MEDIA REACTION - CUBA: CASTRO TRANSITION

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001936 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, WHA/CCA STATE FOR INR/IAA, PM, INL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KPAO KMDR PHUM PGOV CI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - CUBA: CASTRO TRANSITION ¶1. On September 10, government-owned, editorially independent "La Nacion" (circ., 4,200) carried a column by defense journalist Raul Sohr, entitled, "Cuba and Venezuela, a U.S. Target." Quote: ¶2. "The United States believes that nothing will ever be the same in Cuba again.... Washington believes that there is a before and after July 31, when Castro yielded power.... The United States is conducting a war on Cuba's nerves.... It offers to lift the economic embargo...a petition that Washington knows cannot prosper and even encourages that it does not. The Cuban regime can only feel insecurity from the creation of a 'special mission' to increase intelligence activities in Cuba and Venezuela.... The truth is that the USG and the Cuban regime are doing everything possible to avoid a transition." KELLY