HAVANA (AP) -- Fidel Castro is demanding a crackdown on rising
                  crime in Cuba, calling it a threat to the revolution and urging greater
                  U.S. cooperation in the fight against drugs, terrorism and traffic in people.

                  Crime has "internal political consequences," Castro told an auditorium full of
                  police this week in a long speech celebrating the 40th anniversary of the
                  National Revolutionary Police.

                  "On you depends internal order, and if we lose the battle for internal order,
                  then we lose everything," Castro said in the first part of the speech broadcast
                  late Wednesday on state television. The second portion was to be aired
                  Thursday night.

                  Castro said market-oriented economic reforms here following the collapse
                  of the Soviet bloc had encouraged crime by creating circulation of dollars,
                  bringing in tourists and new foreign businesses.

                  He described the case of two Spanish investors accused of using a business
                  in Cuba to help launder money and to help ship drugs from Colombia to
                  Europe.

                  'A need for stronger measures'

                  Castro demanded tougher sentences and urged judges not to shy away from
                  death penalties, which were common in the 1960s and 1970s but have been
                  rare in the past decade.

                  Noting that many people convicted of pimping had been let off with fines,
                  Castro said, "there was a need for stronger measures." He said the crime
                  should lead to at least 20 years in prison.

                  For armed robbery of a house, "I expect a penalty of at least 20 years and
                  up to 30 if necessary, and even a life sentence if they repeat," Castro said.

                  The Cuban leader also urged tougher sentences for drug traffickers, saying
                  the increase of that crime "pains me greatly."

                  Arrests and seizures

                  He noted that 18 foreigners were arrested in November on charges of trying
                  to smuggle cocaine through Cuba to Britain.

                  He said 227 foreigners had been arrested for drug violations since the start
                  of 1995, with 157 sentenced to prison.

                  Castro said Cuba seized 3,520 kilos (7,745 pounds) of cocaine and
                  marijuana between January and November 1998, almost double the levels
                  of previous years.

                  Some drugs have leaked into domestic use, sometimes supplied by Cubans
                  who retrieved and sold errant packages of drugs dropped by traffickers off
                  the coasts, Castro said.

                  More than 1,200 Cubans were arrested last year for drug offenses, he said.

                  Before the recent reforms, "there were no dollars" in Cuba, he said. "There
                  was no potential internal market."

                  Looking north for help

                  Once remarkably free of street crime and violence, Cuba has seen a surge in
                  prostitution, robbery and theft. Many residents have installed security bars
                  on their houses.

                  Declining state rations have made it hard for many people to live on state
                  salaries averaging $10 a month. At the same time, new dollar-only stores
                  tempt Cubans with quality food, clothes and electronics few can afford.

                  Castro complained that the United States had failed to cooperate adequately
                  in fighting terrorism and traffic in drugs and people.

                  He said that U.S. drug officials had failed to alert Cuba about a ship they
                  had been tracking that was detained in Cuba and found with cocaine.

                  He also accused the United States of failing to act against anti-Cuban
                  terrorists on its territory. "There is a considerable volume of extremists and
                  crazies in that country," he said.

                  Castro also complained that U.S. courts repeatedly freed air and sea
                  hijackers from Cuba and said the U.S. government encouraged the "grave,
                  repugnant" trafficking in immigrants by allowing Cubans who reach U.S.
                  shores automatic residence.

                  "If they reach the coast, everything is resolved," he said.

                  Castro said Cuba last year frustrated at least 90 foreign-aided attempts to
                  flee the country illegally, involving 660 people. Organizers of the attempts
                  charged as much as $8,000 per person.

                  But he also criticized what he called "hypocrisy and cynicism" in foreign
                  reports about the crime and prostitution in Cuba, noting that many European
                  publications are filled with advertisements for prostitutes.

                  Copyright 1999   The Associated Press.