Castro Says Bush Plotting to Kill Him

Associated Press | January 30, 2004 | ANDREA RODRIGUEZ

[HAL9000]

HAVANA - Cuban President Fidel Castro accused President Bush on Friday of plotting with Miami exiles to kill him as part of his administration's hardening policies against the communist island.

The Cuban leader didn't back up his accusations with details. His comments came at the end of a 5 1/2-hour speech that began Thursday night and continued into early Friday at the close of a conference bringing together activists across the region who oppose the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

"We know that Mr. Bush has committed himself to the mafia ... to assassinate me," the Cuban president said, using the term commonly employed here to describe anti-Castro Cuban Americans.

Castro has accused past U.S. administrations of seeking to assassinate him, and during his early years in power there were numerous documented cases of U.S.-sponsored attempts on his life.

The assassination of foreign leaders as U.S. policy was later banned in 1976 by an executive order signed by then-President Gerald Ford and reinforced by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Castro also criticized the Bush administration's Commission for a Free Cuba - a panel set up in October and headed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

When the United States announced creation of the commission, Powell suggested that the goal is not to ease Castro out but to plan a strategy for Cuba once the 77-year-old leader is no longer in power.

"I can die a natural death or I can die a planned death," Castro said. "It really doesn't matter to me how I die, but I will surely die fighting."

Earlier in his speech, Castro called on the more than 1,000 activists from across the Americas gathered here to work against the U.S.-backed free trade pact, which he said will only further impoverish their nations.

The Bush administration has progressively hardened its policies toward the island. Cuban authorities charge the strategy is aimed at wooing voters in Florida, home to most of the Cuban-American exiles living in the United States.

For more than four decades, the two countries have been without diplomatic ties and a U.S. trade embargo against the island makes most trade between the nations impossible, except for sales of farm products.

[Califelephant]

5-1/2 hour speech? By the time he sat down, I'm sure everyone in the audience was plotting to kill him.

[Stultis]

Hehehe. The Whitehouse should pointedly NOT respond to this accusation!

[KantianBurke]

Will that killer just friggin DIE already?!

[Andyman]

To me, this is a sign he is ready to kick the bucket. Castro is saying this so when he assumes room temperature the person to take over his office can simply continue the America bashing.

[JustPlainJoe]

Maybe he is suffering from Alzheimers and is having "Kennedy" flashbacks!

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I think he is beginning to pick up on the hopes and prayers of the Cuban people.

[John Jorsett]

Given our present capabilities, if we wanted him dead, he would be; he isn't exactly hard to find. I wonder how much longer we're going to have to put up with him, and if there will be a rapprochement between the U.S> and Cuba when he's gone.

[RKB-AFG]

One day that scourge on the Western hempishere will leave power and Cuba will benefit greatly. I am hoping it happens on President Bush's watch.

[American in Israel]

Little Castro freaking about Bush?

I think that is called paranoid megalomania.

[Diogenesis]

This just in: In support of terror leader Castro
CBS's Rather has flown to Cuba to be with his hero and "leader"
whom he says he and CBS will back
whether the "leader is right wrong", and no matter his "frequency".

[January24th]

"It really doesn't matter to me how I die, but I will surely die fighting."

Didn't Saddam say the same thing?

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Yet another reason to vote for Bush!

[AnAmericanMother]

Huh.

If Bush were plotting to kill him, he would already be dead, and the poor Cubans wouldn't have to listen to this drivel.

This is a man who has long outlived his usefulness. I guess the Lord doesn't want him and he's too mean for hell, as my granddaddy used to say.

[Jaysun]

Castro has third stage dementia. He's always been delusional, now he's senile as well. At 135 years old, a spicy sandwich could kill Castro. He would already be in hell if the President wanted him dead - not standing at a podium yapping.

[JesseHousman]

Fidel Castro accused President Bush on Friday of plotting with Miami exiles to kill him...

Now there's an idea.

[hosepipe]

Bush is killing Castro with neglect..

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"I can die a natural death or I can die a planned death," Castro said. "It really doesn't matter to me how I die, but I will surely die fighting."

Stick a fork in him. He's done.

[Kay Soze]

Really?

How cool is this!

No prescription meds for Fidel!

[Welsh Rabbit]

He hardly ever gives a speech less than four hours. As senile as he apparently is, I'm surprised they got off that easy. One of the advantages of having a captive audience.