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Oakland - Santiago de Cuba Sister City
URGENT: Pastors for Peace Construction Brigade to Cuba Dear Friend and Supporter of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, This is an update about the IFCO/Pastors for Peace Hurricane Relief and Reconstruction project. We are in need of your help to reach out to more people who might be interested in joining us on the Construction Brigade to Cuba. It has been almost one month since Hurricane Ike left Cuba after wreaking havoc and destroying homes and social facilities. People all over Cuba are now in the process of a massive
reconstruction effort, rebuilding infrastructure and Now that we have more details in place for the Construction
Brigade, we wanted to share them with you to use as you out
reach to people who might be able to join us for this
important time in Cuba. The Construction Brigade will be in
Cuba for a two-week period between October 13 and 31st,
getting to work as soon as possible. We will be working
alongside Cubans in Pinar Del Rio, the Western most province We are looking for people to join us who are skilled
carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers, or have We desperately need fundraising efforts to help support the brigade and help us buy the equipment to be used in the reconstruction efforts in Cuba. Please think of the ways in which your community can contribute to these efforts. If you have any questions or would like to request informative materials on the hurricanes and its damages in Cuba please feel free to contact us at 212-926-5757, or send an e-mail to p4p@igc.org. -Alison Bodine ~~~ Its OFFICIAL ~~~ Our group will be hosting the Love, Loss and Longing Book Tour on Oct 17 - 21, 2008, and have a informative collaborative on Saturday at a local school. Click here to view the Brochure You are cordially invited to the Northern CA. Book Tour for “Love, Loss and Longing: The Impact of U.S. Travel Policy on Cuban-American Families”, at various locations in Northern CA. Brochure ~~~ Cuban Province Hit by Gustav Restores Electricity Distribution ~~~ PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba, Sept 5 (acn) The Cuban westernmost Pinar del Rio province has restored 58 percent of its electricity distribution, after been cut off from the National Grid System (SEN) last Saturday by the passage of Hurricane Gustav. The hurricane, the third strongest to hit Cuba in known history, with gusts of wind up to 212 miles per hour, knocked down 136 high voltage transmission towers, and an uncountable number of distribution poles. Thanks to the 577 small power generator network working in the territory, electricity was provided to the service facilities during the hurricane, while the same units are guaranteeing the service to residential areas. Executives from the Basic Electric Organization (OBE) made clear that the province is still cut off from the grid, while the high voltage transmission tower replacement works are still underway on the 110 kilovolt line, something that will take longer on the 220 kilovolt line. So the country has set aside 585,000 litres of fuel to guarantee the work of the small power generator network, a motive to use the electric services rationally, they insisted. Working along with the electric workers from Pinar del Rio are back-up forces from other parts of the country, without asking for any comforts and thankful for being welcomed in the affected areas. Step by step, the inhabitants of the eight most affected towns, thanks to the efforts of these forces, are improving their living conditions, while they are also working on the repair of the phone and television services. cubanews/aga/11.37 AM /map Cuban News Agency ~~~ Cuban Vice President Assesses Damage in Wake of Gustav ~~~ Cuban Vice President Assesses Damage in Wake of Gustav CANDELARIA, Cuba, Aug 31 (acn) Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage Davila met with the civil defense council in the municipality of Candelaria after Hurricane Gustav came thrashing through the province of Pinar del Rio as a category 4 hurricane late Saturday. He announced that crews from unaffected areas across the country would be arriving Monday to help in the restoration of the electricity network. According to preliminary reports, 916 houses were damaged in Candelaria, 196 of which completely collapsed. The families had been previously evacuated to the homes of friends or relatives, or shelters. Most of Pinar del Rio continues without electricity, with basic services being restored with power generators. Lage said that building materials and work brigades would be shortly arriving to help in the recovery stage already started by neighbors. Among the destruction, a television tower in Salon was partially destroyed along with the famous orchid garden of Soroa that