CUBA: CUBA SAYS IT CAN NOT COMPLY WITH UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION TO SEND AN ENVOY TO PROBE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

Record ID: 337990

  • Title: CUBA: CUBA SAYS IT CAN NOT COMPLY WITH UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION TO SEND AN ENVOY TO PROBE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
  • Date: 18th April 2003
  • Summary: (W6) HAVANA, CUBA (APRIL 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE ENTERING MEDIA CONFERENCE 00.03 2. PHOTOGRAPHER 00.07 3. ROQUE AT MEDIA CONFERENCE 00.09 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYING: "It is not a condemnation of Cuba. That's why I reject the idea that the U.N. Commission on Human Rights condemns Cuba. The United States could not reach its objective; the paragraph that contained the explicit condemnation was soundly defeated." 00.33 5. MEDIA 00.45 6. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ROQUE, SAYING: "After the war in Iraq, the European Union, unfortunately, has not had the capacity to formulate its own independent policy towards Cuba." 01.11 7. MEDIA 01.13 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ROQUE, SAYING: "Cuba will not collaborate with the mandate of this resolution which it considers spurious and illegal and, because of that, it will not collaborate with the personal representative nor permit her to come to Cuba, which in no way signifies a personal position against Chanet (U.N. envoy and French magistrate Christine Chanet) who we appreciate, respect, but who, unfortunately, has been involved in an exercise with which Cuba cannot collaborate." 01.45 9. ROQUE ON PODIUM 01.52 10. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ROQUE, SAYING: "We should act in the manner in which we have because we've been forced. (Using) the death penalty on violent kidnappers throws back on the United States the responsibility it has with its anti-Cuba politics of destabilization. The United States has not fulfilled its responsibilities." 02.17 11. ROQUE ON PODIUM AT MEDIA CONFERENCE 02.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HAVANA, CUBA
  • Country: Cuba
  • Reuters ID: LVAA0P6O8HKC58XU9NKY3DCVXU1I
  • Story Text: Cuba has said it cannot comply with a United Nations
    resolution to send an envoy to probe alleged human rights
    abuses.



    Felipe Perez Roque, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Affairs,
    reacted angrily on Friday (April 18) to the passage of a U.N.

    resolution urging Cuba to accept a visit by a U.N. envoy to
    probe alleged human rights abuses.

    The United Nations Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights
    passed the resolution on Thursday (April 17), presented by
    four Latin American countries. It was approved by the U.N.

    body by 24 votes to 20, with nine abstentions.

    The final decision came after the defeat of an amendment
    brought by Costa Rica to condemn the recent sentencing of
    dozens of dissidents to heavy jail terms and another draft
    presented by Cuba attacking a U.S. economic embargo was also
    defeated
    "It is not a condemnation of Cuba. That's why I reject the
    idea that the U.N. Commission on Human Rights condemns Cuba,"
    said Roque. "The United States could not reach its objective;
    the paragraph that contained the explicit condemnation was
    soundly defeated."
    The Caribbean state, which sees the vote as interference
    in its domestic affairs, lashed out at the four Latin American
    states -- Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Uruguay -- calling
    them "disgusting lackeys" who had bowed to "shameful" pressure
    from the United States.

    Russia and China took a common position in defending the
    amendments proposed by the representatives from Havana. Seven
    of the 11 Latin American countries on the commission voted in
    the favour of the call, including Mexico and Paraguay.

    Argentina and Brazil abstained, while Venezuela and Cuba voted
    against it.

    Cuba, ruled by President Fidel Castro, remains a
    politically-sensitive subject throughout much of Latin America
    and none of its representatives on the commission backed the
    toughly-worded Costa Rican motion.

    Cuba has so far refused to allow the envoy, French
    magistrate Christine Chanet, to make a visit, saying that the
    U.N. should focus instead on the U.S. Guantanamo naval base
    which is used to hold suspected terrorists.

    "Cuba will not collaborate with the mandate of this
    resolution which it considers spurious and illegal and,
    because of that, it will not collaborate with the personal
    representative nor permit her to come to Cuba, which in no way
    signifies a personal position against Chanet (U.N. envoy and
    French magistrate Christine Chanet) who we appreciate,
    respect, but who, unfortunately, has been involved in an
    exercise with which Cuba cannot collaborate," said Roque.

    In the last month, Cuba has rounded up 75 dissidents and
    imprisoned them for terms of up to 28 years in a move to stamp
    out pro-democratic opposition to Castro's one-party state,
    despite widespread international criticism of the arrests.

    Last week, Cuba shocked human rights organizations with the
    execution by firing squad of three men who hijacked a Havana
    Bay ferry in a bid to cross the Florida Straits to the United
    States.

    Roque blamed the United States Cuba's actions.

    "(Using) the death penalty on violent kidnappers throws
    back on the United States the responsibility it has with its
    anti-Cuba politics of destabilization," said Roque. "The
    United States has not fulfilled its responsibilities."
    It was the worst crackdown in decades under Castro, who has
    been in power since a guerrilla revolution in 1959.

    In the United States, government officials said Washington
    is planning to impose sanctions on Cuba to punish Fidel
    Castro.


    clv/

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