[Marxism] Brazilian Workers Party Extols Cuban Revolution on 50th Anniversary

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

People who read the Marxmail archives might wonder of homosexuality
isn't the aspect of Cuba which most interests the participants here.
Actually, there's much more going on now, including the possible
changes in US-Cuban relations under a new administration, as well
as the numerous domestic challenges inside the island and Cuba's
deepening links with the rest of Latin America. Some highlights...

Cuba's President Raul Castro is visiting Venezuela on his first 
official trip abroad as President. He'll soon be traveling to Brazil
where he'll also be welcomed warmly. This is all part of the process
of Latin American integration through which Cuba has been fighting
to outwit and overcome Washington's effort to strangle Cuba through
the blockade. There's a detailed story here about Brazil's expanding
economic ties with Cuba from the NYT.

Today the U.S. blockade remains in full force and effect, but that's
not likely to remain as the Obama administration comes into office.
I'm expecting Obama will carry out his promise to permit Cubans in
the US to visit without limits and to send money to their families
on the island. Beyond that I don't expect much in the short term.

I'm hopeful that Richardson's appointment as Commerce Secretary 
will mean increased sales to Cuba, and, more importantly two-way
trade, though these won't be first on the new administration's
agenda. In light of the US economic crisis, forces within the US
who favor expanded trade, a complete end to the blockade and 
full normalization of relations are increasingly making their case
to the people of the United States. A few examples:

ASSOCIATED BAPTIST PRESS: Change needed in U.S.-Cuba policy
http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3709&Itemid=9

Farmers see possible end to Cuba trade embargo
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20081214/BUSINESS/812140343/1046

Lawrence Wilkerson: An Obama policy for Cuba:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/337/story/57691.html

MIAMI HERALD
Officials thank God for the Revolution at another church ceremony
And also, Cuban religious place wreath at tomb of Che Guevara
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/12/officials-thank.html

BIOTECH PAYING OFF FOR CUBA:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20081213T000000-0500_143725_OBS_BIOTECHNOLOGY_PAYING_OFF_FOR_CUBA_.asp

Meanwhile, Cuba is readying itself for visits by Cubans from the 
United States, while pointing out that the rest of the population of
the United States is being granted the right to travel to Cuba now.

Lage: Cuba is 'ready' to welcome exiles
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/12/lage-cuba-is-re.html

Nice little eight-minute long English-language YouTube video of a 
ten-year-old checking out the rides at the new Chinese-build
amusement park in Havana. The child speaks perfect English, too:
http://kineticcarnival.blogspot.com/2008/12/coney-vid-coney-fever-hits-havana-cuba.html

Venezuela and Cuba to form energy, tech joint ventures
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/12/14/3855114.htm

On the domestic front, Cuba is also confronting many of its social
problems, including vandalism, corruption and many other of these
kinds of difficulties. We are living in interesting times indeed.


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
===================================================================

Brazilian Workers Party Extols Cuban Revolution on 50th Anniversary 

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 12 (acn) Brazil's Workers Party (PT) recognized the
Cuban revolutionary process as a fact that marks the history of the world
including Brazilian history. 

The Party's National Executive Commission issued a resolution for the
50th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban revolution in which it
expressed the friendship and solidarity of the organization with the
Cuban people, government and the Communist Party, reported Prensa Latina
news agency. 

The document says the Cuban revolution's endurance for half a century
will be celebrated in numerous parts of the world while it has been the
subject of the hostile US policy against its government. It calls on
President-elect Barak Obama to start a new era in the relations of his
government with Cuba. 

It mentions the necessity of lifting the US economic blockade against the
island, the liberation of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters and the
closing of the Guantanamo military base. 

The document notes that Cuba's priority of its health and education
systems, its international solidarity and resistance are enough reasons
for the island to receive the support of progressive and leftist
governments of the region.

