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Castro's preparing "the way for his own exit from the world stage in a hail of flames" - Criticism From Leftists Surprises Cuba -*** But some of the strongest criticism came from Cuba's supporters, who have stuck by the government's 44-year rule despite complaints about its human rights record. "Must they learn the bad habits of the enemy they are fighting?" wrote Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, who once praised Castro as a "symbol of national dignity." "The death penalty is never justified, no matter where it is applied." Fuentes, a Mexican novelist and longtime Cuba supporter, was even more disillusioned. He lumped Bush and Castro together and declared himself against both. Castro, he said, needs "his American enemy to justify his own failings."

"As a Mexican, I wish for my country neither the dictates of Washington on foreign policy, nor the Cuban example of a suffocating dictatorship," he wrote in a letter published in Mexico City's Reforma newspaper. He wasn't alone. Saramago, a Portuguese writer who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for literature and considered himself a close friend of Castro, said Cuba "has lost my confidence, damaged my hopes, cheated my dreams."

Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who lives part-time in Cuba, has been silent on the issue. But his magazine, Cambio, published an article saying "few other repressive waves have left a government so isolated and rejected." The government responded by publishing rebukes in the Communist Party daily Granma. In one letter published Saturday, a group of well-known Cuban intellectuals urged their colleagues to stop criticizing the island. ***

The King of Cuba (GALLOWAY!)***The high-living MP, accused of taking £375,000 a year from Saddam Hussein to promote Iraq's murderous regime, travelled to Cuba and strutted the dirt-poor streets of Havana with a wallet full of cash in his Hugo Boss suits. Believing he was safe from the eyes of his constituents, he took a secret mistress and splashed out money like water. That lover, Judy Lonchan Lopez, said last night: "George was very important in Cuba. I'm not surprised he was friends with Saddam, because he was close to Fidel Castro."

Back home in Britain he was still married to first wife Elaine and already seeing the woman who would become wife No.2-striking Palestinian Dr Amineh Abu-Zayyadwe. This week Galloway's political career will be officially terminated when he has the Labour Party whip withdrawn in the Commons for calling Tony Blair and George Bush 'wolves' over the attack on Iraq. The move will mean he can no longer use Labour Party offices and speak from the Labour benches in the House of Commons.***