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Fidel Castro Makes Mention of NY Times Editorial Calling for End of Cuban Embargo
Last weekend’s editorial in The New York Times calling for an end to Washington’s economic embargo against Cuba was spurred by a quest for “the greatest benefit” to U.S. policy in difficult times, Fidel Castro said in an article published Tuesday.
The 88-year-old Cuban leader cited long excerpts of the Times editorial in his piece, disseminated by official media.
“Scanning a map of the world must give President Obama a sinking feeling as he contemplates the dismal state of troubled bilateral relationships his administration has sought to turn around. He would be smart to take a hard look at Cuba, where a major policy shift could yield a significant foreign policy success,” the U.S. daily’s Editorial Board wrote.
“For the first time in more than 50 years, shifting politics in the United States and changing policies in Cuba make it politically feasible to re-establish formal diplomatic relations and dismantle the senseless embargo,” the Times said.
The editorial, according to Castro, pursues “the greatest benefit for U.S. policy in the difficult situation, when political, economic, financial and trade problems are growing.”
Fidel, who handed over power to younger brother Raul Castro in 2006 after falling gravely ill, recalled Times reporter Herbert Matthews, who traveled to Cuba’s Sierra Maestra Mountains in the late 1950s to interview Castro during the fight that would eventually topple dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Castro was not entirely happy with the editorial, describing as slanderous and “gratuitous” the Times’ observation that Cuba’s “authoritarian government still harasses and detains dissidents.”
He took heart, however, from the newspaper’s characterization of Cuba as “one of the most educated societies in the hemisphere.”
“That is true acknowledgment,” Castro said.
The United States severed diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, not long after the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power. Washington went on to impose a comprehensive economic embargo in late 1962.
The two countries established interests sections in each other’s capitals in 1977.
Published in Latino Daily News
Source: http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/fidel-castro-makes-mention-of-ny-times-editorial-calling-for-end-of-cuban-e/31320#When:14:48:54Z
