[NYTr] Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Aug 2, 2007

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Progreso Weekly - Aug 2, 2007
http://progreso-weekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=82&Itemid=1


Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - August 2, 2007
A news service from the Havana bureau of Radio Progreso Alternativa

* Fidel Castro: 'I will fight tirelessly'
* Five Cuban-Venezuelan joint enterprises
* A drop in the rate of traffic accidents
* Cubans continue to conserve oil
* Egg production recovers
* Raúl Castro honors the Nation's Martyrs



* Fidel Castro: 'I will fight tirelessly'

On Aug. 1, all newspapers in Cuba published a new reflection by the
historic leader, Fidel Castro.

More than a reflection, Castro described it as "another
proclamation ... [exactly] one year after the first proclamation, on
July 31, 2006," in which he delegated power to Army Gen. Raúl Castro
Ruz.

"Today, I am bombarded with questions as to when I will take up again
what some call power, as though that power were possible without
independence," Fidel Castro writes, but at no time does he specify
when, how, or in what capacity he would resume his official duties.

There is an answer, however, when he writes that "Raúl has already
responded that, as I recover, every important decision is consulted
with me. What will I do? I will fight tirelessly as I have done my
entire life."

In his new proclamation, the Cuban leader writes that everything has
gone exactly as planned and restates that "the struggle against our own
deficiencies and against the insolent enemy which seeks to take
possession of Cuba must be unrelenting."

At another point, he warns Cubans not to "entertain the slightest
illusion that the empire, which carries the genes of its own
destruction, will negotiate with Cuba." This reflection by Fidel Castro
can be read in Spanish at:
http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/reflexiones/esp-038.html

The English translation is here:
https://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20070730/066151.html


* Five Cuban-Venezuelan joint enterprises

Radio Habana Cuba reported that the governments of Venezuela and Cuba
signed agreements to create five agricultural enterprises.

Under the umbrella of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
(ALBA), the companies "will work in the areas of leguminous vegetables,
poultry, dairy, lumber and rice and will be able to link up with other
countries in the mechanism of union and integration, to which Bolivia
and Nicaragua also belong, as full members."

The companies will be based in Venezuela and their objective will be to
produce so as to guarantee the alimentary security of the countries
that participate in the integrationist project.


* A drop in the rate of traffic accidents

Whereas the figures of crimes committed in the country are not in the
public domain, the figures of traffic accidents are reflected by the
media.

Official sources told the Prensa Latina news agency that the number of
traffic accidents throughout the island declined by 4 percent during
the first half of this year, compared with the number for the same time
period in 2006.

The report from the Traffic Department of the Revolutionary National
Police adds that "the number of deaths decreased by 15.6 percent; the
number of injured declined by 12.5 percent."


* Cubans continue to conserve oil

The alcohol distillery Nauyú, in the municipality of Chambas in the
central province of Ciego de Ávila, will use bio-gas [methane] derived
from its own waste as a fuel.

The substitution of fuel oil by the biofuel makes for significant
savings. In addition, it will keep waste from contaminating the
surrounding agricultural areas, something that was already happening.

According to the provincial newspaper Invasor Digital, the workers at
the sugar mill Enrique Varona completed "the construction of a
700-cubic-meter digester for the first plant of its kind in the
country."

The report adds that this is "the main objective of a project sponsored
by a German nongovernmental organization aimed at obtaining methane gas
from sugar residues."

"According to research, Cuba has the potential to produce more than
150,000 tons of fuel per year, derived from about 78 million cubic
meters of biodegradable residues."


* Egg production recovers

The newspaper Adelante Digital from eastern Camagüey province reported
on July 24 that the production of eggs has gradually recovered.

After its lowest rate of production -- 49 million eggs in 2001 -- the
province managed to produce 104 million in 2006 and plans to take that
figure to 121 million this year.

The province's largest production was in 1983 with 187 million eggs.
However, that happened during a period when all the necessary
facilities and chicken feed were available.


* Raúl Castro honors the Nation's Martyrs

On Monday, July 30, the 50th anniversary of the murder of revolutionary
leader Frank País and his comrade Raúl Pujol in Santiago de Cuba, the
acting President, Army Gen. Raúl Castro Ruz, delivered the eulogy.

Raúl Castro said the flame lit at the Cemetery of Saint Iphigene in the
provincial capital "will pay eternal tribute to all the children of the
people who gave their lives for the freedom and dignity of the
Motherland and other fraternal countries, and will be a commitment by
the present generation to be faithful to their memory and example."

Frank País García was the organizer of the armed uprising of Nov. 30,
1956, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, in support of the landing of the
yacht Granma. A man with great talent as an organizer and valor that
had often been tested, País rose to national action chief of the July
26 Movement. He was assassinated one month after his brother Josué.

Frank País, a teacher, died at the age of 22.