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HAVANA (AP) -- Cuba government has mobilized citizen defense militias, saying it fears a U.S. attack during Fidel Castro's health crisis, even though the White House insists no such threat exists.

The island's government, under the control of Castro's brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro, has also asked military reservists to check in daily.

Cubans interviewed on state-run media Friday said they would fight to the death against any invaders from the north, while the Communist Party daily Granma said, "We Cubans are prepared for the defense" of the island.

White House press secretary Tony Snow rejected as "absurd" any suggestion that the United States would attack the island.



"The U.S. has absolutely no designs on invading Cuba," Snow said in Crawford, Texas, where President Bush was vacationing at his ranch. "Cubans are going to have to chart their destiny. It's the one thing that they've been deprived during the dictatorship of Fidel Castro."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also made a statement Friday, imploring Cubans not to flee to Florida. Her message was being transmitted over U.S. government radio and television stations that are beamed to the island but have limited audiences because of Cuban jamming operations. The message was also picked up on CNN and other major media, where some Cubans were more likely to see it.

Neither of the Castros has been seen since Monday's announcement that Fidel, 79, had undergone surgery and was temporarily ceding power to Raul, 75. No new details were provided on Castro's condition following the surgery for intestinal bleeding.

Snow said everyone at the White House was "very interested" in Castro's condition as well as his brother's whereabouts. "It tells you something about a government that seems to be in hiding at a point like this," he said.

Cuban Cabinet ministers said Castro was doing well and urged patience.

In Guatemala, Cuban Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer told Radio Sonora that Castro "underwent surgery from which he is recovering satisfactorily." Balaguer is a longtime Communist Party leader and physician named by Castro to watch over his pet health projects in his absence.

In Havana, Culture Minister Abel Prieto wouldn't provide any details about Castro's health but said things were running smoothly in the country.

"This is a society that is functioning, that is working normally," he said. "People are worried, and wanting to know more about the health of Fidel, but at the same time, they are conducting themselves appropriately."

He said everyone should wait for Castro himself to provide more information about his condition. As for the younger brother, he said, "Raul will appear in due time ... people know who Raul is."

Some Cuban exiles, seizing on the unprecedented transfer of power, called for the U.S. government to do more to encourage a democratic transition on the island.

William Sanchez, an attorney for the Cuban-American non-profit Democracy Movement, urged Bush to tell Cuba to set an elections timetable and let Cuban-Americans come to the island to help with a political transition.

The Cuban government used such statements by what it calls the "terrorist mafia" in Miami - as well as Bush's call Thursday for democratic change on the island - to justify its fears of an invasion.

It also expressed sympathy for the Lebanese people's struggle with their own "aggressor" - Israel. In the first decree to be issued since Castro's unprecedented transfer of power, the foreign ministry condemned the Israeli bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana as "cowardly, vile and criminal."

MIAMI (AP) -- Dissidents in Cuba's eastern provinces say the country's military has beefed up its presence on the streets and is telling citizens they have permission to respond with force against anyone who speaks out against the government.

In a series of interviews conducted by phone in Miami on Friday, dissidents told The Associated Press they are fearful about retaliations against political opponents of the government.

"Everybody now knows that Fidel is ill, but everyone is waiting," said Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, 41, an attorney from the province of Ciego de Avila. "They are wondering what is going to happen. There is a grave silence. It's like being in the center of a hurricane."

Gonzalez, who became blind as a child and went on to study law in Havana, was accused in 2002 of insubordination to Castro and spent more than two years in prison. His case gained international attention after Amnesty International called for his release.

Gonzalez said officials met with neighborhood watch groups on Tuesday to encourage them to look out for anyone who might speak against Castro.

"My concern right now is for the political prisoners in this country, and what could happen to them," Gonzalez said.

He said that on Wednesday night a mob came to the home of Yamile Llanes, who is the wife of Jose Luis Garcia Penequi, and threatened her. Garcia was among one of 75 political opponents rounded up by the Cuban government in 2003 and accused of being on the U.S. government payrolls. Both the dissidents and Washington denied the allegation. He remains incarcerated.

Gonzalez said he and others are asking that the government hold free elections and urged other Cubans not to participate in mob attacks, or "repudios" as they are called, against dissidents.


Gonzalez said his wife fled to the United States last year after being repeatedly harassed in government-sponsored attacks, but he refused to leave.

"Yes, everyone would like to live in liberty, but there are commitments you make for country and people," he said.

The Miami-based nonprofit Cuban Democratic Directorate, which provides support to dissidents in Cuba, patched through the calls to Gonzalez and the other dissidents. The group receives funding from the U.S. government through the International Republican Institute and the National Endowment for Democracy.

In Banes, in the Holguin province, Guillermo Llanos Ricardo, 30, said the town's only independent library was surrounded by citizen patrol groups checking the identification of anyone seeking to enter.

"These are well-known groups that have incited violence against dissidents in the past," he said.

Meanwhile, Eliecer Consuegra Rivas, 33, the head of the opposition group Eastern Democratic Alliance in the city of Antilla also in Holguin, attributed the relative calm on the streets to fear of reprisal. He said he has been repeatedly warned not to speak out informally by neighbors and officially by government representatives.

"The messages they are getting to us every day are that we shouldn't leave our home or talk," said the former elementary school basketball coach. "They tell people not to have pity. And that they should do what they want with those they see demonstrating against the government."

Consuegra, who supports the Varela project led by renowned Cuban activist Oswaldo Paya, said he was accused in July of owning a stolen fax even though he showed officials a receipt that proved he bought the machine from a government-run store.