Andres Oppenheimer. Published Thursday, April 13, 2000, in the Miami Herald
BUENOS AIRES -- While world attention is focused on young Cuban rafter Elian Gonzalez, Cuba's maximum leader Fidel Castro is mounting an all-out effort to overturn last year's condemnation of Cuba by the United Nations Human Rights Commission. And from what one hears in diplomatic circles, he is
likely to succeed.
The U.N. Human Rights Commission might not support a Czech Republic-sponsored resolution to uphold the condemnation of Cuba in its upcoming vote in Geneva, despite Amnesty International's March 30 report saying detentions of dissidents ``are becoming increasingly frequent,'' and Havana-based
human rights leader Elizardo Sanchez's March 2 report that Cubans are witnessing ``the largest number of acts of political repression in the last 10 years.''
At least 592 opposition activists have been arrested or harassed by government troops over the past four months, according to Sanchez's Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation. Amnesty cites among others the case of Oscar Elias Biscet, a physician and peaceful human rights
activist, who has been arrested more than 20 times since June 1988, and repeatedly beaten while under arrest.
Why would the U.N. Human Rights Commission be more lenient with Cuba this year, if repression has gotten worse? For three major reasons:
The vote will take place later this month, shortly after this week's meeting in Havana of 65 heads of state -- about half of them from Africa -- for the Summit of the Group of 77. It will be hard for many presidents to vote against Castro only days after receiving a red-carpet welcome from the
Cuban ruler.
The 52-member U.N. Human Rights Commission has changed this year, and several countries that voted in favor of Cuba's condemnation last year -- including Austria, Ireland and Italy -- are no longer voting members. Many have been replaced by countries like Burundi, Zambia and North Korea, which
are likely to support Cuba.
The Elian Gonzalez custody fight in Miami will help Castro in Geneva, since many undecided countries that feel Cuba is right on the Elian case might decide to cast their vote with Castro. If nothing else, the custody battle over Elian will help Castro divert world attention from his regime's
human and civil rights violations, Argentine diplomats say. Castro might introduce an ``Elian resolution'' in Geneva based on the U.N. children's protection treaties, and turn the discussion to children's rights.
Of course, it would be most ironic if Castro emerged from Geneva as a champion of children's rights, when his own troops as recently as 1994 sank a tugboat with 63 people aboard who were trying to flee the island, killing at least 12 children. Even more ironic, considering that Castro has denied
tens of thousands of children the right to be reunited with their parents abroad, turning them into virtual orphans.
But everything looks like Castro will win in Geneva. As things go, individual tragedies capture more hearts and minds than collective tragedies, and Elian's case might sway more votes than the killing of more than a dozen children, or the thousands of boys and girls that Cuba denies permits to
leave the island.
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