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Carta de Cuba, la escritura de la libertad |
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APRIL 19, 2006 CASTRO’S HAND MAY BE BEHIND PVDSA’S STRATEGY Havana – Everything seems to indicate that Fidel Castro’s hand is behind the recent strategy of Venezuela Petroleum (PDVSA), which has just ¨re-bought¨ its 83- million dollar debt in the American market. This debt comprises bonds issued with expiration dates from 2007 to 2028. The anticipated re-purchase is part of a strategy for reducing the PVDSA’s external debt, but aside of financial considerations, the decision had a clear political connotation: With the debt’s re-purchase, Venezuela terminated its obligation of annually presenting a report to the United States Securities Commission, with significant data about its oil industry, including details on reserves, production, exports and refinery. ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION ON THE RISE AMONG THE YOUNG Morón – The rising alcohol consumption among minors in this city is becoming a very alarming fact, especially among males between ages of 13 to 18 years. The lack of recreational options, which are almost null or unattractive, is considered an aggravating factor, since the youngsters do not have other option that drinking as a form of escape to the crude reality they are living. The legal disposition forbidding the sale of cigarettes and alcoholic beverages to people less than 18 years of age is not being carried out, neither by sale persons nor parents, who, ignoring the rule, are regularly sending to their children to such places with the errand of buying liquor. PRISONER’S MOTHER IN HUNGER STRIKE Camagüey – The mother of dissident prisoner Roger Cardoso Nieves, a 70-year old lady, has gone on a hunger strike, since April 11th, in front of the ¨Kilo 8¨ maximum security prison in Camagüey, demanding to be allowed to see her son, who is also on a hunger strike inside the prison. The prisoner is requesting respect for his personal rights, such as to have medical assistance, access to phone calls and the appropriate food diet required by his health condition. Thanks to other prisoners of conscience inside the same prison, it was known that Roger Cardoso Nieves is presently in a punishment cell with frequent ear bleedings. GREAT PORTION OF WETLAND IN DANGER Ciego de Avila – Experts are quite concerned about the conservation of the so called ¨great wetland of the north¨, which constitutes one of the most important ecosystems in Cuba’s central region. Presently, these areas, with 42 per cent of woods, are in constant danger from fire, and the animal life inhabiting it (ringdoves, pigeons, rodents) is also being threatened by the indiscriminating hunting of people with license to bear fire arms, something which in Cuba is only granted to certain ¨reliable persons¨ integrated to the revolutionary process. DANGEROUS TRADITION IN TOWN Morón – An ancient tradition of folks in this town, also called ¨Rooster City¨, of walking preferably on the middle of the streets instead of the protecting sidewalks, has been kept over the years, in spite of recent demands by the flaming police academy students, who for several weeks have been positioned in the main streets in order to apply the theory taught in class. AIDS PATIENT IN JAIL CLAIMS MEDICAL ASSISTANCE Santa Clara - Yosvani Carrillo Rodríguez, an AIDS patient in jail in the provincial prison of Villa Clara, is demanding proper medical attention for him and other inmates with the same disease. According to independent journalist Luis Esteban Espinosa, Carrillo Rodríguez asked the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights for help, in order to publicize his case, since the prison’s authorities are denying any medical assistance, in spite of the fact of Carrillo Rodríguez being a former member of the Western Cuban Army, from which he was licensed with honors. CRISIS WITH THE CZECH REPUBLIC MIGHT GET WORSE Havana – Even if he had previously consulted with Fidel Castro, everything seems to indicate that it was the Cuban Minister of Foreign Relations, Felipe Pérez Roque, who decided to expel from Cuba Stanislav Kázecky, First Secretary of the Czech Embassy, on account that he was carrying out ¨intelligence work and subversive actions for Washington¨. But the real reason for his expulsion was Kázecky’s support to the Cuban dissidents, whom he met on several occasions, something unacceptable to the government officers. BROTHER OF PEACEFUL OPPONENT ARRESTED Puerto Júcaro, Ciego de Avila – Eugenio Legón Mendoza was arrested on April 7th, in this fishing town in the Ciego de Avila province, by state security officer Nelson Concepción, who used violence to introduce him into a car that was taken on an unknown direction. 35-year old Legón Mendoza is a peaceful opponent with no direct connection with dissident groups in the area. Some time ago, he was relieved from his duties as captain of a fishing boat, since the regime would not trust him, specially for being the brother of psychologist Antonio Lázaro Legón Mendoza, who belongs to the Cuban Human Rights Foundation. POTATOES APPEAR…ON TELEVISION Havana – After a long season in which potatoes had practically disappeared throughout the whole country, the tubercle finally appeared…but in television. The debut took place in the afternoon emission of the national news, in which the screen showed numerous potato sacks and the population became enthusiastic. But they still had to wait. When the potatoes were finally sent to the markets, its acquisition was under a severe rationing: two pounds per person. It is commented that Fidel Castro’s government treated his colleague and friend Evo Morales, with most of the potato crop in the island, as an altruistic internationalism gesture. ROPE ¨FOR FREE¨ Camagüey – The effort of buying food products, which is done by the state collecting enterprise in this province, in order to later distribute them in the market places, is going through a total crisis. When any allotment of products is received, generally are minimum quantities, of very poor quality, and then the lines of buyers remain till the product quickly runs out. But lately, these selling sites have remained conspicuously empty, with only one product to offer: Rope, for 14 pesos per unit.
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