U.S., NATO may invade Libya: Castro

The U.S., along with NATO, might invade Libya, claims former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in a column published in state media.

Castro, who gave up his power in Cuba to his brother Raul in 2008, says the U.S. has no interest in restoring peace in Libya but only is concerned with the country’s vast oil reserves.

Castro wrote that the U.S. has long sought to control global oil supplies.

What is for me absolutely evident is that the government of the United States is not worried at all about peace in Libya, he wrote. And it will not hesitate to give NATO the order to invade that rich country, perhaps in a question of hours or very short days. An honest person will always be against any injustice committed against any people in the world. And the worst of those at this instant would be to keep silent before the crime that NATO is preparing to commit against the Libyan people.

Perhaps referring to reports of violent clashes between protesters and Libyan security forces, he wrote we will have to wait the necessary time to know exactly how much is truth or lies. He also added: You can agree or not with Gaddafi. The world has been invaded by all sorts of news ... We have to wait the necessary time to know with rigor how much is fact or lie.

Castro and Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi have been allies and friends for decades.

Separately, Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, said he has telephoned Gaddafi to express his support for the Libyan leader.

There is looting of businesses now, there is destruction. That is terrible, Ortega said. He said he told Gaddafi that difficult moments put loyalty to the test.

Gaddafi has awarded the International Human Rights Prize to both Castro and Ortega, and also to other leftist Latin American leaders, Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia.