Defector's story on Castro in doubt
Her credentials are also unclear
A tearful Elizabeth Trujillo Izquierdo insisted in San Jose, Costa Rica, that she had told the truth about herself and Castro's illness in an interview that was published in The Herald July 19. But contradictions arose about where she was at the time Castro was supposedly hospitalized in Havana, about her medical credentials, her departure from Cuba and the whereabouts of Dr. Felix Ochoa, the man she said was her husband.
``As things now appear it seems that Mrs. Trujillo has lied to El Nuevo Herald, to La Nacion of San Jose, the main newspaper in Costa Rica, and to the Costa Rican government,'' Roberto Fabricio, managing editor/news at El Nuevo Herald, The Herald's Spanish-language sister publication, which prepared the original report, said Tuesday.
``The parts to the story that now appear questionable are whether she is a doctor or a nurse, the date when she left Cuba and her relationship to Dr. Ochoa,'' Fabricio said. ``What Trujillo continues to sustain is that Fidel Castro was hospitalized with a near stroke.''
At least two people who said they knew Trujillo said Tuesday that she is not a doctor and a third person said she was in Costa Rica last October, when she said she was part of a medical team that treated Castro at the Center for Medical and Surgical Research (CIMEQ) in Havana.
Ochoa, the Cuban doctor whom Trujillo described as her husband, is in Colombia, not in Brazil as she stated. Although Trujillo said Ochoa had sought political asylum, he appears to maintain normal relations with the Cuban government.
Ochoa's secretary at the Avellaneda Clinic, north of Bogota, told El Nuevo Herald that any questions about the doctor's situation should be directed to the Cuban Embassy in that city.
Rene Brito, the embassy's political attache, said the embassy had no
knowledge of the case. Tearful reaction
She insisted she is a surgeon who had worked at CIMEQ since 1984, after graduating from the University of Havana. A medical diploma she produced Monday was dated 1987, however, three years after she supposedly started work as a physician.
Last week, Castro and Alfredo Hernandez Martinez, director of CIMEQ, both denied the Cuban president had ever been treated there. Castro handed out copies of a report that said Trujillo had studied nursing but was not a doctor, had never worked at CIMEQ in any capacity, and that she had left Cuba legally in 1995 for Colombia and then moved to Costa Rica last year.
She admitted Tuesday that she withheld from Costa Rican authorities the fact that she entered the country last August. In the earlier interview, she had said she fled Cuba in April of this year, seeking asylum in Costa Rica.
``I didn't say it [mention the earlier arrival] because they didn't ask
me and I didn't think that it was important enough to make it clear,'' she
said. She did not explain how she could have returned to Havana in time to
be present for Castro's purported hospitalization in October. Doubts,
questions
Some of the apparent contradictions:
According to the hospital's secretary, Nubia Buitrago, Trujillo never worked there but identified herself as a nurse when she accompanied Ochoa on several occasions when he worked there.
Rubio, who did not provide dates for the couple's stay at her home, said Trujillo left the country owing her $15,000 in loans and telephone calls the couple made.
Both left in December, leaving Mora with telephone and rent bills amounting to about $20,000, Mora said.
Mora's statements caused Costa Rican Foreign Minister Roberto Rojas to react with visible disgust. Earlier Tuesday, he had met with Trujillo to deal with her request for asylum in Costa Rica.
``I am surprised,'' he said. ``If her story doesn't match what she told
us, the media, El Nuevo Herald, La Nacion of Costa Rica and what she said
at the news conference, it would seem to me that the circumstances have
changed.'' Damaged
credibility
``This damages Elizabeth's credibility -- and mine, too, because I put her in touch with the authorities,'' he said, angrily.
According to Mora, on Aug. 1 Trujillo rented an apartment Mora owned next to her home. She said Trujillo introduced herself as an investor about to collect a million-dollar inheritance left to her by an uncle in the United States.
Trujillo boasted that she was prepared to buy real estate with that money, Mora said, and visited some properties with Mora.
Mora said she became so fond of her tenant that in November she traveled to Havana to deliver clothing and medicine to Trujillo's relatives, while Trujillo stayed in Costa Rica.
``I remember that after that, we celebrated her birthday here [in San Jose], Nov. 14,'' Mora said.
Trujillo had told El Nuevo Herald that Castro was hospitalized at CIMEQ from Oct. 22 to Oct. 28 with symptoms of hypertensive encephalopathy, a brain condition caused by high blood pressure and potentially leading to a fatal stroke, and returned for two more days at the end of October.
In that earlier interview, Trujillo said she remembered the date because she was ordered by Cuban authorities to remain at CIMEQ until Nov. 11, long after Castro left the hospital, and that she was afraid she might have to stay there until Nov. 14, her birthday.
Copyright © 1998 The Miami Herald