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Castro: Cuba not cashing U.S. Guantanamo rent checks

Posted on 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.



TOPICS:

Cuba

News/Current Events

KEYWORDS:

castro

checks

cuba

gitmo





To: Hi Heels

Wll, then the new democratic Cuban government can take them to Check-N-Go after Castro dies.



by 2 posted onby 2ndDivisionVet (Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum)

To: Hi Heels

"If we have to wait for the collapse of the (capitalist) system, we will wait," Castro wrote. Hell will never freeze over, Fidel...as I'm pretty sure you'll be able to report first-hand any day now...



by 3 posted onby EternalVigilance (States' rights can never trump God-given, unalienable rights...)

To: Hi Heels

Cuba not cashing U.S. Guantanamo rent checks Maybe they didn't have the proper ID.



To: Hi Heels

Oh, and Fidel? Say hello to Marx and Lenin, will ya?



by 5 posted onby EternalVigilance (States' rights can never trump God-given, unalienable rights...)

To: 2ndDivisionVet

60 to 90 days those checks are worthless anyway.



by 6 posted onby shield (A wise man's heart is at his RIGHT hand;but a fool's heart at his LEFT. Ecc 10:2)

To: Hi Heels

So let’s stop sending them checks.



by 7 posted onby wastedyears (Alright, hold tight, I'm a highway staaaaaaaaaaaaarrr)

To: Hi Heels

"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." Wonder which the reporter admires more: Stalinist tyrant or standing up to the United States? BTW Castro is not "seen as" a tyrant. I think we can safely place the 50 year rule of a dictator for life in the column under "tyrant".



To: Hi Heels

castro now has fatal septicemia and only has days to live.



by 9 posted onby shield (A wise man's heart is at his RIGHT hand;but a fool's heart at his LEFT. Ecc 10:2)

To: shield

Source?



by 10 posted onby dfwgator (The University of Florida - Still Championship U)

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Nah, they use CashCall... "Need Cash? Call CashCall!"



by 11 posted onby Philistone (Your existence as a non-believer offends the Prophet(MPBUH).)

To: Hi Heels

I was stationed there in 1961 for 6 weeks!!!!!!.....



by 12 posted onby GitmoSailor (AZ Cold War Vet===Fairness Doctrine for TV First!!!!!.....I'Am With Fred)

To: Hi Heels

"If we have to wait for the collapse of the (capitalist) system, we will wait," Castro wrote. Sounds good.



by 13 posted onby Blackyce (President Jacques Chirac: "As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure.")

To: wastedyears

If we stopped sending them checks, the lease would be null & void and Castro could take the territory back. Besides, $50K a year rent for a naval base is chicken feed.



by 14 posted onby 2ndDivisionVet (Cuius testiculos habeas, habeas cardia et cerebellum)

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Leaqve me out of this!



by 15 posted onby null and void (I hate to suggest something this radical, but why not let the policy follow the facts? ~ReignOfError)

To: null and void

Damm fat fingers. LEAVE me out of this.



by 16 posted onby null and void (I hate to suggest something this radical, but why not let the policy follow the facts? ~ReignOfError)

To: Hi Heels

Dear Senor Castro, I will be most happy to take those checks off your hands. Just sign the back and send them to me soon. Most obliged, madison10



To: Hi Heels

I need to sneak in and get those checks,

Could use the money.

Lots of banks right here would take em.



To: dfwgator

No-Show Castro ".. In the past few weeks he (Castro) has been operated on more than once to stop what appeared likely to progress to fatal septicemia. These same sources say the leader has lost much weight, that he does not want to walk or receive visitors.".."



To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well lets see.....If he thinks that Gitmo is illegally âoccupiedÃ¢ then why doesn't he take it back by force ???.. Oh yeah ... I know , cause he’d get his cancerous puss filled a$$ kicked.. That’s why



by 20 posted onby Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)

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