 AP Photo |
Posted on 04/19/2003 1:35:41 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
HAVANA - Cuba's foreign minister cried victory Friday after the U.N. Human Rights Commission voted against condemning his country's recent crackdown on dissidents, and Fidel Castro's government dismissed the possibility of U.S. punitive steps.
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The top United Nation rights watchdog rejected a proposed resolution criticizing Cuba's recent moves against opponents, instead approving a milder resolution Thursday calling for a U.N. rights monitor to visit the island.
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque called the vote a "resonant victory."
"The unquestionable majority vote is a clear signal from the Human Rights Commission that Cuba has the right to apply its own laws," Perez Roque told a news conference. "We express our profound satisfaction."
Earlier this month, Cuban tribunals sentenced 75 dissidents to prison terms ranging from 6 to 28 years on charges they were mercenaries working with the American government to harm the island's socialist system.
The dissidents and the U.S. government deny the accusations. The crackdown was followed by the April 11 executions of three men convicted of the hijacking nine days earlier of a ferry filled with passengers.
The White House said Thursday that it was considering new steps against Cuba in response to the crackdown.
The repression "only makes our policy goal of encouraging rapid, peaceful transition to democracy more relevant and more urgent and we ... are willing to consider steps to advance that policy goal in this climate," said Claire Buchan, a spokeswoman for President Bush, declining to elaborate.
The steps reportedly could include suspending family remittances and flights. Tens of thousands of Cuban-Americans every year take direct charter flights, mostly from Miami, to visit relatives on the island. And the monetary gifts are considered an important source of hard currency for this cash-starved island, with estimates that they can total $1 billion annually.
The Cuban leadership said Friday that the nation's "economy and its social services can resist" if Washington takes such steps.
"More than four decades of revolution have shown that our country is capable of confronting any threat and overcoming all kinds of sinister plans," said an editorial in the Communist Party daily Granma.
The editorial said banning remittances would hurt retirees and other individuals dependent on the money, but it said Cuba can take care of those hurt "as a result of such inhuman policies."
Perez Roque accused the U.S. government of concocting the failed attempt to condemn the communist-run island at the Human Rights Commission.
The condemnation, rejected by a 31-15 vote, expressed "deep concern about the recent detention, summary prosecution and harsh sentencing of numerous members of the political opposition," and called for their release.
Perez Roque said his country would not comply with the milder resolution, which urged Cuba to accept a visit by U.N. human rights investigator, French jurist Christine Chanet.
Peru, meanwhile, protested Cuban comments to the commission that said Peru, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Costa Rica were "repugnant lackeys" of the United States for presenting the milder resolution.
Peruvian Foreign Minister Allan Wagner said the comments by Cuban delegate Juan Fernandez "are offensive to the Peruvian state, unfitting for a diplomatic official and incompatible with Peruvian-Cuban relations," according to Friday's edition of Lima's El Comercio newspaper.
Wagner said that Peru gave Cuban Ambassador Rogelio Sierra the diplomatic note of protest and added that Peru's ambassador to Cuba has been contacted for consultations.
"Perez Roque said his country would not comply with the milder resolution, which urged Cuba to accept a visit by U.N. human rights investigator, French jurist Christine Chanet."
If you want off (or on) this list, please let me know.
Peru, meanwhile, protested Cuban comments to the commission that said Peru, Uruguay, Nicaragua and Costa Rica were "repugnant lackeys" of the United States for presenting the milder resolution.They're not repugnant.
Who's chairing this commission right now? Anyone know?
I'm hopeful that if ever there was a time and a President to accomplish this it will be during George W. Bush's presidency.
Libya....?
Left turn: 'Revolution' hits Venezuela's oil culture - PDVSA beachhead for Chavez's vision *** CARACAS, VENEZUELA - At the gleaming offices of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the country's state-owned oil giant, a corporate revolution is under way. Nine-to-fivers have come to think of themselves as patriots. Senior managers now eat at the same cafeteria tables as secretaries. And former soldiers have left the battlefield for the boardroom. After PDVSA workers walked off the job last December in a bid to force Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez from office, the fiery populist hitched his social revolution to the $110 billion business: He purged the company's ranks and installed his own people. What was widely regarded as a world-class energy company before the strike has a new philosophy: to help the poor. And a new corporate culture is gradually taking shape, injected with the president's particular brand of leftist ideology.***
Sheesh.
At least he didn't use another A... :)
It occurs to me that Cuba is a lot smaller than Iraq in square footage...and we don't have to go get flyover rights from neighboring countries.
Snipers, take the shot.
If any CNN personnel block the target, take them out.
JDAMs on the Chinese sigint installations.
Grind the fidelistas, can them and ship them to North Korea.
Anniversary of the Elian raid coming up--now would be a good time to free his country around him.
More than four decades of revolution have shown that our country is capable of confronting any threat
Right, like the sinister imperialist lackeys disguised as seven-year-old boys.
Rescind 12333--Do Fidel
Questions? Comments? Call 1-800-KO-FIDEL
I agree with Castro, here. NOTHING is worth suffering through visits by Frenchmen working for the UN.
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