www.granma.cu Havana. January 24,  2003 BY OMAR PERDOMO -Special for Granma International -

WHAT makes the 12th International Book Fair of Havana (January 30 to February 9, in the San Carlos de la Cabaña complex) different from previous years, is its extension to 29 other Cuban towns, making it the only one of its kind in the world.

Taking the fair outside of the capital is nothing new as, at President Fidel Castro’s suggestion, last year’s event traveled to 19 towns up and down the country. This year a further 11 locations have been included and following its stint at the Morro-Cabaña complex, it will move onto Pinar del Río, followed by Consolación del Sur, San Antonio de los Baños, San José de las Lajas, Artemisa, Matanzas, Cárdenas, Cienfuegos, Cumanayagua, Santa Clara, Sagua de la Grande, Sancti Spíritus, Trinidad, Ciego de Avila, Morón, Camagüey, Nuevitas, Florida, Las Tunas, Puerto Padre, Holguín, Moa, Bayamo, Manzanillo, Santiago de Cuba (here, as in 2002, the fair will be brought to a close), Palma Soriano, Guantánamo, Baracoa, and Nueva Gerona, (capital of the Isle of Youth special municipality).

Together with the new locations, the number of foreign exhibitors, exhibition areas and foreign and Cuban publishing houses participating in the event has risen this year. Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (Andean Community members and guests of honor at this year’s event) as well as Mexico and Spain, have reserved display stands of up to 360 square meters. Likewise, our own Editorales Cubanas is enlarging its stand from last year’s 120 square meters to 180 square meters.

One of the special attractions of the International Book Fair of Havana & Cuba is the presence of authors from other nations. This year, two important U.S. intellectuals will attend: William Kennedy (Albany, New York, 1928), writer, scriptwriter, professor of literature and playwright who won the coveted Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for his novel Ironweed. The Arte y Literatura publishing house is launching his new novel Roscoe, one the Top Ten books of 2002, according to a survey by The New York Times Book Review; and Russell Banks (New Hampshire, 1940) whose novel Affliction, one of the most relevant works in the contemporary U.S. literary panorama, will also be presented at the fair.

Other authors invited to the event include Justo Jorge Padrón and Fernando Aínsa (Spain), Ecuadorian Jorge Enrique Adoum (with his novel De cerca y de memoria (Close Up and From Memory) and whose first work was also launched by Arte y Literatura), Luis Britto García (Venezuela), William Ospina (Colombia), Miguel Bonasso (Argentina), Hildebrando Pérez (Peru), Luis Suárez (Mexico) and Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The literary program also includes a variety of new Cuban publications including works by Nicolás Guillén, Cintio Vitier, Pablo Armando Fernández (to whom this year’s Fair is dedicated), Lisandro Otero (National Literary Award winner of 2002), Fina García-Marruz and Nancy Morejón.

www.granma.cu BY MARELYS VALENCIA

o Raúl Dimas, from the United States, has lauded the University for All initiative, a television program involving a diverse array of science, humanities and language courses, including English. In his opinion, none of the courses in the United States has its quality or a profound interactive level.

Dimas asked how one can access Cuban television on the Internet. Let me take advantage of this opportunity to inform all of our readers who have inquired about the Roundtables and other programs. First, you have to download Windows Media Player 7.0; you can get this resource on the www.cubavision.cubaweb.cu website and access this program live, as well as national TV news, most popular videos, Cuban TV guide, etc. On www.tvcubana.com, a good part of our daily Channel 6 programming can be accessed live, along with other materials of general interest, between 6:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.

If you only want to catch the Roundtable, please click on www.mesaredonda.cu for details. Here you will find prior editions of this TV program, which you can also access through our www.granma.cu web site.

RECEIVED WITH THANKS

Jussara Seixas from Brazil tells us: "I want to thank Commander Fidel Castro for having honored us with his presence during President Lula's investiture, a show of affection and friendship by Fidel to the Brazilian people. I hope he will always come back."

To Vera Schmidt from Germany: you can familiarize yourself with the different university majors and other related information by contacting www.uh.cu.

From Colombia, Luis Angel Bedoya wishes to obtain a Granma International news summary. The weekly service we offer is on hold due to server deficiencies that are in the process of being ironed out. We soon should have it at your disposal soon and in a variety of different languages.

From the United States, Todd Ricker informs us that he belongs to a solidarity organization in the state of Maine, called Let Cuba Live. He would like to get a hold of an English copy of a recently published supplement on damages inflicted by the blockade against Cuba. Let me recommend the websites www.cubavsbloqueo.cu and www.antiterroristas.com, which contain ample information on this subject, including articles in English.

