CUBA: Gov’t Slams Nicaragua’s Choice of Human Rights Delegate

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Apr 10 1997 (IPS) - Nicaragua’s naming of a known anti-Castro U.S.- Cuban activist in its delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission was an “unfriendly” act which hinted that the right- wing government of Arnoldo Aleman was “bought” by a leader of the Cuban exile community, the local press wrote Thursday.

‘Granma’, the publication of the Communist Party, contended Thursday that behind Managua’s decision to appoint Luis Zuniga, a U.S.-based Cuban, as a “special guest” to its delegation lay the hand of Jorge Mas Canosa, president of the Cuban-American National Foundation, one of the most powerful and vociferously anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in the United Statse.

According to ‘Granma’ commentator Nicanor Cotayo, the explanation for Nicaragua’s “unfriendly” gesture toward Cuba can be found in a June 1996 report by a Mexican newspaper, ‘La Aficion’, which states that “Mas Canosa financed a large part of the election campaign…of Arnoldo Aleman.”

Cotayo also pointed out that Mas Canosa visited Managua on Mar. 6, where he was given VIP treatment and official honours, and met with the Nicaraguan president, some of his ministers and the U.S. ambassador.

“Exactly seven days later,” the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry announced the decision to name Zuniga to the UN delegation, he adds.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marianela Ferreol called Nicaragua’s decision undignified and unscrupulous, and said Havana would respond to the move at the appropriate time. She refused to comment as to the repercussions the incident could have on the relations between the two countries.

Zuniga defected from Cuba in December, 1973, returning in August of the following year in an operation organised by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to the Castro administration. He and the other two Cuban members of the commando were arrested by local security forces, with M- 1 and AR- 15 rifles, hand grenades and explosives in their possession, that were allegedly to be used to attack high-ups in the government.

Zuniga served 14 of a 25-year sentence before being exiled in 1988 thanks to “humanitarian” pressure by U.S. groups advocating improved relations between Havana and Washington, ‘Granma’ states.

Once in Miami, Florida, Zuniga joined an organisation known as the FNCA, which according to reports coming out of Miami has a clandestine military apparatus that specialises in terrorist actions.

On suggestions from Mas Canosa, Zuniga began to provide monetary and other support in 1990 to “the minuscule groups in Cuba that proclaim themselves defenders of human rights,” says Cotayo.

“To state, as does a communique issued by the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry, that this spokesman for Mas Canosa is ‘well- versed in the situation in his country’ is as true as it is possible to pick up water with a fork,” he adds.

Cotayo’s report in ‘Granma’ cites the Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry communique that says the violation of human rights in any country “is beyond the sovereignty of the nations involved.”

Managua says “it will not participate in or support military actions against Cuba,” and rejects the U.S. Helms-Burton law that reinforces the embargo against Cuba, due to its extraterritorial character, Cotayo writes. But Nicaragua “wields the same argument that Washington uses to meddle in the internal affairs of others,” by proclaiming that national sovereignty takes backstage when it comes to the issue of human rights.

The report says Nicaragua’s position is along the same lines as Washington’s annual report on human rights in the world, and it’s yearly exercise in “certifying” the anti-drug efforts of other countries.