Cuba dubs Bolton 'pathological liar' over Venezuela troops charge

Cuba branded U.S. national security adviser John Bolton a “pathological liar” on Thursday for his allegation that it has troops stationed in ally Venezuela and said the latest U.S. sanctions would further hurt but not vanquish the Cuban people. In a speech last week unveiling a tightening of the decades-old U.S. travel and trade embargo on Cuba, Bolton reiterated his charge that its Communist government is propping up Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with thousands of security forces. The longtime Cuba hard-liner has not publicly offered any evidence for the claim. The Cuban government says Bolton has a history of spinning falsehoods about it. He accused it in 2002 of working to develop biological weapons without publicly presenting compelling evidence, a claim even top U.S. officials cast doubt on. “This is vulgar calumny. Cuba does not have troops nor military forces nor does it participate in military or security operations of the sister Republic of Venezuela,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told a news conference.