FIDEL CASTRO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040006-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: August 1, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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ARTICLE APPYAREL
Oa PAGE_d 17
PLAYBOY
August 1985
STAT
PLAYBOY INTERVIEW: F I DE L CASTRO
a candid conversation about reagan, revolution, dictators, drugs, debt and
personal life with tuba's communist leader-and washington's nemesis
PLAYBOY. But isn't it true that Duarte was
elected president by the people of El Sal-
vador in an open and free election?
CASTRO: No! [Pounds table] Everyone
knows under what conditions the elections
took place: amid the most ferocious repres-
sion, terror and war; everyone knows that
the electoral campaign was planned by the
United States, that the political parties
were manipulated by the United States
and that the electoral campaigns were
funded by the CIA. The present govern-
ment and all other allegedly legal bodies
are the result of all that manipulation and
all those maneuvers by the United States.
Augusto Pinochet of Chile could also say
that his government was legal after the fas-
cist constitution was imposed upon the
people in an alleged plebiscite in which no
one but he and his constitution took part.
Actually, one can't help wondering why
the United States considers the El Salva-
dor elections to be legal and, in turn, con-
siders the Nicaragua elections illegal. In
spite of the fact that the elections in Nica-
ragua were sabotaged by the United
States, the people turned out to vote with
enthusiasm, granting the Sandinistas and
the left more than 70 percent of the vote.
This was witnessed by more than 1000
people from all over the world: represen-
tatives of governments, political organi-
zations and parties and journalists from
everywhere.
PLAYBOY: As you say, it can be argued both
ways. The question remains, Isn't it true
that Cuba has worked, and is actively
working, to overthrow the government of
President Duarte? If so, what right does
Cuba have to intervene in the internal
affairs of another country?
CASTRO: I'm not concerned in the least
about charges against Cuba in relation to
our solidarity with El Salvador. We have
stated that he United States knams per-
fectly well that sending weapons to the
Salvadoran revolutionaries is very diffi-
cult, in practice almost impossible; but I
have no interest whatever in clarifying
anything on this subject, because I consi-
der that morally, it is absolutely fair to
help the Salvadoran revolutionaries. They
are fighting for their country; it's not a war
from abroad, like the dirty war the CIA
carries out in Nicaragua; it's a war born
inside the country that has been going on
for many years.
What I can assure you is that, in fact,
the main supplier of the Salvadoran revo-
lutionaries is the Pentagon, through the
weapons given to the Salvadoran army.
That also happened in Vietnam; the
revolutionaries there seized huge amounts
of weapons delivered by the United States
to the puppet army. I really don't know
who could feel morally entitled to criticize
Cuba lirr allegedly supplying weapons to
the Salvadorans when the United States
admits to supplying weapons to the
So-noza mercenaries to overthrow the gov-
ernment of Nicaragua.
PLAYBOY: What evidence do you have that
the CiA manipulated the presidential elec-
tions in El Salvador? Didn't they have the
same kind of scrutiny as Nicaragua's elec-
tions, which you claim were fair?
CASTRO: The information was published in
the United States-and the CIA admitted
it publicly. It gave money not only to the
Christian Democrats but also to all the
other parties and covered the expenses of
the election campaign. Proof is not neces-
sary in the face of a confession.
PLAYBOY: You've mentioned Grenada. How
do you explain the failure of the socialist
revolution in that country?
CASTRO: The invasion of Grenada by the
United States was, in my view, one of the
most inglorious and infamous deeds that a
powerful country like the United States
could ever commit against a small coun-
try. What was occurring there had nothing
to do with the failure of socialism. What
had been taking place in Grenada was a
process of social change, not a socialist
revolution. I believe that what opened the
doors for invading that country, what gave
the United States a pretext on a silver plat-
ter, were the activities of an ambitious and
extremist sectarian group. I believe that
the main responsibility for the domestic
situation created there lies with Bernard
Coard, an alleged theoretician of the revo-
lution, who was really advancing his own
ambitions to conspire against the popular
leader, Maurice Bishop.
PLAYBOY: Do you believe that the United
States would have intervened in Grenada
had Bishop still been in power?
CASTRO: No. If Bishop had been alive and
leading the people, it would have been
very difficult for the United States to
orchestrate the political aspects of its
intervention and to bring together that
group of Caribbean stooges in a so-called
policing coalition that didn't include a sin-
gle policeman from the Caribbean-it was
exclusively U.S. soldiers.
PLAYBOY: You say the U.S. invaded on a
pretext. But President Reagan argued that
the United States had no choice but to
intervene in Grenada, because Cuba was
building an airport and stockpiling weap-
ons with which to export revolution-
and, of course, because the American
medical students studying in Grenada
were in mortal danger. Why didn't the
U.S. have a right to protect its citizens and
prevent the spread of revolution?
CASTRO: The U.S. invasion was accom-
panied by unscrupulous lies, because for
one thing, U.S. students on the island
never ran any risk. The first thing the coup
group did was to give assurances of safety
to everyone, particularly the medical stu-
dents. The safest people in Grenada were
the U.S. students. As to the airport, Wash-
ington claimed a thousand times that was
a military airport, but not a single brick
that went into that airport was military. It
was built with the participation of the Euro-
pean Economic Council and England,
Canada and other United States allies.
PLAYBOY: What explains the fact that the
Grenadian people cheered the United
States intervention and rallied behind its
goals and objectives?
CASTRO: I doubt very much that that sup-
port is as deep and widespread as you sug-
gest. Bishop was a man greatly loved by
the people. He was the leader of the Gre-
nadian people. He had the real, sincere
and enthusiastic support of the people.
