Fidel Castro Denies Cuba Refused Snowden Entry

Praises leaker

Fidel Castro said in remarks published Wednesday that no Cuban official should have denied US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden entry to the communist-run island, as alleged by a Russian newspaper.

The former longtime leader said he didn't know whether anyone linked to Havana had actually spoken to the fugitive former US National Security Agency contractor "because that is not my job."

"What what (I) would not agree with is someone, regardless of their standing, speaking on behalf of Cuba," he said in a column published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.