Accusations spark tensions between Cuba and Mexico

Claims by Mr Fidel Castro that his Mexican counterpart lied about the Cuban President¿s from a UN-sponsored summit last month…

Claims by Mr Fidel Castro that his Mexican counterpart lied about the Cuban President¿s from a UN-sponsored summit last month has sparked tensions between the neighbouring countries.

Mr Castro released a tape of a phone conversation, made on March 19th, where Mexican President Vicente Fox is heard asking the Cuban leader to leave early from the summit in Monterrey, Mexico.

"Everyone from the right to left lies," Mr Castro told a news conference in Mexico yesterday. The Mexican leader has denied that he orchestrated Mr Castro's departure from the UN development summit in order to keep him from running into US President George W. Bush.

But in a transcript of the phone conversation between the two, Mr Fox tells Mr Castro "You can come here Thursday and... make your presentation . . . Later we have lunch . . . you can sit next to me, and once the event and participation are over, let's say, you go back."

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Mr Fox later clarified this, saying Mr Castro could return to Cuba or "wherever you like,". Mr Fox added: "you should leave me free and that's what I'm asking of you - on Friday, so that you don't complicate my Friday" - the day after President Bush's arrival.

Mr Castro said he would immediately resign if the tape was proved false. Meanwhile the latest development has strained the island's normally cordial relations with Mexico.

In Mexico City, Mr Fox's government criticised Mr Castro for releasing the tape of a private conversation, saying it constituted interference in Mexican internal affairs.

But, Mexican presidential spokesman Mr Rodolfo Elizondo rejected the idea that the two countries would break off diplomatic relations over the incident.

Mr Castro said there were two other incidents that "forced Cuba" to make the unusual step of disclosing a private conversation between two leaders.

The first was Mexico accusing Cuba of lying after it complained that Mr Castro was made to withdraw unexpectedly from Monterrey.

"The straw that broke the camel's back," President Castro added, was Mexico's vote against Cuba at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland - a resolution was passed calling on Cuba to make improvements in human rights and to allow a visit by a member of the commission.

"The most grotesque aspect of it all was that they tried to bribe us and buy our silence," President Castro told reporters, adding that Mexico's ambassador to Cuba Mr Ricardo Pascoe had offered Cuba Mexican oil to compensate for Venezuela's flagging exports.

AFP