Perez Roque: Fidel Castro Much Better
Cuba's Foreign Minister Perez Roque ironically delivered "not good news" for Bush and the US government Monday, when reporting that President Fidel Castro's health is patently improving and there are reasons for optimism for his recovery.

At his Paris news conference, Perez Roque, who presided over a meeting to revive relations between the Non Aligned Movement and UNESCO, said the Cuban president is exercising, feeling stronger, and is increasingly involved in work, meeting directly with Party and government leaders regularly.

The minister also expressed admiration for the Cuban people "and their exemplary response, their political culture, sense of national unity, maturity and confidence in the Revolution." The diplomat recalled that US administrations have drawn up plans to defeat Fidel Castro, attack the island, and even have strategies to be carried out during his physical absence.

However, they did not calculate he was going to be present and not present at the same time, which rather disconcerts them, he noted.

"We have nothing against the US people that do not understand why they can t visit Cuba or better understand the unjust economic blockade, which is immoral," he remarked Commenting on Bush s offer of 150 operations for Latin Americans, Perez Roque pointed out that Cuba alone has performed more than 500,000 free operations, in the advance for true regional integration.

About an eventual Washington-Havana dialogue, the minister reiterated his country s disposition to begin conversations based on mutual respect, and recalled First Vice President Raul Castro s caveat that there be no conditions on such talks.