-DATE-
19900315
-YEAR-
1990
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
More on Fidel Castro Brazilian TV Interview
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Tele Rebelde Network
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-90-052
-REPORT_DATE-
19900316
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000004829
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     FL1503153890
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-90-052          Report Date:    16 Mar 90
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     8
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       9
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       15 Mar 90
Report Volume:       Friday Vol VI No 052

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Havana Tele Rebelde Network

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   More on Fidel Castro Brazilian TV Interview

Source Line:   FL1503153890 Havana Tele Rebelde Network in Spanish 1200 GMT 15
Mar 90

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Text] Fidel Castro, president of the Cuban Councils of State and
Ministers, denied that Cuba is isolated, since it has close relations in the
Third World, especially with Latin American countries. In an interview granted
last night on his arrival in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, the leader of the
Cuban revolution also discussed the friendship between Brazil and Cuba and the
negative nature of U.S. actions with respect to Latin America, among other
prominent topics. He stated that today Cuba has closer and more numerous ties
with Asia, Africa, and Latin America than at previous times, which motivated
his rejection of the opinion that today his country is isolated. He also said
that Cuba is working to strengthen its ties with Latin America, whose economic
and social situation is terrible, saying that if urgent solutions are not
found, no one can predict where it will end up.

2.  About the possible [words indistinct] the Organization of American States,
OAS, Fidel reiterated his position that his government would be willing to do
so, if the Latin American countries want this and think it is appropriate.  He
stressed that there are many possibilities for strengthening relations between
Cuba and Brazil in various fields of mutual interest, such as the research
carried out in his country in medicine, biotechnology, chemistry, and
agriculture. He stated that for its part, Brazil has considerable development
in many fields that could be very useful to Cuba. In the interview granted to
the television network O Globo, to which PRENSA LATINA had access, he added
that Cuba would want to reach an understanding with Brazil about the
international sugar market to avoid being competitors.

3.  About the United States and its relations with its neighbors in the region,
he asserted that it does not remember that Latin America exists and devotes
itself to its relations with Europe. Fidel warned that he sees few
possibilities that ideas of cooperation and integration will arise from the
United States, much less that it would want to include Cuba in them at this
time of euphoria and arrogance in Washington.

4.  His statements to O Globo, the most influential television channel in
Brazil, were disseminated as an exclusive at midnight. In answering a question
about [word indistinct] in Cuba, Fidel clarified that from the dictator
Fulgencio Batista down to the sectors affected by popular laws, there have
always existed some groups of this kind which, supported by the United States,
try to divide the Cuban people but cannot succeed. He added that this
dissidence poses absolutely no danger and is very much in the minority, and
that anyone who visits Cuba and sees the indestructible strength and unity of
the people and the revolution would understand this.

5.  At another point in the interview, Fidel said that one could debate which
is the more democratic system, the one Cuba has had for the last 15 years or
the one in other countries. The Cuban leader said he is deeply convinced that
socialism does have a future and that there is no better solution or course for
Cuba. In response to a question from his interviewers, Fidel said that
processes such as perestroyka may correspond to problems and conclusions in the
USSR, but that Cuban rectification is based on our own convictions and a
different reality.  After the intense exchange of questions and answers, the
journalists of O Globo set aside their professionalism and enthusiastically
asked the Cuban president for his autograph.
-END-