KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia –– Cuban leader Fidel Castro, on a state visit to Malaysia on Saturday, praised U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for "daring" to say something nice about Cuba.

"I do not think that he is a warmonger," Castro said. "He is the only one who has dared say that Cuba has done something good."

Castro made his comments to reporters while dozens of shoppers inside the world's tallest buildings – Malaysia's Petronas Towers – scrambled to greet him. A few lucky ones did.

Powell last month told U.S. lawmakers that Castro has "done good things for his people" – the first time in four decades even faint praise was accorded the Cuban leader by a senior U.S. official.

But Powell was quick to add that Castro remains "trapped in a time warp," the Bush administration will continue to shun Castro politically and diplomatically. Castro said Powell "has to take the same line as the government."

Castro's comment followed days of harsh criticism of the United States during visits to Algeria, Iran and Malaysia – three nations sympathetic to his communist revolution.

On Friday, he told a group of Malaysian businessmen and academics that globalization was a threat to nations' sovereignty and praised Malaysia's "spirit of rebellion."

For the past week, Castro has been taking his case against the United States to friendly audiences in the Middle East and Asia.

Castro played tourist on the second day of his three-day Malaysia tour Saturday, visiting the world's tallest buildings before retiring to private meetings with officials and businessmen.

"I was closer to heaven here," Castro told reporters after touring the Petronas Towers, one of several mega-projects undertaken by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, like Castro, is an outspoken critic of Washington and what he calls an unfair international financial system. He's given the Cuban leader an extraordinarily warm welcome, with the two countries signing an accord Friday to bolster cooperation in trade, science and technology.

"We are the rebels of the West," Castro said. "And Malaysia is the rebel of the East."

Castro, 74, and Mahathir, 75, both among the world's longest-ruling leaders, share a deep suspicion of the United States.

But Castro's communist Cuba is one of the region's poorest nations, while capitalist Malaysia is one of Southeast Asia's richest. And while the United States is Malaysia's largest trading partner, Cuba languishes under a four-decade U.S. trade embargo.

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-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001