The group involved in the coup plotted
against Bishop, arrested him, fired on the
people when they revolted and, further-
more, assassinated Bishop and other lead-
ers. Naturally, this caused great outrage and
confusion among the masses. The United
States intervened, stating its sole pur-
pose as the noble aim of liberating the
country from those people and that it would
Continued
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punish Bishop's murderers and those who
had fired on the people. It was logical for a
large number of people in that country,
even most of the population, to be suscep-
tible to accepting invasion as desirable.
PLAYBOY: What about public support in the
U.S.? The overwhelming majority of the
American people rallied behind President
Reagan's decision.
CASTRO: Public opinion in the United
States was manipulated by a pack of lies
told over and over again. Melodramatic
elements were brought into play: the stu-
dents kissing U.S. soil on their arrival; the
bitterness and frustration resulting from
the Vietnam adventure and its humiliating
defeat; the problem of the Marines killed
in Lebanon and the memory of the Iran
hostages; all these elements, latent in the
spirit of the U.S. people, were manipu-
lated in a cold, calculated manner. People
can be manipulated; they can even
applaud crimes. When the Nazis annexed
Austria, the German people applauded;
when they occupied Warsaw, the vast
majority of Germans applauded. Some
Americans applauded at the start of the
invasion of Vietnam; later we saw the con-
sequences. I believe future generations of
U.S. citizens will be ashamed of the way
their people were manipulated.
PLAYBOY: You compare the "shameful"
Grenada invasion to actions by Nazi Ger-
many: some would say that the actions of
Soviet troops in Afghanistan are a more
appropriate comparison. How, can the
bloodshed caused by the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan he anything but a shame and
an embarrassment to socialist countries?
CASTRO: Afghanistan is one of the most
backward countries in the world, where a
feudal regime had existed until April 1978.
It had an illiteracy rate of 90 percent and
an infant mortality rate of 235 for every
1000 live births-one of the highest in the
world. Two thousand families owned 70
percent of the land, and the population
consisted of around 1500 tribes. I believe
that Afghanistan was one of the places in
the world where a revolution was becom-
ing more and more indispensable. As soon
as that revolution took place-as it inevi-
tably had to--the CIA began its subver-
sive activities, exactly like the ones being
carried out in Nicaragua. The United
States has invested one billion dollars in
helping the counterrevolutionary gangs
since the beginning of that Revolution.
The Afghan Revolution led to a series of
tensions in the region. Cuba was involved
in trying to find solutions, including host-
ing the sixth summit meeting of the non-
aligned countries in Havana, in 1979.
There I met President Taraki of Afghani-
stan. I had also met the man who was to
overthrow him and cause him to be
murdered-Amin. He was a man who
came to resemble Po) Pot, the genocidal
leader of Cambodia. You can't imagine
what a pleasant man he was! You know,
I've had the rare privilege of meeting some
figures whom you would find courteous,
well educated, who have studied in Europe
or the United States, and later on you find
out that they've done horrible things. It's
as if at some moment, people go mad. It
seems that there are people whose brain
neurons aren't adapted to the complexities
of revolutionary political problems, so they
do crazy things that are really amazing.
In any case, everyone had a hand in
that situation until the events that took
place in Afghanistan in later 1979. The
Soviets were helping the Afghans-that is
true-because Taraki originally requested
their help. Amin also asked the Soviets for
help later, and a lot of Soviets were there,
assisting in a wide range of fields-
military, economic, technical, all kinds-
up until Soviet troops were sent into the
country on a massive scale.
PLAYBOY: That is, when they invaded. You
say that was based on what provocation?
CASTRO: Essentially, counterrevolutionary
actions fostered from abroad. Revolutions
always entail more than a few complica-
tions and headaches. No revolution has
ever avoided that; not the French Revolu-
tion of 1789. the Russian Revolution of
1917, the Chinese Revolution, the Viet-
namese Revolution, the Cuban Revolution
or the Nicaraguan Revolution. There are
no exceptions, and all the problems arise
from the invariable attempts made from
abroad to overthrow the revolution. This
is also what happened with the revolution
in Afghanistan.
PLAYBOY: You blame the invasion on the
CIA, then?
CASTRO: The CIA was doing, and contin-
ues to do, everything in its power to create
problems for the government of Afghani-
stan and for the Soviets. It's pouring
enormous numbers of weapons and
amounts of money into Afghanistan, using
the emigres, playing on the political back-
wardness of a part of the Afghan people,
using religion-it's making use of every
tool it can to create difficulties for the
Afghan revolutionaries and for the Soviets.
I don't think the CIA is particularly inter-
ested in promoting peace in the country.
PLAYBOY: Yet there was a bloody invasion.
How can you defend the Soviet action, and
at the same time preach the philosophy of
revolution and liberation?
CASTRO: I sincerely believe that the
Afghan Revolution was just and neces-
sary, and we could support nothing that
would jeopardize it. We sympathize with
and support the Afghan Revolution; I say
this frankly. But I think Afghanistan could
be a nonaligned country-but one in
which the revolutionary regime was main-
tained. If a solution is sought that is based
on the idea that Afghanistan should go
back to the old regime and sacrifice the
Revolution, then, unfortunately, I don't
think there will be peace there for a long
time. I think it's in the interest of all the
neighboring countries, including the
Soviet union, to find a solution. And I
believe that the observance of the principle
of respect for Afghanistan's sovereignty
and for its right to make social changes,
build the political system it deems best
and correct and have a nonaligned
government-as a 'I` World country-
should serve as the basis of a solution for
the problems there.
CERPTE
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