Cuba: Castro a resurgent threat to the U.S.

This is an excerpt form a reportby Dr. Constantine C. Menges, an acclaimed expert on Latin America at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

There is growing but unnoticed threat to U.S. national security. A new terrorist, nuclear/bioweapons and geopolitical threat may well come from an axis including the regimes of Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela and the pro-Castro presidents of Brazil and Ecuador.

Together, these four countries have a population of 223 million.

Castro, Chavez, and Brazil's President Lula da Silva all have years of links with Iran and China. Visiting Iran in May 2001, Castro said, "The peoples and governments of Cuba and Iran can bring America to its knees."

Chavez also visited Iran in 2001 where he declared a "strategic alliance" with that sponsor of terrorism.

Since 1990, Lula da Silva has chaired the Forum of Sao Paulo, a Castro-initiated international group that has convened all the communist and terrorist organizations of Latin America, many terrorists from the Middle East and Europe, as well as representatives of Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Vietnam and China.

The new pro-Castro axis could expand to include more than nine countries with 340 million people. There is also the possibility that thousands of Islamic and newly indoctrinated regional terrorists could try to attack the United States from Latin America.

Combining the strategic experience of communist Cuba, its Soviet-provided bioweapons technology with the oil derived financial resources of Venezuela and the long-established nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs of Brazil could mean that the pro-Castro axis might be able to threaten its neighbors and the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

Also, communist China has established close political and military relations with Cuba (1999) and Venezuela (2000). It is flying two reconnaissance satellites with Brazil, and President Lula da Silva has announced his plans to greatly expand Brazil's relations with China. Therefore, it is likely that the pro-Castro axis could soon be geopolitically aligned with and militarily helped by communist China.