Cuba "won't allow US to take advantage of Castro's health crisis"

CUBA: Cuban government said it will defend itself against U.S. attempts to take advantage of Fidel Castro's current health crisis as some exiles urged Washington to go further in fostering a democratic transition on the island.

"The people know they have a resource, a weapon, a place to defend the revolution if necessary," Rogelio Polanco, editor of the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, said on state television.

"Once again, they shouldn't make a mistake, not to fantasize ... thinking their desires are reality," Polanco said on a Thursday evening public-affairs program discussing how exiles celebrated Castro's recent surgery for intestinal bleeding. "They should not mess up and commit the greatest error of all time."

Cuban exiles, meanwhile, welcomed U.S. President George W. Bush's rallying of people on the island to push for democracy, but some wanted more.

But there was no sense on the island that anything was going to change. "The revolution will continue" was the mantra chanted in the media Thursday, three days after Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother Raul while recovering from surgery.

"Every Cuban trusts Raul, and every one of our leaders," an unnamed woman said on state television's midday broadcast. "We are certain that the revolution will continue."

There were no new details on the status of Castro's health, or news about where he was convalescing. The Center for Surgical Medical Investigations, a prestigious hospital that services many top officials in a leafy neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, was operating normally, with a full parking lot and no visible extra security.

Meanwhile In Washington, Bush urged Cubans to work for democratic change and warned that the United States would watch for Cuban officials who stand in the way.

"We will support you in your effort to build a transitional government in Cuba committed to democracy, and we will take note of those, in the current Cuban regime, who obstruct your desire for a free Cuba," Bush said in statement issued by the White House Thursday.

Havana, Friday, AP