Cuba to Defend Against U.S. Interference
by VANESSA ARRINGTON
HAVANA
Cuba Won't Let the United States to Take Advantage of Castro's Health Crisis
Cuba's communist government said it would defend itself against U.S. attempts to take advantage of Fidel Castro's health crisis as some exiles urged Washington to go further in fostering a democratic transition on the island.
"The people know they have a resource, a weapon, a place to defend the revolution if necessary," Rogelio Polanco, editor of the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, said on state television Thursday evening.
"Once again, they shouldn't make a mistake, not to fantasize … thinking their desires are reality," Polanco said in a public affairs program discussing how exiles celebrated Castro's recent surgery for intestinal bleeding. "They should not mess up and commit the greatest error of all time."
Cuban exiles, meanwhile, welcomed President Bush's rallying of people on the island to push for democracy, but some wanted more.
William Sanchez, an attorney for the Cuban American National Foundation, urged the president to push for an elections timetable and allow Cuban-Americans go to the island by boat to help with a political transition. U.S. policy halts such "flotillas" before they enter Cuban waters.
But there was no sense on the island that anything was going to change.
"The revolution will continue" was the mantra chanted in state media Thursday, three days after Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother Raul while recovering from surgery.
The acting president was still nowhere to be seen. Nor was the elder Castro, who turns 80 on Aug. 13. Yet the state news media lined up Cubans to express confidence both in Fidel Castro's ability to recover quickly and in Raul Castro's competence to govern in the meantime.
"Every Cuban trusts Raul, and every one of our leaders," an unnamed woman said on state television's midday broadcast. "We are certain that the revolution will continue."
A U.S. official, however, said Cubans in contact with the American mission in Havana expressed fear and unease as they awaited new developments.
...More
HAVANA
Cuba Won't Let the United States to Take Advantage of Castro's Health Crisis
Cuba's communist government said it would defend itself against U.S. attempts to take advantage of Fidel Castro's health crisis as some exiles urged Washington to go further in fostering a democratic transition on the island.
"The people know they have a resource, a weapon, a place to defend the revolution if necessary," Rogelio Polanco, editor of the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, said on state television Thursday evening.
"Once again, they shouldn't make a mistake, not to fantasize … thinking their desires are reality," Polanco said in a public affairs program discussing how exiles celebrated Castro's recent surgery for intestinal bleeding. "They should not mess up and commit the greatest error of all time."
Cuban exiles, meanwhile, welcomed President Bush's rallying of people on the island to push for democracy, but some wanted more.
William Sanchez, an attorney for the Cuban American National Foundation, urged the president to push for an elections timetable and allow Cuban-Americans go to the island by boat to help with a political transition. U.S. policy halts such "flotillas" before they enter Cuban waters.
But there was no sense on the island that anything was going to change.
"The revolution will continue" was the mantra chanted in state media Thursday, three days after Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother Raul while recovering from surgery.
The acting president was still nowhere to be seen. Nor was the elder Castro, who turns 80 on Aug. 13. Yet the state news media lined up Cubans to express confidence both in Fidel Castro's ability to recover quickly and in Raul Castro's competence to govern in the meantime.
"Every Cuban trusts Raul, and every one of our leaders," an unnamed woman said on state television's midday broadcast. "We are certain that the revolution will continue."
A U.S. official, however, said Cubans in contact with the American mission in Havana expressed fear and unease as they awaited new developments.
...More
posted by Alice at
Friday, August 04, 2006
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