-DATE-
19900808
-YEAR-
1990
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Castro's Letter to Leaders of the Arab World
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Radio Rebelde Network
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-90-154
-REPORT_DATE-
19900809
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000013975
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     FL0908005390
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-90-154          Report Date:    09 Aug 90
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     1
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       2
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       08 Aug 90
Report Volume:       Thursday Vol VI No 154

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Havana Radio Rebelde Network

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   Castro's Letter to Leaders of the Arab World

Author(s):   Fidel Castro to leaders of Arab countries; dated 7 August]

Source Line:   FL0908005390 Havana Radio Rebelde Network in Spanish 2302 GMT 8
Aug 90

Subslug:   [Message sent by Fidel Castro to leaders of Arab countries; dated 7
August]

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Message sent by Fidel Castro to leaders of Arab countries; dated 7 August]

2.  [Text] Your Excellency:

3.  I address you deeply concerned about the events that threaten the Arab
world and mankind.

4.  I firmly believe that even during these critical moments, leaders of Arab
nations are still capable of preventing the conflict that has arisen between
Iraq and Kuwait from deteriorating into an economic catastrophe and a holocaust
that will affect a large number of your people. Such is the threat that we
perceive from the increasing and speedy preparations for a direct military
intervention by the United States and its allies. The evidence of preparations
to create a multinational force--with equally interventionist
purposes--demonstrates that a new correlation of forces on a world-wide scale
is no less worrisome because it would be detrimental to the Arab people's
interests.

5.  Cuba, in its current condition as nonpermanent member of the UN Security
Council, did not hesitate in adding its vote in favor of the council's
Resolution 660 on 6 August. We took that necessary and just step--although not
without pain and bitterness--based on a set of principles that makes the use of
force and military superiority in settling conflicts between countries,
particularly when it involves a fratricidal confrontation between third-world
people, unacceptable. We are linked to Iraq and Kuwait by bonds of respect and
friendship that are nurtured by Cuba's solidarity with the Arab nation and the
Palestinian people, given the Israeli aggression and colonial expansion.
Furthermore, our historical ties of cooperation in various sectors with many
Arab countries are well known.

6.  These same principles--which you will undoubtedly understand are very dear
to Cuba because it is permanently threatened by aggression--and the conviction
that in this situation we should not stoke the fire of war, were behind our
abstention on a new draft resolution presented at the Security Council a few
hours ago. The draft resolution is sponsored and feverishly sought by the
United States to impose a complete economic boycott on Iraq, among other
measures. In our opinion this is a hasty step and it precludes the
possibilities of achieving a peaceful solution. The new resolution on which the
United States and its closest allies are congratulating themselves also creates
the ideal conditions for a military buildup and the probable use of the most
powerful war machine on the planet with the unquestionable intention of
strengthening its hegemony in the region.

7.  To penalize Iraq for its regrettable and unacceptable action in Kuwait is
only a pretext for the United States to invoke Article 42 of the UN Charter,
which justifies a U.S. armed intervention on behalf of the international
community. We lie defenseless against such an action.  The fact that this
Security Council--virtually unanimous with the exception of Yemen and Cuba--is
the same one which, as a result of a U.S. veto, not only failed to condemn
Israel, but did not even call for sanctions against it for its occupation of
Palestine and other Arab states more than 40 years ago offended the leaders of
the Arab nation more than anybody else. Thanks to the obsolete, unfair, and
antidemocratic privilege of vetos and their immoral use by the United States,
the Security Council also did not condemn the genocide perpetrated by Israel
against the heroic intifadah or the actions of the Zionist army, which have
even resulted in the deaths of UN forces in Lebanon.

