MEXICO CITY -- (EFE) -- Mexico recalled its ambassador to Cuba on Friday and
             requested official explanations after Cuban President Fidel Castro criticized
             Mexico's trade relations with the United States.

             Castro, speaking Wednesday at a meeting on Latin American economies, accused
             Mexico of ``turning its back'' on Latin America by signing the North American Free
             Trade Agreement with the United States and Canada.

             Castro said Mexico was ``exchanging its national heroes for Mickey Mouse'' and
             trying to ``move out of a poor neighborhood into an aristocratic neighborhood.''

             Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green asked Cuban Ambassador Abelardo
             Curbelo Padron to explain Castro's statements and expressed the Mexican
             government's ``deep surprise'' at the comments.