Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19911207
-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:     PA1112010191
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-91-238          Report Date:    11 Dec 91
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     4
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       4
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       07 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 Central America

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

Source Line:   PA1112010191 Mexico City NOTIMEX in Spanish 1905 GMT 7 Dec 91

Subslug:   [Report on sixth 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 sixth 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, 7 Dec (NOTIMEX)-Peace in Central America is the result
of events and particular political changes unrelated to the United States'
direct intervention, Cuban President Fidel Castro has said.

3.  In the sixth part of an interview granted for the Mexican newspaper EL SOL
DE MEXICO, Castro said that the area's transformation began before the U.S.
Government of George Bush, who ``has nothing to do with the development of the
events.''

4.  Castro said that, although the United States has had much to do with
Nicaragua's internal politics, the pacification process in El Salvador responds
to the peoples' struggle. He added: ``We look with great satisfaction upon such
a process, which is not to be credited to Bush.''

5.  He asserted that U.S. policy under Ronald Reagan, who was ``more
ideological,'' was different from U.S. policy under Bush, who is more
``pragmatic.'' For several reasons, he said, the current U.S. President acts
``with more hatred, particularly against Cuba.'' Without a doubt, he said,
``Bush enjoys more power because the collapse of the socialist field and the
Soviet Union occurred in his time. The United States is at its greatest height
of power, haughtiness, arrogance.''

6.  He admitted that Cuba helped revolutionary movements in Latin America but
that ``we did not intervene in these countries. We always respected their
sovereignty.'' Those were other times, he said. ``It was a time when everyone
was at war with us. Other countries allied themselves with the United States to
blockade and put us asunder, as well as to liquidate the Cuban Revolution.  We
felt compelled to fight them. It was a fight for survival.'' The exception was
Mexico, the only country that neither joined the blockade nor broke relations
with Cuba. This is why we have never backed any movement against the Mexican
Government, he said.

7.  Castro said that Cuba has always wanted to coexist with other nations in
peace, regardless of the other countries' ideologies because the Cuban people
uphold the principle of `` peaceful coexistence and aspire to live in this
atmosphere.'' Times have changed, however, and ``Mexico has played an important
role in this change.''

8.  He recalled that relations with Cuba were reestablished when democracy
returned to the various countries on the continent. ``Democratization is being
touted, but it cannot be said that this democratization was exported by the
United States. If there is anything the United States has exported it is
military coups and reactionary governments, but not democracy.''

9.  The Cuban president expressed appreciation for the democratic efforts to
reestablish relations between Cuba and the United States. He said, however,
that ``the possibilities for any Latin American president are very limited. The
United States likes to tell other countries what to do, but refuses flatly to
be told what to do or how to do it.''

10.  After admitting that positive changes, such as the payment of foreign
debts and the development of democracies, have occurred in the world, he warned
that revolutions will continue to be latent as long as no solutions are found
to poverty, hunger, and unemployment.

-END-


LANIC |