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10/04/09 - Prensa Latina (Habana) - 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
Sunday, October 4, 2009
For up to the minute news: www.plenglish.com



CUBA-NATIONAL NEWS CUBA
Bolivia Congress Honors Che
President Raul Castro Met Lesotho's Prime Minister
Audience Award for Cuban Tabio at Biarritz

INTERNATIONAL NEWS


LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Jailed Honduran Farmers on Hunger Strike
Zelaya's Restitution to Guarantee Elections
Spanish Perales to Perform in Guatemala
Venezuelan Socialists Announce Nat'l Congress
Mercedes Sosa s Death, LatAm Music in Mourning
TELESUR Seen in Ecuador Through Channel 51
Argentina: Sing to Honor Mercedes Sosa
Honduran Resistance on Fighting Strategies
Chavez Calls on Oil Workers to Unite

US, CANADA, EUROPE


AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST


ASIA AND AUSTRALIA
DPRK Leader Meets Chinese Prime Minister
China Plays Major Role in World Economy

*************************************

CUBA-NATIONAL NEWS CUBA

Bolivia Congress Honors Che

Vallegrande, Bolivia, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) The 9th Bolivian Congress of
Solidarity with Cuba concludes in that city Sunday with an homage to
guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara.

The event's participants will pay tribute to Che in the same place
where his remains lied for three decades.

With the slogan "50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution," the
congress opened Saturday analyzes new strategies to intensify the
Bolivian campaign for the release of the five Cuban anti-terrorists
unfairly imprisoned in the US.

According to organizers, the delegates will call for the inclusion in
the final declaration of a demand for a fair trial and the immediate
return to Cuba of Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino,
Fernando Gonzalez, and Antonio Guerrero.

The forum, attended by about 20 groups of solidarity with Cuba from the
nine Bolivian departments, also highlights the strengthening and support
of Cuban cooperation programs with the Andean nation in such spheres as
health and education.

It also centers attention on the rejection of the US economic,
commercial and financial blockade against the island for nearly 50
years.

The election of the Bolivian solidarity movement's new leadership and
the venue of the 2010 congress are contained in the last point of
today's agenda.

President Raul Castro Met Lesotho's Prime Minister

Havana, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Raul Castro met Lesotho's
Prime Minister Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili before concluding his visit to
Cuba.

Yesterday's meeting covered matters related to bilateral relationships,
challenges that both countries are facing and other subject matters.

President Raul Castro passed on to King Letsie III and to Lesotho
people. Mosisili ratified Lesotho's solidarity with Cuba and appreciated
Cuban contribution.

Cuban Vice-president Esteban Lazo, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno
Rodriguez and Lesotho's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International
Relations M.K Tsekoa were also present at the meeting.

Audience Award for Cuban Tabio at Biarritz

Biarritz, France, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) Cuban filmmaker Juan Carlos
Tabio remained among the favorites this week at the 18th edition of the
Festival of Cinemas and Cultures of Latin America of Biarritz, France,
where he won an Audience Award for his latest film.

The recognition given with this award to the film "El cuerno de la
abundancia" also marked the ceremony to give closure to the seven days
to honor Cuban seventh art and in certain way it defined Tabio as one of
the most popular filmmakers of the Caribbean island.

"It has been a great honor to be here, an opportunity that not only
represents a personal recognition, but a recognition to Cuban and Latin
American cinema", he told Prensa Latina at this picturesque
Basque-French city, which he is visiting after 25 years.

The film also won acceptance by the audience in Cartagena de Indias and
Lima. "The truth is that we feel very happy for the huge welcome given
in Biarritz, the human affection of its people and of the organizers of
the event", he commented.

Cuban filmmaker was one of the main guess invited to the event, with a
presentation of a retrospective of his work that included "Demasiado
Miedo a la Vida (Plaff)" (Too Much Fear of Life), "Lista de espera"
(Waiting List) and the emblematic "Strawberry and Chocolate" and
"Guantanamera", along with Tomas Gutierrez Alea.

He disclosed he is immersed in the filming of one of the five stories
of the film "Amores prohibidos", in which he will work with other four
directors Enrique Pineda Barnet, Jorge Luis Sanchez, Fernando Perez and
Juan Carlos Cremata.



