-Caveat Lector- http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020204/ts/cuba_mexican_president_9.html Wow now if we keep an open border with Mexico we may get Communist Cubans coming up our country! -- Bill WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
Mexico Seeks Better Cuba Relations Cuba's Foreign Minister Roque Talks About Visit From Vicente Fox (AP) By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer HAVANA (AP) - Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) met briefly with Cuban dissidents before wrapping up his first official visit Monday, a day after his administration assured the communist government it would not support a U.N. vote to condemn Cuba on human rights. The 20-minute encounter inside the Mexican Embassy took place before a breakfast with Fox and members of the Mexican community in Cuba. The small group of well-known opponents of Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s government included human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez and journalist Raul Rivero. ``I hope that the fact that President Fox met with us signifies very clearly an acknowledgment of our struggle,'' said Sanchez of the non-governmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and Reconciliation. Oswaldo Paya of Cuba's Christian Liberation Movement said the meeting was significant because Fox symbolizes ``democratic renovation in Mexico.'' Fox's victory in 2000 was hailed as a democratic advance, marking an end to the 71-year rule of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party. The Mexican president and members of his government traveled to Cuba to strengthen ties with Castro's administration and to jump-start trade between the two nations. There was no immediate response from the Cuban government about the gathering. But Castro, who accompanied Fox during his tours in and around Havana on Sunday, was pointedly absent at the airport when the Mexican president arrived for his flight back home. Instead, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque was on hand for the departure. The Cuban president was not scheduled to see Fox off, but he frequently escorts important visitors to the airport, especially when his meetings with them have been friendly. In the past, Cuba has been irritated when high-profile visitors have met with people it characterizes as ``counterrevolutionaries.'' But it also resents being named in the annual U.N. Human Rights Commission vote in Geneva and regularly accuses countries that join the vote of being manipulated by the United States. Perez Roque last year accused Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda of trying to get Mexico delegates to join the U.N. condemnation. But after the two met Sunday, Castaneda said it was likely Mexico would abstain during the vote in April, as it did last year. ``The government of President Fox will not sponsor, nor co-sponsor, nor present any proposed resolution on the theme of Cuba or vote on the projects that others present,'' Castaneda said. That announcement restored some of Cuba's confidence in its relationship with Mexico. ``President Fox's visit is a message of independent will,'' Perez Roque said Sunday. ``Not the entire world dares to come and resist the pressures of the United States.'' With cries of ``Viva Fidel!'' and ``Viva Fox!'' shouted from balconies above, Castro escorted Fox along Old Havana's cobblestone streets Sunday. Castro said the visit was going ``well, very well'' as he accompanied Fox and his wife, Martha Sahagun, past centuries-old buildings. Earlier, Fox and Castro met privately and shared lunch at the Palace of the Revolution. Fox said relations between the two countries ``are warming up'' and ``growing deeper.'' ``A century of diplomatic relations symbolized the strong ties of fraternity that unite the people of Cuba and Mexico,'' Fox said during a speech in Old Havana honoring the city historian with Mexico's highest honor for a foreigner, the Aztec Eagle. ``The relationship between the two governments - tight, solid - has overcome the most difficult historic trials, thanks to the heartfelt friendship professed by our societies.'' Cuba long has counted on its friendship with Mexico, the only Latin American country that ignored U.S. pressure to break diplomatic ties after Castro's 1959 revolution. Today, Mexico ranks 10th among Cuba's foreign partners in combined trade and sixth in foreign investment. The last time a Mexican president visited Cuba was in 1999, when Ernesto Zedillo publicly aired his concerns about Cuba's human rights record at a regional summit meeting. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! Write to same address to be off lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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