Castro predicts NATO invasion of Libya is imminent
The former Cuban president also says he believes Gaddafi, his longtime ally, is still in Libya
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro predicted in a column published on Tuesday that the United States will soon order NATO to invade protest-wracked Libya to take control of its rich oil fields.
"What is for me absolutely evident is that the government of the United States is not worried at all about peace in Libya and will not hesitate to give NATO the order to invade that rich country, maybe in a matter of hours or very few days," the 84-year-old Castro wrote in the official newspaper Granma.
Castro did not give reason why he believed such an invasion was imminent, but he said oil had been the basis for much of the United States' power. Neither did Castro pass any judgment on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for the violence.
The former Cuban president also said he did not think Gaddafi had left the country, as had been rumored in recent days, because he could not imagine him "eluding responsibility" for his reported actions.
Castro and Gaddafi have been allies for years, sharing revolutionary postures and animosity for the United States. In Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega also predicted a US-led invasion.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday began to discuss possible action against Gaddafi's regime.
