BY WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA

A Cuban journalist known for her interviews with Fidel Castro has alleged that she was raped by legendary boxer Teófilo Stevenson in 1984.

''I didn't say it before because of fear and because I needed time to recover psychologically from all the wounds the Cuban revolution left in me,'' Lissette Bustamante told El Nuevo Herald Monday.

Bustamante defected to Spain in 1992 after years as a television journalist who enjoyed access to the highest circles of power in Cuba. She is in Miami for the International Book Fair, where she will introduce her book Jineteras, a look at prostitution under Fidel Castro.

According to Bustamante, the incident with Stevenson,52, took place after the three-time Olympic heavyweight champion won a tournament in Havana in 1984.

There was no way to independently confirm the allegation.

After the tournament, ''there was a party at the Triton Hotel and several people from the world of sports and television were invited,'' she said. Stevenson later invited a group to his room.

Bustamante said she went to the bathroom, and by the time she returned to the room, Stevenson had sent out all other guests.

''He pushed me and ripped my clothes . . . I began to scream and he covered my mouth,'' she added. ``One can offer little resistance to a mastodon.''

Bustamante said Stevenson sent her flowers the following day and later showed up at her home to apologize. She said she insulted him and ordered him to leave. Shortly thereafter, she had unusual visitors.

''They were officials of State Security, who recommended that I should forget everything that had happened, because if it became known, it would seriously affect the image of the revolution, since it involved a journalist with links to Fidel and a symbol of Cuban sports,'' Bustamante said.

Stevenson is considered a fugitive from U.S. justice. He was arrested in 1999 after an argument with an airline employee at Miami International Airport, posted bail and flew to Cuba but never returned for his arraignment.