THE MESSAGE IN CUBA’S MILITARY EXERCISES

The Cuban government rarely misses an opportunity to stay on message. Using President Bush’s visit to Latin America this week, three top Cuban leaders warned against military action against the island.

“If anyone attacks us, we’re prepared to pay any price necessary (to defend the country). But, our invaders will pay a much higher price,” said Defense Minister and acting President Raul Castro, as he reviewed a tank unit in the western Pinar del Rio province, during the country’s annual war exercises.

“We are improving our readiness… against an enemy politically committed to destroy the Revolution,” said Raul Castro. He went on to call Cuba’s socialist Revolution “unbeatable.”

Raul, who has run the country’s military machine since he and his brother Fidel swept to power in 1959, described the yearly military exercises as a chance to display the country’s defense capabilities, and send the message to Washington that any type of military strike would turn into a protracted and lost war.

This year’s war games are being billed as the largest mobilization of reservists and active members of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces since the 1961 Bay of Pigs and the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Soldiers are engaged in artillery and missile launches, combat practice and naval and air drills. Civilians of all ages dressed in blue militia uniforms and carry government-issued rifles and handguns for drills to defend their towns against surprise invaders, while civil defense units put out staged fires and evacuate residents from their homes.

Patriotic beat

Cuba’s state-owned TV picked up the patriotic beat, running old news reels of past military exercises and speeches to rally the nation.

Military sources here believe this year’s exercises are being conducted with unusual seriousness given the fragile health of Fidel Castro. After falling ill last summer and temporarily ceding power to his younger brother, the 80-year old Fidel has not been seen in public. Meanwhile, government representatives insist that Fidel is recovering.

“It’s not good news for Bush or for the U.S. government, but the truth is that Fidel is recuperating, exercising and is much stronger,” said Felipe Perez Roque, the Cuban Foreign Minister and Castro’s close confidante at a U.N. meeting in Paris.

Despite the rhetoric, Perez Roque suggested that his country would like “normal and respectful relations with the United States.”

How real?

While his government is willing to hold bilateral talks with Washington, he said, “Bush has no moral authority to dictate” to Havana. “We are an independent and sovereign state and in our land we do what we want.”

Ricardo Alarcón, Cuban Parliament speaker, echoed that sentiment on Tuesday in a speech carried live on national television. During an event marking the 50th anniversary of a student uprising against the old dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, Alarcón called on all Cubans “from every trench, every street corner, every university, and every school” to meet today’s “risks and threats.”

How real are these threats?

On more than one occasion, the Bush administration has strongly denied any intention to use military force to topple the Castro government, preferring instead tightened trade sanctions and active support to build an internal resistance.

But, in Cuba where the press is solidly controlled by the ruling Communist Party, Washington’s denials rarely gain air time.

In the minds of many Cubans, the threat of Washington resorting to a military option remains more than rhetoric.

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