[NYTr] Cuban Radar Newsbriefs - Nov 29, 2007

[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 Che’s 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 people’s unemployment.  
 

* DNA test of Che’s 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 González, 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 González, 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 Che’s 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 Che’s capture and assassination in Bolivia denied the authenticity
of the mythical guerrilla’s 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 José Luis Rodríguez 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 Economist’s 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.

Rodríguez said that there would be no magical solutions to problems and
that complex situations must be faced, such as oil’s 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 won’t 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 country’s
pharmacies.

According to national media, Dr. Julián Pérez, 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 sexual potency and longer sexual
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 sexism
that still survives in the country.


* Delegation of Mexican PRI visits Cuba

A delegation of the Mexican Revolutionary Institutional Party’s (PRI)
National Executive Committee visited the island on November 21 to 24,
invited by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC).

Heading the delegation was the PRI’s 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 Raúl 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 Calderón’s administration
with the Cuban government. 


* New piping factory

Radio Habana Cuba (RHC) reported that the new plastic piping factory at
the eastern city of Holguín “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
reservoir’s 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 Noel’s rains.

In the eastern region of the country, the most damaged, losses are
calculated at half a billion dollars.

A report 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 important to alleviate
the suffering of thousands of victims.