housed more than 20,000 varieties of orchids. Carlos Lage was accompanied by other government and party officials on a tour through Pinar del Rio to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Gustav, which according to some locals is the worst ever seen in the province. mpv/ns/mk 08 1739 AIN 33 Maritza Padilla y Elena Milián Candelaria, 31 ago (AIN) Carlos Lage Dávila, vicepresidente del Consejo de Estado, anunció la llegada a la provincia de Pinar del Río, a partir de mañana, de brigadas de apoyo para restablecer el servicio eléctrico, uno de los principales daños dejados por Gustav. En reunión con el Consejo de Defensa del municipio de Candelaria, el también miembro del Buró Político del Partido Comunista de Cuba catalogó los perjuicios a las viviendas y las obras sociales, como el más agudo problema en todo el territorio afectado por el huracán categoría cuatro. Preliminarmente, solo esta localidad reporta 916 hogares perjudicados, de ellos 196 derrumbes totales, cuyos núcleos hoy son acogidos en albergues y en su mayoría en casas de amigos y familiares. Si bien Pinar del Río posee grupos electrógenos que mantienen activados los principales servicios a la población, el derribo de postes de distribución y torres de transmisión mantienen sin servicio eléctrico a gran parte de la provincia. Lage aseguró que el país tiene posibilidades de ayudar con brigadas y además con materiales como tejas de asbesto- cemento, madera, puntillas y otros elementos necesarios para la reconstrucción, y destacó la solidaridad que se aprecia entre los vecinos, lo cual pudo constatar desde su arribo a esta localidad, y elogió la reacción de los pinareños en la recogida de escombros e higienización. Otras consecuencias de Gustav fueron los serios perjuicios a la torre de televisión ubicada en Salón. Además, en el orquidiario de Soroa se destruyó más de medio siglo de paciente trabajo de colecciones y estudio de variedades, las que fueron prácticamente devastadas. Carlos Lage, acompañado de varios dirigentes del Partido y el Gobierno, está recorriendo todas las zonas para hacer una valoración preliminar de los daños provocados por el huracán, los cuales para muchos habitantes no tienen par en la historia pinareña, mientras los mayores lo comparan con otro que azotó la zona en 1946. mpv/ns 08 1739 ~~~ Cuban First Vice President Tours Areas Affected by Gustav in Havana ~~~ Cuban First Vice President Tours Areas Affected by Gustav in Havana HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 31 (acn) Cuban First Vice President Jose Machado Ventura evaluated the damage from Hurricane Gustav with the provincial civil defense council after a tour of the most affected areas in the province of Havana. According to preliminary reports, more than 3,000 hectares of banana plantations were lost along with several other crops and seed beds; 17 tobacco curing sheds were totally destroyed; and 55 electrical and telephone poles were brought down, but are expected to be back up by Tuesday. Machado Ventura also toured the Mario Echevarria Lopez roof tile factory and asked workers to make an extra effort to meet the needs of residents in Pinar del Rio and Isla de la Juventud, the two areas most affected by the category 4 hurricane. He pointed out that the country has already begun to ship some of its considerable reserve of building materials to the two regions. The Civil Defense Council in Havana along with the Armed Forces and citizens got to work on Sunday cleaning up more than 50,000 cubic meters of debris. Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo encouraged farmers in the Havana municipality of Artemisa to gather stockpiles of food products for the immediate distribution in markets and in the territories most affected by the hurricane. Lazo congratulated Cuban journalists and photographers for their work informing the population in the lead up and throughout the passing of Hurricane Gustav. cubannews/ycr/mk/10:53 Evalúa Machado Ventura daños del huracán en La Habana Cuban News Agency www.cubanews.ain.cu ainnews@ain.cu ~~~ Gustav Leaves No Deaths in Cuba ~~~ Gustav Leaves No Deaths in Cuba HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 31(acn) Even though hurricane Gustav was one of the most devastating to hit Cuba in the last 50 years, it did not cause any deaths due to the exceptional civil defense measures taken. Reporting live on the nationally televised Round Table program Sunday evening, Col. Miguel Angel Puig, operations chief of the Civil Defense Council, said there were no casualties during the passing of hurricane Gustav that battered the municipality of the Isle of Youth and Pinar del Rio province. Nineteen people with minor injuries were reported, said the official. Speaking by telephone to the program, Pinar del Rio's Civil Defense Coordinator Olga Lidia Tapia said more than 80 high tension towers were brought down by the winds, as well as three television and radio transmission towers. An estimated 86,000 homes and 372 schools were partially or totally damaged by the hurricane. Among the major agricultural losses were nearly 3,500 tobacco drying barns that collapsed and 63 poultry houses. On the Isle of Youth the electricity system was totally devastated and a large number of schools suffered severe damage both in their infrastructure, as well as to teaching aids and supplies, said Ana Isa Delagado in statements via telephone broadcasted on the TV program. Cubannews/ycr/20:57
