Cuba's Communist Party named a new 12-member executive committee to strengthen one-party rule, a communique issued Tuesday said, even as US pressure mounts for a multi-party system upon President Fidel Castro's passing.
The new secretariat will be led by Castro, who turns 80 in August, his brother Raul Castro, 75, and current party organisational secretary Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, 75, with most of the remaining members in their 40s and 50s.
The Bush administration's Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba was expected to issue a report later this week calling for stepped up action to undermine Communist Party rule after Castro departs the scene.
The first chapter of that report, a draft of which was obtained by Reuters, is entitled "Hastening the End of the Castro Dictatorship: Transition not Succession" and includes a classified annex of measures to be taken.
"With the horizon marking an end of the long struggle against tyranny in Cuba approaching ... Cubans will insure that the dictatorship that advocated nuclear war against our nation will rapidly come to an end," the draft report states.
Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon called the draft report a "declaration of war"
Tuesday's Communique, issued at the end of a secret meeting of the Central Committee, said a standing ovation followed Raul Castro's assertion the party would continue leading the nation in Fidel Castro's absence, despite US efforts to derail a smooth succession.
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