Castro condemns, embraces capitalism

A recently released U.N. study on worldwide childhood poverty
prompted the Cuban government of Fidel Castro to issue a call to
"internationalize the struggle" against capitalism's "unjust
dictatorship of wealth," according to official Cuban sources.

While condemning capitalism as a system "whose goal is to accumulate
wealth at any cost," and which is "at the center of ... social
injustice," the Cuban government continues to welcome an increasing
amount of capitalist investment to the island.

Cuba's most recent condemnation of capitalism, ironically delivered
alongside the latest information on foreign -- including U.S. --
investment in the communist state, was carried by Radio Habana Cuba, the
official broadcasting service of the Cuban government.

In language reminiscent of the Cold War, the Cuban government
referred to the U.N. study on childhood poverty, stating that it is
"necessary to ... understand the causes of the situation in order to
internationalize the struggle humanity is waging against social
injustice ... throughout the world."

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The U.N. study, according to the Castro government, was "a stark
illustration of the unjust dictatorship of the wealth produced by human
labor."

Castro has called capitalism the "philosophy of plunder," and
predicted that after the destruction of capitalism, "war will cease."
Addressing the April G-77 summit held in Havana,

Castro declared that the capitalist nations of the West are "incapable of preserving the human race."

While critical of capitalism, Havana recently hosted a high-level British trade delegation, and Cuban governmental and business leaders are meeting this week with representatives from some 65 U.S. companies in a trade "summit."

The U.S.-Cuban business "summit" is being held first in Cancun, Mexico on June 7 and 8, and will continue in Havana on June 9 and 10. United Air Lines, Pepsi and Caterpillar are among the attendees.

U.S. business leaders are skirting the United States embargo on direct contact with Cuba through the efforts of an Italian corporation and the Cuban government. While the conference is ostensibly organized by the Italian firm, all expenses incurred while the U.S. executives are in Cuba will be paid by a joint Italian/Cuban fund.

U.S. government action halted last year's "summit" because it violated trade and embargo laws.

Many believe that mutually beneficial business arrangements will undermine the Castro government and lead to freedom for the island.

Castro, however, has patterned his "market reforms" after similar developments in China. As early as October 1996, the Chinese Communist Party firmly declared in a public statement that "market reform" does not involve an expansion of human or political rights, and the communist government has enforced this stand with an ongoing series of human rights abuses.

Both China and Cuba are expanding their influence in the Western Hemisphere, and both are committed to spreading the communist revolution.

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