Cuba refuses U.S., EU aid after hurricane

HAVANA, July 12 (UPI) -- Cuban leader Fidel Castro has refused any offers of relief aid from the United States or European Union in the wake of Hurricane Dennis.

Castro spoke for hours Monday and into Tuesday on state-run television about how the communist island nation "resisted the force of the hurricane," Granma reported.

The Cuban president did say however he would accept aid from Venezuela, with which Cuba has close political and economic relations.

Hurricane Dennis ripped through the Caribbean during the weekend, claiming 28 lives in Cuba and Haiti before making landfall in the United States, where it killed five.