HAVANA (Reuters) -- An official Cuban newspaper on Monday rejected
                  "cynical" foreign criticism of a new government anti-subversion law and said
                  the legislation was a legitimate move to defend and preserve Cuba's
                  one-party socialist system.

                  The trades union weekly Trabajadores said in an editorial the intention of the
                  "Law for the Protection of Cuba's National Independence and Economy"
                  passed last week was to "preserve our national unity, based on three
                  indivisible pillars."

                  It defined these as "the predominance of socialist forms of ownership," "the
                  political direction of society by the (ruling Cuban Communist) Party" and the
                  "existence of a state and government capable of safeguarding sovereignty,
                  order, equality and justice."

                  The new law passed last Tuesday established jail terms ranging up to 20
                  years for anyone judged to be "collaborating" with the U.S. government in its
                  economic embargo against Cuba and in its efforts to subvert one-party
                  communist rule there.

                  It appeared deliberately intended to curb the activities of internal Cuban
                  political dissidents and independent journalists who sent abroad articles
                  critical of President Fidel Castro's government. The legislation has already
                  drawn protests from human rights groups and from dissidents journalists in
                  Cuba.

                  Trabajadores condemned what it said was a "ferocious campaign of criticism
                  and manipulation" leveled against the new law by U.S. government
                  spokesmen and some foreign media.

                  It accused these critics of "cynically using" arguments that the latest
                  anti-subversion measures infringed freedom of expression, democracy, an
                  independent press and human rights.

                  "Cuba has never been interested in creating unnecessary tensions with the
                  United States and will continue to evaluate exchanges and contacts between
                  both nations on the basis of equality and mutual respect," Trabajadores said.

                  It added: "But no one should expect a passive attitude in the face of
                  aggression."

                  This wording reflected the Cuban government's reaction to measures
                  announced by U.S. President Bill Clinton last month which modified the
                  long-standing U.S. economic embargo against the communist-ruled
                  Caribbean island.

                  U.S. officials said the measures announced January 5, which included wider
                  approvals for cash remittances and flights to Cuba, were intended to ease
                  the effects of the embargo on the Cuban people while maintaining the
                  squeeze on the government.

                  Castro and senior Cuban officials have condemned these U.S. measures as
                  a "fraud" and said they really represented an intensification of the U.S.
                  governments' attempts to subvert and overthrow Cuba's one-party socialist
                  system.

                  Havana accuses Washington of actively supporting and financing
                  anti-government dissidents and independent journalists on the island.