U.S. foes from Iran, Venezuela, Zimbabwe meet at Nonaligned summit

HAVANA -- Cuba took over leadership of the Nonaligned Movement Friday, but with Fidel Castro too sick to promise an appearance, his younger brother and his close friend Hugo Chavez of Venezuela were left to mete out the anti-American invective.

The meeting hosted by Cuba brought together some of the staunchest U.S. foes -- the presidents of Iran, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Cuba's Acting President Raul Castro, who was presiding over the meeting of more than 50 leaders, said the world today is shaped by irrational American desires for world dominance.

"When there no longer is a Cold War, the United States spends one billion dollars a year in weapons and soldiers and it squanders a similar amount in commercial publicity," he said. "To think that a social and economic order that has proven unsustainable could be maintained by force is simply an absurd idea."

In the United States, President Bush's administration tried Friday to hasten the end of the Castro government, proposing that Cubans hold a referendum to decide if they want to be ruled by Raul Castro. The suggestion faced certain rejection by the island's communist leadership, but they did not immediately address it at the summit.

The big question was whether 80-year-old Fidel Castro would be healthy enough to show up for the summit dinner, let alone guide the group during Cuba's three-year chairmanship. The ailing revolutionary leader is under doctors' orders not to preside over the summit, but could still make an appearance, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told the assembly.

Castro temporarily handed power to his 75-year-old brother and a handful of other top officials after emergency intestinal surgery in July. And while Cuban officials raise expectations of a return to power, Fidel has appeared only in photos and video in state media, wearing pajamas while meeting Venezuelan President Chavez and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Raul Castro has settled into his new leadership role, giving several speeches calling for unity against U.S. policies. And Chavez, still campaigning for Venezuela's bid to join the U.N. Security Council, has repeatedly asserted himself as the natural heir to Castro, who remains a hero to leftists around the world.

"To be radical is not to be insane, it's to go to our roots. Let's go to our roots, let's be truly radical," Chavez told diplomats and leaders from two-thirds of the world's countries. He concluded by chanting "Patria o Muerte!" -- "Fatherland or Death!" -- a favored Castro rallying cry.

The 118-nation group gave Raul Castro a round of applause, and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expressed satisfaction that the movement "will once again be in Cuba's very capable hands."

"Cuba's fight for liberation from imperialism has been a source of inspiration for the world's peoples," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the assembly.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe also attended the summit. The Bush administration charges that Mugabe's authoritarian government is a serious violator of human rights.

Annan told the group the world has changed dramatically since Cuba last hosted the movement in Havana 27 years ago, and that developing nations have new responsibilities to promote democracy, protect human rights and develop civil societies.

"The collective mission of this movement is more relevant than ever," Annan said.

With next week's U.N. General Assembly session in New York looming, Chavez and Ahmadinejad called on Nonaligned nations to support Venezuela's Security Council bid and provide more balance at the U.N. Both said the veto power of the United States has made the council a toothless promoter of U.S. policy.

"The U.S. is turning the Security Council into a base for imposing its politics," Ahmadinejad complained, according to the official translation of his speech in Farsi. "Why should people live under the nuclear threat of the U.S.?"

Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that his country has secured 90 of 128 necessary votes, and denied that U.S. support for Guatemala's bid has made his country a "puppet" of Washington. Venezuela, however, is confident it will win the seat.

Guatemala has stressed its conciliatory foreign policy in the U.N. campaign, while Chavez has made it clear if chosen for the security council, Venezuela would support Iran in its high-stakes standoff over its enrichment of uranium.

On Thursday, Chavez pledged his country would stand with Iran if the Middle Eastern country is invaded, just as it has pledged to defend Cuba.

The Nonaligned Movement was formed during the Cold War to establish a neutral third path in a world divided by the United States and the Soviet Union. It now counts 118 members with the addition of Haiti and St. Kitts this week.