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 News from Around the Americas | May 2006 
Castro Denies Forbes Report on His Wealth
 Vanessa Arrington - Associated Press
| | Cuban President Fidel Castro displays a copy of Forbes magazine, which had ranked him as the seventh wealthiest ruler in the world, during a live television broadcast in Havana, May 15, 2006. (Ismael Francisco-Prensa Latina/Reuters) |
Havana - Cuban President Fidel Castro denounced a Forbes magazine report naming him one of the world's wealthiest rulers, putting in a special television appearance on Monday to rebut the story he called "rubbish."
In its May 5 article, "Fortunes Of Kings, Queens And Dictators," Forbes put Castro in 7th place in a group of 10 world leaders with "lofty positions and vast fortunes." The magazine estimated Castro's personal wealth to be $900 million nearly double that of the $500 million of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and just under Prince Albert II of Monaco's estimated $1 billion.
The article also referred to rumors of Castro having "large stashes in Swiss bank accounts."
"All this makes me sick," Castro responded Monday on the communist government's daily public affairs program Mesa Redonda, or "Round Table." "Why should I defend myself against this rubbish?"
Later on the program, Castro pounded the table, saying, "If they can prove I have an account abroad ... containing even one dollar I will resign my post."
Castro also gave the floor to several top officials, including Central Bank President Francisco Soberon, to deny the claims and defend his integrity.
"It is absolutely impossible that someone in the upper levels of government and especially not a leader (like Castro) ... who is recognized by the Cuban people as an example of humility and self-discipline could maintain personal accounts abroad," Soberon said.
Soberon called the Forbes article "grotesque slander," and blamed the CIA and a U.S. press controlled by "the empire" for the magazine's "vulgar and ridiculous" claims.
In explaining its calculations, Forbes said it assumed Castro has economic control over a web of state-owned companies including a convention center, a retail conglomerate and an enterprise that sells Cuban-produced pharmaceuticals.
Soberon said, however, that all the money made from those companies is pumped back into the island's economy, into sectors including health, education, science, security, defense and solidarity projects with other countries.
Forbes acknowledged in its article that the estimates for all the leaders are "more art than science."
Fidel Castro Dares Bush: Prove It!
Prensa Latina
Havana - Cuba´s President Fidel Castro declared he would resign if the US administration and its intelligence services could prove he has a personal fortune.
In a comprehensive radio and TV broadcast Monday evening, the president refuted the public calumnies by US Forbes magazine, which named him as one of the ten richest leaders in the world worth more than 900 million dollars.
The statesman denounced that since 1998 Forbes has been part of Washington´s strategy to discredit the Cuban revolution, a campaign carried out by numerous US-controlled media.
But, he pointed out, they don´t know this country and aren´t used to dealing with revolutionaries, only with politicians and thieves. So, he continued, if they can demonstrate a foreign account for 900 million, or even one dollar, I will resign my position and the tasks I have carried out for more than 40 years.
President Castro challenged President Bush, the CIA, the 33 US intelligence organs, and the thousands of banks in the world to prove these lies.
When recalling some of the nefarious US campaigns to harm the reputation of Cuba, Fidel Castro mentioned trying to link the country with money-laundering, labeling the gallant internationalist physicians as “mercenaries”, and distorting Cuban-Venezuelan ties, but this time, he said, the smear will not be immune.
Throwing down the gauntlet, the head of State pointed out that a blockaded Cuba has upset hundreds of Pentagon plans to separate him from the Revolution; however, if they can prove this lie, they won´t need more plots of assassination or transition, he dared. |
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