Castro Accuses McCain of Lying

ABC News’ Jennifer Parker Reports: His health may be poor but that hasn’t stopped ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro from weighing in on the Republican presidential nominating race. 

In an essay publishing in today’s government-run Cuban newspaper, Castro accused GOP frontrunner Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., of lying about Cubans torturing prisoners of war during his time in Vietnam. 

"McCain has said that some of his comrades were tortured by Cuban agents in Vietnam," Castro wrote.

His accusation against internationalist Cuban revolutionaries –using the nickname Fidel to identify one of them who was capable of ‘torturing a prisoner to death’– is totally lacking in any ethics," Castro wrote. 

"The commandments of the religion you practice prohibit lying," Castro said of McCain.

The Cuban leader was referring to comments made by McCain last month during a campaign stop in Florida, home to hundreds of thousands of Cuban exiles.

"We had a couple Cubans come from Cuba to our prison camps to torture American prisoners," McCain said in Miami, according to the Chicago Tribune. "Not me, not me, thank God."

During the Vietnam war, Cuba allied with the North Vietnamese and the Soviet Union. A former Navy pilot, McCain was shot down in Vietnam in 1967 and was held for more than five years in captivity and tortured by his Vietnamese captors.

Today, McCain refused to comment on Castro’s accusations.

"For me to respond to Fidel Castro, who has oppressed and repressed his people and is one of the most brutal dictators on earth, for me to dignify any charges or comments he might make is beneath me," McCain told reporters Monday in Maryland, according to the Associated Press.

Castro, 81, has not been seen in public since announcing he had undergone intestinal surgery in July 2006. He handed over power to his younger brother, Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, more than 18 months ago, but, following rumors of his death, he has continued to write numerous articles for the Communist Party’s newspaper, Granma.

In August, Castro commented in an essay about the Democratic presidential race, mocking Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

They both ""feel the sacred duty of demanding ‘a democratic government in Cuba’" Castro wrote in August, according to the Washington Post. "They are not making policies; they are playing a game of cards on a Sunday afternoon," Castro wrote in August.

Today, Castro noted that while McCain is the frontrunner for the GOP ticket, " the struggle for the Democratic Party candidate is much tougher," he wrote.

"Even though we are dealing, as usual, with an active part of the enfranchised population that tends to be a minority, we are already hearing all kinds of opinions and speculations about the consequences of the final outcome of the electoral battle for the country and the world, if mankind escapes the warmongering adventures of Bush," Castro wrote.

It will likely not be the ailing Communist dictator’s last word on the U.S. election.

Castro began today’s essay titled, "The Republican Candidate (Part One)." After a rant that included false details about McCain’s background and allegations of "hundreds of assassination attempts," Castro ended with this promise: "I shall attempt to delve deeper into those matters."