Chronicle on Cuba - April 2004

Security

April 19: A top level Chinese military delegation arrived in Havana for intense contacts with counterparts in communist Cuba, an official statement said. General Xu Caihou, a top official on the Chinese Communist Party central committee and head of the People's Liberation Army's political department, is leading the five day mission, said the statement published in the official Granma newspaper. Xu will hold talks with senior officials from the Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry. The delegation will visit Cuban military units, training centres and historical and cultural sights, added the statement. This is the second recent visit to Cuba by a Chinese military delegation. (AFP, 19/4/04)

April 19: The Cuban people is prepared to face any imperialist intervention, said Fidel Castro during a TV program on occasion of the 43 anniversary of the Bay of Pigs battle. The statesman attended the Round Table Radio and TV program together with other participants in the events originated by the Bay of Pigs invasion. Those who pretend to threaten us with defeating the Revolution when I die are losing their time and talking a lot of rubbish, as there is no power in the world capable of defeating it, he added. “As long as there is a man defending a cause, that cause is not lost.” Fidel Castro assured that the level of revolutionary support to this process has not been ever achieved by any other political cause in the world and this has been possible, above all, due to the strength of the ideas, patriotism and conscience of Cubans, who have resisted for 45 years the power of an empire like the United States. (Prensa Latina, 19/4/04)

April 22: Fidel Castro met with visiting General Xu Caihou, China's General Political Department director, and his entourage at the Revolution Palace in Havana. (People’s Daily, 23/4/04)

April 24: Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl, Minister of the Armed Forces, saw off a high-level military delegation from China. The delegation held “extensive exchanges” during a six-day official visit to the island. The news appeared in the Cuban official daily Granma, which also published a photograph of the Cuban leader shaking hands with Chinese Army Colonel General, Xu Caihou, who headed the delegation. (AFP, 24/4/04)