HAVANA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The Cuban government insisted on Saturday it would not respond to persistent rumours and questioning about the supposed presence of Mexico's elusive former President Carlos Salinas on the Caribbean island.
Salinas was widely reported to have come to Cuba earlier this month from his self-imposed exile in Ireland to be closer to friends and family for the verdict in his brother's murder trial in Mexico.
Raul Salinas was sentenced last week to 50 years in prison for plotting the 1994 murder of Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, who was then secretary-general of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
A Cuban Foreign Ministry statement confirmed Carlos Salinas had visited the island various times, both before, during and after his 1988-1994 presidency, but insisted Havana would not divulge whether or not he was currently on the island.
``Cuban authorities do not normally give public information about entries or departures of people who come as tourists, or on private and family matters, regardless of whether they are citizens of greater or lesser national or international public relevance, as long as they strictly follow the laws of our country,'' the statement said.
``Clearly and categorically, we want to make it known that if Carlos Salinas de Gortari travels to Cuba, or is present or absent from our national territory, the Cuban authorities will not give any information on the subject.''
Government officials have been bombarded in recent days with questions from Mexican journalists, and other foreign correspondents, about Salinas' supposed presence here.
Unconfirmed sources said last week he was staying at a luxurious house in the upmarket Atabey district of Havana, but that could not be independently confirmed, and Salinas has not been seen in public here.
The Cuban official response has deepened the mystery about the whereabouts of the former president.
The arrest of Raul Salinas in February 1995 followed his brother's disastrous last year in office in 1994, which was marked by a guerrilla revolt and the assassination of the PRI's presidential candidate, Luis Donaldo Colosio.
On Friday, Carlos Salinas himself was implicated for the first time in the Colosio and Ruiz Massieu murders when the latter's confessed killer said both assassinations were planned from the president's office. There has been no immediate response by Salinas to that accusation.
15:28 01-30-99
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