Castro Calls Bush "Deranged"

Associated Press

HAVANA (AP)--Cuban leader Fidel Castro said Tuesday that
President George W. Bush appears "deranged," and that
Cubans would much rather live in the Caribbean island's
"heaven" than try and survive in Bush's corrupt, capitalist
"hell."

Castro also expressed little enthusiasm for renewed
diplomatic ties between Cuba and the European Union,
indicating displeasure that a decision to lift sanctions on
Cuba was temporary.

In comments aired live on state-run television, Castro told
thousands of teachers attending an international pedagogy
conference in Havana that he closely watched Bush's
inauguration speech Jan. 20 and saw "the face of a
deranged person.""If only it were just the face," he said, to roars of
applause by educators in the audience hailing from 52
countries around the world.

Castro, wearing his olive green military uniform,
criticized Bush's government, linking it to corruption and
torture. He then defended Cuba 's socialist system, which
Bush's administration has openly said should be replaced
with a democratic, free-market one.

"This country is heaven, in the spiritual sense of the
word," he said. "And I say (to Bush), we prefer to die in
heaven than survive in hell."

Castro, 78, stood up for much of his five-hour speech.
After he broke his right arm and shattered his left kneecap
in an accidental fall in October, the Cuban leader was in a
wheelchair before he started standing up and walking again
in December.

E.U. foreign ministers announced this week they would lift
a ban on high-level governmental visits and stop inviting
Cuban dissidents to embassy gatherings in Havana. The
25-nation bloc had imposed the sanctions after Castro's
government cracked down on government opponents in March
2003.

The E.U.'s new policy, which demands the release of all
imprisoned dissidents, is up for review in July.

"They are treating us ... as if we were condemned to a
death sentence," using these months to "observe how I
behave," Castro said.

Cuba "doesn't need the United States, it doesn't need
Europe," he added. "What a wonderful thing to be able to
say, that (Cuba ) doesn't need any assistance — it's
learned to live without it."

Conversely, Castro flowered praise on Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez, defending the character and ambitions of his
close friend and ally. Castro said he laughs every day when
he hears "the idiocies" said about Chavez.

The Cuban leader also underlined Cuba's successes in
education, where the government has focused many of its
resources since the 1959 revolution thrust Castro into
power.

"Cuba is doing more for education than UNESCO," he said,
referring to the Paris-based United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization.