Cuba vowed to defy US efforts for economic and political change on the island in a front-page editorial in the Communist Party's newspaper that also referred to Cuban dissidents as "mercenaries" and "counterrevolutionary dogs."
Members of the US government "should not fool themselves," Thursday's editorial said. "The Cuban government and people will take charge, as they've done until now, of guaranteeing the complete failure of these plans ... to encourage the subversion and internal counterrevolution in our country," it said.
The editorial came on the eve of yesterday's scheduled arrival in Cuba of a US congressional delegation including representatives Jeff Flake and William Delahunt -- the two lawmakers who requested a study reviewing US funds for Cuba programs. Both congressmen advocate ending the US' decades-old trade and travel embargo against Cuba.
The administration of US President George W. Bush has adopted even stricter policies aimed at squeezing the island's economy and pushing out the communist leadership.
Cuba is facing uncertainty with President Fidel Castro ailing and out of sight. The 80-year-old has not been seen since July, when he temporarily handed power over to his younger brother Raul Castro so he could recover from intestinal surgery.
The elder Castro's failure to show up at his own delayed birthday celebration this month has fueled speculation that he is more sick than originally thought. Cuba has warned the US government against trying to take advantage of the moment and Raul Castro has repeated his brother's warning that the island is prepared to defend itself against any US aggression.
The US administration has dedicated US$80 million for what it describes as the promotion of democracy in Cuba.
The Cuban editorial addressed a recent report by US congressional investigators that said the US Agency for International Development did not always properly oversee Cuban aid grants and that coordination with the State Department was sometimes ineffective. Cashmere sweaters and chocolate were among the items bought with agency money, the study found.
The party newspaper criticized the US diplomatic mission in Havana for distributing books, medicine, clothes and shortwave radios to Cubans, saying the congressional report confirms that the US Interests Section "acts like the central barracks of the counterrevolution."
The Cuban government frequently accuses dissidents of working with US officials to undermine the island's system. That charge -- denied by the dissidents and Washington -- was used against 75 activists rounded up in the spring of 2003 and sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years.
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