Rights panel wants Cuba monitored. Rebuke by U.N. does not mention recent crackdown on dissidents

The Miami Herald Posted on Fri, Apr. 18, 2003 BY NANCY SAN MARTIN nsanmartin@herald.com

GENEVA -A 53-nation panel on human rights Thursday approved a relatively mild resolution asking Cuba to allow a monitor to examine the treatment of dissidents on the island, an implicit rebuke that stopped far short of the censure sought by some activists.

The vote was a defeat for Cuba, whose diplomats lobbied strenuously against it, but critics of President Fidel Castro were disheartened because the scolding by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights failed to mention the current wave of repression that has sent dozens of dissidents to prison.

Still, U.S. Ambassador Kevin Moley expressed satisfaction. ''We would have liked tougher language, but the fact is that any resolution against Cuba is violently opposed by Castro,'' Moley said. ``This action is helpful in giving some hope to those dissidents.''

By a vote of 24 in favor, 20 against and nine abstentions, the commission adopted a resolution that calls on Cuba to allow a representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the country, assess the human-rights situation and prepare a report.

''We've clearly condemned the Cuban regime's crackdown on Cuban independent civil society,'' said a State Department official. ``Cuba's efforts to silence voices of opponents only makes our policy of a rapid and peaceful transition to democracy more relevant and urgent.''

''We'll continue to work with Cuba's civil society and people,'' a State Department official said, adding that the Bush administration was ``considering how to advance policy as a response to the crackdown.''

But U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, blasted what she labeled a ''weak'' resolution, even as she commended those who voted for it. ''We could not expect much from a commission that has Libya as its chair and a host of other gross human-rights violators as members,'' she said.

The Cuban American National Foundation applauded the vote. ''It is a victory for the democratic opposition in Cuba,'' said Jorge Mas Santos, foundation chairman. ``Those votes represent the voices of men and women like Raúl Rivero, Victor Rolando Arroyo and Martha Beatriz Cabello, voices that convey the desire of the Cuban people to be free and that cannot be silenced despite the regime's brutal repression.''

In a move that continues to show clear divisions on the issue of Cuba, the panel rejected, by 31 votes, an effort to include language in the adopted resolution that expressed ''deep concern'' about the arrests and called for the immediate release of jailed dissidents. Cuba convicted 75 government opponents of being U.S. mercenaries and imposed prison sentences of up to 28 years.

''Each vote against the Costa Rican amendment calling for the immediate release of Cuban political prisoners was an act of infamy,'' said Republican U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart in a statement released in Miami. ``To a great extent the defeat of the amendment demonstrated a profound lack of interest, seriousness and rigor on the part of the U.S. State Department and its bureaucrats.''

The commission also rejected, by 26 votes, an amendment introduced by Cuba criticizing the four-decade-old U.S. economic embargo and alleging use of U.S. territory for ''terrorist'' acts against Cuba.

CUBA LASHES OUT

Cuba, which has consistently rejected a visit by a U.N. monitor, lashed out against those nations that voted in favor of condemnation.

''Why is Cuba attacked for defending itself, and why are those who try to put the Cuban people to its knees using hunger and diseases not brought to trial and condemned?'' asked Cuban delegate Juan Antonio Fernández. ``Why is the victim condemned but not the aggressor?''

''Cuba knows that attempts are made to condemn it because it has fought to be free,'' he said. ``And Cuba will continue fighting. No condemnations, no propaganda campaigns, no slanders, no blockages, or aggressions will make our people give up its unflagging decision to defend its revolution and its independence.''

Fernández's comments were -- for the second time this week -- met with loud applause from other U.N. delegates.

Moley, the U.S. ambassador, dismissed the applause saying it was not a measure of support for Cuba. Instead, he pointed to the vote results, which included nations traditionally friendly with Cuba, as proof that ``on the world stage, more countries recognize that Fidel Castro is a relic of the Cold War, that he's the last of the big-time totalitarian dictators.''

Among those voting in favor of the resolution, spearheaded by Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay, were some of Cuba's trading partners, including Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Joining the Latin American vote were Mexico, Chile, Guatemala and Paraguay.

''President Bush welcomes the leadership of the Latin America democracies in highlighting these abuses by the only dictatorship of the region,'' said a statement issued by the White House. ``The Commission has sent the right signal to courageous Cubans who struggle daily to gain their basic political and civil freedoms.''

Mexico, which voted to censure Cuba for the first time last year, said it was ''deeply concerned about the situation of human rights in Cuba'' and added that the vote was a ``faithful reflection of Mexico's policy and President Vicente Fox's commitment to promote human rights.''

Mexico's relationship with Cuba, which had been close since Castro assumed power in 1959, has become strained under the Fox administration.

''We hope this appeal from the international community will be heard,'' said Mexico's U.N. delegate, adding that free elections and a free press were essential to democracy.

HOW SOME VOTED

As expected, Venezuela voted against the measure and Brazil and Argentina abstained. However, Argentina's delegation did express its ``serious concern of the detentions and summary trials of people who were fighting for political rights.''

The delegation also condemned Cuba's recent execution of three hijackers who commandeered a ferry in a failed attempt to reach the United States, even as it criticized the U.S. embargo.

This year's censure of Cuba fared a little better than last year's, when by a slim two votes the commission accepted a resolution condemning Cuba's human-rights record.

''This shows that the tide has clearly turned away from Castro,'' said Morley, the U.S. ambassador. ``He is posing as some sort of socialist, but the only people paying the price are his own citizens.''

Frank Calzon, head of the Washington-based Center for a Free Cuba, praised Costa Rica's attempt to have the crackdown reflected in the resolution. ``It would have been a disaster if no government in Latin America would have attempted to include a reference to what's happening in Cuba.''