-DATE-
19911204
-YEAR-
1991
-DOCUMENT TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Castro Interviewed by EL SOL DE MEXICO
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Mexico City NOTIMEX
-REPORT NO.-
FBIS-LAT-91-238
-REPORT DATE-
19911211
-HEADER-
*********************
Report Type:         Daily Report             AFS Number:     PA1012221191
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-91-238          Report Date:    11 Dec 91
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     2
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       2
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       04 Dec 91
Report Volume:       Wednesday Vol VI No 238

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Mexico City NOTIMEX

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   Castro Interviewed by EL SOL DE MEXICO

Subheadline:   Discusses USSR Relations

Author(s):   Mexico City newspaper EL SOL DE MEXICO; place and date of
interview not given]

Source Line:   PA1012221191 Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish 1808 GMT 4 Dec 91

Subslug:   [Report on third part of interview with President Fidel Castro by
Mexico City newspaper EL SOL DE MEXICO; place and date of interview
not given]

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Report on third part of interview with President Fidel Castro by Mexico
City newspaper EL SOL DE MEXICO; place and date of interview not given]

2.  [Text] Mexico City, 4 Dec (NOTIMEX)-The future of the relations between
Cuba and the Soviet Union will depend on the outcome of the ``great chaos''
that nation is currently facing, Cuban President Fidel Castro has said.

3.  In the third part of an interview granted to the Mexican daily EL SOL DE
MEXICO, Castro admitted that changes in the USSR have affected bilateral
relations.  However, he added: ``Those were not voluntary actions by the Soviet
authorities.''

4.  Castro said that he is convinced that the Soviet leadership made `` great
efforts so that Cuba would be affected as little as possible by the events that
were taking place'' in that country. ``Relations between Cuba and the USSR have
not actually deteriorated. The deterioration stems from the fact that the chaos
and disorganization in the USSR is so great that we do not know if that huge
country will remain as a great multinational state,'' Castro added.

5.  The withdrawal of Soviet forces stationed in Cuba is a problem that is
currently under discussion, Castro said, stressing that any decision must be
based on a Cuban-Soviet consensus.

6.  He recalled that the ``Soviet military base'' was installed in Cuba based
on an agreement between the two countries after the October 1962 crisis, as a
``symbol of Soviet solidarity, a security factor, and a message to the United
States that the USSR was not indifferent to Cuba's destiny.''

7.  In 1962 the USSR sent missiles to Cuba that were installed in the outskirts
of Havana. The U.S. Government of John F. Kennedy viewed that action as a
threat to his country. U.S.-Cuban relations worsened as a result of that
situation. The tension eased when Nikita Krushchev, the Soviet leader at that
time, decided to withdraw the missiles from Cuba.

8.  Castro referred to the withdrawal of 3,000 Soviet advisers from Cuba,
noting that Cuba has conditioned this measure on the U.S. withdrawing from the
Guantanamo Military Base.

9.  We are aware that ``the problems in the USSR are so serious at this time
that it needs assistance from the West and the United States,'' but the United
States is taking advantage of the situation to pressure Cuba,`` Castro said.

10.  In that regard, he described as a ``gratuitous, and unnecessary concession
to the United States'' the Soviet announcement of the withdrawal of Soviet
troops from Cuba as a result of an agreement reached between President Mikhail
Gorbachev and U.S. Secretary of State James Baker.

11.  Regarding the diplomatic relations between Moscow and Havana, Castro said
that the number of Soviet advisers in Cuba has been reduced. ``I would say that
in a way this is positive, because in many cases their cooperation was not
substantial,'' he stressed.

12.  He added that future relations between the two countries will depend on
the outcome of the discussions between the Soviet republics to sign a new
treaty of the union.

13.  Castro said that Cuban-Soviet ties will depend on the terms of the new
treaty creating the union of sovereign states and on how the Soviet Union-``or
whatever is left of it''-will be represented abroad.

-END-