CASTRO
HAVANA (AP):
Cuba, seeking to reassure its people after Fidel Castro temporarily stepped down for surgery, released a statement from the long-time leader saying his health was stable and the defense of the island guaranteed, even as it sent more police Wednesday into neighbourhoods that have seen civil disturbances in the past.
Raul Castro, Fidel's brother and designated successor, remained silent and out of sight Wednesday, issuing no statements of his own while the focus of state media remained solely on Fidel.
"Fidel, Get Well," read a front-page headline in the Communist Party daily Granma. "The Revolution will continue while Fidel recovers," proclaimed Juventud Rebelde, the communist youth newspaper.
Many Castro supporters expressed confidence Wednesday that the island's communist system would remain intact no matter what happens to the man who has led them for 47 years.
"Either way, the revolution has to keep going," said retiree Santos Perez. "The revolution continues with or without Fidel. Fidel is a leader, but there are many leaders here, like his brother."
The statement read on state television Tuesday night by Fidel Castro, who temporarily handed power to his brother on Monday night after surgery, expressed gratitude for good wishes from leaders and supporters around the world and called on Cubans to remain calm as they carried out their daily routines.
Ready to defend
"The country is prepared for its defense," he said, apparently to assure Cubans the island was safe from potential U.S. attack. "The important thing is that in the country everything is going perfectly well, and will continue to do so."
Even so, there appeared to be an increase in police patrols in some working-class neighbourhoods and in coastal areas that have seen civil disturbances in the past, like during running power blackouts in the summer of 2005.
The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Government's neighbourhood watch groups, stepped up volunteer night patrols and the pro-government Rapid Action Brigades, used in the past to handle civil disturbances, were placed on standby.
Post-Castro Cuba
In Washington, politicians were already speculating about a post-Castro Cuba. And in Miami, Cuban exiles celebrated in the streets - demonstrations Cuban Parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcon called "vomit-provoking acts" led by "mercenaries and terrorists." Many Cubans agreed Wednesday that the celebrations were in poor taste.
"That's what you can expect from the type of trash that lives in the United States and cares nothing about this country," Havana housewife Oralis Delgado said.
