By Ellen Sorokin
 
 

                Cuban President Fidel Castro has been giving the United
                      States false leads on potential terrorist activity to hinder the
                      U.S.-led war against terrorism, a State Department official
                      told a group of Cuban Americans yesterday.
                           Since the September 11
                      attacks, the Castro regime has sent
                      at least one "walk-in" a month to a
                      U.S. intelligence agency,
                      purporting to offer information
                      about pending terrorist attacks
                      against the United States or other
                      Western interests, said Daniel W.
                      Fisk, deputy assistant secretary of
                      state for Western Hemisphere
                      affairs.
                           Following up on such leads
                      misdirected the United States'
                      investigation into international
                      terrorism and used up the nation's
                      valuable resources that could have been directed toward
                      assessing real threats, Mr. Fisk said.
                           "The Castro regime has intentionally worked through
                      human and electronic means to distract the attention and
                      resources from our ongoing counterterrorist efforts," Mr. Fisk
                      told the group at a press conference in the National Press
                      Club.
                           "This is not harmless game planning. This is a dangerous
                      and unjustifiable action that damages our ability to assess real
                      threats. This is obstructionism," he said.
                           Mr. Castro also handed over "decades-old" information
                      on al Qaeda when, in days after the attacks, the United
                      States called on other countries to share information they had
                      on the terrorist networks, Mr. Fisk said.
                           Critics of the Castro government organized the press
                      conference to argue for the retention of the trade embargo.
                      Sanctions were imposed in the early 1960s after Mr. Castro
                      accepted aid from the Soviet Union. With the end of the Cold
                      War, calls have risen for closer relations with Cuba.
                           They said Mr. Castro has little money to be a U.S.
                      customer and must treat his people better to earn any
                      concessions.
                           Mr. Castro also continues to sponsor terrorism and has
                      developed potential biological weapons, including anthrax,
                      said members of Americans for a Free Cuba, which held the
                      event with the Center for a Free Cuba and the Cuban
                      American National Foundation (CANF), a leading
                      anti-Castro group.
                           "We felt the best thing we could do was to bring attention
                      to the issue to take them head-on," said Dennis Hays, of
                      CANF.
                           Legislation is pending in Congress to end the ban on U.S.
                      tourism to Cuba and to allow food sales to Havana. In 2000,
                      President Clinton signed a law allowing cash-only sales of
                      U.S.-grown food and farm exports.
                           Last May, Mr. Bush said the U.S. embargo would remain
                      in force unless Cuba held free parliamentary elections in
                      2003, released political prisoners, allowed a free political
                      opposition and reformed the state-controlled economy.
                           The groups released results of a nationwide poll,
                      conducted last week, that concluded that 56 percent of
                      Americans agreed the United States should end the embargo
                      only if Cuba met conditions set by Mr. Bush.
                           The poll also shows that 77 percent of Republicans
                      support Mr. Bush's position on the embargo, compared with
                      52 percent of independents and 45 percent of Democrats.
                           Another poll, released yesterday by pro-trade groups,
                      showed that 55 percent of Americans believed the United
                      States should lift restrictions on Americans' freedom to travel
                      to Cuba and allow U.S.-produced food and medical
                      products to be sold to Cuba. That poll, conducted last week,
                      also said a majority support taking steps to normalize
                      relations with Cuba.