[Cincinatus' Wife]

April 23, 2003 - Nicaragua recalled its envoy in Cuba for consultations Wednesday after the Cuban government accused several Latin nations of acting as "lackeys" of the United States.

A demonstrator protests in favor of Cuban President Fidel Castro during a demonstration by supporters and opponents of the Cuban government who criticize the execution of three kidnappers of a boat and the imprisonment of 75 dissidents, in front of the Cuban Embassy in Managua, Nicaragua Tuesday, April 29, 2003.(AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Willful blindness shattered by Cuba's crackdown - Castro shows the brutal face of his regime*** The wilful blindness to President Castro's repression has been underlined by the shock at the recent crackdown. The Pope, who insisted on his controversial visit to Havana five years ago that he had won significant human rights concessions, spoke of his "deep sorrow" at the executions and urged Señor Castro to consider a "significant gesture of clemency" toward those convicted.

Perhaps the biggest shock was felt by the writers, poets and artists who have long defended Cuba and its autocratic ruler. The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes called the country "a suffocating dictatorship", the Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago said Fidel Castro "cheated his enemies" and the Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, who once praised him as a "symbol of national dignity", acknowledged that the crackdown had fuelled opposition claims that he was a dictator. There have been demonstrations in Caracas and Madrid.***

[Howlin]

Cuba's re-election to the U.N. Human Rights Council is a recognition of the island's contribution to human rights around the world, Fidel Castro's government said Wednesday.

Kofi must be so proud.

[Jay D. Dyson]

If anyone needed (more) proof that the U.N. is little more than a shill for tinpot dictators, there it is.

-Jay

[Defiant]

I think the Cuban community in Florida ought to start lobbying to add Cuba to the "regime change" list. Wouldn't take much to eliminate the dictator.

[DeuceTraveler]

It's statements such as this that cause me to feel sick in the stomach.

[yonif]

hahahaha

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Cuba's re-election to the U.N. Human Rights Council is a recognition of the island's contribution to human rights around the world, Fidel Castro's government said Wednesday.

This, sadly, is by far the most reasonable interpretation of events.

So why are we still in the UN?

[Ebenezer]

Fidel Castro had this to say about the Cuban government statement on the UN Human Rights Commission which appeared in Granma: "This 'Baghdad Bob' is a great writer. So accurate and truthful! Good thing we hired him after he lost his job in Iraq!"

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[hnorris]

This disgusts me beyond measure.

Cuba Libre!

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt