DAN HOLLY Herald Staff Writer

The Democratic challenger trying to unseat Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen launched a counterattack Tuesday against Spanish-language newspapers that have labeled her a Castro sympathizer.

Retract or I'll sue, Magda Montiel Davis said.

She also charged Ros-Lehtinen with orchestrating the attacks. She offered no proof other than saying the articles sound suspiciously alike.

Ros-Lehtinen, who is in Washington, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

A few small Spanish-language newspapers have harshly attacked Davis' positions on Cuba and givein prominent mention to her husband's legal work. Davis' husband, Ira Kurzban, an immigration attorney, has represented the Cuban National Bank and other Cuban clients in lawsuits in the United States.

Neither Davis nor Kurzban deny he did the work. But they say Kurzban's work shouldn't reflect on Davis. Among the articles cited by Davis was a Sept. 25 story in El Expreso, a 16-year-old weekly newspaper that circulates in Little Havana, Hialeah and other Hispanic neighborhoods. The front-page article called Davis a Castro sympathizer and said her husband had an "umbilical cord to the Castro government."

Frank Maldonado of El Expreso said the newspaper would not comment on the article. But he did say the newspaper did not get its information from Ros-Lehtinen.

"We got it in the usual way," he said. He declined to give his sources.

Davis also announced she would start running radio commercials attacking Ros-Lehtinen's husband, the controversial former U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen.

"Who is she to talk about husbands?" Davis said.