Cuba's Castro in Malaysia for NAM Summit

Leaders of the Non-Aligned Countries Movement called on a peaceful solution to the crisis in Middle East.

As usual at international forums, Fidel Castro's presence captivates the most attention. The 13th Non-Aligned Countries Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur is not the exception. The Cuban leader will be among the first ten speakers and his words will be carefully listened by 50 presidents and prime ministers from many of the 114 countries member of this movement.

The Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed inaugurated the meeting and criticized US policy at the UN Security Council. Mahathir stated that was illegal and a primitive instrument to deal with international affairs.

Before the meeting's inauguration, the heads of each delegation greeted the Malaysian President in alphabetical order. The host President then took a photograph with each guest at the main entry of the Putra World Trade Center, headquarter of the meeting of the 114 States affiliated to the non-aligned movement.

Fidel Castro arrived on a special flight from Vietnam, after a three-day visit to that country, where he met with the three main leaders of Vietnam, led by Vietnamese Communist Party (PCV) general secretary Nong DucManh. Fidel Castro, who will also visit China as part of his Asian tour, was also included in the "family photo" with the heads of all the commissions attending the summit.

During his visit to Vietnam, Castro met the 90 something Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, the head of the Vietnamese army during the long independence war against France, first, and USA. The leader of the Cuban Revolution visited the home of the hero of Dien Bien Phu (1954) and Saigon (1975), considered the most important living celebrity of modern military arts, due to his successful strategies in the battlefield against the most powerful armies of the time, United States' and France's.

In Vietname, Castro remarked the importance of the NAM summit. Cuba and Malaysia are between the most active countries inside the movement and expect to gain support from the other nations that oscillate between adopting independent policies or just follow US positions on world's affairs.

Hernan Etchaleco PRAVDA.Ru Argentina