Posted on 04/16/2002 3:57:02 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
MEXICO CITY - Mexico said Monday that it would support a U.N. resolution censuring Cuba for its human rights record, an announcement likely to further strain Mexico's ties with the communist island.
The resolution, expected to be voted on by the U.N. Human Rights Commission later this week in Geneva, recognizes social progress in Cuba but urges the government "to make efforts to obtain similar advances in the area of human, civil and political rights."
The measure also asks Cuba to allow a U.N. human rights representative to visit the island to help officials comply with the resolution - a suggestion Cuba angrily rejected last week.
Mexico, the only Latin American country that ignored U.S. pressure to break diplomatic ties after Cuban President Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, has traditionally abstained from the annual vote.
A news release issued by President Vicente Fox's office noted that the government would depart from that tradition to support this year's Uruguay-sponsored resolution, which "instead of containing the condemnation of past years, assumes a constructive and cooperative focus."
Speaking in the border city of Tijuana, Fox said the resolution was "not a condemnation, but a positive declaration for human rights." He added that Mexico is also supporting the measure because it condemns the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba.
Foreign Relations Secretary Jorge Castaneda said late Monday that the decision to support the censure did not represent a shift in Mexican policy toward Cuba.
"There will perhaps be some disagreements about this issue, but our relationship with Cuba remains strong," Castaneda told Mexico City's TV Azteca, adding that the resolution was "a positive and constructive call to Cuba that is not critical in any way."
Despite such explanations, Cuban officials - and Mexicans themselves - are likely to see the move as one more step away from the country's traditional unwavering support for the island nation.
"I think it's a huge departure from past policy and I think it's one that going to generate a firestorm of controversy in Mexico," said M. Delal Baer, a Mexico specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Cuban officials already have accused Castaneda - a former communist-turned-Castro critic - of abandoning Cuba, alleging that he bowed to U.S. pressure last month by arranging for Castro's early departure from a U.N. development summit in the northern city of Monterrey.
Castaneda has denied exerting pressure on Castro and said that U.S. officials have not pressured Mexico to distance itself from Cuba.
"I, at no time, have spoken with anyone in Washington about our relationship with Cuba," Castaneda said Monday.
Despite Castaneda's denials, the Communist Party newspaper Granma responded by calling Castaneda a liar and the "diabolical and cynical architect" of the Cuban leader's sudden exit.
Cuba insists that the United States pressured Uruguay to sponsor this year's human rights measure - and is likely to accuse Mexico of caving in to U.S. interests by supporting it.
The United States has introduced similar proposals in the past, but this year is not a member of the Human Rights Commission for the first time since 1947. U.S. officials have denied they had a hand in drafting the resolution.
I am NOT a Mexican "basher" I am a strong border ,pro American planned immigration proponent. There is a big difference.
I do not "blame " the poverty stricken citizens of a corrupt Mexican leadership for fleeing north.That does not make it right for the long term well being of our Nation.
The trouble as I see it is a generation of Americans that want immediate gratification and have no thought for what the Nation they leave behind will be. Cheap labor = short term benefit.
Those "Mexico bashers" are all hiding, no doubt, now that Mexico has undone decades of internal government corruption, thrown down their economic oligarchy, encouraged American investment and ownership of real estate, and brought home millions of Illegals... all with this support of a censure of Castro.
They'll never show their faces around FR again... You've really administered a blinding, masterful coup de grace, VA.
Such wisdom... such logic...
Such fluffiness.
Fox said the resolution was "not a condemnation, but a positive declaration for human rights." He added that Mexico is also supporting the measure because it condemns the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba.
Our buddies? No, Mexico is not our friend. The mean us ill. The article demonstrated nothing that indicates a substantive change.
There. That should make you happy.
I am against illegal and uncontrolled legal immigration. I am against allowing entry to the uneducated. I am against allowing entry to anyone who cannot/will not support themselves and their family without public assistance.
Since I live in LA, where the largest group of illegal aliens (and there are others) are from Mexico, I will continue to use them as an example.
And Cuba is still a loose cannon. The UN is probably a little anxious to get Fidel under its control or out of office.
You don't see Fox doing anything to blockade the flow of uneducated illegal aliens to America do you? Those people are his problem - not ours!!
Mexico will stroke the UN 24 hours a day if it helps them continue their colonization of the U.S.
VAA, you can be a sucker for this, more than obvious, Commie window dressing all you want, but don't expect the rest of us, here, not to see through it, too.
How is Mexico's "censure" of Castro relevant to anything of concern to the US. I guess Castro is going to throw up his arms and declare a democratic state, based on BS rhetoric from Mexico. As for the UN--I won't go there.
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