Raul Castro says Cuba ready if U.S. attacks

[Judi Lynn]

Raul Castro says Cuba ready if U.S. attacks

By Marc Frank


HAVANA, Dec. 7 — Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro said on Sunday that should the Communist state's arch-enemy the United States invade Cuba its forces would pay a far heavier price than the U.S. troops occupying Iraq.

''Our people will pay a terrible price, but we will exact from the aggressors a high cost, be they the Yankees alone or with their cousins the British or Spanish,'' Castro told reporters after attending a Veterans Day ceremony.
The Bush administration denies it plans to attack Cuba but since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March Cuban officials have expressed concern that they might be targeted too. Western diplomats say the government has used the prospect of such an invasion to rally Cubans.
Raul Castro, President Fidel Castro's younger brother and designated successor, said the Bush administration's doctrine of preemptive strikes and accusation that Cuba may have weapons of mass destruction amounted to direct military threats.
''The price they pay will be much higher (than in Iraq) and they are not going to dominate this country,'' Castro said. Nearly 450 Americans have been killed in combat and non-combat incidents in Iraq since the March 20 invasion.
''For any invader who sticks a boot here, at the very least the boot with the foot inside will remain,'' he said, adding there would be a mine and an ambush awaiting foreign troops every square meter of the country. (snip/...)

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters12-07-103233.asp?
reg=AMERICAS

On edit:

I don't think he said this merely to "rally Cubans."

_Bush has been making some hideous moves concerning Cuba from his first day. In the last few days, DU Cuba watchers will remember he had that fool, John Bolton, reiterate their bogus, preposterous claims of Cuba's having WMD, biological in nature, which was ALREADY dealt with before. You remember he made these charges the very night before Jimmy Carter was scheduled to arrive in Havana.

@$$####$!

[mikehiggins]

1. Raul Castro sailing down de-Nial.

Bush could stage round the clock bombing from McGill AF base in Tampa and level Cuba so thoroughly all that would be left to do would be build new casinos for the Mafia to run.

The smartest thing the Castro people have done in years was to invite US oilmen to drill off the coast. With them in the mix, most favored nation status is only hours away.

[Osolomia]

4. It's the Democrats* who are "sailing down de-Nial"

with their silent complicity with the Bush Doctrine that Noriega reiterated yet again just last week without a single iota of opposition from Dem leaders, yet again:

Martinez and Noriega told reporters in a conference call afterward that the commission will focus on ways to speed up the beginning of a political and economic transition to Democracy in Cuba and to respond once that transition is underway. The goal is to prevent a succession that allows the present government to continue, Noriega said.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/politics/7424402.htm

[Mika]

5. The agenda is the same as al Queda's

\

"The goal is to prevent a succession that allows the present government to continue, Noriega said."

What would the USA do if there were nations at work with the same agenda against us? :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[Pale_Rider]

6. Come on down to Cuba, Halliburton ...

Cuba: American Companies Welcome to Explore for Oil
VOA News (link fubar'ed)
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=1C9DFAF1-1938-495F-B38A9ABF959451C4
Cuba says American oil companies are welcome to join exploration efforts off the island's coast in the Gulf of Mexico.

The ruling Communist Party newspaper, Granma, published a statement Thursday saying Cuban officials would not object to U.S. companies exploring for oil in Cuban waters as long as it is mutually beneficial.

on edit: if the above VOA link is screwed up, try the news story from MSNBC.

MSNBC News

[Mika]

7. Caveat: as long as it is mutually beneficial

Mutually beneficial? What an outrageous requirement. Off with their heads!

On edit - here's the working VOA link
www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectid=1C9DFAF1-1938-495F-B38A9ABF959451C4&title=Cuba%3A%20American%20%20Companies%20Welcome%20to%20Explore%20for%20Oil&db=current

[Pale_Rider]

8. Crimony ...

... looks like that VOA link is fubar. Oh well, replaced it a duplicate story from MSNBC. Sorry about that ...

Cuba invites U.S. companies to explore for oil
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters12-04-091422.asp?reg=AMERICAS

HAVANA, Dec. 4 — Cuba said on Thursday American oil companies were welcome to join off-shore exploration of its Gulf of Mexico waters.

Spain's Repsol-YPF SA plans to sink an exploratory well in March in waters one mile (1.6 km) deep off Cuba's northwestern coast in search of light oil deposits. A Canadian company has also signed risk contracts to explore for oil deposits there.
''The government of Cuba wishes to say it has no objection whatsoever to the involvement of American oil companies in exploration and drilling in our exclusive economic zone on mutually beneficial terms,'' said a statement published by the ruling Communist Party newspaper, Granma.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Raul Castro mentioned in second article

Last Updated: Thursday, 4 December, 2003, 08:01 GMT

Top Cuban tourism officials held


Cuba is keen to attract American tourists
Several senior officials in the largest state-run tourism organisation in Cuba Cubanacan have been placed under house arrest on suspicion of corruption.
Among those detained is the president of Cubanacan, Juan Jose Vega.

Millions of dollars are said to be missing from the hotel, restaurant and travel agency business.

