US denies any intention to invade Cuba

Sunday, February 22, 2004

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): The United States took the unusual step of affirming Friday it has no intention of invading Cuba, and said President Fidel Castro's repeated warnings to the contrary were a fabrication aimed at keeping Cubans living in fear.

James Cason, the top US diplomat in Havana, said in a statement the United States has no reason to attack Cuba and no plan to do so.

In the past few weeks, Castro, leader of the only one-party communist government in the Americas, has said State Department officials made "direct threats at Cuba" that may include plans for an invasion or possibly plans to assinate him.

Cason, who leads the US Interests section here in the absence of a US embassy, said Castro's charges were made up to try to sow fear in the population and use it to justify continued use of vast military, security and intelligence apparatuses.

In recent months the Cuban government has begun a steady drumbeat ahead of a potential US invasion, holding neighborhood watch seminars and even advising people on evacuation centers in case of war.

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