From: NY Transfer News Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 1:50 PM Subject: Drop dead, Castro tells Chavez opponents Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Drop dead, Castro tells Chavez opponents PORLAMAR, Venezuela, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro, commenting on Venezuelan business leaders who organized a nationwide protest strike against his friend President Hugo Chavez this week, said he wished them all a "heart stoppage." The 75-year-old Cuban president, who himself suffered a brief fainting spell in public earlier this year, came to the defense of his political ally late on Tuesday during a summit of Caribbean leaders meeting in Margarita Island, Venezuela. "I want to make a wish ... that the next stoppage be a heart stoppage," the veteran Cuban leader said, referring to Monday's one-day strike in Venezuela called by opponents of Chavez, which brought much of the oil-rich country to a halt. When other Caribbean leaders, tired at the end of several hours of speeches and debate in Margarita, reacted with puzzlement to the Cuban leader's outburst, he quickly explained he was referring to Chavez's strike-organizing domestic political opponents. "What I mean is, a (heart) stoppage for those who organized the (work) stoppage," Castro said, his comments playing on the Spanish word "paro," which is the same for a strike, or work stoppage, and a heart attack. Opponents of Chavez in Venezuela's business community staged the 12-hour nationwide strike to protest his left-leaning reform laws that they say are anti-business and anti-investment and seem inspired by Castro's communist-ruled Cuba. The outspoken Venezuelan paratrooper-turned-president, who is an admirer of Castro, says his "revolutionary" reforms are needed to close the wide gap between the impoverished majority and wealthy minority in his country. 08:46 12-12-01 [In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information see: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ================================================================= _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
