Kez
2nd May 2002, 20:14
HOW BUSH GOT FOX TO BETRAY MEXICO-CUBA FRIENDSHIP
By Gloria La Riva
Havana
With Mexico's April vote against Cuba at the United Nations
Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the government of Vicente
Fox carried out yet another of Washington's orders, further
subordinating Mexico's sovereignty and threatening a rupture
in relations with Cuba.
The Fox government's vote represented not only a
capitulation to U.S. pressure, but also a break with
Mexico's longstanding tradition of friendly relations with
Cuba.
In a decisive response on April 22, Cuban President Fidel
Castro exposed Fox's earlier complicity in the virtual
expulsion of the Cuban leader from the UN Summit on
Development Financing, which took place in Monterrey,
Mexico, on March 21.
It is widely known that George W. Bush refused to land in
Monterrey until Cuba's president was gone. Before this
latest revelation, Cuba had only attributed the action to
Jorge Castaņeda, Mexico's foreign minister.
After Castro's departure from Monterrey, in response to
questions by the Mexican and international media, Castaneda
denied pressuring Castro to leave. In recent weeks Castaneda
has engaged in unprecedented attacks on Cuba. In mid-
February he openly instigated a crisis at Mexico's Havana-
based embassy, by encouraging disaffected Cubans to enter
Mexico's embassy.
Meanwhile, at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the
U.S. government worked overtime for months to find a Latin
American country willing to sponsor an anti-Cuba resolution
to be voted on April 18. Latin American government leaders
were invited to several meetings by the United States, one
of them a breakfast at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, with
the open proposition of sponsoring the resolution.
Isolating Cuba in international circles has been one of
Washington's many tactics against the Cuban Revolution since
its triumph in 1959. In turn, many countries that make up
the Human Rights Commission and similar international bodies
bow to U.S. policy to condemn socialist or anti-imperialist
countries.
Since the collapse of the socialist camp, some ex-socialist
countries have done Washington's bidding. For example, for
the previous three years, the Czech Republic--part of the
former socialist Czechoslovakia--had presented the anti-Cuba
resolution in Geneva.
This time the United States was determined to get a Latin
American sponsor. Uruguay served as Washington's stalking
horse this year.
INCREASING U.S. INTERVENTION IN LATIN AMERICA
The Mexican government's action should be seen in the
context of deepening U.S. interference in Latin America,
which aims to weaken the countries' sovereignty.
U.S. imperialism's fingerprints are on the frustrated
Venezuelan military coup against Hugo Chavez. It is engaging
more directly in military actions against the revolutionary
FARC guerrilla army in Colombia.
It is significant that Mexico recently closed down the FARC
offices in Mexico City.
Mexico--for Latin Americans the political center of the
continent--has sheltered many political exiles fleeing
repression over the years. From Leon Trotsky to the Spanish
Republican fighters to Chilean progressives escaping the
fascist Pinochet to Puerto Rican revolutionary William
Morales--Mexico offered safe haven.
Mexico's foreign policy, historically independent of U.S.
imperialism's desires, is rooted in the 1910 Revolution and
radical struggles that led President Lazaro Cardenas to
nationalize U.S. and British oil companies on March 18,
1938.
That policy has in many ways contrasted with its position
against Mexican progressives. Most notorious was the
government's massacre of hundreds of students in 1968.
Ramon Pacheco, international secretary for the Independent
Mexican Union of Electricians, told Workers World in Havana:
"The weight of the Mexican Revolution is strong and Mexico's
foreign policy is linked to that sentiment.
"Only two generations ago, our grandparents participated in
the Revolution. We heard the living stories of those who
sought to create an autonomous, just society. And there has
always been a strong sentiment of brotherhood towards Cuba.
"Even in the worst moments for those of us Mexican activists
who don't agree with the government's policies against the
workers, we've never forgotten that the foreign policy is
based on the principle of Benito Juarez: 'Respect for self-
determination is peace.' "
Pacheco explained that there is widespread, majority
opposition within both chambers of the Mexican Congress
against Fox's and Castaneda's attacks on Cuba. And feelings
among the population are strongly distrustful of both
leaders' versions of the Monterrey scandal.
