Castro at U.N. summit on crest of Elian wave

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba's President Fidel Castro, the United States' communist opponent for the last four decades, flew to New York on Tuesday for the U.N. Millennium Summit, riding a political wave from the Elian Gonzalez saga.

Beyond U.S.-Cuba politics, the mainstay of his career, Castro was also sure to use a rare trip to what Havana calls the "heart of imperialism" to promote his view that radical reform is needed to save the world from doom.

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"It was just too tempting for him to miss this summit," a Western diplomat said after the surprise late announcement of Castro's attendance for what would be his fourth visit to the United States in a 41-year rule.

Castro's decision to attend the huge U.N. event was probably inspired in part, analysts and diplomats say, by the successful conclusion for Cuba of the lengthy custody tussle over Elian after he survived a shipwreck.

The 7-month battle, which ended with the boy's June 28 return to Cuba, contributed to isolating hardline anti- communist Cuban Americans and strengthening an internal U.S. lobby which favors easing economic sanctions on Havana.

Castro, who at age 74 has been looking healthy of late, is seeking to capitalize on what he perceives as a moment of unprecedented political advantage and international attention on his Caribbean nation, analysts say.

Beyond that, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque outlined in recent days what will likely be Castro's priorities at the summit: pushing for Third World equality and U.N. reform, especially in the Security Council.

The United Nations must ensure stability "for everyone, large and small, developed and poor, and not just peace for a small and powerful group of nations," Perez told foreign correspondents.

Echoing his boss's views, Perez said Cuba would press for changes to "an unjust and unsustainable international economic order -- the cause of the poverty and growing misery and hunger plaguing a growing percentage of the global population."

Castro has called the event "the summit to save the millennium."

Castro's agenda unclear

Havana, which keeps Castro's movements secret for security reasons, did not announce his departure, but said soon after midday on Tuesday he had just touched down in New York. Castro's precise agenda was unclear.

A former guerrilla leader who brought about the 1959 Cuban Revolution and became one of the world's longest-serving and best known leaders, he will likely also hold a series of meetings in New York at the sidelines of the U.N. summit.

Those could be with other world leaders, U.S. politicians, solidarity groups and others sympathetic to Cuba. Foreign Minister Perez, and maybe Castro himself, plans to have some contact with moderate groups among Cuban American exiles to thank them for supporting Elian's return and for changes to the U.S. embargo.

Ever the canny publicist, Castro may take another stroll in Harlem, where he famously, and petulantly, moved his delegation to a modest hotel on a visit to New York in 1959.

Whatever he says, and wherever he goes, one thing is certain: the gray-bearded and burly Castro will, as always, command attention.

The fascination is heightened since he has not left Cuba since a mid-1999 summit in Brazil, and his last trip to the United States, also to the United Nations, was five years ago.

Even before Havana announced Castro's likely appearance, his enemies were taking preemptive action.

One leading anti-Castro Cuban American congressman, Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida and a distant relative of Castro, called on President Bill Clinton to deny him a visa. Seeking to evoke a Pinochet-style scenario, Diaz-Balart added that even if Castro was granted a visa, he should be arrested for "crimes against humanity."

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani also took a pop at Castro on Friday, calling him a "murderer" whom "America should not fool itself into thinking ... is some kind of benign dictator."

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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