Cuba's Castro Attacks West on Poverty at UN Summit then leaves

yahoo.com ^ | March 21, 2002 | Kieran Murray

[Cincinatus' Wife]

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Thursday ridiculed efforts by rich nations to reduce global poverty, saying they were masters of a "genocidal" economic system that condemns billions to misery and deprivation.

In a brief visit to a major U.N. aid summit, Castro said the West now lorded over the rest of the world because it had plundered entire continents during centuries of colonial rule.

"The existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and exploitation like no other in history," a combative Castro said in an unusually short speech.

The communist leader then excused himself before the more than 50 heads of state present, saying he had to return to Cuba immediately because of a "special situation" there. He gave no details.

His rapid departure meant he would not cross paths with President Bush due to arrive at the summit in Mexico's northern city of Monterrey later on Thursday.

Castro arrived in Monterrey on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after confirming he would take part in the summit, which is aimed at boosting aid flows to poor nations in order to slash poverty levels across the world.

Castro dismissed the summit's draft action plan, saying it was imposed by the "masters of the world" who simply want poor nations to "accept humiliating, conditioned and interfering handouts."

"The world economy today is a huge casino," he said, reeling off a list of statistics showing the dramatic concentration of wealth in the developed world while hundreds of millions of starving people lacked even basic medical and social services.

"The life span of the population in the developed world is 30 years higher than that of people living in sub-Saharan Africa. A true genocide!" Castro said, dressed in his familiar olive green fatigues.

He called on developed nations to condone the foreign debt of all poor nations and open up hefty new lines of credit to finance their development.

"As I have said before, the ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger," Castro said.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Cuban President Fidel Castro, center, talks during the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico Thursday, March 21, 2002. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Cuba's Castro Says Venezuelan Chavez Speaks for Him -[Excerpt] Castro and Chavez hailed their nations' strong political and economic ties, which have been criticized by the United States. Washington is the biggest single client for Venezuela's oil exports but keeps long-running trade sanctions on Cuba.

"However much they attack us, we are creating a new model of integration," the Venezuelan president said. Castro, who described himself as "an expert in putting up with attacks", urged Chavez to stand firm against criticism from his political enemies.

"We've been under attack for 43 years and today the Revolution is stronger than ever," Castro said, referring to U.S. hostility against Havana since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The two leaders ended their on-air chat with the revolutionary slogan "Always onwards until victory". [End Excerpt]

Bush Calls Cuba A Repressive Regime-(CNSNews.com) - President George W. Bush condemned Cuba as "an incredibly repressive regime" on Wednesday, and he urged the United Nations Human Rights Commission to condemn the government of Fidel Castro.

[eddie willers]

"We've been under attack for 43 years and today the Revolution is stronger than ever,"

So you've had 43 years to 'develope' Cuba.
What happened Fidel?
What went wrong?

[thinktwice]

Communist philosophy is not metaphysically based in reality, thus their adamant insistence upon the truth being whatever they want it to be.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Jeff Jacoby's three part series on Cuba"A walk in Havana" - "Keeping hope, conscience alive in Cuba" - "The US embargo and Cuba's future"--[Excerpt] And make no mistake: Doing business with Cuba means doing business with Castro. There is no private property in Cuba, no private enterprise, no private employers. Foreign investors must deal with the government. They cannot hire Cuban workers directly; a government agency chooses their workers for them. The investors pay Castro - in hard currency - for each worker; Castro in turn pays the workers a fraction of that amount - in all-but-worthless pesos.

So long as Cuba's dictator maintains his stranglehold on every aspect of Cuban life, ending the embargo would be counterproductive. It would do nothing to end the far more restrictive embargo that Castro imposes on the Cuban nation. It would give him the propaganda victory and the US dollars he craves, but it would do little to bring liberty or hope to ordinary Cuban citizens.

