By Daniel Schweimler in Havana.
BBC News Online. Thursday, 24 May, 2001,
21:14 GMT 22:14 UK
Cuba has launched its strongest attack yet on the United States since
President George W Bush took office, following a proposal by two American
senators to fund dissidents on the island.
Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, said he was stunned and amazed
by the plan proposed by senators Jesse Helms and Joseph Lieberman last week.
Their bill, which would provide $100m to opposition groups on the island in
the form of telephones, fax machines, food and cash, has been strongly backed by
the president.
The tone, it seems, has now been set for the way Cuba will continue its
long-running conflict with the United States and now the Bush administration.
Until now, Cuba had not said much about the new president, waiting to see
what form his policy towards Cuba would take.
Last week, however, Mr Bush made it clear that that policy would be a tough
one.
No let up
The 40-year-long US embargo against the island would not be lifted, he said,
and he would support moves to send the $100m to dissident groups operating on
the communist island.
Mr Bush added that he would fight any attempts to loosen the sanctions until
Cuba held free elections and allowed free speech.
In response, Mr Perez Roque has called the US position on Cuba absurd.
He said he was surprised that anyone could talk for so long without saying
anything coherent.
'Right-wing bias'
The minister added that Mr Bush was being influenced by radical groups of
right-wing Cuban exiles, who did not represent the true opinion of the more than
one million Cubans living in the US.
Most Americans, he said, opposed the embargo and tens of thousands visited
the island every year in defiance of their own government's laws, which prohibit
US citizens spending money in Cuba.
Mr Perez Roque went on to say that any money Washington sends to Cuba would
only end up in the hands of right-wing Cuban dissident groups in Miami as it
always has done in the past.
Any hopes that either side had of a thaw in relations between Havana and
Washington should now be put on hold, at least for the foreseeable future. | 