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Mexico releases report on crisis in
relations with Cuba
MEXICO CITY, 24 (AP) - Forced by a freedom-of-information
request, Mexico's government has released
a report giving a sketchy outline of its
reasons for a near-break in relations with
Cuba earlier this year, a newspaper reported
Friday.
The newspaper El Universal, which obtained
the document, said that roughly a fourth
of the material had been blacked out by
censors on national security grounds, leaving
several questions unanswered.
It was produced by the government intelligence
agency, which operates under the interior
minister.
The document said growing activism by Cuban
officials in Mexican affairs led to the
May 2 expulsion of Cuba's ambassador and
the withdrawal of Mexico's ambassador to
the island. The ambassadors later returned
to their posts.
"Since the start of the current government,
Mexico has suffered constant pressures and
interference in internal affairs on the
part of Cuban authorities," it said,
referring to efforts to sway Mexico away
from voting to criticize Cuba at the U.N.
Human Rights Commission.
The portions of the document that were
published did not refer to the unspecified
acts by Cuban officials.
The government had initially said the report
could not be released for 12 years, but
a new committee formed to rule on such cases
decided it should be handed over to the
newspaper.
United Nations 'handcuffed' By Bush:
Cuba
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 24 (AFP) - Cuba on
Friday said US President George W. Bush
had "handcuffed" the United Nations,
and that the war in Iraq had cost the world
body its credibility and respect.
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq,
the United Nations had ceased to exist as
a "useful and diverse forum,"
and was now living through the worst period
in its 60-year history, Cuban Foreign Minister
Felipe Perez Roque told the UN General Assembly.
"It pales, it pants, it feigns, but
it does not work," he said. "Who
handcuffed the United Nations named by President
Roosevelt? President Bush."
Citing the 1,000 US soldiers "uselessly
sacrificed" in Iraq and the continuing
insurgency there, Perez Roque insisted that
the United States would eventually have
no choice but to withdraw its troops.
He also argued that the unilateral actions
of the United States precluded any valid
reform of the United Nations -- an issue
that has been a hot topic of debate at the
General Assembly.
"It would take the superpower, which
inherited the immense prerogative of governing
an order conceived for a bipolar world,
to relinquish its privileges," Perez
Roque said. "And it will not do that."
Cuba seeks support from Americans and
U.N. to end U.S. embargo
UNITED NATIONS, 24 (AP) -- Cuba's foreign
minister says Cuba will seek support from
the American people and the U.N. to end
U.S. sanctions.
In an interview with the Associated Press,
Felipe Roque also calls the Bush administration's
efforts to topple Fidel Castro a failure.
Roque says it would be a "positive"
thing if John Kerry wins the presidency
and eases some restrictions.
The Cuban official praised the House vote
this week to nullify the Bush administration's
new rules restricting family travel to Cuba
and to remove barriers to agriculture sales
and student exchanges.
He says this shows the embargo is only
backed by the U.S. government and what he
called "the Cuban-born extremist right
wing" in the U.S.
Cuba seeks deals to get around trade,
travel restrictions
By James Cox, USA TODAY.
Sep 23, 2004.
The Castro regime is using its checkbook
as leverage to get U.S. firms, trade groups
and politicians to sign formal pledges agreeing
to work for changes to U.S. laws that restrict
travel and trade with Cuba.
Cuba's use of so-called advocacy agreements
has prompted anti-Castro lawmakers to accuse
signers of illegal lobbying. It also has
forced at least one company to rethink its
interest in selling to Cuba.
Last month, Sysco, the country's largest
food-service provider, notified Cuban authorities
it was tearing up an agreement signed a
week earlier by a Sysco executive attending
a convention in Havana.
The original deal called for Cuba's state-owned
purchasing arm, Alimport, to buy Sysco products.
For its part, the company agreed to act
as an advocate for changes in the United
States' hard-line policies toward Cuba,
including the 45-year-old economic embargo.
The embargo was loosened in 1992 to permit
sales of U.S. medical products to Cuba and
in 2000 to allow for cash-only sales of
food and farm products. Through July, U.S.
companies had sold $277 million in food
and agricultural goods to Cuba, along with
$500,000 worth of health care products.
The Bush administration has sought to tighten
the economic noose on Cuba with tough new
restrictions on travel and money transfers
by Cuban exiles.
Sysco has sold $500,000 worth of canned
tomatoes, ice cream and frozen produce to
Cuba, spokeswoman Toni Spigelmyer says.
The Houston-based company tore up its agreement
with Alimport because the executive who
signed it "wasn't authorized to make
a political statement," she says.
Cuba has carefully spread its spending
among scores of congressional districts
in dozens of states to build political support
for an end to the embargo.
Others that have signed advocacy agreements:
the Indiana Farm Bureau; Tampa's Port Manatee;
economic development officials from Des
Moines; and elected officials from Idaho,
Montana, California, South Carolina and
Kansas.
The agreements are "a corruption of
the commercial process" and a setback
for efforts to expand trade with Cuba, says
John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba
Trade and Economic Council, based in New
York.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., and her
sister, Rep. Linda Sanchez (news, bio, voting
record), D-Calif., signed to promote Cuba's
purchase of California farm products, says
Loretta Sanchez. She says the pledge is
non-binding.
"We're trying to get our California
products sold to Cuba. That's what I do
as a congresswoman," Sanchez says.
"I've already been vigorous and forceful
in advocating a change in U.S. policy. ...
The dissidents fighting the Castro regime
want this embargo down."
Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Fla., and other hardliners
in Congress say the agreements might violate
U.S. law, either as embargo-busting contracts
or as illegal lobbying agreements. "Effectively,
(those who sign) become agents of a foreign
government," Deutsch says.
Last year, the State Department asked the
Treasury, Commerce and Justice departments
for opinions on the legality of the advocacy
agreements. It has not received a formal
reply.
Efforts to reach officials at the Cuban
Interests Section in Washington were unsuccessful.
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