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The Miami Herald.
Posted on Wed, Apr. 24, 2002
Transcript of the telephone conversation between President Vicente Fox of
Mexico and President Fidel Castro of Cuba, as released by the Cuban government.
The two discuss Castro's arrival and departure, implicitly agreeing that an
early departure would keep President Bush from having to attend any meetings
with Castro on Friday, March 22.
Castro: Yes, Mr. President. How are you?
Fox: How are you, Castro?
Castro: Well, very well, thank you. And, how are you?
Fox: What a pleasure! Listen, Castro, I'm calling you on this surprise I had
a couple of hours ago, when I learned that you intend to visit with us in
Mexico. First of all, I'd like to make this a private conversation between you
and I. Do you agree?
Castro: Yes, I do. I hope you have received my letter, haven't you? I sent
it--
Fox: Yes, I did, a couple of hours ago, that's why I'm calling you now.
Castro: Oh! Good. I had been told that you go to bed early, so we sent the
letter early.
Fox: Yes, I go to bed early, but this has kept me awake.
Castro: Don't you say it!
Fox: No, really, the fact is I got it-- It's 10 p.m. here, I got it at 8
p.m., and we were just here having dinner with Kofi Annan.
Castro: Oh!
Fox: But, look Castro, I'm talking to you first as a friend.
Castro: Yes, you are talking to me first as a friend. I hope you will not
tell me not to go.
Fox: (He laughs.) Well, let's see. Let me explain it and let's see what you
think.
Castro: I'm listening, but I'm telling you before you speak. Very well.
Fox: What?
Castro: That I'm listening, but I'm telling you before you speak.
Fox: OK, listen to me first. Listen first.
Castro: Yes.
Fox: Yes, as a friend, the truth is that this surprise, at the last minute,
creates many problems for me.
Castro: Why is that?
Fox: Security problems, attention problems.
Castro: Well, never mind that, Mr. President. It seems that you don't know
me.
Fox: You are not concerned about that.
Castro: No, I assure you; and I'm not taking 800 men with me like Mr. Bush.
Fox: But, friends do not simply let you know at the last minute that they
are coming.
Castro: Yes, but I'm taking risks like no other, and you know that well.
Fox: Well, but you can trust a friend and you could have told me before that
you intended to come. That would have been better for both. But, look, I realize
that it is your absolute right. However, perhaps, if it were possible for you to
help me, as a friend.
Castro: Yes. Tell me what can I do for you, except that.
Fox: Well, 'What can you do for me, except that?'
Castro: Yes. How? What should I do? I'm willing to take any risks, I don't
mind the risks.
Fox: Let me see--
Castro: But you understand that it would cause a world scandal, I mean,
ifI'm now told not to go.
Fox: But, what's the need to make a world scandal if I'm talking to you as a
friend?
Castro: Listen, it's because you're the President of the country and if
you're the host and you prevent me from going there, I'd have no choice but to
publish my speech tomorrow.
Fox: Yes, yes, you're right. It's your right, absolutely, to do so. But, let
me make you an offer.
Castro: Yes.
Fox: Yes?
Castro: I'm listening.
Fox: I don't know when it is you intend to come because you have not said
that, but my offer would be that you come on Thursday.
Castro: Let's see, tell me exactly, I'm willing to compromise on this. Let's
see, what day is today? Tuesday. At what time do you want me there on Thursday?
Fox: Because you--I mean, Cuba has its turn to speak at the Plenary on
Thursday.
Castro: Yes, yes. The exact time there, there it is--it should be Thursday--
Fox: About 1 .p.m.
Castro: No, on Thursday I should take part in a roundtable and I should
present my speech in the morning.
Fox: Because your speech would be in the morning, close to 1 p.m.
Castro: More or less. I'll help you in everything, I won't give you any
trouble, and I won't even attend dinners, not even the meeting. Well, we'd need
to talk about that meeting --
Fox: There you go, let me finish.
Castro: Yes.
Fox: You could come on Thursday, take part in the session and present your
speech, as Cuba's reserved turn would be around 1 p.m. After that there would be
a lunch offered by the state governor to the visiting Heads of State. I'm even
offering you, inviting you, to attend that lunch, even to sit by me, and that
after this event -- you have already made your speech -- that you go back,
thus--
Castro: Back to Cuba.
Fox: Well, no, perhaps you could find--
Castro: Where to? A hotel? Tell me.
Fox: Back to Cuba, or wherever you chose to go.
Castro: Right.
Fox: That way I'd be free on Friday -- and that's my request to you -- so
that you create no complications to me on Friday.
Castro: So, you don't want for me to complicate matters for you on Friday.
Very well, but apparently you did not read a line in my letter where I said that
I'm coming in a constructive spirit to cooperate to the success of the
conference.
Fox: Yes, I did read that line.
