kndtrpts
01-01-2009, 09:08 PM
Castro to Extend Revolution, Warns of U.S. Aggression
an. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Cuban President Raul Castro vowed to extend his brother's revolution and said the global financial crisis means the country, battered last year by hurricanes and plunging commodity prices, may face more difficult times.
``The current disturbances in the world tell us the coming years will not be easier. This is the truth. I'm not saying this to scare anyone,'' Castro, 77, told supporters in Santiago de Cuba, seized by his brother, Fidel, on New Year's Day 1959 as Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara marched into Havana.
Hurricanes Ike, Gustav and Paloma caused about $10 billion in damage, the equivalent of 20 percent of gross domestic product, Castro said in the Dec. 27 speech.
The ailing Fidel, 82, who stepped down as president in February, didn't appear at the event to mark the revolution's 50th anniversary.
Castro said the country's leaders should ``never be misled by the enemy's siren songs and be aware that the enemy will never cease to be aggressive, treacherous and dominant.''
Castro has taken halting steps to open social and economic life. He allowed Cubans to buy mobile phones and DVD players few can afford and lifted a ban on citizens using tourist hotels accessible only with foreign currency. He also announced that unused government land will be distributed to private farmers.
Regime Change
``One way or another, every U.S. administration has tried to impose a regime change in Cuba. Resistance has been the key word,'' Castro, wearing a green military uniform, said. ``The U.S. will never cease to be aggressive.''
Raul and Fidel Castro began their revolution in 1953 with a failed assault on the Moncada army barracks. Released from jail in a general amnesty, they joined the Argentine revolutionary Guevara in Mexico and in 1956 crossed the Caribbean with 82 fighters to attack the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
After Batista's forces killed all but about 20 of the insurgents, the Castros fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains and built their guerrilla army. On New Year's Day in 1959, Batista fled the island.
In his 49 years in power, Fidel Castro outlasted 10 U.S. presidents, almost five decades of a U.S. trade embargo and the collapse of his primary patron, the Soviet Union.
Fidel Castro congratulated the ``heroic people'' of Cuba in a note posted on the Web site of the government newspaper Granma. Since handing power to his brother, Fidel Castro has made the newspaper, named for the boat he rode to launch his revolution, his primary form of communication.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aOIpdXOinRd4&refer=latin_america
an. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Cuban President Raul Castro vowed to extend his brother's revolution and said the global financial crisis means the country, battered last year by hurricanes and plunging commodity prices, may face more difficult times.
``The current disturbances in the world tell us the coming years will not be easier. This is the truth. I'm not saying this to scare anyone,'' Castro, 77, told supporters in Santiago de Cuba, seized by his brother, Fidel, on New Year's Day 1959 as Ernesto ``Che'' Guevara marched into Havana.
Hurricanes Ike, Gustav and Paloma caused about $10 billion in damage, the equivalent of 20 percent of gross domestic product, Castro said in the Dec. 27 speech.
The ailing Fidel, 82, who stepped down as president in February, didn't appear at the event to mark the revolution's 50th anniversary.
Castro said the country's leaders should ``never be misled by the enemy's siren songs and be aware that the enemy will never cease to be aggressive, treacherous and dominant.''
Castro has taken halting steps to open social and economic life. He allowed Cubans to buy mobile phones and DVD players few can afford and lifted a ban on citizens using tourist hotels accessible only with foreign currency. He also announced that unused government land will be distributed to private farmers.
Regime Change
``One way or another, every U.S. administration has tried to impose a regime change in Cuba. Resistance has been the key word,'' Castro, wearing a green military uniform, said. ``The U.S. will never cease to be aggressive.''
Raul and Fidel Castro began their revolution in 1953 with a failed assault on the Moncada army barracks. Released from jail in a general amnesty, they joined the Argentine revolutionary Guevara in Mexico and in 1956 crossed the Caribbean with 82 fighters to attack the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
After Batista's forces killed all but about 20 of the insurgents, the Castros fled to the Sierra Maestra mountains and built their guerrilla army. On New Year's Day in 1959, Batista fled the island.
In his 49 years in power, Fidel Castro outlasted 10 U.S. presidents, almost five decades of a U.S. trade embargo and the collapse of his primary patron, the Soviet Union.
Fidel Castro congratulated the ``heroic people'' of Cuba in a note posted on the Web site of the government newspaper Granma. Since handing power to his brother, Fidel Castro has made the newspaper, named for the boat he rode to launch his revolution, his primary form of communication.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aOIpdXOinRd4&refer=latin_america