Castro vows he'd 'die fighting' any U.S. invasion
From Lucia Newman
CNN Havana Bureau Chief
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Cuban President Fidel Castro, shown Friday, is accusing the United States of plotting to attack him.
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HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Cuban President Fidel Castro repeated Friday what has become a theme of his in the last few months -- that he would not take a possible U.S. invasion lying down.
Speaking at a meeting of activists opposing free trade, Castro said Cuba isn't interested in a conflict with the United States but would be ready if the Bush administration brought one across the Straits of Florida.
"I don't care how I die, but for sure, if they invade us, I will die fighting," he said.
Castro and other government ministers recently have expressed concerns about the possibility that Bush would do something rash to appease Cuban-Americans in an election year.
Bush has courted anti-Castro Cuban-Americans, most of whom live in Florida.
In May, Castro also accused the United States of plotting to attack the communist nation.
On Friday, Castro called for the White House to clarify its position on assassinations of foreign leaders in light of its apparent targeting of Saddam Hussein before the war in Iraq began.
Bush ordered a "decapitation strike" against Saddam and senior Iraqi leaders the night of March 19, the opening attack in the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
A presidential executive order signed in the mid-1970s prohibits U.S. government involvement in assassination attempts.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said this month that Cuba would be waiting "with a nasty surprise" should Bush decide to invade.
The Cuban president's brother and the island nation's defense minister, Raul Castro, also has warned the United States would pay a heavy price if it chooses to invade. Raul Castro is his brother's designated successor.
In October, Bush said he would appoint a commission to step up work on a transition to democratic rule in Cuba after Castro, who is 77. (Full story)
"Cuba will soon be free," Bush said in Spanish in a Rose Garden address to a crowd that included politicians from South Florida.
Bush said Castro has responded to his diplomatic initiatives aimed at easing restrictions on trade and travel between the two countries "with defiance and contempt and a new round of brutal oppression that outraged the world's conscience."
In April, Castro's government tried several people on charges of treason for conspiring with the United States. It was one of the harshest crackdowns on dissidents in decades and drew criticism from other governments and human rights groups around the world. (Full story)
Most of the trials lasted only a few hours, and defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years.
