<p>Castro told Carmen Lira, editor of Mexican daily La Jornada, that the persecution of gays occurred at a time of "great injustice", and criticised himself for not paying "sufficient attention" to the matter.<br /><br />"If anyone is responsible, I am," Castro said, adding that he was "trying to define" the extent of his responsibility for those deeds.<br /><br />Castro, however, said he doesn't harbour any personal prejudice toward gays and lesbians.<br />He said the attacks he suffered during the early part of the revolution disturbed him "tremendously" and complicated some of his decisions.<br /><br />"Escaping from the Central Intelligence Agency, which bought so many traitors, at times among one's own people, was not a simple thing. But, in the end, if responsibility has to be taken, I take it. I'm not going to put the blame on others," he said.<br /><br />La Jornada reported that homosexuality has been decriminalised in Cuba since the 1990s and free sex-change operations offered on the island since 2008 .The 84-year-old former head of state, who ceded power to younger brother Raul Castro in 2006 after being stricken with a near-fatal illness, also said his country was the victim of "bacteriological warfare" that allowed haemorrhagic dengue fever to come to the island.<br /><br />"It brought the dengue 2 virus here. In pre-revolutionary Cuba, not even the 1 virus (the non-lethal form of the illness) was known here. Here, the 2 appeared, which is much more dangerous because it produces haemorrhagic dengue which attacks children, above all," he said.The virus killed around 150 Cubans in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Castro told Carmen Lira, editor of Mexican daily La Jornada, that the persecution of gays occurred at a time of "great injustice", and criticised himself for not paying "sufficient attention" to the matter.<br /><br />"If anyone is responsible, I am," Castro said, adding that he was "trying to define" the extent of his responsibility for those deeds.<br /><br />Castro, however, said he doesn't harbour any personal prejudice toward gays and lesbians.<br />He said the attacks he suffered during the early part of the revolution disturbed him "tremendously" and complicated some of his decisions.<br /><br />"Escaping from the Central Intelligence Agency, which bought so many traitors, at times among one's own people, was not a simple thing. But, in the end, if responsibility has to be taken, I take it. I'm not going to put the blame on others," he said.<br /><br />La Jornada reported that homosexuality has been decriminalised in Cuba since the 1990s and free sex-change operations offered on the island since 2008 .The 84-year-old former head of state, who ceded power to younger brother Raul Castro in 2006 after being stricken with a near-fatal illness, also said his country was the victim of "bacteriological warfare" that allowed haemorrhagic dengue fever to come to the island.<br /><br />"It brought the dengue 2 virus here. In pre-revolutionary Cuba, not even the 1 virus (the non-lethal form of the illness) was known here. Here, the 2 appeared, which is much more dangerous because it produces haemorrhagic dengue which attacks children, above all," he said.The virus killed around 150 Cubans in the 1970s.</p>