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US sabotaging GRP-MILF peace talks
The US reaped criticism when it openly intervened and tried to sabotage the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) through a series of anti-MILF statements made by various US officials.
US embassy charge d'affaires Joseph Mussomeli first warned on March 11 that Mindanao was on its way to becoming the next Afghanistan because of re-ports that terrorists have been training in the island. Mussomeli issued the statement a week before scheduled talks between the GRP and the MILF in Malaysia. Then, on March 29, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said that the US State Department had plans to include the MILF in its terrorist listing because of its alleged links with Jemaah Islamiyah. Adm. William Fallon, who heads the US Pacific Command, added fuel to the fire when he asserted that the two organizations did have ties to each other.
Because of such outright intervention, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) called on the MILF to be vigilant against US attempts to meddle and force the collapse of the MILF-GRP peace negotiations. In a statement, CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal charged that the US was employing "political blackmail" when it insinuated that it would include the MILF in its terrorist listing. Ka Roger said it was an attempt by the US to force the MILF to surrender to the GRP or else risk being labeled "terrorist" and end the negotiations.
UN and Harvard hail Cuba's HIV/AIDS program
Cuba has an outstanding record in health care. It is a leader in research on the eradication of diseases, and in providing inexpensive, if not free, medical treatment. Among its notable achievements is the eradication of polio (the last recorded case was in 1962, according to the World Health Organization). It has also formulated a drug to treat cancers in the head and neck, created an inexpensive synthetic vaccine against meningitis B which is the cause of death of many children worldwide and developed vaccines against haemophilus influenza type B which causes meningitis, as well as against many other infections.
There is likewise a low incidence of tuberculosis and cholera in Cuba. The country also sends health professionals like doctors and nurses to allied countries to provide free training and services. Cuba likewise exports inexpensive medicines, benefiting over 40 countries including Mexico, China, Iran and India. Its most recent breakthrough in medicine for which it has earned acclaim is controlling the spread of HIV/AIDS.
In an international conference of medical researchers on HIV/AIDS on March 28-29 sponsored by the Harvard University School of Medicine, the Caribbean Community Alliance Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), the Cuban Pedro Kour� Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) and the Rockefeller Foundation, participants lauded Cuba's successes in controlling HIV/AIDS. Notwithstanding the high HIV infection rate in the Caribbean (2.3%), Cuba has the lowest rate of HIV/AIDS infection (0.05%) in the region because of its excellent health care system and the attention that it provides to such diseases. Because of this, the UN System in Cuba which helps in HIV/AIDS research is expected to become the center of a medical alliance to hasten efforts to suppress this disease in accordance with the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
Cuba asserts that a highly infectious and deadly disease like HIV/AIDS cannot be suppressed unless governments muster the political will to provide excellent, timely and affordable, if not free, medical treatment. US institutions like the MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harvard University contribute to Cuba's research fund.
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