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Cuba defends Sotomayor, points finger at CIA

Cuba has defended star athlete and people's hero Javier Sotomayor against charges that he used cocaine at the Pan American Games, saying the CIA could have spiked his food.

Sotomayor, who holds the World high-jump record of 2.45 meters, was stripped of his gold medal at the Games in Winnipeg, Canada, on Wednesday after cocaine was found in his urine.

Local media reported yesterday that president Fidel Castro, a keen sports fan who likes to associate himself with Cuban athletes' triumphs, had called the wildly popular Sotomayor, 31, to show his support.

The ruling communist party's daily, Granma, published a long front-page article backing Sotomayor and suggesting US spy agencies or anti-Castro Cuban exile groups may have plotted against him.

''We believe absolutely in the word of Javier Sotomayor, because he has won the right to be believed, beyond what might be believed in laboratories,'' said the article, signed by Cuban journalist Enrique Montesinos.

It said there were opportunities at the Panam Games for ''the CIA or the anti-Cuban mafia to introduce a dose of illegal substance in any food or liquid that an athlete consumes, simply by bribing one of the numerous people who have access to what the athlete digests.''

Granma, mouthpiece of the Castro government, asked: ''What laboratory, or which institutions responsible for guaranteeing the total purity and objectivity of anti-doping tests, can the intelligence services of the north not penetrate?''

Cuba usually refers to the United States, its arch-enemy since the 1959 revolution, as ''the north'', although Castro has recently included Canada under that label too.

Sotomayor's mother Aurora Sanabria said in his hometown of Limonar in Matanzas province, western Cuba, that she had received a call from International Amateur Athletic Federation chief Primo Nebiolo.

She said Nebiolo had assured her the case was not closed and would be investigated further because he believed in her son's innocence.

''Everyone is backing him because he is a warm-hearted athlete beloved throughout the world,'' Sanabria said.

''We are sure of his innocence, this is a trap for Cuba, once again, because they know that Javier is a glory of the island and sets an example, he is one of the people's favourite athletes, so blackening his name also damages the country.''

Granma, which headlined its article ''The mud of Winnipeg will never stain us'', complained Cuban athletes were badly treated during the Panam Games by media, organisers and talent scouts.

News of Sotomayor's doping was swept round the world by ''international news agencies, in their hunger to give dimension to events that might be negative for Cuba,'' it said.

The charge itself was a ''profanation'' and ''new plot against our small and constantly attacked nation'' intended both to sink Sotomayor and unfairly link Cuba to the illegal drug trade.

The case is politically crucial for Cuba, because Sotomayor is one of the best products of its socialist sports system, as well as being a faithful supporter of Castro's government.

Under IAAF rules, if the doping is ratified, Sotomayor faces an automatic two-year suspension from international competition -- which would probably end his career -- although he has the right to appeal.

Nebiolo was quoted in a French newspaper on Friday as saying the affair was ''complicated'' in view of the Cuban charges of efforts to smear the squad.

''What would the Pan-American Games be without the Cubans? A third rate event... As for Sotomayor, we're waiting for information. If he is in fact positive, he'll be sanctioned.''

UNI