Carlos Fuentes; A Tropical Stalinism.(Interview)

Byline: Scott Johnson

On May 1, Cuba's Fidel Castro alienated most of the last few allies he has left. After being condemned at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva last month, the irascible dictator blasted the European Union as "a mafia" and even the Mexicans as "hypocrites." The outburst produced a backlash of its own: Mexico (as well as Peru) recalled its ambassador, further isolating the Caribbean island and prompting fresh speculation about Castro's future. Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes suffered his own break with Castro four decades ago, though he disagreed with the U.N. censure. He spoke of the Cuban leader's deepening isolation last week with NEWSWEEK's Scott Johnson. Excerpts:

Johnson: You've spoken out against Castro for decades.

Fuentes: Since 1966, when Pablo Neruda and I went to a PEN Writers Conference in New York. Arthur Miller had obtained visas for writers and intellectuals from the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc. Neruda and I celebrated this as a triumph. Immediately the Cuban union of writers published a ferocious letter denouncing Neruda and myself as enemies of socialism, signed by a long list of Cuban writers. It was absolutely dirty, because later we found out that they had not been consulted. In Cuba, there was a kind of tropical Stalinism in the realm of culture and literature. So I never went back to the island.

Now even Cuba's old allies are deserting it.

Well, it has a sinister record of human rights. But Cuba is not alone. What's happened at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq is one of the grossest violations of human rights under the Geneva Conventions that we have record of. It is simply monstrous. I grant you that Cuba is a nondemocratic dictatorship, while the United States is a democracy--albeit at peril under the Bush administration and its circle of ideologues. But you cannot have such different yardsticks.

Do you support the United Nations' condemnation in Geneva?