Castro attacks 'deranged' Bush and the EU
Fidel Castro called President George Bush “deranged” and belittled recent improvements in Cuba-EU relations in his first public remarks since Washington dubbed the Caribbean isle an “outpost of tyranny".
In a televised address, Castro maintained his trademark go-it-alone attitude, saying his communist-run island is a paradise that is doing fine without the help of the US or Europe.
Cuba “doesn’t need the United States, it doesn’t need Europe,” he said. “What a wonderful thing to be able to say, that (Cuba) doesn’t need any assistance – it’s learned to live without it.”
Speaking at an international conference in Havana last night, Castro said: “This country is heaven, in the spiritual sense of the word,” he said. “And I say, we prefer to die in heaven than survive in hell.”
Wearing his trade mark olive green military uniform, Castro linked Bush’s government to corruption and torture.
He said he closely watched the US leader’s inauguration speech and saw “the face of a deranged person.”
“If only it were just the face,” he said, to roars of applause.
The Cuban leader also warned against a potential invasion by the United States, a theme often repeated in public addresses. Washington has said, also repeatedly, that there are no plans to attack the Caribbean island.
“If they make the mistake of attacking this country, well Mr. Bush, or whoever will be there, I recommend to you it would be better if you use 50 nuclear bombs to exterminate all of us,” he said.
Castro, 78, stood for much of the five-hour speech. After he broke his right arm and shattered his left kneecap in an accidental fall in October, he was in a wheelchair before he started walking again in December.
He expressed little enthusiasm for renewed diplomatic ties between Cuba and the European Union, indicating displeasure that a decision to lift sanctions on Cuba was temporary.
European Union foreign ministers announced this week they would lift a ban on high-level governmental visits and stop inviting Cuban dissidents to embassy gatherings in Havana. The 25-nation bloc had imposed the sanctions after Castro’s government cracked down on opponents in March 2003.
The EU’s new policy, which demands the release of all imprisoned dissidents, is up for review in July.
“They are treating us as if we were condemned to a death sentence,” using these months to “observe how I behave,” Castro said.
