The Miami Herald,
January 24, 2002.
Cuba trip to test Fox's democratic credentials, and word
Will he meet dissidents?
It may be unfair to criticize him ahead of time, but President Vicente Fox
of Mexico might be about to break his word on a key issue for international
human rights groups: his vow to meet with Cuban dissidents on his trip to Cuba.
In my two last interviews with Fox, and at a meeting with The Herald
editorial board last September, the Mexican leader said that whenever he visited
Cuba he would do what he has done in every Latin American country he has visited
since his July 2000 election: talk with leaders of all sides of the political
spectrum.
And Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castañeda, when I asked him last year
whether Fox would meet with peaceful dissidents such as Cuban human rights
leader Elizardo Sánchez if he traveled to Havana, reconfirmed that "this
is what [Fox] does in every trip, and this is what he would do in Cuba when he
goes there.''
There would be nothing extraordinary about it. After all, President Fidel
Castro of Cuba met with the leaders of Mexican opposition parties when he last
visited Mexico for Fox's inauguration. Castro was even awarded the keys to
Mexico City by Fox's staunchest leftist critic, then Mexico City Mayor Rosario
Robles.
And Fox, who prides himself on being the first fully democratic president
after seven decades of authoritarian rule, would look pretty bad if he showed
less sympathy toward Cuba's pro-democracy activists than his predecessor Ernesto
Zedillo, of the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party.
During a trip to Cuba in 1999, Zedillo publicly defended the right of the
Cuban people to choose their government and authorized his foreign minister,
Rosario Green, to meet with Cuba's top dissidents.
But now, judging from Mexican press reports, it looks like Fox is backing
off from his promise to meet with the dissidents during his planned trip to Cuba
Feb. 3 and 4.
Gustavo Iruegas, the Mexican Foreign Ministry's envoy to Cuba to negotiate
the trip, told me Wednesday that Fox will meet with Castro, but a meeting with
dissidents "is not in the president's plans.''
'WORKING VISIT'
A day earlier, Iruegas had told the Mexican Congress that Fox's trip will be
a short "working visit,'' rather than a state visit. He added that in the
world of international diplomacy working visits "do not include other
elements that are part of state visits, such as speeches to the congress'' and
presumably meetings with opposition leaders.
That's baloney, of course. If Fox's aides think that any human rights group
will buy that excuse for not meeting with Cuba's peaceful opposition, they are
dreaming.
"Fox is reneging on his word,'' says Mexico-based Cuban human rights
activist Edelmiro Castellanos. "It's a serious contradiction on his part,
because the president of what was supposed to be the first truly democratic
government of Mexico should have been the most committed to the cause of
democracy in Cuba.''
Interestingly, Fox's Cuba trip seems to be pushed by Mexican business
tycoons, rather than by leftist politicians. Mexico's National Network of Civil
and Human Rights Organizations, better known as La Red, whose 70 human rights
groups include many leftist organizations, signed a document last year demanding
fundamental freedoms in Cuba.
I called Castañeda on Wednesday, and asked him about the absence of
plans to meet with the dissidents during Fox's trip. Castañeda told me, "I
have no comment to make, on or off the record.''
So what about Castañeda's previous statement that Fox would meet with
the dissidents if he ever went to Cuba, I asked. The foreign minister responded
that "ambassador Iruegas' words speak for themselves.''
HARD TO BELIEVE
My conclusion: I find it very hard to believe that Fox, the lifelong fighter
for democracy, will turn his back on Cuba's pro-democracy forces. And if you
read carefully Iruegas' words, the fact that a meeting with dissidents "is
not in the plans'' does not necessarily mean that there won't be one.
But if Fox goes to Cuba and accepts being wined and dined by Castro without
appearing publicly with pro-democracy leaders, he will go down in history not
only as a leader who shunned human rights, but also as a man who only paid lip
service to democracy.
Major American agribusiness, drug companies head to Cuba amid optimism
about future trade
HAVANA -- (AP) -- Keen to do business, U.S. agribusiness and drug companies
are coming to a Cuba that has signaled it may be ready to buy more products.
The high-profile visits Thursday come as Cuba courts Americans who oppose
long-standing restrictions on U.S. trade with the Caribbean island.
While hopes for a trade opening between the two countries are high among
Cuban officials and American firms, one trade specialist warned against
excessive optimism. Most U.S.-Cuba trade is barred by a 40-year-old embargo, and
Cuba bought American food for the first time in nearly four decades only after a
November hurricane.
"The relationship between the United States and Cuba has never been
reflected in one moment, but rather a series of moments, some more important
than others'' said John Kavulich, president of the New York-based U.S.-Cuba
Trade and Economic Council.
"Those who espouse that the moments occurring during the last 60 days
are seminal in the relationship have far too simplistic a view,'' Kavulich said.
Nevertheless, people on all sides of the trade debate took notice this week
when Pedro Alvarez, president of Cuba's food import enterprise, said his
government could buy more American agricultural products if it receives more
encouraging signs from Washington.
It was the first time that a Cuban official had declared the communist
government would consider buying more American food. Cuban leader Fidel Castro
earlier had said that dlrs 35 million in food contracts signed late last year
with U.S. companies were a one-time deal. Deliveries are being made this and
next month.
Before Hurricane Michelle, Havana had refused to take advantage of a U.S.
law passed in 2000 allowing the direct food sales.
Now that the first sales have been made, American agribusiness hopes for
more.
"The U.S. could effectively compete with current traditional traders in
the Cuban market,'' Don Marsh, president and CEO of the Indiana-based Marsh
supermarket chain said this week.
Marsh traveled here to publicize his company's sale of 1,000 metric tons of
pork lard to Cuba under last year's contracts.
Warren Staley, Chairman and CEO of Minneapolis, Minnesota- based Cargill
Inc., was making a similar visit here Thursday with other company executives and
three farmers from Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska.
"Cargill will continue to work to broaden Cuba's access to U.S. farm
products,'' the company said in a fact sheet distributed before the trip. "The
lifting of U.S. restrictions on private financing of food sales and travel
restrictions are the next logical steps in further opening the U.S.-Cuban
trading relationship.''
Later Thursday, Cargill executives were to greet the arrival of 24,000
metric tons of corn shipped from New Orleans under contracts signed after the
hurricane.
While the focus on U.S. trade with Cuba now centers on food products, drug
companies also want to do business, said Mark Rasenick, director of Biomedical
Neuroscience Training at the University of Illinois' College of Medicine.
"Under current regulations they cannot do much,'' Rasenick said by
telephone. While the embargo has never barred sales of U.S. medicine and medical
supplies, "a lot of American companies just give up because it is so hard
to get the licenses.''
Rasenick, who has traveled to Cuba several times investigating exchanges
between American and Cuban scientists, said he was encouraged by Illinois Gov.
George Ryan's two-day visit.
Ryan was to arrive Thursday afternoon, accompanied by representatives of the
Illinois firms Ferris Manufacturing, Medline, DMS Pharmaceutical, JLR
International and Century Healthcare.
After Hurricane Michelle swept across Cuba in early November, Havana
politely rejected the American government's offer of humanitarian help and said
it preferred to make direct purchases of U.S. food and medicine to replenish its
reserves.
While Cuba has signed contracts for the food, no such contracts have been
made for medicine and medical supplies.
Copyright 2002 Miami Herald | 
