Cuba 'prepared to defend revolution'

Cuba’s communist leadership launched a campaign today emphasising Raul Castro’s revolutionary roots and loyalty to his older brother, an attempt to reassure Cubans that the revolution would continue while Fidel Castro recovers from surgery.

The government said it would defend itself against US attempts to take advantage of Castro’s health crisis, as US President George Bush urged islanders to push for democratic change and some anti-Castro exiles urged Washington to go even further.

With neither Castro brother appearing in public since the announcement of the surgery on Monday night, officials sought to assure Cubans that outside threats would come to nothing.

“We Cubans are prepared for the defence … and Raul is there firmly at the helm of the nation, of the Revolutionary Armed Forces,” the Communist Party newspaper Granma said today.

Rogelio Polanco, editor of the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, said on state television last night that exiles who celebrated Castro’s illness shouldn’t get their hopes up.