Negroponte & Co: Castro Sets Stage for Power Transition (AP)

[Eugene]

These "Fidel Castro's days are numbered" statements are now coming on a weekly basis.

Castro Sets Stage for Power Transition

By KATHERINE SHRADER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 16, 2007; 5:25 PM

WASHINGTON -- Cuban President Fidel Castro, ailing and out of sight, has been meeting
with a trickle of international guests in recent months, a U.S. government official said
Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive situation
with Cuba, declined to say with whom Castro was meeting. But the meetings, generally
with visitors from Latin America, suggest he may be setting the stage for a transition
of power that he hopes will protect the government he has built over four decades.

In a review of global threats last week, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte
said that Castro and his brother Raul, who has taken over as Cuba's temporary leader,
are trying to create a "soft landing" during the transfer of control.

"From the point of the United States policy, we don't want to see that happen,"
Negroponte said. "We want to see the prospects for freedom in that country enhanced
as a result of the transition" from Fidel Castro.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/16/AR2007011601109.html

Related thread: Report: Castro in serious condition (LBN)