Cuba slams Australian critics

Cuba slams Australian critics
Ian Munro Herald Correspondent in New York
November 1, 2007

AUSTRALIA has won itself a rebuke from Cuba, despite having supported a
United Nations motion calling for the lifting of the US economic
blockade of the island nation.

The UN voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday for the lifting of sanctions,
with 184 votes in favour and only Israel, the Marshall Islands and Palau
joining the US in opposing the motion.

It was the 16th time the UN has called for the US to abandon its 45-year
blockade.

Australia's ambassador to the UN, Robert Hill, said that the country's
support for the move should not be seen as endorsing Cuba's internal
policies. "Holding political prisoners and failing to comply with
international human rights standards is not an internal matter - it
should be of concern to all of us," Mr Hill said.

In reply, a spokeswoman for Cuba said that "accomplices" of the
anti-Cuban policies of the US President, George Bush, deserved little
credit. "A government like Australia has no moral authority to criticise
Cuba," the spokeswoman said.

Earlier, the Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, said the cost
of the sanctions exceeded $US89 billion ($97 billion), and prevented
high-quality medical supplies including anaesthetics and pacemakers
being available to that country's children.

"Anyone can understand the level of socio-economic development that Cuba
would have attained had it not been subjected to this unrelenting and
obsessive economic war," Mr Perez Roque said. "The blockade is today the
main obstacle to the development and wellbeing of the Cubans."

Mr Hill called on the Cuban Government to respect the rights of all its
people and queried the claim that the blockade was the main obstacle
confronting Cubans.

"[Mr Perez Roque] will, with respect, have greater credibility in
pursuing this argument when he can show that the rights of all Cuban
people are properly respected and protected by his own government," Mr
Hill said.

Just days ago Mr Bush vowed to maintain the embargo against a government
which he said had promised respect for human rights but offered
"rat-infested prisons and a police state".

Also on Tuesday, Senator Rod Kemp, the parliamentary adviser to the
Australian delegation, called on the military regime in Burma to end its
suppression of the country's pro-democracy movement.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/cuba-slams-australian-critics/2007/10/31/1193618973331.html