HAVING seen, read and heard about incidents in his recent,
                   not-so-recent and distant past – Castañeda’s record is well known
                   here – we cannot ignore one of his most recent statements to the
                   press, and clearly not the last, on what he has described as Cuba’s
                   "double-dealing" in relation to an alleged request made by the
                   Havana government to the Mexican government, to purchase oil
                   derivatives on a credit line from the Banco de Comercio Exterior
                   (Mexican Foreign Trade Bank, known as Bancomext).

                   And he said more, as if to confuse his affirmation with other issues:
                   "As far as I know, we do not make any such sales [of oil and oil
                   derivatives]. There could have been a shipment now and again, but in
                   principle we do not sell them oil. They are not dependent on us, they
                   get all their oil from Venezuela, practically free."

                   That statement from the secretary of foreign affairs is another
                   colossal lie.

                   Since President Castro’s political statement on April 22, Cuba has not
                   asked for any credit or made any financial contact whatsoever, and
                   neither has it had any communication or meeting with Mexican
                   institutions or officials.

                   The credit to which Secretary of Foreign Affairs Castañeda may have
                   been referring dates back to 1993, when the establishment of a joint
                   venture in telecommunications between the Cuban telephone
                   company and a Mexican one led to a credit granted by the Banco de
                   Comercio Exterior de Mexico, which Cuba utilized to purchase oil, and
                   payments on which have been rigorously adhered to.

                   That 1993 agreement established that once the principal began to be
                   paid back, Cuba could receive similar credits, in line with current
                   commercial practice.

                   What could be mentioned is that the negotiation process, to secure
                   that legitimate and normal facility, was a protracted and difficult one.
                   Negotiations commenced at the beginning of 2001 and it was not
                   until March 5 of this year that an agreement was reached, without
                   the Mexican authorities having concluded all the procedures required
                   to put that agreement fully into practice.

                   As can be appreciated, a credit dating back to 1993, agreed upon
                   during Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s presidential term and updated
                   under the terms of the original agreement, in a process that lasted
                   for virtually all of 2001 and concluded in March of this year, cannot
                   be utilized to talk of the Cuban "double-dealing" to which Mr.
                   Castañeda alludes, in order to lie, distort reality and attempt to
                   confuse public opinion in a gross manner.

                   Both the ’93 agreement and the 2001 negotiations that would allow
                   Cuba to have fresh access to the credit that it continues to repay,
                   have not only been useful to Cuba, but particularly beneficial for
                   Mexico. On both occasions the Mexican government guaranteed that
                   it would collect not only the principal owed to Bancomext for the
                   1993 loan – which could only be drawn on once the corresponding
                   interest had been paid – but also prior debts that were being paid off
                   at the same time.

                   In addition, the 1993 agreement allowed Mexican enterprises to
                   participate in important sectors of the Cuban economy, like tourism,
                   as well as the above-mentioned telecommunications.

                   Aside from the fact that those credits predate the current political
                   conflict, they do not in any way constitute a Cuban request or a
                   Mexican offer: this was an agreement reached under normal
                   economic relations between two countries, and we do not know
                   whether Castañeda’s game now is to try to damage these links as
                   well, in which case nobody should have any doubt that the
                   responsibility will be his and therefore that of his government.

                   It should be added that in these and other trade operations, as is
                   traditional for obvious reasons related to the economic warfare
                   imposed by our superpower neighbor, Cuban authorities have always
                   handled such negotiations with the appropriate discretion, in order to
                   avoid pressure on Mexico and as a need imposed by 43 years of
                   blockade. However, in a communiqué on March 6, the Mexican
                   Foreign Secretariat announced that the two countries had signed an
                   agreement that restructured the Cuban debt of $380 million USD,
                   with a 10-year payment period, and affirmed "the willingness of both
                   governments to establish a healthy and stable financial and
                   commercial relationship." There was absolutely no explanation of the
                   antecedents, circumstances and mutual suitability of that kind of
                   agreement.