Finally, the resolution says that whatever judgment is made on any aspect
of life and history of Socialist Cuba, its revolutionary deeds 
deserve to be respected and admired. 
======================================================================
MIAMI HERALD
Lage: Cuba is 'ready' to welcome exiles

Cuba is "ready" to welcome Cuban-Americans to the island if Barack
Obama lifts the existing travel restrictions after taking office,
Lage said Carlos Lage, vice president of the Council of State. "Our
tourism [facilities] and our people are ready," he told the press on
Friday, according to the Spanish news agency EFE. [Prensa Latina
quoted Lage as saying: "Cuban society as a whole is ready to
assimilate" a liberalization of travel.]

"It is an act of barbarity to prohibit a citizen to visit his
family," Lage said, alluding to the limit of one trip every three
years imposed on Cuban-Americans by President Bush in 2004. During
the presidential campaign, Obama said he would lift the travel and
remittance restrictions ($300 every three months) once he became
president.

However, Lage added, while Obama has talked about "making it easier
for Cubans who live in the United States to travel [to Cuba], he has
not talked about the rights of U.S. citizens [to travel], which is
found in the Constitution." The right of Americans to travel freely
"is violated by the U.S. blockade against Cuba," he said.
---Renato PÃrez Pizarro.

December 13, 2008
http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/12/lage-cuba-is-re.html
======================================================================
Cuban First VP Calls Struggle against Illegal Acts

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 13 (acn) Cuban First Vice President Jose Ramon
Machado Ventura, today called on delegates attending the 7th Congress
of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) to keep
fighting crimes, corruption and illegal activities.

Addressing the Congress Commission on the grassroots organizationâs
readiness against illegal acts, Machado Ventura stressed the need to
increase political-ideological work in this field.

CDR members make up the majority of the Cuban population, with over 8
millions, said Machado Ventura and noted that their unity will give
them the strength to fight everything that threatens the well-being
of Cuban society.

Machado referred to vandalistic acts against public phones and other
social property and he encouraged all citizens to take a step forward
in the struggle against social indiscipline, which affects the
population and causes damage to the local economy.

He underscored the importance of the CDR Congress by pointing out
that the gathering will unleash actions aimed at facing new
challenges and undertaking the tasks ahead, and particularly at
preventing corruption, crime and illegal acts from becoming a life
style for some people.



======================================================================
THE NEW YORK TIMES
December 14, 2008
Cuban President in Venezuela in First Official Foreign Visit
By SIMON ROMERO

EXCERPT: 
After stopping in Caracas, Mr. Castro is still expected to travel to
Brazil in the coming days, raising the prospect of stronger relations
with Brazil and, perhaps, even of a potential option for back-channel
dialogue with the coming Obama administration.

The government of Mr. da Silva, a former leftist labor organizer, has
expressed a strong desire to strengthen relations with both Havana,
which Mr. da Silva has visited twice in the past year, and
Washington.

âThe U.S. approach to Cuba will unfreeze with Obama,â said
Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy at the Americas
Society, a policy organization in New York focusing on Latin America.
âLula has both the international cred and the ideological cred to be
an interlocutor in this process.â

Cubaâs potential in developing alternative forms of energy also
figures high on Brazilâs efforts to cultivate warmer ties with Cuba,
with Brazilian sugar and ethanol producers seeking to interest Cuba
in Brazilian ethanol technology and investment, possibly as a way to
circumvent an American tariff on imports of Brazilian ethanol if
Washingtonâs embargo is altered.

âThe Brazilians are taking a long-term view on Cuba as an entry point
into the Caribbean and even the United States,â said Jorge R. PiÃÃn,
an energy fellow at the University of Miami. âAs for the Cubans, they
are still recovering from the shock of losing the Soviet lifeline, so
they want an insurance policy in case of changes in relations with
Venezuela,â he said. âThe Cubans are getting their ducks in a row.â

FULL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/96685
======================================================================

December 7, 2008

Venezuelan Constitution Ratifies Absolute Power for the People

President ChÃvez urged the amendment bill for the presidential
re-election to be made during December and voted in the first months
of 2009

Venezuelan Peopleâs prominence and participation in the Bolivarian
Revolution is reaffirmed unequivocally in the 350 articles of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuelaâs Constitution. That has led many
expert constitutionalists to qualify it as one of the best
constitutions in the world.

