Castro: Cuba owes no apology to US over Russian bombers
Fidel Castro said Havana owed no apologies to Washington over reports that Russia might start flying long-range bombers to Cuba, and warned that his country "had nerves of steel in times of genocide".
It was the first official comment from the Americas` only one-party communist government since a US general responded to a report in a Russian newspaper, warning Russia against basing nuclear-capable bombers in Cuba.
"What we need are nerves of steel in times of genocide, and Cuba has them. The United States knows that," he wrote, in what appeared to be a reference to previous Cold War era confrontations between the two countries.
The flights, although they have not yet been officially announced by Moscow, have already sparked tensions reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s.
The ailing Fidel Castro, 81, who in February handed over power to his 77-year-old brother Raul, made his comments in a letter to cubadebate.cu on Wednesday.
"Raul did just the right thing by maintaining appropriate silence on statements published Monday July 21 by Izvestia, related to potential installation of strategic Russian bomber bases in our country," he wrote.
Fidel Castro said the news arose from "hypotheses developed in Russia due to Yankee (US) stubbornness about the idea of setting up radar and a missile shield near the border of that great power."
US General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force`s chief of staff, said in Washington Tuesday that if Russia "did, I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America."
The elder Castro has been sidelined by a major intestinal illness two years ago and now spends a lot of his time writing political essays.
In his latest, headlined "Macciavelli`s Strategy", he said that with the United States: "if you say yes, I`ll kill you. If you say no, it doesn`t matter, I`ll kill you anyway. That is the Machiavellian strategy the United States uses with Cuba.
"We need not offer any explanations or excuses nor ask forgiveness," he wrote.
The newspaper Izvestia has reported that the Russian military is thinking of flying long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis, citing an unnamed senior Russian air force official, as saying such flights were under discussion.
The plan was in response to US plans to install missile defenses in eastern Europe, it reported.
But it was unclear whether they would involve permanent basing of nuclear bombers in Cuba, or just use of the island as a refueling stop.
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