[NYTr] Cuban Radar Nesbriefs - Aug 16, 2007

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Progreso Weekly - Aug 16, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=104&Itemid=1

Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - August 16, 2007
Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau service

* More Americans will go to medical school in Cuba
* Fresh milk substituting powdered product
* Successful campaign against Aedes Aegyti
* Population in Camagüey grows older
* Documentaries on Fidel Castro
* President Castro writes again


* More Americans will go to medical school in Cuba

The Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Cuba, where some 10,000
young students from several countries study medicine, particularly from
Latin American and the Caribbean, is also forming U.S. medical doctors.
Until recently there were 100 U.S. students, but now the figure will
grow. 

Reverend Lucius Walker, who heads the interdenominational NGO Pastors
for Peace, announced on August 12, that by the end of the month another
18 students from different U.S. cities will arrive in Havana to attend
medical school at ELAM.

The only condition asked by the Island’s authorities for granting full
scholarships is that students lack the economic resources in their
original countries and that after graduating they practice in their
respective communities. All the students’ needs -- tuition, books,
rooming and board, and uniforms -- are financed by the Cuban government.

Up to now, 8 U.S. students have received medical degrees at ELAM.


* Fresh milk substituting powdered product

The eastern province of Camagüey has substituted 6.5 tons of powdered
milk with 8 tons of fresh milk it processes daily. The remaining 1.5
tons will be substituted shortly, all thanks to the joint efforts of
dairy producers and the industry.

The Adelante provincial daily reported that the Provincial Enterprise
of Dairy Products is in charge of buying, processing in its plants and
distributing some 74 million liters of milk a year.

According to Adelante, an average of 290,000 liters is bought from
4,500 dairy farmers every year.  

Camagüey is the third milk producer in the country.


* Successful campaign against Aedes Aegyti

According to the August 11 edition of Juventud Rebelde, Cuban Vice
Minister of Public Health Gonzalo Estévez said that there are no dengue
fever cases reported in the country.

Cubans have waged a successful national campaign to eradicate sources
of infection and favorable conditions for the development of the Aedes
Aegyti mosquito, transmitter of dengue fever, a disease that in 2002
became an epidemic in Cuba and caused three deaths.

It is estimated that some 2.5 billion people in over 100 countries are
in risk of becoming infected with dengue fever, which has an annual
incidence of some 100 millions cases and 25,000 deaths a year.

In declarations to the National News Agency, Dr. Daniel Purcalla,
sub-regional consultant for the World Health Organization and Pan
American Health Organization (WHO-PAHO) said that Cuba has a vast and
successful experience in the control of dengue fever and of its vector,
the Aedes Aegyti mosquito.


* Population in Camagüey grows older

More than 15 percent of the population of Camagüey is over 60 years
old, according to the local daily Adelante in its August 13 edition.
But the figure is below the population’s increased aging, currently at
16 percent, which sounds alarm bells because of the mid-term
consequences for Cuban society.

According to experts, the danger point is reached when the number of
persons 60 years and older is higher than 12 percent of the population.
The forecast for Cuba is that in 2025 it will be the oldest nation in
Latin America, with 25% of the population over 60 years of age. 


* Documentaries on Fidel Castro

On August 13, Fidel Castro turned 81 years old. As part of the
celebration, the Cuban TV program “Round Table” presented two
documentaries on Fidel.

The first, directed by Arleen Rodríguez and Roberto Ruíz, is titled
Interviewing Fidel and shows the testimonials of four well known
personalities that have interviewed Fidel Castro: Italian journalist
Gianni Miná, Brazilian activist and priest Frei Betto, Nicaraguan
political leader Tomás Borge, and French journalist Ignacio Ramonet.

The second documentary, directed by Rebeca Chávez and produced by the
Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), is part of
the Cuban series Cuba: Paths of Revolution. Excellently made, the
documentary shows important moments of the relation between Fidel
Castro and the Cuban people.


* President Castro writes again

Under the title “The Empire and the Independent Island,” all national
dailies have begun the publication of a series of articles by Fidel
Castro in which important aspects of the history of Cuba are discussed.
The first of the series, printed on August 15, is titled “The
Imposition of the Platt Amendment as an Annex to the Cuban 1901
Neocolonial Constitution”. Said amendment, voted on by the U.S.
Congress and forced as a condition for the withdrawal of its troops
from the island, forced Cuba to cede territories for military bases
(one of them the infamous Guantánamo Naval Base), did not recognize
Cuban sovereignty over the Isle of Pines (the present Isle of Youth)
and gave the United States the right to intervene in Cuba when it
deemed it necessary.

Castro recognizes that “Outstanding Cuban historians have discussed at
large these issues,” but he stresses that “these reflections are
addressed especially for the new generations so that they learn about
very important and decisive facts of our country’s fate.”

Granma daily announces that the series of articles that began appearing
on August 15 would run until August 18.