[La Riva is in Cuba to speak at the massive May Day event in
Havana.]
By Gloria La Riva
Havana
With Mexico's April vote against Cuba at the United Nations
Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the government of Vicente
Fox carried out yet another of Washington's orders, further
subordinating Mexico's sovereignty and threatening a rupture
in relations with Cuba.
The Fox government's vote represented not only a
capitulation to U.S. pressure, but also a break with
Mexico's longstanding tradition of friendly relations with
Cuba.
In a decisive response on April 22, Cuban President Fidel
Castro exposed Fox's earlier complicity in the virtual
expulsion of the Cuban leader from the UN Summit on
Development Financing, which took place in Monterrey,
Mexico, on March 21.
It is widely known that George W. Bush refused to land in
Monterrey until Cuba's president was gone. Before this
latest revelation, Cuba had only attributed the action to
Jorge Castaņeda, Mexico's foreign minister.
After Castro's departure from Monterrey, in response to
questions by the Mexican and international media, Castaneda
denied pressuring Castro to leave. In recent weeks Castaneda
has engaged in unprecedented attacks on Cuba. In mid-
February he openly instigated a crisis at Mexico's Havana-
based embassy, by encouraging disaffected Cubans to enter
Mexico's embassy.
Meanwhile, at the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the
U.S. government worked overtime for months to find a Latin
American country willing to sponsor an anti-Cuba resolution
to be voted on April 18. Latin American government leaders
were invited to several meetings by the United States, one
of them a breakfast at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, with
the open proposition of sponsoring the resolution.
Isolating Cuba in international circles has been one of
Washington's many tactics against the Cuban Revolution since
its triumph in 1959. In turn, many countries that make up
the Human Rights Commission and similar international bodies
bow to U.S. policy to condemn socialist or anti-imperialist
countries.
Since the collapse of the socialist camp, some ex-socialist
countries have done Washington's bidding. For example, for
the previous three years, the Czech Republic--part of the
former socialist Czechoslovakia--had presented the anti-Cuba
resolution in Geneva.
This time the United States was determined to get a Latin
American sponsor. Uruguay served as Washington's stalking
horse this year.
INCREASING U.S. INTERVENTION IN LATIN AMERICA
The Mexican government's action should be seen in the
context of deepening U.S. interference in Latin America,
which aims to weaken the countries' sovereignty.
U.S. imperialism's fingerprints are on the frustrated
Venezuelan military coup against Hugo Chavez. It is engaging
more directly in military actions against the revolutionary
FARC guerrilla army in Colombia.
It is significant that Mexico recently closed down the FARC
offices in Mexico City.
Mexico--for Latin Americans the political center of the
continent--has sheltered many political exiles fleeing
repression over the years. From Leon Trotsky to the Spanish
Republican fighters to Chilean progressives escaping the
fascist Pinochet to Puerto Rican revolutionary William
Morales--Mexico offered safe haven.
Mexico's foreign policy, historically independent of U.S.
imperialism's desires, is rooted in the 1910 Revolution and
radical struggles that led President Lazaro Cardenas to
nationalize U.S. and British oil companies on March 18,
1938.
That policy has in many ways contrasted with its position
against Mexican progressives. Most notorious was the
government's massacre of hundreds of students in 1968.
Ramon Pacheco, international secretary for the Independent
Mexican Union of Electricians, told Workers World in Havana:
"The weight of the Mexican Revolution is strong and Mexico's
foreign policy is linked to that sentiment.
"Only two generations ago, our grandparents participated in
the Revolution. We heard the living stories of those who
sought to create an autonomous, just society. And there has
always been a strong sentiment of brotherhood towards Cuba.
"Even in the worst moments for those of us Mexican activists
who don't agree with the government's policies against the
workers, we've never forgotten that the foreign policy is
based on the principle of Benito Juarez: 'Respect for self-
determination is peace.' "
Pacheco explained that there is widespread, majority
opposition within both chambers of the Mexican Congress
against Fox's and Castaneda's attacks on Cuba. And feelings
among the population are strongly distrustful of both
leaders' versions of the Monterrey scandal.
[La Riva is in Cuba to speak at the massive May Day event in
Havana.]