-DATE-
19900101
-YEAR-
1990
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Castro Reaffirms Socialism for Cubans
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Madrid EFE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-90-001
-REPORT_DATE-
19900102
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000000005
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     PA0101211090
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-90-001          Report Date:    02 Jan 90
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     2
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       2
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       01 Jan 90
Report Volume:       Tuesday Vol VI No 001

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Madrid EFE

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   Castro Reaffirms Socialism for Cubans

Source Line:   PA0101211090 Madrid EFE in Spanish 1837 GMT 1 Jan 90

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Text] Havana, 1 Jan (EFE)--Cuban President Fidel Castro today said that
``no one and nothing will force Cuba to withdraw from the path toward
socialism.'' Castro said this in his message of congratulations to the Cuban
people minutes after the beginning of 1990.

2.  Fidel Castro congratulated the Cuban people for the ``spirit shown on 7
December,'' the day on which the funeral services for the Cubans who died in
action in Angola and other countries were held, and ``in light of the brutal
imperialist aggression against Panama.''

3.  For the past 4 days, Castro has been very active in Havana. He has been
inaugurating social and industrial works and at each event has given a speech.

4.  In all his speeches, the leader of the Cuban revolution has constantly
referred to the so-called ``process of rectification of mistakes and negative
tendencies'' he has directed since 1986 while at the same time reiterating his
uncompromising defense of socialism.

5.  Castro criticized the technocratic methods that, he said, had brought
construction in the country to a halt between 1976 and 1986 and said that now
``all is being corrected.''

6.  Castro described as ``positive'' the results of the year that just ended.
He said that the year had been one of ``revolutionary reaffirmation, work, and
optimism.''

7.  However, he admitted that some ``unpleasant episodes'' had taken place, in
reference to the trial of a group of soldiers charged with drug trafficking and
corruption, a situation of great international complexity, and ``traumatic
cases'' like the U.S. invasion of Panama.

8.  During a speech at the ``Jose Antonio Echeverria'' Superior Polytechnic
Institute in Havana, Castro said that following the Panamanian experience, ``we
cannot discard the advent of difficult times for the country because we are
confronting a triumphantist empire that believes itself the owner of the
world.''

9.  Castro added that with its invasion of Panama, the United States
disregarded ``world public opinion and interanational laws because it committed
an act without the slightest respect and consideration for the Latin American
people.''

10.  ``Cuba does not fear a blockade or direct aggression,'' Castro said and
added, ``we are not going to allow the enemy to destroy what we are doing
because they will have to pay dearly for it.''

11.  Fidel Castro called on the people to defend ``the ideological and military
trenches of the revolution,'' and asked them to turn these into ``something as
high as the Turquino peak'' (the highest mountain in Cuba).

12.  Castro said that this can be achieved ``struggling against the unbelievers
and shutting their mouths, struggling against those who are attempting to
divide us, because if there is something sacred to defend it is the unity of
the homeland.''
-END-