Cheers! 
Posted on 03/15/2002 12:50:00 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA (Reuters) - In a fast-escalating war of words between the White House's new Latin America policy chief and President Fidel Castro's government, Havana Thursday called Otto Reich a "terrorist" with a "sick" hatred of the Cuban Revolution.
Cuba's withering comments on Assistant Secretary of State Reich came two days after he labeled the Castro government "a failed, corrupt, dictatorial, murderous regime" in probably the strongest words to date by the Bush administration on Cuba.
The exchange further puts paid to speculation of a U.S.-Cuba rapprochement following cooperation over the transfer of prisoners by the United States from Afghanistan to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and the first sale of U.S. goods to Cuba in 40 years.
State TV aired a round-table discussion on Reich which was announced earlier Thursday by Cuba's ruling Communist Party, in a short communique on the front page of its daily Granma, as a discussion on "Otto Reich: a Terrorist in the U.S. Government."
"Right from the start of his activities in such an important position, he has begun pouring out his sick and visceral hatred of the Cuban Revolution," the communique said of Reich, a Cuban-American known for his opposition to Castro.
Reich also played a high-profile role in former President Ronald Reagan's controversial fight against Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government, an ally of Castro's, in the 1980s.
That campaign produced the biggest political scandal of the Reagan presidency when administration officials were found to have cut a secret deal with Iran to trade arms for money that was then funneled to the Contras in violation of U.S. law.
'ACCOMPLICE OF TERRORISM, GENOCIDE'
"We are faced with an accomplice of drug-trafficking, terrorism and genocide in Central America," state commentator Randy Alfonso, who is a mouthpiece for the Castro government's opinions, said on the two-hour TV program Thursday night.
In his speech Tuesday, Reich firmly opposed opening the U.S. economy to Cuba, which has been subject to an embargo by Washington since soon after Castro's 1959 revolution. "We are not going to help Fidel Castro stay in power by opening up our markets to Cuba," he said.
In a list of derogatory epithets, Granma called Reich a "spokesman" for the Cuban American "mafia"; "godfather" of anti-Castro extremists like Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch accused of masterminding the bombing of a Cuban jet in 1976 that killed 73 people; "professional liar" during the Iran-Contra scandal; and a "mediocre and plodding" man.
State TV commentator Alonso said Reich was a "direct participant in the reinforcing of the criminal U.S. policy against Cuba." Fellow commentator Reinaldo Taladrid lambasted him as "a brother of the entire mafia" in the anti-Castro Cuban American community in Miami.
Havana's communique added that his appointment was "imposed by the Bush administration, exploiting a Congressional break."
Bush named Reich under a so-called recess appointment, bypassing a Congress that had blocked the nomination for months and assuring that Reich will hold the post at least this year.
Senior Democrats bitterly opposed his nomination and were angered by his appointment. They say Bush made the appointment to appease the powerful Cuban-American community in Florida, where Bush's brother Jeb is running for re-election as governor this year.
Supporters, however, say Reich is a skilled diplomat and no evidence was ever presented that he engaged in illegal activities when he campaigned against the Sandinistas as head of the now defunct Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean between 1983 and 1986.
The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.
Isn't that the truth! The fact is, all these two-bit South American countries need a Pinochet to step in and straighten things out. Argentina is now in desperate need of Pinochet reincarnated.
Cheers from Chile
It was widely covered in all the Latin American news.
Thanks for the info!
Bump!
If that were a true statement, Daschle would have allowed a review and a vote on Otto Reich--put all that "dirt" out for all to see. Right?
Daschle, Dodd and the other Leftists in Congress couldn't let that happen.
First Otto Reich would have had an opportunity to defend himself and second, his nomination would have been approved.
Withering to who, the NY times?
As I said, the process to shut him up starts...
On the bright side, as he only has 1 year, he MAY be allowed to let 'em have it with BOTH barrels!
Here's hoping so!
This is just another symptom of the communists tendency to avoid a critical examination of the past. By using anti-capitalist slogans and name-calling, Castro believes that any critical evaluation of his oppressive dictatorship is avoided. This accounts for the failure of communism, and the present difficulties.
Cheers!
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