Unusual announcement on Cuban TV
Cuban
Radar Read Spanish Version
Unusual
announcement on Cuban TV
A
service of Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau
On
Tuesday, September 25, Cuban TV’s Cubavisión broadcast an
unusual spot. Just before the beginning of a highly rated Brazilian
soap opera, an upcoming debate sponsored by Temas
magazine
which is being held every last Thursday of the month, was advertised.
The
announcement mentioned that on Thursday, September 27, the subject to
be discussed would deal with the question: “And What About China”,
focusing on the present reality of the Far Eastern country, its
problems and perspectives, issues that are not frequently treated in
depth in Cuban media.
These
public discussions that are held at the Cuban Institute of
Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC) has been calling together
academics, scholars and the public in general in order to analyze
different aspects of the transit to socialism, including the Cuban
process.
It
is noteworthy that the announcement has been broadcast by national TV
and just before one of the most popular programs. For some observers,
this could be a consequence of the insistence by acting president
Raúl Castro that all citizens should debate matters of this
kind.
Slight
improvement in Havana’s public transportation
Last
year public transportation in the capital moved 487,580 passengers
daily. In 2007, the average number of passengers is 617,500 per day.
It certainly is an improvement, but not enough for a city of over 2
million people.
According
to the official daily Granma
of
September 21,
an integral program is underway “that contemplates the renovation
and completion of the omnibus fleet, renovation of lines” and
repair of roads, among other measures.
The
report says that new routes will not be created, but that there will
be reorganization “from the existing 16 main lines that will join
points of large circulation.”
New
buses have been bought in Germany, Russia, Belarus and China.
New
housing
The
housing deficit and the sorry state of a good number of existing
homes is one of Cubans’ most crucial problems. In order to improve
the situation, the national plan of construction set a goal of over
72,000 new homes.
The
weekly Trabajadores
in its Monday, September 24, edition published that 40% of housing
planned for 2007 has not begun in the five easternmost provinces and
in Villa Clara.
According
to the publication, the official organ of the Cuban Workers’
Central Union, the delays are caused because of difficulties in
finding the appropriate land and lack of coordination among
institutions involved in the construction.
Renewal
of municipal assemblies
According
to the September 24 edition of Granma,
Tomás Amarán Díaz, Secretary of the National
Electoral Commission, declared that among candidates already
nominated for the elections to the Municipal Assemblies of Popular
Power, only 23.5 percent are incumbents.
The
number is significant, for it indicates that 76.5 percent of the
candidates nominated in over 44,000 meetings held until now are new
proposals by voters, a clear tendency for renewal.
Elections
for municipal assemblies will be held on October 21. If in an
electoral district no candidate receives more than half of the votes,
a runoff election will be held on October 28.
Cuba
rejects speech by Bush
National
media reported that on September 25 the Cuban delegation to the UN’s
General Assembly, headed by Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez
Roque, left the room when U.S. President George W. Bush lashed out
against Cuba, Iran, Zimbabwe and Myanmar for what he called the
“situation of freedom in those countries.”
The
declaration of the island’s delegation explained that the action
was a “signal of the deepest rejection to President Bush’s
arrogant and mediocre speech.”
Cuba
also holds Bush accountable for “the murder of over 600,000
civilians in Iraq” and of authorizing torture to prisoners in
Guantánamo U.S. Naval Base, as well as giving the green light
to kidnapping, clandestine flights and secret prisons.”
