Fidel Castro railed against workers he said have become the "new rich" by stealing gasoline and other goods and launched a new anti-corruption campaign in a far-ranging speech that stretched into the early hours of Friday.
"How many ways there are to steal in this country!" Castro exclaimed in an extemporaneous 5Ѕ-hour address. The Cuban president also dismissed reports that he suffers from Parkinson's disease, stretching out a steady arm as proof. "Look at the Parkinson's!" he exclaimed sarcastically.
Cuban doctors who work in international teams traveling worldwide to assist disaster victims "earn 5 or 20 percent of the thieves who sell gasoline to the new rich," said Castro. "We have to vanquish these deviations ... or we die."
The Cuban president's declarations come as his communist government further squeezes the already tiny private sector, increasing controls over farmers markets, private restaurants and a dwindling number of self-employed trades people and artisans.
&to=http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/368/12072_Castro.html' target=_blank>Castro, who turns 80 next August, also scoffed at reports that some U.S. officials believe he suffers from Parkinson's disease, a nonfatal but debilitating degenerative ailment. Now almost 47 years in power, Castro said he feels "better than ever" and would ask the ruling Communist Party to replace him if he felt too ill to govern.
Dressed in his trademark olive green military uniform, Castro told students celebrating his studies at the University of Havana 60 years ago that he counted on the nation's youth to help &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/89/356/12537_corruption.html' target=_blank>fight corruption.
He said the disadvantaged young people recruited several years to become social workers would play a key role. Many of those 28,000 youths are now replacing state employees in jobs considered especially vulnerable to theft and corruption because of the goods involved, such as at gasoline stations and stores.
State-run neighborhood watch and other government support groups will help by forming "cells" in the anti-corruption fight, Castro said.
In the battle against the "new rich," the party's provincial weekly Tribuna de Havana reported this week that 36 produce trucks bound for farmers markets were recently seized because growers were selling goods for personal profit before fulfilling state quotas, reports AP.
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