Washington, May 18: Havana will not automatically respond to the expulsions by Washington earlier this month of 14 Cuban diplomats with its own tit-for-tat ousters of American officials, a senior adviser to Fidel Castro said today. "We will consider carefully what we do," said Ricardo Alarcon, the Cuban president's foreign policy adviser and speaker of Cuba's National Assembly.

Alarcon said Miami-based Cuban exiles who opposed Castro's regime were "interested in promoting a conflict between Cuba and the US."

The officials said Cuba is still pondering how to respond to the US expulsion on spy charges last week of 14 Cuban diplomats.

"It's very dangerous, and it's complicating the situation between the two countries," Alarcon said in a pre- recorded interview released today.

He said he believed a threat existed to oust Castro from Cuba in the same way the US-led invasion of Iraq had dethroned former dictator Saddam Hussein.

"I am convinced that not very far from President Bush and his entourage are people that are not just willing but actively working towards" such an overthrow of Castro, he said.

Speaking of the April 11 summary executions of three hijackers who had attempted to escape Cuba for the United States by seizing boats and aircraft had served as a deterrent to other would be hijackers, Alarcon said.

Bureau Report