Tuesday, April 4, 2006

MADRID, Spain (AFP): Cuban President Fidel Castro is not worried about his succession since the revolution does not depend on a cult of personality, according to extracts from a book to be published Friday.

But he thinks his brother Raul will take over when he dies.

The post-Castro leadership "will not in the short term present any kind of problem; and not afterwards either because the revolution is not based on a cult of personality", he says in one of a series of interviews with French journalist Ignacio Ramonet in late 2005 to be published in book form in Spain.

Extracts from "Biography with two voices" appeared in the Spanish daily El Pais.

"It is impossible to imagine socialism with a 'caudillo' (leader), and it is impossible to imagine a 'caudillo' in a modern society where people would act in blind faith" in him, Castro said.

Asked whether the revolutionary process in Cuba could collapse, Castro replied: "This country can autodestruct; this revolution can destroy itself, we can destroy it (if) we are not capable of correcting our mistakes, putting an end to a lot of vices, to theft, to embezzlement..."

"We are in the process of acting," Castro said, "we have had some very difficult times which have created inequalities, injustices, and we are going to change that without creating abuses."

On possible retirement: "Time passes and energies flag."

"I understand that my fate was not to come into the world to rest at the end of my life," he said, quoting his own words.

"My role was more decisive at the start because we had to fight the battle of ideas ... I do not have that decisive role today," he said.

"More than ever I enjoy the confidence of the people," he said claiming the "immense majority" of public opinion was behind his regime.

When he died, he said, he was sure that the national assembly and political bureau would choose his brother Raul to succeed -- but "he is almost the same age as me."

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