The possibility of revoking popularly elected mandates, contemplated
in Article 72, is an innovate tool with which the constitution
protects the people and ensures their right in the current democratic
system of the country.

It is important to remember that Venezuela is the only country in the
world, so far, where there has been a Presidential Revocatory
Referendum.

In August 2004, 5,991,483 Venezuelan (60% of the voters) answered
âNOâ to the question: âDo you agree to revoke, for the current term,
the popular mandate as President of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela conferred on citizen Hugo Rafael ChÃvez FrÃas through
democratic and legitimate elections?

The Bolivarian Revolution and Hugo ChÃvez FrÃas

The Great majority in Venezuela were humiliated for more than 40
years by governments that, during the historical term called The 4th
Republic, they just put on foreign bank accounts and served foreign
interests paying attention to the people only in election times
claiming for their votes.

To think in the concretion of the Bolivarian Revolution without the
boost, energy and engagement of Hugo ChÃvez FrÃas, 24 hours a day,
seems a risk responded with no doubt by the slogan heard since 2002:
âUh, Ah, ChÃvez no se vaâ (Uh, Ah, ChÃvez wonât go).

The heads of the opposition, roughly can we qualify them as leaders,
have gotten worked up repeatedly with the idea of the people deciding
the permanence of the Venezuelan Head of State as leader of the
Revolution.

The opposition has never accepted the idea of a protagonist,
representative democracy, where the citizen has a real control of
his/her future. Instead, they have thought of getting rid of ChÃvez,
and actually they tried in the cruel putsch of April 11, 2002 to go
back to the representative democracy, with which they caused so many
harms to the people.

Now the wise Venezuelan society has the power to tell the world that,
in exercise of the faculty given by the Constitution of the Republic,
is prepared to assign to the President of the Republic the task of
continuing building the fair and equitable homeland dreamed by all,
through the extension of his administration.

Historic Call of 2009

President ChÃvez urged the amendment bill for the presidential
re-election to be made during December and voted in the first months
of 2009.

In this context, the Venezuelan President said: âI authorized the
Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV, Spanish Acronyms) to
start the struggle for the re-election. Iâm just going to ask
something first; if we do it, it is for wining the amendment by an
overwhelming advantage. Second, if we will do so, letâs do it
quickly. I wouldnât really pass 2009 discussing.â

Also, the journalist and PSUV leader, Vanessa Davies, said last
Monday 8, that there will be a meeting with the president soon to
tune up the last details of the constitution amendment.

The amendment will be made on Article 230 of the Constitution: âThe
presidential term is six years. The president of the republic may be
re-elected, immediately and once only, to an additional term.â

The extract of the article to amend is the following: âimmediately
and once only, to an additional term.â

We have to remember the president was re-elected in December 2006 up
to 2012 with 7,309,080 votes (63%).

Opposition Recognizes ChÃvezâs Popularity

A survey made by Datanalisis, a company historically linked to the
opposition, revealed that 69% of Venezuelans refers to the work made
by President ChÃvez as âvery goodâ.

The director of the survey, Luis Vicente LeÃn, informed that to
measure the popularity of President ChÃvez, they made 2,000
interviews distributed, according to the number of voters, in 22
states of the country.

The figures ended up ratified in the last regional elections, where
the PSUV conquered 77% of the governorships (19 out of 23) and 81% of
the municipalities (265 out of 327).

Likewise, the organization got success in 18 out of 24 capital
cities.

Even in the states where the opposition won, the revolutionary
organization had excellent results regarding the municipalities. In
TÃchira (southwest), it got 16 municipalities, and the opposition 13;
in Nueva Esparta (northeast), it got six municipalities and the
opposition 5; in Miranda (surrounding Caracas), 15 municipalities and
5 for the opposition; and in Carabobo (Litoral north-center) the PSUV
won 12 municipalities and the opposition won only two.

