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Yahoo! June
9, 2003.
US to work with OAS members for a democratic Cuba: Powell
SANTIAGO, 9 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell sought a united stand
to push Cuba toward democratic change in a speech to the Organization of
American States that has always been divided on how to handle the communist
island.
Powell told the OAS general assembly in Santiago that the United States
wants to work with other members to force change in Cuba, which has been
suspended from the pan-American group since 1962.
Cuba has returned to the international spotlight in recent weeks following a
crackdown by its veteran leader Fidel Castro against the pro-democracy
opposition. Seventy-five dissidents were jailed for up to 28 years in April.
"The people of Cuba increasingly look to the OAS for help in defending
their fundamental freedoms against the depredations of our hemisphere's only
dictatorship," Powell told the assembly.
"We deplore the crackdown of recent weeks against Cuban citizens
seeking to act upon their basic human rights," Powell said. "We
protest the harsh sentences."
"My government looks forward to working with our partners in the OAS to
find ways to hasten the inevitable democratic transition in Cuba," he said.
"Dictatorships cannot stand the force of freedom."
Powell's comments went further than US officials had predicted before he
left Washington. State Department officials said the United States did not want
to push the Cuba issue at the OAS assembly as it did not want to reopen tensions
within the organisation caused by the Iraq war.
But a strong condemnation of Cuba last week by the European Union, which is
reviewing relations with Castro's administration, has swayed many Latin American
governments and encouraged the United States to take a harder line, diplomats
said.
The 34-member OAS has for years been reluctant to confront or engage Cuba.
Many countries have justified this by saying that as Cuba is suspended it cannot
defend itself before the organisation.
"Some countries want to discuss Cuba but only if this is done in a
balanced way, also discussing the US embargo, which nearly everyone opposes,"
said a senior OAS official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said that despite the international protests at the latest
repression "there is still a lot of sympathy for Castro in a lot of South
American countries."
The OAS permanent council was badly divided over a resolution condemning
Cuba which was put before it on May 19.
Venezuela, Brazil and the 15 members of the main Caribbean grouping opposed
the draft drawn up by Canada, Uruguay and Chile, with the backing of the United
States and the rest of Latin America.
Before his speech, Powell met representatives of the Caribbean Community
nations to try to persuade them to ease their hostility to a tougher line
against their neighbour.
Canada's Foreign Minister Bill Graham acknowledged the divisions but also
spoke in favour of stronger action on the Cuba case.
"Many of my colleagues do not believe that the OAS of ours is not
appropriate forum to discuss the issue of Cuba," he said.
"But we do need to find constructive, positive ways to move forward on
this issue. This was echoed by many colleagues around the table."
Powell Presses OAS on Democracy in Cuba
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer
SANTIAGO, Chile, 9 - Secretary of State Colin Powell challenged Organization
of American State foreign ministers on Monday to join the United States in
finding ways to "hasten the inevitable democratic transition in Cuba."
Powell told his 34 colleagues from Latin America and the Caribbean that any
such steps would be consistent with the OAS Inter-American Democratic Charter,
approved in 2001.
The charter, Powell said in a speech, "declares that the people of the
Americas have a right to democracy. It does not say the peoples of the Americas
except Cubans have a right to democracy."
The Cuban issue generally has been off-limits for the OAS, which is holding
its annual meeting of foreign ministers here. The United States over the decades
has not encouraged an active role for the OAS.
OAS reluctance to tackle the issue was reflected in the tepid response of
member states to sign a U.S.-backed declaration earlier this spring criticizing
the Cuban crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
Seventeen OAS members signed the declaration while 17 others chose not to.
Most of the opposition came from Caribbean countries, which have contended that
any OAS action on Cuba would be inappropriate because Fidel Castro (news - web
sites)'s government is not in a position to defend itself.
The Cuban government was excluded from the OAS in the early 1960's on
grounds that the country's Marxist-Leninist system was incompatible with
hemispheric principles.
Powell criticized the March crackdown on Cuban dissidents, saying these
activists were merely seeking to "act on their basic human rights."
He also protested what he called the "harsh sentences" meted
against them.
The European Union and the United States have reacted sharply to the
crackdown. The EU has said it is cutting back on high-level visits to Cuba and
reducing ties in other areas.
The Cuban government insists that the activists were subversives who
collaborated with the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana. The government staged
an anti-American rally Saturday in the Cuban capital.
The principal theme of the OAS meeting is the strengthening of democracy in
the hemisphere.
En route here on Sunday, Powell said he does not believe the opposition of
Chile and Mexico in the U.N. Security Council to the Iraq war will affect U.S.
relations with the two over the long term.
"Wounds heal; sometimes they leave scars, sometimes they don't,"
he said Sunday. "I don't see any lasting scars here."
Besides his speech, Powell planned meetings Monday with Chilean President
Ricardo Lagos and OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria. Also scheduled were
bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Chile, Colombia, Brazil and
Peru. He also is expected to meet with a delegation of Caribbean foreign
ministers.
On Tuesday, Powell makes a brief visit to Argentina, where he will meet with
the newly installed president, Nestor Kirchner.
