First results of the elections

By Weekly Archive On Oct 24, 2007

First
results of the elections

A
news service from Radio Progreso Alternativa’s Havana bureau.

Last
Sunday, Oct. 22, 8,174,351 Cubans went to the polls to elect their
delegates to the Municipal People’s Power. That figure represents 95
percent of the total number of voters.

The
information was provided by María Esther Reus, who, in
addition to being Minister of Justice, heads the National Electoral
Commission (CEN). The delegates are the equivalent of councilmen in
other American countries.

The
total number of delegates competing was 15,236, but only 12,265 were
elected on the first round. The remaining 2,971 will be elected in a
runoff election, because none received more than 50 percent of the
votes. The runoff will be held Oct. 28.

According
to official information, of the 12,265 elected delegates:

• 5,776
(47.09 percent) are incumbents, that is, they were ratified in their
posts; 3,288 are women (26.81 percent) and 2,053 are young people
(16.74 percent).

The low
number of young people elected so far is remarkable.

Campaign
against dengue

Cubans
have resumed the battle against the Aedes aegypti mosquito,
transmitter of dengue, one of whose variants is hemorrhagic.

This new
offensive, which began on Oct. 22 and will last until Oct. 28, is
necessary because "many of the measures for water purification,
such as the use of abate (a product that kills mosquito larvae), are
not accomplished," said Ileana Urrusuno, member of the National
Secretariat of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution
(CDR), a mass organization that will carry much of the weight in this
new effort against a disease that has often caused death.

This
failure to purify the water "has propitiated the increase in the
rate of infestation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito in some provinces,
such as Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and Ciego de Ávila,
principally due to the constant rainfall," she said.

A news
item from World Data Service says that "last March, Cuban health
sources publicly warned that ‘a dangerous step back’ could take place
in the fight against the mosquito ‘if [the authorities] lower their
guard.’" An official news agency said that "if the system
of vigilance and control in the area of health does not work properly
and bad environmental hygiene prevails, we would be exposed to new
increases in the indices of infestation."

Environmental
hygiene in Havana is deficient; sewers are common in the streets, as
well as the pileups of garbage and other rubbish.

Cuban
public health doctors contacted by Progreso Weekly say that, while
there are isolated foci and cases in Havana, there is no epidemic of
dengue. According to them, the foci and cases detected are in the
municipality of La Lisa and some barrios of the Revolution Square
municipality. No one has died of the disease, so far, they say.

The
Tolerance Plus Award

Different
groups in the fragmented opposition presented the Tolerance Plus
Award to Dagoberto Valdés, former director of Vitral magazine.
Valdés, a Catholic layman and engineer by profession, directed
— until a few months ago — the magazine Vitral, which he edited
under the umbrella of the Bishopric of Pinar del Río province,
in the island’s western end. He also was host of the Center for Civic
and Religious Education in that province.

Valdés
is the first recipient of the Tolerance Plus Award, which, according
to its promoters, is presented to national or foreign persons or
institutions that advocate "respect for differences, the
promotion of tolerance, the struggle against violence and the
protection of, and search for, tolerance toward and among minorities
in Cuba."

Colombian
foreign minister is grateful

After a
two-day visit to Cuba, Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo
Perdomo thanked the Cuban government for its efforts in the search
for a peaceful understanding with the National Liberation Army (ELN).

"We
are grateful for the cooperation […] for the process that seeks to
define the framework for the achievement of peace with the ELN.
Cuba’s participation in this endeavor has been very valuable, even if
we have not been able to agree with the ELN on the necessary bases on
which to proceed," Araujo told reporters.

During
his brief visit, Araujo met with Vice President Carlos Lage; Ricardo
Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of the People’s
Power, and with the Minister of Foreign Trade, Raúl de la
Nuez.

For his
part, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said the visit
opens perspectives for an increase in trade relations between the two
countries. Last year’s trade reached US$65 million.

According
to official data from the Cuban government, 445 young Colombians are
studying at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) and about
780 Colombians have had eye surgery during the course of the
well-known Operation Miracle.

Cuban
scientists endanger the security of the U.S.

United
States authorities denied visas to 12 Cuban scientists during the
first six months of this year, according to the daily Granma on Oct.
24.

Jorge
Luis Fernández Chamero, director of International Relations
for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), told
Granma that the U.S. authorities refused to issue the visas claiming
that the scientists represented a danger to "the national
security of the United States."