HAVANA -- Cuba will bid for the 2012 Olympics, a decision that will place Havana as the long-shot candidate in a strong field that already features New York and Madrid, Spain.

The Cuban Olympic Committee will hold a news conference Monday to discuss the bid, the group said Tuesday.

Committee president Jose Ramon Fernandez said this month the formal request to hold the 2012 Summer Games in Havana would be submitted in May.

Fernandez said at the time that Cuba was capable of guaranteeing the success of the Olympics, and they would be ``organized so that the athletes rather than the sponsors are given priority.''

Communist Cuba traditionally has opposed the commercialization of sports. Havana was the host of the 1991 Pan American Games.

New York, Madrid and Leipzig, Germany, are 2012 Olympic candidates. Bids from Moscow, Paris, London and the Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo also are possible before the July deadline.

The IOC will choose the host in 2005.