POSTED: 1532 GMT (2332 HKT), June 18, 2007
Story Highlights
• Castro's essay published Monday in Cuba's newspapers
• He accuses President Bush of plotting to send troops to Cuba since 2002
• Castro says island ready to beat back any invasion
HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Recuperating Fidel Castro vowed the United States
"will never have Cuba," saying in an essay published Monday that nearly
a year after emergency surgery left him "between life and death" the
island's communist system is strong and will stay that way.
The essay titled "You will never have Cuba" filled the front page of the
Communist Party daily Granma and other official newspapers. Castro
accused President Bush of plotting to send troops to Cuba since 2002 and
to "install a direct imperial administration."
"Cuba will continue developing and perfecting the combative capacity of
its people, including our modest but active and efficient arms industry,
against any invader that it comes across, no matter what weapons they
have," Castro wrote in the article, which was signed Sunday afternoon.
Cuba has repeatedly said its citizens are armed and prepared to beat
back any U.S. attempt to take advantage of Castro's health problems and
invade.
Castro announced last July that illness forced him to temporarily cede
power to a government headed by his brother Raul, the defense minister.
The 80-year-old's exact condition and ailment are state secrets, but
life on the island has remained little changed since he fell ill. In
recent weeks, Castro has signed a series editorials, most of them on
international topics such as a U.S.-backed plan to use food crops for
biofuels.
But Monday's was one of just two that have focused on Cuba, noting that
nearly a year had passed since July 31, 2006, when he was "between life
and death."
Paraphrasing the statement in which he turned over power, Castro said,
"I don't have any doubt that our people and our revolution will fight
until the last drop of blood."
"You shouldn't doubt it either, Mr. Bush!" Castro added. "I can assure
you, you will never have Cuba!"
Castro blamed Washington's 45-year-old trade embargo and travel ban
against Cuba for widespread hunger and malnutrition over the years.
"Our people are about to reach 50 years of cruel blockade. Thousands of
children have died or been mutilated as a consequence of the dirty war
against Cuba," he wrote.
He also said that a U.S. policy of allowing most Cuban migrants who
reach U.S. territory to stay was "another cause of death for Cuban
citizens, including women and children" apparently because it encourages
thousands to make dangerous attempts to reach Florida by boat.
Castro said that when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, costing Cuba
billions of dollars in annual subsidies and reducing the island's food
supply, the U.S. embargo contributed to cutting "proteins and calories"
on the island by 40 percent, while also causing widespread medicine
shortages.
"Everyone awaited, some with sadness, some with jubilation, the collapse
of the Cuban revolution," he wrote.
Suffering through an era dubbed the "special period," Cuba took small
steps to open the economy to some foreign investment and bolster
tourism, which increased the influx of hard currency.
The moves brought Cuba's economy back from the brink, but Castro wrote
that foreign cash "caused much damage to social consciousness" by giving
many Cubans a taste of capitalism and material wealth.
Castro's close friend and ally, socialist Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, has recently bolstered Cuba's economy further by selling the
island oil at favorable prices.
That "meant important relief and opened new possibilities," Castro wrote.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/06/18/cuba.castro.ap/
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