-DATE-
19900514
-YEAR-
1990
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Castro, Brazilian Visitor Brizola Tour Expocuba
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Tele Rebelde Network
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-90-094
-REPORT_DATE-
19900515
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000008191
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     FL1405194090
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-90-094          Report Date:    15 May 90
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     2
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       4
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       14 May 90
Report Volume:       Tuesday Vol VI No 094

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Havana Tele Rebelde Network

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   Castro, Brazilian Visitor Brizola Tour Expocuba

Subheadline:   Comment During Havana Tour

Source Line:   FL1405194090 Havana Tele Rebelde Network in Spanish 1700 GMT 14
May 90

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Text] Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and Leonel Brizola, president of the
Brazilian Democratic Labor Party and former Brazilian presidential candidate,
toured economic and social sites in Havana City on Sunday, 13 May.

2.  Accompanied by Castro, the Brazilian delegation visited La Guinera
neighborhood, Arroyo Naranjo Municipality and two nearby family doctor clinics.

3.  [Begin recording] [Unidentified speaker] As residents of La Guinera, we
realize that what we are doing here we could not have been done without a
socialist revolution like the one we have in Cuba...

4.  [Castro interrupts] Yes, but we also need a society that works well too,
because there are some societies that have not worked well.

5.  [Unidentified speaker] But we work very well, Commander.

6.  [Castro] We have rectified mistakes and some things that we copied
incorrectly. This movement began... [changes thought] For how long have you
been working here?

7.  [Unidentified speaker] We have been working here for approximately two
years and three months.

8.  [Castro] And how many houses have you built?

9.  [Unidentified speaker] Thus far, we have already delivered 86 houses.

10.  [Castro] And how many are presently under construction?

11.  [Unidentified speaker] We are building 366 houses.

12.  [Castro] And how many people do you have in your minibrigades?

13.  [Unidentified speaker] We have 502 minibrigade members.

14.  [Castro] And how many housewives among them?

15.  [Unidentified speaker] We have 225 housewives in our minibrigades and 118
of them are women. We also have 196 people who are under 30 years of age and
are working with us here.

16.  [Castro] And they had no jobs before coming to work here?

17.  [Unidentified speaker] No, they neither worked nor studied for a number of
reasons, reasons that are linked to the past. Obviously, our commander trusted
us and we are transforming our neighborhood completely.

18.  [Castro] You were sent to Bluefields?

19.  [Second unidentified speaker] Yes. You bid me farewell right here when I
left.

20.  [Castro] Oh, and I see that you have come back all spruced up, all spruced
up from Bluefields.

21.  [Second speaker] Yes, but tomorrow you are going to see me all dirty
because I am working at the construction of the Pan-American games facilities.

22.  [Castro] Is that so? Yes, she was working at the brigade we sent to
Bluefields, but we do not know what is going to happen to that brigade for the
time being because we are not sure what kind of security our brigade will have
there with the change in government [in Nicaragua].

23.  [Second speaker] I wanted to tell you that I am a history teacher here.

24.  [Castro] A history teacher. That is your job then?

25.  [Second speaker] Yes, but I trained to become a bricklayer.

26.  [Castro] But she works as a teacher and she is paid as a teacher.

27.  [Second speaker] Yes, I am paid a teacher's salary, exactly. I talk to my
students about the poverty and misery that exists in those countries, although
it is a completely different thing to actually experience that poverty as I did
there in Bluefields. It is tough. I think that many Cubans should go there to
have that experience.

28.  [Castro] And what are you going to build here?

29.  [First speaker] We will have a big recreation park with a fountain in the
middle.

30.  [Castro] Yes, you are very interested in the family doctor and the housing
program, right? [Castro speaks to the Brazilian visitor] How many people do you
have in that city? [Rio de Janeiro]

31.  [Brizola] About seven million people.

32.  [Castro] Seven million people! It also has many shacks.

33.  [Brizola] Yes, shacks.

