Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit SPECIAL REPORT FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org Radio Havana Cuba brings you next the trasncript of a version of the exchange between the Cuban President Fidel Castro and 32 members from American Association of Newspaper Editors that recently visited Cuba. RADIO HAVANA CUBA: On Saturday, the 24th October 1998, President Fidel Castro chatted with a group of 32 editors from the American Association of Newspaper Editors representing the major mainstream US press. The exchange, which lasted over 5 hours, versed on national and international issues. The economic situation in Cuba was covered during the first minutes of the encounter, part of the discussion focussed on the new taxing system. Some of the editors considered taxes to be very high. FIDEL CASTRO: To be able to respond as to whether a tax is high or low one must know how much is being earned per month. We are a country with few resources with a very developed sense of equality, so it is really a shock to learn that someone can earn 20,000 pesos a month when a teacher who works hard with classes of 15 to 30 students is earning 250 pesos a month because the country cannot afford to pay more and because our children must be educated. With the opening of small businesses an unaccustomed enormous difference in income occured. Believe me this hurts to see and if we had not been going through such a difficult economic situation we would have preferred not to create these differences. Workers began to be self-employed in certain authorized fields because with the collapse of the socialist camp in Europe along with our old trade partners, we lacked fundamental resources and prime materials for our industries and construction. The number of unemployed began to rise and so we saw that in allowing for small private enterprise we would create employment for up to 200,000 people. However, we weren't creating anything new. There were a number of self-employed people that were operating before the collapse of the Soviet Union. So, it was necessary to establish a tax that would contribute to the social and economic welfare of our country. You may be sure that the taxes that we implement are incomparably less than a worker in Sweden would pay. RHC: Some of the US editors responded that they would reduce these taxes to encourage the development of small private enterprise, to which Cuban President Fidel Castro replied that Cuba would prefer to give more help to the infirm, to a hospital, to a school. FIDEL CASTRO: We introduced a different tax for those that rent out, for example, their homes, in dollars rather than in pesos. There are those in this country that can frankly earn 90 times more than a government minister - none of whom are corrupt. And although you will find a few wretches that will state otherwise - including a well-known US magazine that attributed a fortune to me - I can safely say that no judge in the world will find that in the 40 years of our Revolution a single minister or important bureaucrat has ever misappropriated a single dollar. RHC: The subject of exiles was brought up. FIDEL CASTRO: Let me begin by saying that you have chosen to qualify that all those in Miami are exiles. Is it not curious that not one of them is an economic immigrant? Not one? How many people were waiting for visas promised by the Reagan government? Some 200,000. And naturally they tried to go... When the US announced that the number of visas that would be granted amounted to no more than 1000, some 8 to 10,000 then left illegally... We can say that 90% or, if you wish, 85% of those Cubans that reside in the US do not do so for political reasons. Their differences were not ideological because their numbers increased significantly as a consequence of the Special Period of economic hardship that the country was, and still is, going through. This economic migration to the US is not a Cuban phenomenon but a hemispheric one. RHC: The Cuban president explained the history of relations between the US and Cuba and how incentives were granted by Washington to Cuban political exiles that would also extend to economic immigrants. He added that the so-called boat-people crisis was not Cuba's responsibility nor were incidents such as the 1994 tragedy in which Cuba was accused by Washington of deliberately ramming a stolen tugboat full of Cubans when it's coastguard was simply trying to turn the boat back on the high seas and accidentally struck it. The US and Cuba now have an agreement in which Cuban undocumented immigrants are returned to the island in exchange for an increased number of visas granted by Washington in an annual lottery. Questioned about so-called political prisoners, Fidel Castro emphatically denied that such prisoners exist in Cuban jails. FIDEL CASTRO: Our laws clearly define those activities against the Revolution and against the country that are punishable. Here nobody is punished for dissenting. There is punishment for counter-revolutionary activities such as aiding the blockade, and working against Cuba in conjunction with the government of the USA. Such crimes are severely sanctioned. Moreover, if we take into account those who were captured invading our country - those working for the US. How long were they jailed? A little more than a year. Yet if the reverse had occured such people would still be in US prisons. I know that for the people of North America to learn the truth about what is happening in Cuba this has to come via the press. There were once a large number of US journalists accredited to the island in permanent bureaus but if that is no longer the case it is because conditions simply do not permit this. We prefer to move bit by bit. A climate of confidence cannot