Cuba Steps Up Criticism of Russia
HAVANA (AP) - Stung by Moscow's plans to close its listening post here, Cuba complained Saturday that Russia was trying to become the kind of capitalist country it once abhorred.
``An abyss separates our thinking from the opportunism, the egoism, and the lack of ethics that today prevails in the decadent field of the imperialist and capitalist system, or of those that aspire to it,'' the Communist Party daily Granma said Saturday in a front-page editorial about the base closure.
Cuba, which enjoyed favorable trade and aid agreements with the Soviet Union as its communist Cold War ally, suffered ``terrible hurt, damage and suffering'' with its disintegration a decade ago, the paper said.
Cuban leaders wanted to develop close economic ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites)'s government in Moscow, but have been unable to do so because of ``the chaos that reigns there,'' the newspaper said. It said that while political relations have been good, economic ties have been ``a disaster.''
Russia announced Oct. 17 that would close the electronic listening station at Lourdes, built in two years after the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s communist government called closure of the facility a ``grave threat'' to Cuba's security. The government also says it has it has not approved the closure and that more negotiations between the two countries are needed before a decision is made.
Russia has said that closing the base 13 miles south of Havana will help it save at least $200 million annually in rent and an undisclosed amount in salaries.
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