In his July 26 speech, Fidel Castro continued to denounce bitterly the Helms-Burton law as a U.S. attempt to intervene in Cuba's internal affairs. This, of course, is the same Castro who has repeatedly shown contempt for the principles of nonintervention and national sovereignty.
For example, he vigorously defended the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan, played a key role in the violent campaign to overthrow Venezuela's democratic government in the mid '60s, fomented terrorism on several continents, sent mercenary armies to fight in civil wars abroad, conveniently turned a blind eye to China's genocidal occupation of Tibet, and even transformed Cuba into one of Moscow's client states.
What really motivates the aging caudillo to attack Helms-Burton is a pathological desire to prolong his reign of terror. He knows that this law poses a certain financial threat to his repressive apparatus. He knows that by projecting himself as a victim, he wins undeserved sympathy of misinformed audiences.
© 1996 The Miami Herald.