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The Miami
Herald. April 15, 2002.
U.S. backs U.N. resolution to censure
By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com. April 13, 2002
in
The United States will join the growing number of countries sponsoring a
resolution against Cuba at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights annual
gathering in Geneva, officials announced Friday.
The U.S. participation brings to 16 the number of countries joining the
effort to censure Cuba, including nine from Latin America -- the first time such
action on Cuba's human rights record has been spearheaded by the region.
''This is the first time Latin American countries have said that human
rights issues in Cuba is a matter of concern,'' said James Carragher,
coordinator of Cuban affairs for the U.S. Department of State. "Some
courageous Latin American countries and leaders have taken a principled stand on
human rights.''
This year's gathering in Geneva also represents the first time the United
States has had to rely on other countries to present a resolution condemning
Cuba. The U.S. lost its seat on the commission last year, being relegated
instead to an observer status for the first time since the rights commission
began to convene in 1947.
The resolution, presented by Uruguay, recognizes Cuba's efforts in
''fulfilling the social rights of its people, despite an adverse international
environment.'' But it also exhorts the communist nation to promote fundamental
liberties for its people and urges the government to let a U.N. human rights
representative visit to help Cuban officials comply with the resolution. A vote
is expected Friday.
Cuba already has condemned the proposed resolution, saying it is the
handiwork of the United States, and has rejected the suggestions of a visit from
a human rights monitor.
''They're having vain illusions if they think that Cuba would let an
inspector in the service of the United States government come here under these
conditions,'' Foreign Minister Felip Pérez Roque told reporters earlier
this week.
In addition to the United States, other cosponsors include Peru, Guatemala,
El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Argentina, Canada, Sweden,
Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Australia.
Keys group to explore ties to Cuba
By Jennifer Babson. jbabson@herald.com. Posted on Sun, Apr.
14, 2002
KEY WEST - Geographically speaking, many of the Florida Keys have always
been closer to Havana than to Miami.
Now a group of elected and municipal leaders from the Keys is trying to
become one of the first government delegations from South Florida to visit Cuba
since Fidel Castro took power 43 years ago.
They say they want to prepare the Keys -- Key West is, after all, only 90
miles away from the island -- for an eventual opening of U.S. trade and tourism.
''The purpose is to fact-find and prepare ourselves for that date,'' said
the trip's organizer, Monroe County Mayor Charles ''Sonny'' McCoy, a former
mayor of Key West who in 1978 water-skied to Cuba, trailed by journalists.
Once again, McCoy says, he will travel the Straits of Florida, this time by
boat.
Others who are expected to make the two-day trip next month include Key West
Mayor Jimmy Weekley, City Manager Julio Avael, Port Director Raymond Archer and
County Attorney Jim Hendrick.
Like many longtime residents of the Lower Keys, McCoy, Weekley and Avael
claim both Cuban and Keys roots that run deep.
Among the issues the delegation hopes to address: the logistics of one day
resuming air service, ferry transport and cruise ship travel between Key West
and Cuba.
First, though, the Monroe County Commission will consider a resolution this
week authorizing the delegation to seek a license from the Treasury Department.
The U.S. government curtails travel to the island by banning most Americans
from spending money in Cuba. Exiles, journalists and those on cultural,
fact-finding or educational missions are allowed, however, under certain
circumstances.
County commissioners will consider McCoy's resolution, ''for the purposes of
exploring cultural, educational and future economic ties,'' on Wednesday --
coincidentally the anniversary of the disastrous 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
It's certainly not the kind of venture you would see government discussing
in Miami-Dade or Broward counties, says Dario Moreno, a political science
professor at Florida International University.
''I haven't seen a political delegation from South Florida go down there
since Castro,'' Moreno said. "It shows how different the Keys are.''
LONG HISTORY
The ties between Cuba and Key West span centuries and generations.
In the 1800s, Cubans who flocked to Key West's cigar factories fashioned a
vibrant outpost symbolized by the city's majestic San Carlos Institute -- a pit
stop for patriot José Martí as he raised money for the war of
independence from Spain.
And Florida's first Cuban-American legislator, in 1896, came not from Miami
but from Key West, Moreno said.
But Key West resident Arturo Cobo, a veteran of the Bay of Pigs and a
participant in the 1980 Mariel boatlift, said Friday the visit won't sit well
with many longtime residents.
''The way I see it, this is an insult,'' Cobo said. "This is going to
divide the officials in Key West and the Cuban exile community. This is bad
judgment.''
START NOW
But Weekley says Keys officials feel the need to get a handle now on future
possibilities for cooperation with Cuba as other U.S. delegations have stepped
up efforts to forge their own ties.
''I think it's time to move on. Eventually Cuba is going to open again.
Castro is not going to live forever,'' Weekley said. "There are some
positive opportunities that will occur with Cuba's opening for the city and the
county. We need to start looking at what's available and talking about it and
not waiting until the last minute.''
Boats leave daily from Key West to Cuba -- ferrying fishermen, tourists
visiting on the sly and others who want to glimpse a nearby country that has
been off limits for four decades.
''They are our neighbors, and we need to start communicating about how we
can start working together when Cuba does open,'' Weekley said.
McCoy and Weekley say they envision a return to the era before Castro when
planes made what has now become a 30-minute hop to Havana, and boats transported
goods, cars and people back and forth every day.
Monroe County's approach toward Cuba is definitely unlike the one favored on
the mainland, county attorney Hendrick says, taking a poke at Miami.
''We have a much different historical connection with Cuba than does the
Miami area,'' Hendrick said. "We are not prisoners of rhetoric here.'' | 
