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Jan. 21, 2003
Elian Gonzalez's Dad Elected in Cuba
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 20, 9:36 PM
ET
HAVANA - More than 97 percent of Cuba's voters elected all 609 candidates
who ran uncontested for parliament, including the father of Elian Gonzalez,
Cuba's elections officials said Monday.
The Communist Party said the massive voter turnout showed "overwhelming
proof of popular support for the nation, the revolution and socialism."
But leading dissidents called the process a farce and had encouraged voters
to protest by abstaining, annulling their ballots or leaving them blank.
Juan Miguel Gonzalez, father of Elian, the Cuban boy at the heart of the
international child custody battle in 2000, was elected, as was folk singer
Silvio Rodriguez.
Cubans also voted for provincial assemblies, and all 1,199 candidates who
ran unopposed for 14 provincial bodies also were elected, said Juan Vela,
president of the National Electoral Commission.
The final accounting of Sunday's voter turnout was slightly down from the
more than 98 percent of registered voters who cast ballots in general elections
five years ago.
Three percent of ballots were deposited blank, while less than 1 percent
were spoiled, Vela said. Blank or spoiled ballots can be, but are not
necessarily always, a sign of protest.
There was a smaller percentage of blank or spoiled votes than during the
1998 elections. According to news reports at the time, 5 percent of the ballots
were blank or spoiled in 1998. In 1993, more than 7 percent were blank or
spoiled in 1993.
"Our people know what they want," Vela said. "There are more
valid votes, if you want to know what our people are like."
President Fidel Castro, who voted in the eastern city of Santiago, said "We
are perfecting our revolutionary and socialist democracy."
Castro maintains that Cuba's elections are more democratic than those of
most nations because candidates here do not spend huge amounts of money on
campaigns. The only pre-campaign publicity are the biographies of the
candidates, posted on walls in public places.
All Cubans over 16 can vote, and though it is not obligatory, pressure to
participate is high.
Castro was among candidates seeking re-election to the National Assembly. He
has led Cuba for 44 years, initially as premier and now as president.
Parliament's duties include approving laws proposed by Cuba's ruling Council
of State, headed by Castro. It also reconfirms Castro's presidency on the
council in the weeks after the general elections.
Cuban health workers arrive to help in impoverished southern Mexican
state
Mon Jan 20, 5:30 PM ET
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Cuban health workers are in southern Chiapas state to
help officials cope with a with a sudden spate of infant deaths at a rural
hospital, the governor said Monday.
Cuban Deputy Health Minister Gonzalo Estevez is among four Cuban doctors
visiting the state to advise officials on possible improvement in the health
care system, state officials said. In an interview with the Televisa network,
Gov. Pablo Salazar said the doctors were discussing the possibility of bringing
"epidemiological brigades" to Chiapas.
He did not specify what sort of health workers, or how many, would come.
State health officials said no deal had been reached.
The death of 25 infants at a hospital in Comitan during December and several
more since then drew national attention to long-existing public health concerns
in Chiapas, one of Mexico's poorest states.
Alarmed by the medical crisis, local officials invited experts from the
federal government and Pan American Health Organization to investigate the
deaths. State prosecutors also are investigating the deaths.
According to the health experts' report, many of the mothers whose babies
died in Comitan had not received any prenatal care before arriving at the
hospital to give birth. Others had arrived only after their children developed
problems.
"We need to attend to the mothers ... to make the pregnancy safe and
the birth successful. That implies an impressive multiplication of human
resources," the governor added.
A recent state government news release said Salazar's administration took
office in late 2000 amid "a true health emergency."
"For 50 years there were bad educational policies, bad health policies,
and for many years not a peso was invested in infrastructure," Salazar
said.
He said the state needs at least 500 more health centers and 2,500
additional medical workers.
Cuba's socialist government has made heavy investment in health a point of
pride, and has sent thousands of doctors and nurses on missions to impoverished
or disaster-stricken areas in Africa and the Americas.
Cuba's health system, while short on medicines, specializes in preventative
and neonatal care.
Salazar said the medical assistance is part of a broader agreement under
which Cuba has already sent agronomists and other experts to his state.
Cuba has made a point of offering aid to nations with both friendly and
hostile governments. Relations between Mexico and Cuba have been tense over the
past year.
Paya says only the people can change regime in Cuba
By Nadia Rybarova, Associated Press Writer. January 21,
2003.
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, who headed a
pro-democracy petition drive in his homeland last year, said Tuesday that only
the Cuban people can change the regime there.
"For the first time we can see that people are the protagonists of
change in Cuba," Paya told reporters, after laying flowers at the monument
to the victims of communism at the Prague's central Wenceslas Square. "For
the first time, thousands of citizens are losing fear and say: 'we want our
rights.'"
Paya is the lead organizer of the Varela Project, which took advantage of a
clause in Cuba's communist constitution allowing citizens to seek a national
referendum if they can collect 10,000 signatures.
In May, Cuba's opposition leaders delivered a petition with 11,020
signatures to the National Assembly, demanding election reforms. The government
has ignored the move.
The petition asks for a referendum on several proposed laws that would
guarantee civil rights such as freedom of speech, assembly and the right to own
a private business. Those proposals also include electoral reforms and an
amnesty for political prisoners.
"We want a peaceful change, and so far the regime responds with
violence," Paya said. "But that will not paralyze us. Hope was reborn
in Cuba."
Commenting on Sunday's elections in which all candidates for Cuban
parliament ran uncontested, Paya said: "In Cuba, deputies are not elected."
"There are 609 seats and 609 candidates," he said. "Do you
call that an election?"
Paya, 50, on a two-day visit to Prague, was scheduled to meet with the head
of the country's Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, and Foreign
Minister Cyril Svoboda later in the day.
On Wednesday, he will meet with President Vaclav Havel, who has nominated
him for the Nobel Peace Price. Havel himself was once a dissident against his
country's communist government.
According to the Czech foundation "People in Need," which invited
Paya to Prague, more than 400 leading personalities from 30 countries have
already endorsed the nomination.
On the Net:
People in Need, http://www.pinf.cz | 
