Canada pushes for OAS action against Cuba

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Toronto Globe and Mail
Canada

Canada to push action by OAS against Cuba

Moves would be in response to crackdown by Castro on peaceful
political
dissent



By PAUL KNOX
With reports from Reuters and AFP


UPDATED AT 10:35 AM EDT  Saturday, Jun. 7, 2003

Canada will ask the Organization of American States to consider taking
non-economic measures against Cuba in response to a crackdown on
peaceful
dissent, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham said yesterday.

Mr. Graham said he will ask ministers at the OAS's annual general
assembly
beginning tomorrow in Santiago to register disapproval of Cuba's
jailing of
75 dissidents and journalists.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Graham said the OAS should follow the
lead of
the 15-member European Union, which said on Thursday it would cut back
political and cultural contacts with the government of Fidel Castro
due to
the crackdown.

The EU said its members would limit high-level government visits,
downgrade
participation in Cuban cultural events and invite Cuban dissidents to
events
on their national days.

Mr. Graham said he would steer clear of proposing economic sanctions,
in
line with Canada's long-standing opposition to the U.S. trade embargo
against Cuba.

"Cutting out high-level meetings is a good way of sending a signal, .
. . ."
Mr. Graham said. "Economic sanctions punish the people. We want
measures to
punish the elite."

Mr. Graham took the unusual step of summoning Cuban Ambassador Carlos
Fernandez de Cossio to his Ottawa office in April to express "extreme
concern" over the crackdown, in which dissidents received prison terms
of up
to 28 years. He conceded yesterday that it could be hard to win
backing even
for limited sanctions from the OAS, which suspended Cuba in 1962.
Members
have been reluctant to discuss Cuban affairs for fear of being too
closely
identified with U.S. policy.

A Canada-backed move to have the OAS register concern over the
crackdown
failed last month at a lower-level meeting of ambassadors to the
inter-American body.

But Mr. Graham said he would try again in Chile with his counterparts,
even
if the best he could manage is a declaration expressing concern.

"A clear indication that the Americas are united against these
measures in
itself is important," Mr. Graham said.

Ministers from the 34 active OAS members plan to discuss the progress
of
democracy since the 2001 Americas summit in Quebec City, which adopted
a
charter designed to enforce respect for elected governments.

Canada will formally hand over the chairmanship of the summit process
to
Argentina.





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