Fidel Castro's readiness to bombard the US with nuclear missiles and his exasperation with the USSR during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis have been revealed in France, after the publication of a speech he made to the Cuban Communist Party in January 1968.

Parts of the 12-hour tirade, in which the Cuban leader accuses Moscow of running away, were printed in Le Monde. The newspaper obtained documents from a French historian, Vincent Touze, a specialist on the showdown that nearly led to war between the two superpowers.

The crisis, which could have been the opening to a Third World War, began on October 15, 1962, when US spy planes spotted Soviet missiles in Cuba. It ended on October 28 when the former Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, said they would be withdrawn.

The newspaper illustrated the development of the crisis with details of recordings of John F. Kennedy in the White House. But new light on what happened in October 1962 comes mainly from Castro's speech in which he admits to being naive about his confidence in the Soviet Union.

Referring to his disillusionment with the Soviet military and the then leader, Khrushchev, the Cuban President said he had agreed without hesitation to the original proposition to set up a missile base made by a Soviet team led by a marshal.

But the preliminary agreement presented by the Soviet delegation was useless and had been drawn up by ``stupid bureaucrats''. Castro drew up a project in his own handwriting which was sent to the Soviet Union but never returned.

``Our unlimited confidence was the naive victim of all these subtle matters which we were incapable of conceiving in a revolutionary party or movement,'' he said. ``It was entirely unbelievable.

``All those hesitations, those ways of acting, indecisive and hesitant, led to problems. We didn't know what these missiles were like or how to set them up.''

Castro said it would have been easy to camouflage the missiles but no effort was made to bring down US spy planes or to hide the weapons. Security was so poor that there was speculation that the Soviet military was acting deliberately.

``I can assure you that this was totally false. It was a disaster, a complete lack of precautions.'' Castro complained to Khrushchev but Cuba was told that the Baltic fleet would be sent to the area and that Kennedy would be informed 24 hours beforehand.

The verbatim account was interrupted by remarks from Raul Castro, who said that Cuba did not even know how long the missiles were. He appeared taken aback when he learned they were about 60ft long.

Fidel Castro said he had wanted to inform Washington of the Soviet-Cuban defence agreement before the missiles could be spotted. But Khrushchev rejected the suggestion in July 1962. Raul, Castro's defence minister and brother, who made the suggestion on a trip to Moscow with Ernesto `Che' Guevara, told the Central Committee: ``Khrushchev, who was very rude, said: `Don't worry, I'll grab Kennedy by the balls'.''

Despite his criticism of the Soviet Union, Castro fully backed the plan and invited Moscow to install 1,000 missiles and expressed his disappointment when he learnt there would be only 80. ``We defended these missiles with affection, with an incredible love,'' he said.

``We were fighting for the first time on almost equal terms with an enemy who attacked and provoked us incessantly. We were transported by this new situation...by this extraordinary international proletarian spirit which we had dreamed about.''

On October 26, 1962, Castro wrote to Khrushchev ``to give him courage'', saying that if the US invaded, a ``massive and total'' volley of missiles should be despatched in a pre-emptive strike. Castro then began losing faith in Moscow and Cuba had to adapt to a phase of relations with an ally in ``total retreat''.

The Observer News Service

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.