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Castro's New Year revolution still stands 45 years later*** Castro came to power resolved to transform Cuba and with mixed feelings toward the US. The transformation was based on a series of social reforms and welfare programs. These were startlingly successful and are a major cause of Castro's enduring popularity. They emphasized public health, education, and housing, and were carried out despite difficulties resulting from the US embargo. Public health dramatically improved. Literacy rates soared. Slums disappeared as new apartments sprang up. Huge estates were seized and divided in a land-reform program.

When Americans think about Cuban independence, they think of themselves as liberators through the 1898 war with Spain.

Cubans, on the other hand, think that that war was a way for Americans to steal the Cuban struggle for independence led by their national hero, Jose Marti. They think they would have won their independence without American help. They see their defiance of the US as an assertion of their independence.

In its early days, the Revolution had a puritanical streak. It closed the casinos, which had been a magnet for American tourists but which also brought mafia interests to the island. It suppressed prostitution. In the surviving nightclubs, it put showgirls in more modest costumes. The revolution saw these steps as necessary to end what it saw as morally corrupting influences from the US. ***

Castro and Chavez: U.S. Wary of Cuba's Support for LeftistsWASHINGTON - The Bush administration is becoming increasingly concerned about what it sees as a joint effort by Cuba and Venezuela to nurture anti-American sentiment in Latin America with money, political indoctrination and training.

As U.S. officials see it, the alliance combines Cuban President Fidel Castro's political savvy with surplus cash that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez obtains from oil exports.

Venezuelan resources may have been decisive in the ouster of Bolivia's elected, pro-American president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A key recipient of Venezuelan help has been Evo Morales, a charismatic Bolivian legislator who has broad support among his country's indigenous population. He is an avowed opponent of the capitalist system.

Before Sanchez de Lozada was deposed, one official said, Venezuela's military attache in Bolivia was expelled for giving money to Morales, and Morales received money from Venezuelan officials in a visit to Caracas.

There also has been evidence of Venezuelan money and manpower in Ecuador and Uruguay being used in support of anti-government groups, the officials said. Despite Venezuelan denials, they said, Chavez has supported Colombia's FARC and ELN rebels, allowing use of territory in western Venezuela as a springboard for attacks inside Colombia.

In Caracas on Monday, Tarek William Saab, the pro-Chavez head of Venezuela's congressional foreign relations commission, denied that Venezuela was supporting FARC rebels or was meddling in Bolivia's internal affairs. Saab accused the U.S. government of "using slander and defamation to weaken a constitutional government like ours."

"It's false and irresponsible and cowardly," Saab said.

U.S. officials said Castro has been providing training, advice and logistical support to leftist groups in the region, a sign of re-engagement after relative inactivity in the 1990s.

Roger Noriega, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites)'s top aide for Latin America, said Friday that the 77-year-old Castro, in his "final days," appears to be "nostalgic for destabilizing elected governments. From the point of view of his democratic neighbors, Castro's actions are increasingly provocative."***