Cuba-EU Crisis deepens with Havana rallies
Thu June 12, 2003 05:46 PM ET
By Marc Frank
HAVANA (Reuters) - President Fidel Castro followed up harsh words against Spain and Italy by leading huge marches on Thursday with his brother Raul outside the two nations' Havana embassies to protest the European Union's hardening position toward Cuba.
On Wednesday night, Castro attacked Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, likening Aznar to Adolf Hitler and calling Berlusconi a "clown" and a "fascist."
Rome protested to Cuba on Thursday that Castro's comments on Berlusconi were unacceptable and offensive. The Spanish government said it would not be provoked into a war of words.
The deepening crisis in relations between Cuba and its main trading partner, the 15-member EU, was sparked when the EU took political measures against the communist-led island after a massive crackdown on dissent by Cuba in April.
On Thursday, the 76-year-old Castro, dressed in his traditional military garb and waving a small Cuban flag, led the marchers past the Spanish Embassy in the old colonial district of Havana.
His younger brother Raul Castro, defense minister and second in the Cuban hierarchy, led the march at Italy's diplomatic mission in the upscale district of Miramar.
The Cuban government more usually reserves its ire for its longtime ideological foe the United States.
But relations with the EU, Cuba's largest investor and source of tourists, soured after Cuba imprisoned 75 dissidents for an average of 19 years in April, charging they were working with the United States to undermine the Castro government, and executed three ferry hijackers who had tried to make it to the United States.
Castro, in a four-hour television address on Wednesday night, blamed Spain and Italy for the EU's decision last week to end high-level visits to the island, reduce cultural exchanges and invite Castro opponents to receptions at its Havana embassies.
Castro called Aznar "a little Fuehrer with a mustache and Nazi-fascist ideology." He said Aznar wanted to lead the EU into an alliance with the United States against Cuba as a key player in U.S. "fascist" plans to dominate the world.
Castro also accused Italy, which has suspended cooperation programs with Cuba, of joining the plan and dubbed Berlusconi a "clown" a "fascist" and a "burlesconi" -- a Spanish-language pun on the Italian's name suggesting a fool.
ITALY SUMMONS CUBAN AMBASSADOR
In Rome, the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement it summoned the Cuban ambassador to complain about Castro's comments and the march in front of the Italian Embassy.
The secretary-general at the Italian Foreign Ministry, Giuseppe Baldocci, expressed his "deep indignation" over Castro's "offensive statements," the ministry said.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in a television interview he would raise the issue with other EU foreign ministers next week and did not rule out the possibility of recalling Italy's ambassador to Cuba.
In Madrid, the Foreign Ministry quoted Foreign Minister Ana Palacio as saying Spain would not be provoked into a war of words with Castro. It noted the move to take steps against Cuba was taken unanimously by EU members after Cuba's crackdown on dissidents.
Local authorities estimated more than 1 million people took part in Thursday's marches. The Cuban government gave most workers in Havana and surrounding Havana province the day off with pay and provided transportation for them and students to the events. (Additional reporting by Isabel Garcia-Zarza in Havana and Crispian Balmer in Rome)