-DATE-
19900317
-YEAR-
1990
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Castro Comments on Relations With Brazil
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Television Service
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-90-056
-REPORT_DATE-
19900322
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000005187
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     FL2103131590
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-90-056          Report Date:    22 Mar 90
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     3
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       4
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       17 Mar 90
Report Volume:       Thursday Vol VI No 056

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Havana Television Service

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   Castro Comments on Relations With Brazil

Source Line:   FL2103131590 Havana Television Service in Spanish 0100 GMT 17
Mar 90

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Excerpts] [Announcer] News from Brasilia continues to report the
activities of the Cuban delegation that attended the inauguration of Brazilian
President Fernando Collor de Mello. Commander in Chief Fidel Castro held
meetings with various political and religious personalities in this country.

2.  Early this morning, the Cuban president met at the ambassador's residence
with Pernambuco Governor Miguel Arraes; (Amil Adat), president of the Socialist
Party; and Joao Amazonas, president of the Communist Party of Brazil.

3.  Responding to the extraordinary interest created by Fidel's visit to this
South American nation, numerous television stations, radio networks, and
important newspapers requested interviews on the most varied and diverse
subjects.

4.  (Iorel Damata Machado) from the Brazilian Television System [SBT], one of
the most important networks in the country, talked with Fidel for over half an
hour.

5.  Begin recording] [Castro] Undoubtedly, 31 years have gone by, almost 31
years have gone by since my first visit to Brasilia. The construction of
Brasilia was about to be completed at the time. Brasilia of today does not in
the least resemble what I saw when I came here the first time. This is the
first thing I have seen of Brazil. I am going to visit two more cities before
returning to Cuba.  Of course, I have seen great changes here. This will most
likely be the case in the rest of the places I will visit.

6.  I also have reports that great development has taken place in Brazil in
various fields, in the field of industry, agriculture.  I have some
information. It is something that I have followed very closely. There have been
notable changes in these years. The weight of Brazil in the world economy has
increased in spite of the difficulties. I understand that Brazil is ranked 10th
in production and that Brazil's gross national product exceeds $300 billion a
year. This is in dollars; I am not going to measure it in another currency
because it is more difficult.

7.  [(Damata Machado)] It is a more universal currency.

8.  [Castro] Let's use the dollar as a measure even though the dollar has also
changed a lot. A dollar of 30 years ago is equivalent to over three now. So
these figures are relative. You measure goods in the dollars of 30 years ago
and if you measure it now, you cannot say that that is the difference. The
dollar itself would have to be measured. That is, you need to measure the
measure to have an idea.

9.  [(Damata Machado)] [Question in Portuguese and simultaneous Spanish
translation about Collor de Mello indistinct; crawl on screen says audio
difficulties with satellite reception because of atmospheric conditions in Rio
de Janeiro]

10.  [Castro] I had the opportunity to talk with him for fractions of seconds
when he was greeting the visiting delegations. It was a warm and friendly
greeting. We exchanged brief words. I received a very good impression of that
meeting. I later received an official greeting, which was much briefer. I made
a little joke. I told him: If this is of any comfort, I want to tell you that
after you, I have been the one who has worked the most in Brasilia.

11.  [(Damata Machado)] [Question indistinct]?

12.  [Castro] I see that he is a young man with a lot of energy.  He has the
health and youth needed to face the great challenge he has before him.

13.  [Words indistinct] to list the inventory of the things that are left would
require scrutinizing the future from now for 100 years more. In general we have
achieved great advances in almost all fields. New industries that did not exist
in our country, such as the mechanical industry, have emerged. It has emerged
but Brazil's is much more developed. We can benefit from Brazil's experience,
the development of its mechanical industry. Brazil has had development in the
field of energy and agriculture. In sum, we have had development in other
fields. I believe our country can benefit from Brazil's technical cooperation.
I believe we can also provide some modest technical cooperation with Brazil in
some fields where we have had development.

14.  All this is being studied and I believe it has a good outlook in the years
to come. I could not mention anything basic or strategic. There are many things
in which we could benefit from the experience of Brazilian development. We also
have development that can benefit the relation.

15.  I believe that we have things in common. For example, we are the two large
sugar producers in the world. We are also the largest sugar exporters. There is
no doubt that coordination of Brazil and Cuba regarding marketing of sugar is
important for Brazil and Cuba. So, relations between Brazil and Cuba can
benefit even in those areas in which we have similar levels of development.
[end recording]

16.  [Announcer] A moment of great human sensibility, which shows the
appreciation the Brazilian people have for Fidel, was expressed shortly after
the interview with the SBT journalists. Members of a family that lives very
close by offered the Cuban president several gifts and expressed great
affection and respect. Little Natacha, some three years old, insistently
invited Fidel to visit her home. [passage omitted includes recording showing
Castro receiving gift from children, chatting with unidentified people and a
boy who had written to Castro before; with indistinct portions]

17.  Shortly before continuing his activities and responding to a question
posed by Cuban television, Fidel referred to the ceremony held recently in
Santiago and the call for the fourth party congress.

18.  [Begin recording] [Reporter] What are your impressions about yesterday's
event and the call for the fourth party congress?

19.  [Castro] I will able to listen to a portion tonight. I already learned
about the call. I thought it was a truly important event. They saw it over
Cubavision here at the embassy.  I thought it was very good. I was not able to
watch much because I had a number of appointments and visits at that time.
[passage omitted] [end recording]
-END-