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Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Nov 29, 2007
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Progreso Weekly - Nov 29, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=1
Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Nov 29, 2007
A Service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau
* Statistics and reality
* DNA test of Ches remains offers evidence
* Cuban GNP growth revealed
* Cuban Viagra
* Delegation of Mexican PRI visits Cuba
* New piping factory
* Catholics help flood victims
* Statistics and reality
An article in Juventud Rebelde under the headline Jobs for the Young:
A Never Ending Story? contrasts official figures for unemployment
among young people with research finding conducted by the Young
Communist Union (UJC).
According to the newspaper, the unreality of the official figures is
due to inefficiency on the part of the Ministry of Labor and Social
Security (MTSS) and other government agencies. But the reasons that
young people are not motivated to get a regular job are many, among
them low salaries, jobs inconsistent with their degrees or
qualifications or because they do not agree with the conditions offered
at work centers. Regarding this aspect, a UJC official told the
newspaper that 90 percent of more than 146,000 not working or studying
in 2006 would like to do so, but could not find acceptable offers.
The article blames the lack of coordination and foresight on the part
of agencies involved together with MTSS, such as the Ministries of
Education and Higher Education. Also receiving blame were a lack of
coordination among the needs of each province, qualifications of graduates
and offers by the MTSS influence young peoples unemployment.
* DNA test of Ches remains offers evidence
Cuban scientists announced results of tests on the remains of Commander
Ernesto Che Guevara, including the DNA testing.
On Monday, November 26, in a meeting at the central city of Santa
Clara, Dr. Jorge Gonz!lez, the Cuban doctor who headed the
multinational forensic team that found the remains of Che and his
comrade, explained that they did not make a DNA study on Che to
identify him (but) used DNA as evidence.
According to Gonz!lez, they had elements for identification from the
start, such as an impression of his teeth, and seven fractures that
were coincidental. DNA tests then were used for validation.
Ricardo Leonard, an expert from the Center of Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology, explained that since Ches widow and children live in
Cuba, the DNA test is unquestionable.
A few months ago in Miami, people involved in the operations that ended
in Ches capture and assassination in Bolivia denied the authenticity
of the mythical guerrillas remains buried in Cuba. They dared the
Cuban government to present DNA evidence.
Cuban authorities kept silent, but during the meeting revealed that
tests had been conducted back in October, 1997.
* Cuban GNP growth revealed
Cuban Minister of the Economy Jos(c) Luis Rodrguez predicted that the
growth of the Gross National Product for fiscal year 2007, which ends
in December, will be 10 percent. The announcement was made during the
celebration of Economists Day, held on November 26.
Cuba's economy should grow by 10 percent in 2007, the third straight
year of double-digit expansion, despite slips in the tourism sector,
according to Rodriguez.
Speaking at a meeting of economists, Rodriguez said gross domestic
product on the communist-run island would rise by 10 percent this year,
reiterating a prediction he made in February.
Rodrguez said that there would be no magical solutions to problems and
that complex situations must be faced, such as oils high prices, but
he assured that Cuba is prepared for the challenges imposed by a
convulsive world, on the brink of an economic and environmental
catastrophe.
* Cuban Viagra
Cubans wont have to buy smuggled Viagra at 10 CUC a pop (1 CUC = $0.82
USD), for in 2008 the local version will be sold at the countrys
pharmacies.
According to national media, Dr. Juli!n P(c)rez, head of the Center for
the Development of Drugs, announced that sildenafil, the generic drug
sold with the brand name Viagra, will be available under the system of
control cards. Controlled drugs such as this are not over the counter
and require a medical prescription.
Although the drug is marketed for men with erectile dysfunction,
sildenafil is also used for greater ***ual potency and longer ***ual
relations.
The requirement of a medical prescription could serve as a deterrent
for some, due to reluctance on the part of many Cuban men to publicly
admit a condition that smacks of unmanliness, an example of the ***ism
that still survives in the country.
* Delegation of Mexican PRI visits Cuba
A delegation of the Mexican Revolutionary Institutional Partys (PRI)
National Executive Committee visited the island on November 21 to 24,
invited by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC).
Heading the delegation was the PRIs present chairman Beatriz Paredes
Rangel, who up to 1994 was the Mexican Ambassador in Havana.
According to the Notimex news agency, Ms. Paredes met with acting
president Ral Castro.
During their stay, the delegation also met for talks with high
officials of the Cuban government and the PCC.
Paredes declared to Mexican media that she was sympathetic with the
rapprochement of Mexican President Felipe Calderns administration
with the Cuban government.
* New piping factory
Radio Habana Cuba (RHC) re****ted that the new plastic piping factory at
the eastern city of Holgun entered its marketing stage."
According to RHC, the first productions, some 2,000 meters of 900
millimeter tubes was an order for the water conduit at the Nipe
reservoirs channel in Gibara.
The start up of this factory, the third in the country, will also serve
to increase repairs of thousands of kilometers of water works in towns
and cities.
One of the problems affecting the Cuban population is the disrepair of
aqueducts that cause huge losses of water.
* Catholics help flood victims
In almost every Catholic church in the country priests have made a call
to members of their congregations to donate clothing, shoes, bed
sheets, towels, money and food for their compatriots, victims of the
flooding caused by tropical storm Noels rains.
In the eastern region of the country, the most damaged, losses are
calculated at half a billion dollars.
A re****t on the official site of the Conference of Cuban Catholic
Bishops says that the first donations have already been distributed in
cash and kind, a result of the collection among the faithful from
several parishes of the dioceses, religious orders and a remittance by
the Cuban chapter of Caritas.
Although the government has dedicated large resources for the
reconstruction of the disaster areas, all aid is im****tant to alleviate
the suffering of thousands of victims.
*
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