Saturday, August 12, 2006

WASHINGTON, USA (Reuters): Cuba's Communist government may redouble its efforts to assert control and assure the successful transition from Fidel to Raul Castro, but the plan won't work in the end, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

"While we might be at a moment of great change, we might also be at a moment of actually the regime hardening as it attempts to assert its control," Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon told reporters.

"Ultimately, this transfer won't work," Shannon said. "Ultimately, there is no political figure inside of Cuba who matches Fidel Castro.

"When a rotor comes off a helicopter, it crashes. When a supreme leader disappears from an authoritarian regime, the authoritarian regime flounders."

Shannon said Washington was uncertain about the condition of Castro, who has not been seen in public since July 26. Five days later, he temporarily handed power to his younger brother while he recovered from stomach surgery.

"We don't how serious. We don't know what the level of recovery is," said Shannon, the top U.S. diplomat for Western Hemisphere affairs.

Shannon said Washington would continue to push for the democratization of the island through the release of political prisoners and free elections.

Cuba Transition Coordinator Caleb McCarry, appointed a year ago to prepare for the post-Castro era, said Washington earmarked funds of $80 million to increase the flow of information to Cuba through broadcasts and the Internet.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the government was implementing new measures to discourage Cubans from trying to smuggle themselves into the United States.

"We urge the Cuban people to stay on the island so that they may work for their freedom and a democratic society," said Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson. "If a Cuban chooses to reunite with their family in the United States, we support a safe, legal and orderly migration."

The government will seek to increase the number of Cubans with family in the United States who are approved for entry into the country. A total of 21,000 Cuban migrants are admitted into the United States each year, and the percentage of those with family already in the country will rise, the department said.

In addition, the U.S. government said any Cuban official identified by the United States as a human rights abuser will not be allowed to enter the United States as an immigrant.

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