In a nutshell, Estulin’s book makes the tempting case that an elite group of political, academic and economic leaders are, as quoted by Castro, “ushering in a world government that knows no borders and is not accountable to anyone but its own self.”

Castro went on to call the book a “fantastic story” that draws public attention to “sinister cliques and the Bilderberg lobbyists” that are making a mockery of Western democratic traditions.

The Bilderberg Group, which holds annual closed-door meetings that are rarely covered by the mainstream media, got its name from a hotel in Holland where it commenced its first meeting in 1954. This year’s meeting was held in Spain, at the luxury Dolce Hotel in Sitges from June 3-6, and was opened by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Thanks to growing interest in the group, which has become something of an Internet sensation, there was no shortage of protesters outside of this year's venue.

Is Castro on to something?

Although international meetings that bring together the world’s movers and shakers occur on a regular basis, Bilderberg Group functions are different in that they convene behind closed doors, while the mainstream corporate media, despite having numerous representatives at these annual events, never reveals the content of what is discussed.

The Bilderberg Group website, which consists of just one page, defends its activities by tersely stating between nibbles of a caviar-coated cracker: “Bilderberg is a small, flexible, informal and off-the-record international forum in which different viewpoints can be expressed and mutual understanding enhanced. Bilderberg's only activity is its annual Conference. At the meetings, no resolutions are proposed, no votes taken, and no policy statements issued.”

The website failed to explain, however, the coincidence of prominent guests who have gone on to be elected as political leaders of their respective countries, including Bill Clinton who first attended in 1991.

The rare photographs taken of public figures whisked into these insanely secret events behind an iron phalanx of security have naturally fed numerous conspiracy theories over the motivation behind these meetings. Meanwhile, the guest list to these events is a veritable who’s who of the most influential people of our times.

Here is a brief peek at some of the big-name attendees of this year’s power pow-wow that were leaked to the media: Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman; Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State; Moisès Naìm, Editor-in-Chief, Foreign Policy; Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands; Her Majesty the Queen of Spain; Robert Rubin, Co-chairman, Council on Foreign Relations; Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google; Paul Volcker, US Economic Recovery Advisory Board; Peter Vosel, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc; Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank.

And the list goes on, but unfortunately any sort of mainstream reporting on these meetings does not.

Although Castro’s personal endorsement of Estulin’s book will draw attention to the mystery that surrounds Bilderberg, the diehard Cuban leader was not the first person to pull the lid off of this story.

Europe is also puzzled

On the initiative of Mario Borghezio, Italian Member of the European Parliament (Lega Nord, Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group), Daniel Estulin addressed the European Parliament in a press conference entitled “Bilderberg Group – Towards the Creation of a One World Company Ltd.?”

During the conference, Estulin accused North American and European elites of conspiring to create a so-called “aristocracy of purpose” in order to “control the necessities of life for the rest of the planet.”

Seemingly unpredictable events, Estulin argues, like the recent financial implosion that had powerful aftershocks around the planet, are actually nothing more than planned catastrophes designed to bring about the "One World Company, Ltd."

At the same press conference, Borghezio used the opportunity to criticize the “selection” of Herman van Rompuy as the first president of the European Union, whose nomination was allegedly sealed after he was seen rubbing elbows at a recent Bilderberg event alongside the likes of Henry Kissinger, former prime minister of Sweden Carl Bildt and David Rockefeller, one of the great granddads of the annual get-together.

Here is the British media’s take on van Rompuy’s rise to power:

“The man tipped to be Europe’s first president is already considering new EU taxes to fund the rising cost of Brussels and the welfare state.”

Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian Prime Minister, broke his silence before Thursday’s summit to choose the president – but only at a meeting of the secretive Bilderberg group of top politicians, bankers and businessmen.”

Mr. Van Rompuy’s contentious remarks were aired privately amid the grand surroundings of the Castle of the Valley of the Duchess near Brussels. The château hosted the talks on the Treaty of Rome in 1957 that launched the European Union.”

Clearly, the selection of van Rompuy by an elite minority of champagne-sipping individuals flies in the face of democratic theory and hurls Europe back into the Dark Ages when the voice of the people was considered bothersome at best.

“For me,” Borghezio told the conference, the selection of van Rompuy “relates to events that take place in absolute confidentiality, without public control, and had I not exposed it myself, we probably would still not have known about van Rompuy’s affiliations.”

Castro, who has been in power through 11 US presidencies (he has predicted that he will not survive Obama's first term in office), has frequently harbored suspicions of conspiratorial plots. The former president has gone on the record as saying the events of September 11, for example, was an inside job by the US government to promote military expenditures and global reach.

Castro, who underwent emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006, handed over presidential powers to his brother Raul in February 2008. Yet this has not stopped the Communist from speaking his mind on matters of international urgency.

On August 8, Castro convened a special session of the Cuban parliament to discuss the threat of a "nuclear holocaust" over the Middle East crisis involving Israel, Iran and the United States. He even made a personal plea to US President Barack Obama to “avoid the worst possible outcome,” which would spell “disaster for humanity.”

Webster G. Tarpley, a frequent commentator on RT, noted that the US media largely ignored Castro’s warnings.

“Not surprisingly,” Tarpley was quoted by Global Research as saying, “the controlled Wall Street news media in the United States did everything possible to trivialize, denigrate and ridicule this dramatic warning. Frivolity and inanity rule US news coverage this summer.”

It is no surprise that the same media “frivolity and inanity” that is able to ignore warnings by a veteran global leader on the perils of a potential nuclear holocaust, is also able to ignore accusations that an ultra-secret organization is trampling recklessly on democratic terrain.

The question, however, is not whether the accusations against the Bilderberg Group are true or false, but rather why the international corporate media, despite having front row seats at these elite meetings, continually fail to report the content of these events to the public. Given the high-profile guest lists year after year, which regularly include the leaders of practically every Western power, this seems to be part of the public's "right to know."

Although Fidel Castro will never be elected as democracy’s poster boy, he seems to have a very valid argument in questioning the existence of a secretive group such as Bilderberg, which seems to have next to nothing in common with the West’s democratic traditions.

Secrecy regardless of the justifications has absolutely no place in a modern democracy.

Robert Bridge, RT