(Fotos disponibles para esta información en http://fotos.ain.cu}
~~~ THE ERRATIC BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA ~~~ THE ERRATIC BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA By Manuel E. Yepe "For almost half a century, the United States has imposed a trade embargo against Cuba. And yet it sometimes seems barely visible," says an article published Aug. 14, 2008, in the printed edition of the British weekly The Economist. The article mentions the fact that U.S. commercial brands can be found everywhere on the island, and that, by taking advantage of an exemption introduced in 2000, U.S. farmers have become the greatest foreign suppliers of agricultural products, with annual sales of $600 million. "No wonder that some Cubans wonder whether the 'blockade' which the government blames for nearly all of Cuba's problems might be some sort of trick," the article says, quoting a Cuban student of medicine who asks himself if the blockade really exists. Nevertheless, the article later clarifies that many of the foreign companies that trade with Cuba have recently been threateningly reminded that the blockade does exist. It cites cases of several companies whom the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control) has fined severely through their subsidiaries in North America. It also recalls the prohibition to enter the United States imposed on executives of the Canadian firm Sherritt and their relatives, because the company deals with Cuba's nickel-mining industry. The article also explains that the draconian Title 3 of the Helms-Burton Law (ironically named Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act) empowers Americans who owned property in Cuba before the revolution to sue any foreigners who now invest there. The application of Title 3 has been postponed many times by Washington because of its potential negative effects on relations with allied countries. The blockade's coercion on those who do business in Cuba became more severe after Sept. 11, 2001, when Cuba was placed on the list of states that sponsor terrorism -- along with Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan -- without Washington ever presenting plausible evidence of such an accusation. Whatever they might think of the blockade, bankers around the world do not want to run afoul of antiterrorism laws, The Economist says. The article recalls that, in 2004, the Swiss bank UBS paid a $100 million fine; in 2007, the Dutch bank ING -- which had opened an office in Cuba -- had to shut it down abruptly; and in 2008, the executives of the British company that has the exclusive rights of importation of Cuban cigars received a letter from Lloyds TSB, their longtime bank, suggesting that they take their business elsewhere. Despite the blockade's restrictions, many international companies continue to operate in Cuba, says The Economist, which concludes by quoting the director of a European firm with large investments on the island: the best strategy is to "try to stay under the radar and make damned sure you are here when the United States' government finally sees sense." It is true that Cuba acquired $600 million in food in the United States in 2007, by virtue of an exemption approved by Congress in 2000. The crack in the blockade opened as a result of the damage caused in Cuba by Hurricane Michelle in 1999. But these operations contemplate payment in cash and other exigencies, including the impossibility of utilizing Cuban means of transportation or compensating the purchases with Cuban exports, so they don't represent a violation of the blockade. The practice remained in effect more through pressure from U.S. farmers (pressures that Washington has been unable to resist), which Cuba accepts in a show of respect and friendship to the American people, rather than because of obvious economic convenience by virtue of the shorter distances in the transportation of products. For almost half a century, Cuba's trade with other nations has been submitted to a system of pressures that force Cuba to sell its products cheaper and buy foreign products at higher prices. Cuba is asked to assume the risk run by its suppliers to suffer sanctions in their economic relations with the United States for