-DATE-
19720927
-YEAR-
1972
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
MESSAGE
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
JACK ANDERSON ARTICLE ON CHILE
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
MADRID EFE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19720928
-TEXT-
CASTRO RAPS JACK ANDERSON ARTICLE ON CHILE

Madrid EFE in Spanish 1520 GMT 27 Sep 72 C--FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

[Text] Havana, 27 Sep--by EFE correspondent Fernando Martinez--Prime
Minister Fidel Castro has once again denied the truth of the second article
by U.S. columnist Jack Anderson. The article appeared recently in the
Washington POST and cited CIA reports concerning the Cuban leader's alleged
criticism of Salvador Allende and of the Popular Unity [UP] government in
Chile.

Fidel described Anderson's statements as pure fiction and "cheap gossip"
after reading Washington datelined-EFE dispatch on the article. The
dispatch was handed to the Cuban leader by this correspondent during a
brief press conference held by the prime minister before inaugurating a
countryside school located some 70 kms from Havana, near the town of
Aguacate. [See 26 September issue of this report]

"Soon they will say that while dreaming at night I began to say things,"
said Fidel ironically.

During the same press conference Fidel denied statements attributed to
French assemblyman Alain Peyrefitte, who recently met with the Cuban leader
in Havana. The statements were carried by a French news agency. In his
statements Peyrafitte said that Fidel had stated that the UP government
should break the bourgois law.

The Cuban leader emphasized: "I think conclusions have been made which
resulted in a statement I did not make and I must never make; not only that
I did not make but which I have no right to make."

Fidel added: "We in no way want to appear as giving the Chileans
instructions on what they must do. I think the Chileans must solve their
own problems, and under no circumstances can we appear as giving them
instructions on what they must do. I must not and do not make statements on
the Chilean problem because it is wrong for me to make any kind of
statement on such problems. It is wrong and I hardly discussed Chile with
the French assemblymen. We discussed Cuban problems, and we discussed Chile
because they were going to Chile. More than anything else I told them of
the efforts, the struggle for advancement, and the difficulties they were
having. But all of a sudden a dispatch materializes saying that I said that
the bourgois law must be broken.... What I said is that they were having
difficulties."

"I never use," Fidel said, "the words bourgeois law. I do not use that
terminology.

Fidel Castro also said that he has asked the Cuban ambassador to Chile to
speak to the French assemblymen who recently visited Cuba and who are
currently in Chile to clear up the matter of Peyrafitte's statements.

Fidel added: "I am very careful about making statements of that kind. I do
not usually do so with anyone, least of all with assemblymen who are
visiting us from France with the best intentions in the world--with good
intentions. In other words on a friendly visit. That is why I worried about
this. Because, furthermore, we in no way want to appear as giving the
Chileans instructions on what they must do."

Under a torrential downpour and wearing his classic olive-green uniform,
Fidel Castro told reporters that there is an international plot against
Chile and that the CIA report made public by newspaperman Jack Anderson is
part of a great propaganda offensive against that country. "Chile has been
under tremendous fire from international reaction," the Cuban leader said.

During the press conference Fidel Castro rejected any suggestion of a
possible reapproachment with the United States while Nixon is in power. He
repeated his belief that if the United States wishes to discuss the matter
with Cuba it would be in reference to all of Latin America and not just
Cuba.

Fidel said: "Nixon is a scoundrel. That is my opinion and that I have
always thought--a demagog and a fake. Nixon's aggression and his actions
are enough grounds on which to base my judgment, above all the Vietnam
aggression, one of the most incredible crimes in the history of the human
race is being committed by Nixon, and all out of demagogy. Knowing that he
has no other alternative than to withdraw--all out of arrogance, all out of
stubborness, knowing that he is defeated."

The Cuban prime minister added that either before or after the elections
Nixon will have to withdraw. "He has no other alternative and everyone
knows that...He cannot keep it up. They are ruined economically, they are
internationally discredited, and they are confronting a people who will not
end their struggle no matter how many bombs are dropped on them. The
Vietnamese will not give in."

Fidel acknowledged that in its trade policy the United States "is beginning
to correct some of its big mistakes" by lifting the trade blockade on China
and the USSR--a blockade which he described as an "unheard of blunder."

"It is beginning to correct its mistakes," the Cuban leader said, "because
it had lost big trade markets throughout the world and other industrialized
countries took over those markets because the blockade was already turning
into a self-blockade. The policy of blockade must disappear because it
ceases to be a policy of blockade and turns into a policy of
self-blockade."

With regard to Cuban policy toward the United States, Fidel said it is very
clear both publicly and privately. He added "we have proposed that first of
all it must unconditionally end the economic blockade, withdraw from
Guantanamo base and end all subversive activities. And that must be done
unconditionally. That does not mean that we would commit ourselves to
anything in exchange for that, nor that when we hold discussions we would
discuss only Cuba."

"...we are not interested in discussions on our problems. U.S. relations
with Cuba must be viewed within the framework of its policy toward Latin
America."

"I think that the day the United States is realistic," Fidel said "and the
day that it stops being a gendarme in Latin America, relations with them
might improve. Those are the conditions and I think the stand I have
propounded and repeated is quite clear....I discussed that with the
Frenchmen. That I can discuss. That is clear."
-END-