Posted on 12/14/2004 10:51:27 AM PST by Puckster
Cuba pressed on with its biggest military exercises in almost 20 years, with 400,000 reservists joining regular forces and millions of civilians in wargames which the authorities say are to deter a US invasion.
About 100,000 Cuban regular troops are also taking part in the "Bastion 2004" exercises which started Monday, officials said.
"The enemy will never catch us by surprise," the official communist party daily, Granma, trumpeted Tuesday in its coverage of the wargames which proceeded as ailing President Castro welcomed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, his only close ally in the Americas, whose government helps keep Cuba's energy-starved economy afloat with cut-rate oil.
"The only way to stop aggression is to make it abundantly clear that, in this case, Cuba will become from one end to the other an enormous wasp's nest that no aggressor, however powerful, will be able to overcome," Defense Minister Raul Castro said Monday.
"In the end, (the aggressor) will have to withdraw, bloodied and defeated, because this would be a war of all of the people," Castro, a younger brother of President Fidel Castro, warned.
Yeah, mobilizing the militia can be pretty dicey for a dictatorship. Sometimes those civilians get weird ideas about individual liberty when they are toting their rifle and a basic load of ammo.
What do you want to bet that they never issued the AK's?
And another random thought: Who is harvesting the sugar cane crop?
This is great! Now, if the US Navy can send planes and ships to within a hairs' breadth of Cuba on a random basis, and make them perk up like this and stampede around... the country will collapse. They are poor enough as it is without these military excercises... keep 'em at it!
Each had a state of the art pointy stick or medical 2x4...LOL
Perfect scenario for a military coup.
lol
Naaah... Any SF unit would be better used elsewhere. Just strap Michael Moore to a barge, anchor it off of the western, up-wind end of the island and feed him pickled eggs and pinto beans for 5 days. Instruct all friendly personell to stand clear of the biohazard area for the following 5 days. Allow 5 more days for hazard to clear. Perform mop-up work in full NBC gear, starting at western end of the island and working east. :-)
Regards,
Raven6
Iran must be getting worried. Their proxies are trying to get our attention.
But, but, that's inhumane.
Just air drop cases of baseballs, bats & gloves and the war games will come to a standstill.
Uh...I think that may be illegal under the laws of war. Besides, do we really need to kill all the Cubans and defoliate Cuba just to pacify it?
Tempting.
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