-DATE-
19921107
-YEAR-
1992
-DOCUMENT TYPE-

-AUTHOR-

-HEADLINE-
Fidel Attends International Fair Award Ceremony
-PLACE-
CARIBBEAN / Cuba
-SOURCE-
Havana Radio Rebelde Network
-REPORT NO.-
FBIS-LAT-92-217
-REPORT DATE-
19921109
-HEADER-
==========================================================================

Report Type:         Daily report             AFS Number:     FL0811234092
Report Number:       FBIS-LAT-92-217          Report Date:    09 Nov 92
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:       07 Nov 92
Report Volume:       Monday Vol VI No 217

Dissemination: 

City/Source of Document:   Havana Radio Rebelde Network 

Report Name:   Latin America 

Headline:   Fidel Attends International Fair Award Ceremony 

Subheadline:   Closes Award Ceremony 

Author(s):   Cuban President Fidel Castro] 

Source Line:   FL0811234092 Havana Radio Rebelde Network in Spanish 1800 GMT 7
Nov 92 


Subslug:   [Passages within quotation marks are recorded statements by Cuban
President Fidel Castro] 

-TEXT-
FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE: 1.  [Passages within quotation marks are recorded
statements by Cuban President Fidel Castro] 

2.  [Text] The award ceremony of the 10th Havana International Fair concluded
yesterday with remarks by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro. 

3.  ``We appreciate in a special way, your presence on this 10th anniversary,
precisely for the reasons that [name indistinct] explained, because of the
times we are currently living through. I am not going to mix this with
politics; however, I would also ike to thank you because you have expressed
your points of view on specific measures related to the embargo against our
country. It seems something antediluvian, and no one knows when the deluge
occurred. However, all these measures aimed at limiting our country's trade, in
an attempt to make us give in through hunger, seem in these times
anachronistic. It is really absurd, in addition to being unfair, and-to use a
refined word-criminal. What the world needs, precisely, is to eat, and to have
trade expand nd develop. That is in everyone's interest.'' 

4.  In his closing remarks at the award ceremony of the 10th Havana
International Fair, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro spent a moment reflecting
upon the current problems of the U.S. economy and their repercussion on that of
the rest of the world. 

5.  ``I really think the problems of the U.S. economy are not easy, not
problems that can be easily solved, and this does not help the rest of the
world emerge from the recession. (?And in that light,) the embargo measures are
even more ridiculous-measures which, furthermore, seek to export a country's
sovereignty.... [pauses] a country's laws at the cost of other countries'
sovereignty.  Every country wants to administer its own economy, and no country
is willing to allow anybody to tell it with whom it may or may not trade. That
is a country's sovereign right. Where boats should go, and which ships may and
may not go there! 

6.  ``Just where might this take us? One day they apply it to Cuba, and some
other day they might apply it to any other countries, (?on the basis of) a
particular administration's taste. Someday they might apply it to an entire
region.'' 


7.  Further on, Fidel said that this kind of economic reprisal being made by
the U.S. administration is related to the philosophy of the economic embargo. 

8.  ``That is why at present, after that notorious Torricelli Law.... [pauses]
but well, the law has been made public but you cannot imagine the things they
do even without laws. You cannot imagine the pressures that are brought to bear
in order to affect uba's trade with other countries! We know about it. We have
a right to know about it. 

9.  ``In that law.... [pauses] because we resisted, since we have been capable
of resisting that law.... [pauses] [word or words indistinct] that makes some
people furious and leads them to take even further measures, allowing
themselves to be dragged along by a real [word indistinct] and by a veritable
waterfall of hatred against the dignified country and people that resists. That
is why we intend to continue resisting. Perhaps we will one day have to thank
these difficult times, because we are certainly learning to be more
efficient.'' 

10.  The 10th Havana International Fair took on universal dimensions this year.
Present at ExpoCuba are over 800 firms from 33 countries from 4 continents. At
the awards ceremony held yesterday, 62 products represented at this commercial
event were awarded the gold medal and the diploma of quality. This event is the
most important commercial event held annually in Cuba. 
-END-