CASTRO CALLS REAGAN 'LIAR,' 'WORST TERRORIST'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180013-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: July 10, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180013-9
APT1".7 3 WASHINGTON POST
10 July 1985
"i i
Castro Calls Reagan
`liar,' `Worst Terrorist'
By Edward Cody
w,r.e,e Few raeiv soWke
MIAMI. July 9-President Fidel
Castro of Cubs, responding to ac-
candons by President Reagan, said
tedy that Reagan is a "liar" and
'the want terrorist in the history'of
midtind
_Castros harsh' comments, re-
IaFed from Havana by news agen-
which avoided voia king period ded strident com-
ments about Reagan or the United
States.
The tough language underlined
what Cuban officials in Havana have
described as disappointed hopes of
improNed relations in Reagan's sec-
ond term. A high-ranking Cuban
Foreign Ministry official said re-
cently that, in the fight of Radio
Marti and other disputes. Castro's
grrecnment 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
my in recent months to project an
image of statesmanship, seeking
unpruMed relations with South
American governments. In partic-
ular. he repeatedly has warned that
Latin America faces social "explo-
sione unless some way is found to
lighten the burden of its foreign
debt, owed mostly to U.S. banks.
Reagan apparently stirred Car
tro's we particularly with his speech
to the American Bar Association on
terrorism 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
collection 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: administration promotes the sys-
"How can you take this man se- tematic use of terrorism against the
rtously? Perhaps even he doesn't Nicaraguan people. If the U.S. is on
know what he is talking about .... the side of international law, why is
He is the biggest liar of all the it so afraid of the World Court?"
American presidents.... the worst There was no immediate re-
terrorist in the history of mankind." sponse from Iran or North Korea,
Castro, in his wee-hours talk with the other countries named by Rea-
the journalists, cited three exam- gan.
plea of what he called "American
terrorism." These were U.S. sup-
port of the Army in El Salvador,
CIA minin of Nicaraguan harbors
and the U.S. invasion o rein a in
October 19W.
atro 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."
Cubs 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
)ANA 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-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201180013-9