October 11, 2006
CONGRESS OF INDEPENDENT LIBRARIES
Havana – The oppositionist Assembly to Promote the Civil
Society, headed by Martha Beatriz Roque, made an appeal to the rest of
the opposition to Fidel Castro’s government, to join in support of the
independent libraries congress, which will last for more than four
months. Given the present conditions in the country and the state of
repression which the internal dissidence is presently going through
–says the appeal- the congress shall be ¨sui generis¨. Beginning on
October 10th, it will be extended till February 24, 2007,
with the purpose that it could take place at all independent libraries
in the country. Both dates are significant in the Cuban independence
history.
CUBAN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SITUATION GETTING COMPLICATED
Havana – The epidemiological situation is still very
delicate in Cuba, not only due to the dengue epidemic, but for the
presence of different types of grippe and the apparition of cases of
leptospyrosis, hepatitis and other infections. Even apparently the
dengue infection has begun to diminish after several alarming months, at
least 15,000 cases are mentioned, according to unofficial figures.
Information from outside the country assures that dengue has caused more
than 1,000 deaths this year, even local sources that don´t want to be
identified sustain that there may be more than a hundred deaths, but in
any case not more than a thousand¨. Rumors insistently circulating in
Havana also tell about infections that were hardly known before in this
Caribbean island and that could have been introduced by the tenths of
thousands of foreigners coming in to study or to receive medical
treatment, something that many see as a growing rejection to the
government plans driven by ruler Fidel Castro and Venezuelan leader Hugo
Chávez. Contributing to the population unease’s is the fact that medical
centers throughout the island have registered a personnel reduction, due
to international cooperation, while the adequate medical facilities only
service to sick foreigners with dollars.
SCHOOL CENTER CLOSED DUE TO LACK OF HYGIENE
Villa Clara – The ¨Wilfredo Pérez¨ basic secondary
school, belonging to the Ranchuelo Municipality, in the middle of the
country, was closed due to an obstruction in its bath rooms, which
prevents their proper use. The students’ parents are perplexed, because
even the school term began hardly a month ago, the students had to
interrupt their classes till further notice.
PROBLEMS AT THE SIBANICU CHEESE FACTORY
Camagüey – The production lines of the Sibanicú cheese
factory have been halted for a month, due to the fact that there is no
water at the facility, after the collapse of the well supplying it. The
milk produced at the municipality is daily taken to the plant by
different transportation means, and it is used in the manufacture of
cheese for tourism, butter and other dairy products. The skim milk
distributed among less than 7-year old children is also produced there.
However, as a consequence of the lack of water, only the milk solids and
liquids are being separated. Some fifty thousand milk liters are turned
every day into cottage cheese and the rest is sent to cold storage
plants in the city of Camagüey. However, the storage facilities in
Sibanicú are poor and a great amount of cottage cheese is lost and has
to be destined to pigsties, as food for hogs.
NOT CONVINCING ANSWER TO TIME
Havana – Raúl Castro said that Cuban ruler Fidel Castro
is satisfactorily recuperating and is more and more using the phone to
give orders, as an answer to a story in TIME magazine that Castro has a
terminal cancer and will never go back to power. Nevertheless,
diplomatic sources in Havana dismiss such statements as pure rhetoric,
since the last images of the octogenarian dictator show him quite
unwell. The magazine suggests that Fidel and his possible successors are
already aware of the disease’s terminal condition and are trying to
check the people’s reaction in the absence of their leader.
GROWING TRADE BETWEEN CUBA AND CHINA
Havana – The commercial exchange between Cuba and China
in the first quarterly of 2006 rose to $890 million dollars, which means
an 80 per cent increase in respect to the same period in 2005. However,
the people do not see the practical fruits of this trade. One example is
the purchase of a thousand Chinese buses, which are supposedly destined
to the transportation of passengers, but are only used for tourism and
the government’s political activities.
NO VENEZUELAN CRUDE OIL IN OCTOBER
Havana – There is certain restlessness among the
official Cuban media due to the impossibility of Venezuela to deliver
the amount of oil which it generally supplies to Cuba in the month of
October. Former officials of Venezuela’s oil company (PDVSA), confirmed
that Hugo Chavez’ government will not send to the island the 38 thousand
tons corresponding to this period, due to certain problems they are
facing at some refineries of the South American country.