Chronicle on Cuba - December 2004

Security

December 2: Faced with escalating hostility from the United States government, Cuba is stepping up its defense preparedness, states an official announcement from the Ministry of the Armed Forces. The communiqué describes the hard-line anti-Cuba policy of the Bush administration as the most aggressive in 45 years of US antagonism towards the island. Such reality —it asserts— imposes the need for Cuba to continue improving its defense readiness under the national defense strategy known as the “Guerra de Todo el Pueblo” or People’s War. (AIN, 2/12/04)

December 7: Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro warned the United States not to repeat its mistakes in Vietnam and Iraq by invading Cuba because its armed forces and civilian population were ready to resist. "The Americans should watch closely, so that they do not commit the mistakes they made in Vietnam and are now making in Iraq, where they are bogged down," Castro told reporters. Like the Vietnam War, Castro said, US troop escalation had already begun in Iraq due to local resistance. Bastion 2004 is the latest annual mass drill involving troop exercises with civilian involvement based on a guerrilla strategy designed to resist an invasion force. This year's operation is more extensive than last year's. "We are holding Bastion 2004 so they observe well and do not underestimate our people who are more united and therefore much stronger than the Iraqis. That is the reason," Castro said. Raul Castro said Cuba was seeking to deter a confrontation. "For us, avoiding the war is equal to winning the war," he said. "To win by deterring war, we have to shed a lot of sweat, which is better than rivers of blood." (Reuters, Prensa Latina, 7/12/04)

December 12: Cuba's armed forces are gearing up for their biggest military exercises in almost 20 years involving thousands of troops, MiG-29 jets, anti-aircraft batteries and millions of civilians, General Leonardo Andollo told reporters. Senior military and Communist government officials in Havana warned that the administration of US President George W. Bush should take note of the island's war footing. General Andollo, who was the head of the Cuban military mission in Ethiopia, assured "circumstances around wars fought in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq, have confirmed how justifiable defensive concepts elaborated by our political-military leadership are." The mass war games start on December 13 and are due to run through to December 19. (AFP, Prensa Latina, 12/12/04)

December 13: Cuba's Defense Minister Raul Castro officially announced the beginning of the Bastión 2004 military defense exercises that will take place across the island over the next 7 days. During a radio and television announcement from Havana, Raul Castro said that hundreds of thousands of combatants will unite with millions of Cubans in the various military activities and civilian preparations programmed to repel a possible enemy attack. The Cuban military leader informed the population that the National Defense Council will emphasize adapting the country's economy to war conditions and perfecting economic production, services and other structures designed for prolonged resistance. He stressed that Bastion 2004 is focused on the defense of life and the achievements of the Cuban people. (Radio Habana Cuba, Prensa Latina, 132/12/04)

December 19: Cubans awoke to air raid sirens, and practiced shooting, putting on gas masks and doing duck-and-cover drills as the communist nation wrapped up a weeklong series of defense exercises to prepare for a potential attack by the United States. The activities, called the Strategic Bastion 2004 Exercise, were aimed at evaluating how prepared Cuban society is to face possible military action against Cuba during a second term by US President George W. Bush. State-run newspapers reported that the exercises were a success, and that Cuba's "capacity to resist and overcome an imperialist aggression" was demonstrated. (CNN, 19/12/04)

December 29: Cuba’s Army General Leonardo Andollo considered that the country has extensively reinforced its defense system with the recent drills Bastion 2004 (Stronghold 2004). Addressing a TV-radio round table talks, the vice chief of Cuban Armed Forces Ministry's General Staff announced that from now on maneuvers will be carried out every four years. "Recent drills have provided us with lots of experiences and ideas for reinforcing our defense system in the face of US increasing threats and aggressions," added Andollo. (Prensa Latina, 31/12/04)

December 31: A top North Korean official said North Korea and Cuba will wage a joint struggle against the United States. In a message to Fidel Castro, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, said the two countries will continue to jointly fight US aggression and intervention on the basis of their traditional friendship and cooperation. (Yonhap News, 31/12/04)