Posted By: Patrick
Castro Says Only U.S. Nuclear Attack Can Defeat Him - 02/02/05 12:03 PM
By Anthony Boadle, Reuters
HAVANA (Feb. 1) - Cuban President Fidel Castro said on Tuesday the only way the United States could overthrow his communist government was by the nuclear destruction of Cuba.
Castro, whose one-party state was recently labeled an "outpost of tyranny" by U.S President George W. Bush's administration, said Cuba would resist an American invasion like Vietnam.
Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Castro has repeatedly accused the Bush administration of wanting to invade Cuba to oust him. U.S. officials say the charge is rubbish.
"I hope I'm wrong ... but if they make the mistake of attacking and invading this country, I recommend Mr. Bush had better launch 50 nuclear weapons and exterminate us all," Castro said in a speech.
"We prefer to die in heaven than to survive in hell," the 78-year-old leader told delegates to a literacy conference.
Castro said he watched Bush's second inaugural speech last month and reiterated his view of the danger Cuba faced. "I saw the face of a crazed man," he said.
"I assure you this country could be exterminated," he said.
The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Havana after Castro's seized power in a 1959 revolution and aligned Cuba with the former Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War.
Hostility between Washington and Havana has escalated under Bush, who stepped up U.S. support for Castro's opponents and criticism of human rights abuses on the island.
During confirmation hearing last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Cuba, along with Burma, Belarus and Zimbabwe, "outposts of tyranny" that needed to be watched.
Washington has become increasingly worried about Castro's close alliance with leftist President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, a major supplier of oil to the United States.
Castro said Venezuela had guaranteed oil supplies to Cuba, but he denied exporting Cuba's communism to Venezuela, where more than 20,000 Cubans doctors and teachers have been sent to work in slums.
"I do not advocate the Cubanization of other countries," he said.
Castro, standing up in military uniform for half of his four-hour speech even though he is recovering from a broken knee, said Cuba had long prepared to defend itself from U.S. invasion.
"Extermination by weapons of mass destruction is the only way," he said. "We are not afraid."
"Nobody was frightened here when hundreds of nuclear arms were pointing at this country in 1962," he added, in reference to the missile crisis in which Washington and Moscow came to the brink of nuclear war over Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba.
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HAVANA (Feb. 1) - Cuban President Fidel Castro said on Tuesday the only way the United States could overthrow his communist government was by the nuclear destruction of Cuba.
Castro, whose one-party state was recently labeled an "outpost of tyranny" by U.S President George W. Bush's administration, said Cuba would resist an American invasion like Vietnam.
Since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Castro has repeatedly accused the Bush administration of wanting to invade Cuba to oust him. U.S. officials say the charge is rubbish.
"I hope I'm wrong ... but if they make the mistake of attacking and invading this country, I recommend Mr. Bush had better launch 50 nuclear weapons and exterminate us all," Castro said in a speech.
"We prefer to die in heaven than to survive in hell," the 78-year-old leader told delegates to a literacy conference.
Castro said he watched Bush's second inaugural speech last month and reiterated his view of the danger Cuba faced. "I saw the face of a crazed man," he said.
"I assure you this country could be exterminated," he said.
The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Havana after Castro's seized power in a 1959 revolution and aligned Cuba with the former Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War.
Hostility between Washington and Havana has escalated under Bush, who stepped up U.S. support for Castro's opponents and criticism of human rights abuses on the island.
During confirmation hearing last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Cuba, along with Burma, Belarus and Zimbabwe, "outposts of tyranny" that needed to be watched.
Washington has become increasingly worried about Castro's close alliance with leftist President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, a major supplier of oil to the United States.
Castro said Venezuela had guaranteed oil supplies to Cuba, but he denied exporting Cuba's communism to Venezuela, where more than 20,000 Cubans doctors and teachers have been sent to work in slums.
"I do not advocate the Cubanization of other countries," he said.
Castro, standing up in military uniform for half of his four-hour speech even though he is recovering from a broken knee, said Cuba had long prepared to defend itself from U.S. invasion.
"Extermination by weapons of mass destruction is the only way," he said. "We are not afraid."
"Nobody was frightened here when hundreds of nuclear arms were pointing at this country in 1962," he added, in reference to the missile crisis in which Washington and Moscow came to the brink of nuclear war over Soviet missiles deployed in Cuba.
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