Fidel Castro says idea that Cubans involved with Colombian rebels 'stupid'

Former President Fidel Castro said it is "stupid" to think Cubans were involved with Colombian rebels whose camp was bombed in a cross-border raid in Ecuador early this month.

In a statement released Saturday, the 81-year-old dismissed allegations reportedly being investigated by Mexican authorities that Cubans were linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"The stupid intention to mix Cubans in this matter is very clear," Castro said in the statement, which Foreign Ministry officials sent by e-mail to international journalists in Havana.

Some Mexican and international media have reported that officials were looking into whether Mario Dagoberto Diaz Orgaz, a naturalized Mexican citizen and engineering research professor in central Mexico, is a Cuban intelligence agent who helped Mexicans connect with FARC guerrillas. The reports suggested Diaz may have led the students to Ecuador.

Diaz's attorney has denied his client has ties to the rebels.

Some recent reports have also suggested that Cuban medical students were involved with the FARC, an idea that Castro called a "lie concerning the possible presence of our medical students in this distant Colombian jungle."

The March 1 attack on the FARC camp killed top rebel leader Raul Reyes and 24 others, triggering a diplomatic crisis during which Ecuador and Venezuela sent troops to their Colombian borders. Five Mexican university students are believed to have been at the camp during the attack.

Fidel's younger brother, Raul Castro, took over the presidency last month.