Castro Mad at Mexico

Mexico City: The [Mexican] secretary of state has described as “irresponsible” declarations made by Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, who charged Mexico on Thursday with voting with the United States against Havana at the U.N. Human Rights Commission, in exchange for U.S. backing for a Mexican candidate, Luis Ernesto Derbez, to be secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The [Mexican] Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Allan Nahum Kaim, said, "to say that there was an exchange of votes is irresponsible and absolutely lacks any credibility. He insisted that Mexico had supported resolution by virtue of its content and in line with the commitment of the government of President Vicente Fox to the universal respect for human rights.

As a courtesy between colleagues, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said that he had warned his Cuban counterpart last Thursday, of Mexico’s position with respect to the [human rights] vote in Geneva, Nahum Kaim said.

Of the 53 countries that sit in the Human Rights Commission, 21 voted in favor of resolution against Cuba, among those Mexico, 17 voted against and 15 abstained.

Some off those voting against were Bahrain, Burkina Faso, China, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Togo, Zimbabwe and the Ukraine. Interesting list, I especially like that Cuba gets to vote on itself and it's so comforting to know that Sudan and Saudi Arabia are watching over human rights.

Here are some of the countries voting for: United States, Armenia, Austria, Australia, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, the Republic of Korea, Sweden and the UK.

These countries abstained Argentina, Bhutan, Brazil, Eritrea, Gabon, Nepal, Paraguay, Uganda, Mauritania, and Sri Lanka.

What would we do without the UN? Let's find out!