Cuba on alert as Bush calls for democracy

While Fidel and his younger brother Raul have yet to appear in public since the elder Castro handed power to his sibling Monday, Bush said the United States was ready to help Cuba's transition to democracy.

"I urge the Cuban people to work for democratic change on the island," Bush said in his first statement since Fidel temporarily relinquished power to Raul while he recovers from surgery.

"We will support you in your effort to build a transitional government in Cuba committed to democracy, and we will take note of those, in the current Cuban regime, who obstruct your desire for a free Cuba," Bush said.

The US State Department earlier lashed out at the "imposition" of Raul Castro as interim president replacing the 79-year-old Fidel.

There was no immediate reaction from the Cuban government, but panelists on a government news show panned Bush's call.

The director of the Juventud Rebelde (Rebel Youth) newspaper said that Bush had delivered "tin pot rhetoric" and "hollow blathering," while legislator Randy Alonso dismissed Bush's statement as "the epitome of delirium and dry inebriation."

While the island has largely been calm since the late Monday handover announcement, tension began to rise Thursday with announcements in the official media of "combat alerts" and reservists being called to military to duty.

"The means of combat are ready to defend us," announced the front page of the official newspaper Granma.