violating the "embargo." The blockade is something much more cruel, inhumane and genocidal. It includes the promotion of terrorist subversion and the threats of aggression that obligate Cuba to spend more money in defense; the prohibition of travel by U.S. citizens to the island; the curbs on travel and remittances from Cuban émigrés in the United States; the promotion of illegal emigration and "brain theft." All that is done in the framework of an overwhelming campaign of media slander and an unscrupulous crusade (not limited to the diplomatic circles) to try to isolate Cuba worldwide. It is difficult to understand where the article's author could find one person in Cuba who could cast doubt on the omnipresence of the blockade in every minute of the daily life of an ordinary Cuban. -------------------------------------- =========================================
~~~ NO-MAS (New Orleans-Mariel Amistad Society) and the Society Mobile-La Habana Members Organize Historic US/Cuba Hurricane Summit ~~~
NO-MAS (New Orleans-Mariel Amistad Society) and the Society Mobile-La Habana Members Organize Historic US/Cuba Hurricane Summit An historic meeting took place in late May in Monterrey, Mexico as Cuban and US hurricane experts gathered to exchange ideas and information just as hurricane season began. US State Dept. Interfered at the last minute, however, causing one US participant to miss the event. The US-Cuba Hurricane Summit was the first event of its kind. Wayne Smith of the Center for International Policy and co-coordinators Randy Poindexter of NOMAS (the New Orleans-Mariel Amistad Society) and Jay Higgenbotham of Society Mobile-La Habana assembled participants from along the hard-hit Gulf Coast region to attend the summit. They met with leading Cuban experts to discuss how the US could better prepare for hurricanes. Unable to attend the Summit was US meteorologist Lixion Avila, from Miami, FL, who was detained in Dallas en route on his way to Monterrey, Mexico when he received a message from the US State Department ordering him not to attend the US-Cuba Hurricane Summit. Nevertheless, the Summit proceeded as planned, at the Technológico de Monterrey, hosted by Dr. Victor López Villafane. Guest speakers included Pulitzer prize-winning writers Jed Horne and Mark Schleifstein of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper, a host of other hurricane experts from Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama, two former FEMA officials from DC, and conference organizers Wayne Smith, Randy Poindexter and Jay Higgenbotham. Poindexter and Higgenbotham are both executive board members of USCSCA. Cuba was represented by Chief of the Cuban Interests Section in the US, Dagoberto Rodriguez as well as a delegation from the island, led by well-known Cuban meteorologist Jose Rubiera. He spoke about Cuba's weather prognostications and their civil defenses efforts. Two medical doctors from the Cuban “Henry Reeve Medical Brigade,” both of whom hoped to go to New Orleans to offer assistance, spoke of the offer of 1,600 medical doctors and 36 tons of medical supplies Cuba was prepared to send to the US in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Norys de las Mercedes Maderas of the Ministry of Cuba's Foreign Relations told of what kind of assistance Cuba might provide n the future. Note: The Henry Reeve Medical Brigade departed for Indonesia and Pakistan following major earthquakes there not long after their help was refused during the Katrina crisis.
This unprecedented sharing of knowledge of disaster management preparedness was thanks to a special grant provided by the Ford Foundation. Another grant from the Brownstone Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland allowed the Cubans to attend, thereby avoiding violation of the Helms-Burton law. All agreed that the summit was a major success.- For more information, contact Randy Poindexter, rpoindexter@bellsouth.net
Note: This is one of the first hospitals we had helped to supply. We gave them medicine when they were just a clinic, but now they are a hospital. New Hospital Inaugurated in Honduras with Cuban Assistance Havana, Dec 10 (acn) A new hospital that will give its services mainly to people of African-American origin and that was built with Cuban assistance, was inaugurated on Saturday in Honduras. According to Granma news daily, this facility, the first of its kind in the Central American country, is the result of the solidarity among Cuba, US trade unionists, African-American communities and the first Honduran youths who graduated from the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine. The hospital is located in Ciriboya, a remote village in the Caribbean coast of Honduras. Cuba news / ef / 09:00 Inaugurarán hoy hospital en Honduras con ayuda cubana
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