-DATE-
19750104
-YEAR-
1975
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
INTERVIEW
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
SEES BLOCKADE EVENTUALY LIFTING, BENEFITING U.S.
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
BUENOS AIRES LATIN
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19750106
-TEXT-
CASTRO SEES BLOCKADE EVENTUALLY LIFTING, BENEFITING U.S.

Buenos Aires LATIN in Spanish 2218 GMT 4 Jan 75 PA

[Text] Mexico, D.F., 4 Jan--Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro has said that
sooner or later the United States will lift the blockade on Cuba. In
statements made to Mexican newsmen in Havana, Castro criticized the
oil-producing countries that invest their profits in industrialized nations
and praised Venezuela's use of its new oil resources.

While welcoming Mexican first lady Marie Esther Zuno in Havana yesterday
Castro voiced his support for the Latin American Economic System (SELA) and
said that Latin America will one day be "a great community with an
important world role." The premier welcomed Mrs. Echeverria who is heading
a Mexican cultural and trade mission which will travel to Cuba, Jamaica,
Venezuela and Costa Rica.

Regarding the lifting of the blockade, Castro said that it will primarily
benefit the United States. He believed the economic fence, "a totally
immoral and unjust measure," is being lifted "bit by bit," and said that
with its lifting the United States will gain a lot "from the moral and
financial viewpoint." Castro said that compared with Richard Nixon's
attitude, U.S. President Gerald Ford's attitude toward Cuba is only a
slight change. But Ford does not have "Nixon's personal links with the
counterrevolution." "Nixon had an almost personal hatred against the Cuban
revolution, but I have no reason to believe that Ford does," Castro
continued.

Regarding oil, Castro saw it as a "double-edged weapon" because with oil
resources one can do both good and evil, and believed that the just thing
is to invest surplus oil resources in the Third World countries. For
example, he went on, "Venezuela is following a different policy. It has a
more advanced position because it is studying formulas to help finance
development."

On Latin American integration, Castro hoped that the multinational
companies which the SELA is going to promote will help develop the area.
"Some day we will be a great Latin American community on a high enough
level to develop our own technology and science and occupy a place in the
world among the great communities," he added.

In conclusion, Castro voiced his agreement with Mexico's international
policy, which he termed "the most progressive it has pursued in recent
years," and expressed his belief that Gen Carlos Prats' death in Argentina
"involved the Chilean junta."
-END-