Thursday, July 27, 2006

BAYAMO, Cuba (AFP): Cuban President Fidel Castro, who turns 80 next month and has been in power for almost 48 years, joked Wednesday that he did not plan to be leading Cuba if and when he hits the 100-year mark.

"There are already I don't know how many thousands of citizens of this country, and there will be more and more, who become centenarians. But to our little neighbors to the north, don't be alarmed: I am not thinking about being in office at that age," Castro told a national holiday crowd of about 100,000.

But Cuba's communist leader was not revealing retirement plans, either.

"I will fight, as long as I live, until the last second I have use of my facilities, to do something good, to do something useful. ... Human beings rise in stature when we do something for others," he said.

Castro, who leads the only communist, one-party regime in the Americas, also lashed out at a US plan to "assist" in a transition once he no longer holds power.

Mentioning Cuban educational and health programs, Castro said: "We have today what the United States does not."

Earlier this month, National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcon told AFP Castro "has been given this privilege: He is an extraordinarily healthy man. He has always been and remains healthy, although that angers (US President) George W. Bush."

Speculation about Castro's health peaked after his 2004 fall, during which he injured his right arm and left knee. Last November, the Cuban leader, who stopped smoking cigars in 1985 and now exercises every day, said he had recovered from these injuries.

He has named his 75-year-old brother, defense chief and regime number-two official Raul Castro, as his official successor.

The revamped US plan unveiled earlier this month, called a "Compact with the People of Cuba," adds 80 million dollars to the more than 70 million dollars already slated over 2007-2008 to "build support for transition to a legitimate, democratic government," a White House statement said.

Some of the money, which must gain approval from the US Congress, would provide "uncensored information" via conventional and satellite radio and television broadcasts as well as the Internet.

Funds will also be used for "strengthening democratic movements," the US statement said, and to "undermine regime finances and survival strategies."

"We face a real threat of aggression," Alarcon said at the time.

Alarcon suggested that the plan may have a secret annex, calling for anything from plots against Castro to a military invasion.

The official Communist Party newspaper Granma said "the document reflects the US desire to sooner or later annex Cuba."

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