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The Miami Herald.
On TV, Castro denies sabotaging antiterror effort
By Nancy San Martin. Nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Fri,
Oct. 11, 2002.
The United States is lying when it charges Cuba is deliberately trying to
sabotage antiterrorist efforts and is involved in the production of bioweapons,
President Fidel Castro tells ABC's Barbara Walters in an interview to be
broadcast tonight.
Castro also says the Cuban Missile Crisis was the result of Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev's lies -- not Castro's willingness to participate.
Link:
Missile Crisis / Khrushchev - Castro
letters
And he says organizers of an unprecedented petition drive for democratic
reforms on the island will receive a response from the Cuban government "in
due course.''
Those are among the highlights of the Walters interview with Castro, which
will air at 10 p.m. today on ABC's 20/20.
The taped interview is the first lengthy televised exchange with Castro
since Walters last spoke with him in 1977.
It is being aired as Cuba marks the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile
Crisis with a conference in Havana that includes key members of former President
John F. Kennedy's administration.
''The whole hour is dedicated to Castro and Cuba,'' said Alyssa Ziegler
Apple, an ABC spokeswoman.
Walters peppers Castro with a variety of questions that begin with Cuba's
alleged involvement with terrorism and ends with a synopsis of the Elián
González saga and its effect on U.S.-Cuba relations.
Castro responds in a friendly, though sometimes terse tone, using Walters'
first name for effect.
On the U.S. allegations that Cuba has tried to sabotage antiterrorist
efforts by providing false leads and that scientists are experimenting with the
production of biological weapons, Castro said, "all those accusations are
absolute lies.''
Castro tells Walters that Cuba has never taken aggressive action toward the
United States and that "not one drop of American blood has been shed by
this government.''
Link:
The
shootdown of Brothers To The Rescue aircraft
The 1996 case in which Brothers to the Rescue pilots were shot down by a
Cuban MiG is not discussed. Three of those civilian airmen were American
citizens, the other a U.S. resident.
Walters also asks Castro what important new information has been gained from
the release of classified information on the Cuban Missile Crisis, which erupted
in mid-October 1962 when Kennedy learned that there were Soviet nuclear warheads
in Cuba.
''We would not have accepted the missiles if they had said it was related to
the balance of power,'' Castro said, adding that Khrushchev ''misled Kennedy''
and also "lied to Cuba.''
A Nuclear secret in '62
Cuba crisis / The Miami Herald
In the interview, Castro also briefly discusses the
Varela Project, an
initiative that calls for a referendum on sweeping democratic reforms. Castro
acknowledged that the Cuban Constitution guarantees citizens a right to gather
signatures but he stopped short of legitimizing the unprecedented effort.
''Yes, they have the right to present a petition but not to change the
constitution,'' Castro said. "Anyone has the right to present a petition .
. . yes, and they will receive the response from the National Assembly. They
will have their response in due course.''
Cuban
Missile Crisis - links
Carlos Castañeda, who led El Nuevo Herald, dies at 70
By Tere Figueras. Tfigueras@herald.com. Posted on Fri, Oct.
11.
Carlos Castañeda, the publisher emeritus of El Nuevo Herald whose
passionate belief in a free press helped guide several newspapers across Latin
America, died Thursday morning in Lisbon, Portugal. He was 70.
Castañeda, who suffered from an aggressive form of leukemia, was
vacationing with his wife and one of his daughters when he became ill, his
friends said.
A veteran journalist whose career spanned more than five decades, Castañeda
bore witness to the vagaries of politics and people -- and helped shape their
coverage in more than two dozen papers throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Perhaps his crowning achievement occurred in May when El Nuevo Herald was
presented the 2001 Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award, given to the best
Spanish-language daily newspaper in the world.
Castañeda's passion for journalism began early. While growing up in
Havana, he fell in love with the voices of radio newscasters and sports
commentators, and had his own show as a teenager.
In 1954, he joined the weekly magazine Bohemia, which gave exposure to the
best Cuban journalists and writers of that era. Years later, he was one of the
first journalists to interview a young revolutionary named Fidel Castro.
Castañeda was there when Castro made his triumphant arrival in Havana
in January 1959. ''There is a picture of him taking notes with Castro,'' said
Salvador Lew, director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which operates Radio
and TV Martí.
But the astute Castañeda sensed ominous rumblings of what was to
come.
''He was never with Castro, just the opposite. He was a reporter, very
vigilant and very smart,'' said Lew. "I remember talking with him a few
years before about the sad future that was coming for Cuba.''
In 1960, Castañeda left Cuba for New York City with his wife,
Lillian, and their family and $50 in his pocket. He worked for Bohemia Libre --
the exile version of the landmark magazine -- before switching to the
Spanish-language version of Life magazine, working his way up to top editing
post.
In 1970, he helped launch El Nuevo Día, a leading Puerto Rican daily.
During his 28 years as editor and publisher, Castañeda saw
circulation grow more than thirteen-fold before ''retiring'' in 1998.
''Don Carlos lived journalism as a priesthood,'' said Puerto Rican
entrepreneur Antonio Luis Ferré, who hired Castañeda. "It was
his life.''
