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By Andrew Cawthorne
HAVANA, Jan 28
(Reuters) - Banging drums and chanting "Cuba yes! Yankee no!,'' Cuban
communists used a national anniversary on Wednesday to make a public
reaffirmation of their ideological faith after the Pope's visit.
"Today, in a neoliberal and ever more globalized world, living the
prelude of an inevitable crisis, we young Cubans affirm our faith ... in the
revolution,'' communist youth leader Enrique Cabezas told a cheering crowd in
Havana.
He was speaking at one of a string of marches and rallies organized across
the country by Cuba's communist party to mark the 145th anniversary of the birth
of independence leader and writer Jose Marti.
Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, also present at the communist youth march
in Havana, told Reuters the government did not believe the Pope's visit was "an
event that would have consequences'' in Cuba.
Rather "it was an important moment of maturity and reflection'' which
showed "the capacity for respect and understanding even on the basis of
differences,'' he said.
The Pope's five-day trip to the island, which wound up on Sunday, was billed
by many as a titanic clash between two of the world's most important living
20th-century personalities: Cuban President Fidel Castro, and a Pope dubbed the
"exterminating angel'' of communism.
Despite clear statements of political differences, however, the visit went
smoothly and Castro and the Pope were extremely warm and courteous to each other
at their joint appearances.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Pontiff, speaking in Italy, had said he hoped his
visit to Cuba would bear similar fruits to a 1979 trip to Poland that inspired
opponents of communism -- contributing to its eventual end both there and in
other Eastern European nations and the Soviet Union.
But Robaina said Cuba did not plan to launch an ideological counter-attack
on the island after the Pope's visit.
"The important thing is not to think about our different points of
view, which of course we have,'' he said. "We do not feel the need to mount
an ideological counter-offensive with the visit of the Pope. We are prepared
before, during and after the Pope's visit.''
The foreign minister added that Wednesday night's march in Havana, like
other events in the capital and throughout the country for Marti's anniversary,
was "a reaffirmation (of the system) like what is done here on 365 days of
the year.''
At the march, several thousand students paraded from Havana University, with
burning torches and banners, to a building once used to imprison Marti. Waving
flags and pro-government banners, they chanted "Long live Fidel!'' and "Cuba
yes! Yankee no!'' various times.
In his speech, communist youth leader Cabezas condemned the United States'
beefing up of its economic embargo on Cuba as the "opportunist
strengthening of the irrational and criminal blockade by the most powerful
empire in history.''
Flanked by visiting French communist party secretary general Robert Hue, the
Cuban youth leader also pledged young Cubans would keep the faith with
communism. However, he added: "It is true that it is not an easy task to
construct socialism in a circle of capitalism.''
The Pope used his visit to Cuba to take swipes both at communism and
capitalism.
At Cuba's largest rally to celebrate the Marti anniversary, in the eastern
city of Santiago de Cuba, crowds shouted "Socialism or Death!'' and "Fatherland
or Death'' before Castro's brother and designated successor, Raul Castro, gave a
speech. REUTERS
23:57 01-28-98 |