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Sunday, December 24, 2006

Miami congresswoman admits calling for Castro's death

Miami congresswoman admits calling for Castro's death
Associated Press
Posted December 23 2006, 5:32 PM EST

MIAMI -- A Florida congresswoman has acknowledged calling for Fidel
Castro's assassination after previously claiming a video clip of her
making the comments was fake.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Miami, said Saturday she has not seen the
unedited footage of her interview, which appears in a 28-second clip on
the Internet by the makers of a new British documentary, ``638 Ways to
Kill Castro.''

In it, Ros-Lehtinen says: ``I welcome the opportunity of having anyone
assassinate Fidel Castro and any leader who is oppressing the people.''
The Havana-born lawmaker is now standing by her words.

``If those words were said by me in the raw unedited version, then I
said them,'' she said in a telephone interview Saturday. ``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, who was recently tapped to become the top Republican on
the House International Relations Committee, originally said the
filmmakers spliced clips together to make the sound bite.

She said she was referring to the YouTube clip at the time, which shows
her voice out of sync with her mouth movements.

Despite the controversy, the lawmaker said Saturday she ``would welcome
(Castro's) passing.''

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-1223admission,0,6050226.story?coll=sfla-news-cuba

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