1.
SV PULL BACK & PAN TO GV Castro, Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and Nicaraguan leader Ortega enter press-room.
0.11

2.
CU PULL BACK TO GV Castro speaking. (SOT)
0.37

3.
CU PULL BACK TO GV Ortega speaking. (SOT)
1.20

4.
GV Ortega, Castro and Gonzalez leaving.
1.29

5.
GV Aeroflot plane on tarmac.
1.32

6.
SV Castro and Gonzalez embrace on tarmac.
1.42

7.
SV Castro boarding plane as Gonzalez looks on. (3 SHOTS)
2.05




Initials MAW/JRS





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Cuban leader Fidel Castro made his first ever visit to Western Europe when he stopped over in Madrid for five hours on his way from Moscow to Havana. He was accompanied by the Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega. The two men, who had been attending the funeral of Soviet head of state Yuri Andropov, were met at Madrid airport by the Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez. At a news conference, Castro told journalists that in all previous trips between Cuba and the Soviet bloc, he had flown via North or West Africa. The Latin American leaders were taken by the Spanish Prime Minister to his official residence, where they discussed East-West relations and the crisis in Central America. During the meeting, King Juan Carlos of Spain telephoned to welcome Castro and Ortega to his country. Castro later said it had been a great pleasure to speak to the King, but he had not known how to address the monarch. Spain has maintained relations with Cuba throughout Castro's 25 years of revolutionary rule.