Castro: If my words were not clear -- I understand the other things that we
won't discuss, and what could happen. I almost guessed that you'd be calling to
say something like this. I tell you very candidly: I'm willing to cooperate with
you. I'm willing to cooperate with you and do as you are asking.
Fox: We can do it this way.
Castro: Yes, would you repeat it, please?
Fox: Let's see. You'd be arriving Thursday morning, at any time you chose.
Castro: Yes, Thursday morning, and I make my speech.
Fox: Yes, you make your speech to the plenary session; you take part in the
Heads of States' lunch, where I'm inviting you even to sit by me.
Castro: Very well, thank you.
Fox: And in the afternoon, you could leave at any time you chose.
Castro: Yes, very well. Let me look at the time, we have a one-hour
difference, the time at which I'd have to be moving.
Fox: We have a one-hour difference.
Castro: If I had to arrive a little earlier; let's see, because I know now
where I cause the greater damage, (he laughs) but I could be there at dawn.
Fox: On Thursday?
Castro: Because the time [to speak] is 1 .p.m, and our people there were
negotiating my turn, then I could speak before that. Perhaps, but I'm prepared
for that time approximately, since there are 30 speakers before me. This last
minute decision has hurt me too, I admit, because I really made it at the last
minute. You were reproaching me about what a friend should or should not say.
But I have two things: Firstly, I have to think of the risks; secondly, I had
not made my decision. That's the truth.
Fox: Yes, yes, I understand, I understand.
Castro: But, at a given moment, I decided it was convenient, as I have
explained to you in my letter. I'd beg you that, when you have a chance, you
read it again.
Fox: I have it here with me.
Castro: And the Secretary General, is he there near you, are you dinning
with him?
Fox: He left about 15 minutes ago. He went to his hotel and tomorrow he'll
go to Monterrey.
Castro: What a pity that I cannot listen when he speaks! Because I think he
will be speaking at the beginning.
Fox: Let me see, Castro, you, you -- Yes, I know that --
Castro: Well, if you could make arrangements so that I could be the number
10 speaker, if you could get me that turn--
Fox: Let's see, wait a second.
Castro: Yes.
Fox: I'll be speaking on Thursday. The opening ceremony starts at 9 a.m.
Castro: At 9 a.m., very well.
Fox: I assume that the Secretary General would be speaking and then I'd be
speaking too.
Castro: Yes, I'd like to listen to his speech because it was him that
invited me.
Fox: There is no problem in your coming for that.
Castro: You are the President of the host country; it was not the United
States, it was Mexico.
Fox: There is no problem in your coming for that, arriving early and being
there for the opening ceremony, from 9 a.m. that we begin, when he will be
speaking and I will be speaking, too. In fact, your turn will be about the 10th.
Castro: No, my turn is number 30, but if you can get me number 10, that is,
following the main speakers -- I think Chavez will be one of them as chairman of
the G-77 -- and some others; if you can get me a 10 or 12--
Fox: But, do you want me to change your turn, that is, to have you before 1
p.m.?
Castro: Talk to Kofi, talk to Kofi and raise your problem with him, he'll
understand; everybody has masters and this is very serious.
Fox: I can talk to Kofi Annan. (He laughs.)
Castro: Talk to Kofi Annan. (He laughs.) Do you understand?
Fox: Yes, yes, I can talk to him, of course.
Castro: Then, I can do as it pleases you; I go there and I speak. Perhaps,
it'd be better for me to get there by midnight or so, to get some sleep and go
there.
Fox: You simply let me know at what time you're coming. I even have a
residence, a place for you to come if you arrive too early.
Castro: Well, there is that small hotel, and a few rooms have been
booked,because I had not decided to go.
Fox: Yes, the problem is that there are no rooms, that's the problem, there
are no rooms.
Castro: No, but our delegation has 20 rooms there and some of our people
could go to other places, houses that rent rooms.
Fox: Yes, we could handle it. You have friends there in Monterrey who would
take you in at any time. That's not a problem. You must arrive in the early
morning hours.
Castro: Look, I can do better. Must I arrive in the early morning hours?
Fox: Yes. What is it that you call the early morning hours, 5 or 6 a.m.?
Castro: No. Look, I'd rather get there about 10 p.m. the previous night,
approximately.
Fox: Oh! I see, you'd arrive Wednesday night.
Castro: Yes, I would do so quietly. We would meet there in the morning,
people would see me there in the morning.
Fox: Try to make it later, and let's see how we manage; I mean, later in the
night or in the first hours of next morning.
Castro: All right.
Fox: You may arrive, get your accommodations and take part from 9 a.m.
Castro: I accommodate myself and I get there at 8:30. Listen.
Fox: Yes, exactly, exactly.
