Robaina Visits Nica with Letter from Fidel


 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


 ROBAINA BROUGHT A LETTER FROM FIDEL FOR ALEMAN
 Leonardo Coca Palacioas

 From El Nuevo Diario, June 13, 1997, Managua
 Translated by Toby Mailman

MANAGUA, June 13 -- Cuba's foreign minister Roberto Robaina gave
[Nicaraguan] President Arnoldo Aleman a letter written by Commander
Fidel Castro Ruz in which the latter explains his arguments for
soliciting the support of Latin American governments against the 10
amendments to the Helms-Burton Law which broadens the commercial
blockade of the island.

Robaina arrived at Managua's international airport at 10:00 A.M.
Thursday [June 12] and went to the headquarters of the Foreign
Ministry where he met with Foreign Minister Emilio Alvarez Montalvan.

"With Foreign Minister Alvarez Montalvan we talked about bilateral
cooperation agreements which could exist between the two countries,
especially in the area of medicine," said the Cuban diplomat.

Upon leaving the presidential offices, Robaina went to the conference
room and to the platform where, moments before, due to "superior
orders," the seats and the table on which had rested various
microphones had been removed.

Robaina had no other choice but to make his statements to the press
standing for over half a hour, and only Press Secretary Juan Navarro
accompanied him during the press conference.

While the journalists questioned the Cuban diplomat, Presidential
Press Secretary Carlos Briceno was signaling Navarro to suspend the
conference.  "This is not an official visit," Briceno was heard to
say.

The letter sent by Fidel to President Arnoldo Aleman also, according
to Robaina, denounced the attempt by the United States State
Department to prevent Cuba from being the site of the next
Iberoamerican Summit, which is planned to take place in Havana in
1999.

"It's not a matter of a secret letter, but rather a denunciation of
the ten secret amendments to the Helms Burton Law," commented Robaina
at the beginning of the press conference.

Robaina did not comment on President Aleman Lacayo's reactions, and
added, "The letter is not secret and I can say that in essence it
contains the arguments of our denunciation because the amendments have
been made secretly and without transparency, there has begun a
movement to strengthen even more this unjust and extraterritorial
law." 

"This letter also denounces the interventionist and arrogant proposal
the United States has begun to promote against our country and against
the region because it occurred to someone in that powerful country
that Cuba does not have the conditions to be the site for the
Iberoamerican Summit which will take place in 1999, which had already
been decided by the presidents at the previous summit," said Foreign
Minister Robaina.

"The thing is," continued Robaina, "that whoever suggested this forgot
that they have nothing to do with the summit, because it is
Iberoamerican, and it is precisely without the United States."

With his visit to Nicaragua Robaina concluded a "diplomatic offensive"
which took him to El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa
Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

Other Cuban government officials have visited Uruguay, Argentina,
Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru and
Bolivia.

"It has been a positive [experience] for Cuba," said Robaina, who
added, "I did not come to Nicaragua to ask for any special
pronouncement, but rather I came because when [the government] is
called upon to make a pronouncement, they should know not only what
others are saying about us, but also our version as well."

In regard to the intimate relationship of President Aleman Lacayo with
the powerful businessman Mas Canosa, Robaina limited his comments to,
"We do not follow the intimate relationships of any president with
anyone, I believe that each person chooses his intimate
relationships."

Robaina responded very cautiously to Nicaraguan journalists' tricky
questions, and before ending his press conference, said, "Fidel's
continuing in power does not depend only on the will or the desire of
Fidel to be in power. If Fidel has been in power all this time it is
because that is what we Cubans want.  And he is one of the few people
in the world who has known how to personify the dignity of our country
before the arrogance of the United States." 

                               FIN

 
=================================================================
  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems 
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us          
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012             
  http://www.blythe.org                  e-mail: nyt@blythe.org 
=================================================================
 
nytcamer-06.15.97-11:18:41-24372