``We don't want to throw fuel on the fire in our relations with Spain,'' the Cuban leader said in comments published Wednesday in the Communist Party daily Granma.

``But no one should doubt that any rudeness, any provocation, any insult will have an appropriate response,'' Castro said.

The comments were published Wednesday in official newspapers.

Cuban authorities were enraged by images of Cuban children scrambling and fighting last week over candies tossed in the streets by three men -- at least two of them Spanish officials -- dressed as the biblical wise men.

The criticism of the Spanish Cultural Center's handling of the Friday event in Old Havana is the latest flap between Cuba and Spain -- one of the island's principal commercial partners.

During an evening program on state television dedicated to the subject, the criticism extended to a well-known veteran member of the foreign press corps in Cuba and his coverage of the celebration.

Participants took issue with Pascal Fletcher's dispatch for Reuters, rejecting his characterization of the resulting flap over the event as an ``ideological storm.''

They also denied the story's assertion that Spanish officials had obtained advance approval for the event, and said that the article ``tried to identify the Cuban response with an anti-religious sentiment.''

The attack on Fletcher, a British correspondent for the Financial Times of London and part-time reporter for Reuters, was harsh and personal in nature.

Program participants also criticized his past reportage and accused him of being ``disrespectful of the figure of [comrade] Fidel'' and of being a ``servant'' of the U.S. Interests Section -- the American mission here.

The Reuters office in Havana said it would have no comment on the criticisms. Fletcher was unavailable for comment on Wednesday.

``We believe that our coverage of Cuba is fair, balanced and accurate,'' the Financial Times said in a statement Wednesday. ``We stand by our correspondent, Pascal Fletcher, who is a highly professional correspondent. We remain committed to writing fair and accurate news about Cuba.''