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Mexican president returns juggles pressure in his first state visit to
Cuba
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 4
HAVANA - Juggling demands to prove he can support U.S.-style democracy
without being controlled by the United States, Mexican President Vicente Fox met
with dissidents in Cuba and said he pressed Fidel Castro on human rights issues.
After lengthy talks Sunday with Castro, Fox met briefly Monday with seven of
the Cuban leader's most prominent opponents shortly before the end of his first
visit to the communist island since taking office 14 months ago.
The meeting came a day after Fox's foreign minister said Mexico would not
challenge Cuba's human rights record in an annual U.N. vote that Castro's
government sees as part of an American-led campaign to isolate the island, under
a U.S. trade embargo for 40 years.
Fox's election in 2000 ended the 71-year rule of Mexico's Institutional
Revolutionary Party. The Mexican leader was under heavy pressure from his own
conservative National Action Party and Washington to prove his democratic
credentials by recognizing the Cuban opposition.
But he was also under pressure not to fray ties with Cuba — valued in
Mexico as a sign of independence from the United States — and Castro has
bristled when high-level visitors have met with his opponents.
On his flight back to Mexico, Fox told reporters he handed Castro a list of
political prisoners whose cases he hoped would be reviewed and "emphasized
that Cuba is not an exception and that Mexico will seek to encourage the full
observance of human rights the world over."
He said he hoped "Cuba would come closer to the standards of human
rights and of democracy that day-by-day help make things more secure not only in
Latin America but in the rest of the world."
Fox said he and Castro were able to discuss human rights "precisely
because of the maturity of our bilateral relationship and because of the
frankness and closeness that characterizes our personal relationship."
He said that he reaffirmed to Castro his opposition to the "counterproductive
and unjust" U.S. embargo and expressed opposition to the death penalty both
in Cuba and the United States.
Fox said he told Castro beforehand that he would meet with dissidents and
that he was confident Mexico's relationship with Cuba was "excellent."
After Fox boarded his plane at the airport, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe
Perez Roque said, "We are satisfied with the visit."
He said the countries agreed on the need to boost trade and other
cooperation, and that "we have agreed on respect for sovereignty."
Perez Roque indicated Cuba was especially pleased with what he called
Mexico's "categorical affirmation" that it will not support an
upcoming U.N. vote to condemn Cuba for its human rights record. "Mexico
will not let itself be used for any maneuvering against Cuba," Perez Roque
said.
Cuba resents being criticized in the annual vote at the U.N. Human Rights
Commission and accuses countries that vote of knuckling under to the United
States. Perez Roque last year accused Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda
of trying to get Mexican delegates to join the condemnation.
But Castaneda said Sunday that Mexico would abstain from the April vote in
Geneva, as it did last year — an announcement that restored some of Cuba's
confidence in its relationship with Mexico.
"President Fox's visit is a message of independent will," Perez
Roque said Sunday. "Not the entire world dares to come and resist the
pressures of the United States."
Cuba treasures its friendship with Mexico, the only Latin American country
that ignored U.S. pressure to break diplomatic ties after Castro's 1959
revolution. Mexico is Cuba's 10th-largest trade partner and sixth-largest
foreign investor.
Fox and Castro appeared to get along well Sunday as they walked through Old
Havana. They spent much of the day together in private talks, lunch, tours and a
dinner party. Castro did not see Fox off Monday.
Mexican president returns from first official visit to Cuba after
walking tightrope of conflicting political pressures
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer. Mon Feb 4, 3:45 PM
ET
HAVANA - Deftly juggling political pressures to prove he can support
U.S.-style democracy without being controlled by the United States, Mexican
President Vicente Fox wrapped up his first official visit here on Monday after
lengthy meetings with Fidel Castro and a brief encounter with the communist
leader's opponents.
"We are satisfied with the visit," Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe
Perez Roque told reporters at the airport after Fox boarded his plane for the
flight home.
Both countries agreed on the need to increase trade and other relations.
"We have agreed on respect for sovereignty," Perez Roque said.
He indicated that Cuba was especially pleased with Mexico's "categorical
affirmation" that it will not support an upcoming U.N. vote to condemn Cuba
for its human rights record.
The Cuban foreign minister did not mention the meeting Fox held with seven
of the island's best-known dissidents, nor was there any other official response
about the gathering.
The 20-minute encounter inside the Mexican Embassy took place before Fox sat
down for breakfast with members of the Mexican community in Cuba. The seven
opponents of Castro's government included human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez
and journalist Raul Rivero.
"I hope that the fact that President Fox met with us signifies very
clearly an acknowledgment of our peaceful struggle," said Sanchez, of the
non-governmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation.
Oswaldo Paya of Cuba's Christian Liberation Movement said the meeting was
significant because Fox symbolizes "democratic renovation in Mexico."
Fox's victory in 2000 was hailed as a democratic advance, marking an end to the
71-year rule of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Fox was under heavy pressure from his own conservative National Action Party
and Washington to prove his democratic credentials by recognizing the political
opponents here.
In the past, Cuba has been irritated when high-profile visitors have met
with people it characterizes as "counterrevolutionaries."
But it also resents being named in the annual U.N. Human Rights Commission
vote in Geneva and regularly accuses countries that join the vote of being
manipulated by the United States.
Perez Roque last year accused Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda of
trying to get Mexico delegates to join the U.N. condemnation.
But after the two met Sunday, Castaneda said it was likely Mexico would
abstain during the vote in April, as it did last year.
"The government of President Fox will not sponsor, nor co-sponsor, nor
present any proposed resolution on the theme of Cuba or vote on the projects
that others present," Castaneda said.
That announcement restored some of Cuba's confidence in its relationship
with Mexico.
"President Fox's visit is a message of independent will," Perez
Roque said Sunday. "Not the entire world dares to come and resist the
pressures of the United States."
Fox and Castro appeared to get along well on Sunday as they walked along the
cobblestone streets of Old Havana, trailed by dozens of security men,
journalists and curious neighbors who joined the tour.
The Cuban leader spent most of Sunday at Fox's side, sitting down for
private talks, sharing lunch, accompanying him on tours in and around Havana in
the afternoon, then playing host at a reception and dinner for the Mexican
delegation on Sunday evening.
Cuba long has counted on its friendship with Mexico, the only Latin American
country that ignored U.S. pressure to break diplomatic ties after Castro's 1959
revolution. Today, Mexico ranks 10th among Cuba's foreign partners in combined
trade and sixth in foreign investment.
The last time a Mexican president visited Cuba was in 1999, when Ernesto
Zedillo publicly aired his concerns about Cuba's human rights record at a
regional summit meeting. | 
