Fidel - N.Y. Times call to end Cuba embargo reflects U.S. interests

Fidel: N.Y. Times call to end Cuba embargo reflects U.S. interests
Published October 14, 2014 EFE

Last weekend's editorial in The New York Times calling for an end to
Washington's economic embargo against Cuba was spurred by a quest for
"the greatest benefit" to U.S. policy in difficult times, Fidel Castro
said in an article published Tuesday.

The 88-year-old Cuban leader cited long excerpts of the Times editorial
in his piece, disseminated by official media.

"Scanning a map of the world must give President Obama a sinking feeling
as he contemplates the dismal state of troubled bilateral relationships
his administration has sought to turn around. He would be smart to take
a hard look at Cuba, where a major policy shift could yield a
significant foreign policy success," the U.S. daily's Editorial Board wrote.

"For the first time in more than 50 years, shifting politics in the
United States and changing policies in Cuba make it politically feasible
to re-establish formal diplomatic relations and dismantle the senseless
embargo," the Times said.

The editorial, according to Castro, pursues "the greatest benefit for
U.S. policy in the difficult situation, when political, economic,
financial and trade problems are growing."

Fidel, who handed over power to younger brother Raul Castro in 2006
after falling gravely ill, recalled Times reporter Herbert Matthews, who
traveled to Cuba's Sierra Maestra Mountains in the late 1950s to
interview Castro during the fight that would eventually topple dictator
Fulgencio Batista.

Castro was not entirely happy with the editorial, describing as
slanderous and "gratuitous" the Times' observation that Cuba's
"authoritarian government still harasses and detains dissidents."

He took heart, however, from the newspaper's characterization of Cuba as
"one of the most educated societies in the hemisphere."

"That is true acknowledgment," Castro said.

The United States severed diplomatic ties with Cuba in 1961, not long
after the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power. Washington went
on to impose a comprehensive economic embargo in late 1962.

The two countries established interests sections in each other's
capitals in 1977.

EFE

Source: Fidel: N.Y. Times call to end Cuba embargo reflects U.S.
interests | Fox News Latino -
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/10/14/fidel-ny-times-call-to-end-cuba-embargo-reflects-us-interests/