The People Must Change the World
without Genocide, Fidel Castro
Peoples can change the world
without nuclear weapons, bombs,
genocide or blood spilling,
simply by wiping out the
ignorance affecting near 860
million humans, Cuban President
Fidel Castro told over 5,000
educators.
The head of state addressed for
four hours the closing session
of Pedagogia-2005 and 1st World
Literacy Congress that gathered
government ministers and
teachers from numerous
countries.
The leader of the Cuban
Revolution said policies will
play a key role in such
undertaking and highlighted that
Venezuela succeeded in teaching
more than one million people to
read and write that in barely 18
month.
"We have heard of malnutrition,
infant mortality, disease and
illiterates for over five
decades and today we still speak
of the same, only the situation
has grown worse," the Cuban
President recalled.
He called time "a prime factor"
in reaching the 2015 deadlock
with partial achievements in
world education. The experience
in Venezuela and other countries
proved efficient Cuba’s "Yo Si
Puedo" Program that takes
minimum resources to educate
millions of illiterates.
He also commented that
Illiteracy spreads through out
the Third World and questioned
the true interests behind the
world hegemony that dictates the
path for educating those
peoples.
"Where will their domestic
service come from?" and
stressed: "These times are as
cruel as the Dark Ages. "We are
throwing the peoples into
bonfires for political or
ideological reasons".
The recent Cuba-Venezuela
agreement under the Bolivarian
Alternative for the Americas
(ALBA), stipulates education and
health care cooperation with
third countries as a road
towards true integration and the
solution to seriously clenched
regional problems.
Fidel Castro also lauded the
educational missions underway at
the South American country where
thousands of formerly excluded
young people will be trained to
become family doctors.
"If everyone follows in the
footsteps of Venezuela we will
not have to wait until 2015",
stressed the prominent
politician and reaffirmed Cuba’s
will to contribute know how and
staff to the urgent need to
eradicate illiteracy."
Trial against Former Guatemalan
Minister Continues
Former Guatemalan Public Finance
Minister Eduardo Weymann was in
the 2nd debate session Friday,
for the trial in which he was
charged for corruption.
Weymann was accused by the
Public Ministry for a
38-million-quetzal (Guatemalan
national currency) transfer,
equivalent to 4.83 million
dollars, according to the
current money exchange.
During the Friday session, the
4th Penal Sentence Court
listened to more testimonies
proposed by the prosecutors, and
the defense lawyers about
Weymann´s activities.
It is expected these statements
might clear up details of the
transfer in December 2003 to the
Tax Administration Division
(SAT) authorized by Weymann.
SAT former president Marco Tulio
Abadio, is also accused by the
possible transfer of 60 million
quetzals (7.62 million dollars).
The prosecutors said Weymann
authorized the transfer during a
meeting with Abadio, in which
other SAT members were. When
convoked by the local justice,
those officials said they had
not attended the meeting.
The first session of the trial,
celebrated Monday, witnesses
brought by the defense were not
effective, since they said they
did not know anything about the
money transfer, and limited
themselves to tell the court
about the characteristics of
their jobs in SAT.
These and other actions under
penal process, correspond to the
government of Alfonso Portillo
(2000-2004), criticized by many
million-dollar scandals, among
them opening of bank accounts in
Panama to deviate public funds.
The trial also coincides with
the recent discovery of the
identity of a human body
belonging to a military, Jose
Raul Cerna, who was involved in
another corruption case in the
same period. Cerna, who was
financial head of the
Presidential Major Staff
dissolved by Portillo in 2003,
committed a fraud for more than
30 million dollars by means of
banking transfers, in which
other military and governmental
officials are involved.
Finally, a greater embezzlement
to the Guatemalan Army for more
than 100 million dollars is
investigated.
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LATIN AMERICA, Barometer of
Corruption 2004
Political parties are perceived
as the most corrupt
institutions, according to the
Global Barometer of Corruption
drawn up by Transparency
International, which evaluates
the perception of this crime
among the population.
The report, which includes 64
countries - 10 in Latin America
- was based on interviews with
more than 50,000 people.
On a scale of 1 for the
institutions free of corruption
and 5 for the most corrupt, the
parties received the worst marks
with an average of 4.0 on a
world level.
In Ecuador, the mark was even
worse 4.9. It was followed
by Argentina and Peru , with a
mark of 4.6.
Other sectors considered corrupt
by Latin Americans were
legislatures and judiciaries.
Among the institutions perceived
as the least corrupt were
religious entities and
non-governmental organizations.
Gobal Barometer of Corruption
2004
|
Country
|
Political party |
Legislatures |
Judiciaries |
|
Argentina |
4.6 |
4.6 |
4.3 |
|
Bolivia |
4.5 |
4.3 |
4.0 |
|
Brazil |
4.5 |
4.3 |
4.2 |
|
Costa Rica |
4.5 |
4.3 |
4.0 |
|
Ecuador |
4.9 |
4.8 |
4.5 |
|
Guatemala |
4.2 |
4.1 |
4.1 |
|
Mexico |
4.5 |
4.2 |
4.3 |
|
Venezuela |
4.1 |
4.2 |
4.3 |
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