Fidel Castro says Gustav like atomic bomb on Cuba

 2008-09-03 18:45:03 - HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro likened Hurricane Gustav's destruction in Cuba to an atomic explosion, saying Wednesday it could mean billions of dollars in losses for the communist government. Video images of the devastation on Cuba's Isla de la Juventud reminded Castro of «the desolation I saw when I visited Hiroshima, which was the victim of an attack of the first atomic bomb in August 1945,» the ailing former president wrote in a column carried in government news media. Gustav reached Category 4 strength with winds of 140 mph (220 kph) when it slammed into the outlying island on Saturday, then crossed a tobacco-rich swath of the western province of Pinar del Rio on mainland Cuba before re-entering the Gulf of Mexico and continuing to the U.S. Gustav's winds were down to about 110 mph (175 kph) by the time its center hit Louisiana two days later. Cuban authorities evacuated 467,000 people ahead of the storm and reported only 19 injuries and no deaths. But the Gustav tore roofs off many homes, schools and businesses and completely leveled others, while tossing trees and telephone poles and smashing electric towers. Cuba says that about 100,000 homes across the island were damaged. The government has not announced how much it will cost to repair Gustav's damage, but Castro suggested it could run into the billions of dollars. Apparently referring to Cuba's population of more than 11 million, Castro wrote that «one hundred million dollars means only nine dollars per inhabitant and we need much more.«We need 30, 40 times that amount only to meet our most elemental needs,» he wrote. «The effort should come out of the work of our people. No one can do it for us. Castro suggested that repairs to infrastructure would have to wait: «Now the battle is feeding the victims of the hurricane; the difficulty is not in re-establishing electricity like it was before. Castro, 82, has not been seen in public since July 2006, though he writes essays published regularly in the Cuban press. He ceded power to his younger brother Raul in February.

The hurricane IN my last reflection of Tuesday afternoon, August 29, when Hurricane Gustav unexpectedly formed and started to threaten our country on the same day when our Olympic delegation returned, I wrote: "We are lucky to have a Revolution! It is a fact that nobody will be neglected…Our strong, forceful and farsighted Civil Defense protects our people…The growing frequency and intensity of these natural phenomena show that the climate is changing due to the actions of human beings. The current times demand ever increasing dedication, steadfastness and conscience. It doesn’t matter if the opportunists and traitors also benefit without contributing anything to the safety and well-being of our people." I know the colossal efforts that the Revolution has to make after the national territory is hit by a hurricane.  I could add that Cuba counts with keen and persevering scientists such as José Rubiera. Hundreds of millions of working hours are lost in a brief period of time when the wind gusts beat directly on economic and social centers in broad areas of national territory.  Interminable rains accompany these natural phenomena.  Rivers overflow, sweep away anything they find in their path and flood extensive areas.  Thousands of facilities that produce vegetables, milk, eggs, poultry meat and pork, as well as sophisticated irrigation systems, are seriously damaged; tens of thousands of hectares of sugar cane, grains, cereals and fruit trees ready for harvesting are lost; schools, polyclinics, entertainment and cultural centers, houses, roofs, factories, warehouses, highways and bridges are all damaged by the winds and the rain.  This time those winds and rains affected all provinces to a greater or lesser degree, since the hurricane made its way via the sea in the vicinity of the southern part of the country and moved across it via the westernmost province, with a radius of 30 kilometers in its eye gale-force winds with a diameter of more than 450 kilometers.Nothing is as devastating as the damage and destruction left behind by a hurricane.  Hundreds of thousands of compatriots mobilize and work very hard during the passing of the hurricane and afterwards during the recovery stage.  Reserves are reduced or depleted.  Today, more than ever, the blow to food supplies is costly and significant.  But this is our country; this is our rightful place in this planet, and we have to develop and defend it.The task we have ahead requires time and expertise.  The true Cuba and its noble people, which have been ready to share with others its knowledge and even part of its resources including its own blood, were not built overnight.  That is why it has been an invincible adversary in confronting the powerful empire that has tested all of its weapons against our country.But there is hardly any information to the world about Cuba’s merits and its extraordinary struggle.