Cuba denies politicizing U.S. relief visit

Cuba denies politicizing U.S. relief visit
By VANESSA ARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer
(Updated Thursday, November 3, 2005, 2:27 PM)

HAVANA (AP) - Cuba on Thursday rejected Washington's claim that it wanted to politicize a visit - now on hold - by three U.S. relief specialists to tour areas of the island damaged last month by Hurricane Wilma.
In statement defending its position in the dispute, Cuba's communist government said it made clear from the start that it accepted the visit as a way to discuss sharing information about hurricane preparedness and improving disaster assistance among countries in the region - not as a way to get U.S. aid.
"Cuba rejects the accusation of having changed the purpose of the visit ... as well as the insinuation that our acceptance of the visit means we are seeking to gain political advantage and open a channel for the discussion of bilateral problems between the two countries," said a Foreign Ministry statement published by state-run newspapers.
The State Department said Wednesday it had put its plan to send the specialists on hold because Cuba wanted to turn the visit into a discussion of unrelated issues.
"We are unwilling to turn a humanitarian mission into a political dialogue on issues not related to providing relief to the Cuban victims of Hurricane Wilma," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington.
Wilma never hit Cuba directly, but gigantic waves created when the storm passed through the Florida Straits caused massive flooding in Havana Oct. 24, crushing chunks of the city's famed Malecon seawall and filling homes with waist-deep water. Heavy rain drenched the island's western tip, and tornadoes spun off the hurricane's outer bands caused additional damage.
Two days after the Havana flooding, Cuba told the United States it would accept a visit from disaster experts, and preparations were made for the three to travel to the island on short notice.
Cuba's acceptance of the team was seen as a rare show of cooperation between the two neighbors, which have been at odds during President Fidel Castro's 46 years in power.
Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Wednesday that Cuba sent the U.S. government a proposed two-point agenda for the trip on Monday: an exchange of views on how the United States, Mexico, Cuba and other countries in the region can help each other during disasters, and a visit to areas affected by Wilma in Havana and the western state of Pinar del Rio.
The Bush administration never offered to provide direct economic aid to the Cuban government, but said assistance would be offered to the Cuban people via independent non-governmental groups based on the U.S. team's recommendations.
McCormack said Wednesday the United States would still provide $100,000 in hurricane relief to be distributed by the independent groups.
Cuba views most independent groups suspiciously and considers some to be counterrevolutionary.
The Cuba statement said that Washington's insistence in providing disaster relief to independent groups appeared to be an attempt to "grant even more aid, with the pretext of the hurricane, to mercenary groups that the U.S. government organizes and directs inside Cuba."
The Cuban government has imprisoned dozens of dissidents accused of receiving U.S. aid to overthrow Castro's government - a claim the activists and U.S. officials deny.

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