-DATE-
19840608
-YEAR-
1984
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
INTERVIEW
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO REITERATES STANCE ON OLYMPIC GAMES
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAMBURG DPA
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19840611
-TEXT-
CASTRO REITERATES STANCE ON OLYMPIC GAMES

PAO82027 Hamburg DPA in Spanish 1945 GMT 8 Jun 84

[Text] Havanna, 8 Jun (DPA) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro today
reiterated that his country will not attend the Los Angeles Olympic Games,
but promised not to pressure other countries such as Nicaragua and Angola
to join the boycott. Castro met this morning (local time) for 3 hours with
Mario Vasquez Rana, president of the Association of National Olympic
Committees, and Peter Ueberroth, president of the Los Angeles Olympic
Organizing Committee, who tried to convince him to authorize Cuba's
participation.

Ueberroth told newsman later that the Cuban leader believes that the
solidarity of his country with the Soviet Union is "logical," because the
socialist countries were the only ones who supported Cuba's sports
development in the past 25 years.

For his part, Manuel Gonzalez Guerra, president of the Cuban Olympic
Committee (COC), said that Cuba was not pressured at any time nor will it
exert pressure regarding the Olympic Games.

Ueberroth himself said that Fidel Castro told him that it seemed "very
normal" to him that Nicaragua and Angola should participate in the games, a
statement that Ueberroth termed "sincere."

Apparently Ueberroth and Vasquez Rana were unable to get the Cuban
authorities to agree to the participation of their baseball team in the
exhibition games that will be held during the Olympics. Gonzalez Guerra
said that it is a "difficult problem," but that the COC is ready to discuss
the topic again.

Ueberroth and Vasquez Rana who arrived in Havanna last night (local time),
said that they respect the Cuban decision not to attend the Los Angeles
Games and were surprised by "the control of detail" which Fidel Castro has
of the Olympic problems.

Regarding the meeting that should have been held by the Pan-American Sports
Organization (PASO) beginning tomorrow in Havanna, Vasquez Rana, who is
also president of the PASO, denied that the fact that it had been called
off was to penalize Cuba for not attending the games. "I made the decision
to postpone the meeting to prevent a division within the PASO," Vasquez
Rana said, noting that 2 days ago in Mexico 9 of the 36 members of the
organization announced that they would not attend the meeting in Havanna to
protest Cuba's joining the boycott.
-END-