South America Dictatorship

**dudevenezuela** · 06-19-2003, 01:31 PM

Castro apparently falls victim to Miami radio prank
Wed Jun 18, 6:23 PM ET Add U.S. National - AFP to My Yahoo!

MIAMI (AFP) - Cuban leader Fidel Castro (news - web sites) apparently fell victim to a prank by a Miami radio station, and used crude expletives against Miami talk show hosts who led him to believe he was on the phone with his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez.

The recording of the conversation was repeatedly aired since Tuesday by the Spanish-language radio station El Zol 95.7, which had already played a similar prank on Chavez in January, pretending Castro was on the line.

The make-believe Chavez sought help from Castro in tracking down a suitcase containing secret documents he said he lost during the leaders' recent trip to Argentina.

Eventually, a man posing as a Chavez aide asked Castro: "Do you agree with the shit on the island, murderer?" and added, "You fell for it ... the whole of Miami is listening to you, Fidel Castro."

"What did I fall for, you shit," the irate Cuban leader answered, adding further crude expletives, including references to the anatomy of the host's mother.

"He used very obscene words the president of a country should never use," said the radio host Joe Ferrero said later.

Castro eventually hung up, ending the 25-minute conversation.

The radio station used the same technique it had employed for the Castro imitation in January, piecing together fragments from Chavez speeches.

Miami is home to close to 700,000 Cuban exiles and Cuban-Americans, many of whom staunchly oppose Castro's communist government.