Pravda 04/18/2003 14:33

Castro's regime must allow UN observers in the island. No comments made on the recent execution and imprisonment of dissidents The United Nations Human Rights Commission (HRC) Thursday passed a new resolution compelling Cuba to allow international observers within its territory to survey island's internal situation. Cuban diplomats see the new resolution, approved by 24 votes to 20 and 9 abstentions, as a "moral victory" for Castro's regime. Cuba avoid a stronger condemn presented by Costa Rica and sponsored by Washington.

The final wording of the new resolution had been submitted by Uruguay, Peru and Nicaragua and backed by the European Union and the United States of America. The warning approved by the HRC states that Cuba has to allow the presence of the French jurist Christine Chanet. Mrs. Chanet would act as an envoy of the Commission to overview Human Rights advances in the island. The Government of Fidel Castro had systematically denied the presence of UN envoys for such purposes.

Costa Rica, in turn, had presented an amendment to the winning resolution to include a formal protest on the recent imprisonment of prominent members of the internal dissidence. The wording also mentioned the case of three Cuban citizens executed for hijacking a ferry to escape to Florida State. Despite these facts, broadly condemned by the international global opinion, the Commission opted for the original wording.

Notwithstanding, the victory of Cuban diplomacy was not complete, as the organism did not pass a resolution presented by Havana to condemn the blockade imposed by Washington 40 years ago. Cuba's submission was rejected by 26 votes to 17 and 10 abstentions.

As usual, the voting created a big controversy within the Commission. Washington puts a lot of pressure over Latin American diplomats to condemn Cuba. However this time, the region looked more divided than ever, toward the question. While Chile, Peru and Mexico voted against Cuba, Brazil and Argentina opted for the abstention and Venezuela rejected the anti-Cuban resolution.

Despite US pressures, each country voted individually. Peru, Chile and Uruguay traditionally vote against Cuba, and they did it again. Mexico, trying not to further damage its ties to Washington, followed them. On the other side, Venezuela reaffirmed once again its affinity with Cuba and Brazil kept its long tradition of abstention.

The only country that made an important turn on the question was Argentina. Since 1989, this South American country had followed a foreign policy aligned to Washington. However, the new administration product of the uprisings of December 2001, tried to look for common positions with Brazil. The new scenario led President Duhalde to change country's vote and come back to the traditional abstention on Cuba's affairs that reigned before 1989.

No matter the case, this story does not end here. Cuba says that The United States prevents the Commission from covering the real problems afflicting the world today. Cuba also requested that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights "investigate the acts of terrorism that are committed against Cuba and have their base in US territory".

Castro's diplomats consider that this 14 year battle to condemn the Island for alleged violations of Human Rights serves the United States with the pretext of maintaining the economic and trade violation maintained for more than four decades. Anyway, unjustified Cuba's decision to keep on jailing dissidents and executing citizens does not help nations aiming to vote against foreign intervention in sovereign internal affairs.

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.''

The Washington Post-Reuters Friday, April 18, 2003; Page A15

GENEVA, April 17 -- The United Nations' top human rights body kept up the pressure on Cuba over its rights record today by urging the communist state to accept a visit by a U.N. envoy to probe alleged abuses.

But the 53-state Human Rights Commission spurned a tougher resolution from Costa Rica, backed by Washington and the European Union, demanding freedom for about 75 dissidents recently given lengthy jail terms.

Presented by four Latin American countries -- Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Uruguay -- the approved text merely called on Cuba to accept the commission's decision last year that the envoy should visit.

Cuba has so far refused to let French magistrate Christine Chanet into the country because it says the U.N. should focus instead on the U.S. Guantanamo naval base, where Washington is holding terrorist suspects. The United States, welcoming the resolution, said Cuba should be denied a seat next year on the commission, saying that no state should sit on the body if it "purposely and consistently undermines the spirit and purpose of the Commission."

The White House statement stressed a multilateral U.S. approach. "We will work with friends and allies to find new ways to effect a peaceful democratic transition in Cuba," it said.

Mexico, which voted in favor of the resolution, called it a "procedural" measure aimed only at winning cooperation from Cuba, where Fidel Castro has run a one-party state for more than 40 years.

"The Mexican vote will be consistent with its principles not to condemn or to criticize Cuba," said Mariclaire Acosta, Mexico's deputy minister for human rights and democracy.

But Cuba, which sees the vote as interference in its domestic affairs, lashed out at the four Latin American countries behind the resolution, calling them "disgusting lackeys" who had bowed to "shameful" pressure from Washington.

"The sole object has been to concoct a pretext to justify the genocidal blockade and policies of aggression that the United States has practiced for 40 years," ambassador Jorge Ivan Mora Godoy told the commission.

Human rights groups said the U.N. resolution was too mild because it overlooked the recent arrests of dissidents. The crackdown has brought widespread international condemnations.