INTERNATIONAL NEWS



LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Jailed Honduran Farmers on Hunger Strike

Tegucigalpa, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) A total of 38 Honduran farmers
arrested by the putschist regime began an indefinite hunger strike,
demanding their release and the return of institutionality.

The farmers were arrested Wednesday when police and soldiers ousted 55
people from the National Agrarian Institute (INA).

"We're being charged with sedition because we are calling for the
return of our president. Anything can be expected from this criminal
government. Lawyers say they want to lock up for ten years," said Ramon
Diaz, one of the hunger strikers.

Apart from President Zelaya's restitution, the strikers also demand an
agrarian reform and the protection of the files on land granting.

President Manuel Zelaya, ousted from power after the coup, had begun
procedures for a legislative decree granting small plots of land to
300,000 farmers who had been claiming the land for 40 years.

"We are starting a hunger strike to demand a just trial, the
restitution of President Zelaya, and respect for our right to the land,"
said Benedicto Flores, another jailed farmer.

Zelaya's Restitution to Guarantee Elections

Tegucigalpa, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) The immediate restitution of
overthrown President Manuel Zelaya is an indispensable condition to
guarantee elections in Honduras, according to a resistance leader.

Carlos Eduardo Reina, president of the Liberal Coordinator against the
Coup d'Etat, warned that the deadline for the November 29 elections is
near.

Speaking on the program Resistance, by the National Front against the
Coup d'Etat, Reina noted that two weeks is too long for Zelaya's
restitution in order to guarantee ordered and transparent elections.

It has to be immediately, he said on the program on Radio Globo, which
has been broadcasting on the Internet since it was closed and its
equipment was confiscated by the police last Monday, during the state of
siege in force in Honduras.

More than 100 candidates from the Liberal Party said on Friday that
they would not participate in the elections if constitutional order and
Zelaya are not reestablished as soon as possible.

Reina pointed out that taking part in the elections under present
conditions, under the June 28 military coup, means to be accomplices to
another deception to the people.

The National Front, independent candidates and the Democratic
Unification Party, among other political forces opposed to the violation
of democracy, also condemned the elections under present circumstances.

Reina, who is accompanying Zelaya in the Brazilian Embassy, where the
president was welcomed after his unexpected return to Honduras on
September 21, ratified Zelaya's will to dialogue to find a peaceful
solution to the crisis.

He added that negotiations cannot be held amid the state of siege
decreed by the de facto regime, which has green light to murder, repress
people's demonstrations and close media organizations.

Reina noted that the immediate derogation of the suspension of
constitutional guarantees is an inexcusable condition to hold serious
talks.

He pointed out that Zelaya has kept his commitment to the people to
hold a constituent assembly to change the conditions of injustice and
inequality imposed by the ten families ruling Honduras.

Spanish Perales to Perform in Guatemala

Guatemala, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) Guatemala is one of the countries to
host the performances of Spanish singer-songwriter Jose Luis Perales, as
part of a tour to mark his 35 years of artistic life, local media
reports Sunday in Guatemala City.

Perales began his tour in three US cities and he is scheduled to end it
on Dec. 14 in Argentine, as part of a long tour that includes also
Guatemala City on coming Oct. 20.

The tour is also to promote his latest album "En directo: 35 años"
(Live: 35 Years), with 24 songs selected from the two concerts he
performed in Buenos Aires in 2008.

Perales told Guatemala media he finds every new tour very rewarding,
"because one more at this age, 64, after all those I have made, it means
that people still love me", the composer said.

Venezuelan Socialists Announce Nat'l Congress

Caracas, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) The Venezuelan United Socialist Party
(PSUV) will hold its extraordinary National Congress on December 15,
according to party leaders quoted by Correo del Orinoco.

Narciso Salazar, a member of the PSUV Political Bureau in Caracas, said
the initial meeting would close on December 21 and the complementary
sessions would be held in January, on a date that has not been set yet.

Participants in the congress of Venezuela's largest party, which has
more than seven million members, will debate the organization's program,
statutes and its members' ideology.

According to Salazar, the congress, to be attended by 70 national
delegates and some 1,000 regional delegates, will issue a declaration of
principles.

PSUV leader Hiroshima Bravo said the congress would be self-financed,
as about 5.6 million dollars are expected to be raised from raffles and
donations.

