA, EUROPE
AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EASTASIA AND AUSTRALIAChina Calls High Growth by Late
2009

Beijing, Nov 3 (Prensa Latina) The Chinese Construction Bank (CCB) predicted
on Tuesday that the national economy would increase over 10 percent in the
last quarter of 2009, closing with an over-eight-percent annual growth.
CCB based its prediction for the October-December period on more exports
and internal consumption.
According to the source, the growth in the production of goods and services
by late 2009 would be 8.3 percent, a larger figure than the 8.2 percent
predicted by the Asian Development Bank.
The Chinese economy grew 8.9 percent in the July-September quarter, in
relation to the previous quarter. For the first nine months of the current
year, the rate was 7.7 percent.
The results were attributed to a government's plan to caushion the effects
of the global crisis, including a $586 million stimulus package and other
measures.
With continuous improvement of that indicator, they expect that trust of
investors and consumers increases in the last quarter of 2009, in the
interest of the recovery of the world's third economy.
If the Chinese Construction Bank predictions are confirmed, the country
will surpass its annual growth goal of 8 percent, a goal that several
specialized sources consider possible.
Despite the good results, authorities hold that the recovery is not solid,
and have reiterated that they would maintain the stimulus package, including
a flexible monetary policy.
mh/iom/lam

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