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Cuba slams US as Non-Aligned diplomats work to counter US heft
By Michael Langan
AFP
HAVANA
Petroleumworld.com 09 14 06
Cuba let loose a blistering indictment of US foreign policy Wednesday as top diplomats from more than 100 developing countries at the Non-Aligned Summit hammered out policy stands to counter US might.
"They would impose a genuine worldwide dictatorship through war and economic power," charged Carlos Lage, vice president of communist Cuba's Council of State, in a heated speech to delegates that lashed out at US "hegemonic power."
"The end of the Cold War was not the beginning of the peace that many dreamed of," he said. "The real story has been growing domination by one nation that unscrupulously applies economic and political pressure, and believes it has the right to invade any country to achieve its objectives, and which is leading the world we share to its own destruction."
Lage slammed the United States as a "morally decadent empire."
"The ideas of limited sovereignty, humanitarian intervention, preventive war and regime change are fascist; they are not modern theories to defend freedoms and fight terrorism," he argued.
"At a time of wars and threats of more wars, the world is more and more unjust and unequal," added Lage, in a pointed critique of rich countries' waste and vanity he said contrasted painfully with the needs of the poor.
"Poverty in this world is a consequence of centuries of colonialism and neocolonialism," Lage said.
Two days after the United States marked the fifth anniversary of the September 11 terror strikes, Lage appeared to lay some blame at Washington's feet.
He argued that "terrorism is a consequence of injustice, lack of education and culture, and of poverty ... and hegemonic power. It is not the consequence of radical ideologies that should be swept away by bombs and missiles."
Lage added that "as the Non-Aligned Movement gets stronger Fidel is recovering."
Late Tuesday Raul Castro, who is temporarily replacing his convalescing brother Fidel as Cuba's president, made his first appearance at the summit in Havana and insisted in an interview that his sibling was still giving orders.
Raul Castro was shown on Cuban television meeting with Laotian President Choummaly Sayasone.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Telesur, a regional television channel, Raul Castro said his 80-year-old brother was still working hard.
"Don't think that he is laying down in a bed," said Raul Castro, 75. "He is on the telephone giving orders."
Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his brother on July 31 while recovering from intestinal surgery, giving up the reins for the first time since taking the helm in 1959.
The Non-Aligned Movement's six-day summit started Monday. It was unclear if Fidel Castro would appear at the summit in public.
The meeting brings together leaders from about 50 developing nations, and high-level representatives from dozens more. NAM members Venezuela and Cuba, as well as North Korea, Iran and Syria, are among the staunch foes of the United States in the NAM, which also groups several US allies such as the Philippines and Jordan.
Heads of state and government will meet on Friday and Saturday after two days of talks at the ministerial level.
Tuesday NAM delegates called for unconditional negotiations to resolve the tense standoff over Iran's nuclear program. They also lashed out at Israel, but dropped a proposed demand it be punished for "war crimes."
Officials thrashed out separate resolutions on Iran and the Palestinian territories, while also fine-tuning a draft final document the heads of state and government are to adopt on Saturday.
"We wish to be taken seriously by the international community," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who opened Wednesday's work. "We have to put words into action."
AFP 13 1653 GMT 09 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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