Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19840629
-YEAR-
1984
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
INTERVIEW
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO SAYS JACKSON VISIT POSITIVE
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA INTL SERVICE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19840702
-TEXT-
CASTRO SAYS JACKSON VISIT 'POSITIVE'

PA291957 Havana International Service in Spanish 1800 GMT 29 Jun 84

[Exerpts] President Fidel Castro has characterized as positive the visit
made to Cuba by Rev Jesse Jackson, a U.S. Democratic presidential
candidate, and criticized those trying to discredit the contact made
between the peoples of Cuba and the United States.

After bidding farewell to the U.S. Protestant minister on his way to
Washington after arriving from Managua, Fidel Castro told newsmen at
Havana's Jose Marti International Airport that Jackson is one of the most
courageous politicians the United States has ever had, a man of great
courage, moral strength, and ability to express himself, a man of brilliant
ideas.

The Cuban leader said that Jackson is, above anything else, a struggler for
peace, civil rights and friendship among peoples. Fidel Castro said that
the most important thing in the world is peace. Fidel Castro insisted that
in view of the tension and danger that prevails in the world, a situation
that could result in a general disaster, there can be nothing better than
the banner of peace that is being firmly and honestly raised by Rev
Jackson.

The Cuban president reiterated that if the Democratic and Republican
parties agree, and if this does not interfere with the U.S. election
campaign, our country is prepared to discuss now, and not after November,
as had been previously proposed, the subject of migration between the two
countries, including the subject of the antisocial elements in an Atlanta
prison.

Fidel Castro concluded by stating that Jackson's tour has strengthened the
work of the Contador Group and allowed Cuba to have direct contact with the
North American people because Jesse Jackson was at the head of a very
representative delegation. In my opinion, Fidel Castro said, that
delegation represents the best of the U.S. people.
-END-


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