Castro apologizes to Mexico's kids for put-down

             MEXICO CITY -- (AFP) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro ``humbly'' apologized
             to Mexican children Friday for having said they knew Mickey Mouse better than
             national heroes of their own country.

             The 30-minute ``brotherly'' address to the Mexican people, read by visiting Cuban
             Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, followed tensions between the two countries
             that emerged after Castro blasted what he called ``the cultural invasion of
             Mexico.''

             ``I myself learned the value of spinach with Popeye,'' Castro said in an unusual
             apology for his Dec. 2 remarks, in which he deplored what he said was Mexican
             children's better knowledge of Disney characters than of their own national figures.

             ``I myself watched Tarzan movies and the numerous films in which Mexicans are
             gardeners, submissive and compliant,'' he conceded in the statement Robaina read
             to journalists.

             Castro said that if after his Dec. 2 remarks, any Mexican ``feels offended, I have
             no objections to presenting my apologies and if any child feels offended, I humbly
             ask for forgiveness.''

             The offending remarks were made at a meeting in Havana, in which Castro said
             Mexico had turned its back on its Latin American neighbors by entering a trade
             pact with the United States. He went on to describe U.S. influence by saying that
             Mexican children were more familiar with Mickey Mouse than with Mexico's own
             heroes.

             When Mexicans reacted with outrage, the Cuban government tried to dismiss the
             controversy by saying that Castro's remarks had been taken out of context and
             were not intended to be offensive. Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green
             declared that the statement was unsatisfactory and demanded a ``personal
             explanation'' of Castro's comments.