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US Coast Guard says no security shift as Castro cedes power

by Staff Writers
Washington, Aug 1, 2006
The US Coast Guard has not altered its security status since Cuban President Fidel Castro announced he was ceding power temporarily, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"The Coast Guard and DHS (US Department of Homeland Security) are monitoring the situation, but we have not modified our maritime security status, moved any persons or assets or executed any contingency plans as a result of these developments," spokeswoman Angela McArdle said.

Castro, in power for 47 years as Latin America's only communist strongman, temporarily ceded power to his brother Raul for the first time, after undergoing surgery.

The elderly leader, due to turn 80 on August 13, said late Monday in a statement read on Cuban television that he would be out for "several weeks of rest" following the operation to stem intestinal bleeding.

The seriousness of Castro's condition was not immediately clear, but news that he had relinquished power sparked hopeful celebrations among Cuban exiles in Miami who have been waiting decades for the demise of the leader of the Caribbean's most populous island nation of more than 11 million people.

Under US regulations, any Cuban who reach US shores is allowed to stay, get US residence and work permits, and can later seek US citizenship. Those Cubans the US Coast Guard picks up at sea, however, are returned home.

Cuba long has complained the rules encourage Cubans to make risky, sometimes fatal, crossings to the nearby United States.

If the tight social controls that have been in place in Cuba for decades should suddenly loosen, some analysts fear that could trigger a new mass migration of Cubans. Thousands could rush to nearby Florida to collect US documents to which they know they -- unlike any other undocumented migrants -- are entitled.

Though there is no country-specific strategy in place, "our contingency plans that we have deal with the possibility of mass migration at sea," McArdle said.

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US army 'degraded' by Iraq deployments: defense experts
Washington, Aug 1, 2006
A group of prominent US defense and national security experts sounded an alarm Tuesday about the strain on US combat forces of lengthy deployments to Iraq, saying the problem has reached crisis levels.







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