|
AN INTERVIEW WITH
CASTRO (selected clips from Comandante)
 ON
BEING A DICTATOR
FIDEL CASTRO: What is a dictator? Does anyone really
know? And is it bad to be a dictator? Because I have
seen the U.S. government being friendly with the biggest
dictators. Karl Marx spoke of dictatorship of the
proletariat. Not of personal dictatorship.
I have always tried to solve fundamental problems
through persuasion and not moral authority. You will
not find a picture from the last 43 years of the police
oppressing the people.
I do admit that I am a dictator. A dictator to myself.
I am a slave to the people, that is what I am.
ON CUBA'S EDUCATION
POLICIES
FIDEL CASTRO: We found a country that had 30%
illiteracy, 60% functional illiteracy. And I don't
think it's an exaggeration if I say that we had 10%
well educated people.
At that time of the victory of the revolution there
were somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 university
graduates. Today there are over 700,000. I'd say it's
one of the greatest advantages of the revolution,
that even our prostitutes are university graduates.
 ON
KENNEDY'S ASSASSINATION
OLIVER STONE: Were you shocked or not when
you found out the details - that Kennedy had an open
car and the windows were open all the whole parade
route...he was driving very slow. Were you surprised
by that?
FIDEL CASTRO: I always had doubts because
when you shoot using a telescopic site, it's difficult
to aim a second time at such a distance because when
you shoot the gun moves and you have to re-aim you
can't shoot multiple times.
The theory of the lone gunman with one shot is all
he could have pulled off. The possibility for conspiracy
is great. The strange thing is that the assumed assassin
is killed, it's difficult to explain that.
ON CUBA'S INVOLVEMENT
WITH VIETNAM
OLIVER STONE: In Vietnam there were always
stories of Cuban advisors...
FIDEL CASTRO: There were Cubans who
were studying Vietnamese to collect experience. I
don't think there were ever more than 20. I can assure
you but I am certain that it was a very small group.
Later, it's been said that we had some security advisors
there and that they had participated in the torture
of prisoners. I can tell you that is a total lie.
OLIVER STONE: I read the POW accounts
in Hanoi, about two dozen men who claimed there was
a Cuban...who at first watched but then participated
in the beatings and was very brutal.
FIDEL CASTRO: If that were true, you can be sure that
we would have tried these people in court. Believe
us or not, I can assure you that in 43 years of revolution
we have never practised torture. That was the practice
of Batista and we would never resort to those methods.
The Vietnamese did not want any foreigners. They did
not ask the Chinese for assistance nor the Russians.
OLIVER STONE: Are you sure?
FIDEL CASTRO: Yes, they were very zealous.
Very nationalistic. The Vietnamese were not criminals.
They did not practise execution of prisoners.
OLIVER STONE: There was quite a bit
of brutality.
FIDEL CASTRO: You would know better
than me.
A HUMEROUS MOMENT
FIDEL CASTRO: My mind is used to the idea that I'm
not going to live forever. There is a limited amount
of time.
OLIVER STONE: They tell me Viagara will
help.
FIDEL CASTRO: Will it help me to think? Doctors say
that it accelerates blood flow.
OLIVER STONE: I could be a CIA agent.
 FIDEL
CASTRO: That's right. The headlines will read: Oliver
Stone smuggles Viagara to Castro.
Many Americans will believe you helped kill the enemy
with a heart attack. You'll get the decorations you
didn't get in Vietnam. (note:
Oliver Stone was decorated for his time in Vietnam)
ON BEING A FATHER
FIDEL CASTRO: Politically speaking as a revolutionary
I refuse to mix my family with politics. In truth
the idea of first ladies seems to be ridiculous. As
far as the time I have devoted to my children ...
it has not been much.
If you measure my being a good father by my time spent
with them then perhaps I have not been a good father.
But, yes, I am capable of feeling and I do feel for
them even though I do not spend everyday with them.
When I am with them I try to make the most of the
time we have together.
 ON
THE END
OLIVER STONE: Which version of your life would you
like to see for the closing chapter? Version 1: You're
a grandfather, many children, you're a benevolent
patriarch, well loved by the people, you die in bed
- it's a great life. Or the new world order happens,
they throw Fidel in chains with billions of people
watching you give the most eloquent defence of human
rights and dignity ever heard.
What would you do, version 1 or version 2?
FIDEL CASTRO: Neither of the two. I always try to
be rational in my thinking. I have an idea how relative
glory can by. Look (José Marti) said in a phrase
"All the glory of the world fits in a kernel
of corn."
I have never thought about glory, I have never thought
about how I want to be remembered. History is relative.
The human species could become extinct, the sun could
die out. So what is fame and celebrity worth? One
day none of that will exist.
|
