By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com
Senior Staff Writer. May 14, 2001
(CNSNews.com) - While winding up his trip to Malaysia Saturday, Cuban Leader
Fidel Castro had some complimentary words for Secretary of State Colin Powell,
calling him a man of "character and authority."
Powell last month told a U.S. House subcommittee that Castro "has done
good things for the Cuban people" even though -- unlike leaders in China,
Vietnam and North Korea - Castro has shown no signs of recognizing that the
world is changing.
Castro told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that Powell "has been the only
one today to say that we have something good in education and health." He
also said Powell "is a personality himself. He has his own character, and
he has his own authority. Of course, he's part of the (Bush) government now, and
of course he must pursue the same line as his government's."
Just last month, Radio Havana reported that Castro had called Powell "the
commander in chief of Latin America's lackeys."
The report said Castro was upset about the recent United Nations Human
Rights Commission resolution condemning Cuba's human rights record. The
resolution was narrowly approved.
Castro said the most appropriate place for that resolution was, in his
words, "the toilet."
He accused several Latin American nations of lacking dignity, a sense of
independence and honesty by voting against Cuba on that U.N resolution. Castro
was particularly angry at Argentina. He accused Argentine Foreign Minister
Rodriguez Giavarini of joining Powell in the lobbying against Cuba.
A State Department official called the accusation "absolute poppycock,"
and he said it's extraordinary that Castro continues to use "this outmoded
Marxist idiom."
Radio Havana reported that Castro, before leaving Malaysia, was awarded the "Supreme
Order of the National Crown," the country's highest decoration by Sultan
Salahuddin Abdul Aziz. The Sultan congratulated Cuba on its achievements and on
its important role in the world today.
Castro praised Malaysia for being a nation of "great natural riches, of
a hard-working and devoted people" while "firmly maintaining its
sovereignty on the road to development."
Back in Cuba, Radio Havana reported that an estimated 20-thousand Cubans
gathered in Pinar del Rio, a western province, to demand an end to the Cuban
Adjustment Act and the U.S. economic embargo against the communist nation.
Castro's brother, Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro, headed the rally which
featured speeches by children, workers and students.
Demonstrators also called for the release Mumia Abu Jamal, whom the
demonstrators labeled as an "American political prisoner." Jamal is a
Philadelphia radio newsman accused of murdering a city police officer in 1981.
He remains on death row.
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