European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 7, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 a the stars and stripes wednesday August 7, 1991cuba cuts age limit for leaving country Havana a the cuban government is opening the exit doors the widest they have been in a decade announcing that anyone older than 20 who wishes to leave this struggling Island nation May do so. A report monday by the government news Agency Prensa Latina said the decision was a part of a process begun last year to liberalize age limitations for cubans wishing to travel to the United states to visit relatives. In october 1990, Cuba told . Diplomats it would reduce the minimum travel age from 55 to 45 for Inen and from 50 to 40 for women. Earlier this year Cuba reduced the minimum age to 35 for men and to 30 for women. Previous requirements had blocked the departure of people near military age but president Fidel Castro has said the minimum May be Cut to 18. The loosening of cuban Bonds comes at a time when the Bush administration is tightening its entry requirements. Immigration has increased sharply this year because of Cuba s deteriorating Economy. The United states temporarily froze six month visa applications recently and is reportedly planning further measures to keep dollars from flowing to the Carri bean nation via returning cubans. State department officials have said that there Are 28,000 visa applications pending front cubans and that if they continue at the current rate the total of applications will reach 100,000 this year triple that of 1990. Schools hospitals and other social services in Florida the destination of most cubans Are in danger of being swamped . Officials have said. The defense department has drawn up plans for a naval blockade of Cuba if Castro seeks to allow another mass exodus along the lines of the 1980 Mariel boat lift the new York times reported recently. Mariel brought More than 100,000 cubans to the United states Over several Days and some of them were common criminals released from cuban prisons. The restrictions on cuban entry to the United states Are also part of a three decades old american Trade embargo against Cuba. It is designed to choke off the Supply of dollars that Cuba needs for essential imports. Cuba is undergoing its harshest eco nomic crisis Ever. Soviet support has waned As president Mikhail s. Gorbachev distances his country from Castro a straight and narrow Brand of communism. A food fuel and other basics Are in Short Supply and Basic goods Are rationed. A flourishing Black Market helps meet Many needs for most cubans. Prensa Latina has quoted an unidentified cuban official As denying that the decision to reduce the age requirement was a response to a state department decision to Stop accepting new visa applications. Cuba cannot provide hard currency to All those who seek to travel abroad so travellers will have to rely on friends or family to cover transportation costs and expenses abroad Prensa Latina quoted the government As saying.55,000 Mark anniversary of Hiroshima atom bomb world japanese prime minister Toshiki Kaifu carries a Wreath at Hiroshima peace memorial Park on tuesday. Hiroshima Japan apr a hush fell Over this City tuesday morning As it paused in silent prayer of commemorate victims of the worlds first atomic bomb blast. The 55,000 people gathered in the Cool Early morning bowed their Heads at 8 15 a.m., exactly 46 years after the bomb unleashed a devastating fireball that killed 140,000 people. Three Days later a second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and killed 70,000 people. The memorial flame flared Bells lolled and 1,500 doves burst into the air. Hiroshima has pledged that the flame will Burn until nuclear weapons Are eliminated. A i pay my  to the citizens of Hiroshima who have rebuilt their lives out of destruction and cultivated a City of International peace a said prime minister Toshiki Kaifu. Quot Hiroshima a tragic experience is a warning that must be shared with the world for the Sake of the human  mayor Takashi Hiraoka issued an annual Appeal on behalf of the City for the Quot preservation of the human race a and included an apology for the suffering Japan caused before and during world War 11. Hei noted that the War began with Japan a own attack on Pearl Harbor. The 50th anniversary of that attack on dec. 7, 1941, As Well As Japan a efforts to improve ties with the neighbors it colonized leading up to the War appear to have heightened consciousness of its shared responsibility. In recent months the government has issued uncharacteristically forthright apologies expressing Japan a wartime guilt. Thousands of people converged to Mark the anniversary and the differences among them seemed to reflect Japan a soul searching Over its postwar pacifism. Rightists have called for a reared