Cuba to Hew to Communism, but Citizens Are Free to Leave

Cuban President Fidel Castro was quoted Saturday as saying that history would prove him right in starting and maintaining an orthodox communist system in Cuba in defiance of the United States.

Separately, a senior Cuban official said Havana has no plans to move toward a Western-style democracy but is willing to allow any of its citizens who wish to emigrate to the United States to do so.

“Socialism is a voluntary task. . . . We don’t want anyone to be here against his will,” said Carlos Aldana, secretary of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee. He added: “There is no plan in our society to move toward the democratic models of the West. That’s in our past, not in our future.”

In an interview with the Mexican magazine Siempre, carried by the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, Castro recalled his famous phrase in 1953, “History will absolve me.”

Castro said that after the vindication of his 1959 revolution toppling right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista he has experienced a “second history”--socialist Cuba’s 30-year resistance to its powerful capitalist neighbor, the United States.

The Cuban leader said that if he and Cuba have become famous in the world, it is largely because of the constant hostility directed by the United States against the Caribbean island.

“The Americans have made me famous, and if many people admire Cuba, then we owe that to the Americans; they have made us stand out by making us their enemy, their adversary,” he added.

Castro said that what often determines the importance of a world leader is not his personal qualities but more often the importance and influence of the country he leads.

“You can make an idiot the President of the United States--and that’s happened a few times--and he’s still a world leader, and his country is a world leader,” he said.