The US has urged Cubans to seize the opportunity to rid themselves of communist rule as ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his designated successor and brother Raul remained out of public view, fueling anxiety over what could happen in the next days or weeks.
Cuba's health minister said Castro, who has ruled the island nation of 11 milion people for nearly half a century, was recovering from surgery and would be back in the saddle soon.
In the meantime, his younger brother Raul was in firm control of the nation and its military, state media said.
Monday's shock news that Castro (79) had handed over power temporarily to Raul after surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding spurred speculation on whether his reign was about to end.
It was the first time that Castro, an instantly recognisable figure on the world stage who is loved and loathed across the globe, has delegated power to anyone else since his guerrilla army overthrew a dictatorship in 1959.
In a message beamed to Cuba last night, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Cubans now was the time to push for a new, democratic leadership.
"We will stand with you to secure your rights - to speak as you choose, to think as you please, to worship as you wish, and to choose your leaders, freely and fairly, in democratic elections," she said in a broadcast on the US-funded Radio Marti network.
The United States and Castro have been foes for decades and the bearded revolutionary has survived CIA assassinations bids, invasion attempts, Cold War crises and a economic embargo over the course of the years.
Although it has announced big plans for its role in a post-Castro Cuba, including advisers and millions of dollars in aid, the Bush administration on Friday dismissed the idea that the United States might take advantage of the uncertainty and invade the island lying just 90 miles from its shores.
Ms Rice urged the release of political prisoners and a swfit transition to multi-party elections. "Throughout this time of change, all of you must know that you have no greater friend than the United States of America," she said in the broadcast.
It was not know how many Cubans actually heard it as Radio and TV Marti are jammed by a Cuban government that brands the United States an exploiter and repressor of the Third World.
Cuban officials have already dismissed similar US exhortations as unacceptable and on the streets of Havana, some expressed an aversion to a heavy-handed American role in any transition. "We don't want the Americans involved here," said Ulises, a student. "This system has no future, but we do not want an abrupt change, like in Iraq ."
The Catholic Bishops Conference said it hoped for peace and indicated it opposed any foreign interference. "We ask all our communities to pray that God accompany President Fidel Castro in his illness and illuminates those who have received provisional government duties," it said.
Health Minister Jose Ramon Balaguer, visiting a Cuban-assisted hospital in rural Guatemala, told local radio that Castro was on the road to recovery and "will be back with us soon." The Communist Party newspaper Granma said Raul Castro was "firmly at the helm" but gave few other details abhout the exact state of affairs in the leadership.