POLITICS/RIGHTS-CUBA: Rows with Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico over UN Vote

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Apr 23 2001 (IPS) - The government of Fidel Castro is apparently determined to “unmask” the heavy pressures and political manuevering which in its view were the determining factor leading to the approval of a resolution condemning Cuba in the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Havana maintains that last Wednesday’s vote at UN headquarters in Geneva on the resolution sponsored by the Czech Republic triumphed due to pressure and “blackmail” by the United States.

In its bid to demonstrate that, Cuba became involved in diplomatic rows over the weekend with Canada and Costa Rica, two of the countries that voted in favour of the censure motion, and with Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda, whose country abstained from voting but “would have liked to back the resolution.”

“We wonder if Canada’s policy towards Cuba is devised today in Ottawa or Washington,” the Cuban Foreign Ministry stated Saturday in response to Canadian Foreign Minister John Manley’s comments on Cuba’s human rights situation.

In a conversation with the press Friday, just before the start of the third Summit of the Americas, which ended Sunday in the Canadian city of Quebec, Manley said it would be good if there were elections in Cuba, which he said had an “anti-democratic regime.”

Meanwhile, Costa Rica’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations Elayne White confirmed Sunday that her country’s consul in Cuba, Mélvin Sáenz, had been recalled for consultations for an “indefinite” period of time.

White’s confirmation that the consul had been recalled was made public after Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque stated on TV that the Costa Rican government was subservient to pressure from Washington and from fervently anti-Castro Cuban exile sectors in the United States.

The Mexican Senate’s Foreign Relations Commission also reacted to allegations by the Castro government that Foreign Minister Castañeda helped push for the condemnation of Cuba’s human rights record, and announced an emergency meeting to discuss the matter.

The Mexican lawmakers are concerned about statements by Pérez Roque, who said Castañeda was “frustrated” that his country had not voted against Cuba in the UN Human Rights Commission last week, since he had played a role in promoting the censure motion.

“(Castañeda) did everything possible to get Cuba condemned in Geneva and to get Mexico to change its position,” said Pérez Roque.

The Mexican foreign minister downplayed the allegations, and told the press he “couldn’t care less” about the Cuban minister’s statements.

Last Friday, Pérez Roque appeared on TV to launch harshly worded criticism against several Latin American countries for yielding to U.S. pressure.

At a round table attended by Castro, the foreign minister said this year’s vote in Geneva demonstrated that “this U.S. exercise against Cuba is wearing thin,” and can only be maintained “through pressure and blackmail.”

The motion to condemn Cuba in the UN Human Rights Commission, made up of 53 countries, was approved by a vote of 22 to 20, with 10 abstentions. The Democratic Republic of Congo was absent.

Among the 11 Latin American nations sitting on the Commission, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Uruguay voted in favour of the resolution, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru abstained, and Venezuela and Cuba opposed the motion.

Guatemala and Uruguay were also submitted to heavy pressure from Washington up to the last moment, according to Havana.

In the case of Argentina, the tension between the two countries dates back to January, when Castro said the government of Fernando de la Rúa would be “licking the boots of the Yanquis” if it voted in favour of the censure motion against Cuba in Geneva.

A report presented by Pérez Roque stated that U.S. and British diplomats in Geneva had used “the most brutal harassment” to get seven countries to do an about-face at the 11th hour, and vote against this Caribbean island nation.

One of the seven was Cameroon, which in exchange for its support against Cuba won a pledge that it would not be condemned by the Human Rights Commission. Another was the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose government was “blackmailed” with the threat that support would be withheld for its efforts to achieve peace within its borders, according to the Cuban minister.

Havana asserted that similar things occurred with countries like Madagascar, which backed the resolution, and Kenya, Senegal and Niger, which abstained.

Cuba has been condemned by the Commission every year since 1990, with the exception of 1998, when the resolution was voted down thanks – in the view of analysts – to the repercussions of Pope John Paul’s historic visit to the island.

The Castro administration was condemned for limiting civil liberties, outlawing political opposition, imprisoning dissidents, maintaining state control over the press, and failing to hold presidential elections.

But Cuban authorities argue that the island’s four-decades-old socialist regime is a model of respect for the right to life, health, education, employment and social security.