Bolivarian News Agency (ABN)
======================================================================

December 7, 2008

Four years of Cuban-Venezuelan efforts

Mission Miracle Consolidates Commitment with Latin America

Nearly 78,000 Latin American patients, including Venezuelans, and a
total of 193.178 people were benefited by this program. Between 2007
and 2008, eye medical care offered to Venezuelans increased. Four new
ophthalmological hospitals will be opened soon.

Ecuadorians, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, Salvadorians, Costa Ricans,
Dominicans, Paraguayans, Argentineans and Venezuelans have been
receiving free medical care for over four years to end different eye
diseases.

By late 2004, the Sandino Commitment, endorsed by the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Cuba, established these
countriesâ will to benefit six million people with eye diseases
within 10 years.

In Venezuela, this process is part of a joint work of different
health institutions reporting medical cases, in addition to
extraordinary health sessions in different regions with the
participation of this missionâs medical staff, which makes
preliminary diagnosis and later refers them to hospitals.

âThis year we held sessions in Amazonas, BolÃvar, Apure, Delta
Amacuro, Monagas, TÃchira and Distrito Capital, where we received
many patients that underwent operations or are going to undergo
operations,â a representative of the Logistic Committee of Mission
Miracle, Manuel Pacheco, who explains that the nationwide procedure
demands a follow up divided in stages; therefore, taking the program
to other fraternal nations implies a greater articulation with the
Venezuelan Embassy in each country.

âA staff of Venezuelan doctors travels to the country making the
request, and it conducts pre-operative tests on an important number
of patients that later come to Venezuela to undergo operations. After
10 days, they go back to their countries safe and recovered,â he
explains.

The totally free process guarantees post-operative care to foreign
patients in their nations since Venezuelan doctors there to check
their recovery.

Priority is at home

In 2008, the Venezuelan medical staff of Mission Miracle has offered
medical care to 77,418 patients, 67.32 of whom are Venezuelans and
10,182 are from other countries in Central America, South America and
the Caribbean, except from Brazil, which has Mission Miracle program,
and Bolivia, whose patients receive medical care in Cuba.

The data shows that less than 15 percent of the cases involve foreign
patients, thus countering statements about an alleged exaggerated
attention to foreigners in the detriment to medical received by
Venezuelans.

Likewise, since 2005, 193,178 patients have been treated by
Venezuelan doctors, thus benefiting 169,356 Venezuelans and 23,822
foreigners.

Again, it is clear that less than 15 percent of patients treated by
the Mission started with foreigners.

According to Pacheco, a total of 196,431 operations have been
undertaken.

Noteworthy, most surgical services heals diseases such as pterygium
and cataracts, as well as injuries to the cornea.

âContrary to what is said, it is crystal clear that Venezuelan
patients have taken precedence, and it will continue to be so.
Nevertheless, we think that we have benefited few foreign patients;
we want to increase that number because we received a lot of requests
from abroad,â states Pacheco, who said that starting 2009 Belize will
be incorporated into this humanitarian program.

Increasing response capabilities

âBefore the implementation of Mission Miracle, only 5,000 patients
underwent operations in Venezuela every year. Now, around 6,000
people undergo operations every week,â stresses Pacheco.

Thanks to the Cuban support, the total figure of operations is around
780,000; however, improvements in the Venezuelan medical
infrastructure, the state-of-the-art equipment and the incorporation
of more doctors have helped us take the spaces covered by Cuban
doctors with more Venezuelan doctors.

According to Manuel Pacheco, up to 2007, 204,750 Venezuelan patients
were operated in Cuba. This figure dropped from 203,323 in 2006 to
1,408 in 2007.

In 2008, only 5 Venezuelans have been operated in Cuba.

âCuban doctors were a higher number because they have the experience
Venezuela is gradually acquiring as we equipped better our
hospitals,â he reiterates.

