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Fidel Castro 'is recovering'
18/08/2006 18:25 - (SA)
Havana - Cuban leader Fidel Castro is
recovering gradually, acting President Raul Castro said in an
interview published on Friday, in his first statements since he
took over from his ailing brother last month.
The younger Castro said he mobilised Cuba's armed forces
and tens of thousands of reservists to face the threat of a
US invasion in the crucial hours after his brother's illness
was announced.
"We could not rule out the risk of somebody going crazy, or
even crazier, within the US government," he said in the
interview published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma, in
which he also blasted US President George W Bush's plans for
a post-Castro Cuba.
Washington has assured Cubans it has no plans to invade.
Raul Castro, 75, said his brother's improvement had been
"progressive." Fidel Castro's physical and mental strength have
helped his "satisfactory and gradual recovery," he said.
'Millions will defend Cuba'
"Absolute tranquillity is reigning in the country."
Cuba announced on July 31 that Fidel Castro, who turned 80
on Sunday, underwent surgery for intestinal bleeding and had
delegated the presidency, supreme command of the armed forces
and leadership of the Communist Party provisionally to his
brother Raul, the defence minister and designated successor.
Raul Castro said there had been an outpouring of support
from Cubans for the government. "It has been a clear
demonstration of the people's unbeatable unity and
revolutionary conscience, essential pillars of our country."
His appointment sparked speculation that Fidel Castro's
47-year rule in one of the world's last communist bastions,
145km from the southern tip of Florida, might
be ending. Rumours were fuelled when neither Raul nor Fidel
Castro appeared in public until pictures and video were
released two weeks later.
"As a matter of fact, I am not used to making frequent
appearances in public, except at times when it is required,"
Raul Castro told Granma, speaking from his office at the
Ministry of Defence.
Raul Castro said he was gratified by international support
for the Cuban government and expressed scorn for those who had
expected chaos, particularly in arch-enemy the United States.
He said Cuba has been and will continue to be open to talks
with the United States to try to improve bitter relations that
were formally broken off in 1961. That, however, required
respect for Cuban sovereignty as a precondition, he said.
Bush last month stepped up pressure for a transition to
multiparty democracy in Cuba, approving an additional $80m in funding for Castro's opponents and anti-Castro TV
and Radio Marti. Cuba has been under US sanctions since a few
years after Castro came to power in his 1959 revolution.
He said the calm and discipline of the Cuban people
reminded him of the country's response during the October 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis, a tense 13-day stand-off between
Washington and Moscow over Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba.
Raul Castro said US efforts to speed up a transition to
democracy in Cuba would get nowhere and warned that "millions
and millions" of Cubans were prepared to defend their country
against US intervention "rifle in hand."
- Reuters
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