Every president since JFK has extended the Cuban embargo; to lift it in exchange for nothing - no free elections, no civil liberties - would be a betrayal of the very people we want to help. ''Tiende tu mano a Cuba,'' says Paya when I ask what he thinks of American policy, ''pero primero pide que le desaten las manos a los cubanos.'' Extend your hands to Cuba - but first unshackle ours.[End Excerpt]

[Mixer]

Seperated at birth?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

In Castro s Service: The undertold story of Cuba s spying, and terror-[Excerpt] It's true that ever since the Soviet Union quit its role as patron, Cuba has suffered from chronic cash shortages, and it desperately relies on the tourist dollars of Canadian and European vacationers. Yet it does continue to pose a significant threat. Castro maintains the ability to spark a migration crisis whenever he wants, and Cuba is a money-laundering magnet. Even more worrisome is Cuba's biological-weapons capability. Castro may not be willing to provide his people with aspirin, but he has invested heavily in a biotechnology infrastructure with frightful capabilities. José de la Fuente, a top Cuban scientist who escaped the island by boat in 1999, said recently that Castro's minions know how to manufacture anthrax bacteria and the smallpox virus.

Then there's the espionage. By using an agent such as Montes to influence threat assessments, Havana may hope to build support for ending the U.S. economic embargo. A less menacing Cuba, after all, is a more attractive trading partner. A House vote on lifting the embargo drew 201 votes earlier this year - a failure, but tantalizingly close to success.

A more direct benefit from Montes involved specific knowledge of U.S. contingency planning - in other words, secret information on how the American government intends to respond to potential crisis situations. Shortly before Montes observed a war-games exercise put on by the U.S. Atlantic Command in Norfolk, Va., for instance, she received this message from Cuba: "Everything that takes place there will be of intelligence value. Let's see if it deals with contingency plans and specific targets in Cuba, which are prioritized interests for us." This type of knowledge helps Cuba understand how much it can provoke the U.S. without suffering consequences. What would happen, for instance, if it encouraged a throng of women and children to climb the fences at the Guantánamo Bay naval base? Or if it tried to spark a new Mariél boatlift incident?[End Excerpt]

[GuillermoX]

"genocidal"

said the West now lorded over the rest of the world because it had plundered entire continents during centuries of colonial rule

"The existing world economic order constitutes a system of plundering and exploitation like no other in history,"

Is this Castro or the NAACP/Congressional Black Caucus?

[AmericanInTokyo]

The only thing I regret about this is that somebody could not intercept his returning Aviacion de Cubana flight and force it to land in Guantanamo.

That is where he deserves to be; fully shaven with an Uncle Fester haircut, and in leg irons with three cold meals a day. Maybe a prayer rug if he's nice.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Castro is a coward. He came, he spewed, he ran home to the safety of his island prison.

[shaggy eel]

,,, what aid does Castro intend giving the plundered and exploited people in Zimbabwae where Mugabe is just a step up from him?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Hell, Castro's been sending human aid to Mugabe. He delivers them doctors (who escape if they can-some did recently)
and teachers to train more youth brigades and extend his communist reach.

[Ohioan]

A little more strident in his tone, but isn't he saying basically what Bill Clinton has been saying?

Just a passing comment. Of course, the premises are the standard Socialist premises. And, as all of the Socialist premises, are based upon fantasy and lies.

To put this sort of rhetoric in perspective, see The Lies Of Socialism

[shaggy eel]

,,, I knew he was sending such staff to Venezuela but this is news to me. That's philanthropy perverted if I've ever heard it.

[Destructor]

"MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro on Thursday ridiculed efforts by rich nations to reduce global poverty, saying they were masters of a "genocidal" economic system that condemns billions to misery and deprivation."

Fidel knows a "genocidal" economic system when he sees one!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

. And, as all of the Socialist premises, are based upon fantasy and lies.

Thank you for the LINK!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That's philanthropy perverted if I've ever heard it.

Yes Castro's known for his "humanitarian" aid.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Fidel knows a "genocidal" economic system when he sees one!

He has one, sort of an ant farm, on his own prison island.

[shaggy eel]

BUMP

[headsonpikes]

Good link!

I'll drink to the die-off of socialists! That should ease the threat of global warming.;^)