U.S. Officials Discuss Health of Cuba's Fidel Castro
01 August 2006
White House, State Department reiterate desire for democratic Cuba
Washington -- U.S. officials have reacted with caution regarding reports that long-time Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is seriously ill.
At his daily press briefing August 1, White House press secretary Tony Snow reiterated the U.S. determination to help communist-ruled Cuba make the transition to a free, open and democratic society.
Snow said Castro's reported temporary handover of power to his brother, Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro, after the dictator underwent intestinal surgery "is not a change in status" regarding the nature of the Cuban government. With that in mind, the United States has no plans to "reach out" to Raul Castro, said Snow.
The press secretary described Raul Castro's attempt "to impose himself on the Cuban people" as "much the same as what his brother did" in ruling the one-party state. Raul Castro was "no more elected" to lead Cuba than his brother, Snow said.
Snow said the U.S. government does not know the state of Fidel Castro's health, and added that officials have no reason to believe that the Cuban dictator is dead.
At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said that while he could not comment on the extent of Castro's illness, the Cuban dictator's incapacitation or death would be a "significant event" for the people of Cuba.
If there were a change in leadership in Cuba, the United States would "do everything that we can to stand by the Cuban people in their aspirations for a democracy," McCormack said.
U.S. policy toward Cuba is clear, said McCormack. "We fully support a democratic, free, prosperous Cuba in which the Cuban people have the opportunity to, through the ballot box, choose who will lead them, not have their leaders imposed upon them," he said.
COMMISSION FOR ASSISTANCE TO A FREE CUBA
"The one thing we want to do is to continue to assure the people of Cuba that we stand ready to help," Snow said at the White House.
He said the Bush administration's Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, co-chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, in July released its second report to the president on ways the United States can assist the people of Cuba now and in the future.
At a July 10 news briefing on the report, Rice added that the U.S. effort includes a new, two-year, $80 million program that attempts to break the Cuban regime's blockade on information and to help Cubans "prepare for the day when they will recover their sovereignty and can select a government of their choosing through free and fair multi-party elections." (See related article.)
Snow said the most important issue regarding Cuba is "to look forward to the day" when people "who are living under a despotic and totalitarian government" in that country "have the opportunity to be free again and express their genius and their entrepreneurial spirit and their real zest for life."
For more on the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, see the White House fact sheet. For information on U.S. policy, see Cuba.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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