Cuban leader Fidel Castro accused the United States of encouraging Cubans to flee their country and of covering up the alleged killing of a Cuban navy lieutenant.
In a lengthy news conference broadcast live on American television Thursday night, Castro reiterated his threat to allow a mass exodus of Cubans to the United States."Massive emigration has been taking place in planes, boats, rafts . . . They have created the conditions that led to it," Castro said. "Let them spend the fuel and not us. Let them use all their boats. That's fine. That's their responsibility."
Castro also accused the United States of covering up the alleged slaying of a Cuban navy lieutenant by a Cuban teenager. The teen led 25 others in the hijacking of a government boat and the group is now on American soil.
Leonel Macias Gonzalez, 19, has been detained in a Florida jail. U.S. authorities are investigating Cuba's claim that he shot at an officer while commandeering the boat.
Castro also said the United States encourages the sometimes violent and desperate journeys by accepting Cubans who flee in boats and rafts.
"While we have laws that penalize an illegal exodus, they have laws which legitimize the illegal exits from Cuba," Castro said.
He criticized the United States for not extending the same acceptance to fleeing Haitians, Mexicans and Dominicans.
The United States routinely grants political asylum to Cubans who reach its shores. On Thursday, three Cubans were detained after allegedly ferrying 22 people from Cuba to Florida Keys in a U.S.-flagged boat.
People from poor nations have a natural tendency to want to live in a richer one, Castro said at the news conference, which ended early Friday.
In 1980, Castro allowed thousands of his countrymen, many of them convicted criminals, to come to the United States. U.S. boaters sailed across the Florida Straits and helped bring home 125,000 Cubans in the Mariel boat lift.
After riots last Friday in Havana, Castro threatened to allow a similar exodus.