Former Cuban president Fidel Castro said yesterday he was misinterpreted when a US reporter wrote he said that the “Cuban model doesn’t even work for us any more.”

President Castro, who left the presidency in 2006, met recently over three days for a rare interview with a reporter from The Atlantic magazine and a Cuba expert from the US Council on Foreign Relations.

According to The Atlantic, which published its account on Wednesday, the 84-year-old Cuban revolutionary icon joked about the state of the Cuban economy. President Castro said he made the statement “without anger or worry. Now I’m amused to see how (the Atlantic reporter) interpreted it literally” in consultation with a CFR expert.

My answer, “meant exactly the opposite” of what the reporter wrote, President Castro said, speaking at an event presenting the second volume of his autobiography.

In Washington, CFR expert Julia Sweig, who was at the interview, said yesterday that she had a different take on Gen. Castro’s quote.

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