The United States called on its 'allies' to condemn the repression in Cuba and the Government did not bow

Natasha Niebieskikwiat

07/26/2021 11:04

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 07/26/2021 11:04

The government of Joe Biden on Monday called on the countries "allies" of the United States to speak out against the arrests of opponents in Cuba and also asked that they demand the Cuban regime for respect for human rights and the freedoms of the people. of the island.

The US request was made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose office issued a statement in the same tone that several countries signed.

Brazil signed it, but not Argentina. 

"The United States supports democracies around the world, who are speaking with one voice to condemn the mass arrests and detentions of protesters in Cuba. We join our partners in calling on the Cuban government to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. of all Cubans, "Blinken said in a tweet this Monday. 

The US stands with democracies around the world, who are speaking with one voice to condemn mass arrests and detentions of protestors in Cuba.

We join our partners in calling on the Cuban government to respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Cubans.

- Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 26, 2021

The subsequent statement from your spokesman's office goes more or less in the same direction. It evokes the massive demonstrations against the government of Miguel Díaz Canel that took place on the island and were quickly silenced by the island's security forces. And informs that the text is promoted by Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Guatemala, Greece, Honduras, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Korea , Ukraine and the United States of America.

Meanwhile, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez has been denouncing on Twitter in recent days that "several countries" are being "pressured" by Washington to join in the criticism against the island. In Buenos Aires they say they did not receive any calls from the United States, but other transcendent say they did.

Between Friday and Saturday, Felipe Solá met in Mexico with more than ten foreign ministers,

including such varied figures as the ministers of Iván Duque (Marta Lucía Ramírez) and Nicolás Maduro (Jorge Arreaza). It was within the framework of a session of ministers of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which seeks to hold a face-to-face summit of presidents in September, which would represent another trip for Alberto F. to meet with his ally Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the middle of the electoral process in Argentina.

The truth is that Solá, supported by his Mexican colleague Marcelo Ebrard - who even celebrated his birthday on Friday 23 - received

a first support for Argentina to preside over CELAC from next January,

when Mexico hands over the pro tempore presidency of this forum that has no headquarters or institutions.

Solá received the support of opposing countries such as Colombia and Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the

Brazilian

government

was not represented by any official because in January 2020 it was removed from CELAC. 

Behind that summit on Saturday there is a strategy led by López Obrador in the region.

Mexico sometimes plays with its North and others with the South.

This coinciding with the same celebration of the regional meeting of the OAS, López Obrador

proposed in a caudillesque tone that the elaboration of a new geopolitical order in the region with the replacement of the Organization of American States (OAS)

and the birth of an organism of Latin America and the Caribbean that is "not a lackey" of the United States. 

The Argentine government has a silent endorsement of Mexico's proposal, with which from the beginning they played not to support any of the pronouncements of the OAS, or of its Secretary General, Luis Almagro, on the repression of opponents in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Even so, the matter is not so linear, and as regards the relationship with Daniel Ortega, the government of Alberto Fernández awaits a gesture from the Nicaraguan dictator - the release of his political prisoners for example - to forward to his mission in Managua to Daniel Capitanich. The Argentine ambassador was summoned and is still here. 

Kirchnerism's relationship with the OAS was always traumatic, despite the fact that several of its supporters - such as senator and former Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana - worked in it.

And it was the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that activated the first complaints in favor of the last dictatorship. 

CELAC was

 created around 2011 by the late former president Hugo Chávez

, who collapsed due to cancer, was unable to strengthen this mechanism, which has the peculiarity of excluding Canada and the United States.

CELAC covers the zone of influence of Venezuelan oil in the Caribbean. 

It contains equally Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela,

three countries in convulsions in the region and under the magnifying glass of Washington.

Cuba is excluded from the OAS, Venezuela is self-excluded and Nicaragua continues to participate but is cornered. 

Raising CELAC today is for Argentina also to revive a part of the extinct Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), where the Kirchners played hard.