14 April 2003
U.S. Criticizes Prison Sentences for Cuban Dissidents
(Kirkpatrick addresses U.N. Commission on Human Rights) (540)
Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, head of the U.S. delegation to the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights, has expressed criticism of the Cuban
government's imposition of long prison sentences on 75 human rights
dissidents.
Kirkpatrick told the commission April 14 during its session on Item
17: Defenders of Democracy, it was an "unwelcome coincidence" that
Cuba took its action in April, while the commission was discussing the
promotion of human rights.
The 59th session of the Commission on Human Rights is meeting in
Geneva from March 17 to April 25.
Following is the text of Kirkpatrick's statement:
(begin text)
Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick
Statement of the United States of America
Item 17: Defenders of Democracy
Madame Chairperson,
The United States delegation believes that human rights depend on
democratic institutions. Promoting democracy, encouraging its spread
is the centerpiece of our foreign policy. The United States government
supports programs to build civil societies and democratic
institutions, to promote transparency and increase civil engagement.
We think we should be clear about who it is we refer to as human
rights defenders: They are, especially, persons who take serious risks
to expand the domain of liberty, often risking their freedom or even
their lives in the process. It is an unwelcome coincidence that the
very same time this Commission was spending six weeks discussing the
promotion of human rights, the government of Cuba imposed long
sentences on 75 persons -- doctors, librarians, academics,
journalists.
The Cuban regime would have us believe that all these individuals were
organized by the U.S. government to subvert it. But an examination of
their activities gives the lie to such a claim. Many of the 75 were
involved in the Varela project to peacefully petition the Cuban
government to permit an alternative to its one-party unelected
legislature. Others were merely trying to disseminate literature and
news prepared by independent organizations.
The sentences of the 75 dissidents handed down April 3-7 range between
12 to 26 years at trials lasting less than a day for each. The names
of these authentic human rights defenders are appended to our
statement.
A second testimony to the quality of Cuban justice could be seen last
week at the summary trial and execution of three Cubans charged with
attempted hijacking of a passenger ferry to Florida. No one was hurt
in the attempted hijacking except the three executed. Yes, they
committed a crime, but they, like everyone, deserved due process and a
reasonable sentence.
Once again the representative of Cuba spoke today of a U.S. effort to
lure Cubans to the United States. He should ask himself instead why so
many Cubans are so eager to leave their homes for a strange country
with a strange language.
Once again, for the fifth, sixth, seventh time, the Cuban delegate
referred to a U.S. blockade of Cuba. But the Cuban delegate surely
knows that the U.S. government has only once, in 1962, established a
blockade of Cuba at the time of a crisis in the U.S.-Soviet relations
growing out of the Soviet move to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba. It
was removed once the crisis was past.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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