Posted on 03/17/2005 7:54:40 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) criticized Forbes magazine on Thursday for the "infamy" of listing him among the world's richest people, with a net worth of $550 million.
"Once again, they have committed the infamy of speaking about Castro's fortune, placing me almost above the queen of England," Castro said in a speech to top officials of Cuba's ruling Communist Party, military and police.
"Do they think I am (former Zairian President) Mobutu (Sese Seko) or one of the many millionaires, those thieves and plunderers that the empire has suckled and protected?" he said in reference to his capitalist archenemy, the United States.
"What they should be doing is looking for the money of all those people," he said.
Castro, 78 and in power since a 1959 revolution, said he was considering suing. It was the second straight year Castro was on the Forbes list. Last year, the magazine put his worth at $150 million.
Forbes on Tuesday published a story on the fortunes of rulers and heads of state, which included Castro, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and the sultan of Brunei, saying none were "exemplars of capitalism" and did not qualify for the world billionaires list.
The weekly financial magazine said the estimates were "more art than science."
"In the past, we have relied on a percentage of Cuba's gross domestic product to estimate Fidel Castro's fortune," Forbes explained.
"This year, we have used more traditional valuation methods, comparing state-owned assets Castro is assumed to control with comparable publicly traded companies," it said.
The magazine said Castro derived his fortune from a web of state-owned companies that included retail and pharmaceutical businesses and a convention center.
The Cuban government, in a press statement issued by its embassy in Mexico, called the story a "clumsy slander and a repugnant example of the campaign of lies" orchestrated against Cuba in the United States.
It called Forbes "an American magazine of decaying credibility."
"The revenues of Cuban state-run companies are used exclusively for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong," the statement said.
Cuba is the only Latin American country that fights inequality and has the fairest income distribution in the world, the statement said.
Cuba is the only Latin American country that fights inequality and has the fairest income distribution in the world, the statement said.
Is this before or after Castro is giving away all the rice cookers..?
I really want to visit Cuba, but not while the old fossil lives.
"....fairest income distribution in the world"
what's 11,308,764 divided by o?
and then add this to the mix..
Castro announces revaluation of currency
http://www.bakersfield.com/24hour/world/story/2242679p-10391956c.html
The Associated Press
HAVANA (AP) - President Fidel Castro late Thursday announced a 7 percent revaluation of Cuba's national currency, giving Cubans slightly more buying power as the communist-run island moves to reassert greater control over its economy.
The move comes four months after Cuba eliminated from circulation the U.S. dollar, which was used as legal tender for many goods and services for more than a decade.
Cuba now uses two currencies: the regular Cuban peso, which was the one revalued, and the convertible Cuban peso, which trades at 1-1 to the dollar.
While the regular Cuban peso is used for government salaries and most government goods and services, the convertible Cuban peso has been used for many other consumer goods at businesses where the dollar was once accepted.
Starting Friday, the convertible Cuban peso, which previously could be purchased with 27 ordinary Cuban pesos, will now be worth 25 Cuban pesos, Castro said. The decision appeared aimed at slowly eliminating one of the two currencies now circulating on the island.
Reading from a resolution by Cuba's Central Bank at the end of a three-hour televised speech, Castro said the decision was based on improved trade relations with Venezuela and China and the recent discovery of oil deposits off the island's coast.
Castro has hinted repeatedly in recent months that he wants Cuba to have just one currency and eliminate confusion and inequalities created when the U.S. dollar was legalized in 1993.
He criticized Forbes for naming him as one of the world's richest individuals but he didn't deny it.
He's pissed because he's actually worth closer to $5B and was probably insulted by the lowly amount of $500m
not zero-- you mean 1.
If the shoe fits...
Since I have never recieved gift on International Woman's Day, not even a card, a rice cooker would be a step up.
Liberals are known for having incredibly low standards when it comes to communist dictatorships.
<< a rice cooker would be a step up >>
A rice cooker or a nice hooker.
Hurry up and die, you rotten old commie a-hole.
According to genius liberals, the fact that the Cuban government can dole out rice cookers to the plebs illustrates the compassion of the regime.
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Amazing, isn't it, how all Socialists (communists) think alike -- even our own show their standard colors on such great issues of humanitarian value...
Elitists are always for socialism and communism as long as they can still live the bourgeois life while claiming ties to the proletariat - kinda like Kerry, Kennedy, and most of the Hollywood limosine liberals.
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