                   According to that country’s Foreign Secretariat, the possibility then
                   arose of Mexico increasing its exports to Cuba, the island having
                   recourse to a facility of acquiring Mexican goods to the value of $30
                   million USD initially. The communiqué noted that the signing had
                   taken place at the Mexican embassy in Havana, cited the officials
                   involved and reported the liquidation of a debt of $36 million USD to
                   Bancomext on the part of the National Bank of Cuba. It is obvious
                   that there was a difference between what was paid and what was
                   received, and that the aforementioned $30 million USD was for
                   purchasing Mexican manufactured goods.

                   In line with international practice in business matters, after the signing
                   of these agreements and before implementing them there are a
                   series of steps to complement the documentation, authenticate it,
                   etc., which in this case were being carried out, until recently, by the
                   National Bank of Cuba and Bancomext. But it should be made
                   perfectly clear that since Monday, April 22, the executives of both
                   banks – which are the authorities responsible for the materialization
                   of the credit – have had no contact whatsoever.

                   The Mexican press has sought out information and arguments on this
                   matter, making Castañeda’s new insidious conduct perfectly clear. In
                   its April 25 edition, Milenio daily, in an article entitled "Oil negotiation
                   between Cuba and Mexico firmed up in February," announces that
                   although Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) has not sold oil to Cuba since
                   1997, "until last February, talks were under way between PEMEX and
                   Cubapetroleo on a plan promoted by Mexico to renew and finance
                   the purchase of oil and its derivatives, prospecting in the Cuban zone
                   of the Gulf of Mexico, and another type of investment."

                   In his investigation of the "news" offered by the Mexican foreign
                   secretary – or rather, Castañeda’s new lie and perfidy — journalist
                   Luis Carriles notes under the subtitle "Cuba responds: the request
                   was formally accepted" that Cuba has not asked for anything in the
                   midst of the current crisis with Mexico, nor during the Monterrey
                   Summit, nor as a result of the Venezuelan crisis.

                   And the information added that what Secretary of Foreign Affairs
                   Castañeda gave President Fox on April 24 is a document drafted
                   three months previously, "in the framework of renegotiating the
                   Cuban debt, which has now been totally repaid, in cash, to the last
                   cent." Precisely because the debt had been repaid, he continues, "a
                   credit to purchase oil derivatives and three or four other items was
                   mentioned as a Mexican offer." The only mention on the subject of
                   oil in recent months "came from Mexico when, in the midst of the
                   Chávez crisis, the Fox government offered Cuba the possibility of
                   replacing the Venezuelan supplies in the framework of the San José
                   Pact, to which Cuba did not respond at all." On the same day that
                   Mexico notified Cuba that it would vote in favor of the Uruguayan
                   resolution in Geneva, Ricardo Pascoe, Mexican ambassador in Cuba,
                   restated the offer. Fidel Castro responded to it in the negative,
                   saying, ‘Thank you very much, but that was charity,’ and that Mexico
                   wanted to buy dignity with oil."

                   It is worth adding that subsequent clarifications by PEMEX executives
                   were also deceptive, as we have been able to confirm that there has
                   definitely not been any Cuban request to PEMEX since the emergence
                   of the serious political conflict between the two governments, either
                   for oil supplies or even in relation to the already explained Bancomext
                   credit line.

                   Thus any assertion on Cuban government efforts to obtain Mexican
                   credits for such ends is the result of a pathological obsession that
                   could inflict damage on the Cuban economy but, in this case, much
                   greater damage on Mexico’s own interests.

                   In relation to the base assertion that Cuba receives all its petroleum
                   free from Venezuela, we have to clarify that Venezuelan oil supplies
                   to the island respond to the Caracas Agreement, which covers the
                   Central American and Caribbean countries, through which Cuba
                   receives barely one third of its national annual consumption. Cuba
                   systematically pays what was agreed upon, in mutually accepted
                   time periods and terms, as the executives of PDVESA, the
                   Venezuelan oil enterprise, have recently acknowledged. Other
                   countries receive more than 50% of what they consume from that
                   source, and some up to 100%.

                   In the face of facts contradicting the "double-dealing" of which Mr.
                   Castañeda attempted to accuse Cuba when he reappeared on the
                   scene on April 24, it is worth asking what lies behind his new
                   maneuvers, intrigues and lies.

                   For our part, we should reemphasize that no threat or attempt to
                   pressure in any way can intimidate Cuba in the slightest. No real or
                   potential adversary has any reason, antecedents or basis for ignoring
                   the history of the last four decades.