Mercedes Sosa s Death, LatAm Music in Mourning

Por Moisés Pérez Mok

Buenos Aires, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) The passing away today of Mercedes
Sosa plunged Latin American music into mourning, with the loss of the
most deep, singular voice and one of the most representative in the
continent.

Sosa, who turned 74 last July 9, had been hospitalized on September 18
in the Unit of Intensive Care of the Sanatorio de La Trinidad, affected
by progressive kidney disfunction.

Only on October 1st was ó La Negra s ó critical state of health
became known. By then, she was already in a pharmacological comma and
the attention of all the media was focused on her evolution.

From the first moment, doctors who attended her said they had ó a
reserved prognosis ó and informed about the progressive worsening of
her organic functions, which pointed to a cardiorespiratory failure.

Haydee Mercedes Sosa was born on July 9, 1935 in the northern province
of San Miguel de Tucuman and is considered one of the main exponents of
the so called Movement of the New Song in Argentina, which emerged in
the 60s.

Her two first records, La Zafra (1962) and Canciones con Fundamento
(1965) passed unnoticed, but in 1965, she reached popular fame after
participating in the Cosquin Festival, the most important in the
country.

During the last dictatorship the records of ó La Negra ó were banned,
but even under such circumstances she stayed in the country until 1979
when she was arrested during a concert. Shortly after, she emigrated to
Europe, where she stayed until 1982.

On her return to Argentina, she offered a series of concerts in
full-house theaters in the Opera Theater of Buenos Aires, which became
cultural expressions against the dictatorship and at the same time a
renovating event of national pop music.

Awarded the Sarmiento Prize in recognition to her musical history, her
social commitment and constant struggle in defense of human rights, she
played a leading role in one of the most eagerly awaited encounter among
Argentinean artists in 2002.

Together with Victor Heredia and Leon Gieco, she undertook the
musical-artistic project Argentina wants to Sing, which she interrupted
on account of her health.

The return to the disc world of the ó Voice of America ó , was
precisely this year with a conceptual work in two volumes: Singer1 and
Singer2.

The fragile physical condition of ó La Negra ó prevented her from
formally launching this album which compiles her greatest hits and
popular songs interpreted in a duo with famous artists like Joan Manuel
Serrat, Julieta Venegas, Diego Torres, Shakira and Gustavo Santaolalla,
among others.

TELESUR Seen in Ecuador Through Channel 51

Quito, Oct, 4 (Prensa Latina) Latin American TV network TeleSur will be
seen through private TV platform in Ecuador since Wednesday.

Maria Elisa Alvarez, Director of Distribution and Marketing of Telesur,
and George Schwartz, president of the Ecuadorian TV-Cable company signed
an agreement to give the Latin American chain channel 51 of the company
system.

TeleSUR was created with the objective of providing information to
promote the integration of Latin America.

Its wide broadcast in Ecuador shows that a project of mass media is
possible and a very important issue to achiueve a new broadcasting order
for the development of Latin American peoples.

This news network has its headquarters in Caracas; its main sponsors
are the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador,
Uruguay and Nicaragua.

It has 12 correspondent offices in Latin America and 25 permanent
contributors around the world.

According to official sources TeleSur signal is broadcasted in Europe
and America to about 130 million potential viewers. Its principal
Venezuelan journalist Andres Izarra was in Quito last month because of
the assault to one of its correspondent.

Izarra criticized the assault of TeleSur correspondent in Ecuador Elena
Rodriguez, which was beaten and robbed by three people. They threaten
her because of her journalism work in that nation.

Argentina: Sing to Honor Mercedes Sosa

Buenos Aires, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) Relatives of the most deep singular
voice and popular Argentine artist Mercedes Sosa asked her fans to sing
to recall and honor her, because she certainly would have liked to sing
to you in this occasion.

The request is included in a missive disclosed by her grandsons,
brothers, nephews and her son, which is published in the official web
site of "La Negra", who died Sunday at the age of 74.

Singing made Mercedes very happy, the text of the official document
reads and stresses that the famous singer, besides her critical state of
health, lived in peace the last moments of her life, and fought like a
warrior against death, which finally took her from us.

The missive of the relatives also highlights that during her critical
health state she was always accompanied by an endless line of friends
and popular artists.

