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South Africa ambassador to the island Thenjiwe Mtintso said in the Cuban city of Bayamo Tuesday that the drive for the release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unfairly imprisoned in US grows daily.

In a tour of that eastern city, the African diplomat told local mass media that several regions of her country support the island with the cause of the Cuban Five.

“South Africa,” stated Mtintso, “demands the release of Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez and Ramon Labañino, who are serving long sentences for infiltrating Florida-based Cuban-American terrorist organizations operating against Cuba.”

“We also request the end of the almost 50-year US blockade that has caused damages valued at $86 billion,” added the South African official.

Mtintso said that South Africa is fostering links with Cuba, because it has signed about 27 accords of collaboration with the island and praises the establishment of direct ties of friendship among provinces from one and another country.

A colloquial meeting among international personages of the world of culture, experts, political and social leaders will pay homage to the 80th anniversary of the Cuban President Fidel Castro.

The activity, part of the program conceived by the

Guayasamin Foundation to celebrate the important date will take place at the Havana Convention Center since November 29.

Expected to be attended by numerous personages from different regions of the world, the colloquium will be developed in three commissions which will analyze the issues of solidarity, education and culture and health.

According to sources of that Foundation, the analysis will not only focus on those matters as objectives already accomplished in Cuba but also on the future perspective and on the leading role of Fidel in such an extensive process.

The commissions will work in morning and afternoon sessions On November 29 and 30 and the plenary marking the official closing will take place on December 1.

Argentine Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Peace Nobel prizewinner, Tomas Borge, founder of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and Roberto Fernandez Retamar, president of the House of the Americas will be some of the programmed lecturers.

Celebrations include a cultural gala on November 28, a concert in which outstanding Latin American and Caribbean artists will converge and an exhibit of Oswaldo Guayasamin´s works.

In addition, organizers have conceived a military parade as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the landing of the Granma Yacht, commanded by the Cuban head of state on December 2, 1956.

That event was considered a turning point in the battle against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, defeated by the revolutionary movement in 1959. Precisely on that date the Cuban government founded its Armed Forces.

Half a dozen Cuban experts participate with their films in the Videomed 2006 Festival, held every two years in the capital of Extremadura, Spain.

This is the most important event of its kind in the peninsula and one of the most prestigious in the world with more than 20 years of existente.

The festival gives prizes totaling 30 thousand euros, as well as others fostered by scientific institutions.

On this occasion around 100 movies and videos from 20 countries are in contest. Also, the 1st International Meeting on Plastic Surgery and the Third Iberian Forum of Telemedicina are simultaneously in session.

Two Cuban documentaries by filmmaker Clara del Carmen Llanes, from the National Center of Scientific Research, were presented at the beginning of the event.

The first is titled “hR-3, a weapon against cancer” and presents the Cuban experience in developing therapies that improve the quality of life of cancer patients.

The second film, “Silent Death” délas about atherosclerosis, its causes and measures that can be taken to prevent the disease from progressing, as well as the benefits of Cuban product PPG.

Juan Maria Vazquez Garcia, president of the provincial government of Badajoz, declared that the festival features the will to share knowledge for the general Benedit and pass on new medical advances in a useful confrontation of experiences.

For his part, doctor Andres Bas, director of Videomed, inaugurated the mediatheque of the foundation in Internet, forming the most comprehensive data base in the web in Spanish on medical and scientific videos.

The 15th edition of Videomed will conclude next weekend in the Badajoz Convention Palace.

Cuban National Assembly (Congress) President Ricardo Alarcon is starting an official visit on Monday to Panama, where he will meet with President Martin Torrijos.Cuba-Panama Parliaments Networking

Also on his list of visitees is Foreign Minister and First Vice President Samuel Lewis Navarro and the Panama-Cuba Parliamentary Group, and a trip to the Latin American Parliament sub-regional office and the headquarters of this country”s National Assembly.

This weekend, the Cuban legislator attended a Latin American and Caribbean Congress for the Independence of Puerto Rico, held in this capital.

Last week, Alarcon welcomed his Panamanian counterpart Elias Castillo in Havana, in the framework of the 10th Inter-Parliamentary Meeting of the two nations.

In the gathering, the Cuban congressman highlighted ties of friendship and cooperation existing between both peoples, and termed a great victory the recovery of the Panama Canal Zone.

Castillo demanded justice for five Cubans unfairly imprisoned in US and the end of that country”s blockade of the island, as well as expressed thanks for the Havana support to this country”s recent election as a UN Security Country”s non-permanent member.

A report on five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unfairly imprisoned in the US and violations of human rights committed in that country against their relatives was broadcast by a Guatemalan TV network.

By Cuban journalist Fabiola Lopez, the spot tackles the situation of these men, who were sentenced to prison after a manipulated trial held in Miami.

It portrays the suffering of their mothers, spouses and sons, some of whom Washington has denied visiting visas.

Antonio Guerrero, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez and Fernando Gonzalez, universally called the Cuban Five, were detained on September 12, 1998, and are currently serving unfairly sentences ranging from 15 years to double life terms.

The journalist denounces Washington s double standard that, on one side, punishes these men who prevented their country from aggression by the Miami Mafia and, on the other side, protects terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, mastermind of the explosion in mid air of a Cuban airplane in 1976.

The case of the Cuban Five has made several sectors of the Guatemalan society sensitive, and recently various organizations of friendship and solidarity with Cuba published a paid announcement in “La Hora” daily in favor of the release of these revolutionaries.