Lawmaker Admits Call For Castro's Assassination

Associated Press
Sunday, December 24, 2006

MIAMI, Dec. 23 -- The top Republican on the next Congress's House International Relations Committee acknowledged Saturday calling for the assassination of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, two weeks after saying she never made the remark.

In a 28-second video posted on YouTube, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) says, "I welcome the opportunity of having anyone assassinate Fidel Castro and any leader who is oppressing the people."

The comment is part of a new British documentary, "638 Ways to Kill Castro."

Earlier this month, Ros-Lehtinen said filmmakers spliced clips together to make the sound bite, giving "the viewer a totally wrong impression." On Saturday, the Havana-born lawmaker backed away from that statement.

"If those words were said by me in the raw unedited version, then I said them," Ros-Lehtinen said in a telephone interview. "I don't recall those exact words, but I do a lot of interviews and a lot of documentaries on Fidel Castro. It's an everyday situation for me."

Ros-Lehtinen said she has not seen the unedited footage of her interview. She reaffirmed that she "would welcome" Castro's death.