WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration, which has made no secret of its desire to see the end of Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba, said it has a plan in place to help transition the island nation to democracy after Castro. "We can't speculate on Castro's health, but we continue to work for the day of Cuba's freedom," said White House spokesman Peter Watkins. He also said the U.S. is closely monitoring the situation.
On Monday, before Castro's illness was announced, President Bush was in Miami and spoke of the island's future.
"If Fidel Castro were to move on because of natural causes, we've got a plan in place to help the people of Cuba understand there's a better way than the system in which they've been living under," he told WAQI- AM Radio Mambi, a Spanish-language radio station. "No one knows when Fidel Castro will move on. In my judgment, that's the work of the Almighty."
The president apparently was referring to a recently updated plan that calls for diplomacy enlisting Cuban citizens and other nations to demand a new government after Castro dies. The plan, released last month by the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, recommends that the United States spend $80 million over two years for food and other aid to Cuba to encourage multiparty elections, free markets and democratic institutions.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., a member of the House International Relations Committee who has long opposed Castro, said even a temporary relinquishment of power by the dictator is "a great day for the Cuban people and for their brothers and sisters in exile."
"Fidel Castro has only brought ruin and misery to Cuba so if he is incapacitated, even for a short period of time, it is a marvelous moment for the millions of Cubans who live under his iron fisted rule and oppressive state machinery," she said. "I hope this is the beginning of the end for his despised regime."
The State Department declined comment, but the United States has been open about the fact it is prepared to go to some lengths to ensure that the communist system Castro created goes out with him.
It is official U.S. policy to "undermine" Cuba's planned succession from Castro to his brother Raul, to whom Fidel Castro temporarily transferred power Monday, citing an operation over an intestinal problem and internal bleeding.
The transfer marked the first time that Castro, two weeks away from 80th birthday, had relinquished power in 47 years of absolute rule.
Watkins, the White House spokesman, said the administration was "monitoring the situation," though he did not provide details. Cuba itself has disclosed little about the dictator's circumstances beyond Monday's statement about Castro's operation.
Castro, who took control of Cuba in 1959, resisted repeated U.S. attempts to oust him and survived communism's demise elsewhere.
Cuba has been under a U.S. financial embargo since 1961, two years after the Castro came to power with the ousting of then-President Fulgencio Batista.
