Bush plan decried as land grab

Posted on Thu, Jul. 13, 2006

CUBA
Bush plan decried as land grab
President Bush's Cuba plan, which has earmarked $80 million in
anti-Castro propaganda, was called an attempt to control and annex Cuba
by critics.
BY FRANCES ROBLES
frobles@MiamiHerald.com

The Bush administration's updated plan to speed up and support a shift
toward democracy in Cuba means three things for the island: terrorism,
assassinations and the use of force, Havana said in an official
statement Wednesday.

The Cuban government blasted a 95-page report released Monday in
Washington by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, a
multiagency panel created in 2003 to outline the administration's plans
to hasten democracy in Cuba.

This year's report -- an update of a 2004 document -- is controversial
because it calls for $80 million in increased funding for anti-Castro
activities, such as Radio and TV Martí.

The Cuban government condemned the increased funding as an outright
violation of international law, and particularly attacked the report's
classified annex, which they allege may include plans to murder Fidel
Castro.

`ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE'

''What do they hide for `national security reasons'?'' National Assembly
President Ricardo Alarcón wrote in a column published in the Cuban media
last week. ``More terrorist attacks? New assassination attempts against
Fidel? Military aggression? With Bush and his cronies, anything is
possible.''

Alarcón spoke out against the report at an event Tuesday honoring five
Cubans imprisoned in the United States on charges of being Castro
agents, the official government news site said.

An article in Wednesday's international edition of the Communist Party
daily Granma noted that the U.S. report uses the word ''regime'' 145 times.

'It's a true gift to those in Miami who advocate terror and annexation.
. . . The text, which shows an abysmal ignorance of the Cuban reality,
affirms that the `regime' does not attend to the 'basic human
necessities' of the people,'' the article said.

``The entire document reflects the will to sooner or later annex the
island of Cuba.''

U.S. OFFICIAL RESPONDS

The State Department's Cuba transition coordinator, Caleb McCarry,
declined to comment specifically on the Cuban allegations. He said the
Bush administration is committed to helping Cubans who want to
democratically elect their leaders.

''The report is clear that the United States has a great deal of respect
for the sovereignty of the people of Cuba,'' McCarry said from Miami
Wednesday. ``It is they who define the future.''

McCarry defended the commission's recommendation to earmark part of the
so-called Cuba Fund for a Democratic Future to assist opposition groups
in Cuba, despite resistance from even some dissidents who believe such
money would make them more vulnerable to not just criticism but arrest.

''It is our duty to accompany them,'' McCarry said. ``We cannot abandon
them. The time is now.''

The commission proposed earmarking $24 million for ''efforts to break
the information blockade,'' $31 million to support ''independent civil
society'' groups on the island, $10 million for educational exchanges
and $15 million to support ``international efforts at strengthening
civil society and transition planning.''

McCarry will meet today with Cuban exile groups, some of which have
received U.S. anti-Castro funds.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/15025618.htm