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CUBA - US:
Another Turn of the Screw
Patricia
Grogg
HAVANA, May 14 (IPS) - The expulsion of 14
Cuban diplomats by the U.S. government was
an ''aggressive and irrational act of
vengeance,'' the Cuban Foreign Ministry
said Wednesday, adding that the government
would take ''the time necessary to
respond'' to ''the new provocation.''
Cuban analysts said the government of
Fidel Castro may react with a similar
measure, although it could decide to take
a more cautious stance in order to avoid
affecting emigration to the United States,
which is regulated by agreements that the
two countries signed in 1994 and 1995.
The administration of George W. Bush
declared seven Cuban Interests Section
officials in Washington ''personas non
grata'' on Tuesday, and they were given
ten days to leave the country. Seven other
Cuban diplomats, based at the United
Nations in New York, will also be
expelled.
The diplomats were accused Monday of
''activities deemed to be harmful to the
United States,'' including ''monitoring
and surveillance'', ''association with
known criminals,'' and ''the attempted
recruitment of spies''.
''A reduction in the staff of the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana could
interfere with the work of granting visas
to Cubans interested in emigrating,'' an
academic specialising in migration issues,
who preferred not to be identified, told
IPS.
Cuban authorities complain that the United
States has failed to meet its pledge of
issuing 20,000 visas a year to Cubans
wishing to emigrate, as agreed in the
migration accords.
Washington says it will live up to that
commitment, even though the process has
slowed down since June due to stricter
reviews of the visa applications of
would-be immigrants from Cuba and six
other nations that, in the view of the
U.S. government, ''sponsor terrorism.''
In the statement released Wednesday, the
Cuban Foreign Ministry said the expulsions
were one more piece of evidence that ''a
plan is being implemented against Cuba
with the aim of sabotaging the migration
accords, creating a crisis, and provoking
a confrontation between the two
countries.''
''The expulsion of the Cuban diplomats has
the objective of provoking an escalation
that would culminate in the closure of the
interests sections in the two countries,
as the terrorist groups of the anti-Cuban
mafia in Miami have historically
demanded,'' added the communique, the
Cuban government's first response to the
announcement that the diplomats would be
deported.
In March, the Cuban government accused the
head of the U.S. Interests Section, James
Cason, of turning that office into the
''general headquarters'' of subversive
activities against Castro's socialist
government.
But instead of taking direct action
against Cason or other U.S. diplomats,
Havana ordered the arrest and prosecution
of 75 Cuban dissidents with alleged ties
to the supposed U.S.-backed conspiracy,
who were sentenced to lengthy prison
terms.
In retaliation for restrictions placed on
Cuban diplomats in the United States,
Havana limited the movements of U.S.
Interests Section personnel in Cuban
territory.
''The head of the Cuban Interests Section,
Dagoberto Rodríguez, is not among the
diplomats to be expelled, which means a
strict application of the principal of
reciprocity would continue to exclude the
expulsion of Cason,'' said the academic
who spoke with IPS.
In what analysts described as an
escalation more characteristic of the Cold
War era, Washington told Cuban authorities
this week that from now on, Cuban
diplomats would have to go to the State
Department whenever they were interested
in hiring maintenance staff. They will
also have to import their cars instead of
purchasing them in the United States.
U.S. diplomats in Havana are required to
import their vehicles, and must request
services of any kind from the Cuban
Foreign Ministry.
However, Cuba refrained from taking
reprisals six months ago when the Bush
administration deported four Cuban
officials, two from the Interests Section
in Washington, and two from the United
Nations headquarters in New York -- up to
now, the largest group of Cuban diplomats
expelled by the United States.
There are 51 officials in the U.S.
Interests Section in Havana, including a
small contingent of Marines. Cuba,
meanwhile, has 26 officials in Washington
and 37 at the United Nations in New York.
The interests sections were established in
1977 to provide consular services and
maintain a diplomatic presence which is
strategic for two countries that lack full
diplomatic relations and have been in a
state of continuous tension for four
decades.
According to Cuban analysts, the Bush
administration has in mind the importance
for Bush's reelection campaign of the
votes of the powerful Cuban exile
community in Miami.
The great majority of the over one million
Cuban immigrants and their descendants in
the United States live in Florida, the
stronghold of the most vociferously
anti-Castro segments of the exile
community.
New sanctions that Bush is considering
applying against Havana include a ban on
charter flights between the two countries
and on expatriate remittances sent home by
Cubans in the United States, an important
source of foreign exchange for this
country of 11.2 million.
But economists point out that even if
there are no direct flights, people will
continue flying in to Cuba from third
countries, and that over half of the 1.1
billion dollars in remittances sent home
annually are brought in the pockets and
carry-on luggage of travellers.
According to estimates, 120,000
Cuban-Americans and 78,000 other Americans
visited Cuba last year.
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