Raúl Castro Makes First Public Remarks
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작성자 MARC LACEY 작성일06-08-18 18:28 조회899회 댓글0건관련링크
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MEXICO CITY, Aug. 18 — Raúl Castro, in his first public comments since temporarily taking over power in Cuba from his ailing brother, said that he had mobilized the country’s armed forces in the hours after Fidel Castro’s illness was announced to fend off any invasion that might have been planned by Washington.
“We could not rule out the risk of somebody going crazy, or even crazier, within the U.S. government,” Mr. Castro, the country’s defense minister, said in an interview with the editor of Granma, the Communist Party newspaper.
In remarks that Cuba watchers said did not veer from the party line, Raúl Castro, 75, said his older brother, who turned 80 last Sunday, was recovering gradually from surgery and that “absolute tranquility is reigning in the country.”
The younger Mr. Castro, speaking from his office at the Ministry of Defense, lashed out at President Bush’s efforts to push for political change in Cuba as “boorish” and “stupid” and said Cubans stood ready to repel any attacks “rifle in hand.”
“So far the attacks have only been rhetorical, with the exception of the substantial increase in subversive radio and television broadcasts against Cuba,” Mr. Castro said, in an article headlined “No Enemy Can Defeat Us.”
The Bush administration has said it has no plans to intervene in Cuba militarily but is pushing for a transition to multiparty democracy there. “Our desire is for the Cuban people to choose their own form of government,” President Bush said earlier this month.
Cuban government officials have raised the threat of an American invasion for decades. The fact that a recent report prepared by the Bush administration to accelerate political change in Cuba contains a classified section has only increased the suspicions in Havana.
Portraying the Cuban people as more united than ever behind their government, Mr. Castro said the population’s calm and discipline in the weeks after Fidel Castro’s surgery “reminded me of the conduct of the Cuban people during the heroic days of the so-called Missile Crisis of October 1962.”
Raúl Castro, who fought alongside his brother’s side in the revolutionary struggle that began in 1953, has largely remained out of the limelight in the two weeks since the government announced a temporary handover of power to allow Fidel Castro to recover from surgery for intestinal bleeding. Raúl Castro, without signalling how long he thought his interim presidency would last, said his low-key style would likely continue.
“I have always been discreet,” he said. “That is my way and I am thinking of continuing in that way.”
“We could not rule out the risk of somebody going crazy, or even crazier, within the U.S. government,” Mr. Castro, the country’s defense minister, said in an interview with the editor of Granma, the Communist Party newspaper.
In remarks that Cuba watchers said did not veer from the party line, Raúl Castro, 75, said his older brother, who turned 80 last Sunday, was recovering gradually from surgery and that “absolute tranquility is reigning in the country.”
The younger Mr. Castro, speaking from his office at the Ministry of Defense, lashed out at President Bush’s efforts to push for political change in Cuba as “boorish” and “stupid” and said Cubans stood ready to repel any attacks “rifle in hand.”
“So far the attacks have only been rhetorical, with the exception of the substantial increase in subversive radio and television broadcasts against Cuba,” Mr. Castro said, in an article headlined “No Enemy Can Defeat Us.”
The Bush administration has said it has no plans to intervene in Cuba militarily but is pushing for a transition to multiparty democracy there. “Our desire is for the Cuban people to choose their own form of government,” President Bush said earlier this month.
Cuban government officials have raised the threat of an American invasion for decades. The fact that a recent report prepared by the Bush administration to accelerate political change in Cuba contains a classified section has only increased the suspicions in Havana.
Portraying the Cuban people as more united than ever behind their government, Mr. Castro said the population’s calm and discipline in the weeks after Fidel Castro’s surgery “reminded me of the conduct of the Cuban people during the heroic days of the so-called Missile Crisis of October 1962.”
Raúl Castro, who fought alongside his brother’s side in the revolutionary struggle that began in 1953, has largely remained out of the limelight in the two weeks since the government announced a temporary handover of power to allow Fidel Castro to recover from surgery for intestinal bleeding. Raúl Castro, without signalling how long he thought his interim presidency would last, said his low-key style would likely continue.
“I have always been discreet,” he said. “That is my way and I am thinking of continuing in that way.”
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