"It is a completely inadequate resolution. It has no teeth and does not reflect the recent crackdown, the most serious set back in decades in Cuba in terms of rights abuses," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Watch director for the Americas.

Votes on Cuba are traditionally among the most politically charged at the annual meetings of the 53-state commission, with Latin American countries, even those most closely aligned with Washington, feeling that they have to tread carefully.

Argentina and Brazil both abstained, while Venezuela joined Cuba in voting against the motion. It was approved by 24 votes to 20, with nine abstentions.

The decision came only after the defeat of the Costa Rican amendment condemning Cuba for sentencing dissidents to up to 28 years in prison. The commission also rejected a Cuban draft attacking the U.S. economic embargo.

NAOMI KOPPEL, <a href=www.sfgate.com>Associated Press Writer Thursday, April 17, 2003
(04-17) 18:05 PDT GENEVA (AP) --

The top U.N. human rights group Thursday rejected an amendment criticizing a dissident crackdown by Cuba, instead approving a milder resolution calling for a U.N. rights monitor to visit the island.

The 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission, which regularly criticizes Cuba on its rights record, voted 31-15 against condemning the communist state's monthlong drive against dissidents and other opponents.

The rejected amendment expressed "deep concern about the recent detention, summary prosecution and harsh sentencing of numerous members of the political opposition" and called for them to be released.

Governments and human rights groups around the world have condemned Cuba for jailing dozens of dissidents. The crackdown was followed by the executions Friday of three men convicted of the April 2 hijacking of a ferry filled with passengers in a bid to get to the United States.

Cuban representative Juan Antonio Fernandez said "Cuba has been forced to bring to trial and condemn scores of agents of U.S. subversion in Cuba."

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that despite the measure's defeat, the United States was pleased that the commission did pass a Cuba resolution.

"It sends a strong message of support for the courageous Cubans who struggle daily to defend their human rights and their fundamental freedoms. It shows the international community is attentive to the human rights situation in Cuba despite some hopes that we're not paying attention because we're occupied elsewhere."

The White House said Thursday that it is considering new steps against Cuba in response to the recent crackdown against dissidents.

The repression "only makes our policy goal of encouraging rapid, peaceful transition to democracy more relevant and more urgent and we ... are willing to consider steps to advance that policy goal in this climate," said Claire Buchan, a spokeswoman for President Bush, declining to elaborate.

The panel also voted 24-20 in favor of a resolution that simply urges Cuba to accept a visit by U.N. human rights investigator, French jurist Christine Chanet. There were nine abstentions.

Cuba has previously refused to allow Chanet to visit, claiming such a visit could infringe on its sovereignty.

Latin American countries voting in favor of the resolution included Mexico -- a longtime Cuban ally -- as well as Paraguay, Chile, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Argentina and Brazil abstained, while Venezuela voted against.

Cuban representative Juan Antonio Fernandez told the meeting that the resolution had been brought by Latin American "lackeys" working for the United States.

The commission also turned down a proposal 26-17, brought by Cuba itself, that criticized the U.S. trade embargo with Cuba.

U.S. Ambassador Kevin Moley defended the embargo.

"The United States doesn't have any interest in putting money in Castro's pockets. We aren't in the business of strengthening a regime which has repressed its people for 45 continuous years," he told reporters after the debate.

In other action, the commission:

• Urged Belarus to end repression, legitimize the election process, ensure freedom of the media and give power back to parliament.

• Voted against reprimanding Sudan over its human rights performance.

Reuters POSTED: 1:01 p.m. EDT April 17, 2003 UPDATED: 9:13 a.m. EDT April 18, 2003

GENEVA -- The United Nations top human rights body kept up the pressure on Cuba over its record on Thursday by urging the Communist state to accept a visit by a U.N. envoy to probe alleged abuses.

The resolution, presented by four Latin American countries, was approved by the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights by a vote of 24 in favor to 20 opposed, with nine abstentions.

But the decision came only after an amendment brought by Costa Rica to condemn the recent sentencing of dozens of dissidents to heavy jail terms and another draft presented by Cuba attacking the United States economic embargo were defeated.

The Caribbean Marxist state, which sees the vote as interference in its domestic affairs, lashed out at the four Latin American states -- Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Uruguay -- calling them "disgusting lackeys" who had bowed to "shameful" pressure from the United States.

Seven of the 11 Latin American countries on the commission voted in the favor of the resolution, including Mexico and Paraguay. Argentina and Brazil abstained, while Venezuela and Cuba voted against.

Cuba remains a politically-sensitive issue throughout much of Latin America and none of its representatives on the commission backed the toughly-worded Costa Rican motion.

The resolution approved by the 53-state body urged Cuba to respect a 2002 commission decision to send a special envoy to monitor its progress in respecting human rights.

Cuba has so far refused to allow the envoy, French magistrate Christine Chanet, to make a visit, saying that the United Nations should focus instead on the Guantanamo naval base, where the United States is holding an unknown number of suspected terrorists.