CASTRO CALLS REAGAN 'LIAR,' 'WORST TERRORIST'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040007-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 1, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: July 10, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/01: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040007-9
ii vlW)H 1 NU I ON POST
raj i~;1i- _ 1 10 July 1985
STAT
Castro Calls Reagan
`liar,' `Worst Terrorist'
By Edward Cody
WIAM" P.i Pam 9m vim
pies of what he called "American
terrorism." These were U.S. sun-
port of the Army in El Salvador,
CIA mining of Nicaraguan harbors
and the U.S. invasion of Grenada in
October 1983.
stro ca Reagan "a madman,
an imbecile and a bum," Reuter re-
ported, which also quoted him as
saying: "His ideas are from the era
of Buffalo Bill, not the nuclear age."
Cuba has for some time figured
on a list of countries that the State
Department says have supported
international terrorism.
Castro, bristling at Reagan's lan-
guage, said the president and his.
advisers seem "nervous and irritat-
ed" at the attention Castro has
gained with his campaign for solu-
tions to Latin America's foreign
debt.
In speeches and interviews, Cas-
tro has suggested that the U.S. gov-
ernment assume the debt from the
mostly U.S. creditor banks so the
banks can release Latin American
governments from the obligation to
pay. Three pouches full of literature
on the suggestions disappeared this
weekend on the way from Havana
to distribution at the United Na-
tions, Castro said.
"I am sure the CIA had some-
thing to do with it," he added.
Reuter reported these additional
responses to Reagan:
Libya, another of the nations
blasted by Reagan as being behind
international terrorism, accused
Washington of "state organized ter-
rorism."
Libya's national news agency
JANA said Reagan considered as
terrorism anything "opposing U.S.
policies that aim to dominate and
control other people."
The Nicaraguan Embassy in
Washington issued a statement say-
ing, "No amount of incendiary rhet-
oric will hide the fact that the U.S.
administration promotes the sys-
tematic use of terrorism against the
Nicaraguan people. If the U.S. is on
the side of international law, why is
it so afraid of the World Court?"
There was no immediate re-
sponse from Iran or North Korea,
the other countries named by Rea-
gan.
STAT
MIAMI. July 9-President Fidel
Castro of Cubs. responding to ac-
aaatdors by President Reagan, said
today that Reagan is a "liar' and
"the worst terrorist in the historyof
mr~oldrrd.0
Castro's harsh' comments, re-
layed from Havana by news agen-
cigp, followed a long period during
which he avoided strident com-
mimts aboU Reagan or the United
States.
The tough language underlined
what Cuba officials in Havana have
described as disappointed hopes of
improved relations in Reagan's sec-
ond term. A high-ranking Cuban
Perejgm Ministry official said re-
cently that. in the fight of Radio
Marti and other disputes, Castro's
ge ent now sees little pros-
pect of improving the climate with
Washington at least" until a new
U.S. president is elected.
Castro. 58. has gone out of his
way in recent months to project an
image of statesmanship, seeking
improved. relations with South
American governments. In partic-
ular. be repeatedly has warned that
Irvin America faces social "explo-
sins" unless some way is found to
lighten the burden of its foreign
debt, owed mostly to U.S. banks.
Ragan apparently stirred Cas-
tro's ire particularly with his speech
to the American Bar Association on
terror..m yesterday in which he
included Cuba among five "outlaw"
nations that he said constitute a
"new international version of Mur-
der, Inc.." ruled by "the strangest
oche tioo of misfits, looney tunes
and squalid criminals since the ad-
vent of the Third Reich"
,.In a news conference with the
Latin American Journalists' Feder-
ation, gathered in Havana. Castro
referred to Reagan's rhetoric:
"How can you take this man se-
riously? Perhaps even he doesn't
laww what he is talking about ....
He is the biggest liar of all the
American presidents, ... the worst
terrorist in the history of mankind."
Castro, in his wee-hours talk with
the journalists, cited three exam-
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/01: CIA-RDP90-00552R000201040007-9