Cuba clicked into crisis mode Friday, postponing a key Communist Party congress aimed at charting a post-Castro future and announcing that its woeful economy is even worse than expected. Cubans will have to make do with less, top communists suggested, as they insisted the armed forces are strong enough to deal with any unrest.The island's top two political bodies - the Council of Ministers and the Communist Party's Central Committee - huddled in secret on how to guide Cuba through what President Raul Castro was quoted as calling a "very serious" crisis.
Such frank language is uncommon in a country where the state controls all news media, restricts free speech and assembly, and tolerates no organized political opposition. But it's no secret that the global financial crisis has pounded the desperately poor nation - and people do not need to be told how tough times are.