MIAMI — Exhortations from exile groups and the Bush administration for Cubans to seize the moment of Fidel Castro's illness to end communist rule have stirred little reaction there, and some analysts say the thinly veiled calls for a pro-democracy uprising could undermine prospects for change.
Cuban American exile organizations and conservative politicians have appealed to Cubans to reject the Communist Party succession plan and demand free elections.
Cuban American National Foundation Chairman Jorge Mas Santos appeared to be urging a military coup on Wednesday when he said senior officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and civilian officials in Havana should schedule a multiparty vote and free political prisoners.
"There are many in the military and in government ranks in Havana who do not accept the transfer of power to Raul Castro. This is our rally to those brave men and women," Mas Santos told reporters at Versailles, the Cuban restaurant in Little Havana that has become a command post for exiles impatient for change in their homeland.
Cuban Democracy Movement leader Ramon Saul Sanchez has been lobbying at Versailles for exiles with boats and planes to organize a relief flotilla to their homeland -- an action the U.S. government has discouraged to avoid confrontation with Cuban defense forces.
On Thursday, President Bush called on the Cuban people to work for change and warned Communist officials that Washington would watch their responses to any pro-democracy demonstrations.
On Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Cubans not to flee the island because of political uncertainty, but "to work at home for positive change," the Associated Press reported. Her brief remarks were aired on the heavily jammed TV Marti and Radio Marti.
Acts of resistance to the regime have been rare in Cuba throughout Castro's nearly 48 years in power. The Cuban armed forces, led from their inception by Defense Minister Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's brother and designated successor, have never been called upon to quell demonstrators.
Cuban American lawmakers have asked the Pentagon to make a military C-130 aircraft available to help the U.S. government-funded TV Marti overcome Cuban signal-jamming. Airborne broadcasts are more difficult for Cuban authorities to target than land-based signals.
