Monday, July 14, 2003

Andy Garcia compares Castro and Nicolae Ceausescu.

Cuban-born U.S. actor Andy Garcia, filming in Romania, said Saturday he was struck by the parallels between the regimes of late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

"Cuba is under the same kind of totalitarian dictatorship that Romania was," Garcia told The Associated Press in an interview.

Garcia, 47, said he had talked with Romanians who witnessed the revolution while he was on the set at the Buftea studios, a village 12 miles north of Bucharest. He also met with President Ion Iliescu, a key figure in the revolt.

"As a Cuban, I am looking forward to that day when (Cuba) comes out of the dictatorship," he said.

And this from an interview that is linked on the same page

WHITFIELD: It looks like it is going to be real funny, and a good time to see that one. Now you also, in addition to being very creative as a producer and also as an actor, you also find yourself being rather politically involved as well. Many of us remember seeing how you took a stand in the Elian Gonzalez case, and now I'm wondering if you have any particular opinions about Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura making his four-day trip to Cuba, in part it kind of, you know, pump for American food and products, agricultural products and an exchange of gifts in that way there. Do you have any real opinions about his trip?

GARCIA: Well, you know, the problem is that the real problem with the American -- the real embargo in Cuba is really the embargo that Fidel dell has over his own people. He has an embargo of human rights over the people of Cuba. The people of Cuba are not able to participate in a free society. The entire world trades with Cuba. They always seem to blame the economic situation in Cuba on the United States, but the realty is they trade with the entire world, but the people of Cuba do not benefit from that trade. And I think Mr. Ventura will find that there is no real business relationship that you can have with if Fidel Castro's government, because basically they don't pay their bills.

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