Dissidents say Havana summit a sham on rights

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

HAVANA, Sep 12 (Reuters) As leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement gather to discuss the rights of poor nations, Cuban dissidents today criticised the summit for including what they said were some of the world's worst human rights abusers, including Fidel Castro's host government.

Opponents of Castro's one-party state said they were under increased police surveillance as Cuba's Communist authorities stepped up security in Havana during the September 11-16 meeting.

Delegations from 116 developing nations will seek a larger say in world affairs during the summit, which 50 heads of state and government are expected to attend later this week.

''It is regrettable that the issue of human rights is not a real priority of the Non-Aligned Movement,'' said Cuba's veteran rights activist Elizardo Sanchez.

''Several dozen member governments are among the worst and (most) persistent violators of civil and political rights in the world,'' Sanchez, who heads the illegal but tolerated Cuban Commission for Human Rights, said in a statement.

He cited North Korea, Myanmar, Cuba, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe as examples.

Sanchez said more than 300 people were being held in Cuban prisons for political reasons, including 60 pro-democracy activists jailed in a March 2003 crackdown on dissent.

Cuba's small and fractious dissident movement has hardly raised its head since that roundup.

The only sign of opposition activity on the sidelines of the summit was a silent protest on Sunday by the ''ladies in white,'' wives of jailed dissidents who march in silence dressed in white along a Havana boulevard every week after church.

''The government's whole repressive apparatus is on alert and ready to crack down on any protest,'' said dissident economist Oscar Espinosa Chepe.

Cuban dissidents said, however, that political repression has dropped since Castro, 80, handed over power temporarily on July 31 to his younger brother Raul Castro after emergency stomach surgery for an undisclosed illness.

Intimidating demonstrations by angry government supporters outside the homes of dissidents have stopped, a sign that authorities did not want to stir confrontation during a delicate succession, Sanchez and Espinosa Chepe said.

''Raul has ordered low-profile police control,'' Sanchez said. ''Our situation has not improved or worsened. We are waiting to see where things go.'' The dissidents do not expect political changes under Raul Castro, who is believed to favor a Chinese-style economic opening under communist control.

But improvement in the rights situation could follow. ''If Fidel does not return, Raul might free political prisoners to gain international legitimacy,'' Espinosa Chepe said.

REUTERS PKS HS2304

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