Cuba 'ready to repel any attack'

The Communist leadership assured Cubans yesterday that acting president Raul Castro was in firm control of the nation, backed by the military and ready to repel any attack.

Several cabinet ministers also spoke out, saying that Fidel Castro is recovering from surgery to repair internal bleeding, and that the country is running smoothly.

Cuba’s government also issued its first decree since Fidel Castro temporarily stepped down on Monday for the first time in 47 years. The foreign ministry condemned the Israeli bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana as ”cowardly, vile and criminal,” called for an immediate cease-fire and urged the world to force Israel to stop its attacks.

The statement came as the government insisted it was operating normally with Raul Castro, the long-time defence minister, running things for his older brother.

Some Cuban exiles, seizing on the unprecedented transfer of power, called for the US government to do more to encourage a democratic transition on the island. But the government appeared undaunted.

“The unity and strength of the Revolution is being reinforced,” said Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma.

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

White House press secretary Tony Snow on Friday rejected as “absurd” any suggestion that the US would militarily attack the island.

“The US has absolutely no designs on invading Cuba,” Snow said in Crawford, Texas, where US President George Bush is vacationing at his ranch. “Cubans are going to have to chart their destiny. It’s the one thing that they’ve been deprived during the dictatorship of Fidel Castro.”

Cuban Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer, a long-time party leader and physician named by Castro to temporarily watch over his pet health projects in his absence, said Castro “underwent surgery from which he is recovering satisfactorily.”

Interviewed by Guatemala’s Radio Sonora as he visited a Cuban-built hospital in the Central American nation, he said Cuba has received “messages of support from the most far-flung places of the world” since Castro fell ill.

In Havana, Culture Minister Abel Prieto urged people to be patient, even though neither Castro brother has appeared publicly since Raul Castro was put in charge.

“We need to wait for Fidel’s next message,” he said at a presentation of musician Silvio Rodriguez’s latest CD. ”And Raul will appear in due time ... people know who Raul is.”

Prieto wouldn’t provide any details about Castro’s health, but said things were running smoothly in Cuba.

“This is a society that is functioning, that is working normally,” he said. “People are worried, and wanting to know more about the health of Fidel, but at the same time, they are conducting themselves appropriately.”

Rodriguez, one of the island’s most famous singers and composers and a stalwart supporter of Castro’s revolution, rejected the US vision for Cuba’s future. “A transition to capitalism? I follow this side (socialism) and I think I’ll stick with it.”

The Communist Party also launched a campaign yesterday describing Raul Castro’s revolutionary roots and loyalty to his older brother, emphasising that the revolution would continue during Fidel Castro’s recovery.