HAVANA, July 21 (Reuters) - President Fidel Castro on Tuesday slammed Cuba's "ideological foes" in the foreign news media, accusing them of championing "imperialism" and propagating counter-revolutionary lies.
"There is a press which shares our noble ideals and another which shares the ideals of imperialism, of capitalism," said Castro, explaining why foreign correspondents should leave after the opening part of the first day of a parliamentary session.
Foreign media are traditionally only allowed into the opening and closing parts of the National Assembly's sessions, which are held twice a year and normally last two days.
State-run local media are allowed to stay for the entire session.
"We distinguish honorably and, furthermore, respectfully between national press and...international press," Castro explained in part of an address to more than 500 legislators, and scores of reporters, guests and diplomats attending.
He said the foreign media had to be absent not for the sake of secrecy but so legislators could talk and debate "with total freedom, so that not one of the words or criticisms or self-criticisms pronounced here serve as firewood or fuel for the vile campaigns made against our country."
Such a measure was taken "with respect for the good journalists from abroad...and even for those who do not share our ideology and whose principal aim is to tarnish socialism, demoralize this revolution, and fight it with all sorts of lies and intrigues," Castro added.
His words, applauded by the assembly's delegates, were aimed specifically at resident foreign correspondents at the assembly. But they also reflected Castro's traditionally dim view of the Western media as a whole.
Castro did not mention but possibly had in mind a U.S. newspaper story this weekend saying he had been treated last October for hypertensive encephalopathy, an illness which paralyses brain functions and, in severe cases, can kill.
Cuban officials have ridiculed the story, which appeared in Sunday's Miami Herald, and insisted the 71- year-old communist leader is in "perfect" health.
Vice-President Carlos Lage, speaking late on Monday, noted Castro's current healthy appearance and said that it "does not even warrant the bother of replying to such a complete lie".
Castro, wearing his traditional olive-green military uniform, criticized foreign correspondents for distorting articles from the Cuban media that include "hard, reasoned criticisms" of the country.
In these cases, the journalists showed "an art, a science" in stressing "all the negative parts without including a single positive phrase or explanation."
The Cuban president said the foreign media were inevitably influenced by "anti-socialist ideology which tries to invade the world with its prejudices and lies."
Cuba has more than 100 officially-registered members of the foreign press, although only about 25 of those cover events on a day-to-day basis.
Castro's comments on Tuesday followed a diatribe last month in the international edition of Communist Party newspaper Granma against local independent journalists for their "falsehoods" and "mercenary" actions.
Roughly 40 Cuban journalists work outside the government-owned media, publishing their work abroad.
In Tuesday's assembly session, a new forestry law was passed to promote conservation and growth of Cuba's wooded areas. Legislators were also due to analyze the national energy system and the state of internal finances, and hear reports from the ministers of foreign affairs and education.
00:49 07-22-98
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