Tape contradicts Miami Congresswoman

The director of a documentary on Fidel Castro says he's awaiting an apology from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who had accused him of distorting her comments.
BY PABLO BACHELET
Miami Herald
Dec. 21, 2006

Video HereWASHINGTON - An Emmy Award-winning documentarian, angered over Miami Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's charge that a video in which she appears to endorse the assassination of Fidel Castro was altered to make her look more extreme, is circulating another version of the video to make his case.

The uncut version of director Dollan Cannell's video shows Ros-Lehtinen twice welcoming an attempt on Castro's life.

''Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has made a very serious accusation against the team who made the films,'' Cannell said Tuesday. ``You can't get more serious than that in terms of an accusation of gross professional wrongdoing.

''Her accusation is completely, totally false,'' he added. ``I'd like her to retract what she said and to apologize.''

Ros-Lehtinen, an ardent Castro opponent, declined to comment Tuesday on the unedited tape.

But the Republican lawmaker probably has not heard the last of her statements that on video appear to welcome the communist leader's assassination.

The British documentary 638 Ways to Kill Castro is to be released on DVD ''around the New Year,'' Cannell told The Miami Herald by phone. A broadcast on the Sundance Channel is also planned.

The five-minute video, which has been posted on the MiamiHerald.com website, shows Ros-Lehtinen seated at her desk, listening to an off-mike question and welcoming the opportunity of being in a free Cuba ``whether that meant that somebody killed Fidel Castro or whether somebody toppled his government.''

According to a transcript of the 45-minute interview released by the filmmakers, the interviewer compared an opportunity to kill Castro with one to eliminate Hitler in 1939. ``And I'm just wondering in terms of Fidel Castro, is there an argument for assassination or an argument that would have said, maybe this guy should have been killed or should be killed?''

''I would never compare any demon to Hitler,'' Ros-Lehtinen responded. ``He is in a special category of hell.''

She then goes on to utter the words that earlier appeared on a 28-second version of the interview that made the rounds on Youtube.com, the video-sharing website, and has been repeatedly played by TV stations in Miami.

''I welcome the opportunity of having anyone assassinate Fidel Castro and any leader who is oppressing the people,'' Ros-Lehtinen says in the video clip.

The lawmaker, who will become the ranking Republican member of the House International Relations Committee when Congress reconvenes next month, told The Miami Herald when the earlier version of the interview appeared that it was ``twisted in a way that gives the viewer a totally wrong impression.''

''I've said the community has moved on, that those strategies are not being used today,'' she said, ``but apparently the filmmakers think we're still in a '60s mentality.''

The five-minute tape shows her qualifying her comments by saying that ``if they don't assassinate him and bring him to trial, I welcome the opportunity to have him meet a jury of his peers and answer.''

The transcript then moves on to other topics.

The British 75-minute version of 638 Ways to Kill Castro is touted as a ``50-year-long detective thriller about the man who always got away.''

The DVD version of the film will include 75 minutes of extra material, including the interviews with Ros-Lehtinen and former President Jimmy Carter, who, Cannell says, has an ``entirely honorable role in this story.''

Those interviews were cut from the UK broadcast because of time constraints.

''So much story to tell in such a short time, we decided to focus on people who've been directly involved in assassination attempts against Castro,'' Cannell said.

In years past, Castro was the target of several U.S.-sponsored assassination attempts.

The Ros-Lehtinen interview was conducted in March, before the July 31 announcement by the Cuban government that Castro was sick and was temporarily transfering his powers to his brother Raúl and a group of select advisors.