Posted on 05/13/2003 8:07:53 AM PDT by areafiftyone
UNITED NATIONS — The United States has ordered seven Cuban diplomats at the country’s U.N. Mission in Manhattan to leave the country for engaging in “activities deemed harmful to the United States” — the usual diplomatic language for spying, an American official said Tuesday.
A number of Cuban diplomats at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington also were being expelled, U.N. diplomats said on condition of anonymity.
A letter ordering the seven U.N.-based diplomats to leave was delivered to the Cuban Mission in Midtown on Monday evening, the official said. It did not give them any time frame to depart.
The U.S. official said the Cubans were being expelled “for engaging in activities deemed harmful to the United States outside their official capacity as members of the permanent mission of Cuba to the United Nations.”
“These activities constitute an abuse of their privileges of residence,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The latest U.N. directory lists 37 accredited Cuban diplomats, led by Ambassador Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla. The names of those ordered expelled were not released.
The Bush administration and Cuban authorities have engaged in an escalating diplomatic tit-for-tat reminiscent of the Cold War days in U.S.-Cuban relations. Until Tuesday, this involved more mundane issues like fixing embassy plumbing.
Last month, the United States walked out of a U.N. meeting to protest Cuba’s re-election to the Human Rights Commission, calling it “an outrage” that undermined the group’s credibility.
Cuba’s uncontested election to the Geneva-based commission came weeks after Fidel Castro’s government sent 78 independent journalists, librarians and opposition leaders to prison for lengthy terms and executed three alleged hijackers trying to get to the United States.
“It was an outrage for us because we view Cuba as the worst violator of human rights in this hemisphere,” Sichan Siv, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, said at the time.
Two months ago, Cuba clamped down on travel by American diplomats, demanding that each trip beyond a specified area around metropolitan Havana be approved. Before, the only requirement was that Cuban authorities be notified of such trips beforehand.
The State Department immediately responded by imposing the same condition on travel by Washington-based Cubans.
The Cuban measure apparently was triggered by Havana’s unease over the travels of the chief U.S. diplomat there, James Cason. He logged an estimated 6,200 miles motoring around the island, sometimes meeting with dissidents.
Cuban President Fidel Castro saw these contacts as subversive and used them partly as an excuse for his March crackdown on 75 dissidents, many of whom were described by the government as traitors. All were sentenced to lengthy prison after brief trials.
The State Department defended Cason’s travels, saying he was seeking a peaceful transition to democracy on the island. It rejected Cuban allegations that U.S. diplomats have provided money to dissidents.
In March, Washington dropped a Clinton-era “people-to-people” policy aimed at increasing contacts between ordinary Americans and Cubans. Under the policy, the U.S. government granted licenses to academics, athletes, scientists and others to travel to Cuba for exchange programs.
The Treasury Department is accepting public comments on the new restrictions until May 23 before the final rules are issued.
Originally published on May 13, 2003
I'm sure Castro lovers Jose Serrano, NY, Rangel, NY, Jackson-Lee, TX, Watson, CA, Stark, CA, and a host of others, are DEEPLY SADDENED about the "diplomats" getting the boot.
My thoughts exactly. Buncha empty-suit parasites!
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