Cuban President Fidel Castro said last night the only way the United States could overthrow his communist government was by the nuclear destruction of Cuba.
Mr Castro, whose one-party state was recently labeled an "outpost of tyranny" by US President George W. Bush's administration, said Cuba would resist an American invasion like Vietnam.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq , Mr Castro has repeatedly accused the Mr Bush administration of wanting to invade Cuba to oust him.
US officials say the charge is rubbish. "I hope I'm wrong ... but if they make the mistake of attacking and invading this country, I recommend Mr Bush had better launch 50 nuclear weapons and exterminate us all," Mr Castro said in a speech.
"We prefer to die in heaven than to survive in hell," the 78-year-old leader told delegates to a literacy conference.
Mr Castro said he watched Mr Bush's second inaugural speech last month and reiterated his view of the danger Cuba faced.
"I saw the face of a crazed man," he said. "I assure you this country could be exterminated," he said.
The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Havana after Castro's seized power in a 1959 revolution and aligned Cuba with the former Soviet Union in the midst of the Cold War.
Hostility between Washington and Havana has escalated under Bush, who stepped up US support for Castro's opponents and criticism of human rights abuses on the island.
During confirmation hearing last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Ms Rice called Cuba, along with Burma, Belarus and Zimbabwe, "outposts of tyranny" that needed to be watched.
Washington has become increasingly worried about Mr Castro's close alliance with leftist President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, a major supplier of oil to the United States.