'Exhausted' Castro Rebuts US Candidates
24 February, 2008Havana: Three days after stepping down as Cuban leader, Fidel Castro was back in the fray on Friday rebutting US presidential hopefuls who called for political change in Cuba.
Castro said he was 'exhausted' by the 'days of tension' leading up to his retirement after 49 years in power and needed a holiday, but could not keep silent over the reactions in the US to his departure announcement on Tuesday.
Castro said in an article that the reactions to his retirement, including calls for 'liberty' in Cuba, forced him to 'open fire' again on his ideological enemies.
'I enjoyed seeing the embarrassing position of all the presidential candidates in the United States,' he wrote in a column published by the Communist Party daily Granma.
'One by one, they felt obliged to proclaim their immediate demands of Cuba so as not to risking losing a single vote,' Castro said. ''Change, change, change!'' they cried in chorus. I agree, 'change!' but in the United States,' he wrote.
Republican front-runner John McCain took another shot at Castro on Friday, stating bluntly that he hoped the leftist Cuban firebrand would die soon. 'I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon,' McCain, who favours tightened sanctions against Castro's government, told a town-hall style meeting in Indianapolis.
Castro, 81, has not appeared in public since undergoing stomach surgery and handing power temporarily to his brother Raul in July 2006. Cuba's rubber-stamp National Assembly is expected to name Raul Castro as Cuba's new leader today.
Fidel Castro, the most enduring political leader of the last century, turned Cuba into a one-party state and Soviet ally on the doorstep of the United States after seizing power in an armed revolution in 1959. He survived the Cold War, CIA assassination attempts and what he calls the US "blockade" during 10 administrations.
US policy
US President George W. Bush has tightened the 45-year trade embargo and has rejected easing sanctions or restrictions on travel to Cuba without a transition to democracy.
On Tuesday in Rwanda, Bush said Castro's departure should kick off a period of democratic change in Cuba. McCain said on Tuesday that Washington must keep sanctions on Cuba in place until it allows free elections and releases political prisoners.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama suggested they might lift the trade embargo if Castro's successor moves toward democracy.
'One by one, they felt obliged to proclaim their immediate demands of Cuba so as not to risking losing a single vote,' Castro said. ''Change, change, change!'' they cried in chorus. I agree, 'change!' but in the United States,' he wrote.
Republican front-runner John McCain took another shot at Castro on Friday, stating bluntly that he hoped the leftist Cuban firebrand would die soon. 'I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon,' McCain, who favours tightened sanctions against Castro's government, told a town-hall style meeting in Indianapolis.
Castro, 81, has not appeared in public since undergoing stomach surgery and handing power temporarily to his brother Raul in July 2006. Cuba's rubber-stamp National Assembly is expected to name Raul Castro as Cuba's new leader today.
Fidel Castro, the most enduring political leader of the last century, turned Cuba into a one-party state and Soviet ally on the doorstep of the United States after seizing power in an armed revolution in 1959. He survived the Cold War, CIA assassination attempts and what he calls the US "blockade" during 10 administrations.
US policy
US President George W. Bush has tightened the 45-year trade embargo and has rejected easing sanctions or restrictions on travel to Cuba without a transition to democracy.
On Tuesday in Rwanda, Bush said Castro's departure should kick off a period of democratic change in Cuba. McCain said on Tuesday that Washington must keep sanctions on Cuba in place until it allows free elections and releases political prisoners.
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama suggested they might lift the trade embargo if Castro's successor moves toward democracy.
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 2:10 AM
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