|
To bring human rights to Cuba
Posted on Fri, Mar. 15, 2002 in
The Miami Herald
In the effort to bring democracy and human rights to Cuba, more good will
come from having Mexico as an ally than as a target of our frustration with
Cuba's regime. This message is well worth remembering after last month's
incident at the Mexican Embassy in Havana -- and on the eve of the annual
meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
It's also why any talk of boycotting Mexican products is counterproductive.
We may never fully know what happened to the 21 Cubans who crashed a bus
into the embassy in a desperate attempt to leave Cuba. But enough is known to
draw some conclusions:
• The would-be Cuban defectors could have proceeded as far as they did
only with, at minimum, the tacit approval of the Cuban government. It's not easy
to hijack a bus in Cuba, much less empty it of passengers and drive to the
embassy through one of Havana's best-guarded neighborhoods without being
stopped. Coincidence? Highly unlikely.
• Considering the regime's track record for manipulation -- especially
on its home turf -- odds are good that the incident could have turned into a
much-larger crisis had the Mexicans handled it with less diplomacy than they
did. What better way to discredit the Mexican government -- which showed its
support for Cuban dissidents when President Vicente Fox met with them early last
month?
• The Cuban regime controlled all the cards, including the possibility
of yanking the embassy security and allowing it to be flooded by other Cubans
seeking escape from the island. That's what happened at the Peruvian Embassy in
1980, precipitating the Mariel exodus. The threat was clear.
NEW ERA OF RELATIONS
In the aftermath, Mexican diplomats have taken pains to stress their
determination to remain in contact with dissidents in Cuba as well as to mend
relations with Miami exiles. Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda has spoken
of a new era of relations between Mexico and the ''Republic of Cuba'' -- that
is, with all segments of the Cuban people -- as distinguished from the previous
era of Mexico's relations with only the "Cuban revolution.''
Mexican officials also told The Herald that Mexican authorities had
interviewed all 21 Cubans after they had been removed from the embassy and
jailed by the regime. These Cubans had all sought to leave for economic reasons;
none said that he was seeking political asylum, the Mexican officials added.
The three teens among the 21 reportedly were released in Havana last week.
Mexican authorities now have a moral responsibility to see that reprisals aren't
taken against them.
That would be in keeping with this Mexican government's track record. The
Fox administration has shown its commitment to human rights and open democracy
at home and abroad -- far more so than have previous Mexican leaders. Most
important, it remains well positioned to champion those rights on behalf of the
Cuban people in the future.
A good test will come at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, where
sessions begin Monday. Anyone with eyes and ears, willing to see and hear, knows
of the consistent abuses committed by Cuba's police state. Even the night of the
Mexican Embassy incident, hundreds of ordinary Cubans were beaten and arrested
outside the embassy, according to Cuban human-rights activists. Two foreign
journalists were struck, as well.
CONDEMN CUBA'S REGIME
Then came the harassment and detentions of Cuban opposition members, among
them independent journalists and civic activists involved in the Varela Project.
Any critic of Cuba's police state is fair game during these repressive dragnets.
While sometimes simply jailed overnight, the dissidents at other times are
prosecuted in kangaroo courts where conviction is preordained.
Freedom-loving people who value human rights have long condemned Cuban
government abuses. Perhaps this latest incident, cynically managed by the Cuban
regime, will spur more governments to join in that condemnation at the Human
Rights Commission this year.
We believe the commission should again condemn Cuba's regime. We also
acknowledge the power of adding as many governments as possible to a resolution
that, at minimum, should express the deepest concern for human-rights abuses in
Cuba and call for the commission to investigate the situation. | 
