Fidel Speaks with Peace Boat Activists

Fidel Castro with Peace Boat activists and survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Foto: Roberto Chile/cubadebate.cu

HAVANA TIMES, March 2 — Former president Fidel Castro met with about 700 peace activists associated with the international peace organization Peace Boat, whose cruise liner recently landed in the capital, reported Cuban television news last night.

On Thursday, Castro spoke to the group about the impacts of nuclear weapons on the human species.

His comments were made after talking with a survivor of the nuclear bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and with a witness to the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant in March 2011.

The leader of the Cuban revolution criticized the use of nuclear weapons and the current existence of 22,000 such devices globally.

At the same time Fidel Castro denounced nuclear testing being conducted by the United States in the Pacific Ocean.

At the meeting, the participants learned of Cuba’s experience in treating more than 26,000 victims of the nuclear accident at Ukraine’s Chernobyl plant, mostly children.