OAS concerned on Cuba, sees Venezuela deal

05 May 2003 20:59:42 GMT By Patrick White

MONTREAL, May 5 (Reuter-Alertnets) - Cesar Gaviria, head of the Organization of American States, said on Monday he was concerned about Cuba's crack-down on dissidents and the OAS was working on a statement about the Latin American country.

"I am personally concerned about the situation of human rights and public liberties in Cuba, and I am waiting for the OAS permanent council to express (this) politically," Gaviria told reporters in Montreal.

He would not say when the statement would be issued and stressed some countries did not only want to deal with the human rights issue in Cuba.

"Many countries do not just want to talk about human rights. They want a statement (on Cuba) that is more comprehensive of the current situation," Gaviria said.

President Fidel Castro's government has come under heavy international criticism after sentencing 75 dissidents to long prison terms last month, and executing three men who hijacked a ferry in a failed bid to reach the United States.

Havana has said the crackdown is in response to what it says is a U.S. plot to topple the Castro government.

Gaviria, a former president of Colombia, also said he was expecting an agreement "in a few weeks" on a referendum on the rule of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

The OAS last month brokered a deal on a referendum after talks between Venezuelan opposition leaders and government negotiators. But a week later the government backed away from signing the accord.

Gaviria is scrambling to patch up the agreement and said he hoped the deal would not lead to confrontations like those last year, when Chavez survived a brief military coup which was followed by months of protests and street clashes.

"Politics in Venezuela today is very very confrontational. We may have risks of violence as we have seen in the last few months," Gaviria told a news conference.

Chavez, elected in 1998 on promises to ease poverty, and his foes have been locked in a political struggle since last year's failed coup.