HAVANA — Cuban leader Fidel Castro wrote Tuesday that President Bush is threatening the world with nuclear war and famine – an attack on Washington a day before the White House plans to announce new plans to draw Cuba away from communism.
“The danger of a massive world famine is aggravated by Mr. Bush’s recent initiative to transform foods into fuel,” Castro wrote in Cuban news media, referring to U.S. support for using corn and other food crops to produce gasoline substitutes.
The brief essay, titled “Bush, Hunger and Death,” also alleged that Bush “threatens humanity with World War III, this time using atomic weapons.”
Bush is expected to announce new strategies toward Cuba today. White House spokesman Tony Fratto said last week that Bush would “emphasize the importance of democracy for the Cuban people and the role the international community can play in Cuba’s transition by insisting on free speech, free assembly, free and competitive elections and the release of all political prisoners.”
In his essay, Castro predicted that Bush “will adopt new measures to accelerate the ‘transition period’ in our country, equivalent to a new conquest of Cuba by force.”
Ailing and 81, Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery and ceding power to a provisional government headed by his younger brother, Raul, in July 2006.
Cuba staged municipal elections Sunday, the first step in a process that will determine if Fidel Castro is re-elected or replaced next year as Cuban leader.
