Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC

-DATE-
19920602
-YEAR-
1992
-DOCUMENT TYPE-
-AUTHOR-
-HEADLINE-
Castro Interviewed on Soviet Collapse, Stalin
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Managua EL NUEVO DIARIO
-REPORT NO.-
FBIS-LAT-92-109
-REPORT DATE-
19920605
-HEADER-
=======================================================================
Report Type:         Daily report             AFS Number:     PA0306230792
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-92-109          Report Date:    05 Jun 92
Report Series:       Daily Report             Start Page:     18
Report Division:     CARIBBEAN                End Page:       19
Report Subdivision:  Cuba                     AG File Flag:   
Classification:      UNCLASSIFIED             Language:       Spanish
Document Date:       02 Jun 92
Report Volume:       Friday Vol VI No 109

Dissemination:  

City/Source of Document:   Managua EL NUEVO DIARIO

Report Name:   Latin America

Headline:   Castro Interviewed on Soviet Collapse, Stalin

Author(s):   Tomas Borge, place, date not given; published simultaneously on 2
June in the Mexico City newspaper, EXCELSIOR, and in the Madrid
newspaper, EL PAIS]

Source Line:   PA0306230792 Managua EL NUEVO DIARIO in Spanish 2 Jun 92 p 4

Subslug:   [Part I of an interview with Cuban President Fidel Castro by Tomas
Borge, place, date not given; published simultaneously on 2 June in
the Mexico City newspaper, EXCELSIOR, and in the Madrid newspaper,
EL PAIS]

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE:
1.  [Part I of an interview with Cuban President Fidel Castro by Tomas Borge,
place, date not given; published simultaneously on 2 June in the Mexico City
newspaper, EXCELSIOR, and in the Madrid newspaper, EL PAIS]

2.  [Text] [Borge] I find Fidel as always, in good spirits, very dynamic,
dressed in his incontestable olive green uniform.

3.  I had a dream several nights ago that his beard was a very special color,
undefinable, and I was almost taken back when I saw again the luminous white
symbol. In the middle of his forehead-I presume you have been told this
before-is a sort of ray of light; the eyes feverish, affectionate, direct; a
little thinner, a bit younger.

4.  Several years have gone by since I overcame the inhibition that his
presence once produced in me. But I feel inhibited again in this singular
context. I recall that we have talked at this same site for hours on diverse
issues: from human grief to private conflicts. (Fidel interrupts me many
times). At one time I think we had a long conversation on power. I am going to
ask him some questions on power during the conversation.

5.  This time I face him as a reporter. This time I have the difficult task of
probing him, of posing tricky questions, in search of new answers.

6.  It is said that he is the most outstanding personality in the contemporary
world. One's response to him is Manichean: Either you love him or you hate him.

7.  Those who love him consider him irreproachable, which in effect I believe
he is because he never lies, not even when he is authoritarian or obstinate.
Those defects make him even more human.

8.  At times he forgets some of the details concerning the way he dresses, but
no one says anything.

9.  I am under the impression that his comrades-much too overly cautious-do not
dare to question some of his ideas, even though they consider them wrong.

10.  Even those who hate him respect him. The face of the men on the street,
who define the sensibility of the Latin American people, light up-as we saw
today-when he approaches them to shake their hands.

11.  You know something about the amazing avalanche of light that surrounds
you, Fidel. That is why I ask you, what does the assurance of your immortality
produce in you?

12.  [Castro] Before I respond to your question, I must say that I have
listened with great interest to your words; I am truly marveled by your
capacity to express yourself, by the beautiful manner in which you speak, by
your poetic manner. It is said that the poet is born and that the speaker is
made. I made myself somewhat of a speaker.  You are even a better speaker than
I. You have an advantage, you are a born poet and a born speaker. I was not
born a poet and I made myself a speaker.

13.  You said that you were going to try to overcome some inhibitions, to work
as a reporter. But, since there are ties of great friendship, trust, mutual
understanding, affection, and a great deal of respect between you and I, my
role is much more difficult than yours because I must respond to your
questions. If an unfriendly reporter interviews me I can argue a great deal, I
can respond aggressively, I can attack, counterattack, and indulge in a
polemic. It is going to be very difficult for me to attack in this fashion a
reporter who is my friend, even though you are capable of posing much more
difficult questions than other reporters.

14.  You asked me how it feels to know they are part of history. I have rarely
stop to think about these matters. I believe that a revolutionary cannot think
of glory or of history.

15.  The concern with history would not correspond to the disinterest that
every revolutionary should have, because I think that a revolutionary should be
willing to give up everything for the victory of an idea and not be concerned
with himself.

16.  There are other matters that I learn everyday with the common people; I
encounter so many people of merit and I am conscious of that merit, of the role
they have played in this entire process. If one is fair, one realizes that
history tends to be unfair when leaders are attributed too much merit and when
the millions who raised them to the highest levels of local and international
public opinion are practically forgotten.

17.  What does concern me is that ideas prevail. If the mission is lost, what
significance have those men who participated in that mission trying to reach
those goals?  Tomas: I believe that whomever thinks like this cannot pay too
much attention to what glory he will receive or to the place he will be granted
in history. I would prefer 1000 times to think of the place in history that the
causes we are defending will have. One of the reasons I admire Jose Marti and
one of the most beautiful phrases I ever read by Marti states: All of the
world's glory fits in a kernel of corn.

-END-


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