Granma International On line Havana, Cuba. Year 8 Friday, April 11, 2003.
Castro's reply to statement by U.S. Ambassador in the Dominican Republic
President Fidel Castro has responded with irony to the ridiculous statement made by Hans Hertell, the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic on Thursday, when he declared that the war in Iraq will send out a very positive message and is a very good example for Cuba.
During yesterday's (April 10) televised Roundtable discussion, presenter Randy Alonso referred to the diplomat's offensive statement in which, according to a dispatch by AFP, he stated that the war his country is leading against Iraq is the beginning of a liberation crusade embracing all the countries of the world, including Cuba.
"Mr. Hans Hertell, U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Congratulations for your statement today regarding your government's liberation crusade that includes Cuba and thank you very much, Fidel Castro. June 10, 2003. 4:57p.m." read the text from Fidel.
Yesterday's discussion went into great detail on the statements of Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque during his Wednesday press conference regarding the rising scale of aggression towards Cuba organized and financed by the U.S. government and the links of the recently arraigned mercenaries with the U.S. Interests Section on the island.
The program included new interviews in which Cuban security agents related aspects of their work. Dr. Manuel Hevia offered an overall view of the so-called Cuba Project, a Bush administration conspiracy with a humanitarian facade, aimed at destabilizing the country and bringing about a return to capitalism.
Footage of the agents' return to their neighborhoods and the rapturous welcome they received for the work they had undertaken to expose counterrevolutionaries was also shown.