8.  It would be illusory and extremely dangerous to grant the least credibility
to the motives that the United States is using to claim a leading role in the
crisis. With their accustomed experience in manipulating the varied and
sensitive pressure springs, their ability to rapidly deploy military forces,
and their proven inclination for taking political advantage of the situation,
the U.S. mass media, diplomats, and the Pentagon have agreed with their Western
counterparts to capitalize on the logical indignation that Iraq's action
against Kuwait has elicited in the international community. The sectors
mentioned cast doubts on, debase, and hamper any alternatives for a politically
negotiated solution that will be free from these sectors' geopolitical
interests and instead hasten to profit from the situation to the fullest.

9.  What will the United States do in a vital region like this if it is not
stopped in time, given that it has already mocked the international community
by transforming the tiny state of Grenada, which the United States had been
practically occupying as it had been occupying Panama, into a firing range for
its most sophisticated armament?

10.  How can we doubt the danger from the United States launching itself into
an adventure of this size when we know that it planned and carried out an air
attack against the family home of the Libyan president, assuming the role of
international executioner without the support that it enjoys now? Can other
conclusions be drawn from the landing of Yankee marines in Liberia only a few
hours ago?

11.  At this time, I am addressing myself to you and other Arab heads of state
on behalf of the responsibility we share as members of the Nonaligned Movement
and the Third World. We Cubans have experienced mortal dangers, including the
threat of nuclear extermination in October 1962. We are truly capable of
seeing, anticipating, and calmly assessing the most dramatic circumstances.
Therefore, we are not panicking or being alarmists.

12.  It so happens that in this case all of the Third World peoples, without
exception, are threatened in the most sensitive aspects of our their economies,
security, and independence.

13.  The regressive and plundering forces will not stop at the consequences of
a military intervention in which Arabs and Moslems would be divided and
killed--as the United States wants. This could result in such deep wounds that
it would take dozens of years to heal. The war would cause incalculable damage
in the infrastructure and the economies of the Arab countries. That would
become the scenario of this war that would not take place in Europe or the
United States, but in the Arab Persian Gulf. This, in turn, would lead to an
economic catastrophe throughout the Third World, whose interests must be
considered at this moment. It is difficult to imagine how much poverty and
oppression this situation could bring about to the already battered and
underdeveloped economies. We face the possibility that a majority of economies
would not be able to purchase petroleum or have fuel reserves.

14.  It is impossible, Your Excellency, to ignore the tragic irony that the
United States and the allies who are acccompanying it in this not so glorious
crusade could reach their objective--including consolidating the Zionist
domination--with a minimum of human losses for the West. The plans of the West,
contemplated for a long time, call for a technical war based on supremacy in
arms and technology. The casualties would be above all among the armies and the
Arab population involved in the operation.

15.  To conclude, Your Excellency, allow me to tell you that I am encouraged by
the wisdom and courage of the leaders of the Arab nation and the vitality of
its institutions.  Nothing and no one could replace that force, that authority,
and that morality in the immediate search for a negotiated solution to a
conflict between two Arab peoples that would of course entail the withdrawal of
the Iraqi troops and the total reestablishment of the sovereignty of Kuwait,
without wars, catastrophes, holocausts or the tremendous destruction of
material. Also, I believe that the Movement of the Nonaligned Countries and the
UN system--with all of its imperfections and limitations-- could support and
make prevail the united will of the Arab nation against intervention and
aggression.

16.  The seriousness and the threats of the situation that have been created
demand from the most prestigious and outstanding leaders of the Arab world very
fast and effective actions. The experience of history shows that hegemonic
powers such as the United States are used to imposing faits accompli and
unleashing processes that are very difficult to revert.

17.  With all due respect and consideration, I urge you to seek as soon as
possible a unity of criteria and action that I believe should not be postponed
and set aside the differences that should now play a secondary role in view of
the prevailing risks.

18.  Do not doubt for a single moment that in this just and noble endeavor you
can count on the support of the vast majority of the countries from the
international community and logically on the modest cooperation of Cuba.

19.  Fraternally yours,

20.  Fidel Castro Ruz.
-END-