After announcing the sad news of her death, the relatives of the "Voice
of America" assured they all gave their best to keep her among us some
more time, including her.

Haydee Mercedes Sosa was born on July 9, 1935 in the northern province
of San Miguel de Tucuman and is considered one of the main exponents of
the so called Movement of the New Song in Argentina, which emerged in
the 60s.

Mercedes Sosa, along 60 years of artistic life, took her art to several
countries and shared the stage with an endless number of prestigious
artists, leaving us a huge discography legacy.

The text also announces that her body will lay at Salon de los Pasos
Perdidos, at National Congress of Argentina.

Honduran Resistance on Fighting Strategies

By Raimundo Lopez, Special Envoy

Tegucigalpa, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) The National Front against the
Honduran coup d ó état announced it will analyze its fighting strategies
in regional assemblies Sunday, in views of the worsening of the
situation due to increasing repression.

The meetings take place nine days after the interim government decreed
a state of siege, with huge presence of the army and police in the
capital to hinder popular demonstrations.

They are also held one day before the resistance stages 100 days of
constant fight against the military coup on June 28, demanding the
restitution of the constitutional order and President Manuel Zelaya.

The president unexpectedly arrived in the country on September 21 and
sheltered in the Brazilian embassy, where he has called for a dialogue
to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis.

The Front's assemblies also develop three days before the arrival in
the country of foreign ministers from the Organization of American
States (OAS), intended to promote a solution through the Arias plan,
encouraged by the mediation of the US government.

The Front's leader Israel Salinas pointed out that though popular
forces reject a dialogue with the putschist, they are willing to take
part in a serious negotiation for a real way out to the conflict.

This week, demonstrations by the Honduran resistance were cordoned off
by police contingents, and even repressed twice, the last one on Friday,
near the US embassy.

Despite the state of siege, the Front affirmed in a release the popular
resistance is strengthening and organizing even more.

Chavez Calls on Oil Workers to Unite

Caracas, Oct, 4 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a
call to workers to be united as a step forward after the victory of
socialists in the first elections of the Federation of Oil Workers
Confederation of Venezuela.

In Sunday column "Chavez' lines" titled "Venezuelan Workers Unite", the
President highlights the importance of this powerful union elections
which gathers 36 thousand six hundred workers.

Chavez expressed that the victory supported by the United Socialist
Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the first elections in Petroleums of
Venezuela (PDVSA) was clear and without exclusions.

Chavez remained that before the changes in 1999 the result of this main
industry were taken by foreigners. He also remained the working class
was able to set up this industry again after the oil brake 2002-2003.

Chavez asked to create the Socialist Worker Patrols of PSUV as an
important step in order to build socialism.


US, CANADA, EUROPE






AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST






ASIA AND AUSTRALIA

DPRK Leader Meets Chinese Prime Minister

Pyongyang, Oct, 4 (Prensa Latina) Prime Minister of China Wen Jibao
arrived today to this capital on a three-day visit and was welcomed by
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Il.

According to the agenda China and DPRK will sign several agreements in
commerce, education and tourism among others.

Chinese Foreign Minister Jiang Yu announced Wen's delegation and their
hosts will talk about issues related to bilateral relations in the 60
anniversary of those bonds.

Chinese Prime Minister will attend activities for the "Year of
Friendship" between his country and DPRK.

China Plays Major Role in World Economy

Beijing, Oct 4 (Prensa Latina) China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
increased to 3.8 trillion dollars last year, accounting for 6.4 percent
of the word's economy, according to official sources.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) confirmed that China was the
world's third major economy, only preceded by the United States and
Japan.

The NSO added that the country's per capita income was 2,770 dollars
last year, so China ranked 130th in a list of 209 countries.

The Asian country has moved up 15 places in that list since 1997, when
the country's per capita income was 750 dollars, according to the NSO
report, quoted by local media.

Considered the world's main economic engine, China has reported
two-digit growth rates over the past 20 years.

Despite the negative effects of the global financial crisis, China's
economy grew 7.1 percent during the first semester of 2009. The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted recently that the country's
economic would grow 8.5 percent this year and 9 percent in 2010.

Results confirm that China's policy to palliate the effects of the
international economic crisis, including an 856-billion-dollar stimulus
package, have been effective, experts said.




END
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