The irregularities came to light when the company complied with a government order to all firms holding US dollars to convert them into Cuban pesos. (snip)

(snip) Cuban Minister of Defence Raul Castro is reportedly taking an active involvement in this inquiry - this points to the seriousness of the allegations, our correspondent says. (snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3289843.stm

[Mika]

3. They're just responding to the recent threats by w*'s posse

From the lead link,

Western diplomats say the government has used the prospect of such an invasion to rally Cubans.

Then its a good idea for the pandering politicians to keep threatening Cuba.

It rallies Cubans in Cuba further support for their government, and it keeps the anti Cuba factions (as well as the "end the sanctions" factions) campaign contributions pouring in to US politicians. As long as the US fabricated "standoff" continues, the campaign coffers and slush funds are filled with pro and anti Cuba PAC money.

In the case of Cuba the highest bidder doesn't win the vote - because the whole purpose of the "standoff' IS the bidding process (getting campaign cash from both PACs on sides).

[Malva Zebrina]

9. tch

this makes me feel sad. :-(

To think a peaceful people, without a significant military for defense against this superpower, relatively vulnerable , as most small nations are, to the attack on the whims of a bizarro, religious obssessive, man, need to consider an invasion by an insane, war crazy American president as something that might become a reality.

That is sad.

Cuba has threatened no one--has survived tens of years of sanctions by the US--and has survived nicely. It has not attempted to overthrow any American president or invade any American state over aperiod of forty years. They are not involved in any sureptitious terrorism attacks, and because of their vulnerability, the quintessential bully sees an easy photo op and another situation where he can lie about the "threat" and invade Cuba, take over it's tourism and trade and it's resources, install a right winger currently living in Miami, who has been waiting behing the curtain in Florida for just that opportunity, and the American people will praise him to the sky for ousting a "commie, atheist conspirator", imho. :eyes:

[Mikimouse]

12. What a shock! Now, as I remember, our illustrious

leader supposedly has an undergraduate degree in history, so it shouldn't be difficult for him to remember the Bay of Pigs. Idiots; blustering, pompous, lying, bastard, hypocritical, (did I already say lying?) idiots. And for those who think that 'bombing them flat' will accomplish anything, look at the Afghans and the Iraqis! You can destroy materials, but the human spirit, insofar as invaders are concerned, will always live on.

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. __hmmm - - are we SURE all the missiles went back in '62 ? ?

. . did Murikka really find ALL of the silos ?

if they did - the gov't musta been alot smarter back then


da BFEE can't find Osama

da BFEE can't find Saddam

da BFEE can't find WMD's

da BFEE can't find International Support

da BFEE can't find it's own *ss

and so on-

But they found ALL the ICBM's 41 years ago ??

hmmm

And we know how good TODAY's "intelligence" is

scary

[Billy Burnett]

11. You've got to love the Miamigusana and their 'rumors'.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters12-07-103233.asp

Cuba's Defense Minister, who appeared robust and in good humor, had not been seen in public for weeks, leading to persistent rumors he had cancer or another terminal illness.

Every other week there are rumors sweeping Miamicuban radio about Fidel's imminent demise, stroke, drowning, or some such thing, or Raul's supposed sexually contracted diseases or brain cancer are making him crazy. Cuban exile "talk" radio host Ninoska Perez (former spokesperson for the CANF) and her ilk do their part to keep the abuelos of Brigade 2506 on their toes. ROFLMAO It's damn funny to listen to them whipping up their listeners and callers with incredible fantasies. They, like Rush, sound like they are hysterically doped to the gills. So do their callers.

''I was dying of cancer but thanks to Cuban medicine ... I am almost well,'' he joked with reporters.

Raul plays them like a cheap fiddle.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Hi, Billy Burnett!

He DOES seem to have their number, for sure.

Here's a slightly different article, same subject:

Raul Castro makes public appearance after months of absence

HAVANA (AFP) Dec 07, 2003
General Raul Castro, Cuba's armed forces chief and President Fidel Castro's brother and designated sucessor, joked Sunday about rumors of his death after keeping out of the public eye for several months.
"I was dying of a fatal cancer but thanks to Cuban medicine, I am almost well," the younger Castro, 72, said at a military ceremony on Cacahual outside Havana.

"I was dead, the rumor was that I had been embalmed," Raul Castro quipped.

"Now, I'm half dead again," Castro joked, explaining he was mainly involved in Communist Party activities: "most of my activities are not publishable, that's why I do not appear in the press.

"I'll get lost again, continue my work and make an appearance when I have to, but I will always be present, don't forget that," the military chief said. (snip/...)

http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031207193504.iojnz7sb.html

[Mika]

14. LOL - Castro has been reincarnated so many times..

.. that he makes Jesus Christ look like an amateur.


"Every other week there are rumors sweeping Miamicuban radio about Fidel's imminent demise, stroke, drowning, or some such thing,.."


How true. It goes on so much its like a running joke, but the old abuelos get all bent out of shape anyway. Then their kids call in getting pissed that the exile talk shows give their parents and grandparents high blood pressure. When I hear them screeching and wailing on the radio I can't help but get a chuckle thinking that in Cuba they are listening to these shows too (you can tune in many Miami radio stations in Cuba) and laughing their asses off, like my friends in Cuba do.