-DATE-
19880812
-YEAR-
1988
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
REPORT
-AUTHOR-
F.CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO DISCUSSES L.A. AND OTHER ISSUES
-PLACE-
ECUADOR
-SOURCE-
HAVANA INTERNATIONAL SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19880815
-TEXT-
L.A., Other Issues Discussed

PA1308014288 Havana International Service in Spanish 2323 GMT 12 Aug 88

[Report by special correspondent Pedro Martinez Pires from Quito,
Ecuador--live]

[Excerpt]  The news item of today is President Fidel Castro's meeting with
the 71 members of Ecuadoran National Congress which is a unicameral
congress.

Fidel Castro was invited by the new parliamentarians who took office on 10
August.  The meeting was held on the second floor of the Legislative Palace
in the room known as the Hall of the Presidents of the Congress.

The meeting lasted 1000 - 1400; in other words, there were 4 hours of
continuous informal dialogue that had the appearance of a legislative news
conference because the parliamentarians asked questions of our commander in
chief, and Fidel Castro spoke about everything:  Cuba, the Latin American
situation, economic problems, the history of our Latin American, and even
his impression of this visit to Ecuador.

While Fidel Castro was speaking, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega
Saavedra also visited the National Congress.  He received from the Congress
President Wilfredo Lucero a diploma which was issued by the outgoing
congress; that is, the 71 parliamentarians who left office on 10 August.
The diploma extended congratulations to the Nicaraguan Government on the
recent celebration of its anniversary on 19 July, the date of the Sandinist
revolutionary triumph.

I am at a loss for words with which to describe this event.  In fact, some
Ecuadoran newsmen with whom I spent long hours at the National Congress
told me they could not remember a time when the Ecuadoran Congress has been
visited simultaneously by two Latin American presidents for an internal
congressional ceremony.  Eight Latin American presidents were present for
the inaugural ceremony, but a visit of this kind is a singular event in the
history of the Ecuadoran Congress.

The congress was very pleased.  I was an observer for a long time, and
Fidel Castro was often interrupted with applause.  The chief of the Cuban
revolution was asked all kinds of questions, and he responded with that
capacity for instruction he has demonstrated over the past 30 years.
[passage omitted]
-END-