NEW YORK (AP)οΎ– Cuba denied U.S. allegations that it subverted the American-led war on terrorism, challenging Washington Wednesday to produce any evidence that it provided false leads on potential terrorist activities.
In a tough statement, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque charged that the United States rejected a Cuban offer to cooperate in anti-terrorism efforts and was trying to manipulate a serious issue “for political purposes.”
He was responding to accusations Tuesday by Dan Fisk, the deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, that tips from Cuba which began on the day of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and have been arriving almost monthly have led American investigators on “intentional wild goose chases” and diverted resources from legitimate targets.
“All of his accusations against Cuba are false and slanderous,” Perez Roque said in a statement. “I challenge Mr. Fisk to produce a single piece of evidence to support his allegations.”
He wouldn’t respond directly when asked whether Cuba has provided any information to the U.S. government about possible terrorist activity since Sept. 11.
Perez Roque distributed a March 12 letter to the United States in which Cuba offered to sign a bilateral agreement to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and illegal migration. He read the answer, received on June 13, which said the State Department “would not be in a position” to consider bilateral cooperation on the issues.
“There is no argument to justify the irrational rejection by the Bush administration of Cuba’s proposal to sign bilateral agreements,” he said.
Cuba has been under a U.S. trade embargo since shortly after President Fidel Castro defeated the CIA-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. His communist nation has continued to vex subsequent U.S. administrations.
Fisk said that despite Cuba’s friendly ties with nations like Iran, Iraq and Syria, Havana had provided the United States with “nothing of value,” and charged that Castro’s government was “actually impeding our efforts to defeat the threat of terrorism.”
Perez Roque’s statement noted that Cuba had strongly condemned the Sept. 11 attacks, offering medical assistance and the use of its airports. In the middle of the anthrax attacks, Cuba donated 100 million antibiotic tablets to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana
