Posted on Tue, Feb. 05, 2002 in
The Miami Herald
His meeting with Cuba's best-known dissidents was short and low key,
nonetheless credit Mexican President Vicente Fox for maintaining his democratic
credentials and recognizing the worthy political opposition in totalitarian
Cuba.
Navigating the political minefield during his first trip to Cuba couldn't
have been easy for Mr. Fox. Tremendous pressure for him to ignore the dissidents
came from his own opposition lawmakers as well as the Cuban regime. Yet, as the
opposition candidate who ended the 71-year one-party rule in Mexico, President
Fox couldn't ignore the Cuban dissidents who struggle in a 43-year dictatorship.
Thus, just before leaving yesterday, Mr. Fox and Mexican Foreign Minister
Jorge Castañeda met for 20 minutes with a small group that included
former political prisoners, human-rights activists and independent press; they
were Elizardo Sánchez, Oswaldo Payá, Marta Beatriz Roque, Héctor
Palacios, Raúl Rivero, Manuel Cuesta and Osvaldo Alfonso.
Sources close to President Fox said that he also privately spoke to Fidel
Castro about several political prisoners. Politics aside, what's important is to
keep pushing the Cuban regime toward democracy. | 