Retiring was a term the robust Castañeda used loosely: In November
1998, he was named publisher and editor of El Nuevo Herald in Miami, where he
visited often to see his children.
Alberto Ibargüen, publisher of The Miami Herald and chairman of The
Miami Herald Publishing Co., recalled running into Castañeda one day at
Perricone's Marketplace & Cafe -- and decided he was a perfect match for
revamping El Nuevo into a publication with a distinct voice from its sister
paper, The Herald.
''He transformed the newspaper,'' said Ibargüen. "The idea was
that El Nuevo should become a Latin American newspaper that happens to be edited
in this North American country.''
LEADERSHIP HONORED
In an e-mail to the staff Thursday, Ibargüen paid further homage to
Castañeda:
"El Nuevo Herald needed a journalist with a pan-American vision,
someone who understood and loved both Cuba and Miami, someone with the courage
of his convictions as he transformed the content, tone and pace of the
newspaper. Carlos was the man, and . . . the Ortega y Gasset prize was fitting
tribute for his extraordinary leadership.''
Last December, he turned the reins over to Humberto Castelló, who
worked with Castañeda in Puerto Rico.
'Carlos' life was ruled by faith, journalism, family and his infinite love
for Cuba,'' Castelló said in a message to his staff. "He was my
beacon and model for many years. Now he will be like the magic light that shines
brightest when it's extinguished -- the light of thought.''
Castañeda, with his trademark bow tie and wire-rim glasses, stayed on
as a consultant to El Nuevo Herald -- a title he has held at more than 25 papers
throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including Diario Popular in Argentina, La
Nación in Costa Rica and Panama's La Prensa.
HANDS-ON APPROACH
''When he was in town, he would come in here every day,'' said Gloria Leal,
associate director of El Nuevo Herald. "From 5 to 10 p.m. he would be here,
deciding what went on the front page, what the headlines would be. When he was
traveling, he would call in to see what was going on.''
On Sunday, Castañeda called from the hospital in Portugal where he
was undergoing tests.
''He wanted to know about the elections in Brazil,'' Ibargüen said. "He
wanted to know how we were going to play it.''
Democracy -- and the role news organizations play in bolstering that ideal
-- was a driving force in Castañeda's life.
A longtime member of the Inter-American Press Association, Castañeda
served on the Committee on Freedom of the Press, which monitors censorship in
the region.
''People here sometimes take journalism and mass media for granted; here we
have the First Amendment, we have rights,'' said Julio E. Muñoz,
executive director of the IAPA. "That is not the case in many countries.
Carlos understood that and was passionate in his defense of the press. He saw it
as the very tool of democracy, of sharing ideas.''
Castañeda lectured frequently at newspapers throughout Latin America,
offering ideas on how to revamp content, modernize technology and improve
circulation in often politically tumultuous countries.
''Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico -- the list is long,'' Muñoz said. "People
would call and ask for him, and he would go wherever, whenever.''
In April 1991, as regional vice president for Puerto Rico of the IAPA, he
bristled at a decree from Gov. Rafael Hernández Colón to charge
fees for information from a government agency. ''This is a tantrum by a man full
of arrogance who is miffed because things are not turning the way he wants
them,'' said Castañeda.
REPORTED ABUSE
He also reported abuse and intimidation of Cuban journalists on the island
to the IAPA's 1,500 member newspapers -- working in tandem with a counterpart on
the island.
''I don't think Castro would have let him back,'' Muñoz said.
Born in 1932, Carlos Mauricio Castañeda Angulo got his start as a
radio sports commentator hosting his own show, La Voz del Aire, when he was 16
-- five years before graduating from the University of Havana with a degree in
journalism. He attended the University of Missouri from 1953 to 1954 before
returning to Cuba, where he worked at the respected daily El Mundo in addition
to Bohemia.
After leaving the island, Castañeda worked as editor and
correspondent for Bohemia Libre and later as the political correspondent in
Washington.
In 1965, Castañeda joined Life en Español and remained until
1969. He moved to San Juan the next year to join El Nuevo Día, where the
paper grew from a circulation of 16,000 to 120,000 in a few years.
Its current circulation is more than 212,000 on weekdays, 234,000 on
Sundays.
NEW VOICE
Castañeda also had a hand in the early incarnation of El Nuevo
Herald.
In 1975, as Miami-Dade County grappled with waves of Cuban immigrants, Castañeda
helped design El Miami Herald, a Spanish-language insert that debuted a year
later.
Despite his wide-ranging influence in Latin America, Castañeda never
fulfilled the one dream he took with him from his homeland.
'When I approached him to come to El Nuevo, he said, 'I've done everything
in my life I've wanted -- except to edit a newspaper in a free Cuba,' '' said
Ibargüen, who told Castañeda that "when the time is right,
we'll bring that newspaper to Cuba. That's when we shook hands.''
In addition to his wife, Castañeda is survived by his son, Eduardo,
and daughters Aileen, Tanya Maria and Millie.
A Mass will be said in Lisbon today.
A memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. Oct. 19 at St. John Bosco
Church, 1301 W. Flagler St.
Herald translator Renato Perez and El Nuevo Herald staff writer Pablo
Alfonso contributed to this story.
All links inserted by CubaNet | 
