Cuba calling up special forces

UM's Gomez: Cuba calling up special forces

The Cuban government has called up its special forces to protect the
upper echelon of power, says the University of Miami's Andy Gomez, who
serves as an advisor to the U.S. Task Force on Cuba.
Gomez said the word comes from "high level sources" in Washington, D.C.
He stressed that troop movements on the streets of Cuba have not been
detected, but that the Ministry of Interior had called in special units
to protect the inner circle "just in case."
Miami has been awash in rumors that Fidel Castro is on his last legs. He
hasn't written any articles lately, and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez had some
rather bleak comments about him recently.
The Cuban Armed Forces has several special forces units, including the
"black berets" - charged with the security detail of the top members of
government. They tend to be more defensive than offensive, experts say.
They were not mobilized when Fidel Castro took sick July 2006, although
about 200,000 reservists were.
U.S. State Department officials said they had no knowledge of any
special forces deployment.
"It doesn't ring true,'' said U.S. Interests Section spokesman Greg
Adams. "What is interesting is that these rumors happen from time to
time and they usually trot out a picture of Fidel meeting with somebody
or a video to make everyone look like idiots. That has not happened this
time."
Adams pointed out however that the Cuban paper Granma ran a curious
article Wednesday saying that extra police would be on major roadways in
the coming days to prevent car accidents. That, Adams said, did not ring
true either.
Gomez, a senior fellow at UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American
Studies, is on a task force which is an arm of the Brookings Institution
think tank comprised of academics and former diplomats.
- Frances Robles

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