Cuban Envoys Angered By Forbes Estimate Of Castro Wealth

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

MEXICO CITY (AP)--Most people would be flattered if Forbes magazine estimated their personal fortune at $550 million - but Cuban President Fidel Castro is not, apparently, one of them.

Cuba 's embassy in Mexico issued a stinging rebuke on Wednesday of the Forbes article without mentioning the magazine by name, calling it "a repugnant example of a campaign of lies" by "an American magazine of decaying credibility."

"It is a clumsy slander and a repugnant example of a campaign of lies perpetrated in the United States with the sole aim of justifying the criminal blockade of Cuba ," the embassy said in a press statement.

Embassy officials could not immediately explain why the statement was released in Mexico, rather than in Havana, the Cuban capital.

In a story published Tuesday about the fortunes of rulers and heads-of-state, Forbes estimated the communist leader's net worth at $550 million, but acknowledged "these estimates are more art than science."

March 16, 2005
Cortesia de Ricardo Calvo

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