Caribbean & Central America - 14 December 2004
Cuba shows soft and hard sides
Seven of the 75 political dissidents rounded up by Fidel Castro’s government in June 2003 were released in late November. A fortnight later, on 13 December, Cuba launched ‘Bastión 2004’, a week of military exercises widely trumpeted as the biggest for over a decade. The first looks like a gesture to the EU; the second is, according to the Cuban media, a warning to US President George Bush not to get any ideas in his second term. Yet both the release of the dissidents and the military posturing deserve more than surface readings.
Seven of the 75 political dissidents rounded up by Fidel Castro’s government in June 2003 were released in late November. A fortnight later, on 13 December, Cuba launched ‘Bastión 2004’, a week of military exercises widely trumpeted as the biggest for over a decade. The first looks like a gesture to the EU; the second is, according to the Cuban media, a warning to US President George Bush not to get any ideas in his second term. Yet both the release of the dissidents and the military posturing deserve more than surface readings.
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