-DATE-
19910529
-YEAR-
1991
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Mexican Magazine Interviews Castro on Capitalism
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Madrid EFE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS-LAT-91-105
-REPORT_DATE-
19910531
-HEADER-
BRS Assigned Document Number:    000007997
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     PA3005201391
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-91-105          Report Date:    31 May 91
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     5
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       5
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       29 May 91
Report Volume:       Friday Vol VI No 105

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Madrid EFE

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   Mexican Magazine Interviews Castro on Capitalism

Source Line:   PA3005201391 Madrid EFE in Spanish 2341 GNT 29 May 91

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Text] Mexico City, 29 May (EFE--Cuban President Fidel Castro has told the
weekly publication SIEMPRE, in an interview to be published on 30 May, that
capitalist society and democracy ``are designed to oppress and exploit
mankind.''

2.  During the interview granted in Havana to SIEMPRE Director Beatriz Pages
Rebollar, Castro pointed out that socialism, as a system, is designed to
protect, support, and help mankind, as well as ``to turn man into a constant
player in the task of creating a more just, more human, and more united
society.

3.  The Cuban president noted that the Cuban socialist system will survive
because ``it is a duty to our nation and a duty to our ideas, which we do not
consider a failure.''

4.  ``The failure of Marxism-Leninism cannot be categorically asserted because
Marxism-Leninism has already contributed a great deal to the world, although it
may undergo a setback or a significant or transitory decline that could be set
off by special circumstances,'' the Cuban president stressed.

5.  On the same issue, the Cuban President added that ``Marxism-Leninism has
inspired the revolutionary movement in the world for almost 80 years; Marxism
has inspired the world for over 100 years, while Leninism has inspired the
world for at least 80 years.'' According to Castro: ``This century has been
greatly influenced by Lenin.''

6.  Castro noted that the October Revolution was a result of those ideas, which
in his opinion ``is one of this century's greatest events, which in turn gave
birth to the first socialist state in world history (the USSR).''

7.  Castro labelled as ``very important'' the role that socialism played to
defeat fascism, for the benefit of mankind.

8.  According to the Cuban leader, the bells cannot toll, nor can the swan song
be played for socialism, for socialist ideas, or for Marxism-Leninism.``

9.  ``We cannot forget, among other things, that 1.1 billion persons live in
China under the socialist system and that China has been a nation plagued by
misery and hunger for thousands of years,'' Castro noted. According to Castro,
``only socialism has been capable of creating a miracle to set that nation free
of hunger and misery.  China, with only 100 million hectares, feeds 1.1 billion
persons.''

10.  ``There is much talk about socialism's defeat, but where is capitalism's
success in Africa, Asia, or in Latin America?'' `` Where is capitalism's
success in those nations where millions of people live,'' Cuba's Castro asked.

11.  ``I believe that capitalism's failure should be discussed as widely as
socialism's failure--in a lesser number of nations--is currently being
discussed,'' Castro noted.

12.  For Castro, ``capitalism has failed in over 100 countries, which are
undergoing a truly desperate situation. I do not understand why this is not
mentioned, while there is so much talk about socialism's failure in the wake of
the events in East Europe,'' Castro stated. ``Capitalism has ruined the world;
it has poisoned the rivers, the seas, the atmosphere, it is destroying the
ozone layer, and it is adversely changing the world's climate,'' he stressed.

13.  Castro has no doubts whatsoever that ``this selfish and merciless regime
(capitalism) is destined to disappear; I truly believe this because I have
faith in humanity and I believe in mankind, in his capacity to struggle for
justice and for freedom.''

14.  According to Castro, the socialist system ``in every sense is much more
democratic that the capitalist system.''

15.  To conclude, Castro said: ``Any Cuban citizen can say: I am the state, as
Louis XIV allegedly said, because he is the state, as he is the one who, with
his arms, defends that state.''
-END-