By Jim Burns. CNS Senior Staff Writer. March 02, 2001
(CNSNews.com) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro said his country will make major
social and economic leaps in the next few years, providing the world with one of
the most perfect examples of socialism. He did not use the word "communism"
during the broadcast on Radio Havana.
Castro reportedly made the comment during a meeting of the National Council
of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists in Havana. Castro also said he is
optimistic about the future of socialism because, "Cuba has identified its
problems and has the resources to build a nation ever more just and equal and in
accordance with the ideals of socialism."
Castro is quoted as saying that Cuba, to achieve its goals, must have
confidence in "its education, culture and in the human spirit."
Council President Carlos Marti, reacting to Castro's speech, said the
intellectuals of Cuba would fight to guarantee the future of socialism against
what Marti called the "macabre manipulations...of an imperial power,"
which seeks to impose its own values on the rest of the world. "Imperial
power" is a thinly veiled reference to the United States.
In another development, the U.S. State Department Thursday released its
annual report ranking out nations based on their drug records. Cuba was among
the nations found lacking.
The State Department report said Cuba's "sharing of information with
the United States and other governments on international drug trafficking
improved. But there remains a lack of authoritative information from Cuba with
regard to domestic drug use and drug trafficking through and from Cuba.
"Although Cuba is not a major drug transit country, it remains a
country of concern to U.S. counter-narcotics agencies."
Last Monday, the State Department criticized Cuba in its annual "human
rights report" for its human rights record, calling it "poor."
"It (the Castro government) continued to violate systematically the
fundamental civil rights and political rights of its citizens. Citizens do not
have the right to change their government peacefully. The authorities continued
routinely to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison and defame
human rights advocates and members of independent professional associations,
including journalists, economists, doctors, and lawyers, often with the goal of
coercing them into leaving the country," the report said.
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