Cuba says US measures an act of desperation

Cuba’s Ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines Olga Chameros Trias has called the latest measures by United States President George Bush an act of desperation.{{more}}

Chamero Trias, addressing the local media last week Thursday at the Cuban Embassy at Ratho Mill, said that the latest measures announced by President Bush, on the heels of Cuba’s failure to have the 48-year United States economic blockade lifted, were an attempt to scare the leaders of the Cuban Revolution and intimidate the people of Cuba.

“We understand from his statement that President Bush sees that time is getting shorter, that soon he will go and he has not been able to fulfill his promise to the Cuban Mafia living in Miami. Of course, this fact does not make him less dangerous. On the contrary, we ought to be alert.”

In a recent speech, President Bush announced three initiatives to encourage the Cuban people to relinquish communism and embrace democracy.

The measures include: special licenses to non governmental organizations and religious groups in the US to give computers to Cuban youth; scholarships to Cubans and the creation of an international fund for the liberty of Cuba for the debt relief of Cuba in its democratic form.

Ambassador Chamero Trias says that these measures appear to be some form of a joke, because since the imposition of the embargo, US products are not allowed to enter Cuba.

“But on the other hand, there are already half a million computers in Cuba, with Cuba producing 120,000 computers a year for computer classes. Not to forget also that Cuba has a University for Computer Sciences, where 10,000 young people study Informatics Sciences.

With regard to the scholarships, Chamero Trias indicated that Cuba has 65 universities, 70,000 full-board university students, and 30,000 students from 120 Third World countries.

Chamero Trias also stated that the people of Cuba see the International Fund as President Bush’s way of getting other countries to give money to Cuba, because he does not want to pay for it.

In response to the measures announced by the United States, the Government of Cuba issued a 12 point proposal; these include respect of the rights of the Cuban people, the closing of the Guantanamo Bay military base, the extradition of Posada Carilles, and the release of the Cuban Five.

On October 31st this year, 184 countries voted at the United Nations General Assembly for the United States blockade against Cuba to be lifted, while four, including the United States, voted against. One country abstained from the vote, while three were absent from this year’s vote.

This is the 17th time that the Cuban Resolution has been put forward to the General Assembly.