âCubaâs support is excellent, we hold it in high esteem, and we
appreciate it. But the idea, is that the Venezuelan doctors can give
attention to all their patients,â he said.

Better quantity, better quality

Pacheco foresees an important increase of ophthalmologist hospitals
by next year, out of the current 45 eye centers.

He explained that the Health National Public System, the Venezuelan
Institute of Health Care (IVSS) and military hospitals keep operative
without a break Mission Miracle, while facilities are improved for
this proposes.

Currently, the Vargas Ophthalmologist Center is about to be
inaugurated and will be ready to work completely in the first
trimester of 2009.

Pacheco, who administers that hospital, assures it will be the most
important center of Latin America due to its state-of-the-art
equipment, avant-grade architectural design and the highly qualified
personnel.

âOnce the hospital is operative, we will perform between 250 and 300
surgeries weekly, which will represent an important growth for the
Mission,â he predicts.

Moreover, he said that five new ophthalmologist hospitals will be
built in the sates of Zulia, Lara and Miranda.

âThe numbers, which show the necessities of each population, will
reveal the location of each center,â he said.

Joint efforts

The Ministry of Peopleâs Power for Health, the MaiquetÃa
International Airport (the biggest of the country), the National
Institute of Civil Aeronautics (INAC), the sate-owned Conviasa
airlines, the Venezuelan Institute of Health Care (IVSS), mayoralties
and hospitals of the Health National Public System are just few of
the institutions Pacheco remembers when referring to the joint effort
that keeps the high level of Mission Miracle.

âPeople from the Statistics National Institute (INE) canât understand
how weâre so successful, considering we donât have a specific place
to work, but several institutions working individually in the same
program,â he says.

He explains that a weekly meeting is held with Vice-president RamÃn
Carrizalez, who heads the program.

âThere we get organized, we collect information and establish the
logistics. Weâre all separated, but the machinery works perfectly;
the experience has given us perfection, so we can say we are the
Mission that better works in Venezuela,â he considers.

According to Pacheco, the challenge is to work every day to improve
services, supply more hospitals and train more personnel. âThatâs why
we increase patients every year; fortunately we have almost no
obstacles.â

He emphasizes that as far as Venezuelans continue receiving medical
care in every hospital, patients from fraternal countries will do so.

âWeâre not stopping in spite of our detractors. We believe we do a
good work and we continue doing it, always giving priority to
Venezuelan patients and supporting Latin American patients as far as
we can,â Pacheco said.

Bolivarian News Agency (ABN)
====================================================================

Cuba and Venezuela Working on Optic Fiber Communication Cable

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 12 (ACN) Venezuela and Cuba highlighted their
common efforts aimed at developing Information Technologies (IT)
under the umbrella of the Bolivarian Alternative for Our Americas
(ALBA), which include the setting up of an optic fiber cable
connecting both countries.

Cubaâs Deputy Minister for Information Technologies and
Communications, Alberto Rodriguez, pointed out that the two nations
are jointly working in the setting up the underwater cable and at
ALBATEL, the telecommunications company with the ALBA Integration
project, which was created in 2004 by Caracas and Havana, Granma
newspaper reports on its website.

Rodriguez explained that, over the next few days, they expect to
conclude technical works between the joint Cuban-Venezuelan company
Telecomunicaciones Gran Caribe and the Chinese-French Alcatel
Shanghai Bell for the construction of the optic fiber cable.

The Cuban deputy minister, who participated in the official
announcement in Caracas of the 13th Conference on Information
Technologies, to be held in Havana in February 2009, said that the
project will be implemented next January and will be ready for 2010.

At present, said the Cuban official, the technical, logistic, and
financial aspects of the project are being analyzed. The optic fiber
cable will connect a point of Venezuelaâs Caribbean area to the Cuban
eastern province of Santiago de Cuba.

He explained that the underwater cable will provide larger connection
capacity and higher quality service; the project is also important
for the sovereignty of both nations in international communications.

+

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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