------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Nov. 21, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
CUBA REJECTS U.S. CHARGES AGAINST ITS DIPLOMATS [The following is a Nov. 6 statement issued by Cuba's Foreign Ministry on the recent expulsions of its diplomats by the U.S. government.] On Nov. 1, the head of the Cuba Bureau of the U.S. State Department presented a diplomatic note to the head of the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, stating that officials Oscar Redondo Toledo and Gustavo Machín Gomez, both first secretaries at our mission, had been declared "personas non grata" as a result of alleged Cuban intelligence activities in the United States, and giving those comrades 10 days to leave that country. The very U.S. officials who presented the note acknowledged that they had no evidence at all of the slightest involvement in intelligence activities on the part of our diplomats. Similarly, it should be noted that Machin is the official who attends to the U.S. business sector and his efforts in favor of eliminating regulations restricting economic relations between Cuba and the United States have greatly annoyed the anti-Cuba mafia and its allies in Washington. In the case of Oscar Redondo, he has been highly involved in our labors to refute the State Department's slander and lies regarding our country's inclusion on the list of nations sponsoring terrorism and its false accusations on the alleged production of biological weapons in Cuba. Moreover, he has developed respectful and friendly exchanges with former high-ranking U.S. military officials now functioning as academics in the defense sector. Both colleagues were undertaking absolutely legal tasks of a political and diplomatic nature there and were totally respectful of U.S. laws. They are not guilty of anything at all, but are the victims of a useless and senseless repression. In addition, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations presented a further diplomatic note to the Cuban mission to that organization accusing two of its officials of having exceeded the bounds of official conduct and of having been involved in activities affecting the United States of America. One is Francisco Gonzalez Garcia, our mission's adviser on issues related to the 4th UN Commission-- specifically those linked to the Information Committee--and the other is Carlos Augusto Suanes Flexas, second secretary and likewise in charge of issues related to Palestine, decolonization and peace-keeping operations in the 4th Commission. The note asked for information refuting these charges to be presented within a period of 66 hours; in the case of it not being supplied or lacking conviction, their immediate exit from the United States was requested. Of course, our government decided not to respond to this infamous request, convinced that it was a political decision taken beforehand and thus no argument would change that decision. On Nov. 4, our Mission to the UN was notified that the two officials had 10 days from Nov. 1 to leave the United States. The U.S. government, with the most sophisticated intelligence apparatus in the world, has absolutely no moral authority or any justification whatsoever to endorse these asseverations against our diplomats. On the other hand, the Cuban government has sufficient and documented evidence of the subversive, interfering and counter-revolutionary labors being undertaken by U.S. Interest Section officials in Havana, in open violation of all the precepts established in the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The U.S. government knows that we can present ample evidence of its constant acts of espionage and subversion against Cuba. For the Cuban government and people, the identity of the person behind these absurd and irrational lies, their objective and their particular timing is very clear. Mr. Otto Reich, in charge of Western Hemispheric Affairs in the U.S. State Department, and a representative of the anti- Cuban mafia to the U.S. government, resorted to these and other desperate measures just a few days before the mid-term elections in the United States, with the objective of generating a new escalation of irrational hostility toward Cuba that would worsen the already complicated state of relations between both countries. Above all, he is obsessed with halting the unstoppable advance of forces within the United States opposed to the policy of aggression and attacks on Cuba. With the proverbial political dishonesty repeatedly demonstrated since his appointment to the U.S. State Department, Mr. Otto Reich is deluding himself into thinking that with actions of this kind, full of cynicism and deception, he can halt the impressive advance of wide sectors of the U.S. people who are increasingly advocating the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States. For this individual and his acolytes in Washington and Miami, the final resort in an effort to halt the march of history is systematic lies and crude provocations like those just perpetrated against our diplomatic officials. Incapable of responding to the challenge of Cuba's foreign minister, Mr. Reich has decided to continue lying. More than 144 hours have gone by since that challenge was made without receiving the most minimal response from the U.S. authorities, and now a fresh provocation is being mounted. We hold the U.S. government fully responsible for the actions of irresponsible characters like Otto Reich, only interested in advancing their obdurate personal agendas in detriment to the legitimate interests of the U.S. people. Cuba has the right to respond and it will do so at the appropriate time, using the political and diplomatic instruments at its disposition. We will not lose sight of the provocative nature of this act. We will not forget that the U.S. people have absolutely no responsibility for these crazy acts. We will continue developing all types of relations with the U.S. people. The expulsion of our diplomats will not prevent Cuba's message from being heard in the United Nations; it will not prevent our truths from reaching all kinds of people in the United States interested in maintaining a frank and open dialogue with Cuba, beyond any philosophical or political differences. These actions will not prevent us from continuing to denounce the U.S. government's refusal to negotiate cooperation agreements proposed by Cuba to combat terrorism, drug trafficking, person trafficking and illegal immigration. It will not prevent us from continuing to expose the double standard demonstrated by the U.S. government in its entire anti-Cuban policy. Once again the U.S. government is demonstrating its gross manipulation of the issue of its relations with Cuba for electoral ends, in open contradiction to the disposition of the U.S. people to improve relations between both countries. As always, Cuba will respond with firmness, dignity and intelligence to these new provocations that cannot detain the definitive and inevitable collapse of the U.S. policy of hostility and aggression toward Cuba, and much less the advance of the Cuban Revolution in attaining the new goals marked out by our people in the economic, political, cultural and social terrain. Cuba totally rejects these fallacious and shameless charges against its diplomats. Actions such as these do not intimidate and will never intimidate the Cuban people. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
