Castro Bugs Fox Because Fox Is Bugging Castro

Fidel Castro was at the European-Latin American Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1999. But he's not in the official photo.

That's because the 47 elected leaders at the meeting scrambled to pose for the shot while the old man was in the men's room.

Now that the air has been cleared, the Fox government is free to join more aggressively in the growing Latin outcry against the Cuban regime's human rights violations. It may even take the lead.

President Bush needs to promote a role model in Latin America*** Argentina has defaulted on its foreign debt and is on the verge of political anarchy; Venezuela's democracy is hanging by a thread following bloody riots and a short-lived military coup; Colombia's guerrilla war is intensifying; and several other South American countries suffer growing political unrest. And Latin America as a whole is wondering whether Bush will succeed in convincing the Senate to pass a ''fast-track'' bill to expedite a 34-nation agreement to launch a hemisphere-wide free trade area by 2005. A Senate vote on the issue could come as early as Tuesday and, if approved, the bill would go to the full Congress.

…… What could Bush do? He could take several measures that would give Fox something to show at home, such as giving legitimacy to ID cards Mexican consulates are handing out to Mexican undocumented workers in the United States or submitting migration legislation to Congress to get Washington to focus on the issue. If the Bush administration won't put its full political weight behind the hemisphere-wide free trade zone, and if it's not going to rescue bankrupt countries, the least it should do is help the best performers in the region become democratic and free market success stories. Otherwise, there won't be an incentive for others to follow in their steps. ***

Fidel Castro faces rocky relations with Mexico, break in diplomatic ties with Uruguay ***"President Fox has a lot of things to do. He cannot spend four hours everyday talking, as Castro does," Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda told the radio news program Monitor in an acid reference to the Cuban leader's volubility. "Fortunately for Mexico, we have elections here. We have alternating power here and Mexicans here, I believe, do not want a president who remains in power for 43 years. We have already had that - he was named Porfirio Diaz - and because of that we kicked him out." Interior Secretary Santiago Creel referred to Castro as a "dictator" whose "word is no good.... who has no dignity" in an interview with TV Azteca.***

November 23, 2001 - Most Latins disapprove of Castro, survey says ***The finding comes days before this weekend's Ibero-American Summit in Peru, a forum where Castro has often attracted the lion's share of the attention from the media -- and from other participants, in some cases -- in spite of representing a country at variance with the prevailing democratic currents in the region. Saladrigas said he hoped that knowledge of the poll would prod Latin American leaders to take a more outspoken position against Castro and the Cuban government.*** (Castro sent a last minute letter of regret to the Summit---he said he was needed at home)

December 11, 2001 - European Union Tells Cuba To Improve Human Rights *** The recent fence-mending between Cuba and the European Union evaporated Monday, with the EU telling the Castro government it had better improve its human rights record or else Cuba can forget about improved economic and diplomatic relations with the 15-nation EU. In a statement, the EU foreign ministers said the human rights situation in Cuba "is still seriously wanting as regards the recognition and application of civil and political freedoms." The ministers also criticized Cuba for refusing "to contemplate reforms leading to a political system based on those values." ***

U.N. Human Rights Meeting Protects Oppressors - Mexico supports U.S. on Terrorism*** Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists and the International Federation of Human Rights said they were dismayed that Mexico withdrew a resolution urging that counterterrorist measures be compatible with international humanitarian law. The U.N. human rights commissioner would have been responsible for monitoring and analyzing those measures, according to the resolution.

The United States - which has been criticized widely for its treatment of suspected al-Qaida and Taliban fighters at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba and its detentions of Middle Eastern nationals who violated visa regulations - opposed the resolution. "This could have been one of the most important outcomes from this Commission, but instead has become one of its lowest points," the advocacy groups said in a statement.***

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