stronger Japan while anti War leftists have protested Japan a $13 billion contribution to the persian Gulf War. The japanese Constitution written after the end of world War ii by Gen. Douglas Macarthur who was supreme Allied commander of occupational forces in Japan bans using Force except defensively. Parliament is currently debating whether the nations forces should be allowed to join International peacekeeping  says drug War making Little Progress in latin America a Macutz Venezuela apr vice president Dan Quayle said monday that the United states had made Little headway in its War against drug trafficking in latin America. Quot we arc not going to be satisfied until we lick the problem a Quayle said pledging continued Aid to Venezuela Colombia Mexico and other latin american nations trying to curb the flow of drugs into the United states. Quayle accompanied by Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher is on a tour aimed at strengthening . Trade and investment in the Region under the Bush administrations Enterprise for the americas initiative. Among the business leaders in Quayle a entourage is David Rockefeller. The four nation trip includes Argentina Brazil and Haiti. The vice president was asked about the drug War after four hours of talks with president Carlos Andres Perez at the presidential Retreat in the Northern coast resort of Macula. Venezuela has become a major base for drug operations partly As a result of a government crackdown in neighbouring Colombia that forced traffickers to find alternate sea and land routes to Europe and the United states. A Quayle said Bush and Perez a Are committed to an All out War against drugs a he said Progress had been made in some such areas As education rehabilitation eradication and interdiction. But Quayle said the problem a is not an easy one. It s not one that we have made a tremendous amount of  the vice president said he and Perez also agreed that Cuba must embrace democracy and halt human rights abuses and support for foreign revolutionary groups before relations could improve with the rest of the americas. Mosbacher and venezuelan officials signed two accords granting Venezuela $1 million to improve its potable water network and upgrade  threats hinder Spanish trains again from wire reports Madrid Spain a bomb threats by Basque separatists have created havoc in the Spanish rail system delaying trains Between Madrid and Northern Spain on three of the last four Days a Railroad spokeswoman said monday. Charo Delgado a spokeswoman for the state railway said Brief delays were caused monday when traffic was suspended along an 18-mile stretch of track North of Madrid to Check for bombs a caller said had been placed there. The first threat came Friday. On saturday two Small bombs caused minor damage to tracks but no injuries. The terrorist group Eta a whose initials stand for a Basque Homeland and Liberty in the Basque language a has threatened the summer Railroad traffic for three consecutive years. The separatists Campaign is aimed at throwing Spain a vital tourism Industry into chaos to Force the government into negotiations Over Independence for the three Basque provinces in Northern Spain. The . State department has issued a warning against travel on Spanish trains for the  slogans painted Berlin a vandals painted nazi slogans on signs and a building at a former nazi concentration Camp that serves As a memorial to victims of the holocaust. Monika Knop Deputy director of the memorial at the former Sachsenhause concentration Camp said the nazi slogans were painted sometime Early sunday. In addition she said fliers bearing the title a nationalist front Bielefeld were plastered on the building. Bielefeld is a City in Northwestern Germany. A Stop with the holocaust a germans do you want to pay forever a the fliers said according to Knop she said the same fliers were used in a similar desecration at the site july 7.Paris to fight campers Paris a mayor Jacques Chirac has asked police to oust an  of Eastern european tourists illegally pitching tents in the Shadow of the Eiffel Tower Chirac wrote to police that the scruffy campers were giving the French capital a a deplorable image Ana asked that Laws prohibiting camping outside designated campsites be enforced a this situation which has been deteriorating since the beginning of summer is becoming More and More worrying a Chirac wrote to prefect of police Pierre Verbrugghe before departing for a few Days vacation of his own. The Young tourists a mostly from. Poland Hungary Czechoslovakia and the soviet Union a have Little to spend on food and lodging and have camped out in the City a Green spaces. The favorite illegal campsites Are the champs de Mars which lies Between the Eiffel Tower and the Ecol Militare and the Bois de Boulogne the Large wooded area of Western Paris