Castro: Then you can assure me that you talk to Kofi Annan and you explain
the problems to him, otherwise I'd have to talk and explain to him because I've
been invited by the United Nations.
Fox: No, there is no problem with that. I--
Castro: You were really kind to send that invitation as a host, but it is
the United Nations that invites me. I told you that here, it was the first thing
I told you when we began our talks here, that I had that invitation.
Fox: Yes, you're right. Then, let's go on thinking like that. Then we
finish--
Castro: Right. Then, I do as you say to please you; I leave earlier. I
really want to be back here soon. I have a lot of things to do and I'm very
enthusiastic about them.
Fox: Castro, can I ask you another favor?
Castro: I'm listening.
Fox: That while you are here, it would be very good for me if there were no
statements on the Embassy issue, or the Mexico-Cuba relations, I mean, that
experience we went through a few days ago.
Castro: There is no need for me to make statements there.
Fox: That's good!
Castro: Tell me, what else can I do for you?
Fox: Well, basically, not to attack the United States or President Bush,
butrather to limit ourselves to--
Castro: Listen, Mr. President, I'm a person who's been in politics for about
43 years, and I know what I should do and what I should not do. You don't need
to have any doubts that I know how to tell the truth politely and with the
proper elegance. You don't need to fear because I won't be dropping any bombs
there. The truth is that I disagree with that Consensus that has been proposed
over there. But, I'll limit myself to present my basic ideas and do so with all
due respect. I will not use that forum to make a stir. I'll go there to speak
the truth, or I could not go and say it from here tomorrow morning; for me
that's not--
Fox: That is precisely what you offer me in your letter: a constructive
participation, to make a real contribution to the debates, to the solution of
the problems we all have in the world.
Castro: Yes, Mr. President, you should also bear in mind that when I make
one of such trips I do so at great risk.
Fox: Yes, I understand that.
Castro: You should know. And I don't do it, I mean, be absent from there
because I'd be ashamed after I have made the decision to go. I have not gone to
other places; I did not go to the Summit in Peru, but I have a much higher
concept of the importance of this conference and a much higher concept of
Mexico. It seemed to me that I'd be really hurting you and the Mexicans if I did
not go. I won't be going there to make a stir, or organize demonstrations, or
anything like it. I bear in mind that you are the President of that country and
that, regardless of my rights, I should take your wishes into account. I'm glad
that you have thought of a decent formula, that I may be there on time and
listen to the Secretary General of the United Nations. And, if you could enlist
the assistance of the Secretary General to ensure that I speak earlier -- that
is, not be there for long, the longer I stay the -- I mean, a turn to speak
between number 10 and 15, after the list of speakers begins to roll, aside from
your speech. We could speak to our comrades there, give them instructions --
they have already been instructed to try to change to an earlier turn -- then,
I'd be free to avoid causing you any more trouble.
Fox: Yes. Listen, Castro. Anyway, there is still that invitation for you
toaccompany me to that lunch; that would be about 1 or 1 p.m., then, after lunch
you could leave.
Castro: Provided you do not offer me turkey with chili sauce and lots of
food because I don't like to travel by plane on a full stomach--
Fox: No, we have goat, which is very tasty.
Castro: You are offering goat?
Fox: Yes, sir, excellent.
Castro: Good, very good.
Fox: Then, can we say we agree on that?
Castro: Yes, we agree on that, and we are friends; friends and gentlemen.
Fox: Yes, I really appreciate it and I only need to know at what time you
are arriving to welcome you and take you to your accommodations.
Castro: I'll tell you the time. Well, if you like I can even get there
earlier and that way we can save time. At what time are you going to bed
tomorrow?
Fox: Tomorrow?
Castro: Yes.
Fox: What is it tomorrow? Wednesday? Tomorrow I'll go to bed early, as a
good rancher.
Castro: As a good rancher. I'm quite the opposite, I usually stay up until
very late. Tell me, what would be the best time for you?
Fox: Look, as you are saying 10, 11, 12 midnight, for you to accommodate,
get some rest, and be there in the morning.
Castro: Very well, I agree.
Fox: Then, let the embassy give me the exact time to welcome you properly.
Castro: Yes, tomorrow you'll know the exact time.
Fox: We'll talk about it with the Embassy.
Castro: Yes, as always, I deeply appreciate that deference, that honor, if
you go there; I think that would help much to--
Fox: You attend that lunch with me and from there you go back.
Castro: I take your orders, and from there I come back.
Fox: Castro, I really appreciate it.
Castro: Very well, President.
Fox: This way everything will be all right.
Castro: I think so, and I thank you.
Fox: Well, I agree, and have a good night.
Castro: -- for your deference and for finding an honorable and acceptable
formula.
Fox: Yes, I think it is, and I appreciate it.
Castro: Very well, then, I wish you a great success.
Fox: Good night.
Castro: Good night. | 
