Castro Accuses U.S. of Attempting to Bring Down Cuban System

The desired improvement in relations between Cuba and the U.S. appears to be further away than ever following a speech on Sunday by Cuban leader Raul Castro in which he accused Washington of trying to "destroy the revolution".

In his address to the Cuban National Assembly the man who officially succeeded his brother Fidel Castro as President in February 2008 referred to the arrest in Cuba on Dec. 5 of an unnamed U.S. citizen as proof of Washington's determination to "destroy the revolution and bring a change to our economic and social regime". Whilst no charges have been laid against the man detained by the Cuban authorities, CNN confirms that he is employed by a Maryland-based economic development organization called Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), Raul Castro is quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the U.S. citizen was:

working to illegally distribute sophisticated methods of satellite communication to members of the 'civil society' which they hope to form against our people

Within a week of the arrest of his employee DAI President and CEO James (Jim) Boomgard stated that the man Havana has so far refused to allow access to U.S. officials was working on a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project known as the Cuba Democracy and Contingency Planning Program, his role involving the implementation of "activities in support of the rule of law and human rights, political competition, and consensus building, and to strengthen civil society in support of just and democratic governance in Cuba". Raul Castro does not seem to have made any reference in his speech to the program being run on behalf of USAID by DAI but according to the Associated Press the 78-year-old Cuban leader, who is five years younger than his brother Fidel, did speak of a U.S. federal budget allocation of "almost $55 million to support a supposed democracy, the defense of human rights and aggression by radio and television against Cuba", reportedly a reference to radio and TV stations broadcasting to Cuba from U.S. territory. It is not clear if that territory is the U.S. mainland or elsewhere. Earlier this year President Obama lifted restrictions on Cuban-Americans traveling to or transferring money to the island where they or their parents or other members of their family were born. However the friendliness that appeared to be developing between Washington and Havana has now all but disappeared, with Fidel Castro noting recently that his brother's U.S. counterpart has a "friendly smile and African-American face" that distracts from what the Associated Press describes as "Washington's sinister intentions for Latin America". CNN explains that Raul Castro had adopted a "wait-and-see approach" with regard to President Obama but now, dissatisfied with what he has seen, he has declared the "honeymoon period over". Other issues hampering efforts to improve U.S.-Cuban relations include delayed talks on migration between the two countries, criticism of racism in Cuba by African-Americans and U.S. support for a dissident blogger in Cuba, allegedly the victim of an assault last month by plainclothes state security agents. Reuters reports that Monday saw further condemnation of the U.S., more specifically President Obama, in a press conference given by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. Speaking about the UN Climate Change Conference that recently took place in Copenhagen Mr Rodriguez, previously Cuba's Permanent Representative to the UN, said of the attitude of the U.S. President:

He lies all the time, deceives with demagogic words, with profound cynicism

Asserting that those present in Copenhagen had seen "an imperial, arrogant Obama who doesn't listen, who imposes positions that even threaten developing countries", Mr Rodriguez added

:The Copenhagen summit was a failure and a deception to world public opinion. The cause is clearly evident -- lack of political will by the developed countries

Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua all opposed the UN adopting a non-binding agreement on fighting climate change reached by the U.S., China, Brazil, India and South Africa as they consider it to be an agreement which favors the developed world at the expense of the developing world. Despite his harsh criticism of the U.S. Raul Castro has signaled his continuing willingness to sit down with President Obama and discuss the differences between their two countries.