Castro Urges Leaders to Forge Own Paths
Fri Oct 31, 4:13 PM ET
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA - Cuban leader Fidel Castro (news - web sites) called on leaders of social movements from across the Americas to find their own methods for change rather than copying existing political models — including communist Cuba's.
AP Photo
Castro told leaders of groups representing Indians, workers and others late Thursday night that they should "seek their own way" as they press for change in their countries around the Western Hemisphere.
Castro was expected to speak again Friday evening at the closing of the General Assembly of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences, which represents important academic researchers from around the region.
The leaders of social movements were invited to speak to the assembly on Thursday.
"One should not be dogmatic; that is one of the secrets of revolution," said Castro, who led the Cuban revolution that brought him to power in 1959.
"Every one of the movements will have different things. There will be things that are similar but not exactly the same," he said.
Earlier Thursday evening, Bolivian opposition leader Evo Morales told the gathering that if Latin American opponents of Washington's free trade policies join forces, they could deal the United States a political blow as serious as its loss in the Vietnam War.
"Urgent action is important," Morales said, calling on the leaders of social movements to join in regional unity and "create people power."
Morales, a former presidential candidate and now a congressman, is considered a top leader of regional opposition to free-trade policies that have expanded across Latin America in recent years.
The leader of Bolivia's Indian coca farmers, Morales was at the forefront of protests that toppled President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in mid-October after the president promoted a plan to export Bolivia's natural gas.