Mexicans Want Answers From Castro

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Alarmed by Cuban President Fidel Castro's 's sudden departure from a U.N. summit last week, some Mexican lawmakers are demanding explanations from Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda.

Castro suddenly left the U.N. development summit in the northern city of Monterrey on Thursday, citing "a special situation created by my participation in this summit."

Later, the Cuban government accused Castaneda of bowing to pressure from the United States to prevent Castro from participating in summit events, an assertion both Castaneda and President Vicente Fox denied.

The Cuban government on Tuesday called Castaneda the "diabolical and cynical architect" of Castro's sudden exit.

Politicians from Mexico's far left accused Castaneda on Monday of turning his back on Mexico's foreign policy in order to placate President Bush, who made it clear he did not want to cross paths with Castro at the U.N. International Conference on Financing for Development.

"Precisely because of one person, the relations that Mexico and Cuba have enjoyed for many years are in danger," said Congressman Sergio Acosta Salazar, of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party.

Several opposition politicians, including members of the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, said they would ask Castaneda to appear before Congress as soon as next week to explain what happened.

The controversy came less than a month after some Mexican politicians accused Castaneda of inciting visa seekers to raid the Mexican Embassy in the Cuban capital, Havana, by saying the embassy's doors "are open" to Cuban citizens.

Castaneda accused radicals in Miami of twisting his comments. Castro himself said he did not blame Castaneda and the incident would not affect the two countries' historically good relationship.

A large group of legislators representing all of Mexico's political parties - except President Vicente Fox's National Action Party - held a news conference Monday demanding Castaneda's resignation and announcing plans for a protest in front of his office.

The controversy has dominated radio talk shows and newspaper headlines for days in Mexico, which has long been Cuba's closest friend in the hemisphere, and where many see that friendship as proof that Mexico doesn't always bend to American wishes.

But Castaneda, once a member of Mexico's Communist Party, has become a prominent critic of Cuba's socialist system in recent years and has repeatedly wandered into the eye of political hurricanes involving the island nation.

Mexico abstained from a resolution before the U.N. Human Rights Commission last year that condemned human rights in Cuba. Still, Cuba's foreign minister accused Castaneda of trying to persuade other countries to back a condemnation.

Castaneda was then publicly chastised in Mexico for commenting that the Cubans were getting "hot under the collar" over the issue.

Mexican minister shuffles to the right [Excerpt] "He's also taken a different a different tack on Mexico's relations with Cuba. A long time Cuban ally, Mexico has traditionally abstained from votes to censure Cuba's human rights record. But while Mexico abstained from the vote last April, during the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Castaneda blasted Cuba's record on human rights. He drew praise from some - and ire from old friends in Havana. Castaneda eventually met with Helms, a one time critic, to iron out issues raised by Mexican abstention. …………… For the last seven, eight years, his democratic credentials are indisputable. He was one of the first leftist intellectuals who began to call Cuba what it is, said Oppenheimer, best speech I've heard from any foreign minister on Cuba but I would like him to follow through on that." [End Excerpt] - The Latino Reporte Story by David Cisneros (June 21, 2001)

Cuba Turns on 'Diabolical' Mexican Foreign Minister [Excerpt] "The man guilty for what happened in Monterrey is called Jorge Castaneda," said a red-letter, front-page banner headline above the statement in the party's official newspaper Granma. Castro normally writes such statements.

"Mexico's extremely strange policy over the incident has a diabolical and cynical architect -- Jorge Castaneda," it added of the former communist who is now a member of President Vicente Fox's right-leaning Mexican government.

Castro eventually attended the development summit, but, after a typically fiery, anti-capitalist speech, created a diplomatic flurry with a dramatic walkout. He returned to Cuba alluding to a "special situation" created by his presence in Monterrey.

Cuban officials later alleged Castro was pressured by Mexico, on behalf of the United States, first not to attend, then to leave before the arrival of Bush, whom they said was threatening to boycott the summit if Castro was there. [End Excerpt]

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