Havana - President Fidel Castro of Cuba has said Christ was a communist. "Christ chose the fishermen because he was a communist," Dr Castro said in comments carried by state media yesterday.
Dr Castro, whose once-stated atheism is believed to have mellowed in recent years, made the comment during a National Assembly debate on the local fishing industry. Mr Raul Castro, second-in-command in the ruling Communist Party headed by his brother, concurred: "I think that's why they killed Jesus, for being a communist, for doing what Fidel defined as revolution . . . changing the situation." Dr Castro (73) was educated at a Jesuit-run high school in Havana.
