Well not long before his 80th birthday Fidel is in Argentina attending the 30th Summit of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) that started Friday in the Argentinean city of Córdoba.
Fidel visits Che's house This following report is from Radio Holguin:
Huge Rally in Argentina Hears Fidel and Chavez
Cordoba, Argentina/ Granma.- Around a hundred thousand people gathered at a park here on Friday to listen to and cheer presidents Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, at the final event of the Peoples Summit, which run parallel to the meeting of Mercosur heads of state in this Argentinean city.
Chavez and Fidel came to the rally after the closing of the Mercosur Summit. They were received with a huge flag that read: Integration is our anti-imperialist flag.
According to press reports, Fidel spoke to the crowd for some three hours. He stressed that the trade bloc is living a historical moment. He said a "social Mercosur" could provide millions of Latin Americans with healthcare and education.
"It is hard to believe that there may still be 50 millions illiterate people in this continent," he asserted, noting that Mercosur could wipe out illiteracy in three years if a common program is adopted.
Fidel Castro predicted that "imperialism will not last more than fifty years, maybe less," as he referred to the economic crisis in United States, for which he said President Bush and his ignorance are to be blamed. He said his assessment was not based on wild speculation, and pointed to the decline of the value of the US dollar in the world economy.
The Cuban leader then asked why the United States had to send troops to South America, more specifically to the Guarani Aquifer, one of the world's largest fresh water systems, which extends over the triple frontier region joining Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
On the cold Cordoba night, the high-spirited crowd turned into a gigantic choir to sing happy birthday to President Castro, who will be turning 80 on August 13.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also spoke at the rally, which brought together hundreds of social, political, peasant, trade union and human rights activists. He noted that Latin America can be "a pole of world power in a multipolar world."
Chavez said he agreed with Fidel that capitalism was bound to disappear. He noted that "there are millions of us in Latin America who want a socialism that could liberate us from the shackles of the capitalism."
On the stage next to Fidel and Chavez, wearing her symbolic white baby's diaper around her head, was Hebe of Bonafini, president of the organization Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, which for decades has clamored for justice for their children and grandchildren, murdered or kidnapped by the military dictatorship of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Radio Angulo Digital 22/07/06
Topic: Re: Fidel in Argentina (Read 2338 times)