US accused of violating human rights of Cubans

Cuba accused the Bush administration of violating human rights of the Cuban people and attempting to annex the Caribbean island country on Friday, a day after US President George W. Bush announced a new set of tougher measures against Havana.

The Cuban Communist Party and the Cuban government said in a joint statement that the US measures are a hodgepodge of "lies, rancor, frustrations and meddling in the domestic affairs of a country" in line with an "imperialist plan to annex Cuba."

The statement, which was front-paged on Friday's edition of thenewspaper Granma, charged that the United States is determined to wipe off Cuba from the map by unveiling the plan, under which 59 million US dollars will be allocated to fund anti-Cuba activities for a period of two years, cash remittances from Cuban Americans will be halved and a limit will also be imposed on family visits between the United States and Cuba.

The United States is using a military plane to broadcast pro-democracy messages into Cuba and funding media campaign in a bid to smear the image of Havana, the newspaper said.

The four-decade-old economic embargo has inflicted great suffering on the Cuban people and the new US measures are designedto starve 11 million Cubans and make their living conditions even harsher. "So it is a grim violation of human rights of the Cuban people, "said the statement.

Limiting family visits between Cubans living in Cuba and the United States and reducing cash remittances is a violation of human rights of Cuban Americans, the statement said.

Funding anti-Cuba propaganda and supporting anti-government activities in Cuba constitute a provocation to the Cuban government and an infringement on international law, which should be condemned in all international fora, including the UN Human Rights Conference, it said.

But the US attempt is doomed to fail as the Cuban people is fully and firmly behind the socialist system of Cuba and will never be brought down to their knees by threats in whatever form, the statement said.

Source: Xinhua