-DATE-
19831127
-YEAR-
1983
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
MESSAGE
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO LETTER ON KIDNAPPING OF BETANCUR'S BROTHE
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
BOGOTA EL TIEMPO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19831201
-TEXT-
CASTRO LETTER ON KIDNAPPING OF BETANCUR'S BROTHER

PA301534 Bogota EL TIEMPO in Spanish 27 Nov 83 pp 1-A, 7-A

[Letter sent by Cuban President Fidel Castro to Colombian President
Belisario Betancur;l no date given]

[Text] Dear Mr. President: We are moved by the report on the kidnapping of
your brother Jaime. We remember the interest you showed a few days ago in
contributing to the return to out fatherland of the Cuban collaborators who
were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner during the unequal but heroic
battle against the forces that invaded Grenada. We feel this action against
your brother and you who, as president, have shown humanitarian feelings
and an unequivocal interest in peace both inside and outside Columbia is
absolutely unjustifiable from any standpoint. It those who committed this
act were acting on behalf of some political idea, we hope they will
realized that this step entails a grave mistake and irreversible damage to
the cause they pretend to be defending.

I have always felt, as a revolutionary, that ethics are an unrenounceable
principle without which even the most just and pure political cause can be
irreversibly damaged and tarnished. In our opinion, this action against
your brother is not ethical, political, or just by any standards. Hurting
him physically or killing him would be a crime that could never be
committed by those who truly act according to revolutionary ideas.

I fervently hope that those who are holding your brother, if they are truly
motivated by political reasons and feel they are acting as revolutionaries,
will respond to this reasoning and preserve Jaime's physical well-being and
release him immediately.

Sincerely yours, Fidel Castro
-END-