-DATE-
19910112
-YEAR-
1991
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Castro on Efforts by UN Head in Gulf Crisis
-PLACE-
ANNEX / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana PRENSA LATINA
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-91-020-A
-REPORT_DATE-
19910130
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000001627
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     PA1201033491
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-91-020-A        Report Date:    30 Jan 91
Report Series:       Latin America            Start Page:     4
Report Division:     ANNEX                    End Page:       5
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       12 Jan 91
Report Volume:       Wednesday Vol VI No 020-A

Dissemination:  FOUO

City/Source of Document:   Havana PRENSA LATINA

Report Name:   ANNEX

Headline:   Castro on Efforts by UN Head in Gulf Crisis

Source Line:   PA1201033491 Havana PRENSA LATINA in Spanish 0215 GMT 12 Jan
91--FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Subslug:   [By Ivan Becerra]

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [By Ivan Becerra]

2.  [Text] Havana, 11 Jan (PL)--President Fidel Castro said today that UN
Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar's effort in Baghdad is an emergency
effort to avert war in the Arab-Persian Gulf.

3.  As long as there is a serious diplomatic effort under way, it will be more
difficult for the United States to pull the trigger, the Cuban leader said
during an informal conversation with journalists at a ceremony to honor
construction workers who rendered services in Nicaragua.

4.  He pointed out that no one can think that there will be no war, because war
depends on who does the most correct or incorrect thing, the Iraqis or the
attackers.

5.  However, he recommended not ruling out any possibilities that might come
from the trip of Perez de Cuellar, who will be in Baghdad on 12 January to meet
with President Saddam Husayn, according to the plans.

6.  ``It was the last thing that could be done, that must be done. It was
important to do it,'' he added.

7.  In response to a PRENSA LATINA question, Fidel Castro said that Western
Europe lost influence in the developments, because ``it was roped in by the
United States throughout the process.''

8.  He added that from the very start the crisis focused on war, which Cuba has
always been opposed to.

9.  Of course, we resolutely condemn the invasion and annexation of Kuwait and
holding hostages, but we believe that the cruel blockade of medicine and food
turned millions of people in Iraq into hostages, Castro said.

10.  He pointed out that the Security Council resolutions authorizing the use
of force and ways to handle the crisis also prompted Iraq to adopt an
intransigent attitude.

11.  Commenting further on on Perez de Cuellar's trip to Baghdad, the leader of
the Cuban revolution said that the UN secretary general is not to blame for
just proposals being blocked at the Security Council.

12.  The initiative submitted by Colombia, Cuba, Yemen, and Malaysia was a
viable option because it sought a possible agreement, Castro said.

13.  Nevertheless, he recalled, the United States managed a mechanical
[mecanica] majority of nine votes and eliminated that initiative.

14.  We proposed what is being done now, those efforts, when there was more
time, but now time is running out, he said.

15.  The United States maneuvered with cleverness, Fidel Castro added, because
it offered a dialogue the day after it obtained legal support from the Security
Council, but the delays turned that dialogue into a formal act days before the
ominous deadline.

16.  Perez de Cuellar's effort is the most important one and comes in response
to the wishes of a large number of countries and to a world need, because a
great ecological catastrophe could explode in the Gulf, Castro said.

-END-