From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 05:22:28 -0700 To: "CubaNews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [CubaNews] Castro attacks globalization in Malaysia Castro attacks globalization during Malaysian visit By STEVEN GUTKIN Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- In Algeria, he praised the country's revolutionary history. In Iran, he called the United States an ``imperialist king.'' And in Malaysia on Friday, Fidel Castro said globalization was destroying the sovereignty of nations. The Cuban leader _ taking his case against the United States to the Middle East and Asia _ received an extraordinarily warm welcome in Malaysia, where he made a plea for more ``rebellion'' in the world. Cannons blasted, an honor guard saluted and the king of Malaysia accompanied Castro on a tour of Kuala Lumpur, the country's largest city. ``We are the rebels of the West,'' Castro said during a speech on globalization. ``And Malaysia is the rebel of the East.'' Like Castro, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is an outspoken critic of globalization and the United States. On Friday, their foreign ministers signed an accord to increase bilateral cooperation in technology, science and trade. ``They talked a great deal about creating a more just and equitable world order,'' Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters. Castro praised Malaysia for standing up to Washington. He called globalization and modern capitalism a form of ``plunder'' that is ``widening the gap between rich and poor.'' ``Malaysia is a nation that has rebelled,'' Castro said. ``I have been talking to the leaders of this country. I have been telling them that we are very grateful for what they have done, because in Latin America we are in very great need of this spirit of rebellion.'' Castro criticized the U.S.-led drive toward freer trade, most recently at a Western hemisphere summit in Canada that excluded communist Cuba. Asked his thoughts on a U.S.-sponsored plan to remove trade barriers within North America and South America, Castro replied: ``It would be like putting the chicken-eating fox in the cage with the chickens.'' The United States would ``annex'' Latin America and impose a culture of ``drugs, violence, sex and pornography,'' Castro said. Latin America must form its own pacts without the United States, he said. Cuba has been trying to bolster relations with old and new allies in the Arab world and Asia as part of its drive to form political and financial partnerships with developing nations following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba's one-time patron. His current tour follows a decade of travel limited mostly to the Western Hemisphere. Castro has also visited Iran and Algeria. Castro, 74, and Mahathir, 75, both among the world's longest-ruling leaders, share a deep suspicion of the United States. But Castro's communist Cuba is one of the region's poorest nations, while capitalist Malaysia is one of Southeast Asia's richest. And while the United States is Malaysia's largest trading partner, Cuba languishes under a four-decade U.S. trade embargo. Copyright � 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
