Posted on 08/17/2007 3:40:28 PM PDT by Hi Heels
Castro: Cuba not cashing U.S. Guantanamo rent checks By Anthony Boadle 2 hours, 23 minutes ago
HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States pays Cuba $4,085 a month in rent for the controversial Guantanamo naval base, but Cuba has only once cashed a check in almost half a century and then only by mistake, Fidel Castro wrote in an essay published on Friday.
The ailing Cuban leader, who has not appeared in public for more than a year, said he had refused to cash the checks to protest the "illegal" U.S. occupation of the land which he said was now used for "dirty work."
"The base is needed to humiliate and to do the dirty work that occurs there," he said of the detention camp where some 355 terrorism suspects are still being held with no legal rights despite international criticism.
Castro, who turned 81 on Monday out of public sight, said the U.S. checks are made out to the "Treasurer General of the Republic," a position that ceased to exist after Cuba's 1959 revolution.
He said only one U.S. check was ever cashed -- in 1959 due to "confusion" in the heady early days of the leftist revolution.
Castro's refusal to cash the checks to protest the "illegal" occupation has been long known. In a television interview years ago, he showed the checks stuffed into a desk drawer in his office.
The final installment of Castro's long historical essay on Cuba's hostile relations with the United States -- written for future generations -- was published by the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma.
The essay entitled "The Empire and the Independent Island" recounted Castro's view of U.S. efforts to control Cuba since U.S. troops landed on the island in the Spanish-American War that secured Cuban independence from Spain in 1898.
The United States retained 46.8 square miles (121 square kilometers) at the entrance to Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba for a naval base, which has been used as a prison camp for Taliban and al Qaeda terrorism suspects since the Afghanistan war following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
The base was initially a coaling station for the U.S. Navy to protect the approaches to the Panama Canal.
Castro said the enclave was "illegally usurped" by the United States, adding that the base no longer had any strategic military purpose in the age of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers packed with fast fighter-bombers.
"If we have to wait for the collapse of the (capitalist) system, we will wait," Castro wrote. He said Cuba was always on alert to the threat of a U.S. invasion.
Castro handed over power to his brother Raul on July 26 last year after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery. His health is a state secret, but few Cubans expect him to return to office.
The Cuban leader, the last of the major Cold War figures still alive, is seen as a Stalinist tyrant by his enemies but is widely admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States, a David-versus-Goliath role he has relished.
That raises an interesting point. Chavez is chomping at the bit to take over as the lefties' standard-bearer.
I don’t see a problem Castro ya cuban killing piece of trash ....three party , out of state check with no ID ????
Surely there is some liberal bankin POS in Canookistan that will try and get yer money !
Dare ya to try and evict them Marines........:o)
Then we can settle this hash once and for all.
Cool, it appears we have saved $2,348,940! Unfortunately, our dirt bag congressmen have spent that plus some on other useless items!
I am sure he does and with the oil money behind him he is a lock to be the standard-bearer, unless he dies or is overthrown.
Good. A penny saved is a penny earned.
Question - how exactly did we end up with a base on Cuba, particularly considering the Cold War troubles (Cuban Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs, etc...)?
That part of the story was left out of my Public School education (a couple of decades back).
I hope they’re marked “Void after 90 days”. If they aren’t, they should be.
On the other hand, the Republic of Cuba, as Castro explains, is not his government. So it would be dishonest for him to cash the checks.
(I’m one of those who thinks that any treaty the USSR signed with the USA became void once the USSR ceased to exist.)
But I agree — we should continue to send the checks.
IIRC, we have a 99 year lease or something?
When that expires, we should turn the land over - to the anti-Castro Cubans! :)
It was our price from liberating Cuba from Spain, a century ago during the Spanish American War.
I hope that they’re all stamped “this check void after 90 days”. :-)
By sending checks we acknowledge the landlord.
Idiot! Then the checks will be worthless.
Oh, I thought it was in exchange for us giving Cuba a good sized piece of Miami..
5.56mm
ARGH! Lady Thatcher ain't dead, folks!
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