Castro in Tehran: The Imperialist King Will Fall

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CASTRO IN TEHRAN:  

"THE IMPERIALIST KING WILL FALL"

By Jon Hillson

After an intense round of May Day related activities in Cuba, President
Fidel Castro set out from Havana on a multi-nation tour of Asia and the
Middle East.

In a packed auditorium on May 9th at Tehran University, hundreds of students,
faculty, and administrators cheered the Cuban leader as more watching on
closed-circuit TV listened to him detail the economic crisis ravaging the 
Third World.

"You destroyed the strongest gendarme of the region not with guns, but with
your thoughts -- and the people of the region should thank you for that,"
Castro said.  "Today, there is a king in the world a thousand times stronger
than the shah you overthrew, and that is the imperialist king living next to
my homeland. However, this imperialist king will finally fall, just as your
king was overthrown."

The crowd responded with shouts of "Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!"

Castro earlier received an honorary doctorate of political science from the
University of Tarbiat Modarres (Teachers' Training University) for his
"continued political, cultural, and scientific efforts in the path of
victory of the Cuban revolution [and] establishment of a new popular
government."

Iran is currently head of the Group of 77, an association of Third World
nations of which Cuba is also a member.

In a statement issued May 10th, the Iranian and Cuban governments reaffirmed
their support for the Palestinian "struggle to achieve their complete
rights, beginning with the right of self-determination and the right to the
return of all refugees," while condemning "the genocide carried out by the
Zionist regime."

Washington has maintained sanctions against Iran for more than two decades,
and an economic blockade against Cuba for more than 40 years. The United
States slanders Havana and Tehran as promoters of "terrorism."

In a joint declaration, the two governments condemned "the phenomenon of
terrorism in all its forms, in particular State [sponsored] terrorism" -- a
diplomatic reference to the United States -- and defended "sovereignty and
non-intervention in the internal affairs" of countries.

Iranian president Mohammad Khatami stated that the encounter with Castro
"was not about exploring new issues, but about expressing the two countries'
strengthened ties." Khatami visited Cuba last year.

"Our nation has great affection for the people of Cuba, and Mr. Castros's
presence here today comes after 22 years of waiting," he said in welcoming
the Cuban leader. The wait dates back to the 1979 Iranian revolution that
overthrew the dictatorship of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who was installed as 
Shah with the help of a CIA-engineered coup in 1953.

Before leaving the country, Castro laid a wreath at the tomb of Ayatollah
Ruhollah Kohmeini, the charismatic leader of the victorious 1979 uprising.

Havana and Tehran also signed protocols for continuing cooperation in
medical training and pharmaceuticals.

"I had friends in Iran," Castro said upon departing for Malayasia, "but with
this visit I have found new friends. This was a memorable visit for me.... I
leave with optimism about future ties."

Later, in Malaysia, the Cuban president called for Third World unity to
battle the effects of imperialist globalization. "This latest phase of
predatory profiteering is not new," he told an audience of 400 academics,
officials and diplomats in Kuaala Lumpur. "It is something ancient."

Castro explained that the "discovery" of the Americas in 1492 initiated "the
globalization of colonization, of the conquest of less-developed peoples by
the more developed," evolving to its present form of world crisis for the
majority of humanity. Responsibility for this situation rests with the
United States, and its inherently "aggressive and expansionist character,
particularly in our hemisphere," Castro told his Malaysian hosts.

 
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