Also on our website, you can find reading materials in English by accessing the Specials Section.

Carlos Grille from Uruguay is interested in articles on the reorganization of the island's sugar industry. Let me recommend a series published by the Cuban daily Juventud Rebelde along with some recent speeches by Fidel on the Granma International website in the Documents Section. In particular, see the Cuban president's speech at the inaugural ceremony of the Sugar Worker Training Courses at the Eduardo García Lavandero sugar complex, October 21, 2002.

www.granma.cu Havana. January 21,  2003

• Large Cuban delegation also to denounce the blockade of the island, and expose the dangers of the FTAA and neoliberal globalization

• THE sizeable Cuban delegation participating at the 3rd World Social Forum in Porto Alegre has very quickly entered into the activities of an event bringing together 100,000 people in the Brazilian city.

The future of education in the five continents was the first tribunal opened, attended by ministers from some 30 nations and UNESCO representatives. The island’s educational achievements from the 1961 literacy campaign to the current new programs aimed at improving knowledge were outlined.

Cuban elementary school student Gabriela Castellanos gave an improvised talk to the 10,000 educators present; she offered greetings from the island’s delegation and affirmed: "the Cuban people’s struggle really shows that a new world is possible."

Her vibrant message demonstrates why Porto Alegre continues to be a venue for events as important as the World Social Forum.

A subject that has awakened special interest is the report on the rigged trial in the United States and the unjust sentences handed down to the five Cuban patriots imprisoned in that country’s jails. Relatives of Gerardo Hernández, René González, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González and Antonio Guerrero are to denounce the men’s situation in distinct tribunals. From their cells, the five have sent messages of solidarity to the thousands of representatives of NGO’s, institutions, ethnic groups and other sectors meeting in the Brazilian city.

A roundtable and other activities have been announced to discuss the situation of the five prisoners of the empire. Additionally, Cuba’s representatives will speak out against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a neocolonial instrument of the U.S. government, and the damage to Third World nations resulting from the neoliberal policies of the Washington administration and its allies. The serious difficulties that the U.S. superpower’s criminal blockade creates for Cuba will be aired once again at the forum.

The pro-peace fight and rejection of war plans against Iraq, the problems of Palestine, and the campaign to destabilize the constitutional government in Venezuela are other issues to be raised by the island’s representatives at the world event — now one of the planet’s most significant political gatherings.

www.etaiwannews.com 2003-01-21 / Reuters / HAVANA

Cubans voted in one-party general elections on Sunday, with President Fidel Castro saying the election showed defiance against U.S. efforts to destroy the country's communist revolution.

Dissidents dismissed the poll as a fraud and urged people to boycott it, but authorities said that 7.4 million people, or 89.6 percent of registered voters, had cast their ballots by early afternoon.

The election is held every five years to choose 609 deputies to the National Assembly and 1,119 representatives to provincial assemblies.

Voters have no choice of candidates which are equal to the number of open seats. They can check a box for all the candidates, or vote for one or more of them, or none.

The father of Elian Gonzalez, a young boy who survived a shipwreck that killed his mother while trying to reach the United States and whose later return to Cuba ignited fury among many Cuban Americans, was among those on the slate. Others included a mix of well-known leaders and personalities, such as singer Silvio Rodriguez as well local officials.

Castro, dressed in his traditional military uniform, cast his ballot as voters chanted "Fidel, Fidel" in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, where he stood for re-election to the National Assembly.

"This is a response to the empire in its efforts to destroy the revolution," Castro said, referring to the United States.

Dissident Vladimiro Roca, who was released from prison last year after serving a five-year sentence for opposition activity, had a different view. "This is not an election because in an election you can choose between different options. Here the only option is to continue as we are ... this is one of Fidel Castro's many frauds," he told Reuters.

Like other members of Cuba's small and hounded dissident movement which Havana charges works for the United States, Roca called on voters to boycott the polls or spoil their ballots.

DISSIDENTS OBSERVE POLLS

Some dissidents went to polling stations to observe the vote count when they closed. Roca told Reuters he was allowed to observe, but another dissident, Martha Beatriz Roque, was turned away. Roque said some 200 dissidents participated in the action countrywide and a full report would be issued on Wednesday.

It is the first election since dissidents in May delivered 11,000 signatures to the government requesting a referendum on electoral reforms, the right to operate private businesses, more civil rights and amnesty for political prisoners.

Cuba's constitution requires petitions signed by more than 10,000 voters be considered for a referendum vote.

