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HUMAN RIGHTS-CUBA: Latin America Holds the Key in UN Vote

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Apr 2 2004 (IPS) - The votes by Latin American countries on what have become annual United Nations resolutions on the human rights situation in Cuba have tended to hamper the island’s insertion in the region. And this year seems to be no exception.

The Cuban government sees any statement or resolution proposed in the U.N. Commission on Human Rights that is critical of its rights record as an unfriendly gesture and as caving in to external pressure, especially from the United States.

The tone of the Cuban reaction heightens in indignation when one or more Latin American nations are among the sponsors of the motion. Cuban officials charge that the text is invariable drafted – behind the scenes – by the United States, its leading political and ideological rival.

“Latin America is today a very weak, disunited region,” Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque said shortly after announcing Thursday that the Honduran government of Ricardo Maduro would this year reportedly present to the Commission on Human Rights a resolution critical of Cuba’s record.

In his opinion, that decision maintains the so-called “Cuban issue” on the Commission’s agenda and contributes to “fabricating the pretext that the United States needs to justify its policy of aggression” towards Havana.

The Honduran position will not affect Cuban cooperation projects with the Central American country, but will indeed have an impact on bilateral relations. “Unfortunately the decision by President Maduro puts us on a path of confrontation,” said Pérez Roque.

“The 700 young Hondurans who are studying free of charge in our universities have been able to exercise their right to education only in our country, and Cuba will not hold the Honduran people responsible for the decisions of their government,” he added.

Last week, the chief Cuban diplomat provided the foreign press on the island with copies of a text in English that he said Washington had distributed to a “select group” of members of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which is in the middle of its annual six-week sessions in Geneva.

That resolution draft reportedly asks Havana to cooperate with Christine Chanet, personal representative of the U.N. High Commission on Human Rights, who the Fidel Castro government has so far barred from visiting the island.

It is also said to insist that the Cuban government facilitate “fruitful dialogue” with all currents of thought and organised political groups in Cuban society in order to foster the development of democratic institutions and civil liberties.

The opinion in diplomatic circles is that it is a relatively moderate motion, similar to last year’s, and potentially palatable for the 53 countries that are serving on the Commission – 11 of which are Latin American and could tilt the balance in either direction.

But Pérez Roque rejected the notion that it is a “soft text” that seeks cooperation, and repeated his accusation that Washington utilises “the issue of alleged human rights violations in Cuba” to justify its hostile policy towards the Caribbean nation.

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights has been approving motions critical of Cuba in its annual session since the early 1990s, with the exception of 1998, when the motion was voted down, 19 against, 16 in favour and 18 abstentions.

On that occasion, Argentina and El Salvador were the only Latin Ameircan countries to vote in favour of censure, while Chile and Uruguay decided to abstain – an outcome that was seen as related to the visit by Pope John Paul II’ to the socialist-run island that year.

But Cuba ended up in the dock again the next year, when 21 members of the Commission voted in favour of a motion to censure, presented by Hungary and the Czech Republic, two of Cuba’s former partners in the socialist world led by the former Soviet Union.

In 2003, 24 countries voted in favour of a motion critical of Cuba, including Latin American members Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Of the 20 votes against the motion, only two came from Latin America: Cuba itself and Venezuela.

The resolution approved last year was sponsored by Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay, triggering an angry reaction from Havana, particularly towards the last. Cuba accused Uruguay of “trading its honour for beef,” suggesting that Montevideo was seeking favourable trade terms with the United States in exchange for its stance in the Commission.

For the Commission’s 2004 sessions, the Latin American members are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and first-timers Honduras and Dominican Republic. So far, the only ones to offically announce their plans for a vote on Cuba’s record are Argentina and Brazil, which say they will abstain.

Meanwhile, the Chilean vote is at the centre of internal debates and, apparently, that country’s foreign ministry is closely watching the positions of its neighbours Argentina and Brazil, as well as Mexico, in taking its decision.

Since President Vicente Fox took office in Mexico, that country has changed its usual abstention in Geneva on the Cuban issue, and in the past two years has voted in favour of censuring Cuba, amidst intense bilateral tensions between two former long-standing freinds.

On that matter, Pérez Roque said he had no information about what Mexican officials have decided to do this year. “We do know that the Mexican government does not have a single reason to justiy a vote against Cuba in the Commission on Human Rights,” he said.

In his opinion, the vote this year will be close because the exercise by the Commission has been discredited and the United States, despite weilding a great deal of pressure, cannot impose that text with an strong majority.

Says Cuban dissident Manuel Cuesta, the outcome “is in Latin American hands,” because the vote of the European countries is assumed to be in favour of a condemnation, and the African members generally abstain or align themselves with Cuba.