Free Republic

The 46-year stand-off between Cuba and America has taken a turn for the worse after Washington appointed a "transition co-ordinator" to hasten the downfall of President Fidel Castro. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, chose Caleb McCarry to "accelerate the demise of Castro's tyranny" on the Caribbean island that the Communist dictator has run since a coup in 1959. The appointment is part of President George W Bush's plan to tighten the 40-year programme of sanctions against Cuba. In addition, the American government has been beaming in extra aircraft-transmitted radio and television broadcasts to Cuba to avoid Castro's jamming...

WASHINGTON - A Republican congressional staffer with 20 years of involvement in hemispheric issues was named Thursday to a new State Department post to hasten democratic transition in communist Cuba. Caleb McCarry, 43, will serve as the Cuba ''transition coordinator,'' a position mandated by President Bush a year ago to implement measures designed to help bring an end to Fidel Castro's 46-year rule and provide assistance to a subsequent democratic Cuba. ''For nearly 50 years, the regime of Fidel Castro has condemned the people of Cuba to a tragic fate of repression and poverty,'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said...