Friday, August 4, 2006

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): Pressure mounted Thursday on Raul Castro to prove he was in control as Cuba's interim leader as US President George W. Bush called on Cubans to push for democracy with strongman Fidel Castro sidelined by surgery.

While Raul and Fidel Castro had yet to appear publicly since Monday's dramatic handover of power, Bush said the United States was ready to help Cuba's transition to democracy and urged other nations to do the same.

"I urge the Cuban people to work for democratic change on the island," Bush said in his first statement since Castro temporarily relinquished power to his brother.

"We will support you in your effort to build a transitional government in Cuba committed to democracy, and we will take note of those, in the current Cuban regime, who obstruct your desire for a free Cuba," Bush said.

"I encourage all democratic nations to unite in support of the right of the Cuban people to define a democratic change on the island," he said in a written statement on his way to a summer retreat at his Texas ranch.

Bush's comments came as attention in Cuba focused on Raul's continued absence from public view three days into his interim rule.

Instead of any address, Cuba's Communist Party newspaper re-ran a statement issued by Raul on July 1 about the legitimacy of Cuba's leadership.

Cuba's enemy, Raul said in reference to the United States, "knows that the special trust the people put in the main leader of a revolutionary government is not passed on as if it were an inheritance to those who in the future may hold the country's top leadership positions.

"There is only one commander-in-chief of the Cuban Revolution, and it is the Communist Party," he was quoted as saying in the front-page Granma newspaper story.

Some analysts saw the recycled address as the party's response to questions about Raul's lack of visibility.

For many people on the street of Havana, no news from the man now wielding Cuba's power -- who leads the government, 50,000-man armed forces and Communist Party -- was not necessarily good news.

Regime watchers are not deeply surprised by Raul taking his time and holding his tongue, but the uncertainty has helped fuel speculation about whether Cuba might move toward some kind of transition, stay essentially the same or even see the government take a harder line.

On the street, many people said they were not that familiar with Raul, who was seen as a hardliner early in the Communist regime but is now said to admire China's embrace of communism and capitalism. He led pragmatic reforms such as opening up to tourism.

"If the (Communist Party) central committee is united, there will be no problem. But it will be necessary for Raul to be under its control," a longtime party member in his 60s said privately late Wednesday.

Fidel Castro, who turns 80 on August 13, has been heard from only in a statement attributed to him late Tuesday, saying he was in "good spirits." He was last seen in public July 26.

His sister Juanita, a drugstore owner in Miami, told US media she had been told by someone in Cuba her brother was out of intensive care following surgery.

Late Wednesday, the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation -- which Havana calls a terrorist organization -- urged Cubans to seize the moment.

"There is now an opportunity for brave men and women who want to take Cuba in another direction to take advantage of that opportunity," said Jorge Mas Santos, the exile group's president.

"That could be an uprising of military or of civilians, ... and obviously with whatever means they choose to lead Cuba toward democracy," he added.

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