"The United States stands ready to help," Powell said, alluding to
Argentina's economic difficulties.
"I really want to listen to him (Kirchner) as he tells me about his
plans, his aspirations, what he hopes for his administration." the
secretary said.
U.S. May Join EU in Common Cuba Strategy
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 9 - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday the
United States may join with the European Union in adopting a common strategy
toward Cuba.
The effort is in response to the Castro government's recent crackdown on
pro-democracy activists on the island.
The European Union said last week it was beginning a review of its relations
with Cuba, and members of the 15-nation blocs unanimously agreed to cut down on
high-level governmental visits.
The action signaled the EU's displeasure of the crackdown on dissidents,
including the sentencing of 75 people to prison terms of up to 28 years and the
firing-squad executions of three convicted hijackers of a ferry.
Powell, who spoke to reporters while traveling to Chile for a meeting of
Organization of American States foreign ministers, did not specify what joint
U.S.-E.U. action he had in mind.
"The world is starting to take note" of the crackdown, Powell
said.
He said he planned to highlight the issue during a Monday speech in Chile.
The Bush administration has taken no concrete steps in response to the moves
by Cuban authorities against the dissidents. The Cuban government has said that
the dissidents were counterrevolutionaries who were working in league with the
U.S. diplomatic mission in Cuba.
The main theme of the OAS meeting will be the strengthening of democracy in
Latin America. Powell has separate meetings with the foreign ministers of Chile,
Brazil and Peru.
He also has a meeting with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and with OAS
Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria.
On Tuesday morning, Powell will fly to Argentina for talks with that
country's newly installed president, Nestor Kirchner, before returning to
Washington.
On the Net:
Organization of American States: http://www.oas.org/
Castro counts his friends as EU sides with Cuban dissidents
Sat Jun 7, 4:11 PM ET
HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba has watched the number of its friends dwindle after the
European Union joined protests against a crackdown on dissidents by Fidel
Castro, the island's veteran revolutionary leader.
Three months after EU Commissioner Poul Nielson and several Cuban ministers
opened "a new era" in relations in Havana, a European diplomat said
the latest events "will lead to a big freeze".
Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque protested Friday that the EU
decision to restrict political and cultural relations was an "over-reaction,"
and Europe had "caved-in to . . . the battering waves of US policy toward
Cuba."
For weeks, high level Cuban officials have stayed away from European
diplomatic events in Havana, and European diplomats in turn were not invited to
the huge May Day celebrations in the capital. European embassies now regularly
invite dissidents and their families to their functions.
The United States has been stepping up pressure on Cuba for months -- but
Castro can ill afford to completely lose Europe, which is Cuba's main trade
partner, accounting for 34 percent of its foreign commerce.
Europe is also the main investor in Cuba, and provided 800,000 of the 1.7
million foreign visitors last year.
Cuba has faced widespread condemnation since Castro ordered a crackdown on
dissidents that led to the imprisonment of 75 opponents, with sentences up to 28
years. A moratorium on executions was ended when three men who tried to hijack a
small ferry to Florida were slain.
US President George W. Bush promised last month to keep supporting Cuba's
dissidents, stressing that "dictatorships have no place in the Americas"
in a special radio address for the 101st anniversary of Cuba's independence on
May 20.
Bush also met 11 former Cuban political prisoners and their families, while
14 Cuban diplomats were recently expelled from the United States.
Washington demanded Monday that Cuba provide medical attention to a severely
ill jailed dissident, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, and pressed for medical care for
others rounded up in a recent crackdown.
Like other countries on the US list of accused terrorist sponsors, Cuba has
expressed fears that it will be the next country to be invaded after Iraq.
But Washington has not focused publicly for long on the situation on the
island of 11 million -- and Castro is not entirely friendless, particularly in
Latin America.
The Cuban leader can count on the sympathy of Brazil's left-wing President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Castro recently attended the inauguration of Argentina's new president,
Nestor Kirchner, and was cheered by thousands when he gave an anti-US speech.
Washington also knows it has to be wary in dealings on Cuba, which can sour
discussions of other issues with partners. It has agreed, for example, that Cuba
will not be a top agenda item at the Organization of American States general
assembly meeting in Santiago on Monday and Tuesday.
Cuban dissidents welcomed the European measures, announced by the Greek
presidency of the EU on Thursday.
"These measures are totally just and necessary," said Elizardo
Sanchez, president of the Cuban Human Rights and Reconciliation Commission.
"The EU has clearly shown itself on the side of the Cuban people,"
he added.
Vladimiro Roca -- recently released from five years in prison and the
spokesman for an opposition group called "All United" -- said the EU
measures "will put matters in perspective for Cuba, where the government
justifies its actions in the name of a bilateral conflict with the United
States."
Tensions between Washington and Havana have soared since Cuba's recent
jailing of the 75 political activists and executions.
In May US officials expelled 14 Cuban diplomats on espionage charges and is
reportedly considering other measures.
Washington has had a full sanctions regime imposed on Cuba, the only
one-party communist country in the Americas, for more than four decades. | 
