HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- President Fidel Castro says he decided against trying
                  to attend the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, Washington, to avoid the
                  "humiliation" of being denied a visa by the State Department, or other U.S. "acts of
                  provocation."

                  In a letter to U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Washington), Castro said he is
                  convinced the U.S. government did not want him to attend the conference, which
                  begins Tuesday.

                  "The most important thing for me was the U.S. position on my right to
                  participate in an international meeting of the World Trade Organization, of
                  which Cuba is a founding member," he said.

                  "It was evident from the start that the U.S. government was opposed to my
                  presence in the Seattle meeting. I was certain that the State Department
                  would not grant me a visa. That's why I did not bother to apply for it. I did
                  not want to be submitted to that kind of humiliation."

                  Castro said he had been "motivated" to attend the summit by the opportunity
                  to meet with students, academics and professionals and discuss with them
                  his points of view "on the vital problems of our time."

                  "But I could not travel to the United States if the government's official
                  spokesmen labeled my visit 'inappropriate' or -- even worse -- consciously
                  participated in any acts of provocation during my stay in Seattle."

                  Castro was referring to efforts led by Cuban-born U.S. Rep. Lincoln
                  Diaz-Balart (R-Florida), supported by U.S. anti-Castro groups including the
                  Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation to prosecute him for the
                  deaths of three Cuban-Americans and one Cuban exile pilots shot down by
                  Cuba in Brothers to the Rescue planes February 24, 1996.

                  "I put aside the hysteria and threats of the whiners of the terrorists' Mafia in
                  Miami, always wishing to provoke a bloody armed conflict between the
                  U.S. and Cuba, that in this case would be an inevitable conclusion of any
                  intent to detain me by force in Seattle," Castro said.

                  A Cuban delegation led by the foreign minister left for Seattle on Monday.