34.  [Castro] And rebuilding a shack neighborhood is a difficult task, right?

35.  [Brizola] Oh, yes!

36.  [Castro] It is difficult to build houses, roads, etc.

37.  [Brizola] It is very difficult to get the people out of those houses.
Their children have been born in those shacks.  Many even got married there and
stayed there. They have their lives there.

38.  [Castro] People also like what they call their place, right?

39.  [First speaker] Yes, people like their place.

40.  [Castro] How much money would you have to invest or how many houses would
you have to build to solve that problem?

41.  [Brizola] I cannot even calculate that. We would only be able to do that
if we have a program like the one you have here. Over there we describe this
work as community cooperation work. But we do not have the understanding that
your people have here.  There is no guidance or organization. Over there the
work is a little more disorganized...

42.  [Castro interrupts] A little more individualistic...

43.  [Brizola interrupts] No, not necessarily individualistic, but
disorganized. There is collective work there. People do help each other, but
there is a lack of organization.  We have a lot of things to learn from what
you are doing here. A lot.

44.  Listen, of every four people in Rio de Janeiro, one lives in a shack. Of
every four people you see in the streets, one lives in a shack. You cannot
compare our situation with yours.

45.  Here you have a house and if a relative comes, he moves in with the rest
of the family. You have formed like nuclei. You have small nuclei or perhaps
citadels, but over there we have horrible things. Of every four persons you see
there, one lives in a shack. At present, approximately two million Brazilians
live in shacks.

46.  [First speaker] That situation was disposed of here a long time ago. We
have perhaps two or three families living in a small house, but we do not have
people living out in the streets because we have nursing homes, etc. You can
see in this neighborhood, which was practically a downtrodden neighborhood...

47.  [Brizola interrupts] Commander, you have no idea of how many people live
on the streets of Rio de Janeiro.  The number of children living on the streets
is amazing.  According to estimates made by Sao Paulo Cardinal Donaret, there
are 10 million children on the streets.

48.  [Castro] That is sad because Brazil is a wealthy and hardworking country.
Wealthy and hardworking. The problem is that it has failed to organize its life
in a way that will allow it to eradicate all those problems, because Brazil is
a wealthy country with hardworking and intelligent people.  I brought him here
to see what you are doing here. We just went to Expocuba and talked about the
family doctor program. I am going to take him to a family doctor clinic because
I know this is one of the problems that prevails throughout Latin America.
Greetings [to all the comrades].

49.  [Third unidentified speaker] [Speaker is crying] I cannot believe you are
here. This is a Mother's Day gift.

50.  [Castro] Tell us something. Tell us how this is going.

51.  [Third speaker] Go in and take a look. We have 870 residents.

52.  [Castro] Eight hundred and seventy? Why so many?

53.  [Third speaker] Because there was a problem of bad distribution there,
Commander. There are other clinics that have 450 residents.

54.  [Castro] So some have double that population.

55.  [Third speaker] But they are not that many really. It is less than at the
clinic. We can handle this well. I know our entire population. We have 10
babies, five pregnant women.

56.  [Castro] But the average is 600 residents, right? How many pregnant women?

57.  [Third speaker] Five.

58.  [Castro] Not too many.

59.  [Third speaker] Yes, we have few now because two gave birth a few days
ago.

60.  [Castro laughs] Oh, I see.

61.  [Third speaker] We have 68 grandparents. We have a club of pregnant women
and a club of youths. We give [words indistinct] to the pregnant women to
prepare them for the delivery.

62.  [Castro] What is the name of your clinic?

63.  [Third speaker] Los Pinos.

64.  [Castro] Is infant mortality low at Los Pinos

65.  [Third speaker] Yes, we have one of the lowest infant mortality rates.

66.  [Castro] In Havana.

67.  [Third speaker] In Havana.

68.  [Castro] And will you lower it even more?

69.  [Third] I hope not to have a single case. In this clinic at least, we have
not had a single case since we came here.  [end recording]
-END-