HAVANA -- President Fidel Castro has rejected again international pleas to institute political reforms in Cuba and insisted the country will retain its one-party form of government.
Addressing the Communist Party's Havana leadership Saturday, the 70-year-old leader said he was ``proud to be a communist,'' sneered at what he called ``recipes'' for democracy, and asserted that ``nothing is possible without socialism.''
Excerpts of Castro's speech were released Sunday to foreign journalists by the Cuban government.
``To those who say we should fragment ourselves, we say `no.' If they ask us to form 25 parties, we say `no,' '' Castro told the party leaders. ``The party that directs the revolution is enough, because it guarantees the unity, future and independence of our country.
``We won't fall on our knees before anyone or beg for handouts to anyone,'' he continued. ``A social and political system such as ours can only be sustained with the support of a huge majority of the people.''
Castro was particularly critical of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who asked him -- at the recent Ibero-American Summit in Chile -- to ease the way for Cuba's democratization.
Referring to Aznar at one point as ``a fop,'' Castro suggested the Spanish leader was one of ``those who would play the role of Valeriano Weyler.'' The commander in chief of Spanish troops in Cuba in 1895, Weyler became known as ``The Butcher'' for his treatment of Cuban nationalists and their supporters.
He became notorious for establishing ill-maintained concentration camps, into which he herded hundreds of thousands of Cuban civilians.
``After four centuries of exploitation . . . and decades of slavery,'' Castro said, referring to Spain, ``they offer us heaven while they burn us at the stake.''
The comment appeared to be in response to the Spanish government's proposal to the 15-nation European Union that any future economic cooperation with Cuba should be conditioned on the gradual democratization of the island's government.
Copyright © 1996 The Miami Herald