Cuban leader Fidel Castro termed US President George W Bush as "terror's real representative" after a Cuban exile wanted for a Cuban airline bombing was ruled to be freed on bail by a US judge, media reports said.
"Bush says he is the enemy of terrorism, but he protects terrorists when they serve US interests," Castro said in a newspaper article titled La respuesta brutal (the brutal reply) on Wednesday.
Castro's condemnation came in response to US judge Kathleen Cardone's ruling on Friday in El Paso, Texas, that Luis Posada Carriles, wanted both in Cuba and Venezuela for a 1976 attack on a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people, be freed on bail until his immigration fraud trial on May 11.
The 79-year-old Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born former CIA operative and naturalised citizen of Venezuela, is also wanted for a series of attacks on Havana hotels that killed one Italian tourist in 1997.
"Accusing Posada would be like accusing himself," Castro said of Bush, adding that "he (Bush) is terror's real representative".
"The US government has decided to free this monster beforehand," said Castro.
{{/usCountry}}"The US government has decided to free this monster beforehand," said Castro.
{{/usCountry}}"Those who trained him and ordered him to commit these crimes cannot act otherwise."
Carriles has been in US custody since May 2005 after he entered the country illegally, seeking asylum. He denied the charges related to the airliner bombing.
Castro, 80, has not been seen in public in Cuba since July when he handed over power to his brother, Raul Castro, 75, before undergoing a stomach operation.