Asked in Santiago de Cuba why the government has not directly responded to the initiative, named the Varela Project after an 18th century priest and independence hero, Castro said it was not worth even discussing.

"Do you think in a country as serious, hard working and heroic as this we are going to pay attention to such foolishness," Castro said, charging that the project was invented by the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

The United States and Cuba do not have diplomatic relations but maintain interests sections in each other's capitals. Washington has maintained an economic embargo against Cuba for more than 40 years and worked to isolate the government.

Castro, 76, was expected to be sent back to parliament, which will elect the Council of State. That body designates the President of the Republic and Castro, in power for 44 years, is expected to be chosen for another five-year term.

Castro defended Cuba's electoral system to reporters, insisting that the country's only legal political organization, the Communist Party, had stayed out of the process.

Havana points to a traditional turnout of about 98 percent as proof of huge support for the government, while dissidents say it reflects voters' fears they will be ostracized if they do not participate.

Angela Ramirez, a housewife from Havana's La Lisa district, said she voted because it was her duty. "I support the system as the best possible. I would like more choice, but at least we are not in the situation Argentina or Venezuela is in," she said.

Other Cubans said they felt compelled to vote. "It may seem like you can vote or not, but if you don't you are marked, so it is in your interest to turn out," said Francisco, a taxi driver who cast his ballot in the Central Havana district.

www.orlandosentinel.com Published January 20, 2003

A mild-mannered waiter thrust into the international spotlight during the seven-month custody battle for his son Elián, Juan Miguel González sought a seat in Cuba's parliament in Sunday's elections.

As one of 609 candidates for as many seats in the National Assembly, his success is almost guaranteed.

Unlike in the United States, there are no stump speeches or campaign fund-raisers here. Elections to the National Assembly come every five years and, the government says, voter turnout hovers around 97 percent, although the law does not require Cubans to cast ballots. The only way González could lose is by attracting less than 50 percent of the vote, an unlikely circumstance.

González will be among 60 percent of the candidates to sit in the assembly for the first time. The 300 freshmen include union leaders, schoolteachers, athletes, doctors and agricultural workers nominated from a pool of 14,000 municipal delegates.

But there are also plenty of familiar faces. The list of candidates constitutes a who's who of Cuban society, including Minister of Culture Abel Prieto, Central Bank President Francisco Soberón, Havana's city historian Eusebio Leal, troubadour Silvio Rodríguez, Vice President Carlos Lage, Interior Minister Abelardo Colomé Ibarra and the three Castro brothers: Fidel, Defense Minister Raúl and oldest brother, Ramón.

Voters can "show their disapproval by turning in a blank ballot or not voting for some of the candidates," said Miguel Alvarez, adviser to the president of the National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón. Though most candidates belong to the Communist Party, membership is not mandatory.

Several opposition groups said they would boycott the elections, and one dissident coalition planned to monitor voter turnout to prevent the government from inflating the numbers.

"It is important that the dissident is there, whether the government wants him there or not," said Martha Beatriz Roque, a former political prisoner and head of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society.

Dissident leader Oswaldo Payá, who recently received the European Union's highest human-rights award, called the elections illegitimate.

"In Cuba, candidates are put forth by organizations controlled by the government," Payá told reporters while in Mexico City. "There is an environment of disrespect for [civil] rights. This is neither constitutional nor legitimate."

Payá led a referendum initiative for widespread changes to Cuba's one-party system. Presented last May, the Varela Project has been ignored by the National Assembly.

The National Assembly meets at least twice a year, and the biggest issue it could face is the economy. Cuba's economic outlook at the beginning of 2003 is anything but rosy, largely because of a drop in tourism.

The island's economy last year grew only 1.1 percent compared with 3 percent in 2001 and 6 percent in 2000. Ongoing work stoppages in Venezuela, which supplies one-third of the island's oil, and an impending U.S.-led war with Iraq threaten to send Cuba into an energy crisis.

At the Alaska Laundromat, one of Old Havana's voting sites, candidates' biographies and photos were taped to the door.

Nearby, small Cuban flags were pasted to the wall with slogans exhorting residents to "vote for the honor of the country, vote for our ideals and values!"

Laundromat worker Isabel Collazo said she planned to vote for all the candidates on her ballot.

"They're people who've made an effort for their homeland and the revolution," said Collazo, 52. "I read the biographies, and looked at their trajectories as revolutionaries and all the work they've done."

Information from wire services was used in this report. Vanessa Bauzá is Havana bureau chief for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com.