Castro Rejects Reforms, Sees Peace in Angola

In a speech that hurled surprising barbs at the Soviet Union, Fidel Castro said Tuesday that the end of the civil war in Angola is in sight.

The Cuban leader also rejected any suggestion that he mimic Soviet Communist chief’s Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s perestroika (restructuring) program.

“We are now on the threshold of a political solution (in Angola),” Castro told a crowd of 100,000 celebrating the 35th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution here.

“The foundation already exists,” he said, referring to a tentative agreement by Angola, South Africa and Cuba with U.S. mediation, which was reached in New York on July 13.

“There are real possibilities for a fair, honorable and dignified solution for all parties, a solution that will include the safety of Angola and the independence of Namibia.

Castro’s optimistic remarks, which included a veiled criticism of the Soviet Union for creating the mess that led to the most perilous battle of the Angolan civil war constituted the clearest endorsement of the tentative accord yet delivered by a leader of any of the three involved countries.

The Cuban leader also shot repeated barbs at the Soviets for suggestions that Cuba imitate Gorbachev’s policies of perestroika, which borrow from capitalistic experience to solve economic problems.

Again and again in his 3-hour speech that began in broiling late-evening sunshine and ended under a nearly full moon, Castro emphasized that the Soviet policies are inappropriate for Cuba.

‘90 Miles From Florida’

“We are not in the middle of the Black Sea but here in the Caribbean Sea,” said Castro to the applauding crowd of 100,000 in this southeast Cuban seaport. “We are not 90 miles from Odessa, but 90 miles from (Florida).

“It is not a question of wanting to be more pure or more virtuous . . . it is simply because we are 90 miles away from the most powerful imperialist country . . . ,” he told the densely packed crowd in a flood-lit plaza.

“I can only despise those to let themselves be carried away by whimsy . . . . . . They are weak of mind, weak of willpower,” he said. “We cannot fool around with things that are capitalist. We believe very deeply in socialism.”

Although bridling over suggestions that Cuba should imitate the Soviet Union, Castro said that he respected the “formulas of different countries to overcome their difficulties.”

‘Our Problems Are Different’

But, explaining that Cuba made its own revolution without copying the Soviet model, he added, “Our problems are different precisely because we did not copy.”

“Cuba will never adopt capitalism,” Castro declared to sustained applause.

The Cuban leader’s speech commemorated the 35th anniversary of his first and least successful revolutionary battle, when he led 123 men and 2 women in an attack on the Moncado barracks here. Sixty-nine of the attackers were killed, most of them executed after the failed assault. Castro was tried and served 21 month in prison on the Isle of Pines.

Castro, 61, reviewed the recent history of Cuban involvement in Angola and gave an optimistic assessment of the prospects for peace, while taking another thinly veiled dig at the Soviets.

Without explicitly decrying Soviet decisions that sent Angola troops far from their lines of support and from Cuban help to almost disastrously confront a massive South African force at a southern Angola town last year, Castro nevertheless pointed a finger of blame.

Hurls Barb at Soviets

“History will tell what mistakes were made and why they were committed,” he said. “I’m just going to say that Cuba had no responsibility for those mistakes.”

The result, he said, was that Cuba had to massively reinforce its forces to rush to the aid of the Angolans who, he said, “would have been annihilated.” Western experts estimate that Cuba now has as many as 50,000 troops in the country.

Castro said the urgent reinforcement shifted the balance of power in southern Angola and on the Namibian border and “changed the war in our favor.”

“But our aim was not to achieve a military victory that would humiliate and destroy the enemy,” Castro claimed. “We were seeking a fair and peaceful solution to the conflict.”

A Western specialist in Havana, commenting before the Cuban leader’s speech, said it appeared that Castro had decided in the face of a standoff with the South Africans and U.S.-supported rebel forces led by Jonas Savimbi in Angola to declare a victory and go to the negotiating table.

No Time Frame

“If agreements are signed and adhered to, Cuba and Angola will proceed to a total withdrawal of Cuban . . . forces,” Castro said. However, he did not suggest a time frame for the withdrawal, one of the sticking points of the negotiations. South Africa wants Cuban forces out of Angola in one year, while Cuba and Angola are holding out for a four-year withdrawal schedule.

Castro said that the “minimum period” would be the time necessary for Angolan forces to take over “all of the positions we are now defending.”