Cuba still smarting at Russian spy base pullout

By Andrew Cawthorne

HAVANA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Still fuming at Russia's imminent withdrawal from a spy base in Cuba, President Fidel Castro's government ridiculed its former socialist ally's motives on Friday and said the move would create a security vacuum for Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin pleased Washington and infuriated Havana last week by announcing Russia would soon pull out of the Lourdes intelligence center less than 100 miles (160 km) from U.S. soil.

U.S. President George W. Bush called the spy site a Cold War relic whose demise would help build a "cooperative and transparent relationship" between the United States and Russia.

But Friday's front-page statement in the ruling Cuban Communist Party's daily Granma said the financial saving for Russia, cited as its main motive, was negligible and the security risk enormous.

"From the Lourdes center, Russia was receiving 75 percent of the strategic information it needed to prevent an aggression and it has been the principal tool for controlling the fulfillment of the (nuclear) disarmament agreements with the United States," said the communique, likely written by Castro.

"Now it will be without essential information for its defense for who knows how long. It will be unwarned and exposed to any contingency."

The communique said Moscow's saving of the $200 million annual lease it paid to Cuba represented a paltry 0.05 percent of money estimated to be robbed each year from the Russian economy through corruption.

"This cannot be an economic consideration. It was a decision of a political nature," Granma said, noting Russia's increasingly close relationship with the United States.

Putin's decision heralded the end of four decades of Russian military presence on Cuba, its former Cold War partner, and was seen as a crucial step in warming Moscow-Washington ties. Some analysts also saw it as leaving Havana increasingly isolated on the world stage, as well as depriving the island's fragile economy of an important source of income.

CASTRO SEES "SACRIFICES" AHEAD FOR CUBA

Some 1,500 Russian military personnel and their families live at Lourdes, built in 1964 just outside Havana. From the exterior, it looks like a mass of antennae and dishes on a base largely hidden by tropical vegetation in countryside.

Ironically, many Cubans had no idea of Lourdes' existence until last week's announcement from Moscow prompted Havana's first angry response published in state media.

Friday's communique said Russia's hope the United States would respond by dismantling a base in Norway "is laughable."

It also poked fun at Russia's stated plans to use the savings from the base for more sophisticated and cost-effective military projects.

"Never in the nearly 10 years past (since the Soviet collapse) have they placed new satellites or delivered submarines or planes to the armed forces which, in many regions, lack even uniforms and boots," it said.

The loss of $200 million annual income has, however, also highlighted Cuba's own economic problems, especially given the slowing of tourism and family remittances from abroad -- its main sources of hard currency -- since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Castro gave his first public recognition of that during a speech this week, warning Cubans of tough times to come but also saying the island was well-prepared to survive.

"We must be ready, some sacrifices will come, logically, but we are in better conditions than ever," he said during Wednesday's speech in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.

END

Andrew Cawthorne
Reuters Limited.

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