IT'S A TRADITION FOR AMERICAN PRESIDENT'S:

Castro: Obama seeking to topple Cuban communism (WILL WEISSERT, 12/23/09, AP)

Raul Castro gave the strongest signal yet his government's would-be honeymoon with the Obama administration is over, delivering a harshly worded speech Sunday charging that the White House endorses efforts to topple the island's communist system.

Offering Cuba's first public acknowledgment of the arrest of an American contractor, Castro said the case shows "the United States won't quit trying to destroy the revolution and bring a change to our economic and social regime."