quickly be built after so many years of hostility between our two countries. Our experience leads us to be cautious as to when we will allow the existence of permanent US press bureaus in Cuba again. RHC: This situation is such due to the fact that not all reporters are dedicated to impartial news coverage and use their status to further agendas that have nothing to do with journalism. Such things hardly lead to confidence in the press corps. FIDEL CASTRO: I would give my support to opening the door to more journalists if we could be sure that they would be objective and not those with ulterior motives or agendas. This is why we have carefully opened the door little by little to reporters in our country as we are still living in very special conditions. But let me cite an example of what I am talking about. The boat-people. Some have come here to report on the desire of many Cubans to emigrate to the USA. From a political point of view the cost of this coverage was high for us, but we allowed it to proceed. When Pope John II was here in January, and Cuba was full of journalists, many thought that the Revolution would fall like the walls of Jericho. There are other examples. RHC: Fidel Castro went on to say that The New York Times knew of plans to invade Cuba in 1961 prior to the Bay of Pigs attack but an editorial decision changed the focus of the report and thus downplayed the possible invasion. More recently, in a two hour interview with CNN in which the Cuban president discussed many themes, CNN simply broadcast a 15 minute report refering almost solely to the supposed web of Cuban spies operating in Miami. Responding to questions on why the city of Havana is in such a state of disrepair when luxury hotel construction is going on in the beach resort of Varadero, Fidel Castro replied: FIDEL CASTRO: Can you perhaps give us some advice on this? Buying paint costs money. The money comes from hamburgers sold to tourists and if we don't build hotels how are we to attract the tourists? The state of our buildings, especially those along the Malecon that are in very bad condition, make me very sad. We had begun to work on this when the socialist camp collapsed in Eastern Europe. In spite of the blockade we had managed to create the conditions to build 100,000 new homes a year, but we are now left without even the material to paint them. We cannot do in Central Havana what we have done in parts of Old Havana. In Old Havana we were able to provide solutions to difficult problems. One of which were foreign donations that went towards rebuilding and repairs. We have created an organization that fundraises and invests for the reconstruction of Old Havana. We are renewing buildings and doing the best we can. But we are missing housing, we are missing paint for the houses, and we are missing gas and water for the houses because we have to modernize the supply systems in Havana. We are trying to provide such things, along with food and medicines, clothing and footware, schooling and transport. All things that the government provides to the population. For all this we need money. RHC: To the question of when the Special Period would end, the Cuban president responded: FIDEL CASTRO: Can you answer me another question? So as to help me? You came here to learn and I am attempting to respond to your questions. But I also came here to learn - do not believe that I am the expert here. When do you think the US blockade will end? This will enable me to tell you when the Special Period will end. Moreover, what right has the US to tell us to change when we do not reciprocate the demand? Does this sound reasonable to you? You ask what more Cuba can do to put an end to the Special Period? Struggle, resist, work, perform more efficiently and do so using our own resources without expecting outside help. While the blockade is increasingly condemned worldwide, we have not lost hope, we are not anguishing over how much longer it will last. The former Panamanian president Torrijos said that the blockade was a dishonor to the hemisphere. RHC: Fidel Castro went on to explain Washington's justifications for maintaining the blockade and what conditions it demanded of Cuba to lift it. FIDEL CASTRO: There was a time when it was understood that once Cuba had broken relations with the Soviet Union then the blockade would be lifted. The Soviet Union collapsed. The blockade continued. It was also said that once Cuba withdrew from Angola the blockade would be lifted. An agreement was reached. Namibia obtained its independence. Apartheid ended, and we withdrew our troops honorably. And the blockade continued. Then it was said that when Cuba ended its so-called "subversion" at the time of Pinochet; of the military government in Argentina; of the genocides in El Salvador and Guatemala and elsewhere, then the blockade would be lifted. Changes occured. Bloody regimes disappeared. We developed, improved relations with Latin America but the blockade continued. In all frankness, Clinton has relinquished presidential prerogatives that would allow him to control the question of the blockade against Cuba. Because of this the Cuban American mafia and those that lobby for it - such as the Cuban American National Foundation - which is a terrorist organization - snatched the power away from Clinton to make decisions relating to the blockade. Then came the Helms Burton Law. Without a majority in Congress Clinton could do nothing. We were asked for a gesture of goodwill which we are always willing to give as long as we are not asked to do so, let alone demanded. We will accept no conditions whatsoever. We do not maintain a blockade, nor do we carry on an economic and political war against the US. We do not broadcast thousands of hours of radio time condemning capitalism. The US maintains a naval base on our island against our wishes, but we do not have a base in the USA. Our position is that the blockade should cease unconditionally. RHC: The Cuban president then addressed the two Miami Herald representatives present and spoke to them in reference to two articles that their newspaper had recently published on Luis Posada Carriles, the author of the bomb that exploded on board a Cuban airliner in 1976 as it was taking off from Barbados. 73 people were killed. Posada also organized the hotel bombings in Havana last year which cost the life of an Italian tourist. He was denounced by the Miami Herald for planning to kill Fidel Castro on a visit to the Dominican Republic in August. FIDEL CASTRO: Posada Carriles was preparing the plans and other such terrorist actions when he became worried by the second newspaper article. The first had not given him much concern as he felt that the article lent him legendary status as the person who had struggled against Castro for so many years. This has given him a superiority complex. I'm sure that this was not your intention, but he was happy with his role as a hero. You published your first article on June 7th, the second was published just before my trip to the Dominican Republic, and on July 10th he sent another Salvadoran to place bombs in hotels in Havana. Posada felt he was at the height of his glory... and we have photographs and videos of his. So he was very happy, and he hastened to dispatch another Salvadoran armed to the teeth, with explosives to place the bombs. Of course, this person was captured and he immediately implicated Posada Carriles as the one who had instructed and trained him. All this is to say that in the psychology of such people publicity excercises a tremendous effect. LOC: At this point Fidel Castro revealed the identity of the second Salvadorean aprehended in relation to these terrorist acts against Cuba. His name is Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena, and he was arrested the 10th June at Havana's Jose Marti airport arriving from Guantemala in posession of explosives and other items for use in terrorist attacks. The Cuban President also announced that three Guatemalans were also detained in Cuba for their involvement in terrorist acts against the island. In his exchange with the US editors, the Cuban leader insisted on the long time relationship of Posada Carriles with the CIA, the FBI and the Cuban American National Foundation. FIDEL CASTRO: This is common knowledge. The worst part of all this is that after Posada Carriles' supposed break with the CIA, his freedom was bought by the Foundation via the brother of Jorge Mas Canosa, its former director, who raised $50,000 for his release and took him to Ilopango in El Salvador, where he was incorporated into Oliver North's operation under the direct control of the White House. And he gives ample account on this in his book. He was warmly welcomed in El Salvador by the people of the Cuban American National Foundation. The CIA was involved in all this as they were aiding Nicaraguan contras with weapons. Posada became the chief of the entire operation. It is inconceivable that a person who breaks with the CIA and escapes from prison would then participate in North's very delicate operation which involved arms, the Nicaraguan Contra and Iran. All under the direction of the White House. RHC: After encouraging editors to further investigate the subject, the Cuban president then asked the delegation why Jose or "Pepe" Hernandez - who is the Chair of the Cuban American National Foundation - is not being tried in Puerto Rico for complicity in the attempt to murder him while he attended the Ibero American Summit on Margarita Island in Venezuela last year. A gun registered in Hernandez' name was found on board a boat, whose passengers are being tried for the criminal plot. FIDEL CASTRO: Pepe Hernandez - owner of the rifle - was the organizer of all this, to the perfect knowledge of the US authorities. Why was he not included in those charged? This is something that should be of interest as there is something odd here. All is not clear. He was arrested with the others accused and then mysteriously released. RHC: Fidel Castro then finished the dialogue with the American Association of Newspaper Editors by speaking of international terrorism against Cuba. FIDEL CASTRO: This is very dangerous for any country and we have communicated our concerns to Washington as the US has many of its own extremist groups. There are some 800 political, religious and racial fanatical groups there, of which 400 are armed. The sophisticated methods used by these terrorists enable them to set the digital instruments of their bombs by more than 90 hours in advance, then leave and be on the other side of the earth before the explosion. These can be used against cars, hotels and airplanes. These methods are so economical, so easy to apply and so sure to work that it seems to me that the dangers of such terrorism are universal and very especially for the United States. End of transcript [c] 1998, Radio Habana Cuba All rights reserved Articles cannot be reproduced, reprinted or published in any system without the consent of RHC. This prohibition includes the distribution of this material via Usenet News, "bulletin board" services, e-mail lists, print media, radio and television. For the complete RADIO HAVANA CUBA NEWSCAST and other features, please write for our daily broadcast schedule. We welcome your comments and suggestions. For further information, contact us at: Postal Address: Radio Havana Cuba P.O.Box 6240 Havana, Cuba Telephone: (53) (7) 791053 Fax: (53) (7) 795007 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org WWW: http://www.radiohc.org