Chronicle on Cuba - April 2005

Security

April 6: Fidel Castro stressed his country is ready to ward off any enemy, while highlighting the nation’s military readiness at a meeting on the results of a recent military strategic exercise, Bastion 2004. Castro highlighted that the nation’s security level is increasing because of the control over the enemy and awareness of its strength. Castro also considered that it was impossible to seize Havana, after the perfection achieved by Cuban troops in the handling of weapons. If Cubans do what they have to do, Castro said, there will be less risk of military aggression. The meeting also included the participation of Army General Raul Castro and the main leaders of the Cuban Communist Party, Government and Armed Forces. (Prensa Latina, 7/4/05)

April 6: US officials said there is no evidence that China is seeking to boost its military presence in Latin America, but for the first time warned about Chinese intentions to establish an intelligence and cyberwarfare beachhead in the region. Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Latin America, and Rogelio Pardo-Maurer, the top Defense Department official for the Western Hemisphere, testified before a House panel as several legislators argued that China is trying to fill the void left by the lack of US involvement in the region. Pardo-Maurer said that “we need to be alert to rapidly advancing Chinese capabilities, particularly in the fields of intelligence, communications and cyberwarfare, and their possible application in the region,'' he told the Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee. This is the first time that a senior Pentagon official warned so directly about Chinese cyberwarfare capabilities in the region. Some US officials have previously and privately expressed concern that Chinese personnel may be working at an electronic listening post in Bejucal, Cuba, believed to be also capable of carrying out cyberwarfare operations. Pardo-Maurer would not elaborate during the House panel's public hearing, and offered to brief members in a classified session. (The Miami Herald, 7/4/05)