Havana: Former Cuban President Fidel
Castro has said Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear disasters in
1945 should be heard more by the world.
Castro told members of Peaceboat, a Japanese non
governmental organization, and other Japanese visitors that he
wants to cooperate with people like them who are aware of the
risks humankind is taking so as not to repeat the use of
nuclear weapons.
The comment was made when the former Cuban leader made an
appearance at a rally attended by some 700 Japanese visitors
including one A-bomb victim, called Hibakusha.
The Japanese visitors are on an overseas voyage organized
by Peaceboat.
At the rally, Junko Watanabe, a 67-year-old woman who
resides in Sao Paulo, Brazil, told Castro about the
devastation in Hiroshima she witnessed at a location 18
kilometers from ground zero.
''I hope we will continue to be the last people who must
suffer for long years (from a nuclear attack),'' she said,
describing how she was exposed to radioactive black raindrops
that fell after the bombing.
Castro asked her how long it took before the black rain
started to fall after the detonation of the A-bomb above the
western Japanese city.
He also said that the rally will be broadcast on Cuban
state television and talked about his visit to the Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Museum in 2003.
The rally lasted for two and a half hours, far exceeding
the scheduled time.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 19:16