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 News from Around the Americas | September 2006 
Raúl Castro Raps US Policy
 Gary Marx - Chicago Tribune
| | Acting Cuban president Raul Castro (L) and his grandson Raul attend a plenary session at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Havana September 16, 2006. (Reuters/Rickey Rogers) |
Havana - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro failed to appear yesterday at the non aligned summit but his stand-in, younger brother Raúl Castro, delivered a fiery speech blaming the United States for a plethora of global problems.
After acknowledging his brother's illness, Raúl Castro condemned neoliberalism and globalization for endemic poverty and environmental degradation while denouncing the United States' pre-eminence in world affairs and Israel's role in the Middle East.
Raúl Castro also defended Iran in its nuclear standoff with the United States and other nations.
"Let us reject the dangerous U S doctrine of the preemptive use of nuclear weapons, even against countries that don't have them and against supposed terrorist groups," Raúl Castro told representatives from the 116-nation group.
"Let us denounce the hypocrisy of the U S government, which while supporting Israel's bid to increase their nuclear store, is threatening Iran in an attempt to prevent the peaceful use of nuclear strategy," he said.
Yesterday was the fifth day of the 14th Summit of the Nonaligned Movement, but it marked the first of two days in which more than 50 heads of state gather to deliver speeches and hammer out details of a final document.
The summit brings together U S allies but also foes, including North Korea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Belarus, which Washington has described as Europe's last dictatorship.
Among yesterday's speakers were Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamadinejad, who accused the United States of using its influence to try to block Iran's "legitimate right" to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
But it was Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez who dominated the proceedings, with a pair of speeches denouncing the U S government while also proposing that the non aligned movement create a new commission to recommend ways to unite and assist member nations.
"North American imperialism continues to develop plans and launch conspiracies against the governments of Cuba and Venezuela, and I have the impression other governments, too," he said.
"To be radical is not to be insane, like some want to label us," Chávez said.
Also speaking yesterday to the gathering was UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who met with Fidel Castro on Thursday evening and described the 80-year-old Cuban leader as mending well.
He said Castro displayed a firm handshake and an active and a curious mind.
With next week's U N General Assembly session in New York looming, Chávez and Ahmadinejad called on nonaligned nations to support Venezuela's Security Council bid and provide more balance at the U N. Both said the veto power of the United States has made the council a toothless promoter of US policy.
"The U S is turning the Security Council into a base for imposing its politics," Ahmadinejad said, according to the official translation of his speech in Farsi.
Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein told the Associated Press in an interview yesterday that his country has secured 90 of 128 necessary votes , and denied that U S support for Guatemala's bid has made his country a puppet of Washington. Venezuela, however, is confident it will win the seat. |
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