'Absurd' to think US would invade Cuba: White House

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 4 (Reuters) The White House today sought to reassure Cubans that the United States would not use the uncertainty surrounding the illness of Cuban President Fidel Castro to invade Cuba.

''It's absurd,'' White House spokesman Tony Snow said of concerns expressed by some in the Cuban media that Washington might want to invade Cuba.

Washington has long sought to overthrow Castro using an economic embargo, but has not tried the military route since the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs operation.

''The US has absolutely no designs on invading Cuba. The Cubans are going to determine their destiny, the one thing that they've been deprived of during the dictatorship of Fidel Castro, and we hope that they're going to be able to enjoy the freedoms they clearly want,'' Snow said.

With both Fidel Castro and his brother, acting Cuban leader Raul Castro, out of public view, Snow said the Cuban government ''seems to be in hiding at this point.'' ''We're all interested'' in where they are,'' he told reporters covering President George W Bush's vacation at his Texas ranch. ''We don't know.'' The United States so far has labeled the shift in power to Raul Castro a continuation of ''autocracy'' and dismissed any chance of a warming of ties under the younger Castro brother.

Snow said US officials were still trying to assess the situation in Cuba with no changes planned in overall policy at this point.

Reuters VJ GC0220

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