Cuban Foreign Minister Mr Felipe Perez Roque has accused US President George W. Bush of pressuring the Mexican government to force Cuban President Fidel Castro to leave the UN-sponsored anti-poverty summit in Monterrey, Mexico.
"Bush was the one who threatened not to come to the summit if comrade Fidel was taking part in it. He blackmailed the summit organisers and threatened to boycott it and not come," Mr Perez Roque said on Cuban television by phone from Monterrey.
Earlier in the day, however, Mr Bush flatly denied that US pressure led to the Cuban president's surprise departure from a UN anti-poverty conference.
"I know of no pressure placed on anybody. Fidel Castro can do what he wants to do," the US president told reporters during a joint press conference with Mexican President Vicente Fox.
AFP