The Washington Post's take via the Houston Chronicle-- It said Putin made the decision when Castro refused to cancel rental charges for the base as partial payment for Cuban debts to Moscow. "We owed money to the USSR, not to Russia," Castro reportedly said.
The Washington Times take-- The Cuban government called Moscow's decision to withdraw its radar base from Cuba unacceptable and that bilateral negotiations on the future of the base should continue. Havana said in an official statement that it was in "total disagreement" with Moscow's decision to shut the base at Lourdes. "The negotiations we have been having relating to the Lourdes electronic-monitoring center have not yet finished," the Cuban government said in its statement.
Cuba "forced" to sell biotechnology to Iran
China steps up air-defense work on Iran's border--Bill Gertz
Castro may not think the negotiations are over.. but they are. The negotiations took place on the phone between Bush and Putin.
What a class act. I imagine Russia replied with something like, "Oh, OK, well, you had an agreement with the USSR to maintain a presence here, not with Russia. Hava nice day, Fidel."
Thankfully, God will have the last word. . . and remove all evil from the planet. . . after worse traumas than ever have hit the planet before.